XCOM EU Adding new voices

[SonofOrion]

And no, I don't mean just putting in voices from the other localizations. I'm talking about custom voices, made by other users. Would it be possible to record your own voice and stick it in the game for usage? That would certainly add to unit variety by a shitton.

[XCalm]

I am in full support of this idea! Since the release of the game, I have been checking hopefully for some community-made voice packs. Since the X-Com community is already spread around the world, I'm sure that there are hundreds of players who would be willing to record their natural accents. This would be great because it wouldn't cost anybody anything; nobody would have to do any serious voice-acting; it would generate tons of individual voices, thereby satisfying a common complaint among X-Com players; instead of just getting generic cultural accents from professional voice actors, we would get regional accents also (for example: Texan, French-Canadian, Bristol, etc.); and it would be fun to do (at least for me).

 

Some issues I can foresee: It might not be possible to add custom voices to the game (though I doubt that someone, somewhere couldn't manage to do this); there would be a huge range in the quality of the recordings (both in in-game enjoyment value and sound quality); there is an unfortunate likelihood of getting a lot of inappropriate content (mostly concerned about abusive stuff); and I'm sure that the majority of voices would be male (since female soldiers are awesome, I hope that enough girls from around the world play X-Com and would be willing to record voices!).

 

Maybe I'm just stating the obvious, rather than moving this idea closer to actually being implemented, but I thought I'd get my two cents in and announce my eagerness to support any initiative to get some community voice packs going.

Edited October 30, 2012 by XCalm

[FlyingHigh10000000]

"Inappropriate" voices are no big deal. Do you expect soldiers to not curse or insult the aliens or even get angry with command when they're fighting unknown enemies in extremely stressful situations?

[XCalm]

Oh no, swearing is fine... I was thinking more along the lines of ethnically disparaging stuff. The more I think about it though, the less of an issue it seems to be. I'd like to assume that people that want to create content for X-Com want to do it to increase enjoyment, not perpetuate hatred or stereotyping. I just saw it as something that "could" happen, but I agree. There really is no need to be so sensitive.

[kayttaja]

... there would be a huge range in the quality of the recordings (both in in-game enjoyment value and sound quality)

I was thinking that maybe the sounds could be given a walkie-talkie feel, if the sounds aren't clear it would be harder to immediately recognize differences.

[croutonshield]

And no, I don't mean just putting in voices from the other localizations. I'm talking about custom voices, made by other users. Would it be possible to record your own voice and stick it in the game for usage? That would certainly add to unit variety by a shitton.

 

YES.

 

What I'd really like to do is to use audio files from other games; for example, I extracted Miranda's dialogue from Mass Effect 2, and there's more than enough to make a new XCOM sound bank -- perfect for female Australian soldiers!

 

Obviously, I could just build a list of Miranda files and rename them as SF01TargetSpottedHidden02, SF01CivilianRescue05, SF01SoldierFlanked04, et cetera, then convert them to Soundwaves and repack. And voila! Except for two problems:

 

1) For legal reasons, I wouldn't want to distribute, in any way, a repacked FemaleVoice1_Bank0_SF (for example) that contains copyrighted material from other games.

 

2) I don't want to *replace* any of the XCOM voices, which I quite like.

 

What would be *amazing* is if someone could create a utility for adding new voices, so that we could create our own local banks of audio from other games/movies/TV, from our microphones, from fans around the world submitting XCOM dialogue in their local accents. Unfortunately, it's not something I can do; I've never done any kind of modding before, and know nothing of coding/programming/whathaveyou.

 

Failing a utility, if someone could figure out how to go into the code and create new voice bank references, and post those instructions in these forums, I wouldn't mind painstakingly creating/renaming file after file if it meant I could give my Greek/Ukranian/Russian soldiers Niko Bellic's voice. :tongue:

 

Thoughts?

 

[thebayoubullet]

For those of us who are fine with replacing voices instead of adding them, is there a simple way for us to do that if we have our own wav/mp3 files?

[Prunebutt]

I'd really love to hear custom voices from around the globe in the game. It would be authentic and everything.

 

Could somebody maybe find out all the lines they use for one voice in the game? Something like:

 

Enemy spotted 1

Enemy spotted 2

Enemy down 1

...

 

Then people could just go ahead and contribute the stuff which then could be rated. This would solve at least a few problems mentioned (I could upload profanity and racism even now on the texture page but it gets downvoted and eventually banned before I could say ”I'm not a racist, but...”). Maybe we could also form a package with the best voices.

 

As for adding new voices: This is the Unreal engine... It can't be that hard, can it? And if needed: I think we could contact Firaxis. They have shown they like their fans and maybe can tell the community a few hints how to do this.

 

I would volunteer to do a custom voice (german accent). Not only one but three, if you like! My Arnold Schwarzenegger impression is not the best when you just look at the voice but at least I know what an Austrian sounds like in his native tounge! ;)

Edited November 3, 2012 by Prunebutt

[Jonas1412jensen]

if anyone is working on this mod then i would love helping.

 

im Danish so i could add the Nordic voices as good as i can. (Swedish, Norwegian)

 

give me a list of the lines needed and weather or not you want and swears (English or Nordic) also what recording program is best for you.

 

if interested. send a mail to: [email protected]

 

Jonas.

[Anbar]

Obviously, I could just build a list of Miranda files and rename them as SF01TargetSpottedHidden02, SF01CivilianRescue05, SF01SoldierFlanked04, et cetera, then convert them to Soundwaves and repack. And voila! Except for two problems:

 

THREE problems: your two PLUS - it wouldnt work. ¬_¬

 

compile your voices, rename into the correct titles and post them out for download... when i get a chance next week i'll sort out getting them into a mod.

 

its NOT as easy as you think though and you WILL have to replace some of the existing voices: there is no way at all to add new voices (atm)