An update on recent technical problems and more from the admin: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/250292/on-technical-difficulties-mod-coverage-and-other-things/p1?new=1
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PA Forums Ventrilo Server
Captain K
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The Penny Arcade Forum Ventrilo Server Thread
Server Admins
Captain K
Mai-Kero
Mordrack
Archonwarp
If you have any problems, ask any of these fine folks for help. If you're in doubt whether or not something is an appropriate discussion topic for this thread, err on the safe side and PM a server mod rather than posting about it here.
Remember, the forum mods, aside from myself, are not interested in dealing with Ventrilo server issues. Don't come to them with your problems, come to a Ventrilo server mod.
Server info:
(if you have no idea what Ventrilo is, skip down a section)
address: 208.100.40.18
port: 3797
password: wang
(this server is a temporary solution until we find a permanent host, as our provider of a few years recently went down the toilet)
Connecting with Ventrilo
If you don't already know, Ventrilo is a voice communication program that runs quite unassumingly behind your other Windows (or Mac!) programs, letting you use it to talk with others while you do whatever the hell else you want to do. Here's how to connect to the server, in intelligence-insulting easy steps:
--Download Ventrilo at www.ventrilo.com. Both Windows and Mac users should download the latest beta client available for their operating system (as of 1/3/06, a very few Windows users achieve better performance with the current official version of the client, but nearly all of us get the best performance with the current beta client, so start with that).
--Once you have Ventrilo installed (shouldn't take long at all), run it for the first time, and choose a username (preferably your forum account name so we know who you are--keep in mind that people probably won't recognize your voice at first). Do this by clicking the little -> next to the User Name field, then clicking "New". Don't worry about adding any info other than the username.
--You'll have to pick a server next, but since you don't have any server info entered yet, click the -> next to Server. Click "New" and enter "Penny Arcade Forums" for the server name (or whatever you want to call it, I guess). For the "Hostname or IP" field, enter "illmatic5.nrgservers.net", and for the "Port number" field, enter "3507". Make SURE you change the port number field--this server doesn't use the default Ventrilo port number.
--Once all that is done, just click "Connect" and you should be logged on. Note the Terms of Service in the Ventrilo MOTD--they're mostly meant to mirror the forum rules that apply most directly to the voice chat medium, but they aren't there to scare anyone off.
Communicating with Ventrilo
Headsets:
By far the best hardware to use with any voice chat program is a headset, because there's zero chance the sound you hear will reverb through your microphone, even if your mic is constantly transmitting.
If you're going shopping for a headset to use with Ventrilo, just keep in mind that you generally get what you pay for--a $10 bargain headset is most likely going to give you some pretty poor transmission quality. Other forumers have experienced good results with headsets by Plantronics and Logitech, though almost any recognizable brand is probably safe to go with nowadays. One thing you may particularly want to look for in your new headset is an in-line volume control function, which is quite useful.
Microphones:
The best way to use a standalone microphone is in conjunction with headphones. If you don't have a headset and wish to use a standalone mic, use headphones while speaking on Ventrilo if at all possible.
If you use a mic/speaker combination, you will have to be sensitive of reverb issues--if other people are speaking while your mic is activated, your speakers will play what they say and your mic will send it back to them. Even one person reverberating back to the Ventrilo channel can be harsh on the ears; more than one at a time is downright painful.
Do your best to keep the microphone away from the speakers, and never try to "talk over" other chatters--the ensuing reverb will cause mass chaos. Also, be sure to use Ventrilo's "Push-to-talk hotkey" function (see below!) so that your mic isn't constantly transmitting.
One important thing to remember about reverb--in an ironic twist of aural fiendishness, the person whose mic/speaker setup is causing the reverb doesn't get to hear it. So, if others are telling you you're raping their ears, take their word for it and change something!
Software settings:
Your first move (after introducing yourself, of course) should be to adjust your outgoing volume. Generally, the goal is for everyone in the channel to be outputting at a similar volume so that nobody dominates the conversation just by being louder than everyone else. Click the "Setup" button in Ventrilo, then adjust the "Outbound" slider up or down to make yourself louder or softer until others in the channel agree that you're at a good volume. If you can't achieve a desirable outbound volume setting by using the Ventrilo slider, you may need to adjust some hardware settings or possibly activate/deactivate Mic Boost (be CAREFUL with this).
Note: if your outgoing volume is painfully loud when you first log in (you may not know this until it's too late) be prepared for screams of pain from other chatters!
We ask that you use Ventrilo's "Push-to-talk hotkey" function to activate your mic when you want to speak--this is accomplished via the "Setup" menu in Ventrilo. You will have to choose a hotkey on your keyboard, mouse, or joystick (if you've got one) to activate transmitting. What key you use is up to you.
That damn robot voice:
You can deactivate the text-to-speech notification in the "Setup" menu--click the "Events" tab and check out all those event notification fields. If you don't want to hear anything for a particular event, just change its field to "Nothing". Easy enough, right?
The Penny Arcade Forum Ventrilo Server Thread
Server Admins
Captain K Mai-Kero Mordrack ArchonwarpIf you have any problems, ask any of these fine folks for help. If you're in doubt whether or not something is an appropriate discussion topic for this thread, err on the safe side and PM a server mod rather than posting about it here.
Remember, the forum mods, aside from myself, are not interested in dealing with Ventrilo server issues. Don't come to them with your problems, come to a Ventrilo server mod.
Server info:
(if you have no idea what Ventrilo is, skip down a section)
address: 208.100.40.18
port: 3797
password: wang
(this server is a temporary solution until we find a permanent host, as our provider of a few years recently went down the toilet)
Connecting with Ventrilo
If you don't already know, Ventrilo is a voice communication program that runs quite unassumingly behind your other Windows (or Mac!) programs, letting you use it to talk with others while you do whatever the hell else you want to do. Here's how to connect to the server, in intelligence-insulting easy steps:
--Download Ventrilo at www.ventrilo.com. Both Windows and Mac users should download the latest beta client available for their operating system (as of 1/3/06, a very few Windows users achieve better performance with the current official version of the client, but nearly all of us get the best performance with the current beta client, so start with that).
--Once you have Ventrilo installed (shouldn't take long at all), run it for the first time, and choose a username (preferably your forum account name so we know who you are--keep in mind that people probably won't recognize your voice at first). Do this by clicking the little -> next to the User Name field, then clicking "New". Don't worry about adding any info other than the username.
--You'll have to pick a server next, but since you don't have any server info entered yet, click the -> next to Server. Click "New" and enter "Penny Arcade Forums" for the server name (or whatever you want to call it, I guess). For the "Hostname or IP" field, enter "illmatic5.nrgservers.net", and for the "Port number" field, enter "3507". Make SURE you change the port number field--this server doesn't use the default Ventrilo port number.
--Once all that is done, just click "Connect" and you should be logged on. Note the Terms of Service in the Ventrilo MOTD--they're mostly meant to mirror the forum rules that apply most directly to the voice chat medium, but they aren't there to scare anyone off.
Communicating with Ventrilo
Headsets:
By far the best hardware to use with any voice chat program is a headset, because there's zero chance the sound you hear will reverb through your microphone, even if your mic is constantly transmitting.
If you're going shopping for a headset to use with Ventrilo, just keep in mind that you generally get what you pay for--a $10 bargain headset is most likely going to give you some pretty poor transmission quality. Other forumers have experienced good results with headsets by Plantronics and Logitech, though almost any recognizable brand is probably safe to go with nowadays. One thing you may particularly want to look for in your new headset is an in-line volume control function, which is quite useful.
Microphones:
The best way to use a standalone microphone is in conjunction with headphones. If you don't have a headset and wish to use a standalone mic, use headphones while speaking on Ventrilo if at all possible.
If you use a mic/speaker combination, you will have to be sensitive of reverb issues--if other people are speaking while your mic is activated, your speakers will play what they say and your mic will send it back to them. Even one person reverberating back to the Ventrilo channel can be harsh on the ears; more than one at a time is downright painful.
Do your best to keep the microphone away from the speakers, and never try to "talk over" other chatters--the ensuing reverb will cause mass chaos. Also, be sure to use Ventrilo's "Push-to-talk hotkey" function (see below!) so that your mic isn't constantly transmitting.
One important thing to remember about reverb--in an ironic twist of aural fiendishness, the person whose mic/speaker setup is causing the reverb doesn't get to hear it. So, if others are telling you you're raping their ears, take their word for it and change something!
Software settings:
Your first move (after introducing yourself, of course) should be to adjust your outgoing volume. Generally, the goal is for everyone in the channel to be outputting at a similar volume so that nobody dominates the conversation just by being louder than everyone else. Click the "Setup" button in Ventrilo, then adjust the "Outbound" slider up or down to make yourself louder or softer until others in the channel agree that you're at a good volume. If you can't achieve a desirable outbound volume setting by using the Ventrilo slider, you may need to adjust some hardware settings or possibly activate/deactivate Mic Boost (be CAREFUL with this).
Note: if your outgoing volume is painfully loud when you first log in (you may not know this until it's too late) be prepared for screams of pain from other chatters!
We ask that you use Ventrilo's "Push-to-talk hotkey" function to activate your mic when you want to speak--this is accomplished via the "Setup" menu in Ventrilo. You will have to choose a hotkey on your keyboard, mouse, or joystick (if you've got one) to activate transmitting. What key you use is up to you.
That damn robot voice:
You can deactivate the text-to-speech notification in the "Setup" menu--click the "Events" tab and check out all those event notification fields. If you don't want to hear anything for a particular event, just change its field to "Nothing". Easy enough, right?
Captain K on
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This discussion has been closed.
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Who is the server for?
This server is for the use of any member of any of the PA forums. Don't even think about trying to exclude someone from using the Ventrilo server because they post in a different forum than you do.
If you have some buds you want to bring on the server with you, but you're worried that they aren't PA forumers, it's okay--just keep in mind that they will be held accountable to all forum and server rules, even if they are ignorant of them. Also remember that if they behave badly and get themselves banned from the server, it will look bad for you, too. And anyway, if they don't post on the PA forum, why not get them to sign up?
While the server is first and foremost a general-use server for all PA forumers, we currently host the Obsidian Spur, a PA forumer World of Warcraft clan, and The Merch, a PA forumer EVE Online corporation. No other clans or guilds are using our server, simply because there isn't enough room for any other clans or guilds--when OS conducts raids it's not uncommon for the server to come very close to capacity, or to actually fill up all the way. Both OS and The Merch are aware that the server is primarily a general-use server for all PA forumers, and in the event that we attract a much larger regular userbase in the future, both of these groups may have to seek out their own voice chat solutions.
Server Rules and Conventions
First off, I'll cut and paste the Terms of Service, which you see when you login to the server:
Other server rules:
--If you are in a Game On channel for a specific game, you must be playing that game with the other people in that channel.
--If you are in a generic Game On channel, you must have the name of the game you are playing in your comment. (this may seem like a nitpicky rule, but it saves countless headaches for all users and prevents any confusion)
--If you are playing a game with other Ventrilo users, don't use a Chat channel to communicate with each other; that's what Game On channels are for! Go use one of them instead.
A general rule of thumb: if it doesn't fly on the forums, it doesn't fly on the Ventrilo server.
Harassment
We take this issue very seriously. Nobody deserves to feel uncomfortable on our server, especially not because someone is giving them a hard time about their gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic background or anything like that. If you feel like you or someone else is being harassed on the server, please contact a server mod immediately. The backhand of justice will strike swiftly and without mercy.
This is a mod-discretion offense. Sometimes conversations will cover topics like sexual orientation or religion, sometimes crass jokes will be told. The key is to keep things in moderation: if what you are saying is making somebody else uncomfortable, you should stop saying it. For example, calling someone a Nazi because they are a German citizen just isn't appropriate. It's not even clever.
No Online Poker in Game On Channels
Because every online poker service has strict rules against "collusion", which is a cool term for two or more players at the same poker table working together in a manner unbeknownst to the other players at the table, we don't allow Ventrilo users to play online poker together in Game On channels. Collusion is unfair to the other players in your online poker game--you shouldn't do it, and if nothing else, you're not going to use the PA Forums Ventrilo server to do it.
Rules Violations
The server mods have the ability to globally mute, kick, or ban users from the server for violating rules or harassing/annoying other users. If you make it a point to violate rules on the server, don't be surprised if any of these happen to you.
If someone is violating rules or bothering other users, don't hesitate to contact me or any of the other server mods.
If you have questions or concerns about being muted, kicked or banned from the server, PM a server mod (not a forum mod, aside from myself). This thread is not the place to discuss Ventrilo server punishments.
Keep in mind that the Ventrilo software offers us no equivalent to a jailing, so "sorta bad" rules violations must be met with server tempbans. I'd give anything for a persistent mute feature, but as we don't have one, we use the tools that we do have. A server tempban may seem like a harsh punishment, but it's all we've got. Just don't break rules or be a dick and you won't have to worry about it.
I just joined the server and it seems like nobody can hear me talking!
If you're in the very root channel, or "lobby", that's why nobody can hear you. We have the lobby set to be permanently muted because most hostile Ventrilo bots (yep, they exist... pathetic, huh?) tend to just login to the lobby channel, spam really loud noises, and then log off. Try jumping into a chat channel to introduce yourself.
Why do the Chat channels have a ten person limit each?
In the past, we've found that "incidents" connected with the Ventrilo server all seemed to have one thing in common: they all seemed to happen when a Chat channel was overflowing with users. Having 20-ish people all hanging out and joking around can sometimes lead to a mob mentality, and we've found that limiting Chat channels to a maximum of ten users apiece has basically eliminated these types of problems.
Anyway, after almost a year of Ventrilo, we've discovered that even ten people actively chatting in one channel is almost too many, so this limit also helps us avoid having overfull channels with everyone stepping on everyone else.
What's The Idle Channel?
If you don't move your mouse or touch your keyboard for 20 minutes, you get automatically moved to The Idle Channel. This just helps stem any confusion from people trying to talk to you when you're not actually at your computer.
What's the Pipe Your Music Here channel?
This is a channel where you can play DJ, and others can come listen to your awesome music. There's no real regulations on this channel, but politeness dictates that you don't talk over someone who is piping music, and if you are the one piping it is customary to put some indication of what music you're playing in your Ventrilo comment (such as artist name and album name).
As for the question of "who gets to pipe?" it's basically first come first serve, but there's no regulations here either. If you really want to pipe something, but someone else is piping, you can always ask them if they wouldn't mind letting you pipe instead (through your comment, through the Ventrilo text chat window, or on the forum).
Server Funding
We rent our server from www.nrgservers.net and we've found them to be an excellent server provider. The server costs us $20 US to rent per month for 100 seats, which is a fantastic deal.
So, who pays for the server? The answer is pretty simple: we all do. Each month we raise $20 in paypal donations, with a limit of $5 on each individual's donation (or more accurately $5.50, because paypal skims off the top).
Some people have a hard time understanding why I won't let anyone donate more than $5 each month. It's really just to make sure that this remains a "community server"--it's not "Captain K's Ventrilo server", it belongs to everyone. There's a few individuals who would probably pay the entire server fee each month if I'd let them (ahem, PikaPuff), but it wouldn't be healthy for the sense of mutual ownership.
This thread is, simply put, for talking about our Ventrilo server--plans to meet up on Ventrilo, suggestions for how we can run the server better, and simple tech support questions are all appropriate discussion topics. You'll also see me come in here monthly to badger everybody to donate to the server, and to give props to those who donate.
What This Thread Is NOT For
This thread is not a chat channel. If you want to have off-topic conversation, do so in the chat thread, or in a Chat channel on the server itself.
This thread is also not the place to discuss server punishments. If you have a question about a server ban, PM a server mod (not a forum mod). I'll say that one again:
This thread is not the place to discuss server punishments.
Don't start drama in this thread. This thread exists as a helpful gateway between the server and the forums, not a place for server-side arguments or disputes to spill over. The Ventrilo server should be a boon to the forums, not a pain in their collective ass.
By popular demand, here's a quick and dirty guide to piping music on the Ventrilo server.
Go into Ventrilo setup and uncheck "Use push-to-talk hotkey". This puts you in Sensitivity mode. Then change the Sensitivity value to 0, which will make your client constantly transmit.
Check that your "input device" and "output device" are both set to "Default DirectSound device", and make sure that the "use DirectSound" option is checked for both of these.
Under "Mixer" you should have your sound card or onboard sound device selected. It probably already is, but just make sure. If you don't know what it is, just pick something that looks like the name of a sound card or onboard sound device, because that's probably right. (you shouldn't ever have to change this)
Under "Mux" you should have "recording control" selected. (you shouldn't ever have to change this either)
Under "Line", you most likely have "Microphone" selected if you've been using Ventrilo normally. To have others hear every noise that your computer makes, search for a setting like "Stereo Mix", "Wave Out", "Wave Out Mix", or something along those lines--it will differ depending on what sound card or sound device your computer uses. When you select the right setting, Ventrilo will now transmit everything your computer outputs to others in the same channel as you.
Close the Ventrilo setup window and click "Mute Sound" in the bottom left of the main Ventrilo window--this means you won't be able to hear anything anyone says in the same channel as you, but you don't want to. Remember, your Ventrilo client is piping everything your sound device plays to the other people in the channel, so if your sound device starts playing someone's Ventrilo transmission, it will get piped back to everyone in the channel with you. i.e. annoying reverb.
Once you have the correct setup, hop in the Pipe Your Music Channel and fire up your sound program. Keep in mind that you may need to adjust your volume settings (your Ventrilo outbound setting, or your music player volume, or your operating system volume mixer, or some combination of all three) so that people get the best listening experience. Remember that changing the volume settings on your speakers won't change anything for the other people in the channel--in fact, this actually means you can pipe music without listening to it yourself, if you are so inclined. In any case, if you've never piped before, you should expect others to want you to adjust your volume settings, so keep an eye on other people's comments and/or consider opening the text chat window.
When you're done piping, do the following:
--uncheck "Mute Sound" in the main window
--open the Setup window, check "Use push-to-talk hotkey", and change your Line setting back to "Microphone" (you can safely leave your Sensitivity value at 0 as long as you only use Sensitivity mode when you pipe music)
Keep in mind that when you have the Setup window open, Ventrilo will not transmit, so if you open it to adjust settings while piping the other folks in the channel will hear only silence while it's open.
Thanks for the work K.
I blame Whippy
Thanks for doing this, having a central Ventrilo server is really awesome, and letting people know about it is almost as important :^:
My sweet, untouched Miranda
And while the seagulls are crying
We fall but our souls are flying
One caveat for new users that I forgot to mention above (I just edited it into the second post) is that the "lobby" channel is permanently muted, so you can't talk in there. We have it setup this way because there are some hostile Ventrilo griefing bots out there that do nothing but sign into a random server, scream loudly into the lobby channel and then log off, so muting the lobby means nobody will be in there to hear it (and even if they are, they couldn't).
I seem to remember an instance of a person who was banned from Vent because he was banned from the forums. I know that certain people held the stance that vent was the ZOMG GABE AND TYCHO-APPROVED OFFICIAL PENNY ARCADE AUDIAL COMMUNICATION DEVICE. Now that you're a mod Cap'n K, will you be doing the opposite- dealing out punishment on the forums for vent transgressions? As I read back this post, I realize that it's probably a really dumb question. But it doesn't hurt to ask.
Now we have a Ventrilo mod who is also a forum mod, so, look out.
man, i think there's some kind of ~2-second silence-gap that overrides whoever replies to me. Time-delay? Lag? Guhbugwhahgalgauglaghhahg
In the (recent) past people have found it quite irritating that folks would sit in the Chat channels and really just want to talk about their current WoW game, even if they were not partied together. Note: if you're in a WoW party with other Ventrilo users, you need to move to a WoW Game On channel--that's not really what the debate is about.
The question is, do we find discussion about the game in general to be irritating enough that we want it to take place only in the WoW Chat channel? The general Chat channels are for any topic, but since a ton of people play WoW, and a ton of people like to talk about WoW, we've recently had times where the vast majority of people in the Chat channels were talking about nothing but WoW and other users felt they couldn't get a word in edgewise.
For a couple of weeks we had a makeshift rule on the books that WoW discussion of any kind had to take place in the WoW Chat channel. Should we keep this rule?
Go ahead and weigh in on this subject so we can reach a consensus.
Yes please.
Mainly I think if someone's talking about any other game then they tend to talk in generalities, and this lets other people join in as they can talk about other games in the genre etc etc, but when people talk about WoW it's usually very specifically WoW. As in they're talking about this quest or that item and you either know what they're talking about, or it's all Greek.
It works in the forums, I don't see why we shouldn't keep it that way for Vent.
With this method, I guess you're muting Ventrilo so you don't pick up chatter? But piping your music this way, you'll pick up any background noise won't you?
The way I was taught to pipe is to go to your Recording Control panel and simply change the box from Microphone to "What U Hear" and then transmit in Ventrilo, it will bypass the whole microphone process. The only downside of this is you have to check back to Microphone if you want to talk.
I can only assume that you are being sarcastic with this post.
I'm dumb :X
As long as people aren't narrating their games saying each and everything that's happening, I don't mind. People play BG2 in there pretty frequently. I mind hearing that you found Boots of Elvenkind and threw them down a silver dragon's throat. That's neat to hear about. Just not for hours on end. As long as it's not pure game chat, it's fine.
Note, chatting about the game itself, like patches and debates over graphics and stuffs should always be allowed, as far as I know.
Am I fairly clear on my opinion here? It still seems a tad cloudy, even to me.
not only do the rest of us don't care, it's fucking annoying.
however playing by yourself and making the occasional comment like "man this new armour is jAAAWsome, or how do i do this" is no big deal, we do it all the time for other games.
While I really, really wish there weren't so many people playing WoW, if something is that annoying, there are two more channels to go to. That said, I always felt WoW was the kind of game that you can play while chatting about other things, and that's what makes it fun, it doesn't take a lot of attention. But when you get a large group of people playing it at the same time, the topics will tend to go to WoW every now and then, sometimes just a brief segue and then back to whatever was being discussed before, and other times introducing a new topic that's WoW related.
This would really happen with any game that 50% or more of the people in the chat are playing by themselves. WoW is basically a game-on bandwagon, perhaps lasting longer than most. In time, I'm sure a few people will get bored of it, or at least talking of it so often, once the novelty wears off, and there won't be any more problems.
As for now, when we only have a small group on, I'm content to go down to the WoW chat if there's no one in the regular ones. Thankfully, Captain K has been seeding word of the server in other sections of PA, so we should have some new people in, and we can discuss some more varied topics.
This useless post brought to you by Henroid.
If someone doesn't transmit for an extended period of time, is there some sort of script that will auto-kick or move them to the AFK channel?
I ask because a couple nights ago I was playing BF2 with some people, and after the last match I played I was in a rush to get out of the house. I thought I closed vent, but I must have just minimized it. When I came home, I saw I was still on the server, but in the AFK channel. I just hope nobody was inconvenienced by it.
Yeah, after 15 minutes of AFK it sends you to the AFK channel. No problems, although in the event of a server being full we'd probably clear that channel out first.
I
I'm testing it now, and as of yet, it's working (or transmitting, that is).
I need someone to go into the pipe channel and tell me if it's coming in clear and at the right sound level, but I'll probably have to wait a little bit for someone to show up.
Get in Ventrilo chat and we can fine-tune your volume.
Thanks for the help K. Mucho appreciation.
I blame Whippy
I was hoping it meant I had accessed the 4th dimension.
I blame Whippy