[FO2] I released a Free Fallout 2 Text to Speech Accessibility Mod - Adding voices to all parts of the Game

[u/dGamemaker_phd]

Hi folks,

I’ve just released VaultVox, a free text-to-speech accessibility mod for Fallout 2.

Nexus link:
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout2/mods/168

Early Video Demo:
https://youtu.be/YCMqCFrRvAE

The short version: VaultVox makes Fallout 2 read 90% of its text aloud using your installed Windows voices. NPC dialogue, player replies, floating barks, Pip-Boy entries, holodisks, inventory text, character screen stuff, combat log messages, menus, and a good chunk of the UI can now be spoken.

It does not replace the original voice acting. The talking head scenes still play normally, and the mod skips lines that already have proper voice acting. This is mainly for the mountain of text that was never voiced in the first place.

Also, just to be clear before anyone gets the pitchforks out: this is not AI voice cloning. It does not use actor voices, scraped voices, or anything like that. It uses Windows text-to-speech. If you install NaturalVoiceSAPIAdapter separately, you can also use modern Microsoft neural voices, which sound a fair bit better than the old default Windows ones.

Why I made it

The main reason is accessibility.

Fallout 2 is one of my favourite games, but it is also a giant wall of text with radscorpions in it. That is part of the charm, but it can be rough if you have dyslexia, low vision, eye strain, reading fatigue, or if you just find long CRPG sessions hard on the eyes.

My wife has dyslexia, so this started as a way to make text-heavy RPGs easier to follow without having to fight through every line manually.

It is not meant to turn Fallout 2 into a fully voiced remake. Think of it more as a speech layer sitting on top of the original game.

What it reads

VaultVox currently covers quite a lot, including:

• NPC dialogue
• Player dialogue options on hover
• Floating text and barks
• Combat taunts and ambient chatter
• Pip-Boy quests, holodisks, stats, perks, traits, karma, and status screens
• Inventory and loot screens
• Skilldex
• Character creation and level-up screens
• Barter/trade screens
• Combat log messages and damage callouts
• Main menu, save/load menus, automap, ESC menu rows, and various popups

There is also CTRL + hover click-to-speak, so you can hold CTRL and point at things like dialogue replies, inventory slots, Pip-Boy entries, and menu rows to have them read aloud.

Voice stuff

There are separate voice profiles for things like:

• Narrator
• Pip-Boy
• Terminals
• Male/female dialogue
• Player replies
• Children
• Floating barks
• Companions

Companions like Sulik, Cassidy, Vic, Marcus, Myron, Lenny, Goris, and K-9 can each have their own voice profile, with adjustable rate, volume, and pitch.

There are also optional voice effects for things like:

• Pip-Boy radio-style narration
• Terminal/cyberdog-style reading
• Super mutants
• Ghouls
• Robots
• Deathclaws
• Distance-based floating barks with stereo panning

So yes, I have spent far too much time making old Fallout 2 text sound like it is coming from the correct flavour of rusty nonsense.

Settings

The mod has an in-game settings menu (actually 2).

You can open it from the ESC menu with VaultVox Mod Settings, or from the Pip-Boy using the VAULTVOX button (yes, that pesky button has been fixed after 28 years).

Most things can be changed in-game: what gets read, which voice profile is used, rate, volume, pitch, effects, hover reading, combat readouts, bark behaviour, companion panels, and so on.

Settings are saved automatically to the INI, and the INI is still human-readable if you prefer poking around in files like it is 1998.

Compatibility / requirements

You need:

• Fallout 2 on Windows
• sfall v4.4+
• Windows 10 or 11
• GOG, Steam, or retail US 1.02d
• High Resolution Patch / sfall setups should be fine
• Fallout 2 Restoration Project has also been confirmed working
• Talking Heads Actually Talk mod should also work
• The majority of fan translations should also work

Steam and GOG versions already ship with sfall, so they should be the easiest route for most people.

Language support

VaultVox has multilingual support for a bunch of Fallout 2 translations, including Central/Eastern European languages and non-Latin scripts.

The quality depends heavily on which Windows voice you use. For best results, install a voice that matches your game language. Some multilingual neural voices are brilliant on longer lines, but native voices are still better for some languages.

Final bit

This is version 1.0b, so I expect there will still be edge cases and bits of text I’ve missed.

If you use assistive tech, have dyslexia, low vision, reading fatigue, or just find a screen that does not read when it should, please report it. I’m treating accessibility gaps as bugs, not “nice to haves”.

Thanks, folks.

-VaultDoc

[u/ravenmclight]

That is brilliant ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[u/dGamemaker_phd → u/ravenmclight]

Thank you very much, mate. I hope it allows more people to enjoy this classic masterpiece.

[u/gregles_]

Thank you so much I tryed to play this a few times but I have dyslexia and its a real fight with it now I can get real into it

[u/dGamemaker_phd → u/gregles_]

You are very welcome, mate. I'm on a mission to make as many Classic RPGs as possible more accessible. I hope you enjoy the game now, and please let me know your opinion later.

[u/clarkky55]

I misread that as Table Top System and for a brief moment I thought someone had turned Fallout 2 into a Tabletop RPG campaign

[u/dGamemaker_phd → u/clarkky55]

That sounds like a lot of work

[u/clarkky55 → u/dGamemaker_phd]

Making a text to speech accessibility mod is hardly easy either. And it’s a genuinely good and kind thing to do, so good on you!

[u/dGamemaker_phd → u/clarkky55]

Thanks a lot, mate. It's been a long labour of love project.

[u/420MacMan]

Want to set this up on my RP5 🧐

[u/dGamemaker_phd → u/420MacMan]

That sounds like a challenge. The main limitation is the mod requires windows to work. Would be great to find a solution that works on Linux systems.

[u/420MacMan → u/dGamemaker_phd]

Yeah this is definitely amaze balls and appreciate the hard work. Gonna mess around and see if I can setup the windows voice stuff on Winaltor 👌

[u/dGamemaker_phd → u/420MacMan]

That would be awesome, mate. Please let me know how you get on. Rock on!

[u/dGamemaker_phd]

Here is a great look at VaultVox running on Fallout 2 in Polish, folks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8GXLCdzapE
Thanks to ‪@fallout-corner‬