Ventrilo Client

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[www.ventrilo.com/ Ventrilo] is a voice communication program for Windows that runs quite well on the latest [[Wine]]. This article outlines a few workarounds necessary to using Ventrilo naturally on Linux.

{{Note|Running Ventrilo under Wine is no longer necessary; [www.mangler.org/ Mangler] is a stable open-source client in the community repository ({{Pkg|mangler}}{{Broken package link|{{aur-mirror|mangler}}}}) that connects to Ventrilo 3.0 servers.}}

== Global Push to Talk Hotkey ==
One problem that Wine Ventrilo users face is that the push to talk hotkey only being detected when a Wine window (such as Ventrilo itself) is in focus. The solution to this is using {{AUR|ventriloctrl}}{{Broken package link|{{aur-mirror|ventriloctrl}}}}, a simple program that sends X input to Ventrilo.

=== Finding the input device ===
The acceptable input devices are in {{ic|/dev/input/}}. If you want to use a mouse use the event-mouse in {{ic|/dev/input/by-id/}}. For a keyboard use {{ic|/dev/input/event[#]}}.

You will probably need to do a bit of trial and error to find the proper event number or device. The best way to do this is just to run {{Ic|ventriloctrl /dev/input/[whatever]}} as root, and press keys or click your mouse and see if it is detected by the program. If it is detected, it will show an example line with a number at the end. That number is the button number that you will use to run ventriloctrl in the future.

For example, my {{Ic|ventriloctrl /dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-event-mouse}} shows:
# ventriloctrl /dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-event-mouse 272

If that was the button I wanted to use, I would run ventriloctrl with that line in the future.

=== Startup Script ===
Now we will make a script to run ventriloctrl using the parameters you discovered. This could also be done with an alias or other user-specific methods. Edit your script with your favorite editor and call it whatever you want. Mine is going to be called {{ic|ventriloctrl+}}.

# nano /usr/bin/ventriloctrl+

By default, a normal user does not have the access to the {{ic|/dev/input/}} devices that ventriloctrl needs to use. To get around this you can either make a [[udev]] rule, or just use [[sudo]]. So far, I am just going to show what your script should look like with sudo.

#!/bin/sh
sudo ventriloctrl /dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-event-mouse 272

Of course, the device and event number should be replaced with the ones you found earlier. Essentially you just want to add sudo to the front of your previous input device line.

Make sure your script is executable:

# chmod +x /usr/bin/ventriloctrl+

All done. Now you just need to make the {{ic|ventriloctrl+}} script run when ventrilo runs.

=== Example Ventrilo Startup Script ===

We previously made a script to start ventriloctrl. Now, you may wish to make a script that starts ventriloctrl after Ventrilo starts. The tough part about this is determining when Ventrilo has started completely, as it is a Wine app. If anyone else has a better way of doing this please add it. Otherwise, here is my method.

Take a look at the first post in the [bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=56646 self-made command line utilities thread] on the Arch forums. The script we are going to use from that is the try script.

Copy it into a script file such as {{ic|/usr/bin/try}}. Make sure the script is executable.

# chmod +x /usr/bin/try

Now create another script to start Ventrilo named whatever you want. Mine will be called {{ic|ventrilo}}.

# nano /usr/bin/ventrilo

In the script, you will first want to cd to your Ventrilo install. By default, this should work for any users that have it installed to their default {{ic|~/.wine}} directory. In my example, I run {{ic|Ventrilo.exe}} and save its pid to the VENT variable, and then I use the try script to run {{ic|ventriloctrl+}} and save its pid to the CTRL variable. Then I wait until VENT finishes, and kill CTRL. The effect? Ventrilo starts and ventriloctrl attempts to start until it does, then it runs until Ventrilo closes. Here is my script:

#!/bin/bash
cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Ventrilo
wine Ventrilo.exe 2>/dev/null & VENT=$!
try ventriloctrl+ & CTRL=$!
wait $VENT
kill $CTRL

Also make sure your ventrilo script is executable.

# chmod +x /usr/bin/ventrilo

That should be it. You should now be able to run Ventrilo with the ventrilo command.

=== Allowing sudo for ventriloctrl ===
You might also want to run ventriloctrl with nopasswd for [[sudo]]. To do this, edit the sudo config file:

# visudo

Add a line like the following. {{Ic|%wheel}} can be replaced with specific usernames if desired, otherwise it will work for any users in the wheel group.

%wheel ALL=NOPASSWD:/usr/bin/ventriloctrl

== Mangler and ALSA ==

Currently, mangler and mangler-svn from the AUR defaults to using pulseaudio at launch, regardless if it is not installed and will cause the application to hang at the terminal or not start at all. To build Mangler without pulseaudio, edit the PKGBUILD ./configure line, add --without-pulseaudio, like so:

./configure --prefix=/usr --without-pulseaudio

Also, should your microphone fail to transmit any audio or should you get an error from a terminal that looks like this:

(snd_pcm_set_params) Rate does not match (requested 32000Hz, get 0Hz)

It is due to the recording device failing to re-sample to the Ventrilo server's rate. To fix this, go Edit -> Settings and then the Audio tab and select Custom for the input device and type in:

plughw:X,0

Where X is your microphone or recording device ID. To determine your recording device ID:

cat /proc/asound/cards

The number next to each device is the device ID. Also, do not forget to raise the volume on your recording device through alsamixer.

Should none of this work and problems still persist, switching to pulseaudio might be the way to go, at least until Mangler is fixed.

== Additional Resources ==
* [appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=2169 WineHQ AppDB entry for Ventrilo]
* [ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=2662867&postcount=83 Ubuntu Forums Source]

Tried both wine 1.1.34 and 1.1.35, GSM 6.10 codec no longer works anymore :(

Running Gentoo Linux 2.3.32 Kernel

Latest Vent 3.0.5 i386.

Maybe the same problem here.

Why are you guys still trying to use vent in wine? Is there a problem with Mangler (www.mangler.org) that's preventing you from using a native client?

We run vent when it's what the majority of our team uses in windows. Since there is no linux version, we are forced to use wine.

But.... Mangler is a native Ventrilo clicent for Linux...

I've tried Mangler and for some reason, it works even worse then Ventrilo. It crashes when I configure my output device while Ventrilo works.

With the recent updated (I'm on 1.1.41 amd64 now) my Ventrilo just broke - I can't see any channels or anyone when I connect to a server. When I speak they can hear and see me, but I can't see or hear them. Also I've got codec problems (with the 1.1.40 version of Wine I think).

Tried new prefix and similar actions with no use.

Well... I can't help you with Ventrilo and WINE... but if you want to debug mangler, you're welcome to post on our forums or join us on IRC

I installed Vent 3.0.5 per the instructions on this page, with the exception of "and tick the driver emulation box.�" under CONFIGURATION - I don't see any sort of 'driver emulation' box under any tab. Aside from that, everything was installed as instructed, and now I don't have any sound from anything (WoW) running in Wine. Running Ubuntu 9.10, Wine 1.1.33
Any ideas?

Just like to say that Mangler was released yesterday and works a thousand times better than Ventrilo through WINE.

www.mangler.org/download/

Off topic as this is emulating Ventrilo but Mangler, an open source Vent client, is now good enough to use in replacement of Ventrilo.

svn is svn.mangler.org/mangler/

install steps:

svn co svn.mangler.org/mangler/
cd mangler/trunk
./configure
make
sudo make install

Note: I had to install the Speex package which ment hopping over to the speex website and installing that first

I just tried Mangler and it seems very buggy. I couldn't get PTT working at all, and clicking the transmit button crashes the program. I'm not sure what I need to do to get it working, but any help is appreciated.

I haven't released it yet. I imagine you tried push-to-talk on a Speex codec server. In SVN as of a couple of days ago, this would cause a crash. The latest build will not crash (but it won't work either). GSM outbound should work fine and I should have speex working this weekend. If it is still crashing, please file a bug report on the website with as much info as possible.

The actual website address is www.mangler.org and you can follow our progress there. Release date is Dec. 1st 2009.

As of the Nov 13, 2009 release of Mangler (www.mangler.org) there are now packages available and at least for myself and my daughter (both on Linux Mint (Jaunty)), it works great. Push to talk works, per user volume works, etc. I've had it running all weekend with *zero* issues.

I'd highly recommend running this over trying to jump through hoops to get Vent to work right.

Mangler is pulseaudio only, so unless you have pulse installed, it will not play nicely with your system.

If you can grab a recent snap shot ALSA is now supported.

www.mangler.org/2010/01/mangler-with-alsa-support/

So I tried to get Vent running with Wine 1.1.30, and so far I've gotten everything to work except PTT. For whatever reason PTT works maybe once, and either gets stuck in XMIT for a couple seconds or it doesn't work at all. If it does work, it does so only once and will not respond to further button presses.

Any suggestions as to how to get this working?

I have a similar issue, however, The PTT button will not work period with focus on Ventrilo or off.

I using Ubunto, Wine 1.0.1, Newest Ventrilo.

Just tried with WINE 1.1.31, same problem

Wine 1.2.27 now includes the gsm codec, but it didn't work for me atleast. I got it to work with the old method, by replacing the msgsm32.acm file with one from my windows installations and adding it as a dll override.

I cannot use x.27 because of Ventrilo's message:
'Codec initialization failed:
Unable to open codec stream. Code = 8'

x.26 is working fine.

"Ventrilo - FAQ
Q: Unable to initialize the codec. CODE = -8

-8 means the codec is found but the settings are messed up.

Control panel
Sound and multimedia
Hardware
Double click "Audio Codec"
Double click on Microsoft GSM 6.10
Click settings.
Set Compress and Decompress to 44100 (or just click Auto Config).
Press OK."
Source: www.ventrilo.com/faq.php#codec2

err:gsm:GSM_DriverProc libgsm support not compiled in!

It seems the ubuntu package from Scott Richie's repository (the one which is linked to on the wine page) does not have libgsm support compiled in. The gsm patch added another build dependency (libgsm), which might have slipped past the maintainter.

I tried to compile the package with libgsm-dev installed and it worked.

This looks like a Windows solution, the Control Panel functionality in Wine isn't functional yet.

that worked for me as well. i can connect to servers and listen to conversations (gsm-codec), but when i try to speak myself i get lots of "fixme:wave:widRecorder Recovering from XRUN!" errors and mic won't work (it does in other applications)

it turned out this issue was related to my audigy SE soundcard. I got an old terratec soundcard an did not experience this problem anymore (no alsa emulation in winecfg. with this setting my audigy SE made wine crash completely)

now i just got bug 5178 ;)

Try going into winecfg, select the Libraries tab

Add new library, select msgsm32.acm from the drop down

Hit Edit, then select the Native(Windows) button.

This seems to have done the trick for me, good luck.

Filefront didnt have it for me and the other site is a nightmare so i put it on mediafire for people who wanna download this without a torrent of jusk mail etc

www.mediafire.com/?htlyjmooypm

I noticed that when vent and the game (Wc3 or WoW for example) are installed into the same WINEPREFIX the hotkey works fine. A wine window from the same instance needs to have focus for the hotkey to work.

To share a vent install between 2 prefixes, in the case ~/.wine-wow and ~/.wine-wc3, I made a symlink from the actual vent install (~/.wine-wow) to the target prefix (~/.wine-wc3). "ln -s ~/.wine-wow/drive_c/Program Files/Ventrillo" from within the ~/.wine-wc3/drive_c/Program Files directory. Then run vent as WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-wc3 wine Ventrillo.exe. This is from memory so the details are not exact.

You can create duplicate Ventrillo shortcuts to make this easier.

PTT will work when any Wine Window is selected--at least for me. Non-Wine Windows however do not work unless you use the script.

Ignore this... pressed the wrong button for replying to a message.

Anyone else getting a crash on startup of Ventrilo 3.0.x with WINE 1.1.22?

I promptly degraded to 1.1.21, so I didn't get any stderr output or anything.

If it's not resolved in 1.1.23, I'll probably get and post some debug information then.

Yeah, I get the crash too. Strangely enough it does not crash for me if Ventrilo is the first wine-app I start. So if I start Ventrilo first, and then my game, all is fine. Game first and then Ventrilo causes Ventrilo to crash.

Could you possibly add some more information to bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18688 if you have anything to add? I just opened it.

PTT (push-to-talk) is listed as broken, but it works just fine for me with no extra hacks or workarounds.
Using WoW and Vent.

It only works while the wine window is a current target,

The wine window meaning the Ventrilo window or any wine window?
Like I wrote, PTT works just fine for me with Vent in the background and WoW running full-screen.

Mine works just fine with WoW running as well. Are you using Ubuntu by chance? That's where mine works.

I'm also using OpenSound channeled through padsp for Ventrilo, if that matters.

You guys need to actually read replies in a thread before you post.

Bob already said this; it only works when a WINE window gets the input PTT key. Try tabbing to your browser or text editor and using the PTT key, it won't work.

What are red? I not no.

But yes, this appears to be the case. Well, it's a good thing I only use Vent while using Wine windows...

I had an odd issue where only certain people would hear me garbled on speex servers (GSM was fine). It turns out they can fix it on their end by turning Voice amplifiers to 0.

This is for wine ver. 1.1.9

winecfg
1a) audio tab
1b) ALSA Driver -- checked
Hardware Acceleration -- Full
Default Sample Rate: -- 44100
Default Bits Per Sample: -- 16
Driver Emulation -- unchecked

Ventrilo Setup
2a) Voice tab
2b) Enable outgoing voice Comms -- checked
Use Push To Talk Hotkey -- checked
Use Direct Input to detect Hotkey -- Unchecked
Discard Hotkey -- unchecked
Play Key Clicks -- checked
Use Direct Sound (Output device) -- checked
Use Direct Sound (Input device) -- unchecked
3a) Binds tab
3b) Use DirectSound -- unchecked
4a) Speech tab
4b) Use DirectSound -- unchecked

5a) Now you must setup the correct windows drivers to get GSM and all that good stuff. You will need to copy them from your ia32 comptiblity libraries, or an existing windows install somewhere, or download them from the M$ website. They are:

msgsm32.acm
tssoft32.acm
tsd32.dll
lhacm.acm

You will find them in windows at C:\\windows\system32. Copy those files to your /.wine/drive_c/windows/system folder. Yes, thats right, you are going to copy them to your wine drive system folder... Not system32 folder.

5b) Now for the system.ini change. Go to your /.wine/drive_c/windows/system.ini and open that up. You are going to write in the following:

MSACM.msgsm610=msgsm32.acm
MSACM.trspch=tssoft32.acm
MSACM.lhacm=lhacm.acm

When your done with that, save it and close. Your pretty much home free now! Setup a shortcut for ventrilo on your desktop if you like or if wine didnt create one for you already like it did for me. Otherwise a shortcut should have been created in your KDE menu somewhere. Happy voice chatting

This worked for me while nothing else did. Fantastic!

Thanks a lot!

i'm using Wine 1.1.19 and it seems the Ventrilo push to talk key works (not using DirectInput). I haven't done extensive testing; just while sitting at the WoW login screen. Just an observation.

I couldn't figure out how to get the push to talk key to work for quite some time. It was breaking in ALSA. I could talk for about 2 seconds before it died. But when I switched to OpenSound everything magically worked. Using aoss/padsp (on Ubuntu) I'm able to talk in Vent while still playing games on the main speakers. It's got some issues but overall it works fairly well.

Yeah, but do you have the window selected? i have found that PTT only works normally when the Vent window is the active window.

PTT will work when any Wine Window is selected--at least for me. Non-Wine Windows however do not work unless you use the script.

We currently have a few talented developers helping with Spux. But we need more. If interested go to www.spuxproject.net or email me at msierks@sierkstech.net or pop by IRC on irc.freenode.net on the channel #spux. We need you to help make Spux a success.

Having trouble getting Ventrilo working with wine ? Join the development to to bring a native client to Linux. Visit www.spuxproject.net or contact me at msierks@sierkstech.net to help.

The HOWTO posted above was working just fine with Wine version 1.1.14 and before. But I just updated to Wine 1.1.15, and now, I get the message "Codec initialization failed: Unable to open codec stream. Code = 512" whenever I try to connect to a room that uses the GSM codec. I get the same message when I try press the "Monitor" and "Test" buttons with the "GSM 6.10" codec selected.

I'm using Ventrilo 3.0.4. Any ideas on how to fix this? I have already double-checked that the msgsm32.acm is in ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system, and that I have the line "MSACM.msgsm610=msgsm32.acm" in ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system.ini.

Oops. I just saw the bug entry: bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17397.

I am getting the same issue. I can use the speex codec, but suffer from the usual static issues and people not being able to hear me properly using that codec. But GSM is just giving the same "Codec initialisation failed" error as above.

Unfortunately, I don't understand the "patch" that someone put in the bug for it and I have no idea how to try and apply it. Is there any work or investigation being done on this issue?

I didn't actually use the patch supplied in the bug report that I referenced earlier. I just downgraded to Wine version 1.1.14. That was the easier thing to do. Besides, I assume the patch in the bug report will be incorporated into the next Wine release, which will probably be pretty soon anyway.

I'm not sure how to downgrade from 1.1.15 to 1.1.14 - can you point me to a guide or give some advice, please?

Well that depends on how you installed it. What GNU/Linux distribution are you using?

Assuming you're using Ubuntu Linux, you need to uninstall the package named "wine" using Synaptic Package Manager.

Then go to wine.budgetdedicated.com/archive/index.html and download the appropriate package for version 1.1.14. After downloading the package, double-click the package and click the "Install" button.

Thanks! I found a different solution that didn't require me to uninstall/reinstall, and I thought I'd share it.

I installed PlayOnLinux, which allows you to run multiple versions of wine and multiple applications using different versions. So I now have ventrilo running with 1.1.14 and WoW running with 1.1.15. :)

Just another reason to love Linux.

I just installed wine 1.1.16, and I still get the same GSM error described here. So, I'm going to see if downgrading helps.

Thanks for the help.

Yes, I tried this as well. Both 1.1.15 and 1.1.16 do not have this fixed yet. You're going to have to downgrade to 1.1.14. You can track the progress of this bug at bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17397 . Presently, it has only been confirmed, not fixed, even though a patch has been provided.

My suggestion is that if you want the bug fixed, vote on it. Hopefully, if enough of us vote, it will get enough attention and get fixed quicker.

My mics detected with "monitor" in Ventrilo setup but the audio recording wont replay with "test".
Very annoying.

I had this issue as well. Solved by turning off the 'play key clicks' option that produces the little beep when you push the talk button. Now my voice is picked up.

i currently have problem installing . Having installed with winetricks msi2 the windows isntall
when i try to isntall it says that msi is not present and that i should isntall it
.NET 2 is also installed but i get no message for this one just ms installer . Anyone know how to bypass this?

Dead link, you can get that program from here

www.inovani.no/DemosDownload.htm

Well i can get vent working perfectly doing everything for me. If the server is using GSM my in and out sound is very clear.

However, my guild has mac users so we have to use Speex.

When i try to use speex they say i sound very garbled and static.

I have tried all different kinds of settings for both vent and wine and nothing seems to work. Has anyone found a fix for this kind of problem.

BTW Vent is v3.0.4

In recent Wine, I'd been failing to install Ventrilo getting a failure:
err:msi:ITERATE_Actions Execution halted, action L"InstallFinalize" returned 1627

This error was caused for me by not having a .NET installation. Installing .NET 2.0 with winetricks solved it.

I use ventrilo and push to talk, and it works fine, but with every program I've used since xorg 1.5 (and the old ventriloctrl stopped working) when I push my push to talk key, I loose all keyboard input.

For example I press my push to talk button, I have to let go of it in order to type something.

This is easily reproducable in every program I've tried, open a text editor, hold down push to talk (capslock in my case, could that affect it?) and try to write something, nothing will show up.

Are there any programs to forward the hotkey to ventrilo, that does not have this (huge) limitation?

Replying to my own post here.

Found this little script worked:
ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6304758&postcount=299

I hadn't noticed until now that John Hanely had already made a script to monitor X input and I made one too using Python.

ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6304758&postcount=299

For those of you that the push to talk de-registers and no longer works... Install the windows 9x(98) version it works perfectly!

If you wish to view current progress go to www.ventinux.net.

The short of it is I am trying to get my mic and my sound to work together. The mic is a USB mic, and my sound card is an internal card creative labs Xfi. If I use Alsa drivers, then I get sound in my games and I can hear ventrilo, but no mic. If I use OOS drivers, I can hear sound and use the mic in ventrilo, but I get no sound from my games.

The link you provided that takes you to the World of Warcraft forum is basically what I am looking for, but I have an issue Im hoping someone can help me with. I do not have a .asoundrc file as described in this HOWTO. The only asoundrc file I have is this:

/usr/share/doc/alsa-lib-1.0.17/asoundrc.txt

Is this the same file? It looks like it might be related considering the content, but it is not located as ~/.asoundrc. And changes I made to this file didn't make things work.

If anyone knows any easier way to get me functioning, I am open to suggestions.


Fedora 9
Wine 1.5
USB logitech quickcam mic
creative labs internal XFI Xtreme gamer

I have found a work through. Apparently the sound settings are soft coded so that if you setup using OSS and start vent, you can go back and change the settings back to using Alsa and start WoW. That way both programs are operational.

This method is annoying and clunky but it works until I find a way to link both my USB mic and my internal sound card in Wine.

In winecfg, you should add ventrilo.exe to the Applications tab. Select it, and the window title will change to 'Settings for Ventrilo.exe' or something similar. Then click over to the audio tab and change to OSS.
This configuration will only apply to vent, so WoW and other programs will still use alsa.

Make sure the global settings are set to use alsa, of course.

-John

Hi guys. I got tired of ventriloctrl, so I wrote my own (in perl).
It uses normal X input rather than the event interface, so there are no kernel options or device file permissions to configure. It can be activated/deactivated with a keyboard shortcut, and sends in the same key it captures.

So for example:
1) Configure your desktop manager to launch keylistener.pl when CTRL+` is pressed.
2) Start Ventrilo
3) With the Ventrilo window in focus, press CTRL+`
A small window titled 'Press a Key' will appear.
4) Tap the key you want to capture (right CTRL for me) a few times until the 'Press a Key' window closes.
The Ventrilo window's title will change to: Ventrilo (Key R_Control Captured)
5) Make sure Ventrilo is configured to use that same key for push-to-talk.
6) Use and Enjoy.
7) If you want to uncapture the key, activate your keyboard shortcut again (CTRL+`)
The Ventrilo window title will return to normal.

It requires the following perl modules installed:
X11::GUITest
X11::Protocol
X11::Keyboard

They can all be installed with cpan. As root, run:
cpan -fi X11::Keyboard X11::Protocol X11::GUITest


I haven't tested this extensively, so use at your own risk.
www.splitreflection.com/~calin/keylistener.pl

-John

Forgot to mention - it also requires the xev utility. This is available for most or all distributions.

-John

Great job!

It works really good for me :) thanks alot for that perl script man.
been trying to get PTT to work for ages :D

I was just wondering if it is possible to make a script that start Ventrilo with keylistener.pl and the right key-bind without having to start keylistener separately and specify what keybinding i want!?
That would be really cool if you got that to work!

I don't use Vent myself, my wife does. And she seems to want to change her push-to-talk key every few weeks, which is why I set this up to configure each time. It should be trivial to hard-code a particular key, and avoid the 'press a key' phase. It should also be simple enough to start both vent and keylistener with one script, though it's written to work with whichever window is active when it starts. So timing might be a little tricky on that.

-John

I just changed my PTT key to my middle-mousebutton and noticed that your keylistener wont work with mousebuttons :(
Is it possible to get that to work?
It would be really great if you could get it to work, as I use ventrilo daily and I cant talk in vent when I have vent or a wine-app minimized..

It could probably be modified to use either keys or mouse buttons. If I get really bored I might look into it, but... Well, I don't use vent at all. I wrote it for my wife, who plays a lot of WoW... and eventually left me for one of her online buddies. So you'll understand if I am not particularly interested in working on this.

"and eventually left me for one of her online buddies"

holy flying f, what?! My sympathies buddy.

Since there is no Linux Ventrilo client and the wine compatibility is poor. A Ventrilo Linux Client is in the works and a development release should be available within a couple of months. Unfortunately it will not be released by the makers of Ventrilo but by me. I have grown tired of waiting on the makers of Ventrilo so I have taken it upon myself to create my own client.

Sounds fantastic. I'd use even a horrible looking program, with extremely little gui development and feature base. The only features I'd require are:

- connect to a server
- join a channel
- listen
- push to talk

Everything beyond that would be icing on the cake. I wish I was competent at programming or something to help you out : )

Those are the only features I plan to have at first, unfortunately I have run into a little issue that is time consuming to figure out. But A few details are:

- Speex only codec
- text based, (gui may come later)
- alsa only, possibly oss(havent got this far yet)

This will be very bare bones at first but with time will come enhancements.

Could you possible look into adding a basic chat or TTS. I used vent, but my GF is mute, and she uses the chat TTS to talk to the rest of the vent. If at all possible it would be great, but even just the chat without TTS would be awesome aswell.

I believe I can accommodate you, features will probably come when stability of the program is achieved.

Do you have a site with google ads we can troll/drool/help in any way?

Yes I have a site but not with google ads. Unfortunately the site is currently down. I will be posting updates at where I am at on a weekly bases but I am trying to keep this project as low key as possible as to not get on Flagship's radar. I fear that if Flagship Industries catches wind of what I am doing they may take precautionary measures and do things like change the Ventrilo's protocol or far worse take legal action. Saying that I would appreciate it if anyone reading this would keep this to themselves and not start posting it on the Net anywhere.

Now my site will be up at "www.sierkstech.net/ventinux". I will require you to register a login in order view anything. This is an attempt to keep it low key. You will find more information on my site, when it is up in a week or so. The website is of course also under development but by my brother is working on it so it should be up shortly.

Thank You for the support :)
and please make donations

Change of plans, the site will be at "www.ventinux.net", come join when it is up, shouldn't be to much longer.

All hail Michael Sierks!!!

Thank you for taking up such a task! I look forward to hearing more about this and trying it out for my self.

Wanted to post my solution to getting the mic to work on Ubuntu 8.10, since I had to search all over to get it to work right.

Run winecfg with:
`padsp winecfg`

then selecting OSS driver. It should show "PulseAudio Virtual OSS" as the wave in and wave out devices.

Then running vent with:
`padsp wine Ventrilo.exe`

And selecting "Use Direct Sound" for both input and output.

Then I have to run any other windows game with (for example):
`padsp wine war3.exe`

for them to play nice and both work. A bit awkward, but it gets the job done.

Vent worked fine for me in 8.04 under wine, but in 8.10 I could not get it to transmit.

At first I thought it was HAL being in control of the kb/mouse input.. but I can select a PTT key easily in ventrilo now. Pressing it does not allow transmission if I have winecfg set to using ALSA.

If winecfg is using OSS and is run via the above comment using padsp, I can get vent working.

I now installed (sudo apt-get install) 'alsa-oss' ... This has enabled me to choose 'oss' in winecfg, then run wineapps as normal.

They 'pulseaudio' device appears under oss in winecfg without running padsp before the program.

Cancel that - this only works 'sometimes' now. I have reverted to 'padsp wine '.

I get this on the console when I try to install Ventrilo 3.0.1 on wine 1.1.6 . Anyone experiencing something similar?

dan@desktop:~/vent$ WINEPREFIX=/home/dan/.wine_steam wine ventrilo-3.0.1-Windows-i386.exe
fixme:sfc:SfcIsKeyProtected ((nil), (null)) stub
fixme:advapi:RegisterEventSourceW ((null),L"MsiInstaller"): stub
fixme:advapi:ReportEventW (0xcafe4242,0x0001,0x0000,0x000003f5,(nil),0x0007,0x00000000,0x33f974,(nil)): stub
err:eventlog:ReportEventW L"=====================================================\r\nException code: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION\r\nFunction: 0x0\r\n=====================================================\r\n\r\nRegisters:\r\nEAX:00000000 EBX:76497BBF ECX:0033F9B8 EDX:00000031 ESI:0033FC40 EDI:0013F168\r\nCS:EIP:0073:00000000 "...
err:eventlog:ReportEventW L""
err:eventlog:ReportEventW L""
err:eventlog:ReportEventW L""
err:eventlog:ReportEventW L""
err:eventlog:ReportEventW L""
err:eventlog:ReportEventW L""
fixme:advapi:DeregisterEventSource (0xcafe4242) stub
dan@desktop:~/vent$

this does not occur when I install into a fresh .wine directory. The problem must be on my end with overridden .dll files or something.

Anyone have any ideas on how to make AFK checking work properly?

I'm using ventriloctrl to talk on ventrilo in X, but if I'm not talking I get sent to the AFK channel. On windows it checks for AFK based on mouse movements, but of course not in X.

I'm guessing the easiest way would be some sort of modification to ventriloctrl. Has anyone done anything in this direction?

Hello,

I have the same problem. I run on Gentoo. When I use Ventrilo, I play World of Warcraft in an other X server.

Anyone know how to tell Ventrilo that I am not AFK?

Thanks

Wine seems to lock up in Wine 1.1.5.

It doesn't respond to PTT or Voice Activation.

It also locks up when i use the "monitor" or "test" function in Setup.

Any ideas?

Wait. Erm. I meant "Ventrilo seems to lock up". My bad.

Nevermind. I had other version than Ventrilo on server. Not wine issue.

Hey, replying here so the everyone see's this pretty quick...

I rewrote the VentriloCtrl tool, grab it from here: www.calebgray.com/uploads/ventriloctrl/ventriloctrl-0.5.zip

READ THE README!!!

This version removes the Xevie support, because that was just a bad idea. (Sorry man, it was.)

Basically, I lightened it up, made sure it works without any permission hacks, optimized it a lot, and now I'm using Vent without any problems on my Gentoo box.

- Caleb Gray

I was been trying to use Ventrilo, but after I set server settings, I am still not able to connect. There is the message "MSG: Contacting server." but nothing follows. When I click on the Connect button, nothing happens, only the button changes to Disconnect, and setup button fades. No new message appears, nothing new in console...
This stuff is being dumped into console multiple times after start. I am not sure if it is the problem:
fixme:ole:CoGetClassObject CLSCTX_REMOTE_SERVER not supported
err:ole:CoGetClassObject no class object {96749377-3391-11d2-9ee3-00c04f797396} could be created for context 0x17
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {a910187f-0c7a-45ac-92cc-59edafb77b53} not registered
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {a910187f-0c7a-45ac-92cc-59edafb77b53} not registered
err:ole:create_server class {a910187f-0c7a-45ac-92cc-59edafb77b53} not registered

Please help.

files.filefront.com/msgsm32acm/;4475049;/fileinfo.html

Downloading the file from here is much easier and faster than from driverguide.com. Care to replace the original link in the HOWTO, with the one provided above ?

Thanks for the link :-)

I have hacked together an update to the original code useing xevie instead of trying to sniff key events. I couldnt get a hold of Toni "hifi" Spets as his email address no longer exists? Anyway i re-upload this thing with the changes. Read the readme and change log for info/contact public.callutheran.edu/~abarker/ventriloctrl-0.4.tar.gz sf.net project anyone?

Here is a little quote from www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/XEvIE

"XEvIE has been removed from HEAD on Wed Oct 22: cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/commit/?id=f4036f6ace5f770f0fe6a6e3dc3749051a81325a"

So it will probably break very soon.

Ok. I am still getting errors about GSM 6.10 does this have anything to do with the how-to or is it just my computer?

I have searched for this codec all over google and I am always getting corrupt files or broken links.

If the remedy for this problem is to download please give me the link of where I can download it and how do i instal it.


Thanks,
Max

Oh and I cant hear anyone talk in Vent thats a problem too.

Follow the first step in the how-to. If you have Windows already installed, you can just grab the file from C:\WINDOWS\System32\msgsm32.acm (recommended!). If you don't have Windows, you can download it from the site linked to in the how-to (free registration required). I just went through the whole process of registering to confirm that you really can get it from that site (after being bombarded with ads). If you still have a problem with the file, do a md5sum on it and check www.internetsecurityzone.com/Entities/?_msgsm32.acm to see if it's valid.

You mention that you are searching for the codec, getting corrupt/broken links, and you want download and install instructions. Make sure you re-read the how-to and follow it carefully, as it explains all of this.

I seem to be able to connect fine to the server, but I can't see any channels. I do see myself, the 'A' by my name for my admin, and also my current ping. I am also seen by people as being connected, and can be moved about to different channels, but I cannot hear anyone talking. I am also unable to transmit. I'm on Slackware 12.1 full install. I also had exactly the same problem with versions 1.1.0 and 0.9.61. I've used alien's packages from Slackware.com, and also the packages from sourceforge, I've even compiled from source.

To test if it was maybe slackware or a hardware problem, I made a virtual machine on Windows XP with Unbuntu and tried to get ventrilo working on there. I had exactly the same issue.

Could this be some kind of special configuration I need to do to get this to work? I followed the HOWTO to the letter.

Thats to do with the permissions you've given yourself on the server.

Change them in the User Editor.

Have you tried recompiling the source?

That hack is so awesome - works after such a tiny amount of effort.

That link to the wow forums about 2 sound cards is also extremely useful, it should be added to the install how to.

i have been putting a lot of effort into and cannot get the findkey script to work. I use ./findkey /dev/input/event4 which is my Logitech g-15 Keyboard, but the code just hangs and never does anything. Something I am doing Wrong?

Ventrilo will usually, but not always, hit 100% CPU usage after using it for some time. At that point, mic input ceases to work, though I can still hear others. The application itself won't quit when closed once this happens, though killing it with signal 15 or 9 does work. I'm using Wine 1.0 with an Audigy 4 on an AMD64 system. Another AMD64 system with an Audigy 2 exhibits the same problem. I've tried all variety of winecfg audio settings to no avail.
What sort of information can I supply or what sort of testing can I do to determine whether this is a Wine problem or not? Audio in other applications continues to work while Vent freaks out.

I can confirm this 100% cpu from Ventrilo issue. I am running Wine 1.1.2 and an Audigy 2 soundcard and Vent runs great (mic input and all!) for anywhere from 1 minute to an hour before it randomly spikes 100% cpu on one of my cores. I tested this with the built-in motherboard Intel audio chipset and it appears to be stable for any length of time. So this definitely goes back to the Audigy card.

Seems to be the case - switched to the onboard nvidia sound and haven't had the problem reoccur yet. It'd be good to get the nature of this bug figured out at some point.

Please report a bug on the issue so that the developers can work on a fix. Thanks in advance.

Bug #14083 filed.

Same here

I try using ventrilo with gentoo 2008 under wine.

Any settings I tried I cant select the mic in the setup section under mux. Btw. TS is running so the microphone is usable.


As soon as I choose a mixer (Audigy 4 [SB0610]) I receive this error

VoiceCommMixerStart: Invalid voice mux selection. (-1)

I tried booth alsa and oss with and without software emulation.

I am using an Audigy 4, here is my alsa / oss config

# Set this to the correct number of cards.
options snd cards_limit=1


# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1


# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-emu10k1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss

Maybe someone has a hint for me how to solve this.

Inputs work fine no problem, but the last couple of builds I've only been able to choose my on board sound as the output device.

If I install wine 0.9.91 (random older version I tried) it works no problem.

I can choose from 3 out of 3 input devices, I can only choose one of them for output. winecfg sees all the devices fine.

This model, which I believe is termed Soundblaster Audigy SE has serious issues with getting Ventrilo running. If you have this card, yank it and use your on-board audio if you have it. I had many problems with other applications while in Ubuntu.

I know that it is stated in the top that mouse binding does not work.
However, I have a Logitech G5, and am using btnx to get the extra buttons to function as whatever I want.

I set up my thumb button to be Insert on the keyboard, and when I try to set PTT on Vent to use Insert, I can use the mouse button to set it, but then when I actually try PTT, nothing happens. Since it seems like it is quite close to working, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas I could try.

Never mind, I figured out what the problem is, so if you want to use your extra mouse buttons for PTT, then you can use btnx to do so.

wine 1.0rc1

fixme:mixer:ALSA_MixerInit No master control found on Logitech USB Headset, disabling mixer
- snip -
fixme:ole:CoGetClassObject CLSCTX_REMOTE_SERVER not supported
err:ole:CoGetClassObject no class object {a910187f-0c7a-45ac-92cc-59edafb77b53} could be created for context 0x17

at which point it hangs. forever. If I try to start ventrilo again, it says "ventrilo is already running."

Experienced this problem with 9.61, not with 9.59.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

i just recently started getting this with wine 1.1.24.. all this time later

i never got it before, it suddenly started after upgrading

it only seems to happen when other programs are already using pulseaudio thru padsp (im using oss with alsa)

Those who have USB mics, multiple sound cards, etc. see this thread:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=2200220013&sid=1

The best thing to do is get a program like Audacity and test all the mic settings in there to find whether your input works at all. Once it does, you can follow the above guide accordingly.

I'm using multiple sound cards but Ventrilo does not see them. The link to WoW thread is dead. Does someone use both sound cards within wine?

Ok i've read like 100 fixes for different people, now I can hear out the headset me talking in the mic, however when I go to use VEntrillo I can't record and my team hear me. PLEASE HELP! :(

I have everything working but mic, I followed instructions. Please advise. I can't select anything in MUX in vent settings. Any advice?

Set hardware input mixer to (None). Trying to set it to use the mixer presented by Wine won't work.

only problem is if i put the rest of the PC under any larger load

like loading a game
or opening a browser (especially with flash) vent doesnt let me talk right anymore, my outbound is all garbled or doesnt work at all

i have to disconnect and reconnect to fix it

other than that regular annoyance it works fine

With the latest version of ventrilo and wine 0.9.58 Push to Talk is broken for me on Gutsy 7.10.

I can push the hotkey and it will work once if the window is selected... if I hold the hotkey for more than 1 second it locks in the "green speaker broadcasting state" although no voice is actually going out after that first second.

If I hold the hotkey for a split second it will work and broadcast voice for that split second, but then pressing the hotkey again yeilds absolutely no result. only opening and closing the setup dialogue brings me back to the state where I get the problems listed in the paragraph above.

the PTT hack/script doesn't work at all.

If you have DirectInput turned on in Vent, try turning it off.

I was having the same problem. Switching to the OSS driver and disabling the alsa driver in winecfg fixed this.

Actually I fixed it by disabling the Direct input keys, but now I have a weird problem with the mic. Either the sound is way too low or if I put the mic up to my mouth its way too loud... but i think I can fix this part myself.

No clue if this is a Wine issue or a vent issue, but fairly reliably, ventrilo will peg 100% CPU and sit there in deadlock until killed. Other apps (like WoW) continue working fine, though slower because the CPU is pegged. This usually occurs after running fine for a while. I'm using DirectSound for output, but not for input.
Anyone else having this problem?

I have this exact same problem and have been unable to solve it.

I start Ventrilo up, 2 way communication works fine until a random amount of time later when I can no longer speak but can still hear everyone fine. I notice a large drop in FPS in WoW and Ventrilo using quite a bit of CPU usage. Then I have to shut down Ventrilo, kill the process and start it back up to fix all related issues until it starts acting up again.

This behavior has happened to me in both WINE 0.9.59 and 1.0-RC1.

Possibly relevant specs:

Ubuntu 8.04
AMD Athlon 64 4000+
Sound Blaster Audigy Value
WINE 1.0-RC1

Ventrilo is installed in it's own WINE Prefix with all defaults except using ALSA with "Full" acceleration and the "Driver Emulation" box checkmarked. I'm also using some script to make PTT work but I've verified that even when not using the script the problem still occurs. I've also tried changing the audio acceleration settings and to OSS with no luck.

I should've included my system details as well.

Wine 1.0-rc1 (been happening since 0.9.46 or so, I think)

AMD64 3600+
Debian testing
Audigy2

another machine

AMD64 6400+
Debian sid
Audigy4

Hey everyone. I have the latest wine and the latest vent, I can connect to servers and hear people fine over my desktops speakers, I can not however hear them via my headset (usb) nor can I talk to them via the headset (also usb, same set).

I have PTT enabled and I can hear the "beep" when I push my key just fine, but no voice goes out. I've tried every possible variation, enablding and disabling direct sound etc. Just can't get it working. Hope someone has some advice for me, really annoying not being able to talk. Thanks all!

-todd

A lot of problems with Ventrilo can be due to your sound mixer settings. If you are using Alsa, make sure capture is enabled for the microphone in the mixer.

How do I enable capture? I'm looking through the winecfg app and can't find it.

It's not a Wine thing. It'll be the mixer for whatever sound system you are using. If you are using Linux, odds are you are using the Alsa sound system.
If you are in fact using alsa, check out alsamixer or one of the other mixer control programs for alsa.
Read the alsamixer manual and pay special attention to the capture view mode and using the space-bar to enable recording for a channel.

Thanks man, that worked. Only works with the normal line-in not my USB headset, but it still works so I won't complain. Thanks again

Happy to have helped! I was convinced my vent was busted for weeks after previously working fine and, lo and behold, I didn't have my mixer setup properly. Of course I wasted a lot of time with vent and Wine settings before looking there.

Try sending the false key event with X and actkbd. It should support multiple users/keyboards.

I removed the file io/loop from ventriloctrl.c and set my favorite key, XK_grave. It now just takes and send the key status and closes. I then saved it in /usr/bin.

Install actkbd - I used the udev.rules file to run it. Be sure to edit this file before using. For my config, I used "41:key::ventriloctrl 1&" and "41:key::ventriloctrl 0&". 41 is my grave key.

p.s. something like xdotool could also be used with actkbd. it would be even more flexible.

So, I use an unofficial third party overlay. It works fine, but can't pick up the names of passworded channels properly it seems.

Anyone gotten the "official" overlay working? The one that comes with Ventrilo? It keeps saying my video card doesn't have the required functionality.

Mine says this as well.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 9300M GS (rev a1)
nvidia_driver 177.80

Could be a driver issue.

I get errors but in the long run, everything seems to be working. I don't have a hack to make it work outside of the window, but when running other applications in Wine, those work for the push to talk hotkey.

Under voice I have all the boxes on the left checked. I use a hotkey. I use direct sound for output and the default sound device. I don't use direct sound for input and I use a USB Mixer (I have a logitec USB microphone).

The harware input mixer I use is also the USB Mixer.

Nothing seems to fail, and nobody has issues hearing me.

I'm running Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon with my "Enable Software Sound Mixing" turned off.

Installed newest Vent (3.0.1) in wine 0.9.51 with Ubuntu 7.10 and it seems to work relatively well. I use ALSA and acceleration on Full (emulation checked) and no virtual desktop.

Direct-Sound enabled for both input and ouput, direct input to detect hotkey disabled.

Push-to-talk works outside Ventrilo's window with the Ventrilo control hack. Text-to-speech doesn't work at all in Ventrilo (it can see the libraries after installing the SDK and copying DLLs, but TTS still doesn't work).

I submitted a test, and it was in queue for a while, but now I have nothing in my queue and the test isn't there, so I am left wondering what happened to it?

same with my test from 5 days ago

Hi guys.

I managed to get Vent running without any of the problems I used to have (no ALSA, no Push-to-talk). I'm positive it has something to do with the latest wine update but in case this helps you here are the settings I used. (all other combinations failed to work :) )

Wine 0.9.50

Winecfg:
-Audio:
--ALSA
--Hardware acceleration: Full
--Driver emulation: Checked

Vent:
Output device: Default DirectSound device
-Use Direct Sound: Checked

Input device: Default wave mappe
-Use Direct Sound: Not checked

Use Direct Input to detect Hotkey: Not checked

I'll send in a screen shot of both panels.

several questions.
1. What distrobution do you use?
2. Do you emulate a virtual desktop in wine. if so does it work outside the virtual desktop. if not does the hotkey work while selecting other programs.

can you post some test data above?

I run Gentoo personally.
Wine settings
Windows 2000
No desktop emulation
Window manager controls the windows
Hardware vertex shader, and pixel shaders enabled.

Audio:
ALSA audio, Acceleration set to "Emulation", 44.1kHz and 16 bits per sample. Driver Emulation disabled.

Ventrilo runs decently. It starts, can connect, and my Push to talk keys work.
Ventrilo settings:
Outgoing comms enabled
Push to talk enabled
Direct Input enabled
Hotkey is "Left Alt + Left Ctrl"
Output is Default wave mapper (no direct sound)
Input is Default DirectSound device (Direct Sound enabled)

Vent works fine when it has focus. I can switch workspaces, and start Lord of the Rings Online too. And vent works while LotRO has focus.

I also run an overlay program which also works fine. However, the inbuilt overlay won't attempt to work as "Your video card does not support hardware video overlay"

I use Ubuntu 7.10 (test data is queued since 12th dec)

I do not use a virtual desktop. Hotkey does not work when non-wine applications are selected. I does however work when other wine apps are selected (WoW 2.3 in full screen tested)

Praise be to the god of Linux!

I've tested these settings. They worked like a charm. Good luck everyone! OH AND I LOVE WINE!

I kept overlooking this part:

"Input device: Default wave mapper
-Use Direct Sound: Not checked "

Once I unchecked that box, everything worked flawlessly.

Additionally, I've been using ventriloctrl-0.5, but I found it annoying that the keys essentially bind to the "A" key when pressed. It ended up essentially giving me two PTT keys, grave (`) and "A". This can be annoying if you are used to using "wasd" for movement in WoW or other games, or if you are just typing a sentence that happens to have the letter "a" in it. To fix this I edited ventriloctrl.c at this line:

#define SIMULATEKEY XK_A // Simulate Key Press

to

#define SIMULATEKEY XK_grave // Simulate Key Press

and now I can use one key to PTT without worrying about annoying people on vent every time I have to press the "A" key.

This fixed the issue I was having, too -- that is, that pressing the PTT key (or even when using voice activation) would trigger it once, but not again until I opened/closed the setup screen. Unchecking the directsound input checkbox fixed it! Thanks!