Forums » Bugs

voice chat on a mac redux

Apr 03, 2009 rkerst link
Copied from my Mac board post:

Hello VO,

Maybe someone can help me figure out how to get voice chat working on my Mac. I am at my wit's end.

I am using a MacBook Pro laptop with Mac OS V 10.4.11. I am trying to use a Plantronics headset, which connects to the computer via a USB connector.

If I boot with the headset plugged in, I first go to System Preferences/Sound/Input to verify function. The input device is identified as C-Media USB Headphone Set. Input volume is all the way up. When I speak into the microphone, Input level registers my voice. So far, so good.

Now, I launch the VO client and open the Options/Voice Chat control panel. The settings are:
Enable Voice Chat checked
Transmission Level all the way up
Playback Volume all the way down
Enable Push-To-Talk unchecked
Enable Microphone Automatic Gain Control checked
Sound Ducking all the way down
Enable Device Selection checked
Capture Device shows Macintosh CoreAudio/C-Media USB Headphone Set
Now, when I speak into the microphone, my voice registers on the Mic Level bar. Again, so far, so good.

Now, I enter the game, play for a while, and eventually join a group, either with NPCs or players. At this point, I find that my voice is not heard, although I can hear game audio, including other players' voice chat, through the headset. On my HUD, when the Voice Chat initialization message display, sometimes I get an error and sometimes do not. I have not noticed a pattern to this. When I speak into the microphone, I do not see the speaker icon appearing next to my name. Other players report that they cannot hear me.

There is a switch on the headset cable that appears to turn the microphone on and off. I have tried this switch in both positions, with no change in the results. In short, the headset microphone appears to be working just fine, except when it comes to being heard in-game.

I have used the same configuration with Skype, and there are no problems. Audio input and output both work fine, and the person at the other end of the connection does hear me when I speak into the microphone.

Help me, please, someone!! This is driving me nuts!

The relevant portion of my config.ini file is as follows:
voicechatagc=1
voicechatVAD=50
enablevoicechat=1
soundduckinglevel=1
voicechatVolume=0
cache_resources=0
...
VCidentity=25VNraDBIjQKgzYNJa/xLKQS/1H8xdWLAZyVFdYB1ZAeVRVQAF2XURcGFZgIVZ4ElwIB2x9WUJlWREqUn0GfksEenlJCXcFDkxiJjZIADIRBjNyeQJAEl5eFlEzBFJgNVVxMFcAcmErWUNJRnF1V1VNcHlJaHIzSHR0WnpvM3paOGRWU01tSmVXVzdhaktGRW9jZG1qMg==
playbackmode=15
capturemode=15
capturedevice=C-Media USB Headphone Set
Apr 06, 2009 incarnate link
A separate connection is established for voice chat. This could be a firewall issue, where your router is not forwarding the proper traffic. Try creating a group, by yourself, and see if the little "speaking" icon appears next to your name when you talk. If you do see the icon appearing, try inviting another player to the group, and see if they can hear you.
Apr 17, 2009 rkerst link
The problem was solved when I installed a voice chat client (TeamSpeex was the one recommended for Mac). I don't know if this is what did it, but voice chat has been fine ever since. I do not launch the client manually, it just sits in background, works great.