In this lesson we will discuss Ventrilo and how to set it up and connect to the PvP University channel. Telamon has been so gracious as to give us our own Ventrilo channel on the UO:Renaissance official ventrilo server. This luxury is paid for by donations people make to the server. Please visit http://www.uorenaissance.com/support to help fund this and other things we take for granted. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ventrilo: Ventrilo is a voice communication program that allows players to communicate in almost real time (there is a small delay) with each other. This is a great tool for training and for interacting with each other when typing is just not fast enough or even possible. It is required to have ventrilo and be in the channel anytime we are training. You do not have to talk or even own a microphone but you must be able to listen. Talking is encouraged but when training is going on only the instructor should be speaking as to avoid confusion. To download the latest version of Ventrilo please go to http://www.typefrag.com/ventrilo/download/ Once you have downloaded and installed the program go ahead and launch it. You will see the program appear for the first time. To begin Click the right arrow icon to the right of User Name. A new window will appear, click New and a window will appear asking you to enter your Name. Please enter your characters name that is in the guild then click OK. It will return you to the previous window and you can click OK again, the remaining fields are not necessary to be filled in. Next click the arrow icon to the right of Server. The following window will pop up: Click the New button and name the server UO:R then click OK. Please fill in the rest of the fields with the information as it appears above. The Password field should be left blank at this point. Click OK when done. The Bindings tab does not need to be used. Next click the Setup button. This screen will appear: I am not going to cover any of the tabs other than parts of Voice needed to get setup quickly. You should read the Ventrilo Help file if you have questions about the rest of the programs features. Check "Enable outgoing voice communications": This option enables or disables the program from transmitting voice communications when connected to a server. Sometimes you don't want to transmit at all and this is one way of doing that. Another way would be to mute the microphone from the main window. Disabling this option will prevent the program from even monitoring the microphone port. Check "Use Push-To-Talk Hotkey (PTT Mode)": This option enables the Push-To-Talk mode, also called PTT Mode. Instead of using voice activation the user can press a specified "hotkey" that instructs Ventrilo to transmit only when the key is pressed. When the key is released transmitting stops. When this option is enabled the "Sensitivity" value no longer has any meaning. It is also used when you click on the "Monitor" and "Test" buttons. We will use PTT mode in training so every cough and swear word isn't broadcast to everyone. Check Use DirectInput to detect Hotkey: This option will turn on DirectInput mode when monitoring for Keyboard or Mouse events that would trigger the Push-To-Talk option. This option will need to be enabled on Windows 9x based platforms (i.e. Win98 / ME) in order for the PTT option to work. It will also be needed for certain games when played on the XP platform. If you are unable to get Push-to-talk to work then enable this option. One downside to this option is that the detection is passive, meaning the program cannot intercept the mouse / keyboard event and prevent it from being processed by other programs. This is why the "Discard Hotkey" option is grayed out when DirectInput is enabled. This option must be enabled in order to detect Mouse buttons 4 through 8 and any buttons on game controllers such as joysticks and game pads. Check Play Key Clicks: This option enables or disables key click sounds whenever the signal strength reaches or drops below your sensitivity value when using Voice Activation. Basically, it is an audible feedback of when you start transmitting a voice stream and when you stop. These sounds are for when you start and stop transmitting, not when other users are transmitting, and only you will hear them. They will also be played when using Push-To-Talk option. Hotkey: This field lets you specify what the designated hotkey will be when "Use Push-To-Talk" is enabled. Due to the nature of how PTT mode works, once your focus is in this edit window you will not be able to "tab out" of it and the word "TAB" will be displayed as the hotkey if you try. This is because its very possible that the TAB key might be what the user wants to use as the designated hotkey. This also applies to all other keys once focus is set to the hotkey edit box. To move out of the edit box simply use your mouse to change the focus and the rest of the keyboard will become fully functional again. Output device: This option lets you choose which sound card to send incoming voice streams to. Note: This option appears in different parts of the program. The one appearing on the Setup Voice tab is for incoming Voice streams only. Input device: This option lets you choose which sound card to use for the input source (i.e. the Microphone). Playback (Output): This button will open the Operating Systems Sound Playback control panel. Select your playback device (Speakers or Headset) Please note that if you have more than one sound card then you will need to tell the sound playback control panel which device it is you wish to manipulate. Recording (Input): This button will open the Operating Systems Sound Recording control panel. If your are having problems selecting the sound input source line or the hardware mixer options are not functioning properly then this control panel will aid you selecting the sound input source. (Microphone) Please note that if you have more than one sound card then you will need to tell the sound playback control panel which device it is you wish to manipulate. Test: Click the Test button and press your PTT hotkey and begin speaking. Release the PTT talk hotkey and you should be able to hear yourself in your playback device. Click OK, you are finished with this section, you will be taken back to the original screen. Click Connect and the program will connect you to the UO:R ventrilo server. If you get the "Message of the Day" just close it out. Congratulations you are now connected to the server! At this point you should be able to scroll down and see the Channel labeled "PvP University". Double click the channel name and you will be prompted for a password. If you do not know the password then either PM me or reach me in IRC for it. DO NOT give out the password to anyone outside of the guild. That's it! Now you are in the appropriate channel and your microphone and speakers/headset should be responding properly. There are some minor changes that can be made on the fly by right clicking a name such as increasing or decreasing player volume. This can be read about by clicking Help or just ask me in Ventrilo and I will walk you through it. Please be courteous in Ventrilo and follow these simple rules: Use a PTT hotkey, no one wants to hear you breathe, eat, or what's going on in the background. Do not scream. Many of us use headsets and wish to keep our eardrums in tact Do not cuss. Some people may have children in the room that can hear the chat, others may be children themselves. Please keep it professional Do no talk over other people. There is a delay when you speak until someone else hears it. This can cause some people to start conversations accidentally at the same time. Please be courteous and clarify who should go first. Do not talk over the instructor when he is talking. That will get you muted. Be respectful and encourage each other. I don't care what encounters you may have had with each other outside of this guild, but inside it you will be professional. I don't care what your favorite song is, don't broadcast it. Also turn it down in the background if you are going to be talking. If you have any specific questions please feel free to contact me in IRC or PM me here on the forum.
