Ventrilo - Miscellaneous Setup
Minimize to system tray (Windows only)
This option enables the program to minimize to a small icon in the System Tray (the area on the right side of the task bar, next to the clock). When in the System Tray you can also right click on the icon to get a popup menu for controlling features of the program without being forced to restore the full window. This icon will also flash when you receive a Pending Message. This option will also minimize channel windows to the system tray.
Silent blank comments
When this option is enabled it will prevent the program from generating a "Comment Event" if a User is sending a blank (or empty) comment thus clearing any previous comments next to their name.
Silent connections when in a channel
This option will prevent Ventrilo from generating sound events when other Users connect and disconnect if you are in a channel other than the lobby.
Auto expand all channels when connecting
This option instructs the program to automatically expand all channels and their associated sub-channels when connecting to the server. This is very handy because you will then be able to see all Users that are connected to the server and which channels they are in. If you turn this option off you can still expand all of the channels by right clicking on the server name in the User list window and selecting Display->Expand All.
Key Forwarding (Windows only)
Note: This option has very little use and should be left disabled unless you have a specific reason for it.
This option has no effect when a binding group is selected that has the "Use DirectInput" option in the bindings editor enabled
When you activate a group of binds via the Bindings pull down box the program intercepts those keys and prevents any other applications from using them. However, if you enable the Key Forwarding option Ventrilo will try to forward the intercepted keys on to what ever program happens to be in the foreground. In theory this is a nice feature as it will not prevent any other programs from using those keys. However, in practice it means that you potentially wind up flooding wave file and TTS messages to the other Users connected to the same server as you. This feature works with most normal applications like word processors, browsers, command windows and the like, but it doesn't work with some games. Please be considerate of other Users when turning this feature on.
Synchronous waves
This option forces all wave file messages and Text-To-Speech messages to be played one at a time. If several people are playing wave files or TTS messages at the same time it can be very hard to understand them all or the sound level might be overbearing.
Process priority class
This option should be used with care and left in the "Normal" mode unless it is deemed absolutely necessary to change it.
When set to "Normal" the program will run at the same priority level as any other program.
When set to "High" the program will boost it's priority level so that it will receive more CPU time then any other program currently running on the system. This does not mean that the program will consume more CPU time during normal use, simply that it will be granted more time should it be needed.
Apparently some systems have a hard time distributing processor load when certain games are being played, which in turn starves Ventrilo for CPU time and prevents it from performing its normal work load. This has the effect of causing delays to voice communication or sound feedback events like "key clicks" and TTS notifications.
Be warned, certain types of events can take a while to execute. For example, a very long TTS message takes a while (in CPU terms) to be generated into a machine voice. If you have this option set to high then it's possible that Ventrilo will momentarily starve the rest of the system for CPU time while it's generating the TTS sounds. The longer the TTS message the more time it takes to generate.
You should also consider the quality of your sound card drivers. The sound input devices don't work very well on some of the older sound cards or on-board sound systems. This in turn will cause Ventrilo to receive more sound input data than it should be which usually causes the program to generate a message because it has detected the sound input data coming in too fast. However, it's a good idea to enable the "Use DirectSound for Input Device" option as it tends to resolve a lot of these problems. But the point to this is that if your system is not behaving properly then setting this option to high could cause your computer to become unresponsive.
Play comments when
This option controls when comments sent by other Users should be played as a sound event. If you are having problems with Users spamming comments but do not wish to password protect your server or enable the spam filters in the Server Properties window, you can place a password on a specific channel and then set this option to either the Same Root or Same Current channel selections.
In any channel
This is the default mode and will allow User comments to be played no matter what channel you and they are in.
Same root channel
Comments will only be played if you and the User sending the comment are in the same root channel or in sub-channels of the same root channel .
Same current channel
Comments will only be played if you and the User sending the comment are in the same channel.
Never
Comments will never be played.
Rank lead string
When you have the "View > Rank" option enabled this leading string will be displayed before the rank abbreviation. By default it will be displayed as: [Rank]
Rank trail string
When you have the "View > Rank" option enabled this trailing string will be displayed after the rank abbreviation. By default it will be displayed as: [Rank]
Private Chat
Log messages
This option will force all messages sent via the Private Chat window to be logged. To find these log files right click on the main Ventrilo window, select View and then select Working Directory. The file explorer window that opens will have a folder labeled "ChatLogs" with sub-folders for your different User Names and sub-sub-folders for each different server.
Double spacing
This option will cause the Private Chat window to introduce an extra line spacing when the sender of the most recent message is different from the previous sender. This makes reading the conversation easier.
Flash taskbar (icon bounce on Macintosh dock)
This option will flash the Taskbar icon for any Private Chat window that is not your currently focused window. Macintosh OSX will bounce the Ventrilo icon.
Timestamp
This option will display a timestamp in front of the each message displayed in the Private Chat windows.
Reload log history
This option will attempt to reload past chat history for the private chat windows, but only if the "Log messages" option was enabled during previous chat sessions with individual Users.
Reload limit
This option controls how many lines of chat history are loaded into the scrolling chat window if the "Reload log history" option is enabled. A value of 0 means to reload the entire history. Please note that the default value of 1000 is recommended. If you have a very long chat history it can take quite a while to reload the history and limiting it to 1000 will speed up this process. If you want to view the entire chat history you can right click in the scrolling chat window and select the menu option called "View Log File..."
Global chat
Log messages
This Option will force all messages sent via the Global Chat window to be logged. To find these log files right click on the main Ventrilo window, select View and then select Working Directory. The file explorer window that opens will have a folder labeled "ChatLogs" with sub-folders for your different User Names and sub-sub-folders for each different server.
Flash taskbar (icon bounce on Macintosh dock)
This option will flash the Taskbar icon for the Global Chat window if it is not your currently focused window. Macintosh OSX will bounce the Ventrilo icon.
Reload log history
This option will attempt to reload past chat history for the global chat window, but only if the "Log messages" option was enabled during previous chat sessions.
Reload limit
This option controls how many lines of chat history are loaded into the scrolling chat window if the "Reload log history" option is enabled. A value of 0 means to reload the entire history. Please note that the default value of 1000 is recommended. If you have a very long chat history it can take quite a while to reload the history and limiting it to 1000 will speed up this process. If you want to view the entire chat history you can right click in the scrolling chat window and select the menu option called "View Log File..."