I saw on avsim today that a program called speech buddy has been released to allow speech to replace keyboard commands. The program also uses FSUIPC in FS2K2. Does anyone know if this program will work with RC?BillKORD

Hi Bill,yes it works with RC. I am using SpeechBuddy since version 2, and I would never fly without it any more. The important difference to other voice regognition programs is that you can control everything that you can set via FSUIPC, provided you are a little familiar with script programming (but the included sample scripts for FS2K2 already contain lots of useful commands). A great program, and it's free ... :)Regards,Dirk

Dirk:Thanks for the info. Can you give me an idea of what you are using speech buddy for with RC. Will it allow you to acknowledge controlers with a voice command instead of keyboard, etc.Bill

Hi Bill,>Thanks for the info. Can you give me an idea of what you >are using speech buddy for with RC. Will it allow you to >acknowledge controlers with a voice command instead of >keyboard, etc. Yes, I control RC completely with voice commands, no need to type anything in. E.g. I say "Roger, " to acknoledge (keypress '7'), or "Roger and switch frequency, " to acknoledge and switch the frequencey (keypress '1'). For the other menu options I have a generic routine using "Select number ", but you could also map any phrase you want to that.It comes in extremely handy when the workload is getting tough (takeoff, approach) and you don't have to take your hands off the controls ... :)Besides RC I have mapped a lot of FS commands to voice, e.g. all autopilot settings (AP on/off, altitude, course, heading, etc), showing/hiding certain panel windows (GPS, radiostack, FSNav), even setting new Nav frequencies. You can program any keystroke, and in addition any function that is accessible through FSUIPC...Dirk

Dirk:Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it. I will have to give it a try.Bill

Hi Dirk,Would you be kind enough to send me your RC file? I've downloaded the huge MS file needed to set things up and would like to try SpeechBuddy with RC.My address is [email protected] remove NoSpam from the address.Thanks!

Dirk, I've been following this topic and got speechbuddy and the MS files to get things started. So far I'm really enjoying the program. If it's not too much trouble could you email me your RC files as well? Question, do you have RC on another computer? I understand speechbuddy uses FSUIPC and was wondering if the voice commands would allow the keystrokes to be sent to my second computer using speechbuddy. Right now I'm just experimenting with the default 2002 xml file included in the program and if yours are more in-depth, would appreciate yours. thanks in [email protected] Charles

Hi Charles,> I've been following this topic and got speechbuddy and the >MS files to get things started. So far I'm really enjoying >the program. If it's not too much trouble could you email me >your RC files as well? Question, do you have RC on another >computer? I understand speechbuddy uses FSUIPC and was >wondering if the voice commands would allow the keystrokes >to be sent to my second computer using speechbuddy. It doesn't make any difference with SpeechBuddy whether you use RC3 on the main machine or via WideFS on the second computer, because RC3 will always take the keyboard input from the server (and there you will run SpeechBuddy too, right ?). This means you don't need any special SpeechBuddy rules or command for a remote RC3 at all.I sent you my configuration files, check your email ....Regards,Dirk

Could you kindly send your Speech Buddy file to me too? Thank you in [email protected]

Dear DirkDue to your most interesting posting I downloaded "Speechbuddy" and very much enjoy it! The "Select 1, etc." calls work fine with RC. I am very grateful to get your specific RC-File as well, if possible: [email protected] . Thank you! May I direct some queries to you. I assume that Speechbuddy only supports FS2k2's default aircrafts. As I fly PSS's Airbus it seems that not all keys are supported, however, flaps, gears do work normally. Also, Speechbuddy seems to shut down constantly after the third or fourth call. If that wouldn't happen, I could use Speechbuddy with FDC and RC, which would really be delightful! Did you experience any instability so far?Thank you very much!Sam, LSZH

Hi Dirk, Maybe it's an idea to upload your RC files to the Avsim Library? I am sure many more people want to try out your RC files with Speechbuddy, at least I want to try them as well! So if you'd be so kind and upload them? If you dont want to do that can you please e-mail them to me as well? [email protected] in advance!Oh and Sam, with me the speechbuddy is unstable as well after a few minutes it just stops responding, I am not sure what it is...

Hi Dirk,Thank you for sending me your files. I'll respond publically should I have any questions so others can chip in if they wish.Regards,

Thank you for your posting, Binabik!At least I know by now, that the instability probably doesn't rely to the fact that I use Speechbuddy with non default aircrafts... Do you use it with default aircrafts only?However, if the instability could be solved Speechbuddy would really be another great addon to the FS environment!Sam

Hello Sam, I just got Dirk's files and havn't had a chance to try them yet but I noticed you're flying the Airbus also. I did a lot of trial and error with the Airbus yesterday and did find some panels that responded to the original FS2K xml/dws file, some that didn't. The drop out from the program seemed to occur (at least on my machine) after I spoke a command it didn't recognise. If I repeated the command more than a few time the program just stopped. After a few quits and restarts of FS2K, I started giving the program a "testing" call immediately after each command it didn't respond to and I didn't get a program hang after that at all. Of course I also didn't use that command again. I also went back to the SAPI training menu and kept doing the voice training sessions. Things got better and the more I used the training program the more the program understood my voice inflections. I really enjoyed not having to type or hit the keyboard for the commands it responded to. About the only downside was my wife laughing her head off as I repeatedly used the MS microphone setup to set the volume. I'm still getting hit with "This Papaya taste Perfect" everytime she walks by.... Charles

Hi Sam, and all others !>May I direct some queries to you. I assume that Speechbuddy >only supports FS2k2's default aircrafts. As I fly PSS's >Airbus it seems that not all keys are supported, however, >flaps, gears do work normally. It's not really a matter of FS2K2 default aircraft versus 3rd party aircraft, but which keypresses the panel recognizes. I don't have the PSS, but let's say e.g. for some function (e.g. turn on autopilot) you would have to press key 'X' on this panel instead of the default 'z'. Sure, the "Set Autopilot On" command now doesnt work with this aircraft, but all you have to do is to modify the actual key that is send to FS2K2 for the corresponding "Set Autopilot" rule in the grammar XML file. If you need help with this, just let me know. I would think that ANY function with ANY aircraft should be programmable as long as you can trigger this function with a keystroke.>Also, Speechbuddy seems to >shut down constantly after the third or fourth call. If that >wouldn't happen, I could use Speechbuddy with FDC and RC, >which would really be delightful! Did you experience any >instability so far? I couldn't find the time to try out the new version 2.2 yet, but version 2.0 worked for me without any major problems. I used it with stock FS and other addon aircrafts. *Sometimes* during longer flights it happened that it wouldn't recognize certain commands any more, but restarting SpeechBuddy always cured this, and I never had to do this more than once. Maybe you should try the old version which can still be found here: http://www.fsdome.com/database2002-2/26-10-2002.htmAnother thing you might try is to delete all rules from the FS2002.xml which you dont really need. I think that having a smaller grammar will make the recognition more accurate.Regarding my files, the RC3 part is really small and simple so that I think it is best to post it here. All you have to do is to copy and paste the following section into your FS2002.xml :

select number

and the following section into your FS2002.dws file:procedure Select_RC3_Number( sentence : string );begin var s : string; if SpeechDisabled then exit; s := '^' + VarValue( 'NUMBER' ); XSendKey( s );end;This is a general routine that will recognize all number commands ("Select number X") and send it as CTRL+number (I've set RC3 up that way to not conflict with the FS ATC) to RC3. The '^' is the value for the CTRL-Key, have a look at sendkeys.txt for reference.Now, if you want to have more specific commands than this general "Select number X" one, you can add more rules to the FS2002.xml. Here are 2 examples which I am using, but you can easily extend them to your liking: Roger Meridian six niner oneRoger and switch Meridian six niner oneThe first one sends a CTRL-7 to RC3 whenever it recognizes "Roger Meridian Six Niner One" (change that phrase to your callsign), the second one sends CTRL-1 to RC3. For these rules you dont need any additional procedures in the FS2002.dws file, because it uses the standard recognition routine which simply sends the key specified in VALSTR (e.g. "^7" = Ctrl-7) to the application. You can add as many other rules for other phrases as you want ...Ok, hope this was all pretty easy to understand ;)If not, don't hesitate to ask again ...Oh, btw, I got an email from a Bob Fiegel. Bob, if you are reading here: I tried to send you the files (basically what I copy and pasted above), but your email address always bounced back ...Dirk