Voicing, unvoicing, and translating

[Kulyok]

That's not a terribly fair comparison though. BG2 is played far more widely than BG1, so it stands to reason that its NPCs receive more mention. 

 

Much to my dismay, yes, though the threads "I want BG1 NPC in BG2" appear with an interesting frequency. But now TUTU is running far and wide, I do hope it will change, and BG1 will get the mention it deserves.

[SimDing0]

Modding, let alone Tutu, really doesn't have the popular appeal neccessary to make a significant impact on the numbers of people playing BG1. Although it can only change in our favour as the games grow older and the player base is reduced to more devoted fans.

[Kulyok]

I am just afraid it will not end well: when I browse BG modding forums, I see more modders than players. What will happen in two years I do not want even to think about.

 

But well, back to the topic at hand - I, as a player, will be comfortable with either approach: a non-voiced mod with an original Valygar soundset, or a fully voiced mod with a new Valygar soundset.

[jcompton]

In any event, I was referring to the "popularity" of their voice treatment, not of the NPCs themselves (although for some people, the mapping is pretty close.)

 

Without looking at the Attic poll, I would venture to say that Valygar is relatively more popular than the prevailing opinion about his voice treatment. It isn't entirely the actor's fault, since it's a difficult assignment to make "dour and determined" sound like something other than "bland and boring." But there you have it.

[Kulyok]

Without looking at the Attic poll, I would venture to say that Valygar is relatively more popular than the prevailing opinion about his voice treatment. It isn't entirely the actor's fault, since it's a difficult assignment to make "dour and determined" sound like something other than "bland and boring." But there you have it.

 

I would rather say "soft and sexy". But tastes differ, certainly.

[Domi]

I am just afraid it will not end well: when I browse BG modding forums, I see more modders than players. What will happen in two years I do not want even to think about.

 

That's normal. I don't have much experience with fan fora, but I have not seen a fan-based creative community where the amount of actively posting consumers exceeds the number of posting producers. Both Attic and FF.net for example are writer rather than reader dominated. DL count for a mod though usually exceed the number of modders. I'm suseptible to boredom syndrom myself, in that I can work for as long as it takes for something I am interested in. BG2 I just can't see any more. Both the characters and the story stopped attracting me.

[Guest Guest_Eon Blue Apocalypse_*]

I think there may be many players out there (like me) who only lurk and therefore aren't visible.

[jcompton]

I am just afraid it will not end well: when I browse BG modding forums, I see more modders than players. What will happen in two years I do not want even to think about.

DL count for a mod though usually exceed the number of modders.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes, let me just re-emphasize this:

 

Download counts for well-received mods vastly exceed any sort of generous count of active modders you care to use.

 

The most popular BG2 sites right now see over 20,000 unique visitors (as determined by IP address, browser version, etc.) every month. I strongly suspect Studios saw somewhat more than that before its move.

 

So as much as discussion might be dominated by (would-be) modders, overall passersby are definitely not.

[jastey]

Oh, yes, because nothing says "Thank you for all your hard work" like commissioning a bunch of voice work, sitting on it for two or three years, and then not even having enough appreciation to actually make it a proper component of the mod.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My apologies, I have to admit I never thought of this point. But my point of view is valid nonetheless: hard work might it be, but how would you react to foreign language voiced lines in an otherwise English mod you installed? Not that I don't understand English, it's part of my private and work life I sometimes forget whether things I heard or read where in English or my native tongue. But if it comes as a mix-up I don't like it that much.

So, yes, I don't value the hard work of the English voice actor at all.

 

EDIT: This might change dramatically once I'll managed to grab an English game version.

[SimDing0]

Translators can easily remove the bracketted references from strings. In all cases of foreign mods with english text, it's the translators choosing to retain the voicing, not the mod forcing it.

[jcompton]

...although it's still probably best to leave the audio tags in place in case anybody ever does the acting in a different language. Back in the day there were allegedly a couple of non-English Kelseys in the work, and I actually think someone _did_ do an Italian Jasper for DBG which I have shamefully never deployed (not that I'm even sure I know where it is anymore.)

 

And Jastey, you might find someone willing to swap their .tlk file and audio BIFF files with you. If you have a high-speed connection it wouldn't take too terribly long (it's on the order of 300 MB worth.)

[the bigg]

...although it's still probably best to leave the audio tags in place in case anybody ever does the acting in a different language. Back in the day there were allegedly a couple of non-English Kelseys in the work, and I actually think someone _did_ do an Italian Jasper for DBG which I have shamefully never deployed (not that I'm even sure I know where it is anymore.)

 

And Jastey, you might find someone willing to swap their .tlk file and audio BIFF files with you. If you have a high-speed connection it wouldn't take too terribly long (it's on the order of 300 MB worth.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The .tlk is available from Baldurdash (and I'm a satisfied user ); however, audio BIFFs would also require a rewritten chitin.key, so it's better to distribute .wav files, along with a .bat to remove references to the old ones, remove the old biffs and re-biff the english ones.

 

I would really love to find such a person willing to incure in Bioware's anger, though

 

(of course, if they didn't care about NeJ they may as well ignore this )

[jcompton]

The .tlk is available from Baldurdash (and I'm a satisfied user  ); however, audio BIFFs would also require a rewritten chitin.key

 

No they don't. You just replace the file. (I've done these swaps before, you see. Imoen's Spanish actress somehow manages to sound more cute and energetic than the original.)

 

I would really love to find such a person willing to incure in Bioware's anger, though 

 

Well, as a one-to-one swap between legit BG2 users, nobody's going to much know or care.

[Gabrielle]

JC and Sim, you guys are the best. You are both a fountain of wisdom.

[jastey]

And Jastey, you might find someone willing to swap their .tlk file and audio BIFF files with you. If you have a high-speed connection it wouldn't take too terribly long (it's on the order of 300 MB worth.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That's an interesting thought. It would have to be both indeed, as replacing only one (written or spoken text) would drive me insane.