***** Update: Latest v1.6 released ******

Multi-configuration support, POV Hat input, & more.

Download latest release here: https://foxster.itch.io/foxvox

Note: the hosting site gets supported by donations to hosted apps, so it promotes donation, but don’t be confused, it’s completely optional and the software is free.

I am brand new to BMS and going through the learning curve which I thoroughly enjoy. When I came across some posts about voice control, I thought it would be great, but found out after downloading the files that they are maps to be used with commercial software. The software isn’t pricey but I’m trying to get some friends to join with me and adding up a license for everyone was more than I wanted to fork out. I happen to be a software developer so I just wrote my own and called it FoxVox voice recognition :D.

I intend to distribute it for free at no charge, no expiration, no limitations, no licensing required as kind of a thanks to the BMS community for putting out such a great game. Here’s a quick feature overview:

Completely configurable user-built dictionaries
Create command groups with individual commands
Built and designed for Windows only
Runs offline (no internet voice recognition required)
No limits on commands or command chains
Simple interface
Supports creating libraries which can be shared
Works great with BMS!!

I haven’t found out yet how I’m going to distribute the app. Before that, I would like to find a few (not too many!!!) beta testers who would like to try it out, work out any kinks, and help create a good BMS library file for the community to go along with it (remember I’m brand new so I’d like someone with a lot of BMS experience who would know how it should be done). Also, if you’re good with Youtube and want to help make a tutorial video, please let me know.

Anyone interested? Also, even if you don’t want to help beta test, let me know who’s interested as it might help me plan with hosting. If you know any good free ways for app distribution, let me know also. I’d love to get this out to everyone once it’s fully ready. Again special thanks to BenchmarkSims and a shout out to Supernova for your very helpful Youtube videos. I’ve got an early copy ready for him if he’d like one.

Here’s a few screenshots of the app:

OK - I’ve added a video with some instructions for Beta testers. It also provides more info on the app and how it works for anyone interested.

FoxVox Free Voice Recognition App Intro – 30:43
— Foxster

A little earlier than anticipated, but here’s the download link. Have fun!

https://foxster.itch.io/foxvox

Uh oh! I’m just now realizing I’ve been scammed and am being sucked in!!! @jayb - you’re right…Where’s the paid DLC… now that I realize it I’d sure like to have to pay someone for something. What’s with all the free stuff that everyone contributes!?! And don’t start on the realism…who in the world likes a little bit of realism? I’d better get back to Ace Combat before I get really swindled here out of my, hmmmm, zero dollars? And my boys playing with me on my internally hosted multiplayer offline server, they’re in danger too. Wow, it’s so much worse than I thought.

An update on the next release, I’m just about finished with the new features, including supporting the Hat switches for PTT functionality and multi-configuration support so v1.6 will be out soon - this weekend-ish maybe? Lets say a couple of days (I know, here everything is a couple of weeks, but honestly - this really just isn’t as complicated).

For the future I’m still contemplating adding in full joystick mapping so that FoxVox will be an all-in-one voice and joystick mapping app so I don’t need to combine it with Joy2Key or Joystick Gremlin. Granted these are both fine and functional software that I use currently, but neither one quite hits the perfect suite spot for me, and I’d really like to have a single app to configure and manage all the inputs. Being the crazy fool to write this app, I may just do it, but in the spirit of upgrades with 4.36 rolling out, I also wanted to ask if anyone would like to see any other improvements beyond this - any suggestions or criticisms you’d like to see addressed (within reason or you risk a derisive witticism from @Aragorn - btw love the sense of humor ) ?

Thanks everyone, best regards and happy flights!

Well I am new to BMS a few months now. I have found the community here replete with many different personalities, thoughts and opinions but generally open and accepting and often encouraging and supportive. I have also found many to be passionate about their work and contributions - which also accompanies strong opinions and feelings. It is difficult for anyone with that passion and commitment to reply with a calm demeanor and even provide encouragement in the face of a derisive emotional assault, but that is what @Seifer has just done. I see no belittling or defensive retaliation. I simply don’t understand how anyone can be so offended by being offered something for free due to expectations not being met. If you really don’t like the sim I guess just return it for a full refund.

As for software development testing, perhaps they’ll just fire the highest paid middle manager for not getting it right. As I see it though, it’s not any worse than my expensive OS each time I install a new version. Honestly though, anyone with any idea at all about what the BMS team has done knows it is quality work, and anyone who can’t/ won’t appreciate that fortunately doesn’t have to.

Thanks BMS team for sharing that passion and all your quality work!

Disclaimer: A small percentage of company profits paid for this message.

Just released v1.4 of FoxVox. This is a minor update with the biggest change being a new ptt feature allowing ptt isolation (ptt will be prevented if any additional buttons are pressed besides the required ones) and some minor tweaks and improvements to the underlying recognition. Nothing really big though. No update compatibility issues with version 1.3. - just download and install over it is fine.

<p>@jayb Thanks, it’s certainly not from anyone here. I’m also feeling a bit melancholy with recent events… need more BMS time <img src=“/plugins/nodebb-plugin-emoji/emoji/android/1f642.png?v=1g16vn91q2r” alt=“” class=“not-responsive emoji emoji-android emoji–slightly_smiling_face” />.</p>

@Le_Beau currently no…the POV isn’t tracked like a regular button but it is something I can add in with a future update. I was planning to anyway, just hadn’t gotten around to it. I’ll add it to the queue along with some other new enhancements I’m working on.

Version 1.6 is now out. Here’s a video detailing a few of the new features. Also, view the changelog here for a complete list and an important note regarding the POV/Hat input for PTT:

https://foxster.itch.io/foxvox/devlog/378235/foxvox-update-v160

FoxVox v1.6 Now Released – 19:39
— Foxster

@hoover I’m still working on the new commands for 4.36 video and library update as requested, but coming soon!

@Fluke I’m going to post a page to share community libraries soon. I’ll put mine up there and anyone else who wants to contribute and post the link for you.

<p>@rfxcasey No worries - it’s great that you like and endorse VoiceMacro (although maybe not here as suggested). I didn’t create FoxVox to compete with anything; I simply wanted an alternative for myself and to offer it up for others. It simply gives one more choice in an area I felt was relatively limited. I don’t begrudge anyone deciding that VoiceAttack or VoiceMacro or any other app is a better fit for them.<br /><br />I have found it strange to see the animosity generated against it though…like its very existence is somehow bad.  One site’s single reviewer states “Just get the software this is blatantly trying to rip off.”  <a href=“https://saashub.com/foxvox” target=“_blank”>https://www.saashub.com/foxvox</a>  I have to laugh! Really? How?<br /><br />I have to empathize a little with the BMS team when they hear about “DCS has this, or MSFS does that”. BMS doesn’t compete with them…it doesn’t need to. It just is, and does what it does, and many thanks for it. For me, a newcomer, it has been enthralling, and I know it has for many others and I look forward for things to come. A big thanks to the BMS dev team for simply providing it - an alternative, a choice in the realm of sims - one which I enjoy more each day as I learn and I hope stays around for a long time. That enjoyment is augmented by the many enhancements and tools freely provided by so many other members of this forum - thank you all for your efforts in making this, in my opinion, the best sim to fly.<br /><br /></p>

@hoover you shouldn’t have to switch to en-us…just change the library language to the uk? version from the settings cog wheel menu next to the library name. Let me know if that doesn’t work, but you should be able to use it like you did before.

@hoover That’d do it

I have created a community page for sharing library files now and have posted my basic library updated for 4.36. Everything is BMS default except for the Altitude Hold and Steering Select commands used for auto-pilot which don’t have the keybinds by default (I mapped them to Shifted U and I keys).

The community page is located at https://foxster.itch.io/foxvox-libraries

@Fluke Here you go!

@hoover - I was going to do a training video on the update to show some features, but just haven’t had the time. Hopefully this will do for now…

As there is no set way to do voice control in FoxVox, if anyone wants to share their libraries here (assuming no objections from @Aragorn who might be remiss if too many go missing) feel free to let me know.

@KinneticSlammer For me installation required administrative rights as it writes to the registry etc. but I installed it to a non-system protected folder (i.e. program files) and run it regularly with minimal standard user permissions only. It only needs permissions to write within its installation directory during runtime.

@Aragorn The outdoors as well, but I’ll leave that to someone else.

Well I am new to BMS a few months now. I have found the community here replete with many different personalities, thoughts and opinions but generally open and accepting and often encouraging and supportive. I have also found many to be passionate about their work and contributions - which also accompanies strong opinions and feelings. It is difficult for anyone with that passion and commitment to reply with a calm demeanor and even provide encouragement in the face of a derisive emotional assault, but that is what @Seifer has just done. I see no belittling or defensive retaliation. I simply don’t understand how anyone can be so offended by being offered something for free due to expectations not being met. If you really don’t like the sim I guess just return it for a full refund.

As for software development testing, perhaps they’ll just fire the highest paid middle manager for not getting it right. As I see it though, it’s not any worse than my expensive OS each time I install a new version. Honestly though, anyone with any idea at all about what the BMS team has done knows it is quality work, and anyone who can’t/ won’t appreciate that fortunately doesn’t have to.

Thanks BMS team for sharing that passion and all your quality work!

Disclaimer: A small percentage of company profits paid for this message.

@Fluke I’m going to post a page to share community libraries soon. I’ll put mine up there and anyone else who wants to contribute and post the link for you.

@danaos75 Yep, absolutely! Still the same at its core. Glad to hear it’s working well for you

Version 1.6 is now out. Here’s a video detailing a few of the new features. Also, view the changelog here for a complete list and an important note regarding the POV/Hat input for PTT:

https://foxster.itch.io/foxvox/devlog/378235/foxvox-update-v160

FoxVox v1.6 Now Released – 19:39
— Foxster

@hoover I’m still working on the new commands for 4.36 video and library update as requested, but coming soon!

@Atlas When I got interested in doing BMS, I was looking for something to do with my boys (I’ve got 3, so we can make a perfect 4-ship). That meant 4 head-trackers, 4 joysticks, and 4 voice-control software licenses. I needed to do it on a budget so my wife wouldn’t kill me. We got 4 used PS3/PS4 TM Hotas controllers at $25/ea, ($100 total) and I built 4 IR head trackers out of rechargeable USB flashlights and my 3d printer using PS3 eyecams with IR filters for another $100 total. I was trying to stay within $200 so I just decided to do my own voice control - that way I could modify it however I needed without being constrained by 3rd party software (partly due to my experiences with joystick mapping software). I considered just writing my own joystick mapping software also, but figured on keeping it simple - (thanks to @hoover and others needing push-to-talk, I ended up including joystick mapping anyway - and thanks to @airtex2019 who gave me a boost with RawInput api integration). I was unaware of VoiceMacro at the time, so my ignorance also played a part, coupled with the fact that I didn’t think it would be very hard to do (I wrote the base program in a couple weeks - the trickiest part was integrating the speech engine with custom recognition as I didn’t like how it worked by default).

Unfortunately my boys left after just a short while as BMS was a bit more than they were ready to take on, so I’m glad I didn’t break the bank - but I loved it and stuck around. (That just means I’ll get to upgrade my own setup going foward without having to worry about them ) FoxVox stuck with me and I use it regularly now, so I have no real need anymore for VoiceAttack. I figured I’d share it with anyone else who maybe wanted an alternative. VoiceAttack certainly isn’t expensive but with BMS multiplayer as awesome as it is, a whole squadron can now have access to voice control for free with the option at their discretion to upgrade to pro software. I think I inadvertently ticked off some VoiceAttack die-hards though

Edit: As for pros/cons, besides price, I tried to make FoxVox simple to configure, flexible to fit different users’ styles, and easy to share within the community. It’s easy to add new keys and adapt to changes without having to wait on updates (it’s not coupled to BMS at all and is stand-alone). It also implements the MS Recognition in a very different way to enhance (I hope) the recognition for a little bit more flexibility. It’s not supported by a team of programmers though and has a limited set of features that are certainly not as expansive as VA.