Ventrilo Servers are great, but the users on them can sometimes pose a problem. Luckily Ventrilo has several features that help keep such issues to a minimum.

Case in point, have you ever had someone login to your Ventrilo Server and have their microphone volume up so high that it? Well, this is something that you can remedy without having to be an admin on the Ventrilo server. You can actually raise or lower the volume of anyone in the server as you see fit! How do you do this, you ask? Well, Let me show you.

1. Right-click on a person’s name within your Ventrilo client then goto “Miscellaneous” and click on “Special Effect”

2. A new window will pop up with a list of special effect on the right. Highlight “Volume” on the right.

3. Click the “Add” button in the middle of the window.

4. A menu will pop up asking you to adjust the volume to your desired level. Simply drag the slider to the setting you wish then click “Ok”

5. Click “Ok” again to close out of the special effects window and your changes have been applied.

This setting will only affect how you here the people which you have modified. Other people in Ventrilo will still hear them normally. Like wise you can go back into the special effects menu and go into the properties of the “Volume” effect and adjust their volume again at anytime or remove it entirely.

This little tactic comes in handy for people who won’t reduce their microphone volume or are just having too much trouble figuring out how to change it on their home computer. I can vouch from personal experience that this has saved me from a lot of stress on many occasion. I hope it is just as useful for you!

Tags: ventrilo, Ventrilo Server, Ventrilo Servers

Have you ever needed to be logged into two separate Ventrilo servers at the same time? If you’re a casual gamer then you likely have not had to deal with this dilemma before, but if you play online games as much as I do then you may have come across one or more instances where you’ve needed to do this. By default, Ventrilo will only let you login to one Ventrilo server at a time. Fear not! This ability is exceedingly easy to setup. First, find the shortcut that you use to launch your Ventrilo client. Once located, whether it is on your desktop, your start menu, or on your Windows toolbar, simply right-click on the icon and select “Properties” from the menu that pops up. This should bring up the following window:

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Tags: Ventrilo Server, Ventrilo Servers

So you’ve heard all about this Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and have decided that maybe unlimited international calls for a total price of zero is a good idea?  Correct.  But in this brave new world of global communication, whether you’re conferring with global colleagues or planning a raid on a Deadspace Complex with an armada of all nations, you have to get connected.

How do I start?

The first thing you’ll need is a Ventrilo client, and luckily for you these are fast and free to download from their website.  Yes, this is one of those smart companies that realize the software is going to end up free whether they want it to or not and only charge companies for its use - since businesses can’t afford to get caught stealing.  Instead you pay for bandwidth, but even then a small server can be run from your computer and even renting a hosted Ventrilo server is much cheaper than the phone.

I’m running the program but nothing is happening!

That’s because you’re staring at the phone waiting for it to twitch.  To get online and gabbing away, you need to set up your username (unless you want to be known as “guest”, which online roughly translates as “n00b idiot not worth talking to” in many places) and server.  If you’re heading online for a reason the odds are you already have the server and port number.  If you’re off adventuring, a google search for “public ventrilo servers” can yield some interesting results.  Just be warned that it’s like dialling a number at random, but online, which means you truly never know what you’ll find or what they’ll try to say at you when you get there.

Nobody is listening to me…

Actually, nobody can hear you.  The odds are that you’re sitting there with your snazzy headset on and Ventrilo connected, but until you press the magic “Talk” key nothing is being transmitted.  A fresh Ventrilo install defaults to Press-To-Talk (PTT) mode, to avoid you accidentally transmitting whatever you normally do when you’re at your computer around the globe when you connect.  Hit “Setup” and you can disable this mode if you want to, or redefine the talk key if you don’t.  Especially if you’ll be running Ventrilo behind a game, when you’ll want to choose a convenient but unassigned key.

Nobody cares what I have to say!

It’s not enough to talk - you have to go where people want to listen.  When you first connect to a server you’re dumped in the lobby, where the only people are other undecided connectees who are just looking for the right room to join.  Any server will have a list of rooms for you to talk in, each showing its current status and members.  Red loudspeakers indicate silence, green loudspeakers mean the user is talking, and red crosses are members only rooms that you’ll need a password to enter.

Nobody is doing things they way they should.  I should be in charge!

Ah, now you’re thinking like a professional internet user!  Luckily for you running your very own Ventrilo server is easier and cheaper than it’s ever been.  Of course, then you’ll have to deal with all these stupid people connecting to your lovely server of intellectual delight and sitting stupidly in the lobby, but that’s why you put passwords on all the really interesting rooms.

Tags: ventrilo beginner, Ventrilo Server, ventrilo tutorial

After installing your own Ventrilo server you’ll want to review the options you have as a server admin. Before you can do anything you’ll need to connect to your Ventrilo server and login as an admin. Once in your server right click on the server name, next to the computer icon, to log in as an admin.

One of the most basic functions you will probably want to take advantage of is the ability to create new channels within your Ventrilo server. Once again, right click on the server name and then click on ‘Channel Admin’. Next to ‘Display Name’ type in the name of the channel you would like to create. The phonetic refers to what users joining the channel will hear upon entering the channel. You may also password protect the channel, forcing users to know the password in order to join it, but they will still be free to move about the other non-password protected channels. Creating new channels is very helpful if your Ventrilo server is shared by different groups, CoD4 clans, WoW guilds, etc.

As an admin you will also have the option to ban users from your Ventrilo server. This will make it so that a user can no longer connect to the server. To ban a user, once again, right click on your server name and then go down to ‘Server Admin’. Next click on ‘Ban List’. From here you can ban, as well as un-ban users. It’s a good idea to put in a reason for why the user was banned to help you remember, and in case you should decide to unban them in the future.

As an admin you’ll also be able to create an MOTD (Message Of The Day) for your server. This feature is also in the ‘Server Admin’ menu and it will allow you type out a message that all users will see upon connecting to your Ventrilo server. This can include things such as the rules of the server, its usage, etc.

If you have a large server with many users you may want to give out admin to other members. This will allow your server to be moderated even if you’re not there. In the ‘Server Admin’ menu under ‘User Editor’ is where you can do this. Ventrilo allows you to create admin passwords for individual users, as opposed to having to give them the Ventrilo server’s master password. Just make sure that you only give admin to those who you can trust.

There are many features in Ventrilo designed specifically to help admin’s customize their servers and hopefully after reading this you’ll be well on your way to learning the intricacies of utilizing Ventrilo’s admin features.

Tags: Ventrilo Admin, Ventrilo Server

Ventrilo is one of the most popular pieces of Voice over IP (VoIP) software out there. Ventrilo allows you to talk through a microphone, hooked up to your computer, to anyone anywhere in the world.

And best of all, its completely free to use, but you do have to pay if you wish to own your own Ventrilo server. The sound quality when using Ventrilo is very good and you can be talking to more than one person at once, a sort of digital conference call. If its your first time using Ventrilo you will have a little bit of setup to do after installing before you can hop onto a Ventrilo server. Once you have Ventrilo open

it should look like the image on the left. The first thing you should do is click the small arrow to the right of where it says “User Name”.

A small box will appear and now you should hit “New”, this will allow you to type in a name that you would like to be identified as when you are in a Ventrilo server. Simply type in the name and then hit “Ok” to return back to the main Ventrilo program.

Next you will need to add a server to your server list. This can be your own server, a friends, something for work, any server that you know of and would like to join. First, hit the small arrow to the right of “Server” and then when the box pops up select “New”. This will allow you to type in a name for the Ventrilo server. After naming it you will need to put in the servers Hostname or IP and its Port Number. This is information that the owner of the server has and will have to give to you. Not all Ventrilo servers are password protected, but if one is you will have to type the password in on this screen. Once you have all that information inputted hit “Ok”, and now you are ready to go! Make sure your user name is selected, and then select the server you just added. Now all you have to do is hit “Connect” and you should join the server.
You will also want to check out the “Setup” menu to learn the various commands. One of the important things you will want to look at in the Setup menu and under the “Voice” tab is where it says “Use Push To Talk Hotkey (PTT Mode)”.

If you have this function de-selected people will be able to hear you whenever you speak into your microphone. “Sensitivity” refers to how faint of a sound it will pick up and “Silence Time” refers to how long you must be silent before your microphone stops transmitting. If you check the box your voice will only transmit when you push a hotkey, instead of whenever you make a noise. Check the box and then click on the text box to the right of where it says “Hotkey”, then push a button on your keyboard or mouse. That button is now your hotkey and whenever you hold it down your voice will transmit to the Ventrilo server.
Ventrilo can seem like a confusing bit of software at first, but hopefully now you arre well on your way to becoming an advanced user.

Tags: Ventrilo Client, Ventrilo Connectin Editor, Ventrilo Push to Talk, Ventrilo Server