How do I add voice to lr-O2EM?

LordValcor · 16 Jul 2017, 20:43

Good afternoon,

Finally got myself a raspberry pi 3 (B), and decided to put o2em on it with Retropie(v4.2). The Odyssey 2 was the first console I owned, so I was excited to play it. Got it to work, but there's no voice, which makes Smithereens slightly less awesome. I found a download that had the voice files, and where to put them on the pc, but I can't figure out where they are supposed to go on the Pi. Anyone know?

Thanks!

edmaul69 · 16 Jul 2017, 21:21

@lordvalcor you could try putting them in /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/ I havent gotten around to trying to add voice so i dont know if they work

LordValcor · 16 Jul 2017, 22:43

@edmaul69 Tried that, and didn't have any success.

edmaul69 · 16 Jul 2017, 22:45

@lordvalcor yeah i think i might have tried that a while ago. I just cant remember

steptoe · 17 Jul 2017, 08:28

Did some digging and found this in the docs for the linux version of o2em

If you wish to use Voice emulation for games like KC's Krazy Chase, create
a directory called VOICE in the directory where you have O2EM. Download the
voice samples and unzip them into the VOICE directory. There are two sets
of voice samples, mainsamp.zip which is the main voice samples and sidsamp.zip
which are the samples used by the game Sid the Spellbinder. You only need the
Sid samples if you want voice in that game

You will need to find the o2em folder once you have installed the emulator via the install script and run it once to make sure its running and all needed folders are set up correctly. I'm guessing it will be put in the same place as the other emulators that have been installed

LordValcor · 17 Jul 2017, 14:27

I can find the install folders for other emulators, but not o2em. Any idea where it is?

mediamogul · 17 Jul 2017, 15:56

I can't find anything solidly documented either way, but I don't think this is a feature currently supported in the libretro version. In it's earliest form it was noted as not being possible and looking through the commits, it doesn't seem like the ability was ever added.

LordValcor · 17 Jul 2017, 17:04

@mediamogul That's a shame. Thanks for your time, everyone.

speedyrb · 15 Feb 2022, 22:43

OK, commenting on a pretty old post, but as a lover of the O2 (I spent so much time playing with it from the ages of 9-11 or so) I thought I would detail what worked for me.

In \retropie\bios\ I created a folder called "voice" and then placed the unzipped voice samples into that folder.

The sample zips are called "mainsamp.zip" and "sidsamp.zip".

That did the trick! I tested "Type and Tell", "Sid the Spellbinder", "Attack of the Time Lord" and "KC's Krazy Chase" and they all work.

Cheers!

quicksilver · 15 Feb 2022, 23:34

@speedyrb pretty neat! Looks like support was added this past year:

https://github.com/libretro/libretro-o2em/commit/82b4313bb802d5aebba2021000cf71cec10e6f4a

speedyrb · 16 Feb 2022, 00:32

@quicksilver Cool beans!

roslof · 16 Feb 2022, 00:45

@speedyrb said in How do I add voice to lr-O2EM?:

@quicksilver Cool beans!

They broke audio in late November and haven't fixed it yet. Best to sync to commit c039e83. Works best and doesn't have the funky pitch issues introduced.

Still, has lots of audio issues (pops and such), but speech does work.

Another option (or complementary emulator) is lr-mess with unofficial, modern scripts. Seems to work best (actually, very well) for most of the voice games (except Sid & Turtles). MESS requires separate ROMS/Voice samples and headache to install, but once running is quite good.

lr-o2em: Has options to swap L/R controller within options. Fast. Great in-app keyboard that resembles the O2/VideoPac layout. Easy to run. Has audio issues. Gameplay speed can be off a bit.

lr-mess: Much better audio, esp. voice. Some bugs with some games (eg. 4 in 1 Row won't launch). Can't swap controls. No in-app keyboard.

Using both and customizing each emulator to different games covers about 95% of everything. Games like "Turtles" don't run perfectly with either.

ExarKunIv · 16 Feb 2022, 14:16

@roslof thanks for this, i always wanted the voices to work again, i just never looked into it more.

but now i have a little more to go on.

Folly · 23 Feb 2022, 16:19

@roslof

For Videopac/Odessey2 I added 2 lines in the section systems with >EXTRAS< that will install the system and patch the default loaders directly after that.
This way the default loaders will always loadvoice.
All games seem to work correctly with these patched loaders.

Would you like to test it for me?
(EDIT1: I forgot to test if the lr-o2em loaders are affected by the patch, I have to take a second look. Will let you know when it's ready !)
(EDIT2: The second commit should fix the issue in EDIT1 !)

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/0ae6bb18d62f478ba8b44f98b74316a9fd0f7001

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/9e6046da7f5a6f377bd95d7a62c6b75e855420ea

roslof · 23 Feb 2022, 17:10

@folly standing by. Just let me know.

FWIW, I'm not having issues with voice for lr-mess, except for two games that seen to have compatibility issues.

Turtles. No emu seems to handle voice properly here
Sid the Spellbinder. With lr-mess, it doesn't actually say the word to spell. lr-o2em works here though.

Otherwise, all voice seems okay to me with lr-mess (original scripts I tinkered with when @valerino first started with his lr-mess scripts).

Folly · 23 Feb 2022, 17:57

@roslof

You can try, It looks ok now.