Store update, SALE & Ad-Astra subscription

[Gangrel]

https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?u=...&id=478cb6b746

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[Machoot]

I bought "Z" today on sale and loaded it but it isn't working with the Singularity Profile. Is it not supposed to or I have done something wrong?

more info: edited this to add additional info. After reading the forums I read one post that said he could not get it to run and the answer he got was that he downloaded it from the website instead of from sendowl. So I had received both links in multiple emails. I have since deleted all versions of Z from my computer and I am downloading the version from Sendowl. Since it is slower than Molasses flowing it will take a while (34/262 MBs, 2 hours left). When I am a year older and closer to death it may finish. i'll let you know if it works....

[Machoot]

Well, it stopped downloading I guess because it says 18 hours left. Stuck at 157/262 MB. Well, it did not take all 18hrs. Just twice as long as it should have. I looked at contents and it has the Singularity reference guide file listed. The other Z I downloaded did not. So it's going to work.
Question #1 is Why have the old version on the website to download and the correct one on Sendowl only.
Next problem, personal one I guess when I tried to install it and it tried to download an extra file 30MB it needed windows said NO. Windows has a problem with the publisher is listed as "Unkown Publisher". Windows wanted to cancel it and I worked around, but it was sooo slooow the server disconnected.
Please sign the ticket for the publisher on those download windows. I will try it again.

edited it cause

[Machoot]

Ok after a great ordeal I finally got the correct Ze installed. Someone else can delete the above posts. The moral of the story, probably should update the Website with the latest versions instead of just Sendowl site or remove the ability to download off the HCS site entirely.

[incryptx]

It looks like the "A.S.T.R.A. Personal Responses" Pack is no longer available for sale. I am not able to find it at the storefront.

Has this product been discontinued?

[Gangrel]

For the moment yes it has been.

[incryptx]

The "A.S.T.R.A. Personal Responses" Pack was a collection of personal sounds, one of which would "speak" your commander name at times.

The only thing I miss in the personal pack was the "speaking" of my commanders name (which were recorded mp4 sound files)

Is there a way, possibly a new setting in the "customizer" called "Commander Name", where it would allow a text entry of the commander name to be spoken at appropriate times?

The customizer will allow us to change the name of "Astra" to something else and have that name spoken. The voice pack's have names, but in all of the options, there is no way (other than a personal pack) to "speak" your own commander name. So, the commander can address ASTRA, but ASTRA can only say "commander" instead of "commander name". I would like a more personalized conversation with my voice pack.

Just a thought.

[Gangrel]

It would then be using TTS voice (Which our voicepacks do not use) so it would be a complete voice change. just for a two (maybe fewer, maybe more) words.

So it would go as for example

ASTRA voice "Greetings"
*a completely different voice* <Commander name>

So we would have to rewrite all the commands to now take into consideration if you had a personal pack or if you were using the "TTS version".

Also, if you have ASTRA as your main voice, there are more instances where the personalised response can be used, because this would still be using the same voice. If it was using your proposed method, then it would still end up with two difference voices responding for a single sentence.

Can it be done? Yes it *could* be done. Would it be worthwhile in this instance for us to spend work and implement it? Not really. Because it would provide a *broken* experience in our book.

Now, if you are fine with a *broken* experience, where it would have 2 different voices.

Note: And we are not even getting into the TTS issue where the end user might have to install the correct version of a TTS for an "accurate" response. The TTS voices that you have available to select (and which we would have to create a UI for so that you can choose to go to the "correct one" as well, differ depending on language install.

So the *default* installs on a US version of Windows have different TTS to those on a UK version of Windows (going from memory). And that is just between 2 "close" windows versions.

Basically, it is a lot of work here.

[incryptx]

Yes, I understood. That's why the "Personal Packs" were offered and sold. They were mp3 sound files specially created in Astra's voice to say your commander name. So, the software you describe above already exists in this form.

And the "personal packs" took time to create once ordered. Now that the "personal packs" are not being sold, there is no solution for this. I do however, use Windows TTS for EDDI and VoiceAttack is configured to use it, although a different voice from Astra. It does about the same thing I described above, but now this is the only other solution, as you mentioned.

I guess the bottom line question is, are "personal packs" gone forever and will there be a replacement based on "personal packs"?

There was some effort done in "converting old personal packs" included in HCS Tools, so I think this is the EOL process. If you own one, you can convert it, If you want another one, the software is not not being offered with no replacement planned.

I have a saying for this:

• Any great feature, device, or application, will be discontinued shortly. Any crappy feature, device or application will remain on the market for years. (c)2010-WRR

[Gangrel]

Yes, I understood. That's why the "Personal Packs" were offered and sold. They were mp3 sound files specially created in Astra's voice to say your commander name. So, the software you describe above already exists in this form.

There was also manual audio filtering that went on afterwards as well, so it was also a time consuming job, because we couldn't just "run a set of filters" over everything and expect it to come out perfect

I guess the bottom line question is, are "personal packs" gone forever and will there be a replacement based on "personal packs"?

No idea on this one. As I stated earlier in this post, I have asked for clarification on the stance, and it wouldn't be a "replacement" for the personal packs, it would just be the personal packs again.

There was some effort done in "converting old personal packs" included in HCS Tools, so I think this is the EOL process. If you own one, you can convert it, If you want another one, the software is not not being offered with no replacement planned.

The reason as to why there was the personal pack convertor was because of a couple of things.

1) The original personal pack required you to import (or link) a separate profile, and this also required you to place the personal pack files *correctly* in the main folder.

(This was "hard" for some people to place it correctly, even when the instructions giving the location was in front of them).

2) We then started using an installer for the personal pack folder, this allowed us to
i) Place the files where we wanted.
ii) Integrate all the files into "sensible" locations so that they worked with the "Sound buckets" method of how our random responses are used.

The "personal pack convertor" was created so that those people who *had* the original personal pack (the non installer version), could get the files places correctly so that they could then be used in the Singularity profile (without needing to import and then link a wholly different profile). Infact, this has been part of HCS Tools for over 2 years, and is PURELY for those who had the "collection of files in a zip folder and a profile that needed to be manually imported". It will still be included as part of the HCS Tools purely for those people who have their old files and need to do a reinstall / re-setup of their voicepacks at a later date.

So it wasn't a case of "We are including this as an EOL thing", we included it so that people who already had the *original* version could use it in the *new* version that was integrated into the Singularity profile. It *still* required them to place the folder correctly initially (as if they were doing it manually), but the tool then took over and placed them into the correct locations for the singularity profile.

[incryptx]

Just as an alternative to building personal packs in-house, using the same software HCS used behind the scenes, it could become a webpage at the store, where the purchaser could purchase a personal pack at the store, enter a commander name, click "go", and a few minutes later, have a personal pack created for immediate download.

This would take the time your employee spent creating a personal pack purchased out of the loop, and allow the purchaser to revisit the personal pack storefront to create another personal pack any time one is wanted or needed. It could be a subscription service, as AD-ASTRA VIP is now, and could be included in the AD-ASTRA VIP Subscription. This would eliminate any work on your side and provide a mechanism to the purchaser for long term use.

Those who have main accounts and alt-accounts, like myself, bought personal packs for each alt-account and now the software is no longer available.

I would not mind seeing this done, and would give me a very good reason to purchase the AD-ASTRA VIP subscription,