LE Suggestion for any bored voice actors out there...

[nerdofprey]

Normally if I've got a mod idea I try to do it myself, but this is so far outside my wheelhouse it's not even funny. I figured I'd float the idea for anybody else to consider...

 

This is sort of a problem/solution thing, as I see it.

 

Problem:

 

Follower mods exist in a weird all-or-nothing state right now. On one hand you have the fully voice-acted followers with rich back-stories and unique personalities. On the other hand you've got the followers who are strictly designed to look cool - and often they do - but they're stuck with one of a handful of dull, overused vanilla-game voice sets.

 

There thankfully exist some mods that expand on vanilla voice sets a little bit, but they're always restricted to lines that were recorded by Bethesda.

 

There also seems to be a lot of talent out there just waiting for opportunities! Voice actors seem to be tapped for the huge complex mods, or not at all.

 

 

Solution:

 

Create some new basic voice sets!

 

I'm talking bare-bones, vanilla-style voice sets, but with fresh new voices. Take something like the male or female "even-toned" voice set, copy and rename it, and just straight re-record those lines. That's it. Maybe rephrase some of them as you see fit, to put your own personality into it, but it doesn't have to be a huge writing effort, it's primarily an acting gig.

 

Just one basic, generic voice set would be such a breath of fresh air for modders everywhere. One new voice could be the basis for an endless number of unique NPCs. Two or three, and the possibilities expand quickly. A dozen new voices, and the vanilla game is obsolete.

 

Ideally this would be a collaborative effort. There can be one mod page with one big .esm file that can be updated occasionally, whenever somebody feels like adding on a new voice. It would probably just take one person who's got some good modding skills (better than I've got) to maintain the actual file. Any voice actor who's got some time to kill and a rough character idea could send in a new voice set. Got an accent you always wanted to try out? Just make it into a stock voice set, add it to the pile! There would be no reason to reject any of them, because somebody will get around to using it. If the download gets too huge there could be a volume 2, etc.

 

It doesn't have to be just followers, either. Some actor could bang out some lines for a simple shopkeeper or a guard.

 

This one mod could easily become the go-to master file for a thousand new mods, and an essential part of every player's load order, probably carried on into future games.

 

 

I am by no means claiming this would be easy. I know good voice acting requires skill, time and equipment. Somebody would need to seriously know their way around the Creation Kit to pull it all together, to organize it for ease of use and make sure each voice set works properly when people assign them to new characters. I'm sure there are technical hurdles involved that I don't even know about, much less how to solve.

 

What this WOULD be, if anyone pulls it off, is probably the greatest modders' resource of all time. It would change everything.

 

I fully expect this to be ignored or otherwise poo-pooed by the community at large, but if somebody someday decides to take up the cause, it would really make the world a better place.

 

Just puttin' it out there...