I have encountered a few problems with Hal that I can't be able to solve.
I have allready posted about some of them in other topics but I thought I
should give a more exact explanation and maybe it will be easier for
someone to explain exactly what I need to do.
Here are my system specifications:
The CPU is AMD Athlon XP 1800+ with 1.53 GHz.
RAM is 512 MB.
Soundcard is SoundBlaster 5.1 Bulk.
Graphic card is GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE with 128 MB RAM.
I'm running Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2.
Norton Internet Security 2006.
I install Hal into the default directory that the installer choses for
me: C:ProgramabawareUltra Hal Assistant 6
1st problem:
Hal doesn't start automatically after install and reboot of the system.
When I start Hal manually the following dialog appears:
Welcome to Ultra Hal Assistant. You have either started Hal without
rebooting your computer after installation (highly recommended) or Hal
hasn't had a chance yet to start automatically. Ultra Hal Assistant has
been installed in your startup folder and will startup automatically with
your computer each time you turn it on. Whould you like to start Hal now?
I chose to start Hal now.
I go through the dialogs and select the default stuff and select the
Adult male #2 voice.
I chose the 5 min tutorial just to confirm that everything works, and it
sounds like it does.
Then I start to chat a little with Hal:
User: Hello.
Hal: Good afternoon User. I hope your day is going well.
User: It hasn't gone too well with using Hal.
Hal: Well begun is half complete.
User: I whould prefere that everything with Hal worked smoothly; I paid
for you after all.
Hal: I want to cheer you up!
User: You can cheer me up by function perfectly!
Hal: Cheer up; life is good; we're in good stead with each other.
User: I'm not sure we are in good stead yet, whatever stead means.
Hal: User, are you male or female?
User: I am male.
Hal: Ok, thanks for telling me. I'll keep that in mind. How do you like
it as you are male User?
User: I don't think that it matters what gender one is.
Hal: Let's really get into the details of genders.
User: No.
Hal: No? Really?
User: I'm going to experiment with the options dialog now to see if you
work correctly.
Hal: I like to experiment in my work.
User: Ok, bye for now.
Hal: Until we meet again.
Everything seems to work fine so far and the voice is working good. I go
into options to make some changes.
When I click on brain there is no brain to select! I click cancel and
then I exit Hal. Then I start up Hal again. Now when I go into options
and click on Brain I see the Ultra Hal 6.0 Default Brain. I'm just
pointing out that there is a glitch here and that sometimes the brains
are not displayed and I need to restart Hal. I click on the button
'Advanced Brain options' and an error dialog appears:
HalScript Error 438 on line 1889 in column 4: Object doesn't support this
property or method: 'HalBrain'
The file "C:ProgramabawareUltra Hal Assistant 6HalScript.DBG" has
been saved with the current script being used for debugging purposes.
I click ok and that's it. The dialog just dissapears without crashing the
program. Good!
I click on Character and then Update SAPI Config. I select voice number
10 and click on speak. Sounds nice. I click on 'make this my default sapi
setup'.
I click on Speech and select Adult Female #1 British English (L&H) and
Test Voice. Sounds good. I click on Advanced/About. I select Voice
characteristics and variation 5. I type in some text and click on Speak.
I hear the new voice. I select User-Defined and change Pitch and Rate to
my likings and click Speak. I hear the changes. I click Apply. i click on
Test voice and I still hear the changes I made. Good! I click OK.
I click on the little computer face in the right corner to open Hal. I
start chatting with hal. I now here the default Carol voice, not the one
I chosed! GRRR! It doesn't matter what I do here, select again, close
down, restart computer or whatever, the User-Defined voice refuses to
work!
I check to see if haptek is installed properly. It's there. The path is
C:ProgramHaptek The Haptek contains the player folder and the vf4.10
folder. The Player folder is empty. The vf4.10 folder contains folders
and files. The folders are Data and program. The files are
ActiveHaptekX.ocx, HapAXPlayer.exe HapProcess.exe, INSTALL.LOG,
legal.txt, MozillaDirectory.ini, MozillaRegistryTool.exe,
player_revision_history.txt, readme.txt, UNWISE.EXE and welcome.html. Why
two files have the name Mozilla in them I have no idea, because I don't
wee why the Haptek whould have anything to do with my Mozilla Firefox
browser.The HapSAPISetup.exe file is located in dataHapTTS. Another
HapSAPISetup.exe is located in HapTTSSAPI. Dubbleclicking on any of
those will open the same dialog as when I click on 'Update SAPI Config'
in Hal's general options dialog.
As Art mensioned; Installing Hal 6 whould automatically install Haptek. I
guess it does but it still doesn't work to select a variation for Carol's
voice, it will still be the default carol voice when I chat with Hal. A
nice voice for a virtual girlfriend but not suitable for the character I
want to use. I don't likie any of the other voices to chose from. They
are tiresome to listen to. I prefere the variations of carol's voice, so
ofcourse they will not work!
Then there is a problem with the Correction tutor and Learn from text
plugins, but I wont go into that again. I've allready explained that in
other posts. Maybe looking at my system specs might give somebody a clue
why those doesn't work, I don't know.
Also, previously I've head problems with Hal stopped using his voice and
only displays text when we chat. His lips doesn't move either. usually it
helps quitting and restarting. once I had to reboot the computer to get
the voice back.
Either there are bugs in Hal or the plugins that causes these occurences
or maybe there is some incompatibility with my system. I whould really
like to get these things to work smoothly so i can enjoy Hal to the
fullest! [
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