Voice Recognition Profile Generator

This tool generates both VAC and VoiceAttack profiles for voice recognition intended for use in video gaming. VAC is a simple voice recognition macro utility that recognizes voice commands and executes keyboard and mouse macros. VoiceAttack is similar to VAC but has much more complex macro tools. Both are intended for video gamers to allow hands-off control of their games.

This script reads voice commands generated from a simple, easy-to-write nested domain-specific language (DSL). The DSL is optimized for games that use nested menus for generating commands that communicate with NPCs. Here is a simple example of such a profile:

F1 Team
  a Attack My Target
  d Defend Our Base

This would generate two voice recognition macros: one triggered by the phrase "Team Attack My Target", that types F1 then a; and one triggered by the phrase "Team Defend Our Base" that typed F1 then b.

Requirements and Installation

Compiling this tool requires a Mac* running macOS 14 or newer, with Xcode installed. Swift 6.0 or newer is required.

To compile this tool, simply run swift build -c release. The generated binary will be in .build/release/generate-profile. You can then move the binary anywhere.

*Why macOS when both VAC and VoiceAttack are Windows-only? Because I've been having fun converting my old Ruby scripts to Swift, is my purely selfish reason. The old, cross-platform Ruby script is still available on the ruby branch of this repository.

Usage

Assuming you have a profile already written as profile.vacc, you can generate a VAC profile by simply running:

generate-profile -f=vac /path/to/profile.vacc > profile.xml

You can then import this profile in VAC.

Likewise, to generate a VoiceAttack profile:

generate-profile -f=voiceattack /path/to/profile.vacc > profile.vap

You can then import this profile in VoiceAttack.

DSL Syntax

A basic line consists of the key or keys to be pressed, a space, and then the phrase to use to invoke the macro:

a Fire Torpedoes
wd Wave and Dance

As you saw before, you can generate complex phrases by nesting commands underneath other commands:

t Team
  f Form on Me
s Squad
  f Form on Me

You can add intermediate lines that do not have any phrases if you need to group those commands:

t Team
  1
    a Attack Target One
    d Defend Base One
  2
    a Attack Target Two
    d Defend Base Two

This would result in a command with the phrase "Team Attack Target One" having the macro "t-1-a".

Phrases can only be letters. They cannot contain numbers or special characters. So use phrases like "Target Two" instead of "Target 2", or "Send One Hundred Dollars" instead of "Send $100".

Likewise, it's recommended that you spell phonetically any acronyms or jargon words the recognizer might have trouble with. So use the phrase "Next Double You Pee" instead of "Next WP", and "Say Pause It" instead of "Say Posit".

Multiple Phrases

You can add assign a macro to multiple phrases by comma-separating phrases:

a Fire Torpedoes, Torpedoes Away

This would create two commands ("Fire Torpedoes", "Torpedoes Away") that run the same macro.

Keystrokes

The appearance of most letters, numbers, or symbols simply represent the keys corresponding to those symbols. So "t" would press the "T" key, and "," would press the Comma key. In addition, the following special keys are supported:

• Function keys F1 through F15
• SPC, BKSP, ENT, TAB, CAPS, ESC, and APPS
• SHIFT, LSHIFT, and RSHIFT; and similar for CTRL, ALT, and WIN
• UP, DN, LT, and RT arrows
• HOME, END, INS, DEL, PGUP, and PGDN
• PSC, SCLK, and BRK
• NUM0 through NUM9, NUM+, NUM-, etc., and NUMENT

Note that shifted characters, like "@" (Shift-2) cannot be used directly. You must use chording (see below) to type Shift-2 instead.

Chording

You can chord keystrokes (press multiple keys at the same time) by separating chord elements with + -- spaces are required. Example:

SHF + t Team
  1 Attack My Target

This would generate a macro that first presses "Shift-T", then presses "1". Again, the spaces around the + are required.

Aliases

To avoid repetition, you can assign a group of commands an alias with &, and then reference that alias when needed with *:

t Team
  a Attack &bases
    1 Base One
    2 Base Two
  d Defend *bases
  r Resupply *bases

And the intermediate commands of course don't need phrases if they're just used for grouping:

t Team
  F1 &actions
    F1 Attack Base
    F2 Defend Base
    F3 Resupply
  F2 &queries
    F1 Say Health
    F2 Say Weapons
    F3 Say Location
s Squad
  F1 *actions
  F2 *queries

Limitations

• VAC
  • Chording is not supported
  • Modifier keys are not supported
  • Special keys (except function keys) are not supported
• VoiceAttack
  • Chording is not supported
  • Modifier keys are not supported

Pull requests welcome! ;)