Higher Female Protagonist Voice (German)

Higher Female Protagonist Voice (German)

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Higher Female Protagonist Voice (German)

Note: I do not speak or understand German. This has been put together by request. The original (English) version of this mod was an attempt to counter the too-low, too-old nature of the (English-speaking) female protagonist’s voice, and this version of the mod simply effects the same modifications for the French-language dialogue. The majority of what the following information covers was originally meant for the English version of the mod, but will be largely applicable in this case as well.

English version is here.

None of these tweaks are 100% ideal, and audible distortion is an unavoidable side-effect.
The tweaks with effectively zero distortion are those highlighted in green.

This is the original video showcasing most of the English voices. Use it as a guide.

Voice Types:

IN SUMMARY: The voice types below come in basically two types – Those in which the pitch / formants adjustments are identical, and those in which they are not. When the adjustments are equal, the voice can be considered to be effectively distortion-free. Otherwise there will be some audible distortion in varying (and specified) amounts.

Voice Type A1:
Pitch raised 19%, formants raised 6%. This used to be the one I used (now I use Type D1 or Type B). The voice sounds somewhat higher and somewhat younger.
Pro: Relatively little audible distortion.
Con: Ultimately not a huge change in pitch.

Voice Type A2:
Pitch raised 6%, formants raised 6%. A very slightly higher voice that sounds somewhat younger. Included mainly so that there is an option that has as little distortion as possible while also providing at least some improvement, however minimal.
Pro: Essentially zero audible distortion.
Con: Barely any change in pitch.

Voice Type A3:
Pitch raised 3%, formants raised 3%. A very, very slightly higher voice that sounds just a bit younger. Basically the midpoint between Type A2 and the default voice. The actual modification is probably too subtle for a single piece of dialogue to reveal; one would simply need to try the voice out and see if it suits their needs.
Pro: Essentially zero audible distortion.
Con: Barely any change in pitch.

Voice Type B:
Pitch raised 9%, formants raised 9%. A formant raise of this magnitude means the voice sounds markedly younger than the original, though the rise in pitch is minimal.
Pro: Essentially zero audible distortion.
Con: Very little change in pitch. As a straight pitch-shift, this is as much as I felt could be gotten away with without making the protagonist sound too “helium”-artificial.

Voice Type C:
Pitch raised 19%, formants unaltered. The voice sounds somewhat higher but essentially the same age.
Pro: Audible distortion isn’t excessive.
Con: Still not a lot of change in pitch. This is about as far as I could push the process before engendering excessive distortion in a batch convert, but there definitely is more distortion here.

Voice Type U2:
Pitch raised 50%, formants raised 9%. The voice is considerably higher, bringing it in line with world-average vocal frequencies, and also sounds much younger.
Pro: Considerable change in pitch.
Con: The greatest distortion among the available choices, probably to the point of being unusable, hence the “U”. Use at your own discretion!

Please read this disclaimer concerning the rest of the voice types:

The entire point of going beyond 9% formants is to push for a younger voice. These voice modifications may be too far for most people, but whenever the “shojo” type player mods begin to arrive, something like this will be needed. However, there are some important limitations which need to be kept in mind:

In order to prevent or at least limit distortion, there will be no significant pitch changes such as 50%+.
The English-speaking voice actress suffered from a hoarse throat and “vocal fry”. These qualities, while not problematic if you’re supposed to be middle-aged, are incompatible with the perception of a young-sounding voice, and it is effectively impossible to simply change them or edit them out. I do not know if this applies to the French-speaking voice actress, though I’ll say it’s on the whole unlikely.

Voice Type D1:
Pitch raised 12.2%, formants raised 12.2%. For my own purposes, I have more or less settled upon this voice (English version). Type B is somewhat less young-sounding.
Pro: Essentially zero audible distortion.
Con: Younger without being particularly higher. Also the fact that there are still hoarse / “vocal fry” moments in the dialogue tends to undermine the youthfulness.

Voice Type E1:
Pitch raised 15.6%, formants raised 15.6%. Pushing the voice even further than D1. Really anything more than this and the voice isn’t sounding younger so much as smaller, as in little people.
Pro: Essentially zero audible distortion.
Con: Younger without being particularly higher, especially for the apparent youthfulness of the voice.

Installation (as of 2015-12-30):

1. Follow the Fallout 4 Mod Installation guide to learn the latest method for setting up custom mods.

2. Add the name of the esp file of your chosen voice type (for example: “Higher Female Protagonist Voice (Japanese) – Type A4.esp”) to the plugins.txt file, which is typically located in C:\Users\(your username)\AppData\Local\Fallout4.

3. Extract the contents of the archive to your Fallout4\Data\ directory.

Uninstall:

1. Remove the archive’s extracted contents from your Fallout4\Data\ directory.

2. Remove the name of the esp file from your plugins.txt file.

Other:

Q: Why is Voice Type U2 called “U2b”?
A: Somewhere on the Nexus’ servers, there exists a file properly called Type U2, but since I have no access to this file and cannot delete it, I had no choice but to upload the file with a different name.

I hope this mod proves of use to others.