Up Until Now...
Up until now, you have been forced to use the default Microsoft Mary voice font as Michelle. However, a number of users have called for the ability to utilise
different voice fonts for Michelle.
As you know by now, we ALWAYS listen to our customers!
Purchasing New Voice Fonts
I have no affiliation of any kind with Nextup.com, and there are many places where you can buy voice fonts. However, I have found their site to be
very intuitive and easy to use. Go to:
Right on their front page, you can test a whole series of voice fonts. Let's assume that you purchase the AT&T Natural Voices TM
and you want to use these voices with the It's Your Plane ("IYP") application.
After you purchase and install these new voice fonts on your PC, here's what you do!
Incidentally, all of what I am setting forth herein, will work with FSX as well as FS9, and applies to both XP and Vista platforms.
Loading New Voice Fonts
You will find a tiny file in the IYPLogs folder called voice-fonts.txt. For example,
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\IYPlogs\voice-fonts.txt
IMPORTANT NOTE:
You will have to have successfully run the IYP application before this file will become available.
If you cannot find this file, simply search for voice-fonts.txt on your PC.
When you open this text file, you will see something like:
Microsoft Mike
Microsoft Mary
Microsoft Sam
Sample TTS Voice
ATT DTNV1.4 Mike16
ATT DTNV1.4 Crystal16
ScanSoft Karen_Full_22kHz
These are the VOICE FONT NAMES of the voice fonts loaded on your PC.
The ones displayed in BLACK above, are the default Microsoft SAPI voices used on the XP platform.
The ones displayed in RED above are other voice fonts that you can purchase and install.
Using New Voice Fonts
OK. You've purchased and installed additional voice fonts on your PC. Now let's permit the IYP application to use them.
Let's say we purchased the AT&T Natural Voice base set that consists of Mike and Crystal, and we want to use ATT DTNV1.4 Mike16; the Mike voice.
It's really very easy to do.
Simply open Notepad, insert the font name on the very top line ( no blank lines please ), like this:
Then save the file as IYPVoice.txt in your simulator's root folder.
Using the same example as above of FS9 on XP, you would save the file as, something like this:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\IYPVoice.txt
Naturally, you could also use Crystal's voice as "Michelle", by placing the ATT DTNV1.4 Crystal16 font into the IYPVoice.txt file, like this:
Your Co-Pilot's Name
The It's Your Plane Program changes the Co-Pilot's name based upon the voice that is loaded. So, if you use the Crystal voice font,
her name will continue to be Michelle. However, if you decide to use the Mike voice, the application will call the co-pilot Mike.
In other words, you will be greeted with, "Hi, my name is Michelle..." or, "Hi, my name is Mike..." respectively upon launching the program.
Welcome Aboard Captain Robert!
One of the first beta testers, Skinny Puppy, suggested that we have the co-pilot welcome you ( the Captain ) as you enter the cockpit.
Well, that "sounded" like a good idea... please excuse the pun!
So, how do we do this?
In the same IYPVoice.txt file in your Flight Simulator's root folder, add a second line with your name ( or nickname ) like this:
ATT DTNV1.4 Crystal16
Robert
Let's suppose that you are quite happy with the original default Microsoft Mary voice, but you want to have Michelle greet you as you enter the cockpit.
It's easy... just place the following in the IYPVoice.txt file in your Flight Simulator's root folder:
Here Are Some Voice Font Samples
A number of you have requested that I provide you a sample of some of these voices. Ok... here's a few MP3 samples:
If you require assistance in any of the translations, just knock on my door!
Regards,
Robert Cezar
PS. If you're new to our mailing list, please check out our
previous newsletters... there's a lot of interesting stuff!
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