Voice Attack PTT issue

[Crunch-Z8]

Ok folks, first of all thank You for having me here. I hope to learn a lot and to be able to help others after I gain a certain knowlegde as much as I possibly can.

So I'll start with questions first since I'm a noob 

I run licensed VoiceAttack v1.8.7 for couple of weeks now and have few profiles created and set for voice commanding various apps, programs and games on my computer. Like most of us nerdy noobs I like talking to my computer and getting some feedback in return.   

There's a lot of background "noise" where I come from, usually some loud music at my free time or engines and power tools revving >75dB at work so I've set my VoiceAttack to listen to my headset integrated mic only when I want it to, in a PTT manner, I use press & hold to say what I want and my Recognition Global Hotkey is set to NumPad0.  Which means that VA listens when Num0 is down / stops listening and executes a programmed command when I release it. On top of that and to make 100% sure it works properly I've checked "Do not allow key to be passed through" making the Num0 press exclusive to Voice Attack, preventing it from accidentaly interfering with any apps and browsers running in the background. For typing purposes there's the LetterPad 0 key.

To simplify it further it's a VA command assigned to a single button, I got no additional (Ctrl, Shft, Alt, Win) modifiers included so it should be very straightforward.
 
However, I noticed that Voice Attack occasionally and usually after a few runs has trouble recognizing a state of a pressed button, it simply stops toggling it's listening mode and mic on a Headset icon remains red exed no matter of Num0 state. In order to make it functional again I gotta exit VA nad start it again.

I'd say it's gotta something to do with Voice Attack buffer🤔... I mean if there is one...

For instance, it does listen and process like 15-20 of your PTT conditioned audio commands in a row flawlessly but then it stops and does not respond until You restart VA completely. With restart it resets back to normal and is ready for another 15-20 toggles. So when I notice it stopped responding I have to kill the VA and open it again.

VA is v1.8.7 and I run it as an Administrator.
 
Anyone having same or similar issues and ideas of a workaround?


Thanks all.

[Gary]

Hi, there

You're going to need to find out if there is an app that is causing VA's hook to be broken.  Essentially, with Windows' hooks, last man in wins -  that means that when VA starts, it's keyboard hooks supersede any hooks other applications have in place.  Any apps started after VA that have hooks will override any of VA's hooks (and so on).  When you restart VA, VA reestablishes its hooks.  The only workaround that you'll be able to do (outside of finding an offending app) is to execute a spoken command that executes a, 'Reset Keyboard Shortcuts' action (Other > Windows > Windows Misc Functions > Reset Keyboard Shortcuts).

Hope that helps!

[Crunch-Z8]

Means that if I start a VA as a last app before starting a program I wanna control thru VA that VA should remain stable?

 

[Gary]

That would be the idea, yes.  If that is not the case, some investigative work would need to be done on your system to find out why the hooks are getting removed.

[Crunch-Z8]

OK, gotta try thst later on and I'll report back here.

 Thank You.

[Gary]

Just to make sure -  you're not using VA through a virtual machine or remote desktop, right?  Those have caused problems in the past (even for me).

[Crunch-Z8]

No, nothing remotely.

So I made a stress test by using Win10 Task Manager / Sysinternals, leaving the machine on during night to collect all processing spikes and performance hits happening in the background based on memory usage data and CPU hit records

So one of them is my anti virus software that kicks in every once in a while scanning all temp files that generate automatically with active ethernet.

Guess I'm setting it to sleep mode during VA use.

 

[Lupus]

I'm having a similar issue.  PTT isn't working.  No matter what I try, PTT fails to function at all.  The only way to change the status of the mic is by clicking the headset icon on VA.  I've let the computer boot up completlely.  Then I started Voice Attack.  I didn't launch anything else.  PTT is a no go.  I've tried changing what the PTT buttons are set to, no joy.  Tried rebooting both the computer and the application multiple times.  Still no joy.

Any ideas on what I should try next?  As an aside, I do have multiple HCS voice packs installed, if that is relevant.

*edit* I tried disabling the plugin they install with their voice packs.  That didn't change anything.

*edit* I'm using Beta v1.8.7.12 64-bit

[Gary]

@Lupus -  You'll want to look in your Options > Hotkeys tab and then click on the '...' button to the right of, 'Recognition Global Hotkey'.  Make sure that the, 'Enable keyboard global hotkey' option is checked and then verify from there that when you press keys the keys are indicated in the interface.  If keys are not recognized in the interface from there, something is up on your system that is interfering with your keyboard hooks.  There will be an app or antivirus or something that is preventing VA from receiving the messages from Windows that keys are being pressed.  If the key presses are indeed recognized here, you need to look at the hotkeys for your profile in Profile Options (available from the Profile Edit screen (near the top)) and make sure you don't have a setting that is overriding the global hotkey.

Also, make sure that your keyboard shortcuts icon on your main screen does not have a large, red, 'no' sign through it.  That would mean your keyboard shortcuts are off.

[Crunch-Z8]

If VA recognized the key you chose in order to activate PTT than it's OK, should be assigning the chosen function each time you press it.

I had an issue with antivirus software "sticky keys" recognition, repeated use of a same key in a row made my AV software block the app that takes action from it.

Also make sure what did you choose VA to do when You press the dedicated PTT key, there's the
- toggle function: press to activate / speak / press to deactivate
- Hold function: keep pressed to speak / lift to disconnect
- Press to deactivate listening mode
- deactivate PTT and execute comand only if/when command is recognized by VA

These four work in completely different manner and might create a problem you mentioned so play with these settings a bit.

Regards,