Fixing Distorted Voice Issues
From DarkStar Ventrilo and Game Server Wiki
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Distorted Voice Issues
From time to time we have customers come and submit tickets that are having voice issues with a few users on their Ventrilo server. For instance, user A might be able to hear user B, C, and D fine, but user E and F, come in as distorted to both A, B, C, D, etc. This is never a server-side problem, so much as either a Ventrilo server configuration issue (i.e., your codec is too high for certain people on your server, or too low). We generally recommend setting your voice codec to something middle of the range in terms of bandwidth requirements, such as a Speex 16-bit 5 Quality, or GSM 22,050 Hz. This will allow for a high quality voice environment without impacting low-bandwith DSL or Cable users who are gaming at the same time.
Diagnose the Problem!
Instead, you should immediately start diagnosing the problem and determine if it is everyone who is having problems, or just a couple of users. If it's the entire server, and everyone in it having problems, lower the codec. Keep lowering until the problem subsides. If it does not subside, please submit a ticket. But remember -- if you're having 40 people in one channel, all talking at the same time -- it's possible you will have issues if there's too much bandwidth being sent to your users and overloading their connections. As long as you have a pretty solid Internet connection -- you shouldn't have an issue. However, we have seen users with large raiding groups with 20+ people in a single channel have troubles with users that had lower-end cable connections ( < 6 Mbps ) that reported heavy congestion during peak hours. This is why we recommend large raiding groups to use a mid-range codec, or lower for those with low-grade DSL users.
Is the problem limited to certain users only?
If the problem is limited to a certain user base, we recommend talking one-on-one with each user and adjust the settings on a per-user basis until the problem with the user goes away. Generally this is not a server problem -- so we do not recommend submitting a support ticket since there's generally not much we can do about client-related problems. The only way you should submit a ticket, is if you notice that when performing a Trace Route, that you get unusually high latency once you reach the last hop (last hop only -- if you have high ping before that, ignore it, as it is the router de-prioritizing those ICMP packets).
When to submit a ticket
The following indicators will let you know when to submit a ticket:
- If the server is lagging for everyone (I.e., > 250ms ping times for literally every user in the server) for a consistent period of time.
- If the voice distortion issues exist for every player (no exceptions), and do not go away after lowering the codec to the lowest possible level. You can try adjusting the codec and limiting the number of people who talk at the same time, are who exist in the same channel talking, to ensure that you are not overloading the users connection speeds (Even Cable/DSL connections can easily become overloaded with many people conversing on mid-range codecs).
- If you perform a trace route and the last hop contains packet loss (indicated by *) or unusually high latency times.
- If you perform a trace route and both the last two hops contain packet loss (indicated by a *) or unusually high latency times.
- If your server is offline.
