REVIEWS

Next In Line For The Voice Buddy Flightsim 7
Voice Buddy 2: Lock-On Modern Air Combat Edition

By "Mad Max" Merlin, Combat Flight Simulation Editor (15 October 2004)

In case you missed the first highly detailed review of the new Voice Buddy 2, you'll want to check out Cap Mason's  article entitled:  The State-Of-The-Art In Voice Control For Flightsimming Takes Another Giant Leap Forward: Voice Buddy 2 Upgrade From eDimensional.  This review is the next in line in my series on the Voice Buddy Editions for combat flight sims, Lock-on Modern Air Combat (LOMAC). Cap covered the basics of Voice Buddy in exquisite detail in his review, so I'm not going to duplicate that effort here. If this is your first encounter with Voice Buddy and you want to know the whole story about Voice Buddy 2 and the new Audio FX force feedback headset, I invite you to read Cap's article.

The ranting combat flightsimmer

I have to admit, I fell in love with LOMAC the minute I saw the screen shots. Those jets look gorgeous! The detail is astounding. The weapons loadouts are amazingly realistic as are the flight models. LOMAC's sound sets are sublime and the sim, in general, is a work of art. Except for one annoying detail, LOMAC is by far the finest combat flightsim I have ever flown. The one thing that made me immediately fall out of love with LOMAC is the fact that the panels are not working panels. I may be old fashioned, but one of the things I love about flightsimming with FS2004 and even the ancient CFS2 -- is the fact that I can actually fly the airplanes with working panels. As a flightsimmer, I want to be a participant, heck I want to be pilot in command -- and not just a spectator along for the ride. You guys and gals KNOW what I'm talking about here, right?

Well, flying a modern combat jet is a complex affair and the LOMAC designers made things even more complicated with the myriad of keyboard commands needed to fly the airplanes. I will trade one working panel for a kilo of keyboard commands in a heartbeat! Allow me a little gripe here, flightsimmers. And, listen up you developers at Ubisoft and Microsoft. We want to actually fly the airplane, not pound on the keyboard. The fact that developers like Oleg Maddox, (IL-2) the team at Eagle Dynamics (LOMAC) and those wonderful folks at Microsoft Game Studios (CFS3) are giving us aircraft without working panels, is just silly! Ladies and gentlemen of the developer world, we combat flight simmers don't just want to look at the moving gauges, we want to CONTROL the instruments and FLY THE AIRPLANE!

OK, rant over.

Falling in love, again!

As you all know by now, while I love flying FS2004, my real passion is the challenge and excitement of combat flight simulation. There is something about flying  modern jets, navigating to target, dodging triple-A and fighter interceptors, managing the weapons systems and bomb payloads, lining up on the target and blowing it to smithereens that I find both thrilling and a real challenge to flightsim airmanship. So, when eDimensional announced they were creating a Voice Buddy 2 (VB2) Edition for LOMAC, I was on it like a duck on a June Bug. I immediately reinstalled LOMAC and fired up voice control. What an astounding difference Voice Buddy made! Instead of being frustrated with annoying keyboard commands, I could now make those jets dance by simply keeping my hands on the HOTAS, feet on the rudder pedals -- and controlling everything else by voice. No kidding, flightsimmers, voice control actually made me forget my pet peeve about not having working panels. It took VB2 for LOMAC to rekindle my love of the modern jets and LOMAC. In fact, after flying the same combat jets in both FS2004 and LOMAC; I must admit that I much prefer flying the fast movers in LOMAC than FS2004. Voice control removed the keyboard annoyances and allowed LOMAC's superior weapons and aircraft simulation to shine. Just carrying a missile loadout in FS2004 such as on the Aerosoft A-10, is not nearly as exciting as seeing the missiles come off the rails and home in on target to the bad guy into flaming bits of simulated metal. Hooyah!  With the new LOMAC upgrade patch combined with VB2, even complicated weapons management such as continuously computer release point (CCRP) bombing and adjusting the ripple rate of bomb release or cannon fire is a snap. Or, should I say, a simple voice command.

Part of the Voice Buddy 2 Flightsim 7 Collection

VB23 for LOMAC is part of the Voice Buddy 2 Flightsim 7 Collection. In addition to previously released editions for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and 2002, the combat editions bring us:

    I have already reviewed VB2 for IL-2 in this article:   Voice Buddy 2:  IL-2 Sturmovik Edition. Next week I'll wrap with VB2 for CFS3/2 and Andrew Herd will be handling VB2 for IL-2 Pacific Fighters in his upcoming review of that soon-to-be-release combat sim.

    eDimensional has started releasing VB2 Editions for other games as well. Current titles include Far Cry, Doom 3, Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Vietnam, Halo, Unreal Tournament, Call of Duty and many others. To see them all and get your copy of the VB2 for LOMAC, visit the new eDimensional site using the link below. According to eDimensional executive Michael Epstein, "Fact is, you'll soon see a VB2 Edition for every hot game on the market. eDimensional is dedicated to bringing gamers in all genres the very best add-ons to enhance their PC gaming thrills. That's why we are creating Voice Buddy 2 Editions for all the hot games. There will be scores of game editions in every genre including simulation, first-person shooters, role playing, strategy, sports, massive multiplayer online games and even puzzle games. Gamers have told us that once they play with voice control, they never want to go back to the old way."

    Core Engine Or Game Edition? The Choice Is Simple.

    Voice Buddy 2 comes in two parts:  core edition and game edition. You need the core edition to run the game edition add-ons for each game where you want voice control. Once again, in this reviewer's opinion, eDimensional has gone one step beyond and provided very affordable pricing. If you already have the VB2 core edition installed, the LOMAC add-on is only $9.95 as are all the VB2 add-on editions. If you need the core edition to get started in voice control for gaming, you can get the software only version that also includes one game edition for free at USD $49.95. Add the Audio FX headset and the package price is just USD $79.95. See Cap's review for the full story on the amazing Audio FX. I thought that headset alone was worth the price of admission. The audio force feedback effects are incredible in combat flightsimming. Explosions, missile releases, bomb drops, fly-bys and cannon fire never felt so good!

    Aerial combat never felt better

    Once you have the core edition installed, you can add game editions for just $9.95 each. If all you play is LOMAC, and you don't already have Voice Buddy 2, then grab the core edition for LOMAC and you're good-to-go. You'll need a good headset and one that is not a USB headset. If you already have the hardware, just get the software. If you don't have a decent headset, or yours is USB, then grab the combo version with the Audio FX. Since top quality headsets can go for USD $50-80 alone, I think the combo package is a pretty good deal.

    If you already have the core edition of Voice Buddy 2 for FS2004, CFS2, IL-2 or any other game; all you need is the add-on edition. At less than ten bucks, the add-ons are so low-cost that I'm adding them to all the other games I play such as Unreal Tournament 2004, Far Cry, Doom 3, Call of Duty, Battlefield 1942 and Vietnam, Medal of Honor, and more. OK, I'll admit it, I play lots of different game genres.

    Flying LOMAC under voice control

    I like flying combat missions as realistically as possible. No arcade game follies for ol' Mad Max. Although I do fly without the panel when dogfighting in multiplayer missions, for bombing runs and close air support missions I will stay in the cockpit. One of the things that always bugged me is using the point-of-view hat to look around. Panning with the POV hat was never my favorite thing to do. I often got flamed just looking around because I was fumbling with the POV. Flying LOMAC for real is always challenging. Voice control solved the panning issues but it also gave me instant access to combat systems. When I rolled into a combat zone where I had multiple targets in my A-10, I simply said, "Lock onto the nearest air target. Cycle weapons. Fire missile." And blew that Russian's sorry six out of the sky with a Maverick missile. Then I said "Lock onto the nearest ground target. Cycle weapon." Waited for the weapon lock to say, "Shoot!" To which I responded, "Fire missile." And a Russian ZSU triple-A system vaproized. Issuing a few more voice commands, I switch radar modes and saw I was painted. "Fire chaff and flares." Took care of the incoming missile while I broke clear of the threat lock. Now, THAT's what I'm talkin' about! Lots of action, never touched the keyboard. Welcome to flying fast-movers under voice control.

    Sukhois, Eagles and Warthogs, oh my!

    LOMAC has a line-up of jets that are a hand full to fly, but thrilling when you learn how to handle them properly. Voice control simplifies managing the myriad of flight control, radar and weapons system that make these birds such formidable warriors, and a blast to command. In the pre-voice control days, I lost interest in learning the proper way to fly and fight these jets because using the keyboard was just too slow and cumbersome. Now, I can instantly take charge and lock on to targets just by issuing a voice command while I keep my hands on the stick and throttle.  This comes in very handy when trying to trap a Sukhoi on a Russian carrier, which is risky business on a good day. Trapping is always a "controlled crash". Some less "controlled" than others. It gives me a tremendous sense of accomplishment (and relief) when I actually snag the wire! I couldn't do it using keyboard controls. Voice control made it go smooth as a Russian baby's tuchus. My only regret is that the LOMAC developers didn't model an American carrier and F/A-18 Hornets.

    Same voice commands across different games

    To keep things authentic, the LOMAC developers created realistic panels that are detailed right down to the weathering. Even if they are not working panels, the Russian aircraft have Cyrillic nomenclature in their cockpits and this adds immeasurably to the realism. It also makes it a challenge for us Yanks who don't read Russian! So, eDimensional's developers give you voice commands that recognize the different names in English for similar systems on both American and Russian aircraft. For example, continuously computed release point bombing is know as CCRP to the Yanks and aeronautical bombing (in English, of course) to the Russians. Both terms work when you say "engage" or "disengage" "aeronautical" or "CCRP bombing mode."

    I also noticed that eDimensional has maintained similar syntax across different sims which makes learning the lingo of voice commands a lot faster and easier. When I want to turn on the autopilot in all the Flightsim 7 VB2 Editions, I simply say, "Autopilot masterswitch on." This works in all seven sims despite the fact that each sim has a different keyboard assignment to turn the autopilot on and off. If you fly different sims or play lots of different game types, this common language for voice control is a real benefit. Now, I can switch from sim-to-sim, game-to-game, and take control of the action very quickly, without having to learn a new command set or reprogram hundreds of key combos.

    Better point-of-view control

    I solved most of that dilemma by adding the TrackIR3 POV controller. I put the tracking dot on the Voice Buddy Audio FX microphone boom and it works great. But, for those of you who want a $10 POV solution instead of a $100 solution, get the VB2 LOMAC edition. One of the first things I noticed is how easy it is to pan around the cockpit just by saying the words: "Pan left, right, up, down, ahead" an so forth. You can also set the field of view instantly with voice commands.

    Easier engine and control surface management

    Looking around is only a small part of the challenge to flying modern jets. To really feel what it was like flying and fighting in the fast-movers, you need to go for realistic settings and use actual flight and engine controls. I never bothered doing that before in LOMAC because it was such a chore to remember all those arcane keyboard commands or program controls into my flightstick. When I wanted to fly for real, I climbed back into a CFS2 or FS2004 cockpit. Voice control gave me a whole new perspective on LOMAC flying since I could finally operate the engines individually, manage the vectored thrust, manage weapons stores, control surfaces, trim, radios, radar and more -- all with voice commands.

    I like to begin with a cold start, fire up the engines manually rather than using auto-start, taxi to the runway, set flaps and trim and then takeoff. OK, sometimes I'm in a rush, I'll cut corners on all that and launch the mission in the air. But, I think I'm like most flightsimmers and enjoy actually flying the airplane. Otherwise, I'd be runnin-n-gunnin on XBox! All those procedures were not much fun using the keyboard. Now that I have voice control, firing up the MiG-29 and flying that beast off the ground without crashing on take-off is much easier and a lot more fun. Once airborne, I can switch views, manage the aircraft systems, communicate and do all the rest of my flight routine with voice commands while I keep my hands on the stick and throttle with my feet on the rudder pedals.

    Gives you individual control over multi-engine aircraft

    All the jets in LOMAC are twin-engine. None of the HOTAS throttles such as those from CH Products, Thrustmaster and Saitek; are a twin-engine throttle. Frankly, it's a challenge to manage two engines with one throttle handle. DUH! One cool bonus feature I discovered is that Voice Buddy extended my throttle control for twin-engine aircraft. As you can see from the image on the right, the left engine throttle on the SU-33 is advanced while the right throttle is retarded. There are voice controls to set throttles at preset increments of 10% each move and you can also throttle up or back in bigger moves. Voice control makes the delicate art of managing twin turbofans a lot easier and much smoother.

    If you have the new CH Products USB Throttle Quadrant or the GoFlight USB Throttle Quadrant, you may be able to program those to handle individual engines for LOMAC. But, why bother! First of all, it's a lot of work to do that. Secondly, I'm after realism and a civilian aviation throttle quadrant does not give me the feel of a jet fighter HOTAS.  I use the CH Products Pro Throttle which is a single engine control designed like the throttle on a F-16 Fighting Falcon. Most other flightsticks, throttles and HOTAS systems do not have individual throttle levers to enable you to control the left and right engines separately on multi-engine aircraft. Voice Buddy extends individual throttle control even if your flight controllers do not support it. In LOMAC, I discovered that I can select engine one through number eight by voice and then start it individually. Voice Buddy also works with the multi-engine throttle quadrants but I think $10 bucks is a very affordable way to provide individual control of multiple engines for those of us who don't have the money or the room for a quadrant. Using voice commands, you will now be able to control left and right engine thrust individually.

Easy management of sophisticated weapons systems

    In the heat of battle, I never want to flub my weapons arming, much less deployment. OK, I'll admit to being a fumble fingers with the keyboard and blowing attacks due to typos. That all disappeared with voice control. Managing radar, selecting and arming ordinance and weapons systems was both easy and instantaneous.

    High speed air-to-air missile engagements and fighting beyond visual range, takes a little getting used to if all you've been flying are warbirds. Voice Buddy gives me a full set of easy-to-use commands to set the various radar modes and instantly switch missile targeting systems. Even if I was willing to spend the hours necessary to program LOMAC commands into my HOTAS (which I am not willing to do), I can issue voice commands faster than I can type or press buttons. When the going gets hot and heavy in air-to-air, I can stack up a string of voice commands that execute in sync with my handling the aircraft.

    I think the biggest benefit is when flying the A-10. That beast has formidable firepower. It's a multi-role fighter bomber and can fight land, sea and air targets with its awesome arsenal of bombs, missiles and that kick-ass cannon. In the LOMAC patch, the developers added a few gems such as CCRP bombing. Flying a CCRP mission is challenging if you need to set it all up with the keyboard and point-of-view (POV) hat alone. Even if I'm flying at almost stall speed, I usually don't paint the target and set the CCRP release point before I over fly the target. Talk about frustrating! With Voice Buddy, I can instantly switch to CCRP mode and zoom the acquisition cursor to the target in a flash. Then, it's only a matter of a little nudge on the POV hat to lock on. Once that's accomplished, all I have to do is fly the attack profile and CCRP calculates the release point for me. I fly to the drop point and it's bombs away. Boom! He's dead.

    One of LOMAC's better thrills is seeing your missiles attack their targets. LOMAC has magnificent view controls. You can watch the missile come off the rails, see it in flight and have a bird's eye view of the explosion. It's the next best thing to being there. Except for one thing. Flying the airplane can be a challenge while you're out there sightseeing with your ordinance. That's where voice control comes in handy. I can fly the plane and even set up my next target, all by simply talking. Or, if I'm in a mood for fun I just say, "autopilot masterswitch on." And then switch my views by voice to take in the pyrotechnics while the airplane continues on mission.

    Keep hands and feet on the controls instead of the keyboard and mouse

    HOTAS means Hands On Throttle And Stick. It does not mean, "typing furiously on the keyboard while moving the mouse and wishing you had an extra pair of hands so you could keep Hands On Throttle And Stick." I always wanted to fly a midair refueling. Using the keyboard, I could never master it. One I got the hang of flying jets with voice control, those tricky midair refueling maneuvers became a lot easier.

    Improve your screenies

    One of the better features of voice control is to simplify taking screen shots. I can fly the mission profile exactly as I want and then instantly "Switch to external." Then use voice commands to "Look left, right, up, down" get the right angle on the image and finally grab the screenie in the blink of an eye by just saying, "Screenshot." Done.

    VBIT is like always flying with a Topgun instructor in the right-hand seat.

    VBIT is the Voice Buddy Interactive Trainer. It's a series of dialogs that you have with the computer. VBIT for LOMAC is a voice activated fighter school. These training sessions walk you through challenging maneuvers. I think of VBIT as having an angel on my shoulder and a virtual Topgun instructor always flying the right-hand seat. OK, I know that there is no "right-hand" seat in a jet fighter. That's why I called him "virtual."

    As much as I fly combat flightsims, there are still lots of ACM tactics that I'm a little rusty on, or completely ignorant of. I didn't know this until I flew with VBIT and said, "Teach me an unloaded reversal." Now I can fly  high speed ACM with the best of them.

    The VBIT for LOMAC is tailored to the capabilities of modern jets and their advanced technology weapons and radar systems. I flew all of the VBIT dialogs interactively. It was very cool to have Voice Buddy walk me through the finer points of "How to defend against a snap shot", Circle Fighting, Rolling Scissors, Going Vertical, how to Rope-a-Dope and convert from being defensive to offensive. There are scores more dialogs that cover everything from the basics of loops and breaks to the truly advanced stuff of Yo-Yos, carrier operations, close range gunnery,  when to use the three types of pursuit and much more. It's like having a built-in, interactive Topgun school anytime you want it. I discovered what was wrong with how I was setting up my guns solutions. I got much better at dive bombing and strafing. I learned how to convert a circle fight to my advantage and when to bug out to live and fight another day. While all these techniques (minus the guided missiles, of course) are applicable to warbirds, they are quite different when you're flying a jet. It was easy to get checked out on the fast-movers when I had my VBIT flight instructor walking me through the fine points.

    Asynchronous Command & Control Response (ACCR)

    Voice Buddy can multitask. It listens, acts and responds, all at the same time. This is called Asynchronous Command Control Response (ACCR). ACCR is a real thrill to use. I quickly discovered that it gave me an edge in combat. When the action got intense, I could quickly issue a string of voice commands and have them all executed consecutively in the blink of an eye. It was much faster than pushing buttons on the Fighterstick or typing on the keyboard.  I kept hands on the flight controls while I  flamed a couple of bandits by issuing voice commands at lighting speed . The best part is that I lived to fight another day. Another thing that is very handy is the fact that VB2 listens even if you speak rapidly and softly. No need to shout or change your normal rate of speech.

    Voice Buddy LOMAC Edition is fully compatible with most VOIP clients

    Cap covered this unique feature in his review in full detail. But, it's worth mentioning again here. Most of the thrill of combat flightsimming is flying missions on the Internet. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), clients such as Ventrilo, Roger Wilco, Team Speak, Game Voice and Advanced Voice Client enable you to talk to other people while flying  multiplayer combat missions. If you or your combat squadron uses one of the VOIP applications to talk to other pilots, you can use Voice Buddy and the VOIP client either simultaneously -- with both applications running under voice control -- or by controlling either one, or both, using Push-To-Talk (PTT) and Push-To-Mute (PTM) buttons. You can also control Voice Buddy with just voice commands while the VOIP client is in voice activated mode.

    So simple to install even a fighter jock can handle it

    While Cap dug deep into the guts of Voice Buddy 2, I'm a simple guy and like my add-ons that way. Kick the tires, light the fires and go. If I wanted to work hard, I'd fly as a bomber pilot, not a fighter ace. KIS works for me every time. VB2 for LOMAC did not disappoint me. I already had the VB2 FS2004/FS2002, CFS2, CFS3 and IL-2 editions installed. Adding the LOMAC Edition took just a couple of mouse-clicks. Click, bang. Done!  No hiccups. No reconfiguring. Nothing to tweak or noodle with. No retraining or adjusting the microphone. It all worked perfectly right out of the box. Just the way I like it. After the installation was complete, I had the LOMAC Edition added to the VB2 pulldown menu of titles, ready-to-fly. You need to also know that VB2 is only compatible with Windows XP and Windows 2000.

    Control profile changes and voice fixes for LOMAC program bugs

    Unlike the Voice Buddy Smart Keys technology that enables VB2 to automatically learn the control profiles for IL-2 and CFS3, LOMAC is a bit control challenged. IL-2 and CFS3 both use very smart technology in the way they handle keyboard and flight controller commands between you and the sim. LOMAC is not that sophisticated. So, you need to make a few minor changes to your key assignments to use VB2. The documentation says:

    "1.    You must first update to LOMAC version 1.02"

    "2.    Only after you apply the 1.02 Update Patch, you must then change some of the LOMAC key assignments."

    The LOMAC 1.02 patch made lots of control changes that basically SNAFU-ed your LOMAC key assignment profiles. Voice Buddy is based on the default LOMAC commands and assumes that your version of LOMAC has been updated with the 1.02 Patch. So, hold on for the good news:  VB2 fixes all the things that the 1.02 patch fouled up. It assigns voice commands to all the new features of 1.02 and if you follow the installation instructions, VB2 makes your control profile much more stable, easier to use and adds voice or keyboard command capability which you can use alternately, or at the same time.

    The LOMAC 1.02 update provides many new features and keyboard commands while it also reassigns many of the default key commands from the original release version of LOMAC. Voice Buddy creates voice commands for all the newest LOMAC commands that were created with the 1.02 LOMAC Update Patch. If you customized your LOMAC key commands, they may be changed by the 1.02 Update Patch. You may customize Voice Buddy to suit your customized LOMAC commands. However, there are several LOMAC key commands that are unique and you must change those key assignments in order for Voice Buddy to work correctly. Just follow the detailed installation instructions in the excellent Voice Buddy Help system and you can't go wrong.

    LOMAC uses many non-standard implementations for several essential keys such as NUMLOCK, INSERT, DELETE and SCROLL LOCK, among others. There are also bugs in the key commands for the 1.02 Update Patch such as the error of launching chaff or flares when using LOMAC's default key assignments of ALT, SHIFT and CONTROL with the INSERT and DELETE keys. Voice Buddy has successfully re-mapped the voice commands to key combinations and fixed these game bugs for you.

    Customizing it

    As with all Voice Buddy Editions, you get a complete built-in software developer's kit and easy access to customizing all the voice commands, keyboard commands and voice responses.

    Getting help

    The eDimensional team has done an exceptional job with the built-in help system. Printing the voice command reference chart was a snap. I also used the print feature in the Command Manger to sort and print the chart a variety of ways to make everything a lot easier to learn and use.

    The last word

    LOMAC has done a magnificent job of simulating the daunting task of flying modern combat jets. Problem is, before Voice Buddy I spent more time with the keyboard than flying the jets and blowing stuff up! Now, voice control makes modern jet combat flight simulation exciting and a lot more realistic. I especially love the interactive training that walks me through complex tasks such as continuously computed release point bombing in real time."

    For those of you in the UK, eDimensional has a distribution center in England and ships directly from there.

"Mad Max" Merlin
Combat Flight Simulation Editor
maxmerlin@flightsim.com



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