Starfighter: Infinity Voice Companion

What Is This?

This project is a simple voice companion which will help you on your journeys while playing Starfighter: Infinity. Starfighter: Infinity is a space based MMORPG with a focus on ‘dogfighting’ style action and exploration. It is in currently in early access on Steam.

My primary focus has been on streamlining weapon usage during battle. Weapons can be set up in groups, and groups can be fired as a one-off or in a continuous barrage. Beyond that most ship functions can be accessed verbally using the companion. The companion also has some limited chatting options, though I plan to flesh them out more in the future.

This application requires VoiceAttack to function. Please note that I am not currently distributing any prerecorded voice files for this companion. As such all interactions are currently done via text-to-speech (unless you Import your own voice files).

Prerequisites

In order to make use of this ship's companion you must have the full version of VoiceAttack in addition to Starfighter: Infinity. Note - the demo version of VoiceAttack will not work with this project.

Installation

Currently installation is as simple as downloading the "sf-i_companion.vap" file from the releases page and importing it in to VoiceAttack.

In the future I plan to add some basic voice mp3s and a VA plug-in, but for now the profile alone is all that's required. If you own an HCS Voice Pack you can also import voice files from your existing pack. See the Import section for instructions.

Basic usage

Here's a very basic, no config needed, I-just-want-to-kill-stuff example of usage.

> Unload weapon slot 1    # continuous fire weapon slot 1
> Unload slot 2    # continuous fire weapon slot 2 (will alternate with slot 1)
> Fire weapon slot 6    # single fire weapon slot 6 (after which slots 1 and 2 will continue to alternate)
> Fire primary    # continuous fire primary
[...]
> Cease fire    # stop firing both secondary and primary weapons
> Engines to max    # holds accelerate and propulsion keys
[...]
> All stop    # releases accelerate and propulsion keys
> Show system map    # display the system map dialog
> Scan object    # scan an object if in range. also read the codex entry if found

If you are importing a voice pack there will be a few additional commands available to you.

> Promote Jazz    # Jazz Online  (only usable if you have imported voicepacks
> Hello    # Greetings
> Who are you?    # I am your ship's companion...
> Tell me a random constellation fact    # Pisces is a constellation. Its name is the latin..
> Give me a random quantum theory fact    # Hawking Radiation. In 1975 Steven Hawking showed...
> Give me a random galaxy fact    # Neutrinos. A particle produced by the nuclear reactions...
> Enable galaxy    # Interactive mode on
> What is a black hole    # A black hole is a region of spacetime...
> Enable constellations    # Interactive mode on
> Tell me about constellation Ares    # Ares. Representing a ram's horns. It is one of...

Configuration

There is settings dialog which you can open using the command "Show configuration dialog" or keyboard shortcut [Left Ctrl + Left Alt + S].

You can also do your configuration using voice commands, including setting up weapon groups. All requests and responses below are verbal.

> What is my current ship?
  # Currently using explorer ship
> Switch to battle ship
  # Configuration loaded
> List active weapon groups
  # No active weapon groups found
> Configure missile 3
  # Which weapon do you want to activate first?
> Slot 3
  # Second?
> Slot 4
  # Third?
> Pause 2
  # Fourth?
> Finished
  # Weapon group missile 3 will fire slot 3, slot 4, pause for 2 seconds.
  # Do you want to save these settings?
> Commit
  # Configuration saved.
> Engines to max
  # Engaging full burn
> Unload missile 3
  # Launching missiles
[...]
> Cease fire
  # Holding fire
> All stop
  # Cutting engines

Read a more detailed description of what you can do with weapon groups.

Command list

This command list may be incomplete. To see a full list of voice commands available please check the voice command reference guide.

Command	Description	Notes
Stop listening	Set VoiceAttack to not listen.
Start listening	Set VoiceAttack to begin listening again.
Show configuration dialog	Opens the configuration window.	Also available via shortcut [Left Ctrl + Left Alt + S]
List available ships	Responds with a list of valid ship names.
List active ships	Responds with a list of ships which have previously been used.
Register new ship	You will be asked for a new ship name. The ship will be added and made active.
*Switch to <name>* ship**	Loads the configuration for the requested ship.	Example: Switch to War ship
What is my current ship name	Responds with the name of your current ship.
Delete ship configuration for <name>	Deletes the configuration for the ship specified.	Example: Delete ship configuration for War Ship
Unload primary	Continuous fire primary weapon.
Cancel primary	Stop firing primary weapon.
Equip slot <#>	Switches to specified weapon slot. Will also return to this weapon slot when finished performing firing actions.	Example: Equip slot 3
Fire weapon slot <#>	Single fire the specified weapon slot.	Example: Fire weapon slot 6
Unload slot <#>	Continuous fire the specified weapon slot.	Example: Unload slot 1
Cancel slot <#>	Stop firing the specified weapon slot.	Example: Cancel slot 1
List available weapon groups	Responds with a list of valid weapon group names.
List active weapon groups	Responds with a list of weapon groups which have been configured for your current ship.
Register new weapon group	Adds a new weapon group and then calls the configuration command.
Configure <group name>	Initiate weapon configuration for weapon group specified.	Example: Configure Beacon
Delete configuration for group <name>	Deletes any configuration saved for specified weapon group.	Example: Delete configuration for group Counter
Fire <group name>	Single fire specified weapon group.	Example: Fire Beacon
Unload <group name>	Continuous fire specified weapon group.	Example: Unload Missiles
Cancel <group name>	Stop firing specified weapon group.	Example: Cancel Missiles
Cease fire	Stops firing any active weapon groups as well as the primary weapon.
Configure <emergency group>	Initiate configuration for the emergency group.	Example: Configure Red Alert
Red Alert	Activate Red Alert emergency group.
Yellow Alert	Activate Yellow Alert emergency group.
Evasive Maneuvers	Activate Evasive Maneuvers emergency group.
Next Target	Switch between locked targets.
Engines to full	Holds down the accelerate key.
Engines to max	Holds down the accelerate and propulsion keys.
All stop	Releases the accelerate and propulsion keys.
Cruise control	Toggles cruise control.
Engage autopilot	Engages autopilot.
Engage hyperspace	Engages hyperspace.
Show system map	Activates the system map dialog.
Show ship info	Activates the ship information dialog.
Show mission log	Activates the objectives dialog.
Cargo hold	Activates the inventory dialog.
Expand chat	Expand in game chat. Add 2 or 3 to expand the chat multiple times.
Say hi to chat	Send "hi" to chat. (Does not work in VR)
Say I'm on my way to chat	Send "on my way" to chat. (Does not work in VR)
Take a screenshot	Takes a screenshot.
Scan object	Scan an object if in range. Also read the codex entry if a planet/object is present.
Tell me a codex fact	Reads a random codex fact.
Tell me a planet fact	Reads a random codex fact limited to planet descriptions.
Tell me an object fact	Reads a random codex fact limited to object descriptions.
Tell me a race fact	Reads a random codex fact limited to race/org descriptions.
Tell me a ship fact	Reads a random codex fact limited to ship descriptions.
Enable codex	Turns on individual codex fact look-ups.	Enabling codex look-ups increases the number of commands VoiceAttack is listening for and may affect performance
Tell me about planet <planet name>	Reads the planet description from the codex.	Example: Tell me about planet Erna
Tell me about the <object name>	Reads the object description from the codex.	Example: Tell me about the Dimensional Rift
Tell me about the <race name> race	Reads the race/org description from the codex.	Example: Tell me about the Radii race
Tell me about the <ship name>	Reads the ship description from the codex.	Example: Tell me about the Manticore
Disable codex	Turns off individual codex fact look-ups.
What time is it	Responds with the current time.
Hello <companion name>	Voice response depending on companion used.	Example: Hello Jazz
Who are you	Voice response depending on companion used.
Why are you on my ship	Voice response depending on companion used.
Thank you	Voice response depending on companion used.
That was sarcasm	Voice response depending on companion used.
Please stop talking	Voice companion will stop playing sounds or reading text.

Read a more detailed description of what you can do with weapon groups.

Additional commands relevant if you are importing a voice pack.

Command	Description	Notes
Promote <companion name>	Will switch to a new ship's companion.	Example: Promote Orion
Tell me a constellation fact	Plays a random constellation fact*
Tell me a quantum theory fact	Plays a random quantum theory fact*
Tell me a galaxy fact	Plays a random galaxapedia fact*
Enable constellations	Turns on individual constellation fact look-ups*	Enabling constellation look-ups increases the number of commands VoiceAttack is listening for and may affect performance
Tell me about constellation <constellation name>	Plays information about a specific constellation*	Example: Tell me about constellation Ares
Disable constellations	Turns off individual constellation fact look-ups*
Enable quantum theory	Turns on individual quantum theory fact look-ups*	Enabling quantum theory look-ups increases the number of commands VoiceAttack is listening for and may affect performance
What is <quantum theory entry>	Plays a specific quantum theory fact*	Example: What is Hawking Radiation
Disable quantum theory	Turns off individual quantum theory fact look-ups*
Enable galaxy	Turns on individual galaxapedia fact look-ups*	Enabling galaxapedia look-ups increases the number of commands VoiceAttack is listening for and may affect performance
What is a <galaxapedia entry>	Plays a specific galaxapedia fact*	Example: What is a Black Hole
Disable galaxy	Turns off individual galaxapedia fact look-ups*

Not all voice packs include constellations/quantum theory/galaxapedia facts

Troubleshooting

The companion doesn't respond consistently (or ever).

This is a common problem with speech recognition, especially when using the built-in speech engine provided with windows. The first thing to try is to train your speech engine. Here are the instructions provided by Microsoft for doing so.

I have some issues with failed recognition myself due to living in a noisy apartment. That's the reason why many voice commands in this profile have multiple methods of calling them. For example, you can say "Switch to battle ship" or "Swap to battle" or "Change to battle ship", all of which do the same thing. View the voice command reference guide to see all commands and command variations available.

If you're still having trouble with your voice recognition I suggest reading over this post on the VoiceAttack forums which covers more advanced troubleshooting methods better than I ever could.

Sometimes the companion responds several seconds late, or not at all.

I have found that on occasion the companion responses may get quite laggy. I'm continuing to look in to the issue. So far it seems that the speech engine gets less priority than the running game, and if the game is taxing your system the speech engine is high on the list of processes which get delayed or dropped.

If you do experience this issue I'd appreciate it if you would report your issue on GitHub, or email me letting me know what you were doing at the time of the lag, your system specs, version of the profile you are using, and whether any voice packs are in use.

The companion says it engaged hyperspace (or other such command) even though it really didn't.

There currently is no direct tie-in with Starfighter: Infinity. This companion doesn't actually know what's going on in game. It is simply taking your commands and attempting to perform them in game, with no idea of whether they succeeded or failed. So if you ask to engage hyperspace with no course plotted, or without auto-pilot active, it will fail with no verbal warning from the companion. The same goes for trying to fire a weapon with no ammo or not enough energy.

I hope to add some game log parsing to get feedback directly from the companion at some point, but for the moment all I can offer is this somewhat-blind companion.

Frequently Asked Questions

I use custom keybinds in SF:I. Do I really need to configure my kebinds manually in the VoiceAttack profile?

There should be no keybind configuration required. Keybinds are automatically read from the game configuration data upon profile initialization.
The keybind configuration included in the profile are the defaults. These will be used if the profile is unable to load some (or all) keybinds from the game configuration data.
If you change your keybinds while running VoiceAttack you may need to reload the profile before the changes will take affect. You can do this by switching to another profile and switching back, or by restarting VoiceAttack.

Can you make this work with [some other game]?

I don't have time to port to other projects at the moment. However, you are more than welcome to clone the project and update it for use with any game you want.
Depending on your desired game you might be able to change the key bind configuration to make the profile work with it with minimal changes.

Why are there no voice files included?

I plan to record the default companion voice, Null, myself when I have time. I don't know when I'll have that done, but it's safe to assume it'll take me a while.

I already own an HCS Voice Pack. Can I use my existing sound files with this project?

Yes, you can. Check the Import section for instructions.
Please note that this project is in no way affiliated with HCS, and is not authorized to use these voice files in any capacity. Use at your own risk!

Can I use this voice companion in VR?

Yes, this project was designed with the idea that the user would be in VR. To that end most weapon and ship configuration is done via voice interface. You can also ask for details about existing configurations to get a verbal description.
Note that VR is in no way necessary to make use of this companion. A headset with a decent quality mic is recommended though.

Can I use the VoiceAttack demo with this companion?

No, you cannot. The VA demo only allows up to 20 voice commands. At the time of this writing this profile is using over 1,300 (mostly derived) commands. It would be very difficult to compress it down to only 20.

I don't like the weapon group names or ship names you selected. Can I change them?

Yes, absolutely. The easiest way to do this is to open the ship configuration window using the command "Show configuration dialog" or the keyboard shortcut [Left Ctrl + Left Alt + S]. From here you can add or delete ships and weapon groups to better suit you.

My question wasn't answered here. How do I get further help?

Either report your issue on GitHub, or just email me. If this project becomes at all popular I'll set up some forums or similar.

Credits

I've made use of a number of sound files from Freesound.org as permitted by their licenses.

"UI Confirmation Alert, C1.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
"UI Confirmation Alert, C2.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
"UI Confirmation Alert, C3.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
"UI Confirmation Alert, C4.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
"UI Confirmation Alert, C5.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org

mtmosier / sf-i-voice-companion