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Zonos TTS

zonos

🗣️ High-Fidelity TTS for SkyrimNet​

Zonos is a premium-quality, neural text-to-speech engine used in SkyrimNet to deliver some of the most natural-sounding and emotionally rich voice lines available in modded Skyrim. Designed for performance and realism, Zonos bridges the gap between handcrafted voice acting and fully dynamic AI speech.

While XTTS is the default TTS engine in SkyrimNet due to its balanced resource cost and speed, Zonos is often used for key characters, dramatic scenes, or premium experiences where vocal detail matters most.

💡 What Zonos Does​

Zonos turns any block of text into studio-quality synthetic speech, preserving subtle vocal cues like:

  • Breathing
  • Pacing and rhythm
  • Emotional inflection
  • Accent and tone control

Input: "You have no idea what you're walking into."

Output: Rich, immersive audio that sounds like a trained voice actor delivered the line.

🧠 How Zonos Works in SkyrimNet​

Zonos runs as an external high-performance TTS service that SkyrimNet connects to via an HTTP endpoint, similar to XTTS:

SkyrimNet sends:

  • The text to speak
  • Optional speaker profile or voice ID
  • Emotion tags or indirect prompted performance hints (planned?)

And receives:

  • High-fidelity audio (WAV or raw PCM)

This lets modders use Zonos for NPCs or scenes that demand maximum vocal clarity and polish.

🎧 Key Features of Zonos in SkyrimNet​

  • ✅ High-resolution voice synthesis (often 44.1kHz or higher)
  • 🎙️ Extremely natural delivery, suitable for main questlines or voiced companions
  • 🌐 Language and accent support (varies by model)
  • 🎭 Tone control for emotion, intent, and personality
  • 🧩 Modular voice profiles assignable to NPCs or events

⚔️ When to Use Zonos vs XTTS​

FeatureZonos (High-Fidelity)XTTS (Default Cloning)
Quality✅✅✅ Studio-level✅✅ Great
Voice Cloning✅ Full voice cloning✅ Full voice cloning
Emotional Range✅ Smooth prosody & intonation✅ Good, expressive
Speed⚠️ Slower, higher resource use✅ Faster, local-ready
Use CaseKey NPCs, premium cutscenesGeneral dialogue, dynamic AI

🗣️ Setting Up Zonos TTS Server for SkyrimNet (Windows)​

🔧 This guide is for Windows users. You can also install Zonos on Linux or WSL by following the official instructions here:
👉 https://github.com/Zyphra/Zonos

📦 Step 1: Download Zonos (Windows Fork)​

  1. Go to this Windows-compatible Zonos fork:
    👉 https://github.com/langfod/Zonos

  2. Click the green Code button → Download ZIP

  3. Unzip the folder somewhere convenient (not inside C:\Program Files or Documents)

🐍 Step 2: Install Python and Winget​

⚙️ Step 3: Install Zonos​

  • Inside the unzipped folder, run:

1_Install.bat

  • If you get a Windows Defender security warning, click More info → Run anyway

▶️ Step 4: Start Zonos Server​

  • Whenever you're ready to play Skyrim, run:

2_Start_Zonos.bat

  • This launches the Zonos server at http://localhost:7860

🔧 Step 5: Configure SkyrimNet​

In the SkyrimNet Web UI:

  1. Go to Test and Easy Setup
  2. Under Text-to-Speech, set:
  • TTS Backend → Zonos
  • TTS Server URL → http://localhost:7860
    (or the IP address of the PC running Zonos)

✅ You're now ready to use Zonos for real-time TTS in SkyrimNet!