Agent sound effects driving me nuts!

[stevem]

How do you turn the Genie sound effects off when MS_Client (2.2.46) is running under XP?

When I right click the Genie the only choice is HIDE and there aren't any character sound effect settings in MS_Client (sound tab).

I have the volume up fairly high in order to hear the Genie in the next room. The snoring and 'breaking glass' sounds when the Genie appears and disappears is driving my wife nuts. It’s pretty much grinding on my nerves as well.

I’ve noticed on my W2K machines that there are no agent sound effects by default.

-Steve
System config in my profile

[jhisr]

Hi Steve,

I don’t believe there is a way to turn off the sound effects as they are built into the character and are not associated with a Windows event.

If you can do without the animation all together then goto the TTS tab on the View-->Options dialog box and uncheck "Use MS Agent Character to speak" I don’t believe you need to have an agent selected for TTS.

Hope the WAF goes up a few points.

Joe
HomeSeer Rocks!

[stevem]

Thanks Joe,

Un-checking the Agent Plug-Ins box under the Plug-Ins tab kills the Genie but I lose spoken text as well. I also tried un-checking all of the ‘show agent when’ boxes under the configure button but the result is the same.

There seems to be some difference between W2K and XP regarding the MS Agent’s character effects properties. The Client version and settings on both of my W2K machines and my XP box are identical. On the W2K machines I never see the Genie.

Within HomeSeer there is a checkbox to disable character sound effects. Good thing too or else I would have uninstalled the program long ago.

-Steve
System config in my profile

[cyvinec]

I don’t like the sound that the Genie makes when is showing.
To work around this problem you can use a different Agent Peedy is not making noise when it show or you can use the SAPI plug-in instead you will have a better voice quality.

Thanks,
Christian

[stevem]

Christian,

Unfortunately, my wife and I actually prefer the standard, low quality, American male, robot sounding voice over the higher quality ones.

There's something about the machine sounding like a robot that is more entertaining than the true to life voices.

Thanks for the response and a great plug-in!

-Steve
System config in my profile

[cyvinec]

Robovoice is my second choice when I play or test my function.

I just found that you can do what you want if you are using script to make the agent speech like:
.SoundEffectsOn False, Client
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Const Client = ""

Sub Main()
Dim objMsg
Set objMsg = hs.Plugin("Message Server").AgentObject
With objMsg
.StopA Client
.SoundEffectsOn False, Client
.Load "Robby", Client
.Show Client
.Speak "Hello!", Client
.Play "Blink", Client
.Speak "I'm control from Message server an Homeseer plug-In" & vbcr, Client
.Play "Blink", Client
.Speak "Now with this new version you can control me as you want. All function has been implanted." & vbcr, Client
.Play "Explain", Client
.Speak "You can make me move, think, speak and all play function." & vbcr, Client
.Play "Pleased", Client
.Speak "I hope you will have fun with that one." & vbcr, Client
.Speak "Goodbye", Client
.Hide Client
.DefaultSettings Client
End With
Set objMsg = Nothing
End Sub</pre>
If you are using the default type message then I will have to add this setting. (Not a problem).

Regards,
Christian

[stevem]

I think I may have stumbled on to a solution here.

I loaded the trial version of Homeseer on my WinXP machine running MS_Client.

In Homeseer I configured MS Agent properties to disable character sound effects.

Even when HS is not running the Genie no longer snores or ‘breaks glass’ in MS_Client.

I haven’t investigated this any further as to whether or not a reboot will restore the snoring or not but it is interesting to note that my other machines that don’t have the snoring Genie problem also have had Homeseer installed at one time or another. I disabled the character sound effects on each of them.

-Steve
System config in my profile

[This message was edited by SteveM on Sat, 07 February 2004 at 03:50 PM.]

[stevem]

Christian,

Are you saying I can run a script like the following once (in startup for example) setting all connected clients to sound effects off?

Sub Main()
Dim objMsg
Set objMsg = hs.Plugin("Message Server").AgentObject
With objMsg
.StopA Client
.SoundEffectsOn False, Client
End Sub

-Steve
System config in my profile

[cyvinec]

Steve,

This will not work but I don’t understand why I will need to make more tests.

Christian

[Waldoman]

Love the program.
Hate the agent sound effects on the client.
Did anyone find a solution to this?

[cyvinec]

Waldoman,

You can download the new mspi_Agent version 1.6
I added an option to disable the sound effects.

Regards,
Christian

[rjh]

Yes, to turn off the sound affects, just select the Agent properties from the HomeSeer Tools menu, then select the sound output tab. The setting is permanent across reboots.

-Rich

[Waldoman]

Rich, my problem is on the client not the server.

Christian, I loaded the 1.6 Agent on a 98SE machine and it didn't work at all. Maybe I did somthing wrong so I'll try again but I don't think I had to do anything special. I simply replaced the file, is that correct?.

[cyvinec]

Waldoman,

You will need to disable the sound effects in the setting.

On MS_Client the Option (F5) &gt; Plug-In &gt; Select the “Agent Plug-in” &gt; Configure button
Check the “Disable Sound Effects” option and you will be set.

Regards,
Christian

[Waldoman]

Works like a champ.
I forgot about the F5.
Thanks a bunch.