SummSpeaks, Speech and MI2

[iPwnzorz]

Ok anyway. I've used ScummSpeaks to add some speech to MI2. And apparently the reason I can't hear my speech is because ScummVM doesn't like it.

I edited some of the subtitles which worked fine but I can't actually hear any speech.

The ScummSpeaks readme tells me:
"When playing MI2, you can't see text and hear speech at the same time. This
is a problem with ScummVM, so complain to them about it. You'll notice
it also happens in the talkie version of Indiana Jones and the Fate of
Atlantis."

So you know. I'm doing the normal person thing and complaining.

Any workarounds/plans to fix/ways to fix/howtos to fix/make it works?

[eriktorbjorn]

You'll notice it also happens in the talkie version of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

Huh? I get both speech and subtitles when I play Fate of Atlantis. I can't remember a time when that did not work.

I have no idea about ScummSpeaks, though. Until it was mentioned here a few days, I hadn't even heard of it.

[iPwnzorz]

I think it means when you modify the speech.

[md5]

This is quite weird though... why does the author of ScummSpeaks insists that it's a problem with ScummVM? If he got his facts wrong about Fate of Atlantis, he might be wrong about MI2 as well. ScummVM supports all different versions of the SCUMM engine, including games featuring both text and speech...

What also strikes me as odd is that we're an open source project, and have traditionally supported attempts at custom modifications to games from users (e.g. new translations, enhanced audio and so forth). So it's really strange that the author of ScummSpeaks did not show up himself and mention the problem he's having with his program, MI2 and ScummVM, and instead chose to leave a complaint comment in the README of his program... We're not psychics, we can't predict every single problem ourselves (and in this case, I'm unsure if it's our problem anyway), people need to cooperate...

[dj jack]

I think the problem is that the readme that comes with ScummSpeaks looks very old. It says that ScummSpeaks can't handle .sog nor .so3 files when in fact it does, so maybe the problems are solved by now. I tried adding a few voice clips to my version (Monkey Island 2 Italian version) and it worked like a charm with voice and text at the same time!
Maybe you're doing something wrong?

[iPwnzorz]

Hmmm could be. Or maybe I have issues with my FLAC encoders?

Jack, could you tell me your process?

ACTUALLY: Is the problem with my MONSTER file? When saving a "MONSTER.SOU" it saves MONSTER.SOU.sog, I remove the .sog extension, also saving MONSTER.SOG itself just in case...

AAAACTUALLY: It IS working but not working.
I have in my .txt file:

Code: Select all

\xFF\x0A\x02\x00\xFF\x0A\x00\x00\xFF\x0A\x0A\x00\xFF\x0A\x00\x00So I bust into the church and say, "Now you're in for it, you bilious bag of barnacle bait!"

And in game it just skips the line.


EDIT #3 Please: Ok it works. I have speech. I got it wrong, the problem that speech doesn't work ISN'T ScummVM, the fact Subtitles and speech can't be displayed together is. I think. Now someone hand me ScummVM for Dummies so I can attempt to fix it.




IGNORE EVERYTHING: I had it set to "Speech Only" :$ everything works.

[fingolfin]

That's nonsense. ScummVM is perfectly able to display speech and subtitles at the same time, at least in all regular speech enabled games. Just select "Speech and Subtitles" in the config dialog.

If it doesn't work in this case, then because of a bug in this hack tool -- since i never saw it or heard about it before this thread (in particular it's author never talked to us, either), I can't judge that, though.

[iPwnzorz]

Yep sorry. It was my mistake. It all works now like I said (progressively) in my last post.

[jestar_jokin]

Hi there,

I'm the author of ScummSpeaks.

I have to apologise to everyone. ScummSpeaks was a little utility I wrote for myself 3 years ago, never intending to distribute it. Then... I released it! I'm not particularly proud of it; I haven't even made a binary for it. If I did have a problem with my program, it'd be due to my own stupidity, so I wouldn't want to trouble the ScummVM team, who actually know what they're doing.

Second, I don't know what I was smoking when I wrote my readme.txt, as I just tested FoA in ScummVM 0.5 and it has both speech and subtitles. And my hack works with both speech and subtitles. And although I state otherwise in the readme, ScummSpeaks does support compressed speech files.

Phew, well, hope that's cleared up something. If anyone wants to discuss this or my other SCUMM/MI2 programs, feel free to contact me.

My other programs are:
ScummPacker - pack and unpack MI2 resource files, and monster.sou files.
SCUMM Image Encoder - very basic, lets you decode background images, and encode lossless non-transparent images (with a quite limited palette). You'll also need ScummPacker to use the images in-game.
Scummbler - a terrible assembler for SCUMM v5 scripts, mostly just created to make a text-to-speech script. I was considering writing a new parser that used the scripts created from the ScummVM descumm tools

I was also considering adding speech to MI1, but I believe it requires a small change to the ScummVM code.

[iPwnzorz]

Whoo! Jestar!

There we go then. All cleared up. I can get on with forcing people to play Monkey Island characters (hint hint).

Yeah it was all my own fault, I had options set wrong, I didn't insert the text and all that crap. I get it now. Honest.

[fingolfin]

jestar_jokin, thanks for clarifying all this.

There are lots of tools out there which allow you to extract, reassemble, decode/encode, etc. data from various LEC games scattered all over the net. Would be nice if some of that would be unified some day, and if it just was for fun...

[CrisGer]

so can we get a copy of the speech files for MI2 and or 1? i would love to have talk in either or both, have wanted that for years.

[iPwnzorz]

Project's in early stages! You could have the speech files of "Test, Test, Test" if you want And that's only the campfire scene. MI1 isn't supported.

[CrisGer]

hehehe, Test Test Test is indeed a exciting addtion to the dialog thanks for working on this, sounds great....

[iPwnzorz]

I've just added in some lines for the only character I can find an appropriate voice for - Bart. I just need to make them a tad louder and for the first time ever Monkey Island 2 will have a fully speaking character! I sort of mimicked David Byrne's speaking voice (mainly from the Simpson's) because it just seemed... right.

As for "Bottles on the Wall" I sang the first thing that came to my head: "I know a song that'll get on yer nerves!" The subtitles are still the same, but it was an interesting test.

Unless someone gives me some better lines for Bart, I'll be keeping these in and recording the rest of his lines.

BUT I NEED ACTORS! Someone, anyone with any level of experience or talent - if you think you could voice a Monkey Island character send me in e-mail or PM or something the line .ogg format (I'm using MONSTER.SOG) and let me know the full sentence or, if you know it, the line number! Serious enquiries only

I'm currently focusing on Scabb Island voices, so I need a Wally, Largo, Marty, Bartender, Cook, Low-moral Fibre, Voodoo Lady (something close to the MI3 voice?) and Fink. I might have missed a few.

If I find a screen recorder that'll take sound as well (a few I found hadn't) I'll post my current progress on YouTube...