Curious to hear people's thoughts on that AI-fueled Bannerlord mod

[tpulls28]

In short, they've linked up an AI text generator and then AI voice sync to create real-time, dynamic, in-game, fully voiced, and contextually-appropriate dialogue with basically any NPC in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord. Here's the link: https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/5273

This seems casually revelatory to me, but I'm wondering if modders have already been implementing stuff like this in other games, and what people think about it? If it's an early or more robust application, it feels like a mod worth highlighting in a PCG article with some of the staff's takes.

It seems to me like this is pretty impressive on a technical level, though I have no idea if it was actually complicated to implement. And for this specific mod, it definitely seems like it would meaningfully inflate the immersive world-building potential. As far as I understand it, it doesn't materially interact with any of the game mechanics or systems, so you can't, for example, use this to improve your relationship with NPCs or move on with a quest or anything (at least not yet). Based on the sample dialogue shown in the Youtube video on the mod page, maybe the somewhat surface-level ~wallpaper dialogue would get tiresome really quickly. But at the very least, it seems like a great bit of set-dressing, and an interesting sign of what might be on the horizon for both modding and game development more broadly.

 

[ZedClampet]

Never tried this mod, but that's the future of gaming for sure.

 

[Zloth]

Well, text-to-speech has been around for a long time. They've always been really poor, though.

One of the big pushes to get voice acting out of games is that it locks the text down. If the developers decide that they really need to do a scene differently, they have to haul in the voice actors again (for all languages) and re-record it, where text can simply be edited in a few minutes. Now they can use text (or perhaps some sort of markup text, so the developers can indicate if the speaker should be using a variation of its own voice, like sing-song, sarcastic, or sighing) AND get voiced games! Or at least they might be able to get it with some more work on the tech.

And here's one for the folks that like to roleplay themselves in games - I bet it could sample your voice and use that for the main character! Come to think of it, you could probably use family and friends for lots of characters. Anyone out there want to make an XCOM2 mod??

 

[Brian Boru]

Text to speech has become very good recently, altho the best isn't available to public yet as far as I know—we've been involved on the periphery with one of the big names in the game.

The real trick is to get away from text tho, which is where the newest AI comes in—constructing credible communication on the fly, and voicing it well.

The bits are in place, and it shouldn't take long to polish and mesh them.

 

[Pifanjr]

And here's one for the folks that like to roleplay themselves in games - I bet it could sample your voice and use that for the main character! Come to think of it, you could probably use family and friends for lots of characters. Anyone out there want to make an XCOM2 mod??

I absolutely hate hearing my own voice and using the voices of my family and friends seems like it would be really uncomfortable.

 

[tpulls28]

I absolutely hate hearing my own voice and using the voices of my family and friends seems like it would be really uncomfortable.

No no, don't worry, it'll be the voice of me and my family. And we're super vain so we're totally into it.

 

[Magatach]

This is very cool technology. But on the other hand, it’s somehow sad that even our speech from robots seems to be losing all its humanity. But I think this is a good feature for games.