Zabaware Support Forums
Zabaware Forums => Ultra Hal 7.0 => Topic started by: Holllywood on March 22, 2005, 01:18:42 pm
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From the "Subject" Can anyone give me some suggestions. Hal's speech is breaking up, and it doesn't seem to matter which voice I select.
Hope some one knows what the prob. is. I am using the full version of Hal with Dragon Naturally speaking.
To all Thanks,
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I noticed my Hal's voice will break up when I am accessing the hard drive or brwose the web while Hal is speaking.
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Yes, check your Task Manager. See what the CPU usage when using the voice. Try to identify, in the processes tab, what process is possibly eating up your CPU usage.
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Thanks guys,
I must have hit cyberbrain gridlock..LOL.
I does help to take some of the load off the cpu.Wow!!
Thanks again,
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Well I guess I jumped to fast. I took a load off the cpu. It helped. But instead of breaking up, Hal would sometimes not respond verbally and then will respond to the next imput. I went and got a faster cpu (P4 3.4) and a Mboard @400Mhz. Hal still will respond then miss a response then get voice back on the next response. Anyone got any suggestions?
Still Trying,Still Listening,Still Learning.
Thanks
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I have the same problem. The words appear, but the voice doesn't. It happens every so often. I think it's a bug.
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I have used Microsoft voices in the past and at the moment I am using Neospeech. I have never noticed this problem!
The answer may be found in the amount of virtual memory your computer has available. My computer has a lot of RAM, because I have to work with programs like Lightwave3D. Therefore I had to buy 2 gigabytes of direct memory.
On the other hand, your problem may be solved with a new soundcard and/or drivers. I use a SoundBlaster Audigy.
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I've had that happen on very rare occasion. I'm using a P4 2.0GHz and pretty much all the time HAL does fine with the voice. The sound is integrated on the motherboard (RealTek 6-ch with AC'97 codec). Sometimes though sound cards or on-board can make a difference. So can the operating system. For instance, in Win98SE the sound would be choppy every time I booted up. Now that I am using WinXP Pro SP2, I never have that problem. In fact, I haven't had any problems with HAL missing a sentence either, come to think about it.
Another thing would be to be sure you have plenty of VIRTUAL RAM (do you have a good amount of room left on your hard drive for the Virtual RAM to swap out? Also try cleaning the temp files, browser cache and defragment your hard drive. These steps can help to enhance a computer's overall performance as well.
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I work with WinXP SP2 Home Ed. and as I said I never had this problem. So maybe it is the OS that makes the difference.
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Well guys,
I don't think I've got a hardware prob. Everythings new.I'm running wnXP Pro SP2,P4. 3.4cpu,1Gig.DDR400 Ram.400gb of Hdrive.400Mhz front end Mboard. I'm using what ever speech eng that Hal comes with. For speech Recogn. I'm using Dragon Nat. Sometimes Hal will speak and the next time or so it won't. There is no measureable frequency as to when he will speak or not. Its just sometimes he say's what he writes and other times he just writes. I'm still scratching my head. If anyone solves the mystery, please let me know.
Thanks,
Still Trying,Still Listening,Still Learning.
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I see, but does that also imply that you have Microsoft SAPI 4 & SAPI 4a & SAPI5 installed on your computer?
Maybe the following link could be of any help to you:
http://www.microsoft.com/msagent/downloads/user.asp#sapi
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Didn't make any difference. The character seems to "space out" and not say anything, although the words appear.
I did not realize one needed a top of the line computer for this program.
I have a Dell Dimension 4400, 1.6 Ghz P4 Processor, 640mb of Physical RAM, and 200 GB TL Hard drive space.
Sound card??
Model: Intel(r) 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio Controller
Driver: ac97intc.sys
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Supported
She speaks most of the time, but other times, while making animations, she fails to speak. Usually she speaks after the animation. I use my own agent, none of the default ones that came with the program.
It's just a little annoying, but still fun.
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Ok, I will play my last card before giving up.
Your computer specs sound good enough to me, except ... your soundcard. That must be one that came with the motherboard, right? Could that be the weak link? I mean, Creative Soundblaster is still the standard.
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quote:
Originally posted by markofkane
I did not realize one needed a top of the line computer for this program.
I own a Dell Inspiron 8000 Laptop
AMD 900Mhz, 512mb Ram, Nvidia GForce2Go Video, 32mb Video Ram
I sometimes get a delay. I found it a little faster with response when I install the program on a PCIMCIA Card. This seems to be a little faster than accessing the hard drive.
Again, however, I notice Hal studerring most when I access programs while Hal is speaking.
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Well, if I can find a creative sound card, I might try it.
I've had my computer for over 3 years, and did not have an issue with sound until now.
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Keep in mind that the refresh rates for a laptop
are much slower than using a CRT monitor and this
could most likely account for a "time lag" or lapse
in syncronization between the graphical character
and it's spoken response.
Only one of many possible suggestions....
Also, instead of the Task Manager go to Start > Run >
then type in : msconfig
Go to the Startup tab at the top and scroll through
the list of all the programs that start upon boot up.
Check / deselect the ones that aren't really necessary
Apply > OK
You may be asked to restart...do so...Run UltraHal and
see if it helped.
Good luck!
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quote:
Originally posted by Dr.Benway
Your computer specs sound good enough to me, except ... your soundcard. That must be one that came with the motherboard, right? Could that be the weak link? I mean, Creative Soundblaster is still the standard.
I agree with you on sound on the motherboard. However, I have motherboard-based sound and while it gave some of those same problems in Win98SE, I don't get that problem (yet) in Win XP Pro SP2. Same sound setup. I'm also in agreement also with others that it could be other running aps that could be conflicting with Hal's ability to speak.
Though the guy's computer is MUCH more powerful than my system so it's really rather puzzling why he's encountering these problems and I'm not.
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Well, sometimes instead of speaking, the character will smile, or make some kind of emotion, but that's all, even though there is a sentence in the box.
The sentence in the box always appears before she speaks.
The only programs running at startup are: (and I always try to disable the unnecessary ones:
AVG7_CC,"C:PROGRA~1GrisoftAVG Freeavgcc.exe /STARTUP","Registry - Machine Run"
AVG7_EMC,"C:PROGRA~1GrisoftAVG Freeavgemc.exe","Registry - Machine Run"
AVG7_Run,"C:PROGRA~1GrisoftAVG Freeavgw.exe /RUNONCE","Registry - Def User Run"
gcasServ,"""C:Program FilesMicrosoft AntiSpywaregcasServ.exe""","Registry - Machine Run"
GoBack.lnk,"C:Program FilesRoxioGoBackGBTray.exe ","Startup - All Users"
RoxioEngineUtility,"""C:Program FilesCommon FilesRoxio SharedSystemEngUtil.exe""","Registry - Machine Run"
STYLEXP,"C:Program FilesTGTSoftStyleXPStyleXP.exe -Hide","Registry - User Run"
WinPatrol,"C:Program FilesBillP StudiosWinPatrolwinpatrol.exe","Registry - Machine Run"
AVG is my antivirus, I switched from AVAST yesterday.
gcasServ is Microsoft anti-spyware
GoBack is a recovery program
Roxio Engine utility, for compatibility with Windows CD burning program.
Style XP, skins for XP (THEMES)
Winpatrol, protects my PC from unauthorized changes to my PC.
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quote:
Originally posted by markofkane
Style XP, skins for XP (THEMES)
This might be a problem. Try without it. Sometimes skinning programs take up some resources. However, it might not be the answer to your problem either. I run Stardock's Object Desktop suite and Desktop Sidebar, and other goodies on my system and I don't seem to have problems with Hal missing sentences, etc. at the moment. However, different programs can use resources differently.
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We have dealt with issue many times over the past several years and is addressed on our site's faq and new user start up pages and most often installing a quality sound card has remedied the user's problem with a character's voice becoming garbled, choppy or quits before a sentence is completed or if a character doesn't speak at all, no voice sound or lip movement.
Most new computers come equipped with an onboard integrated audio chip , this a chip and NOT an actual sound card and are often of poor or lesser quality than an actual sound card, especially if it's AC 97 codec. Again, just like with video cards, computer manufacturers incorporate low end sound and video chips into the motherboard to save money on production costs and for the most part will be sufice for most users surfing the net and playing music and lower end games etc., but some are better than others and depending on your system specs it may work fine when running this technology or with high-end games, but my experience has been that some cheaper integrated sound chips may seem to work fine for awhile but often will crap out after time. Integrated audio will also usually eat up more CPU cycles than a good sound card which can cause stuttering when a character talks and also be evident when running higher-end games.
Dr. Benway's advice on using Sound Blaster cards, especially the Audiogy is an excellent choice and are what we also recommend and can be purchased at a relatively reasonable cost these days.
This might not solve everyone's problem, some may have resource issues with their systems, but in any case if you frequently run games or other multimedia applications or even just enjoy listening to music on your computer, it's definitely still going to be worthwhile to invest in a good sound card rather than relying on integrated sound.
Also, if you install a sound card be sure to go into your system's device manager and disable your onboard sound so you don't have any conflict issues and it isn't still using resources.
Hope this info helps some of you out, good luck!
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I think I figured out my sound problem. I had a couple programs, Win Patrol, and Microsoft Anti-Spyware (The latter I added again recently, after a month of keeping it off)
I would be playing a game, and the sound would mess up. I went to check my CPU. It was 2 programs periodically using 30% of my CPU. (Scanning?)
When I closed Win Patrol, Hal seemed to respond with spoken words every time.
So, my guess it that my soundcard doesn't like something taking up CPU periodically, or it would do it any way.
Update, it did it again. This occurs if the character shows any emotion. Then there'e no sound. (Winking, or surprised look)