So what's the deal with the new spirit box?

[Zadok_m]

Dunno if it's just me but this thing has become so much more annoying to use in a way that I can't tell if me talking into it is the problem or if it just refuses to pick up what i say through the mic much more consistently than it did in previous patches.

From what I understand about the T1 spirit box is that the little light on the right side will turn red if there's no response and white if you do get a response. But then there'll be segments where I ask the various questions upwards of 8 times and the light doesn't turn red or white. Is this inconsistency just due to the fact that it's not upgraded or am I missing something else?

[Myth Alric]

The spirit box has always been a little bit of a pain. Make sure the light is off in the room, and speak clearly and wait a couple of seconds after you speak before trying it again.

If it is still annoying you can put it on text in the options, you can't move while using it but the text options are always picked up.

[WolfLink0370]

its' response rate and range are lower than one would be used to as well. Also seems this update brought about some voice recognition bugs, but I seem to be able to fix those by going to sounds and changing which mic is my default device (temporarily in the event that it is in fact already on my preferred microphone)

[Kaisoku]

I'm having about a 5+ second delay on when I say something, and the game responding to what I've said.
Not for "hearing my microphone", rather it seems to be the interpretation of my words. I don't know if this is the game, or my own speech recognition in Windows, but it's affecting Spirit Box, Ouija Board and Monkey Paw, because they all need to understand what words I've said.

I haven't tried fiddling with the settings (both in game and in windows) to see if I can get a combination that doesn't take so long to understand my words. It is definitely annoying.

[Shurenai]

Originally posted by Zadok_m:

Dunno if it's just me but this thing has become so much more annoying to use in a way that I can't tell if me talking into it is the problem or if it just refuses to pick up what i say through the mic much more consistently than it did in previous patches.

From what I understand about the T1 spirit box is that the little light on the right side will turn red if there's no response and white if you do get a response. But then there'll be segments where I ask the various questions upwards of 8 times and the light doesn't turn red or white. Is this inconsistency just due to the fact that it's not upgraded or am I missing something else?

You're.. Kindof on the right track for the red/white bit, but the actual Reason for the red/white is where you've gone wrong.

The light will flash red when the game recognized a valid question in your speech AND the ghost did not deign to respond.

Likewise it will flash white when the game recognized a valid question in your speech And the ghost chose to respond.

So if you're asking questions and neither color is flashing, You need to enunciate/speak your questions more clearly, or perhaps you're asking questions the spirit box doesn't recognize- Which type of voice recognition you have enabled in the settings matters a lot here, the windows voice recognition is very loose in what it will accept, anything that has certain key trigger phrases will be counted as a valid question- Meanwhile vosk/whatever the other one is called is much more strict requiring specific questions to be asked.

So for example,
"Are you", "Will you", "Why are" "What do" are some example trigger phrases in the windows recognition, Any question of reasonable length beginning with that phrase will count as a valid question.
Such as, "'Are you' drunk?" "'Why are' you a fluffy unicorn?" "'What do' you want with my sister?"

Meanwhile the Vosk/other voice recognition is more strict, you have to ask questions with an entire sentence the game will recognize, With very little/no room for improv. So 'Give us a sign' must be exactly that, it can't be 'Give us a potato'. Find questions that work and repeat them verbatim.

Mind, This is just my personal experience with the system and knowledge of how the windows voice recognition works. I'm not as knowledgable on the Vosk/other voice recognition to know how it works, just my own anecdotal annoyance that it never accepts the improv questions the way the windows one does.