[BG1] Voices Voices Extravaganza - AI dialog voiceovers

[colossuschang]

Voices Voices Extravaganza - Baldur's Gate

Introduction

Adds AI-generated English voiceovers for all characters from Baldur's Gate 1, including the base game and Tales of the Sword Coast. Does not include The Black Pits, the Tutorial, or Siege of Dragonspear.

Demo  
Check out a demo of this mod on YouTube!

Compatibility

This mod is designed to work with Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (BGEE), or Enhanced Edition Trilogy (EET). When installing the mod on EET, you may install it before or after EET_End.

This mod will work when installed in the middle of a playthrough.

Compatibility with legacy BG1 + TOTSC is also supported. However, some lines differ between the enhanced edition and the legacy edition. These lines will be voiced according to the enhanced edition version.

Compatibility with TUTU, BGT, or TUTU TOTSC is unknown. You're welcome to try it and report back.

Compatibility with other mods is not guaranteed, but in theory it should not conflict with other mods.

Downloading

Download from Nexus Mods
Download from Github

Acknowledgements

- Thanks to Reddit user GIMemo for testing the mod in its early stage and providing feedback.
- Thanks to NexusMods user robovoiddev for suggesting the conversion to ogg format.

[DraikenWeAre]

Hi there.

This is really somthing, I actually installed it and tested it it out and so far, it really brings a true quality of life improving feel honestly 

Really nice work, I'm trully suprised this post hasn't gotten any replies yet.

It's just expands the immerision personally.

I realise it must have taken you however long to do this.

Like I can't even imagine how long truelly.

So I understand it's weaker voices in certain aspects as I played through a bit with EET ( I'm being specific to Minsc honestly, so far he is where I feel the mod doesn't or can't do him justice, as his voice is soooooo! Unique, maybe you needed more samples or something)

Would you be okay if people did like thier own Ai voices for charecters and then you added to this mod.

I feel this could be a real staple mod like PPE, if you think about it terms of its scope. 

This is somthing that I feel ability to improve would be from spliting the work as it's an arduous task for one person, but people could sumbit voice samples for NPCs they want to improve upon or add Voices for NPCs from Mods that aren't part of the base game.

Lastly how does someone even start with something like this, I generally never really have done anything serious with Ai and would like to have a try at improving Minsc's Voice honestly. 

( @subtledoctor remember when you said you wanted somthing a litlle different, how do you see this.)

Edited November 12 by DraikenWeAre

[Thacobell]

https://www.vox.com/climate/2024/3/28/24111721/climate-ai-tech-energy-demand-rising

[subtledoctor]

12 hours ago, DraikenWeAre said:

( @subtledoctor remember when you said you wanted somthing a litlle different, how do you see this.)

The idea is cool, and I would like something like this even if it didn't sounds very natural - I come from a time when both graphics and sound in video games were exceedingly lo-fi.

However, I generally play with the sound off on my device, so, the benefit of this particular mod would be lost on me.

[DraikenWeAre]

1 hour ago, Thacobell said:

https://www.vox.com/climate/2024/3/28/24111721/climate-ai-tech-energy-demand-rising

@ThacobellChill bro, nobody's here on these forums for your activism.

Ai is here to stay whether you like it or not. For simple facts trillions are invested in it.

@subtledoctor

Well it is what it is, I guess.

[Elder Enigma]

The AI lines of the bard Poe, on the Firewine Bridge, are so out of place that is actually funny.

[colossuschang]

14 hours ago, DraikenWeAre said:

Hi there.

This is really somthing, I actually installed it and tested it it out and so far, it really brings a true quality of life improving feel honestly 

Really nice work, I'm trully suprised this post hasn't gotten any replies yet.

It's just expands the immerision personally.

I realise it must have taken you however long to do this.

Like I can't even imagine how long truelly.

So I understand it's weaker voices in certain aspects as I played through a bit with EET ( I'm being specific to Minsc honestly, so far he is where I feel the mod doesn't or can't do him justice, as his voice is soooooo! Unique, maybe you needed more samples or something)

Would you be okay if people did like thier own Ai voices for charecters and then you added to this mod.

I feel this could be a real staple mod like PPE, if you think about it terms of its scope. 

This is somthing that I feel ability to improve would be from spliting the work as it's an arduous task for one person, but people could sumbit voice samples for NPCs they want to improve upon or add Voices for NPCs from Mods that aren't part of the base game.

Lastly how does someone even start with something like this, I generally never really have done anything serious with Ai and would like to have a try at improving Minsc's Voice honestly. 

( @subtledoctor remember when you said you wanted somthing a litlle different, how do you see this.)

Hi there! Thanks for your love and support. It took me some months to make this but I'm glad it's finally out.

I would appreciate if people would like to make their own AI voices, and I'll create a repo for that in a few days. Currently I am working on generating a more comprehensive table of the game's dialogs, as I do realize that there are still some unvoiced lines. It'll also make it easier for people to help creating the voices. 

I do agree that Minsc's voice could use some more work. Basically speaking it's hard for AI to imitate his quirkiness and craziness. If you're looking to take a shot at it, basically you need to first extract his wav files from the game, then feed it to a voice cloning AI, then use the cloned voice to dub the unvoiced lines. Tune the results until you're satisfied.

 

 

[colossuschang]

12 minutes ago, Elder Enigma said:

The AI lines of the bard Poe, on the Firewine Bridge, are so out of place that is actually funny.

Lol I meant to change that but I keep forgetting it. I'll update it in the next release. Did you listen to his masterpiece, by the way?

[Elder Enigma]

58 minutes ago, colossuschang said:

Lol I meant to change that but I keep forgetting it. I'll update it in the next release. Did you listen to his masterpiece, by the way?

Of course I did.

It's actually a nice piece at that.

[Graion Dilach]

17 hours ago, DraikenWeAre said:

I'm trully suprised this post hasn't gotten any replies yet.

The reason's simple - the scene ain't enough invested in blatant hypocrisy (yet?).

You see, with Earl Boen dying last year (Earl Boen was the voice of Thalantyr and Montaron, for those who don't know), this mod is on the verge of desecrating the dead via degrading their legacy to be imitated by a machine. (He's just an example, with time others will join him. Such is life.) 

That's not where the hypocrisy is blatant though. It is entirely within a community's (moderators) own choices to discourage someone to port any asset from another IP or another commercial or license-incompatible project and call out such actions.

However, to make this response consistent, one should both call out individual targeted approaches (where one "rips" assets from selected other IPs) and aggregated approaches. And the latter is what AI actually is, either a derivate of massive aggregation of numerous artists' output (which is what we see with procedurally generated images - anonymizing through scale), either a designated copycat of a selected individual (which is what we see within numerous modding scenes and examples within this particular mod).

The exposure is kinda sad to see from Beamdog already (especially in light of what the same company did with having the very respectable choice of offering/reprising the roles appropriate to SoD to the BG1 voice actors, despite RL and their handling of Jaheira's voiceacting in SoD), but Beamdog can provide the  excuse as lacking capacity to track what happens outside their influence.

G3 has even less; a no clear rule/guideline over the ownership of procedurally generated assets, despite a prominent callout when people limit their goal to an individual IP.

Which all make the message kinda simple - do it in enough big scale (or blunt and daring enough?) and you won't face repercussions. In a very self-contradicting way - when one targets a particular IP/project, they benefit/reuse the work of creators of assets who recieved (via either a direct hiring or a contractor service) compensation to their service they agreed to, unlike procedural generation - I'm sorry, "AI". Basically, the message is; as long as you ignore the individual while thinking in big, you're completely fine.

Just an example proving why SAG-AFTRA was right and why Lucasfilm's deal with James Earl Jones regarding Darth Vader stays being relevant, month after month, week after week.

I mean, I completely understand why noone would sit down and wrap their head around the ethical aspects of this dillemma, bit it's still kinda sad that modders are willing to sacrifice integity for this copout.

Considering all the above, I find the seemingly respectful tone of the GitHub readme massively ignorant and blatantly disrespecting. i'm also sad that I need to express all this to the scene, knowing that likely nothing will ever happen and the silent approval will encourage further disgraces on the road.

[DraikenWeAre]

@Graion Dilach Not gonna lie. I read all you said and I honestly don't feel anything. (From the length I already suspected the kinda talk it was going to be and I was right).

I'm not really interested in a lengthy response but know there's a cultural difference between you and me since I know I once pissed you off and honestly couldn't guess what it was I said (honestly didn't bother to think on it)

Simply we all use assets from other peoples works (some of the people are dead), to do and make stufff without thier consent.

Modding is technically illigal and breaks a bunch of copyright provisions.

If a person made a fanfiction of LOTR using Ai, does it matter? (If your answer is yes, well "meh" from me then)

I don't think people didn't reply out of some morale conjecture on here, (don't assume your sense of morality on others, it makes you easily manipulated IRL) everyone has lives and real issues, rather than to think on the ethical conjecture of a random person using a tool to make a mod for a game, when he's making no money from it. 

A voice actor is just a person who gave thier voice for an entertainment project, they had a skill, if someone uses Ai to make money financially off thier voice, then they can sue them if they're alive as that's a "Likeness rights issue" or "right of publicity" case.

But if the person isn't alive with no estate or family established and the other individual isn't making any money, then I don't see a reason to care (though I generally don't care for civil matters since if the law allows you defend yourself, why should I care, you have provisions to take care of yourself)

Anyway I've typed too much for somthing I can't see any ethical dilemma about (side note I feel people living in the west confuse ethics with morality too much especially when they get all emotional feeling and stuff) I just replied because I felt I should.

[colossuschang]

5 hours ago, Graion Dilach said:

I completely understand why noone would sit down and wrap their head around the ethical aspects of this dillemma, bit it's still kinda sad that modders are willing to sacrifice integity for this copout.

BG is a game with a huge fanbase who create and enjoy mods based on their different ethics on the spectrum. This mod was created for those who entertain its concept. If it’s not particularly your style, just cast Protection from Chaos and keep adventuring.

Edited November 13 by colossuschang

[DraikenWeAre]

12 minutes ago, colossuschang said:

BG is a game with a huge fanbase who create and enjoy mods based on their different ethics on the spectrum. This mod was created for those who entertain its concept. If it’s not particularly your style, just cast Protection from Chaos and keep adventuring.

man this made me laugh.

But please don't poke the bear.

[subtledoctor]

Oh I didn’t realize this is replicating real people’s voices. Ick. I’d honestly rather see a project like this use completely generated voices. In cases like this I think verisimilitude is actually not valuable, it only drops you into a creepy uncanny valley.

The ethics, I will not comment on, except to say the position of “IDGAF about your concerns” is not a good look. It was inappropriate to act like that for a long time; now for some reason more people feel like it is okay to express that publicly. (See, e.g., politics.) But that doesn’t make the position any more appropriate, it just means more people are comfortable acting like douchebags in public. If you have a position to defend your views on the use of AI, then have the cojones to argue it; but if your position is “IDGAF” then be prepared for people to bad-mouth you and realize they are not unreasonable in doing so. Don’t be a snowflake and whine about it - cultivate a thick hide. 

Okay rant done, Cloak of Flame Protection donned, I’m off to the tavern. 

[Guest testerman9876]

On 10/26/2024 at 4:17 AM, colossuschang said:

Demo  
Check out a demo of this mod on YouTube!

Whoa! This is amazing. Well done putting it together. I'm going to enjoy it once I get around to a BG1 playthrough.