2.9 Voice chat feedback and discussion

NineLine · December 8, 2023

2 hours ago, Silver_ said:

That "nearly" sounded very bad but I thank the ED team for being on it and not falling on deaf ears.

It is why we have a wide range of testers with different setups, to try and catch as many issues on as many different setups as possible, as BN said though releasing to the public is the best possible way to test and we will continue to take feedback and information to improve and bug fix. So please when you come to report issues supply the things we need to pass this information on to the devs. We cannot just say some guy on the forums said it was "pathetic" and we need to make it un-pathetic.

ACS_Dev · December 8, 2023

4 minutes ago, NineLine said:

It is why we have a wide range of testers with different setups, to try and catch as many issues on as many different setups as possible, as BN said though releasing to the public is the best possible way to test and we will continue to take feedback and information to improve and bug fix. So please when you come to report issues supply the things we need to pass this information on to the devs. We cannot just say some guy on the forums said it was "pathetic" and we need to make it un-pathetic.

Hi Nineline, Thanks for replying.

My intent with my post was to vent frustration about my struggle to use an ED product. It was not necessarily intended as direct problem-solving feedback.

When I test VOIP what happens is different people at random are either not present in the room, unable to successfully transmit or unable to hear each other. The people impacted were not consistent across server resets or game restarts, each of which where done several times in the ~2 hour time window in which we were originally intending to fly. This indicated to me that it was not so much their problem but instead a systematic issue. There are ample examples of this occurring with others. I initially thought that the issue was with 10309 not being forwarded. I was unable to test again because nobody within that group of people wants to bother with VOIP anymore and refuse to use it. I later on read that DCS by this time allegedly was just using 10308 instead so that wasn't the cause.

I tested it again this last weekend with 10309 forwarded and a different group of people and was unable to hear anyone else, despite seeing the transmission indicators and hearing clicks. Again, this is something others are also reporting. I only server-cycled once this time to avoid wasting our time and the issue persisted.

Silver_ · December 9, 2023

11 hours ago, NineLine said:

It is why we have a wide range of testers with different setups, to try and catch as many issues on as many different setups as possible, as BN said though releasing to the public is the best possible way to test and we will continue to take feedback and information to improve and bug fix. So please when you come to report issues supply the things we need to pass this information on to the devs. We cannot just say some guy on the forums said it was "pathetic" and we need to make it un-pathetic.

"Pathetic" no, I would never say that. Tell that to those who speak in those terms, but it borders on the absurd, yes.

Fakum · December 10, 2023

Is there a way to disable Voice Chat while in a server? Im trying to resolve a matter I posted here:

Thanks

ACS_Dev · December 13, 2023

I cannot hear anyone who transmits in VOIP and sometimes they also don't show up in the helicopter (MI-24) room with me. Tonight they were in general and coalition but not in my helicopter and I could not hear them or anyone else transmitting despite seeing the transmit button go red and having the intercom switch on. Others could hear us both and saw him in all 3 rooms.
MissionLog.old

Yuma · December 14, 2023

I disabled VoiceChat on my end, people will have the voice activation on spamming with noises and when it works it’s a mess, but it’s super random, for some work and not for others. SRS still the way to go, until VoiceChat gets fixed.

Goetsch · January 3, 2024

A friend and I tested VOIP in the server, and it turns out that if my plane gets shot down, then when respawning to a new plane, the radio is disabled, the PPT button is disabled, and I need to go back to the server again to use it again!

Hotdognz · January 3, 2024

We have turned it off on all our server (4) now, lots of issues over our 30 regular uses, with all the same issues reported here, we have no issues with SRS as it just works so we continue to use that until we get another big voice patch that we will test again.

When it worked we liked the voice comms as it sounded great but that was our only take away at this stage.

BIGNEWY · January 3, 2024

4 hours ago, Goetsch said:

A friend and I tested VOIP in the server, and it turns out that if my plane gets shot down, then when respawning to a new plane, the radio is disabled, the PPT button is disabled, and I need to go back to the server again to use it again!

we will investigate this, which aircraft was it? thanks

12 minutes ago, Hotdognz said:

We have turned it off on all our server (4) now, lots of issues over our 30 regular uses, with all the same issues reported here, we have no issues with SRS as it just works so we continue to use that until we get another big voice patch that we will test again.

When it worked we liked the voice comms as it sounded great but that was our only take away at this stage.

we will continue to refine the voice chat in future patches so thanks for the feedback

Maverick87Shaka · January 3, 2024

25 minutes ago, BIGNEWY said:

we will continue to refine the voice chat in future patches so thanks for the feedback

Can we know if allowing external tools/clients is part of the future work already planned for VOIP?

BIGNEWY · January 3, 2024

Just now, Maverick87Shaka said:

Can we know if allowing external tools/clients is part of the future work already planned for VOIP?

I dont have any news to share at the moment, however having a stand alone voice chat client able to be used by GCI/ CA is something we would like to do in the future.

Goetsch · January 3, 2024

50分钟前，BIGNEWY说：

we will investigate this, which aircraft was it? thanks

we will continue to refine the voice chat in future patches so thanks for the feedback

We used the F-16C

BIGNEWY · January 3, 2024

6 minutes ago, Goetsch said:

We used the F-16C

thanks I have asked the team to test this in the next MP test.

SickSidewinder9 · February 12, 2024

I would appear people can actually hear me on VOIP despite the in-game settings test creating a horrific noise. Once thing I noticed, aside from the fact that people insist on not using it, is that you don't seem to have the option to see who's talking. Or do you? It would be nice if it showed a name in the same place you see the AI subtitles. I guess I'm just used to being able to see it in SRS. That or people need to get used to saying their name first when they broadcast like irl.

Hoirtel · March 18, 2024

I enjoy using the voice chat and I hope it gets even more uptake across the community. Having used it with a few other people, including some for the first time, I have a little feedback about the GUI in Lobby, as I think it makes things a bit confusing. Lobby mode is a real strength to DCS and something that SRS doesn't really provide.

The switch at the top for mic/PTT/off should follow the same colour coding as the radio mode for ready/off/transmit/receive.
Push to talk should also have PTT in the label, again for parity with the radio mode.
The green radio antenna icon for switching into lobby mode, should be removed completely and replaced with a sliding switch that says "Lobby" and "Radios". Everybody seems to look at this symbol as a connected/not connected indicator.
Each room should be a separate box, just like the radios. Each box should have a small button that says "join" and when joined it can say "current" and the whole box can be a brighter colour. Again like the radios. This would of course be in addition to the persons name being listed in that room but some don't realise the way it works and at that point, you can't talk to them! The current system of bold titles is really easily missed if the rooms are not expanded.
Rename "common" to "everyone"

Just my small feedback. Anyone that agrees, please thumbs up.

Edited March 18, 2024 by Hoirtel

upupandaway · March 28, 2024

From what I´ve seen online, it appears to be a very cool, immersive feature. I´d love to play MP like this. I have set up my own dedicated server for voice comms.

However, I have already spent hours of my own and other people´s time in order to get it to work, without success.

At this point I am quite frustrated, since it is not a new feature, and I´m starting to wonder if this is gonna be the whole replay story all over again...

Maverick87Shaka · March 28, 2024

1 hour ago, upupandaway said:

From what I´ve seen online, it appears to be a very cool, immersive feature. I´d love to play MP like this. I have set up my own dedicated server for voice comms.

However, I have already spent hours of my own and other people´s time in order to get it to work, without success.

At this point I am quite frustrated, since it is not a new feature, and I´m starting to wonder if this is gonna be the whole replay story all over again...

To enable voice chat from server side, you just need a single line change in serverSettings.lua inside saved games folder of server:

["voice_chat_server"] = true,

under advanced category.

Mike Busutil · April 12, 2024

Is it possible to use the voice chat to record my own voice including the effects for a video?

For example I setup either in a mission I created or a server I started and want to use voice chat to record me talking and be able to hear the radio effects on my voice. Is this possible?

So far I have only been able to setup voice chat and record but I just hear my normal voice.

Mistermann · April 16, 2024

Don't know about base DCS. I doubt it.

SRS does support it so I'd encourage you to go that route and save yourself the headache.

ACS_Dev · May 27, 2024

Since my last 'post' on this forum I have gotten an entirely separate computer for running DCS on a dedicated server for my friends and I, multiple updates have released (some ostensibly containing VOIP fixes), my internet speed was upgraded several times over and I switched to windows 11. Additionally, the F-4 released, and with it, the urgent need for a segregated communications solution.

The boys and I (4 of us this time) have another go at running it. We are sharing 2 F-4s, all set up (I have become quite familiar with how VOIP is supposed to be set up at this point) and try it out. Mic checks go out and back.

One guy can't hear anyone. He can speak, we can hear him, the other guys can hear and talk to each other, but no matter what he does with his volume knobs, no matter what his input is (yes it is stereo, yes he has a mic set up, yes he has voip enabled, yes he is on the latest update (we all are), yes he doesn't have us all muted, yes he is in the lobby, yes he can see the red tx, I can go on...) he cant. hear. anyone. 4 guys in a server and 1 can't make it work.

I do a mic check with my pilot (I am a WSO main in the F-4). I like cold mic, so does he. Unfortunately for us, DCS doesn't care and makes it hot mic anyways. Is the ICS switch on hot mic? DCS makes it hot mic. Is the switch on cold mic? DCS makes it hot mic. Is the switch on override? No, it's actually still hot mic.

For the first time in a couple years flying with him I also get to hear, as loud as his voice, the ambient sounds of his room, including the wonderful clacking of his dog walking across the floor. It's hardwood by the way.

These guys are invested in it as they hate having 2 crews in a discord call (it sucks) and want to make it work. We do some troubleshooting, reslotting, reconnecting etc, no dice. 4 guys working at it for about 15 minutes, an hour of wasted time. I was actually surprised that they tried it, they already know its track record and how I keep insisting that we give it another go, always with the same result. At this point I kind of let them go through the motions because I know it's game over as soon as the one guy comes back into discord and announces that he can't hear us.

I want this thing to work so bad. It would make managing a server so much easier, I would love it. I would lobby any servers I play on to use it. I would personally help anyone in my circle set it up. Instead it sits there, occasionally sapping up the time of people like me while being perpetually broken and rejected by 8 out of the top 10 most popular servers online as of writing. How is it that SRS, a solution made by an unpaid hobbyist just works while ED's 'solution' simply doesn't? What's up? Why are all of these servers continuing to refuse VOIP, so long after the much lauded 2.9 release? Why are they instead choosing to push a 3rd party product that nags you for updates, requires another program, adds another link in the dcs startup chain and is just annoying in general to work with? I don't understand.

Edited May 27, 2024 by ACS_Dev

Mistermann · May 29, 2024

I hear ya, @ACS_Dev. Seems like a lifetime ago when I posted here on Oct 22, 2023 with findings and my inelegant workaround. Every now and again, I'll see if ED has corrected the behavior and am disappointed every time I waste time with others fiddling around with ED's VOIP.

I run a dedicated server for my small group and simply use SRS. The thing just works. ... and that's why all the MP servers use it.

Talisman_VR · May 30, 2024

Yes, I would love VOIP to work too. It is all very frustrating.

I would very much like not to be using SRS and avoid it when I can. I refuse to use Discord as I can't agree with the terms and conditions, it is an additional security risk I just don't need, it's business model is data mining and I find the interface infantile and aimed at kids.

Happy landings,

Talisman

Edited May 30, 2024 by Talisman_VR

Vakarian · June 3, 2024

I'd like to ask ED what do they need to help debug the issues. While it's obvious that it's not 100% not working, in my group we've never been able to get it to work with all clients, no matter what we do. We've done all of the steps that ACS_Dev has kindly highlighted, nothing has helped.

If ED can outline steps what they need us to troubleshoot, I think I could convince my group to give it another go and provide data that's needed. I highly doubt that just randomly sending dcs.log after having issues is going to help as it really didn't so far.
So please, give us instructions what do you require, I'm betting there are groups who are willing to spend an hour of their time to try to do tests in their respective groups and help so that the voice chat can finally start working as intended.

ACS_Dev · June 3, 2024

7 hours ago, Vakarian said:

I'd like to ask ED what do they need to help debug the issues. While it's obvious that it's not 100% not working, in my group we've never been able to get it to work with all clients, no matter what we do. We've done all of the steps that ACS_Dev has kindly highlighted, nothing has helped.

If ED can outline steps what they need us to troubleshoot, I think I could convince my group to give it another go and provide data that's needed. I highly doubt that just randomly sending dcs.log after having issues is going to help as it really didn't so far.
So please, give us instructions what do you require, I'm betting there are groups who are willing to spend an hour of their time to try to do tests in their respective groups and help so that the voice chat can finally start working as intended.

Very much agreed. All told I have already spent several hours testing it, combined with the others I play with it is many more. If there was a way to make VOIP usable I'd be all over it, as would most of the people with whom I play.

Hoirtel · June 11, 2024

My experience with VoIP issues recently have all been down to client config. Somehow people just don't seem to understand it, and can't get their head around the three or four buttons they need to bind.

I have had people say they prefer SRS "because it's simpler" when I point out the whole separate application with separate bindings, and pages of settings and options.

I think VoIP needs a wizard to help those that for whatever reason, just can't figure it out.

I say the above because it comes out sooner or later that "oh I didn't bind X" and then suprise suprise it we can speak!

Edited June 11, 2024 by Hoirtel

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2.9 Voice chat feedback and discussion

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