154 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
154 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
# Notes
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## Registry facts
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From `spchapi/SPCHAPI.INF` (`%49000%` = `%25%\speech` = `C:\windows\speech`):
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- `CLSID_TTSEnumerator` `{D67C0280-C743-11cd-80E5-00AA003E4B50}` -> `Speech.dll`
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- "Audio Destination to File Object" `{D4623720-E4B9-11cf-8D56-00A0C9034A7E}` -> `Speech.dll`
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- "Audio Destination Object" `{CB96B400-C743-11cd-80E5-00AA003E4B50}` -> `Speech.dll`
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- Lexicon dialog `{92655FB1-ADF9-11d1-BEB9-006008317CE8}` -> `Speech.dll`
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- Phoneme converter `{B9F11A96-90E3-11d0-8D77-00A0C9034A7E}` -> `Speech.dll`
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From `msttsl/mstts.inf` (`[TTSReg]`):
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- Engine `MSTTSSyn` = `{E0725551-286F-11d0-8E73-00A0C9083363}` -> `MSTTSSYN.dll`
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- Engine install dir: `Common Files\microsoft shared\SpeechEngines\TTS`.
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- Enumerates voices by scanning `*.vce` in its own directory.
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## Flextalk registration (from the installer's `setup.ins`)
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- Engine value: `HKLM\Software\Voice\TextToSpeech\Engine`
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`"AT&T FlexTalk" = "{FFE78E00-C69C-11CE-AEC1-0000C0E9CB87}"`
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- Engine subkey (forces mode enumeration): `...\Engine\{FFE78E00-...}` with
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`Dirty = 1` (REG_DWORD). The runtime rewrites `Count` + `Mode0..N` and
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clears `Dirty` after enumerating.
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- `HKCR\CLSID\{FFE78E00-C69C-11CE-AEC1-0000C0E9CB87}\InprocServer32` =
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`<root>\EngineDLLs\FlexTalk.dll`, `ThreadingModel = Apartment`.
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Also registered: `{778EAAE2-499F-11CF-B0BA-444553540000}` -> same DLL.
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- Directories: `HKLM\Software\AT&T\Watson\2.0\FlexTalk\2.0\Directories`
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`RootDirectory = C:\FlexTalk\`.
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- Dictionaries: `...\FlexTalk\2.0\Dictionaries`:
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`StandardDictionary="2 ft_sdict.dll"`, `ExceptionDictionary="0 ft_udict.dll"`,
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`HomographDictionary="1 ft_hgrap.dll"`, `ProperNameDictionary="3 ft_namsa.dll"`,
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`LetterToSoundDictionary="4 ft_l2s.dll"`.
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- Options: `...\FlexTalk\2.0\Options` `Gender=Male`, `SampleRate=11025`.
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- Speakers (per-voice settings; names come from these values). **All numeric
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values must be REG_DWORD**: with REG_SZ the engine reads garbage and
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synthesizes a monotone buzz (pitch fixed at max, pitch control dead).
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- `{11260610-C84A-11ce-AEC4-0000C0E9CB87}`: Mode Name / Speaker Name
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"Keith Bell", Pitch 27, Speaking Rate 33, Head Size 46, Expression 59,
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Lowering 40, Prominences 17, Age 30, Volume 100.
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- `{000031CB-3699-551F-AED0-6B4893382D57}`: "Kerry Watson", Pitch 65,
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Speaking Rate 32, Head Size 45, Expression 100, Lowering 40,
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Prominences 17, Age 30, Volume 100.
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- Voice data: `EngineData\AE1M08LC.*`, `AE1M11LC.*` (male, 8/11 kHz) and
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`AE2F08LC.*`, `AE2F11LC.*` (female); `.INV` inventory, `.NDX` index,
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`.COD` codebook, plus shared `DICT_CI.*`, `phondef`, `AMPRULES`, `ENDINGS`.
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Extraction: `unshield -O -d extracted x installer/flextalk/data1.cab`
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(`-O` = old compression). The package is single-volume: the original 1997 upload log
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(`WS_FTP.LOG`) lists `data1.cab` only, and `-O` extracts all 450 entries with exact
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sizes. Without `-O`, unshield's new decompressor reports a phantom "volume 2" and fails
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on `MSVCRT.DLL` / `WatsonUNInstall.dll`; with `-O` both are complete, valid PE files.
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The `.ENV` files the engine probes (`ae1m11lc.ENV`) were never shipped; synthesis works
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without them.
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## Latency and output shape (measured 2026-09-16)
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- Warm wrapper time: ~410-425 ms per short line (engine call 190-220 ms, ffmpeg measure
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~110 ms, apply ~90 ms, profile write ~57 ms when it runs). First (cold) call ~730 ms.
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- The Flextalk profile write is cached per voice in the Wine prefix
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(`~/.wine-microslopsam/.microslopsam-profile<GUID>.reg`): unchanged profiles skip
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`wine reg import`. Recreating the prefix invalidates the cache.
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- Fades: the 8 ms fade-in/out is applied to the trimmed file whose 25-30 ms padding
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silence is retained, so it shapes silence, not speech. Measured head: first sample
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>30 at 22.6 ms, speech (>500) at 29.6 ms, natural ~15 ms attack; tail decays over
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~18 ms. No click, no attenuation of the first word.
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- Leading hum (default on): 80 ms of 75 Hz at -48 dBFS peak before the engine padding,
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to prime Discord's pipeline. Verified 75.0 Hz / -48.0 dBFS, speech onset ~110 ms,
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final -18.6 LUFS / -3.0 dBFS, apply pass +~10 ms. `VESKSLOP_TTS_HUM_MS=0` disables and
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reproduces the previous output byte-for-byte. Tuning: `_HUM_HZ` (30-200), `_HUM_DB`
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(-80..-6; raise toward -36 if a client still gates the start).
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The hum bypasses the high-pass/trim chain, so `VESKSLOP_TTS_HIGHPASS` (up to 400 Hz)
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cannot remove it (verified at 200 and 400 Hz).
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## SAPI4 runtime engine discovery (`speech.dll`)
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- `FUN_635747a4` reads `HKLM\Software\Voice\TextToSpeech\Engine` values
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(value name = engine name, data = CLSID string), validates the GUID with
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`FUN_635712e4`, then opens a *subkey named by the CLSID string*.
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- `FUN_635758b1` (TTS mode-list ctor) reads `Dirty`; when non-zero/missing it
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calls `CoCreateInstance(CLSID, ..., IID @635791c0)` and pulls modes via
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vtable+0xC into 0xaf0-byte records, writes `Mode%d` (REG_BINARY), `Count`,
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then clears `Dirty`. When `Dirty=0` it reads the cached `Mode%d` blobs.
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- Practical rule: to add an engine, register the `Engine` value + the CLSID
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`InprocServer32` + an engine subkey with `Dirty=1` (a missing subkey also
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triggers enumeration).
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## Environment gotchas
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- Wine needs a working X display (the runtime creates windows). `xvfb-run -a`
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proved flaky here; `setup/run.sh` starts a persistent `Xvfb :77` instead.
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- Wine reports `err:ole:apartment_add_dll couldn't load in-process dll` when
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the `InprocServer32` path does not exist. Check the file copy first
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(this bit us: a bad `unshield` run created empty directories).
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- Generate registry `.reg` files with `printf`, never `echo`: dash's `echo`
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interprets `\2` in `...\Watson\2.0\...` as 0x02, corrupting the key so that
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`wine reg import` is a silent no-op (it still returns 0). The wrapper rejects
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a generated profile containing control characters.
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- 32-bit engines require a 32-bit prefix (`WINEARCH=win32`).
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- `sudo` on this machine requires a password; installs are manual.
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## Engine units (measured)
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- speed: MSTTS range 30-450, Flextalk 50-390; the natural rate is about 150 for every
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voice (duration at 100/200/300 fits a natural value near 140-150).
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- pitch: engine units, roughly linear in F0 near the natural point (~1.1 Hz per unit).
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Natural values: about 100 (MSTTS), 106 (Keith Bell), 186 (Kerry Watson); Flextalk max 250.
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Verified with the corrected DWORD registry: Kerry 0 st = 209 Hz, -6 st = 148 Hz,
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+6 st = 250 Hz (clamped at max); Keith 0 st = 119 Hz, +6 st = 170 Hz.
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- The wrapper maps semitones as `natural * 2^(st/12)` and clamps to the range.
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- volume: available through `ITTSAttributes` (host flag `-V`). Flextalk is linear
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(0-65535, default 65535; half is about -6 dB). MSTTS is non-linear (0 = silence,
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4096 about -24 dB, 65535+ full scale); treat it as on/off.
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- Flextalk per-speaker profile values are applied at voice load; `Expression` was
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verified audible (0/59/100 produce different waveforms at equal duration). Changing
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them requires a registry edit and re-selecting the voice.
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## VOX parser
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- `setup/vox_parser.py` reimplements the NetTTS VOX prosody encoder (vendor tags
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`\!wH1/\!wH0`, `\!br`, `\!sfNN`); the host already passes `TTSDATAFLAG_TAGGED`, so
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the engine honors them.
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- Validation: the reference `vox_parser.cpp` from a local clone of
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`h4rm0n1c/NetTTS` was compiled with g++ in a throwaway harness and diffed against
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the Python port; outputs are identical on the 31-line corpus. Re-check after any
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parser change while the clone is available.
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- VOX mode is Flextalk-only. The wrapper enables it with `VESKSLOP_TTS_VOX=1`
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(`VESKSLOP_TTS_VOX_CLEAN=1` drops the stutter wrapper) and it takes precedence
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over `VESKSLOP_TTS_WORDS`.
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- Half-Life presets (`VESKSLOP_TTS_PRESET=vox|hev`) target Keith Bell only. VOX starts
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from NetTTS `nettts_flextalk_vox_profile.reg` (pitch 3, rate 17, head 52, lowering 40)
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and is tuned against the game's word assets from `suchipi/half-life-vox-console`:
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shipped values are pitch 0, rate 15, prominences 22, head size 34, lowering 50,
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volume 70. Measured on 38 words vs the game assets: F0 82.3 vs 82.3 Hz, duration
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22.99 vs 23.36 s, >2 kHz share 0.0172 vs 0.0186 (old approximation: 87.5 Hz /
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22.28 s / 0.0137). `tools/vox_compare.py` reproduces the comparison. `hev`
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(pitch 15, rate 24) remains an unverified starting point - HL1 credits the suit
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sounds to Kelly Bailey with no published settings.
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- Flextalk rate/pitch are applied as **vendor tags** (`\!R` = duration factor,
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`\!%` = pitch multiplier), never `-s`/`-p`, because ITTSAttributes override the
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registry profile. Neutral values emit no tag, so Veskslop's default sliders
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(1.0 / 0) reproduce the preset byte-for-byte. Presets write the full 26-value NetTTS
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profile plus `Default Speaker` into both HKCU and HKLM.
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- Line-leading `/rate N` and `/pitch N` controls are consumed by the wrapper
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(percent, 100 = normal; `<= 2.0` means multiplier). They override the env
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speed/pitch and are not spoken; a controls-only line yields 100 ms of silence.
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## Decompiled corpora (Ghidra)
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- `/mnt/ghidra/decomp/msttssyn.dll/` (786 functions, engine)
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- `/mnt/ghidra/decomp/speech.dll/` (1030 functions, SAPI4 runtime)
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