List Index Out of Bounds or "Voice Engine Initialization Failed" when using the Text to Speech in Movie Magic Screenwriter for Windows.

If you receive an error message, that means there was a problem with the installation of your Microsoft Text to Speech Engine. If you have another Text-to-Speech program that is running, you must turn that off to use the Microsoft Text-to-Speech Engine. If you do not have a Text-to-Speech program that is running, please follow the steps below to install the Microsoft Text-to-Speech Engine.

Sometimes, the speech engine doesn't get installed properly from the CD or the download.

Try the following steps to install the speech engine:

1. Put the Movie Magic Screenwriter CD-ROM in the drive. If it auto-plays, click Explore this CD and goto step number 4.
2. Double click My Computer.
3. Right click CD-ROM icon and click Explore.
4. Double click the Data folder
5. Double click the Win32 folder.
6. Double click on the Spchapi.exe file. It will install itself and choose it's own directory. Do the same with Mstts.exe and make sure to Agree to the software license agreement.

Try the Text to Speech feature again. It should work. If it freezes at the "Success" screen, try the following steps listed below:

1. Launch Screenwriter and open a script.
2. Click Tools > Speak Text > Setup Voices.
3. After the message "SUCCESS" comes up try pressing the Alt+F4 key combination on the keyboard to close the window.
4. After that you may get a small window stating "...voice intialization failed". Disregard the message and click OK on that window.

Again, click Tools > Speak Text > Setup Voices to access the text to speech function again, it should work this time.

It appears that on some systems, after the text-to-speech is initialized, it is not automatically closing the window. By hitting Alt+F4, it forces the window to close. After opening the program, you will have to perform the steps above the first time you access text-to-speech. Once the Voice Engine is initialized, you should be able to immediately access the Speak text functions.

If, after installing, you find that the Speak Text function in Movie Magic Screenwriter still does not work contact Technical Support.

Tag: Movie Magic Screenwriter