Qualifier key for VAC On/Off Switch necessary?

[Dutch]

Hi,

Great little program! Just downloaded it and the programming and usage is very intuitive. I also like the fact that it minimizes to the traybar.

I do have 2 questions about it:
1. When i want to enter a key for the VAC On/off switch, i must enter a qualifier key first (f.e. LCTRL). Is there a reason for this?
I would like to use the Numerical * (KP*) for this and cannot program it this way.

2. Is it possible to directly assign a joystick button to PTA or VAC On/Off?

Thank you and kind regards,
Dutch

[Lanser]

Hi there,

I'm thinking along similar lines to you Dutch. I'm another new user to VAC too. I have been using an alternate voice recognition package for about the last month or two within Battlefield 2. VAC was recommended to me on the Tactical Gamer forums after I published a thread detailing Voice Recognition and it's application for interacting with the Commo Rose in BF2. I am not sure if you're aware but the old menu keypress system is done away with. Now to issue commands, make requests, spot enemies etc one has to depress the 'Q' key and navigate a radial menu with your mouse and then right click your selected option and then release the 'Q' key. This meant voice recogntion wasn't a feasible option for a default BF2 installation. However by editing some a configuration file it allows interaction with the commo rose by still using the 'Q' key and also the Numpad. This opened the door for voice recognition software and interesting threads on TotalBF2 and Tactical Gamer.

I have to say I am most impressed with VAC despite only experimenting with it for a short while. I converted the XML profile I had setup for BF2 in the other software to VAC's format and I have everything running pretty well now with a few slight tweaks needed. VAC is full featured and I love how full featured and flexible the VAC Builder component is. I'm defintely considering investing in this as it's so useful.

The one area I would like to see more functionality or maybe explained to me is the whole PTA area. Like Dutch said I wonder is it possible to just use one key to turn recognition on/off??. Let me explain, currently on the alternate software I am using a quick tap of the 'T' key to toggle on recognition, I say my phrase and the app responds with the appropritate key presses. Also for the majority of these commands (mainly commo rose related) voice recognition is automatically toggled off after successful execution saving me another keypress while frantically dashing about the battlefield. For some commands I prefer leaving recogntion on say when I am zooming map, calling up map or some other commands and i just issue a voice command (or sometimes keypress) to toggle off recognition again until I need it..

Is what I ask possible currently or possible in a future release?. ie. (a) would it be possible to have an option to toggle off recognition on successful completion of an Action?, giving us a choice on setting up each action (b) would be it possible to toggle on/off recognition with one keypress?.

In the meatime I will continue experimenting. Keep up the great work.

[Shift_E]

Hi Guys,

I’ll try and answer the two of you in this one post. First, thank you for your interest in VAC and your kind comments.

No, you can’t assign a joystick button to the PTA or PTD key, but this is how I work my X45 joystick with the PTD key. I assign the middle mouse button to the PTD key, then map a joystick button to the middle mouse button. This way I can use the joystick button to use the PTA or PTD key in VAC. The main reason for not adding joystick support is to keep VAC small and speedy, that’s my number one priority.

I used a two key combination for the VAC on/off toggle as a safety switch to prevent an inadvertent toggle. However, I suppose I can change the way this works and leave it up to the user. Just be aware this is not a good way to turn the microphone on and off in a game, as it takes a few seconds to initialize or shut down the speech engine.

As far as the toggle for PTA, that’s not a bad idea. Right now the PTA key doesn’t function the way most users think. Most believe it enables the microphone, it does not, nor was the PTA ever intended to be used a microphone toggle. You would need a hardware switch to enable/disable the microphone. The PTA only allows the recognized command to be sent to the game while the key is depressed. Recognition still occurs regardless of the PTA key state.

I have an update coming out soon, I’ll see if I can get the ideas the two of you have into this update.

Regards,

[Lanser]

Hi Shift_E,

Many thanks for your swift reply, greatly appreciated and thanks to Dutch for starting this thread. For testing I've been using the middle mouse button for PTA, I like this method, it's been working well during testing. However the toggle PTA suggestion I made would be a big draw for me considering the pace of the game sometimes.

Currently on the other software I have two ways of toggling/PTA'ing, one is to quick tap button 'T' when I am using my keyboard, the second is a quick tap of the left direction of my POV hat switch on my joystick (this mimics a quick tap of the 'T' key). As mentioned I have the majority of the commands auto toggle-off/PTD on completion of the action. Incidentally BF2 support is pretty limited for joysticks, only the most basic of support, so I am using a freeware third party application called JoyToKey http://www.electracode.com/4/joy2key/JoyToKey%20English%20Version.htm . It's bascially a keyboard emulator for joysticks, allowing me to add lots of functionality in game. I experimented with the two button activation method (assigned them to single button) for VAC on/off toggle on my joystick and also on my keyboard but unfortunately while they work outside of BF2 they don't appear to work in game; but as you rightly pointed out what I am really looking for is the PTA toggle. It could be partly DirectX reasons the experimentation didn't work as expected, partly the keys have other functions and do something else in game like using the Alt keys for instance started turning on and off the 3D map function in game instead of turning on/off the speech engine, PTA key works fine however. In fact if the PTA toggle/leave-on idea is taken on by you it might be just as well to leave the VAC on/off toggle the way it is?, the two key safety is a sound idea. I know with a single key PTA that when it comes to wanting to type text messages in game the PTA toggle if a single key is likely to interfere with texting (as it does for me currently, I have to use AutoHotkey to kill the process and start it again when i'm finished typing). You have already thought it might be useful to turn on or off the speech engine at the users discretion and have accounted for it

As another incidental I'm using a Logitech G15 keyboard, it has macro functionality too, but I mainly use a Nostromo N52 Speedpad instead of keyboard for gaming http://tomshardware.co.uk/2004/03/06/game_controller/index.html I was using it's macro functionality to try turning VAC on/off too with the same results as above so it seems more key combinations must be required for easily turning on/off the speech engine whilst BF2 is running. I still think you were right on the two button method though here.

Anyway apologies for the information overload LOL. Just think you have a great idea going here. I will PM you some info related to my testing.

Many thanks again.

[Dutch]

Hi,

Thanks for your fast replies!

I wasn´t aware that it takes some time to open/close the microphone when using the On/Off switch. So I guess it´s better to keep VAC On and use the PTA to issue commands.

Also, i didn´t know that programming the possibility of using buttons has such an impact on the sleekness of the program. I thought it would be like programming the usage of keys or mouse btns, just another feature.

I think you are right by putting priority on keep the program as sleek as possible. Most games need all the resources they can get already...

Kind regards,
Dutch

[Shift_E]

Hi Guys,

VAC is where it is today because of people like the two of you who offer ideas and information to me. Since I’m a gamer too I’m all for making VAC better for the people who enjoy gaming. There have been some great ideas from the VAC community and my hat is off to the fine group of people that make up the VAC community.

@Dutch-
To add joystick support I would have to add a DirectX interface to VAC. Since most joysticks have the ability to map buttons to keyboard keys, I didn’t feel the extra “weight” justified adding DirectX to VAC.

I’ll ask the two of you this question. I have been thinking of adding a function to VAC that would allow VAC to enter a sleep mode with a voice toggle on/off switch. There would be two functions, the first called ‘sleep’ and the second called ‘awake’, either function could be assigned any activation phrases you wish. Would this functionality work for either you?

@Lanser-
I still like the PTA arm key and will be adding it to VAC.

Thanks again for the feed back I do appreciate the dialog, it helps me know what the community needs.

[Lanser]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for being flexible with our input Shift_E. I like your two ideas, namely the phrase for sleep mode on/off in VAC and the PTA arm/disarm thing.

Would be happy to help you in testing it out.

Regards,

Lanser

[Dutch]

Hi,

I actually already tried implementing this feature to use a voice command to turn the VAC on and off.

There is an addon called Copilot from LeftSeat Simulations for the LevelD 767 for Fs2004 (an addon for an addon...) which allows you to command the 767 by voice. It can be turned on and off by the commands "go to sleep" and "wake up" and it works quite nicely.

I tried this for VAC by adding the voice command "go to sleep" and assign the same key-command to it, I used for turning the VAC On/Off.
But this didn´t work.

Regards,
Dutch

[Shift_E]

Hi Guys,

I'll start adding the two features into VAC, thanks for your feedback.

@Dutch-
Yeah, I did the same thing, but then I realized I wouldn’t be able to turn VAC back on with voice because the speech engine was unloaded.

Thanks,

[Snake_Eyes]

Afternoon chaps,

Not trying to Hijack the thread. Just a quick message for Lanser.

I do apologise for not answering you in the following thread at Tactical Gamer Lanser:

http://www.tacticalgamer.com/battlefiel ... post473120

Answer is there for you now. (I never revisited the thread after my last post).

Shift_E - Fantastic Progam sir, I try to let everyone know about it wherever I go - If you ever visit the UK, I will be first in queue to buy you a pint - cheers.