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Mumble - Making Ventrilo and TeamSpeak Obsolete

vertopci

Member
UPDATE: New backup server!

Main server: IP = voice.central.eoreality.net and port = 3004 (75 slots)
Backup server: IP = 72.5.195.123 and port = 64738 (50 slots, can increase if its needed)

If the backup server is acting laggy or something, let me know so I can turn off any applications on the server that might be causing the problem.

Make sure to update to Mumble 1.2.4 ASAP.


What is it?

Mumble is a voice chat program similar to Ventrilo or TeamSpeak. However, unlike Ventrilo or TeamSpeak, Mumble is designed for games.
Thus, it offers a wide variety of features to make playing games with your friends and teammates even more fun. My friends and I use
it to play Left 4 Dead, Bad Company 2, Team Fortress 2 and several others. Of course, Mumble can also be used to just bullshit with
your friends like I do after we finish playing a game.

·Low latency and Superior Sound Quality: Unlike Ventrilo or TeamSpeak, there is practically NO delay on receiving messages from other
users. Ventrilo delay is roughly 2 to 4 seconds, Teamspeak is around 2 to 3, and in-game chat delays are usually around 3 to 6 seconds.
Mumble has a delay of .25 to .75 at most. That's less than a damn second. This means that when you go to warn your teammates about a
sentry gun or a grenade, they aren't already dead by the time they hear you. Oh and did I mention that the sound quality on Mumble is
leagues above what you can get on Ventrilo and TeamSpeak? This is because Mumble removes background noise from your mic.

·3D Positional Audio: Mumble has 3D positional audio plugins available for several popular games including the Left 4 Dead series,
Battlefield series (including BC2), Call of Duty series, and many others including a few MMORPGs. Basically if you have decent
headphones or some kind of surround sound setup, you'll hear you friend talking from behind you if he is behind you in the game.
You can even do some advanced things, such as not being able to hear people if they get too far away.

·Game Overlay: When you launch a game with mumble running in the background, you get a overlay in game. The overlay can be customized
to fit your preferences. You can have it show everyone in the channel and have it highlight a user's name when they start to talk or you
can have it only display a name when someone talks. In the next version (1.2.3), users with move privileges will be able to move people
around the channels in game with the overlay. This means if teams are auto balanced or changed in between rounds, there is no reason to
have to Alt-Tab out to move users around.

·Echo Cancellation: With Mumble, you can have both your speakers and microphone on. Whereas normally anything from your speakers would
be sent over your mic, mumble has an echo cancellation feature so that the others users don't hear the sounds coming from your speakers.

·Mumble is an open source project. Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.

Basically TeamSpeak and Ventrilo suck. Stop using those pieces of crap and switch to something that isn't obsolete and crappy.

Download Mumble from mumble.info. I suggest downloading the Stable version and not the developer snapshot version as the snapshot version
can have some bugs.

Basic Setup

Download and install Mumble from www.mumble.info. Download the latest stable version (currently 1.2.2) for your OS.

Once install, run thru the audio wizard. If it doesn't pop up by itself the first time you run it, go to Configure, then click on
"Audio Wizard" and run thru it.


After you run thru the wizard, go to Configure, then Settings. At the bottom, check the Advanced box. The following are a list of things
you may wish to change:

·To change voice transmission type to Push-To-Talk, Always On or Voice Activated, go to Audio Input then select the one you want in the drop
down box next to the word Transmit

·Under Audio Output, you can turn off the positional audio if you wish. If you want to use, you'll have to mess around with the settings
yourself as there isn't a recommended config for it.

·Under Audio Output, fine "Attenuate applications by..." Under it, you'll find two checkboxes, "whiles other users talk" and "while you talk."
Uncheck both. If you want to attenuate applications, then leave them on. Most people don't use it though.

·If you're using Push-to-talk, click on shortcuts. Then click Add at the button and select Push-to-Talk and set the key you wish to use for it.

·Click on Overlay. If you don't want the overlay, turn it off here. If you do want the overlay, configure it to your preferences here.
My settings are in the picture below if you want to use it as reference. (Outdated due to 1.2.3 being released)

mumblesettings766j.png


Connecting to a Server

To connect to a server, click on "Server" at the top, then "Connect"

You can join one of the random public internet servers available or you can add a mumble server manually.

To add a server manually, in the server list screen, click on "Add New..." Then enter the info. The label can be anything; it's just used to
help you differentiate between servers you add. The username is your username. For my server, the address is "67.23.187.114" and port is "20198".
Refer to very top of OP for new server info!
Then just click Ok and double click it in the list to connect.

mumbleconnect6u0g.jpg


Also feel free to use my server for whatever. I have more than enough space on it :D If you need to make a temporary channel for a game that
isn't there, just right click the root channel and select Add.

Enjoy using the awesomeness of Mumble!
 

Boonoo

Member
Yeah, I've been using it for a while for TF2 scrims and matches. It's really amazing the difference in quality between in game voice chat and this.

I generally use voice activated, but some people get mad about my noisy keyboard , so i've switched to push to talk. Both work really well, though.

It makes things go so much smoother if everyone is using something like this.
 
why doesn't your text wrap around it just keeps on going =( poor formatting in the OP.

Ventrilo can host like hundreds of people and cheap to run, why do i care about 3D positional voice chat in WOW when i have 40 people speaking at the same time.
 

Sanjay

Member
Would be great getting more gaf guys getting on Mumble for other games other then Left 4 Dead, TF2 and BC2 which we play regularly, a nice group of round 10, playing with people you know is way more fun then randomly going in soullessly. Would be nice getting more MW2 gamers :D and maybe some RTS COH/DOW2 players as these guys all suck.

Technosteve said:
Ventrilo can host like hundreds of people and cheap to run, why do i care about 3D positional voice chat in WOW when i have 40 people speaking at the same time.

As I mentioned, play with gaffers and having fun is the selling point. Oh and being on Mumble while the E3 conferences was awesomely funny stuff like that too.

Also Ventrilo sounds like garbage which is its best selling point to me really, I mean sure you might get vent working and get it to a decent sounding level but its so much work and then you have to tell everyone else how to calibrate it to good enough level while mumble works more or less of the bat perfectly.
 

vertopci

Member
Technosteve said:
why doesn't your text wrap around it just keeps on going =( poor formatting in the OP.

Ventrilo can host like hundreds of people and cheap to run, why do i care about 3D positional voice chat in WOW when i have 40 people speaking at the same time.

Mumble has servers hosting over 1,000 people. And Mumble is free to run since it's open source. And you might not care about positional audio in WoW, but what about games like MW2 or L4D where knowing where your teammates are is valuable?
 

Stahsky

A passionate embrace, a beautiful memory lingers.
I gave up on Mumble after not being able to effectively stop the Echo bug.

Back to Skype/Vent.
 

vertopci

Member
Metalic Sand said:
Can you pay for servers like Vent/Team? Hosting a server on your existing connection is never as good as that.

Yes. My server was purchased from http://midnightgaming.net/, but pretty much anyplace that sells Ventrilo servers will sell Mumble servers now.

EvaPlusMinus said:
I gave up on Mumble after not being able to effectively stop the Echo bug.

Back to Skype/Vent.

What echo bug?
 

evlcookie

but ever so delicious
This was also suggested by Rahk in the ausgaf thread. Although we tend to be too lazy to use voice chat, i think this would be our choice of application if we did.

Nice guide. Maybe i can get everyone onto a mumble server for a games night now.
 

Stahsky

A passionate embrace, a beautiful memory lingers.
I can't for the life of me remember what caused it right now, but somewhere on the Mumble forums or FAQ, they confirmed (when I checked 2-3 months ago) that it was something they could not fix, due to the way Mumble worked.
 

vertopci

Member
EvaPlusMinus said:
I can't for the life of me remember what caused it right now, but somewhere on the Mumble forums or FAQ, they confirmed (when I checked 2-3 months ago) that it was something they could not fix, due to the way Mumble worked.

Mumble has an echo cancellation feature, I don't know how recently they added it. Also you could try reducing the noise suppression to fix it.
 

Tremis

This man does his research.
Mumble is fantastic and I didn't even customize my setup much. Just followed the setup and I was good to go.

It seems to be a bit more processor intensive than something like ventrilo, but I still like it better.
 

drkOne

Member
Mumble seriously is the definitive software for group voice chat.
Much more clearer than Ventrilo, and also easier to setup. The sound quality just doesn't compare.
The ingame overlay and 3D positional audio are some nice features too. But seriously, the voice quality by itself is enough of a reason to change.
It simply is the best way to hear vert go emo!
 

Stahsky

A passionate embrace, a beautiful memory lingers.
vertopci said:
Mumble has an echo cancellation feature, I don't know how recently they added it. Also you could try reducing the noise suppression to fix it.


Hmm, maybe they've changed that up since I've last used it. There was no noise cancellation when I used it.

I'll give it a check later. Thanks.
 

Stahsky

A passionate embrace, a beautiful memory lingers.
Max said:
How does this compare to Skype?


It's Skype quality without the memory issues with a vent-like interface. You can host your own chats just like Skype, or rent a server like Vent.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
People skimming might miss this, but you can create your own temporary room on Vert's server if you like, it works great for co-op games that lack decent voice chat options. I have been using it for MW2 Spec Ops, Resi 5, and Serious Sam.
 
I recently got back into L4D2 versus, and Mumble blows away any chat program I've used before. Crystal clear and delightfully fun. I actually want to use it for The only thing I don't like about it is that I have to use a single key for push to talk, whereas in L4D I had rigged up an awesome mouse-wheel microphone control, with scroll up = on, down =off. Oh well.
 

vertopci

Member
RocketDarkness said:
I recently got back into L4D2 versus, and Mumble blows away any chat program I've used before. Crystal clear and delightfully fun. I actually want to use it for The only thing I don't like about it is that I have to use a single key for push to talk, whereas in L4D I had rigged up an awesome mouse-wheel microphone control, with scroll up = on, down =off. Oh well.

You can do a variation of that in Mumble :D
 

Boonoo

Member
Teknoman said:
Positional audio sounds awesome for co-op survival games.

It's real neat. It would be fun to set up some real hardcore l4d2 realism games with positional audio only. It would get brutal once someone wandered outside of audible range.
 

vertopci

Member
Boonoo said:
It's real neat. It would be fun to set up some real hardcore l4d2 realism games with positional audio only. It would get brutal once someone wandered outside of audible range.

We've played with positional audio on versus a few times. Playing infected was...interesting. We all had to huddle together to discuss our plans :lol

Fun stuff :D
 

Teknoman

Member
Boonoo said:
It's real neat. It would be fun to set up some real hardcore l4d2 realism games with positional audio only. It would get brutal once someone wandered outside of audible range.

Lets get the info up on the L4D2 community page.
 

barnone

Member
Just downloaded it and went through the setup. Is there a way to block background noise? I can hear my bird chirping and the tv on the other side of the room :lol
 

vertopci

Member
barnone said:
Just downloaded it and went through the setup. Is there a way to block background noise? I can hear my bird chirping and the tv on the other side of the room :lol

Do you mean you can hear it when the sound loops back from your mic to your speakers? Under audio input in settings, there's a noise suppression option.
 

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
Hahaha kinda self-serving since you have a mumble server. HOWEVER, all your points are valid and Mumble reigns supreme! I've had to use the others, Vent and Teamspeak, for various scrims and random lobbies for TF2, and I'm still shocked that people don't all switch over to mumble.
 

vertopci

Member
Kuro Madoushi said:
Hahaha kinda self-serving since you have a mumble server. HOWEVER, all your points are valid and Mumble reigns supreme! I've had to use the others, Vent and Teamspeak, for various scrims and random lobbies for TF2, and I'm still shocked that people don't all switch over to mumble.

Yea, I tested out ventrilo before posting this for as mini research and I was surprised by how horrible it sounded :lol Plus it had horrible delay
 

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
Eteric Rice said:
Is this free to get a bunch of people together on? Like, do I have to buy a server if I want to use it with friends?

Just use Vert's server. Quite a few GAFFERS, and non-medic-protecting bastards like boonoo, on already.

I also like using Stephen Hawking's voice to troll the other people in the channel
 

Nabs

Member
You don't have to buy a server or anything. Before we had access to a server, we'd just pick a random free one from the server browser. His server has 100 slots, so feel free to use it whenever.


Kuro Madoushi said:
Just use Vert's server. Quite a few GAFFERS, and non-medic-protecting bastards like boonoo, on already.

tsk. tsk. tsk.
 

vertopci

Member
Eteric Rice said:
Is this free to get a bunch of people together on? Like, do I have to buy a server if I want to use it with friends?

Like said before, you can use mine, or join a random public internet one. If you want, you can even set up your own server on your computer, although that isn't recommended. And it's completely free to use and to set up a server.

I also like using Stephen Hawking's voice to troll the other people in the channel

It has an interesting way to say "cmon" :lol
 

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
I'll state again. When I joined a comp team for TF2, they asked me to install Mumble. I was thinking 'wtf...ANOTHER chat program?!'

But this is LEAGUES better than anything else out there. Even some people SOUND different because the quality is that much higher.

It's hard going back to vent or teamspeak with the shitty delay they have. It's like you're talking to someone on the phone. :)
 

srenity

Neo Member
I'm currently using XFire with my friends, how does it compare? Is the mic sensitivity better on Mumble, because my friends can barely hear me talking D:
 

vertopci

Member
srenity said:
I'm currently using XFire with my friends, how does it compare? Is the mic sensitivity better on Mumble, because my friends can barely hear me talking D:

I've only used the xfire thingy twice or so, but from what I can remember it was horrible.
 

barnone

Member
vertopci said:
Do you mean you can hear it when the sound loops back from your mic to your speakers? Under audio input in settings, there's a noise suppression option.

I'm only using a headset, no speakers. I think the noise suppression will work though, thanks :D
 

fresquito

Member
I wanted to try it, but I can't connect to your server. I don't know why. However, I understand your server is american, thus not the best choice for me (european).
 
Mumble is great. But how are you getting 2-4 seconds latency in Vent? My guild uses vent and sometimes I get my own voice through someone's mic (open, ick) and its never more than a second. That means it takes half the time to reach my friends. My ping is avg of 32.

Teamspeak is just horrid, IMO. But I love both mumble and vent.
 

Tacitus_

Member
So it can support a lot of people at the same time? I'd reckon we'd need 30~ for our guild runs in WoW and we're currently using TS3. Is it worth bringing up to the guy who runs the TS server?
 
I haven't tried Mumble as I rarely need voice chat on PC anymore but I have used hours and hours of vent and TS2 and this:

Ventrilo delay is roughly 2 to 4 seconds, Teamspeak is around 2 to 3

Does sound like bullshit to me.
 
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