Voiced Mods-Necessary

[AbleGnome]

I can't play un-voiced mods. The immersion goes to zero. There are probably no voice mods yet for Skyrim, but if so, I'd love to know what they are.

 

Also, I can do many voices, although I don't do it professionally. I'm a longtime actor and will volunteer my services and submit recordings for consideration.

[HadToRegister]

I find Air Conditioner Noise, 60 hZ Hum and a noisy background immersion breaking too.

 

It's a toss up, given the choice, I'd prefer a non-voiced mod, and I'm a voice actor myself.

 

I'd rather the mod be silent then to listen to some parts being read into an inexpensive headset mic replete with nose breathing,

intermixed with a good quality part.

 

I've written a couple of guides to help people get better audio quality, but until everybody gets as picky about audio as they are picky about textures,

some audio is going to suffer.

[jimhsu]

I find Air Conditioner Noise, 60 hZ Hum and a noisy background immersion breaking too.

 

It's a toss up, given the choice, I'd prefer a non-voiced mod, and I'm a voice actor myself.

 

I'd rather the mod be silent then to listen to some parts being read into an inexpensive headset mic replete with nose breathing,

intermixed with a good quality part.

 

I've written a couple of guides to help people get better audio quality, but until everybody gets as picky about audio as they are picky about textures,

some audio is going to suffer.

 

Implementing a custom morrowind-esque dialog system is IMO the way to go both for simplicity and immersion. Are any UI modders working on such a thing?

[AbleGnome]

I find Air Conditioner Noise, 60 hZ Hum and a noisy background immersion breaking too.

 

It's a toss up, given the choice, I'd prefer a non-voiced mod, and I'm a voice actor myself.

 

I'd rather the mod be silent then to listen to some parts being read into an inexpensive headset mic replete with nose breathing,

intermixed with a good quality part.

 

I've written a couple of guides to help people get better audio quality, but until everybody gets as picky about audio as they are picky about textures,

some audio is going to suffer.

 

Implementing a custom morrowind-esque dialog system is IMO the way to go both for simplicity and immersion. Are any UI modders working on such a thing?

 

Just a reaction: Please no! The Morrowind dialog system is, IMHO, horrific.

 

@ HadToRegister. It is a given that voices need to be professional. Bad acting and scripting are worse than a cheap microphone, IMO. Still, I wouldn't want either, of course. But to prefer silence to voices? There were some great black--and-white films made in the 1920s you might be interested in :)

[Esteris]

I get what you mean. When I was playing Oblivion i remember a mod that had voicing lines much longer than subtitles allowed and I had some troubles understanding some of the words that followed (the accents were heavy and they spoke fast - I'm not a native speaker), but I still preferred that over the voiceless mods. Each time I encountered a character in a speaking world that suddenly just flapped their gums and produced no sound I was under the impression it's a ghost character :psyduck:

 

It also gave a very strong "hey, I don't belong here, I'm modded in!" vibe.

 

But I also do agree that noisy, terrible quality audio is even worse, because it just makes people wince and reach for their speakers. Immersion is gone instantly, because it's easier to even just read the ghost's text aloud or just go with it, than bear tha noise!

[Tyrannus007]

This is a good sentiment, but I prefer no voice acting to bad voice acting. Hell, I even have a hard time listening to good voice acting done with a bad mic. Unvoiced lines are pretty immersion breaking, but what could be done is adding an additional dialogue system that's like an improved version of Morrowind's. It wouldn't replace the original.

 

There is also the option of text-to-speech programs, but those should be a last resort or a temporary thing.

 

What about adding new lines to existing characters? Suddenly changing voice actors would really take you out of the game, especially if there is a drastic difference in quality. Maybe you could cut up existing audio from the same voice actor, and assemble it into new lines. That would sound kind of bad, but not completely immersion breaking. Some of the voice actors sound robotic anyway. It's a lot cheaper than flying Max von Sydow or Michael Hogan over to your house.

[PaladinRider]

I can't play un-voiced mods. The immersion goes to zero. There are probably no voice mods yet for Skyrim, but if so, I'd love to know what they are.

 

 

Sounds kind of very unappreciative to me. To you, a mod isn't a great mod unless it's voice-acted to vanilla standards. Many people don't realize or understand the amount of time and work it takes to add the voices into the mod. I say too bad - if you can't play a mod without it being read to you. Yes it makes it obvious that it's not vanilla but in many cases you need to have a little imagination. With every game that comes out nowadays they are almost completely eradicating the need for imagination.

 

My mod is less than half voice acted. Don't even get me started on lip synching which was the biggest pain in the ass for NV. As well, I'm deaf so having even a part of my mod voice acted for the players is a pretty big contribution. I have no idea if the voice-actors were any good and I never really got much feedback on it.

 

Luckily with NV I was able to convey most of the mod via terminals which didn't need voice obviously. Many of the robots were hack'n'slash of the original voice files of that robot.

 

With Skyrim, I'm planning on a medium sized quest mod with many NPCs. I honestly think the only chance I have of getting it voice-acted is to delegate it to someone who's capable when I'm finished.

 

TL;DR Be appreciative of what's there. Don't be a pessimist and focus on what's not there.

[LukeSkyrimmer]

If I wanted to read, I'd read a book. They are better written anyway.

 

I'll be voicing my own mod. At least I have a decent mic. With some post-processing, I can make it blend in with the rest of the game.

[Esteris]

I can't play un-voiced mods. The immersion goes to zero. There are probably no voice mods yet for Skyrim, but if so, I'd love to know what they are.

 

 

Sounds kind of very unappreciative to me. To you, a mod isn't a great mod unless it's voice-acted to vanilla standards. Many people don't realize or understand the amount of time and work it takes to add the voices into the mod. I say too bad - if you can't play a mod without it being read to you. Yes it makes it obvious that it's not vanilla but in many cases you need to have a little imagination. With every game that comes out nowadays they are almost completely eradicating the need for imagination.

 

My mod is less than half voice acted. Don't even get me started on lip synching which was the biggest pain in the ass for NV. As well, I'm deaf so having even a part of my mod voice acted for the players is a pretty big contribution. I have no idea if the voice-actors were any good and I never really got much feedback on it.

 

Luckily with NV I was able to convey most of the mod via terminals which didn't need voice obviously. Many of the robots were hack'n'slash of the original voice files of that robot.

 

With Skyrim, I'm planning on a medium sized quest mod with many NPCs. I honestly think the only chance I have of getting it voice-acted is to delegate it to someone who's capable when I'm finished.

 

TL;DR Be appreciative of what's there. Don't be a pessimist and focus on what's not there.

 

 

I would be happy to help you find voice actors for your mod, if you will want to. With quality mics :) I understand where you're coming from, but I believe your mod will be better acclaimed by the players with the voicing. So feel free to message me for help when you will need it. I know where to look for them peoples :)