2020-03-25 17:16:29

Hi folks,

I have recently downloaded a few SAPI voices that I'd like to use in some of the applications that work with SAPI5 (I'm not talking about the OneCore voices).

The problem I'm having with those voices is that, no matter what I do, my applications keep using the German voice Hedda.
I'm aware of the fact that you cannot change the SAPI5 voices in the control panel anymore, so I ran
c:\Windows\syswow64\speech\SpeechUX\sapi.cpl
and changed the voice from there. I double-checked the settings, they were definitely saved! Nonetheless, as soon as I start any of the games and other applications with SAPI5-support, I hear Hedda again, and when I check sapi.cpl, the settings have been indeed reset to default.
Especially in games and software in English, it sounds super crappy, and it is frustrating that something always resets my settings to default whenever I start an application, regardless of any changes made in sapi.cpl.

Google and all the resources I found that somehow mention the issue couldn't get me any further, so I was wondering if anybody of you guys know how to stop Windows or certain applications from hijacking sapi.cpl?

Thanks in advance, and stay healthy! big_smile

Feel free to check my blog at
http://www.patrickdembinski.org
Aut enim do tibi, ut des, aut do, ut facias, aut facio, ut des, aut facio, ut facias.

2020-03-25 18:06:30

You should still be able to change SAPI voices from the control panel. Just open it, go to Ease of Access, Speech Recognition, Text To Speech.

Can't blame you for missing that, though. Windows is confusing as fuck when it comes to these things. There's even both a 64 bit and a 32 bit control panel on Windows 10, and the tts settings there can be set to different things. So if the game you're trying to change the voice for still doesn't register the change, also check here:
C:\Windows\System32\Control.exe

Please note that some voices won't show up there. I have no clue why or how to fix that, sorry. But hey, at least you'll be able to use MS David. That's progress!

Yes, I definitely left the forum. Mhm. Why would you have any doubt?
Code 7 tips: https://forum.audiogames.net/topic/4010 … or-code-7/
Don't forget to be awesome!

2020-03-25 21:16:41

I have microsoft as a sapi voice. You need to mess around in the registr editer. If you want a file containing microsoft mark you cn email me.

My discord: the_real_amethyst
Join my accessible Pokémon discord server

2020-03-25 21:17:15

I forgott to mention that. The voice is microsoft Mark.

My discord: the_real_amethyst
Join my accessible Pokémon discord server

2020-04-12 13:44:39 (edited by paddy 2020-04-12 13:46:16)

Hey all,
my appologies for the late reply; should check in here more often. lol
@Mayana, your solution did the trick, thanks a lot!

Microsoft David or Siera is definitely a good progress, when I think back more or less a decade ago, where I ran Windows XP and good old Microsoft Sam, Mike or Marry to play games with SAPI support, but hey, it worked back then, so yay! big_smile

Still, I finally put my hands on Code7 and although I can set the interface to German, I find it hard to think in two languages because the audio is still in English, so Microsoft David it shall be. smile
The other voices I have installed on my laptop are also a bit old already, but at least they work with NVDA and Ballabolka.

Yeah, from my Google research I understood that it is somehow possible to play around with the Registry files, but I'd rather leave them untouched for now because, as I said, I think I'm doing fine with David.

Feel free to check my blog at
http://www.patrickdembinski.org
Aut enim do tibi, ut des, aut do, ut facias, aut facio, ut des, aut facio, ut facias.

2020-04-12 15:07:18

The reason is that 64bit applications can only ever use 64bit sapi voices. Many of the good ones that don't cost an arm and a leg are 32bit, and the only 64bit ones are rh voice, possibly espeak if it would stop clipping, Vocalizer (both distributions), Eloquence, and the Microsoft voices. You can get Mike, Mary and Sam as 64bit voices though. If NVDA 2019.3 and onward's speech refactor can make its way into nvda controller client dll's, when we can abandon sapi. This is hardly an issue for Tolk where the screen-reader abstraction is already handled, however it is so for games like Code7 and Sequence Storm that are not using Tolk.