Voice chat system.

[Kromize]

Are there any plans to improve the voice chat system in DDO? This would be greatly appreciated.

Currently, there are a few problems which most everyone has. These are:
1 - Very quiet talking. Most mics are very quiet when completely maxed out inside and outside of the game. People compensate by turning all the game volume down to about .20 and leave the reception maxed...

2 - delay in reception. When you talk, it usually takes a second or two for people to hear it. This is one reason the abbot is so hard....makes it near impossible to do the phase puzzle(or communicate through the puzzles for that matter). :/

3 - there is no max limit, if somebody has a really loud mic, and blow in it...sue them for deafening you...lol

[Kreaper]

The quiet people often need only put the mike closer to their mouths.

[Yaga_Nub]

They may not have much control over #2 because it could be net lag that is causing issues for you.

I personally haven't seen people having delayed voice without me or them having some connectivity issues.

[Missing_Minds]

Are there any plans to improve the voice chat system in DDO? This would be greatly appreciated.

Turbine leases the voice chat tech from Gamespy, it is not their own stuff. So best Turbine can do is bring up the issues players want address and hope for the best.

[In_Like_Flynn]

I have to keep music and sound effects at .05 and voice at 1.00 to be able to hear anyone speak.

[Enir]

My advice is to get a quality headset. I got a good NetWare headset (USB connection) at Radio Shack and have had NO trouble either hearing or being heard. In fact, I have to turn my voice capture down to .3 so I don't blow everyone's speakers.
So many people seem to use the cheap stuff that comes packaged with their computer or pick up at a garage sale. And even more people just don't use a mic! Basically you get what you pay for.
IMHO - Voice chat is one of the great strengths of DDO and a big reason I enjoy DDO so much.

[Missing_Minds]

My advice is to get a quality headset.

And what do you suggest for those that can't stand headsets due to things like oh.. glasses because of how much pressure they put on the frames? Those of us who can't stand the tethered wire that can get annoying?

If you have an honest answer, I'd love to hear it.

I'm getting close (as soon as my basement gets finished) to bring out the old micro and circuit books to build amps (for the quiet people) and maybe an ir system for cordless clip on mics.

[Allistair]

And what do you suggest for those that can't stand headsets due to things like oh.. glasses because of how much pressure they put on the frames? Those of us who can't stand the tethered wire that can get annoying?

If you have an honest answer, I'd love to hear it.

I'm getting close (as soon as my basement gets finished) to bring out the old micro and circuit books to build amps (for the quiet people) and maybe an ir system for cordless clip on mics.

Can't help much with the glasses issue (maybe a set that wraps around the back of the head?) But they do make Wireless headsets, but
they border on the expensive side.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

And what do you suggest for those that can't stand headsets due to things like oh.. glasses because of how much pressure they put on the frames? Those of us who can't stand the tethered wire that can get annoying?

If you have an honest answer, I'd love to hear it.

Bluetooth wireless earpiece. Problem solved. (The cell phone bluetooth sets work nicely...)

It would be handy though if we could control individual volume levels for different players. Some times one guy is just too loud/quiet.

[EazyWeazy]

I have to keep music and sound effects at .05 and voice at 1.00 to be able to hear anyone speak.

I do the same.

[Borror0]

The quiet people often need only put the mike closer to their mouths.

Everyone can hear me fine with chatting on Skype, MSN or Ventrillo... but DDO is worse.

[iruka41]

And what do you suggest for those that can't stand headsets due to things like oh.. glasses because of how much pressure they put on the frames? Those of us who can't stand the tethered wire that can get annoying?

If you have an honest answer, I'd love to hear it.

I'm getting close (as soon as my basement gets finished) to bring out the old micro and circuit books to build amps (for the quiet people) and maybe an ir system for cordless clip on mics.

I suggest to use a quality mic, and use whatever earphone you have. Problem solved :)
(I myself use glasses and that's how I do too)

[iruka41]

2 - delay in reception. When you talk, it usually takes a second or two for people to hear it. This is one reason the abbot is so hard....makes it near impossible to do the phase puzzle(or communicate through the puzzles for that matter). :/

Communication in Abbot Phase puzzle is done most effectively by motion, not voice.
It is more accurate to follow leader's movement than following their voice.
Just a tip :)

P.S. Got the Banishing Longword today. Happy I am :)

[Missing_Minds]

Bluetooth wireless earpiece. Problem solved. (The cell phone bluetooth sets work nicely...)

It would be handy though if we could control individual volume levels for different players. Some times one guy is just too loud/quiet.

Problem, things inside the ear canal get to hot and irritating to fast for me. Ideal would be a wireless clip on mic. And as they really don't sell those, why I've been contemplating building my own. Yes, I know, I'm pretty much SOL for the standard OTS solutions.

Not to mention bluetooth, that gets to annoying to fast with how the defaults are that you can't change. Now granted if they finally fixed those I wouldn't know. I've not really read up on them in the last year.

[Mockduck]

And what do you suggest for those that can't stand headsets due to things like oh.. glasses because of how much pressure they put on the frames? Those of us who can't stand the tethered wire that can get annoying?

If you have an honest answer, I'd love to hear it.

I'm getting close (as soon as my basement gets finished) to bring out the old micro and circuit books to build amps (for the quiet people) and maybe an ir system for cordless clip on mics.

I use a Shure SM57 microphone going into a mixing board (you could use any other type of power amp-like thing), going into the computer. Get a basic mic stand that works for you. I believe they even sell mics now that are USB. Then, you can use whatever style of headphone you prefer.

About half of the problem with voice chat is the software, the other half is the player base. Many people who are too quiet are such because they need to optimize their microphone settings in Windows, then optimize their settings in DDO. There's a ton of variables that determine mic quality and volume. But yeah - I'd love to see a revamped Gamespy voice chat engine.

[Mockduck]

Problem, things inside the ear canal get to hot and irritating to fast for me. Ideal would be a wireless clip on mic. And as they really don't sell those, why I've been contemplating building my own. Yes, I know, I'm pretty much SOL for the standard OTS solutions.

Not to mention bluetooth, that gets to annoying to fast with how the defaults are that you can't change. Now granted if they finally fixed those I wouldn't know. I've not really read up on them in the last year.

There are a ton of wireless clip-on mics. You're just not going to find them in the computer section. Television reporters, college speakers, musicians etc use them all the time. Those mics will work on your computer! I'd suggest doing a google search for wireless clip-on microphone, I did and turned up hundreds of options. They tend to be a bit spendy, but that may or may not be a problem for you. Sometimes, it's worth sinking the cash into something you'll use for a long time. Might be worth it to ya.

[Mockduck]

Actually, here's one for $30 (http://www.audioallies.com/getitem.asp?Item=PDWM96&Sys=FR). I suspect it's probably pretty poor quality, but the price is good! All you'd need is a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter for your computer, if you wanted to use the mic in jack. Or some kind of interface to switch it to USB.

[Litz]

I use this mic and it gives me no problems. The only odd thing is people tell me to stop talking.

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/wa6dij/Microphone%20On-the-air%20radio.jpg

[Grosbeak07]

Bluetooth wireless earpiece. Problem solved. (The cell phone bluetooth sets work nicely...)

It would be handy though if we could control individual volume levels for different players. Some times one guy is just too loud/quiet.

And what if you don't have an ear canal? or have a deformed ear which doesn't allow the headset to sit (keeps sliding off, very annoying). I was at a store recently looking for a new headset, and saw some really nice ones, however they ALL had the mic and the one ear piece on the left side. :mad: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. And it got me thinking of how these companies just assume everyone has a fully functioning left ear. Bottom line is buying a good headset isn't as easy as one might think.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Problem, things inside the ear canal get to hot and irritating to fast for me. Ideal would be a wireless clip on mic. And as they really don't sell those, why I've been contemplating building my own. Yes, I know, I'm pretty much SOL for the standard OTS solutions.

Not to mention bluetooth, that gets to annoying to fast with how the defaults are that you can't change. Now granted if they finally fixed those I wouldn't know. I've not really read up on them in the last year.

I don't like inside the ear canal either. I've just got a cheapy motorola that came with my cell phone. It hooks on around the ear and just sits in front of the ear canal, similar to headsets only not covering as much so air flow is actually better than with a headset. As for defaults, I just clicked "search" on my computer bluetooth, it saw the earpiece, I clicked "allow", and then had to choose the right sound device with DDO. Pretty simple actually.

But, if you don't like an integrated set, there are stand alone mic's that work nicely and just sit on your desk in front of you.

[negative]

In regards to #2, I could have sworn there is a setting in-game for "voice chat latency" with a box to input milliseconds. I haven't played around with it myself, but the default is 250 if I remember right.

[HumanJHawkins]

Turbine leases the voice chat tech from Gamespy, it is not their own stuff. So best Turbine can do is bring up the issues players want address and hope for the best.

Bah! I work in software development. Where there is a will, there is a way. They could put a right-click menu on the party list and have separate volume variables per player. It's just a matter of priorities... Chat works pretty well once people get it set up, so they are focusing elsewhere.


The quiet people often need only put the mike closer to their mouths.

So the solution is to drive over to their house and move their mic? Or to buy every PUG you play with a good headset? There are a lot of problems that wouldn't need real solutions if everyone thought and acted the same. But until you get rid of all the people who like not to follow my orders, please continue to provide me with ways of adjusting volume that do not involve convincing others to change their behavior.

[Seneca_Windforge]

In regards to #2, I could have sworn there is a setting in-game for "voice chat latency" with a box to input milliseconds. I haven't played around with it myself, but the default is 250 if I remember right.

This is actually a really good way to clear up poor quality sound. It won't help much for volume, but if someone's voice is coming through garbled and full of static having them raise the latency can fix the problem. I set mine up to 300 (I think) for additional clarity.

[Kromize]

Everyone can hear me fine with chatting on Skype, MSN or Ventrillo... but DDO is worse.

Yep


My advice is to get a quality headset.
IMHO - Voice chat is one of the great strengths of DDO and a big reason I enjoy DDO so much.

I do have a quality headset, it's logitech and cost $60 at bestbuy...yet with everything maxed I can barely hear pepople in it...
And yes, voice chat is a great strength, thus, it would be wise to improve it...


Communication in Abbot Phase puzzle is done most effectively by motion, not voice.
It is more accurate to follow leader's movement than following their voice.
Just a tip :)I realize that, but wouldn't it be a lot easier to be able to talk through it?(thats rhetorical btw)



In regards to #2, I could have sworn there is a setting in-game for "voice chat latency" with a box to input milliseconds. I haven't played around with it myself, but the default is 250 if I remember right.Do you realize how short a millisecond is? I think the max is 500 milliseconds, that's half a second. If that were all the delay there was, there would be no problem. But people are getting delays of up to 2 seconds constantly(little bit of lag...make that 5 seconds, lol) You can notice this easily by doing a countdown in von or something. You know, when your the first one to run across the bridge and everyone else waits like a second and a half to run out with you? Ya, they aren't the slow ones...it's the delay.

I've actually trained myself to do a countdown, wait a second, and then run...I shouldn't have to do that.


PS - Notice my nice new forum title? :D

[Missing_Minds]

Bah! I work in software development. Where there is a will, there is a way. They could put a right-click menu on the party list and have separate volume variables per player. It's just a matter of priorities... Chat works pretty well once people get it set up, so they are focusing elsewhere.

So do I, now next question. What does their license with Gamespy *allow* them to do? None of us can answer that save Turbine or Gamespy. They could very well be under legal reasons such to where they can't change the interface of it at all

[Missing_Minds]

Actually, here's one for $30 (http://www.audioallies.com/getitem.asp?Item=PDWM96&Sys=FR). I suspect it's probably pretty poor quality, but the price is good! All you'd need is a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter for your computer, if you wanted to use the mic in jack. Or some kind of interface to switch it to USB.

Thanks for the look up, Jerry. Emm... think I'd have to make my own power converter for the reciever just so I wouldn't have another wall wart hanging around. But I completely forgot about checking out audio that wasn't computer related. doh.


I don't like inside the ear canal either. I've just got a cheapy motorola that came with my cell phone. It hooks on around the ear and just sits in front of the ear canal, similar to headsets only not covering as much so air flow is actually better than with a headset. As for defaults, I just clicked "search" on my computer bluetooth, it saw the earpiece, I clicked "allow", and then had to choose the right sound device with DDO. Pretty simple actually.

But, if you don't like an integrated set, there are stand alone mic's that work nicely and just sit on your desk in front of you.

Those hanging ones are just as bad. Glasses, one thing about the ear is enough, two starts to hurt. I currently use a stand, but then the issue is that it will pick up on everything else stated or what not. In my case, I'm so darn picky on things I'll probably end up hacking together my own solution after a while. Granted if I do that I'm working on a simple amp first.

[HumanJHawkins]

So do I, now next question. What does their license with Gamespy *allow* them to do? None of us can answer that save Turbine or Gamespy. They could very well be under legal reasons such to where they can't change the interface of it at all

Well, anything is possible. But I have also worked with both licensing all sorts of third party software, and licensing internally built software to others. I can't think of a clause in any of the contracts I have dealt with that would prevent turbine from implementing individual volume on this kind of thing. (Though I have been in countless meetings where we wanted to do something similar and someone has been afraid of such a thing. So maybe typical corporate fear is involved even if the actual contract is not.)

And the main thing is, contracts aside, people generally want to improve their own IP and make money. So there are several ways to do this.

First, it is likely that their software already is capable of this, but it has not been fully implemented. So step 1 would be to see if this is an easy task that just needs to be assigned.
If not, one could build the individual volume handling outside of the third party software... Thus, their software simply does what it is licensed to do, but you manipulate the input or output so that it comes out right.
Another, possibly best solution, is to talk to the licensee... People are usually very reasonable when you propose something that will benefit them. Just let them know that you are worried about X competitor and really need to have the voice software handle Y feature. Then start negotiating to get it done... If it is going to make their software that much better, the cost can be negotiated down very low because they know it will make their product better in ways that will help them sell it to others.
Worst case, they could shop around. Other people are doing this better. And, an honest option to move to a different technology vendor might trigger all sorts of fresh offers from their current vendor.

[dragons1ayer74]

An individual option to handle voice volume by each player would handle 90% of the voice chat issues. I love voice chat when its working but it always seems like you have one person who is way to soft/loud and won't/can't turn up/down their mic volume so for the softies you have to tell them to type or miss what they are saying and the loudies samething ask them to type or sometimes you have to end up squlching them then you miss all comunication from them.

[branmakmuffin]

And the main thing is, contracts aside, people generally want to improve their own IP and make money. So there are several ways to do this.

First, it is likely that their software already is capable of this, but it has not been fully implemented. So step 1 would be to see if this is an easy task that just needs to be assigned.
If not, one could build the individual volume handling outside of the third party software... Thus, their software simply does what it is licensed to do, but you manipulate the input or output so that it comes out right.
Another, possibly best solution, is to talk to the licensee... People are usually very reasonable when you propose something that will benefit them. Just let them know that you are worried about X competitor and really need to have the voice software handle Y feature. Then start negotiating to get it done... If it is going to make their software that much better, the cost can be negotiated down very low because they know it will make their product better in ways that will help them sell it to others.
Worst case, they could shop around. Other people are doing this better. And, an honest option to move to a different technology vendor might trigger all sorts of fresh offers from their current vendor.
Turbine may not care the VC is not optimal. Turbine won't care until until they reach the point where they feel it's costing them more money to not care than will cost to do care. That's how all companies work. That's pretty much how people work. If doing "X" results in "X-anything" in return, that's called "charity."