Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be 'in game' and talk to your whole group live? Like a conference call over the phone, talking to everyone at once. Well you can, over your Internet connection, no phones, no phone charges, no kidding. This is used by numerous other guilds, within Everquest and in many other on-line games. It even can be used when not in a game, to talk with family or friends.

Allow me to introduce to you 'Ventrilo'. I've chosen it for its simplicity at the user level (that means you). The server portion of Ventrilo I've configured on my own PC. Now I'm hoping to gather interest within our guild family of "Ring of Truth" to get together live, in game.

I hope to provide you with the application install instructions and configuration in a very simplified fashion so even a computer novice can get it running. Once you have it running and understand the concept, I think most of your questions will be answered. But I will provide a lot of background here, so you don't feel that you're jumping in blind.

For those that would like a little more review or technical background, here is Ventrilo's home page, click this link:

• Windows 9x / NT / 2K / XP. This does not work on MAC or Linux
• DirectX 8.1 or above installed
• Integrated sound on your motherboard or a good sound card
• Speakers and microphone or a good headphone/mic for a computer (can be purchased from a good computer store).

Other Notes:

• Using Windows XP will give you the extra benefit of TTS or Text To Speech, this will translate text that you type in a chat window into a synthesized voice and those typing to you will be audibly translated. Not really needed for what we are doing but can be played around with later.
• Your computers mic and speakers can be used with no problem but will cause feedback in some instances (if someone else speaks while you are speaking, you will hear yourself echoing back). It may work well as a test to insure the application works before investing in a headphone/mic (they run from $20 to $50)
• I have not tested this with the new SP2 update for WindowsXP. It should be fine as long as the port ID is made available.

How difficult is this to install:

• The application is very small and FREE and will not take long to download. You will just need to be aware of the location you download it to. Once executed, an installer will open to show you the progress of the install.
• After its installed, I will provide a text string, that you can cut and paste into your browser's URL address line. Once executed, this installs the basic parameters.
• I will direct you to a couple of other parameters needed, using screen shots.
• Done, that's all there is to it.

My server:

• Since I host the server (the server application), I have administrator permissions to monitor the channel.
• If needed, I can kick users from the channel, ban them from entering, setup sub-channels (example: for a LDoN team)
• I have not been able to test this for over 8 users. With enough ROT player interest, we can accomplish this.
• My PC is subject to being down at times (Updates, reboots and such) this also means Ventrilo server will be down. I have a cable modem, always on, so downtime is very minimal.
• Additional advantages can be had if we utilize a Hosting ISP (the server application is hosted at a web site instead of on my PC). With some game play, a break-in period and acceptance from the guild of course, this may be a consideration, at a cost of about $15 a month.

Step by Step Installation Procedures: Are You Ready?. . Click Here

. . . COLTAIR . . .