Re: Chatting w/ Microphone

[CanuckSoldier]

Yes the C3C manual is negligent in it's coverage of voice chat.

However the PTW readme does cover the topic.


Quote

Voice Chat Troubleshooting:

DirectVoice must be enabled on your machine by running the "Voice Test Wizard" (just once). You can do this directly from the <Control Panel> and <Sounds and Audio Devices Properties>. Select <Test hardware> from the <Voice> tab. As a convenience, the game will launch this Wizard automatically when you select <Multiplayer> from the main menu if <Voice Quality> is non-zero.

For the curious, following are the compression codecs used and their bandwidths:
(0) ** DIRECT VOICE DISABLED **
(1) Voxware VR12 1.4 kbit/s
(2) Voxware SC03 3.2 kbit/s
(3) Voxware SC06 6.4 kbit/s
(4) TrueSpeech(TM) 8.6 kbit/s
(5) Microsoft GSM 13.0 kbit/s
(6) Microsoft ADPCM 32.8 kbit/s
(7) Microsoft PCM 64.0 kbit/s

Microphone Boost

Many sound cards have an option called "Microphone Boost" or "Mic Boost." This feature boosts the input volume so that weak input devices can produce stronger input. If you determine that the input level from a system is too low for your voice session, you can enable microphone boost.

To enable microphone boost

Display the recording mixer, as described in the previous section.
Enable the Advanced buttons on the mixer by choosing the Advanced command from the Options menu.
Click the microphone line's Advanced button to display the microphone's Advanced Controls dialog box.
Select the Microphone Boost check box.
If microphone boost makes your input too loud, you can use the same procedure to disable microphone boost. If your sound card does not support microphone boost, one or more of the following will be true.

The Advanced command on the recording mixer's Options menu will be unavailable.
The Advanced button in the recording mixer's microphone section will be unavailable.
The Microphone Boost check box on the Advanced Control dialog box will be unavailable.

Unquote


The only couple problems with this is that the "Voice Chat Wiszard" only comes with WinXP, but if you have win98/ME you can still use the DirectX Diagnostic Utility to test the DirectVoice Chat. Go Start-->Run--> and type Dxdiag in the dialog box. Then use the directvoice test Tab.

Also C3C comes with the "Voice quality=X" in the Conquests.ini set to 0 or off. You need to set it to a value based on the list in the PTW readme, setting it to Voice quality=3 is a good starting point, and work up or down from there as your connection and computer will allow.

And ofcourse after all this use the Tab key in game to voice chat with your mic. The mute/talk balloons in the player list do work to select people to voice chat with as well. Hope this helps

CS

[BoNeHeD]

wow very good to see this finally this is great now to figure this out and then test it and then find someone else who uses it.... thanks for posting this CS

[agntsmith]

I actually enabled this yesterday ... however CS where did you find the conquests.ini reference to set to 3 ? I couldn't find any reference to this in the readme.

And please confirm ...to chat with the mic you use the Tab Key ? The CIV PTW doesn't mention that ... doesn't differentiate betwen ~ and tab.

[CanuckSoldier]

I think the TAB key was listed in the PTW manual, but I can't seem to find mine at the moment. But it is TAB to voice chat in game at any rate. The 3((3) Voxware SC06 6.4 kbit/s) setting is just the mid range setting in the voice quality list, since not everyones connection can support a setting of 7, 3 is a good place to start without sounding like you're talking at the other end of a string and tin can. We can test this sometime in a test game if you like.

CS

[Sweden]

Wel for those of you that got nervous when u saw all the technical stuff and nervous at the thought of the c3c having to use even more coding- i can inform that if you switch the voulme of the game off and close down gs then msn works superbly in the game, tried it several times- no crashes - no lag- seems fine- so use msn for voice chat if nothing else works

[CanuckSoldier]

Yahoo IM voice works fine as well and no conflcts with the game in progress.

CS

[FunkyChicken]

And voice chat seems to be taking off its great to hear voices instead of typing.At the moment i have no microphone but will be shortly getting one ( dont ask where my last one went ) It certainly helps get the message across quicker and coordinate attacks.

[cmdishr]

We have used yahoo voice conferencing in a few games now and it has worked very well. It really enhances the play. If you can get past the part that no one sounds right (like you think they will) except me of course.

[SirPartyMan]

Dear Friends:

Yes I totally endorse the YIM (Yahoo Instant Messenger) approach. Previously I had tried communicating thru GameSpy and found the quality seriously lacking.

All you need is a microphone/headset device (a quality one is around $25) and the rest is free.

You also need a Yahoo account, but this is relatively easy to sign up for, if you don't already have one. If you have a Yahoo email already (like [e-mail]) you are set.

Download the YIM software from www.yahoo.com and you're ready to invite other YIM account holders into a private conference which has a voice option. You should turn the hands-free operation mode on so you don't need to select the TALK command button every time.

It takes a little practice communicating effectively but it makes team play much better coordinated and frees up your hands for game operations while you're explaining your position and strategy and opponent's move to your teammates.

Happy gaming!

Best,
SPM

PS: It's also fun to just talk to other players and get to know each other as people too. Adds another interesting element to our online experience.

[Mo D]

Yes, it's also even more fun to chat and joke around, etc with your buddies. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. ;D

[FunkyChicken]

After hearing ya mo im waiting for ya to ask if i want fries with that shake

[CrudeDirk]

You guys should hear from where I'm sitting... Those Americans have such funny accents.

[Islonian]

CrudeDirk said:

You guys should hear from where I'm sitting... Those Americans have such funny accents.

roflmao And this coming from an Aussie ;-)) I like it CD I like it

[CrudeDirk]

Huh, I ain't no Aussie.... I'm a Kiwi, I just live in Aussie.

[Heroic]

I know how the yahoo and msn thing work. Someone please correct me here, but for it to work in the game I though it could only work if you play the game via gamespy? Is that correct?