Ventrilo Guide

Alright, this is a guide to Ventrilo, most of which I've stolen from other people who I'll only link to or give adequate credit where credit's due.

So what's this Ventrilo thing and what it's use to us? We're a roleplaying guild and, personally, I play a Shyriiwook-speaking Wookiee and in real life I have a very weak roar, I'll show you some time. That being said, I don't expect this guild to do live chat roleplaying, even though some groups may do it, I don't think it would work. I expect Ventrilo to be a useful application for this guild for one simple reason: it will bring the guild closer together. Our guild is small and is based on, like the Boss's guild in LotRO, being a family [I mean this loosely, I still distinguish real life from the online world a little. Very close, is the point. (Although our characters aren't necessarily that at all)]. And a skeptic might ask, does hearing someone's voice really differ that much from text? Yes. Some of the best friends I've had in my life I've made over making jokes and having fun--playing games or just working on something else--and I don't think those relationships would have been as close if there wasn't the easy interaction of speaking into a mic and talking to someone from anywhere in the world. There's no reason to be scared, embarrassed or uncomfortable about having people hear your voice rather than the often impersonal interaction on the forums. We're all friends, or we will be, and I would never judge someone based on their voice, it's just like age, sex, race or any other physical feature. I, personally, have a pretty high pitched voice (I'm a little guy, about 1.6 m and I'm done growing) and therefore I was afraid to have people hear my voice that respected me online already, whether for style or substance, when I was younger. But then I realized how wrong I was and no one ever cared about my voice. Another thing, if you're afraid that someone will think you're nerdy for having a head set or mic and talking to people online, hate to break to you, but it's too late. If you're on here, you're probably a nerd/geek. But don't be upset or ashamed of that, make the most of it! Now to the less silly, impersonal stuff.


Getting on the Server:

First thing's first you'll need to learn how to get a name and get on the server. Here's a guide I'm too lazy to translate into forum speak. That part's pretty simple just make sure you get the information right.

Setting Up Your Mic:

Your mic likely doesn't work when you first connect to a server. Click "Setup" on the right side of the window. Once you're there select the appropriate "Output Device" and "Input Device" from the top right of voice panel. You can then test your mic by hitting "Test" at the bottom left of the page and then adjust Outbound and Inbound "Amplifiers" to the right. Once that's squared away go to the top left corner and activate "Use Push To Talk Hotkey (PTT Mode)". Then in the "Hotkey" blank space click whatever key you want to use. Whenever you hit that key your mic will activate. I recommend using this format rather than voice-activated for everyone else's sake. Take one for the team there, click it or ticket.

The rest of the panes in the set-up section you don't really have to worry about but I'll explain each one anyway. "Events" are the little noises (Default) you hear when you connect to the server or switch rooms. You have three options, you can have "Wave" (little chime) that's cute, Text-To-Speech (TTS), which some people think sounds silly, or "Nothing". I do "All" "Text-To-Speech", it's the most informative, lets you know every thing that happens and it sounds silly, which is fun.

"Binds" is another screen entirely. This is strictly a matter of opinion. Binds are little macros that people can use to talk to specific people or channels, play sound bites or switch channels. I'll be explaining how to do these things later, but really, don't worry about them it's largely unnecessary luxuries and one can survive fine without them. Some people like to disable bindings from others because they can get annoying.

"Speech" is just picking which microsoft character you want to speak Text-To-Speech commands. Here's a site I like for other voices. Pick whomever. And change the "Rate", "Volume", or "Output Device" if you want to. (Note, I don't know what the options under the voice you picked mean so, guess and check!)

"Network" is pretty simple. Just keep the default settings. Auto-reconnect comes in handy and packets don't really affect you.

Don't worry about "Misc". That is to say, I don't feel like explaining "Misc", maybe, some day...

Don't know what "Overlay" is!

"Global" doesn't matter.

Comments:

If you don't have a mic, comments are a possible temporary replacement. Type the line you want into it and then it will make an event for everyone on the server (I think, maybe just the channel, haven't used it in awhile). People with "Text-to-Speech" will have it read to them, people with "Wave" will get a little chime, and people with nothing will get nothing, ****s.

Bindings:

A guy named Noodle wrote this guide and he seems really great so I didn't think I needed to change anything. He'll show you what to do. And, again, completely unnecessary

If you need any help or have any questions reply to this thread or PM me and I'll respond as quickly as I can.

Excellent guide! Thanks Black Heart! I'll certainly be using this as soon as I can get a mic!

By the way can anyone recommend a decent mic/headphones all-in-one-jobby to me by any chance?

Just buy any old crap like me they all break anyway. Great guide BH btw!!!^^

Aliendra wrote:

Just buy any old crap like me they all break anyway. Great guide BH btw!!!^^

*Types "any old crap" into the amazon.com search engine*

Would you believe it? They've run out!

Sureshot wrote:

Aliendra wrote:

Just buy any old crap like me they all break anyway. Great guide BH btw!!!^^

*Types "any old crap" into the amazon.com search engine*

Would you believe it? They've run out!

You remeber the good old days when people actually used their feet and went to a STORE? C'mon... I got a TRS-Sl Tracer 390MV model. They are reinforced with metal couse i tend to break headphones fast

Pop into any half-decent sized Tesco supermarket and pick up

These

If you really dont wanna spend out the earth. They work just fine.

Lunarwolf wrote:

Pop into any half-decent sized Tesco supermarket and pick up

These

If you really dont wanna spend out the earth. They work just fine.

Grand i'll say! Three cheers for the old fashion way of uninformed buying

Always best to ask first if you ask me.

Topic has been stickied.

Much obliged, Chief.