Voice Commands for Game Mods: On-Device and Offline

Talking to a game feels natural until you try to build it. Mods that add voice control usually fall back on rigid keyword lists, or send every word to a cloud service and wait. Neocortex Voice Commands runs on the player's PC, understands natural phrasing, and hands your mod a clean command the moment the player stops talking. This post explains how it works for modders, and how it combines with Neocortex AI characters, Conversation Flows and quizzes.

What on-device voice commands give a mod

Offline and instant. Recognition and matching happen on the player's machine. No round trip, no per-minute bill, no audio leaving the PC.
Natural phrasing. Players say "get in the car", "hop in" or "let's go" and your mod receives the same command.
Several actions in one sentence. "Open the gate and call two guards" arrives as two commands, with the quantity attached.
Context. "Pick up the lantern. Now light it." resolves "it" to the lantern.
Push-to-talk or always listening. Bind a key, or let players talk freely.
Multiple languages. Build one command set per language your players speak.

Command sets: actors, actions and objects

You design voice commands visually in the Neocortex dashboard, the same place you build AI characters. A command set is a small graph:

Actors are who you are talking to: "squad", "co-driver", "Lydia", "ship computer".
Actions are what they can do: "follow", "wait", "open", "attack", "refuel".
Objects are what actions work on: "door", "gate", "car", "nearest enemy".

Connect an actor to the actions it can perform, and each action to the objects it accepts. Add a few example phrases for each action and the engine handles the rest. When the player speaks, your mod receives the matched actor, action and object, plus any quantity or repeat count, and runs the matching game code.

How it fits with AI characters

Voice commands and AI dialogue solve different problems, and good mods use both.

	Voice commands	AI character dialogue
What it does	Turns speech into a game action	Holds a conversation in character
Where it runs	On the player's PC	Neocortex cloud API
Speed	Instant	A second or two per reply
Best for	"Follow me", "open the door", "pit stop now"	Questions, banter, story beats, quizzes

A typical mod routes short commands to the on-device engine and longer speech to an AI character through the Neocortex API. The character replies with text, an emotion and actions your mod can execute, its voice streams back as audio, and a Conversation Flow can keep the scene on track.

Where it works

Any PC game whose modding framework lets a mod run native or .NET code can use Neocortex Voice Commands: script extenders such as SKSE and F4SE, ASI plugins, Script Hook V, Harmony and BepInEx mods, SMAPI, Fabric and more. We have game-by-game guides for GTA, Skyrim, Fallout, Bannerlord, Euro Truck Simulator 2, Minecraft, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Lethal Company and others in our AI NPC and voice command mods index.

Getting started

Pick your game and framework. Use the game's standard script extender or plugin loader.
Design a command set in the Neocortex dashboard: actors, actions, objects and a few example phrases each.
Add Neocortex Voice Commands to your mod and map each matched command to game code.
Add an AI character for open conversation, a Conversation Flow for story beats, or a quiz, through the Neocortex API.
Test in single-player with push-to-talk first, then try always-listening.

Voice Commands is a licensed SDK: contact us for a Voice Commands license. AI characters, Conversation Flows and the API are available on every plan, including the free one.

Checked October 2026. Neocortex is not affiliated with the publishers of the games mentioned on this blog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add voice commands to a PC game with a mod?

Yes. Most moddable PC games let a mod run native or .NET code, which is enough to listen to the microphone and trigger game actions. Neocortex Voice Commands does the listening and matching on the player's machine, so your mod only has to run the matched command.

Do voice command mods need an internet connection?

Not with Neocortex Voice Commands. Speech recognition and command matching run on the player's PC, so commands work offline and respond instantly. Cloud features such as AI NPC dialogue still use the Neocortex API.

Can players speak naturally instead of saying exact phrases?

Yes. Neocortex matches what the player means, not just exact wording, so "follow me", "come with me" and "stay close" can all trigger the same action. One sentence can also carry several actions and quantities.