Voices

AI Vocal Sets

Although AI come with a default vocal set, mappers can easily modify what kind of voice each AI uses.

For an example of the kinds of lines each vocal set includes, see Vocal Script: Average Jack.

AI Characters

In order to create a variety of character types, vocal sets have been created for various "characters". A character, in this sense, is a distinctive voice, personality, and way of speaking. The vocal set of any particular character can technically be used for any AI type, though some have been tailored to suit particular AI better than others.

By designing 'character' voices, mappers have the freedom to give voices to AI based on their personality rather than just their entity type.

Changing the voice of an AI

There are two ways to change the voice of an AI.

Dark Radiant's Voice Selector & Preview

• In Dark Radiant, select the AI and check the 'show inherited properties' checkbox at the top of Entity Inspector.
• Scroll down to "def_vocal_set" and select it
• A button should now show at the bottom of Entity Inspector 'Select Vocal Set'
• Click that button and select a voice.
• You can use the 'play' button shown in that selector to hear samples of the voices.

Manually typing the voice name

NOTE: Now that DR has a built-in voice selector, complete with preview, there should be no need to type voices in manually. The following list will no longer be updated.

To change the voice of any AI add the following spawnarg to the AI in your map:

"def_vocal_set"   "[name of vocal set from list below]"

Vocal Sets

The available character vocals are listed below. Each set has a "guard" and "civilian" version. Choose the civilian version for unarmed characters.

Vocal sets are defined in darkmod/def/tdm_ai_vocal_sets.def

1. "The Thug" -- crude and crass; uneducated; violent; threatening voice, talks about gambling, bullying, whoring, and bodily functions; swears a lot (suits guards, commoners, thieves)

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_thug_guard_01
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_thug_civilian_01

Hear Example

2. "The Grumbler" -- a bored, seen-it-all character with a gravelly voice; complains a lot; uneducated; gruff, talks about his aches, pains, hunger, boredom, losing at gambling, etc (suits guards, forger, servants, commoners)

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_grumbler_guard_01 - "A bored, seen-it-all character with a gravelly voice; complains a lot; uneducated; gruff, talks about his aches, pains, hunger, boredom, losing at gambling, etc (suits guards, forger, servants, commoners)."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_grumbler_civilian_01 - "A bored, seen-it-all character with a gravelly voice; complains a lot; uneducated; gruff, talks about his aches, pains, hunger, boredom, losing at gambling, etc (suits guards, forger, servants, commoners)."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_grumbler_drunk

Hear Example

3. "The Pro" -- professional, cool; uneducated but experienced; man of few words, very aware of his surroundings, often predicts the player's behaviour; talks about doing his job well (suits guards, elite guards, mages, thieves, inventors, nobles)

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_pro_guard_01 - "Professional, cool; uneducated but experienced; man of few words, very aware of his surroundings, often predicts the player's behaviour; talks about doing his job well (suits guards, elite guards, mages, thieves, inventors, nobles)."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_pro_civilian_01 - "Professional, cool; uneducated but experienced; man of few words, very aware of his surroundings, often predicts the player's behaviour; talks about doing his job well (suits guards, elite guards, mages, thieves, inventors, nobles)."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_pro_trainer
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_pro_trainer_feint

Hear Example

4. "The Mature Builder (Builder 3)" -- strong voice, experienced, determined; archaic language; patient and somewhat monotone, talks about servitude, orthodoxy (suits builder guards, forgers, inquisitors, priests)

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_03_guard
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_03_civilian

Hear Example

5. "The Young Builder (Builder 4)" -- young; overzealous; slips out of archaic language sometimes; cliché scriptures, full of faith and burning with confidence, talks about doing great things. (suits builder guards, acolytes)

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_04_guard
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_04_civilian

Hear Example

6. "The Lord" -- strong voice; educated; arrogant and cold; dismissive, talks about himself and his own power/money. The Lord is used to being obeyed. (suits noblemen, elite guards, mages, inventor scientists)

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_lord_guard_01 - "Strong voice; educated; arrogant and cold; dismissive, talks about himself and his own power/money. The Lord is used to being obeyed. (suits noblemen, elite guards, mages, inventor scientists)"
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_lord_civilian_01 - "Strong voice; educated; arrogant and cold; dismissive, talks about himself and his own power/money. The Lord is used to being obeyed. (suits noblemen, elite guards, mages, inventor scientists)"

Hear Example

7. "The Simpleton" -- a simple, unintelligent character, who speaks in a slow, measured voice. He goes about his life dealing with the here and now, and doesn’t think much about anything beyond what he’s doing. Tends to state the obvious. (suits commoners, generic guards)

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_simpleton_guard_01 - "a simple, unintelligent character, who speaks in a slow, measured voice. He goes about his life dealing with the here and now, and doesn't think much about anything beyond what he's doing. Tends to state the obvious. (suits commoners, generic guards)."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_simpleton_civilian_01 - "A simple, unintelligent character, who speaks in a slow, measured voice. He goes about his life dealing with the here and now, and doesn't think much about anything beyond what he's doing. Tends to state the obvious. (suits commoners, dumb servants)"

Hear Example

8. "Average Jack" -- (added 1.02) a generic character, tends to complain. (Suits commoners, generic guards. An example article of the character's vocal script.)

each 'type' below is basically the same, but with slightly different idle lines.

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_jack_guard_01 generic character, tends to complain. (suits commoners, generic guards)
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_jack_civilian_01 - "A generic character, tends to complain. (suits generic commoners)"
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_jack_beggar_01 - "A generic beggar character, tends to complain."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_jack_cook_01 - "A generic cook character, tends to complain."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_jack_labourer_01 - "A generic labourer character, tends to complain."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_jack_merchant_01 - "A generic merchant character, tends to complain."

Hear Example

9. "The Lady" -- (added 1.03), a snooty woman, suitable for aristocratic women.

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_lady_01 - "An aristocratic woman, ready to fight."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_lady_guard_01 - "An aristocratic woman."

Hear Example

10. "The Wench" -- (added 1.03), a low-class woman with something of a foul mouth. Comes with slightly different versions.

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_wench_guard_01 - "A saucy woman, ready to fight ."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_wench_civilian_01 - "A saucy woman, unarmed."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_wench_soft_guard_01 - "A softer spoken woman, ready to fight." (includes lines with slightly softer delivery)
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_wench_soft_civilian_01 - "A softer spoken woman, unarmed." (includes lines with slightly softer delivery)
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_wench_whore_01 - "A lady of the night, unarmed." (a few additional lines suitable to prostitutes)
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_wench_barmaid_01 - "A saucy barmaid." (a few additional lines related to ale and serving)

Hear Example

11. "The Lady02" -- (added 1.04), an upper class noblewoman voice (same actress as Wench, and voices are recognizably similar).

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_lady_02 - - "An aristocratic woman."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_lady_armed_02 - "An aristocratic woman, ready to fight."

Hear Example

12. "The Critic" -- (added 1.04), a slightly upper-class, know-it-all voice; has an opinion on everything and frequently offers advice. Suitable for nobles, mages, inventors, and snooty servants or guards.

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_critic_armed_01 - "A know-it all, well-spoken character, who always thinks he knows best. (suits nobles, mages, or snooty guards)"
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_critic_unarmed_01 - "A know-it all, well-spoken character, who always thinks he knows best. (suits nobles, snooty servants)"
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_critic_inventor_armed_01 - "A know-it all, well-spoken character. (suits commoners, generic guards)"
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_critic_inventor_unarmed_01 - "A know-it all, well-spoken character. (tailored to inventors)"
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_critic_mage_01 - "A know-it all, well-spoken character. (tailored to mages)"

Hear Example

??. "Builder 1" -- middle-aged; somewhat zealous; (suits builder guards, acolytes)

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_01 -- contains only a builder conversation ("How much longer must we guard this accursed place ?", etc.)

Hear Example

??. "Builder 2" -- middle-aged; calm and intellectual-sounding, but can be zealous; (suits builder guards, priests)

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_02_priest - "Experienced; zealous; occasionaly uses archaic language; strong voice (suits builder guards)"
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_02_priest_armed - "Experienced; zealous; occasionaly uses archaic language; strong voice (some specific lines tailored for priests)."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_02_priest_civilian

Hear Example

??. "The Drunk" -- (added ?.??), gravelly voiced, inebriated male character, limited intelligence.

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_drunk_citywatch_01 - "A gravelly-voiced, inebriated city watch member of limited intelligence."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_drunk_civilian_01 - "A gravelly-voiced, inebriated character of limited intelligence."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_drunk_guard_01 - "A gravelly-voiced, inebriated guard of limited intelligence."

Hear Example

??. "The Commander" -- (added ?.??), male, slight northern English accent, has a hint of pride and confidence in his voice, used to leading others and commanding them (hence Commander).

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_commander_armed_01 - "Slight northern accent. This character is used to leading other people. He is strong, confident and used to being listened to. He talks a lot about plans and organization. Suitable for guard leaders or noblemen."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_commander_mage_01 - "A strong, commandeering character, tailored to mages. Slight northern accent."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_commander_unarmed_01 - "This civilian is used to leading other people. Slight northern accent. He is strong, confident and used to being listened to. He talks a lot about plans and organization. Suitable for guard leaders or noblemen."

Hear Example

??. "The Cynic" -- (added ?.??), gravelly voiced, inebriated male character, limited intelligence.

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_cynic_armed_01 - "This is a cynical, hot-tempered character who complains a lot about his job. Suits guards."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_cynic_citywatch - "This city watch member is a cynical, hot-tempered character. Complains a lot about his job."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_cynic_unarmed_01 - "This civilian is a cynical, hot-tempered character who complains a lot about his job."

Hear Example

??. "The Maiden" -- (added ?.??), a young female character. Suitable for cjaracters for characters from the common class, tradeswomen, etc. An earnest and somewhat timid personality.

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_maiden_armed_01 - "This is a young female from the common class. She is a probably a servant or tradeswoman. She is earnest and somewhat timid and used to being ordered around by her betters."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_maiden_mage - "This is a young female mage. She is earnest and somewhat timid."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_maiden_unarmed_01 - "This is a young female from the common class. She is a probably a servant or tradeswoman. She is earnest and somewhat timid and used to being ordered around by her betters."

Hear Example

17. "The Moor" -- (added 2.02), a foreign accent, with a hint of the Mediterranean or North Africa; stern and calm. Suitable for overseas soldiers, mercenaries, mages, merchants and nobles, ideally combined with the Moorish NPC models.

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_moor_armed_01 - "A foreign Moor from the southern desert lands across the sea."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_moor_mage - "A foreign sorcerer from the southern desert lands across the sea."
• atdm:ai_vocal_set_moor_unarmed_01 - "This civilian is a foreign Moor from the southern desert lands across the sea."

Hear Example

Incomplete vocal sets:

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_01 -- contains only a builder conversation

• atdm:ai_vocal_set_builder_02 -- about 3/4 complete at present, barely usable.

Hear Example

(This section is in need of an update to 2.05 standards. - April 2018)

See also

Voice actors - An article with an overview of available voice actors (both the ones from the official vocal sets, and various capable and willing volunteers).

Conversations - How to edit together a convincing conversation between NPCs for an FM.