Voices¶

A voice is a set of sounds.xml entries named <prefix>_<line>. Point an NPC at it with DSDNpcVoice:

<property name="DSDNpcVoice" value="myVoice"/>

Every line is optional; missing lines stay silent. Give each line 2-3 takes so it doesn't repeat.

Lines¶

Line	When	Heard by
`greet`	A player starts talking.	that player
`greet_friendly`	Same, when the player is liked (600+) or the NPC works for them.	that player
`hire`	Hired.	everyone near
`dismiss`	Dismissed, or the contract ran out.	everyone near
`follow`, `stay`, `guard`	Orders.	everyone near
`thanks`	Given a weapon or ammo.	everyone near
`refuse`	Can't be hired, or can't use the item.	everyone near
`combat_start`, `enemy_spotted`	Picks a new target (one or the other).	everyone near
`reload`	Reloading.	everyone near
`low_ammo`	10 rounds left.	everyone near
`no_ammo`	Out of ammo.	everyone near
`kill`	Its target died.	everyone near
`idle_chatter`	Hired and following, every few minutes.	everyone near
`bandit_taunt`	A bandit picks a player as its target.	everyone near
`bandit_flee`	A bandit breaks off under 25% health.	everyone near

Pain and death use the vanilla entity properties SoundHurtSmall, SoundHurt and SoundDeath; point them at your own nodes too.

Lines don't talk over each other: one line per NPC every 2.5 s at most, combat call-outs at most every 8 s, chatter at most every 90 s.

sounds.xml¶

<configs>
  <append xpath="/Sounds">
    <SoundDataNode name="myVoice_greet"> <AudioSource name="@:Sounds/Prefabs/AudioSource_Creatures.prefab"/>
      <Noise ID="1" noise="4" time="1" muffled_when_crouched="0.5"/>
      <AudioClip ClipName="#@modfolder:Resources/myvoices.unity3d?myVoice_greet_1"/>
      <AudioClip ClipName="#@modfolder:Resources/myvoices.unity3d?myVoice_greet_2"/>
      <AudioClip ClipName="#@modfolder:Resources/myvoices.unity3d?myVoice_greet_3"/>
      <Channel name="Mouth"/> <Priority name="0"/> <maxVoicesPerEntity value="1"/>
      <LocalCrouchVolumeScale value="1.0"/> <CrouchNoiseScale value="0.5"/> <NoiseScale value="1"/>
      <MaxVoices value="10"/> <MaxRepeatRate value="1"/> </SoundDataNode>
  </append>
</configs>

Packing the clips¶

Unity 2022.3.62f2. Import your clips (mp3, ogg or wav).
Per clip: Force To Mono on, Load Type Decompress On Load, Compression Vorbis (quality about 60).
Name every clip uniquely (myVoice_greet_1...) and set its AssetBundle to myvoices.
Build the bundle for Windows and save it as Resources/myvoices.unity3d in your mod.

Writing lines

Short and tired works best: "Contact!", "Reloading!", "Got him." Record or generate 2-3 takes of each with different wording; it makes NPCs feel far less robotic.