VoiceBot vs VoiceAttack

[Sarper]

Judging by the screenshots these two softwares look identical, VoiceBot has a simple scripting API as a plus I guess. What are the differences?

[gmagenheimer]

I'd like to do a proper write-up on this, as the list would (in my opinion) be extensive. I needed to provide a quick response as I'm a little bit behind after this new release. I'm not just saying this as the author to generate sales, but the extra three dollars would be worth it (again, in my opinion) as there is about seven years' worth of feature difference between the two titles. If there are any users out there that have both, I'd love to hear from you ;)

PS-VA has a scripting interface, plus a plugin interface.

[Sarper]

Thanks for the quick response, I would be interested in a detailed listed comparison!

[gmagenheimer]

Originally posted by Mortiis:

Thanks for the quick response, I would be interested in a detailed listed comparison!

It's going to take a bit of effort to get that out at the moment. I would encourage you to take both for a test spin. The VoiceAttack trial version can be downloaded here: http://www.voiceattack.com/download
The Steam demo is yet to be re-released. Going to try to get something out this weekend.

[Lensman]

The biggest difference between the two is goiong to be in the scripting language. Both programs will do the same thiing, but in different ways.

Voice Attack uses a more customized scripting language, which I feel makes it a slightly better choice for new players willing to spend time creating their own profile "just for them". The system voice attack offers for the average user who does not know anything about programming for me was a big factor.

VoiceBot is a bit more "flexable" when it comes to programming, due to it using C# code. in some ways, this seems to make voicebot the better choioce for scripting. The program's embrace of the C# language means taht you're only limitation is your knowledge of coding. If you're comfortable coding in C#, you can do anything form arrays to if-and, if-or and if-else scripting. However, Voicebot relies on the user already knowing the language - instructions, tutorials, etc. are hard to come by, and you may end up finding a guide elsewhere - but THIS IS BASED ON MY PERSONAL EXPERIECE.

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT SCRIPTING:
Although i feel that voicebot is the better choice for scripting, I feel that this must be further addressed. Voicebot uses a built-in C# editor, giving you access to the c# library and all that comes with it.

Voice Attack however uses a more customized scripting language. This is based on the fact that Gary himself has modified and changed code over the course of several updates to get it "right" - and several times the community for Voice Attack has helped, made suggestions or offiered solutions for particulary tricky code - both in Beta and in Alpha versions. Gary has, over the past 3-4 years that i've been part of the community, ALWAYS tried to keep an honest and open dialogue with all his users, and he has a white board of features that he's woring on both for himself and for the community,that would probably drive most AAA publisher to drininking.

Voicebot uses cloud-sharing built-in. this makes finding and sharimg profiles a bit easier for a new user. a few searches will let you easily find what's avaible and download the profile. Options are present prevent this, although i have not fully tested this area.

Voice Attack, as yet, has not embraced this feature, but i'm sure it's on the to-do list, and now that we have the program on steam, it may be possible to take advantage of the "steam workshop" to give us a community-centric place to store and share files, tutorials, etc..


Those are some of the biggest differences from my point of view, hope this helps.

[gmagenheimer]

Thanks for the writeup, Grendel, that's really encouraging to me. Did you know VoiceAttack has C# and VB.net scripting? It's referred to as an, 'inline function'. You can communicate directly with VA (just like the plugin interface), and even opt to keep the function, 'resident'. There's also the ability to compile and distribute/sell the resulting assembly if you wanted to. I'd encourage you to take a look at that if you're into it.

Gary has, over the past 3-4 years that i've been part of the community, ALWAYS tried to keep an honest and open dialogue with all his users, and he has a white board of features that he's woring on both for himself and for the community,that would probably drive most AAA publisher to drininking.

Lol! I use this software... a lot. It better be right (or really close).

[Lavaeolus]

I own both and though I am a big fan of C# (and a professional programmer) I found there is another point in favor of VoiceAttack. VoiceBot may be a bit more flexible (but I would not bet on it) but you have to know or learn C# and .NET to use it and additionally, as far as I know, up till now you will have to implement a lot of basic stuff in Voicebot, which Voice Attack brings along. So until there is a decent set of "libraries" for VoiceBot you will have to do a lot of stuff by yourself. And this does not even take into account the plugins VoiceAttack already has.
For Elite Dangerous VoiceBot has still a long way to go, before it even comes close to what already exists for Voice Attack.

[Morwo]

Voicebot aviable in german, Voiceattack not

[gmagenheimer]

Originally posted by Morwo:

Voicebot aviable in german, Voiceattack not

Yeah, unfortunately VoiceAttack's interface is only available in English... I didn't think it would even be sold in the U.S., to be honest lol ;) VoiceAttack will support German via the Windows speech engine (so you can speak German), but the interface needs to be changed so that the screens can be read in German. I'm looking at version 2 of VoiceAttack for that level of update (that will be a while, sorry).

[Lavaeolus]

I am willing to help with the translation if it comes to that!

[gmagenheimer]

Originally posted by Lavaeolus:

I am willing to help with the translation if it comes to that!

That would be awesome, Lavaeolus! Somebody that knows about the software that also does the translation would be best.

On a side note... I know this isn't *quite* the same, but, I am working toward opening up the speech engine options for VoiceAttack (which includes a few more languages).

[gmagenheimer]

If you would like to try out VoiceAttack side-by-side with VoiceBot, there is a simple VB to VA profile converter available here: https://www.voiceattack.com/filesend.aspx?id=VBtoVA.zip Just unzip to a folder for use. To use, just export a VB profile to a folder. Then run the converter and select the exported profile. The VA profile is generated (.vap) and saved in the same directory as the source profile. If you are using the full version of VA, you can import the entire new profile. If you are using the VA trial, open VA, edit the, 'My Profile' profile and click the, 'import commands' button on the bottom. From there you'll be able to select up to 20 of the VB commands.

[gmagenheimer]

Originally posted by Lavaeolus:

I am willing to help with the translation if it comes to that!

I sent you a couple emails regarding translation ;) Hope you're still into it!

[Lavaeolus]

Sorry I missed your mails (they were hidden in a large pile of unread emails. I guess I should improve my mail sorting filters. I still willing to help with the translation and I have replied to your mail today.