Discussion Elite Dangerous Exploration Buddy

Vestigious

V
I'm going to post this because of the amount of time I spent trying to find it.

I love this tool, but the TTS way too robotic, no fault of the application simply the default Windows TTS is like that.
Elite Observatory uses cloud-based TTS which sounds pretty good, but the Evaluator plugin does not grab data from EDSM and relies on FSS every system - no thanks.

I searched far and wide for alternatives with no luck, until I found this obscure program on Github which allows 'Natural Voices' from the Windows 11 Narrator to be used as TTS.

This is the page https://github.com/gexgd0419/NaturalVoiceSAPIAdapter.

It works with voices from Narrator, Edge and Azure. Personally I use the Sonia voice from the Narrator 'Natural Voices'.

There are install instructions on the Github but I'll put a little guide here:
First you need some voices, on Windows 11 add natural voices to Narrator by going to Settings > Accessibility > Narrator and clicking Add natural voices. I like Sonia personally.

For older Windows you can download them directly here on the Github.

Then download the program from Releases on Github (Get x86_x64 so it works will 32 and 64 bit programs). Extract it somewhere (it says don't move it after install).

Check the boxes for the type of voices you want to appear Narrator, Edge, Azure (I just ticked Narrator).
If you aren't on Windows 11 and didn't download the file through Settings you will need to browse to the local file path.

Click Install 32-bit and then Install 64-bit and you are done.
After installing you can restart Exploration Buddy and in Preferences > Speech you will see the new options in the Voice dropdown.

Of course this will also work for any other TTS that uses native Windows Speech API. I know Icarus Terminal also can use it, probably many more.
Hope you guys get some use out of this!
 

CMDR Panostrede

CMDR Panostrede
Vestigious said:
I'm going to post this because of the amount of time I spent trying to find it.

I love this tool, but the TTS way too robotic, no fault of the application simply the default Windows TTS is like that.
Elite Observatory uses cloud-based TTS which sounds pretty good, but the Evaluator plugin does not grab data from EDSM and relies on FSS every system - no thanks.

I searched far and wide for alternatives with no luck, until I found this obscure program on Github which allows 'Natural Voices' from the Windows 11 Narrator to be used as TTS.

This is the page https://github.com/gexgd0419/NaturalVoiceSAPIAdapter.

It works with voices from Narrator, Edge and Azure. Personally I use the Sonia voice from the Narrator 'Natural Voices'.

There are install instructions on the Github but I'll put a little guide here:
First you need some voices, on Windows 11 add natural voices to Narrator by going to Settings > Accessibility > Narrator and clicking Add natural voices. I like Sonia personally.

For older Windows you can download them directly here on the Github.

Then download the program from Releases on Github (Get x86_x64 so it works will 32 and 64 bit programs). Extract it somewhere (it says don't move it after install).

Check the boxes for the type of voices you want to appear Narrator, Edge, Azure (I just ticked Narrator).
If you aren't on Windows 11 and didn't download the file through Settings you will need to browse to the local file path.

Click Install 32-bit and then Install 64-bit and you are done.
After installing you can restart Exploration Buddy and in Preferences > Speech you will see the new options in the Voice dropdown.

Of course this will also work for any other TTS that uses native Windows Speech API. I know Icarus Terminal also can use it, probably many more.
Hope you guys get some use out of this!
Click to expand...
Awesome, thanks! I'd love to implement a better TTS voice, but everything I've found so far requires an account/API key somewhere else, which I find too cumbersome. So I've been waiting for Microsoft to offer a better TTS in Windows.
Your solution sounds great, will definitely try it out!
 

CMDR Fizz Nomad

CMDR Fizz Nomad
Thank you soo much for this tool, I wanted to donate but paypal would not let me from my location :( I really really really appreciate your work from the bottom of my galactic heart.

Fizz Nomad
 

Tyres O'Flaherty

Tyres O'Flaherty
Hah! I do have a question :D

I'm using EDEB on my secondary monitor. However, when I start the app again later, it pops up on my primary monitor. How can I make it stick to where I placed it?

EDIT It's working now :unsure:
 
Last edited:

Sp00nMan

S
@CMDR Panostrede Love your tool! Tried to use the discord link but it's expired.. I have only one issue with the tool and it doesn't seem to work unless I start it AFTER Elite Dangerous, i.e. it just sits there saying "waiting for game". I'm not sure if it doesn't check the running processes again or what, but I'd love to be able to launch it with min-ed-launcher along with all the other tools I use :)
 

Tyres O'Flaherty

Tyres O'Flaherty
Sp00nMan said:
@CMDR Panostrede Love your tool! Tried to use the discord link but it's expired.. I have only one issue with the tool and it doesn't seem to work unless I start it AFTER Elite Dangerous, i.e. it just sits there saying "waiting for game". I'm not sure if it doesn't check the running processes again or what, but I'd love to be able to launch it with min-ed-launcher along with all the other tools I use :)
Click to expand...
Same here. I think this is by design though as it needs the game to be running in order to check... er stuff. I'm not technical :D

What I'd love to see, though, is functionality similar to elite Observatory only in that it reports high value bios only if there are some. Currently, it vocally states that all species are valuable. This is a really minor thing though.

Also, I've switched the more verbose notification off that wants to use the speech function to list every possible bio that may exist on any given body. If one has something like 27 possibles, it takes quite some time to finish talking!
 

Sp00nMan

S
Tyres O'Flaherty said:
Same here. I think this is by design though as it needs the game to be running in order to check... er stuff. I'm not technical :D

What I'd love to see, though, is functionality similar to elite Observatory only in that it reports high value bios only if there are some. Currently, it vocally states that all species are valuable. This is a really minor thing though.

Also, I've switched the more verbose notification off that wants to use the speech function to list every possible bio that may exist on any given body. If one has something like 27 possibles, it takes quite some time to finish talking!
Click to expand...
I actually run EdCoPilot for the "voices" talking part.. it uses Edge Neural voices to chat.. but I still love the ed buddy interface for everything else :)
 

CMDR Panostrede

CMDR Panostrede
Sp00nMan said:
@CMDR Panostrede Love your tool! Tried to use the discord link but it's expired.. I have only one issue with the tool and it doesn't seem to work unless I start it AFTER Elite Dangerous, i.e. it just sits there saying "waiting for game". I'm not sure if it doesn't check the running processes again or what, but I'd love to be able to launch it with min-ed-launcher along with all the other tools I use :)
Click to expand...
Thank you!
EDEB should constantly checking changes to ED journal files, so it should also work when started before ED - can you please provide your log file(s) so that I can have a look if anything goes wrong?
 

CMDR Panostrede

CMDR Panostrede
Tyres O'Flaherty said:
Same here. I think this is by design though as it needs the game to be running in order to check... er stuff. I'm not technical :D

What I'd love to see, though, is functionality similar to elite Observatory only in that it reports high value bios only if there are some. Currently, it vocally states that all species are valuable. This is a really minor thing though.

Also, I've switched the more verbose notification off that wants to use the speech function to list every possible bio that may exist on any given body. If one has something like 27 possibles, it takes quite some time to finish talking!
Click to expand...
You can set the threshold for valuable species in preferences
1733386488153.png

The default is set to 8 Million which is easily reached when having a first discovery bonus. You can set this to 30 Million if you like :)
 

CMDR Panostrede

CMDR Panostrede
Sp00nMan said:
I actually run EdCoPilot for the "voices" talking part.. it uses Edge Neural voices to chat.. but I still love the ed buddy interface for everything else :)
Click to expand...
Vestigious did an excellent research how to set up natural voices for EDEB (and any other TTS app):

Discussion - Elite Dangerous Exploration Buddy

I'm going to post this because of the amount of time I spent trying to find it. I love this tool, but the TTS way too robotic, no fault of the application simply the default Windows TTS is like that. Elite Observatory uses cloud-based TTS which sounds pretty good, but the Evaluator plugin does...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk
 

Tyres O'Flaherty

Tyres O'Flaherty
CMDR Panostrede said:
You can set the threshold for valuable species in preferences
View attachment 410667
The default is set to 8 Million which is easily reached when having a first discovery bonus. You can set this to 30 Million if you like :)
Click to expand...
Fantastic! Thank you for that!

Seems the tool does a lot more than I first thought. It is now almost obligatory to have it running whilst exploring. Kudos to you.

There is an odd thing though. Nothing to do with the tool itself really, but rather the speech - and Elite Observatory voices had the same thing: when a planet has nomenclature that finishes in an "A", the voice sounds like it's saying "A M" :D

Must be the way in which computer speech is generated.
 

Sp00nMan

S
CMDR Panostrede said:
Vestigious did an excellent research how to set up natural voices for EDEB (and any other TTS app):

Discussion - Elite Dangerous Exploration Buddy

I'm going to post this because of the amount of time I spent trying to find it. I love this tool, but the TTS way too robotic, no fault of the application simply the default Windows TTS is like that. Elite Observatory uses cloud-based TTS which sounds pretty good, but the Evaluator plugin does...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk
Click to expand...
Thank you! that tool works great.. Now EDDB is my only tool :)
 

lasvideo

lasvideo
I'm interested in using this app in VR when flying elite dangerous. I think I read somewhere that if you don't have a second monitor it will create a screen overlay. Is that the case? I've tried using another app called ED copilot which needs to be displayed using an app called OVR tools. The problem with this is sharing focus with the game. I eventually removed it from my system because whenever the focus was on ED copilot I lost control of my hotas which makes sense. But if your app just creates a screen overlay it sounds like there isn't a focus conflict issue. What are your thoughts?
 

CMDR Panostrede

CMDR Panostrede
lasvideo said:
I'm interested in using this app in VR when flying elite dangerous. I think I read somewhere that if you don't have a second monitor it will create a screen overlay. Is that the case? I've tried using another app called ED copilot which needs to be displayed using an app called OVR tools. The problem with this is sharing focus with the game. I eventually removed it from my system because whenever the focus was on ED copilot I lost control of my hotas which makes sense. But if your app just creates a screen overlay it sounds like there isn't a focus conflict issue. What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
I have not tested it in VR but some players reported using EDEB with VR - although there were some drawbacks which I don't rememember. Yes, there is a HUD window that can be overlayed on top of ED. I am also currently working on a "mouse pass through mode" for the HUD window so that there is no focus possible (at least the mouse will click through). Not sure if that will help in VR - I guess you have to try it out :)
 
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