Ventrilo - Main

Select the section of the main window you would like help for:

Pulldown windows and their associated edit buttons

Main function buttons (or their equivalent toolbar buttons)

General usage

Popup menu options

View
User
Miscellaneous
Change State
Display
Integration

Server Admin
Channel Admin
Move User To

"?" Status indicators

Custom Device Support

Overriding the default icons


Pulldown windows and their associated edit buttons:

User Name

Before you can use Ventrilo you must first create a user logon name. This name will be used when you log in to any Ventrilo servers and will be the name displayed to all the other users connected to the same server. All other settings, i.e. servers - binds - setup info, is associated with a specific user name.

Server

A user can define any number of servers that they can connect to, but only one server would be active at any given time. This list box displays the human readable name that the user assigns to an IP address or Hostname when defining a server.

Bindings

This option displays the list of key binding groups that the user has created. By default the program will display the (None) binding indicating that no key bindings are currently active.


Main function buttons (or their equivalent toolbar buttons)

Connect

This button will instruct the program to connect to the specified server in the Server pull down box. If auto-reconnect is enabled in the Setup-Network settings dialog, and a previously good connection to a server had already been established, then this button will display a countdown in seconds (along with the word Stop) of when the program will attempt to automatically reconnect to the server. If the program is counting down and you want to abort the auto reconnect simply click on this button again (now displaying the word Stop and the countdown seconds remaining).

Comment

Once you are connected to a server pressing this button will allow for entering a comment string that will be sent to all of the other users on the same server. This comment will be displayed next to your name in parenthesis. If you or any other users have the Text-To-Speech feature enabled and have the sound events options for Comments set to TTS, then when you or someone else enters a comment it will be spoken in Text-To-Speech form.

Chat

This button will activate a chat window that is very similar to IRC (Internet Relay Chat). The chat window has a hide button which will hide the chat window from view and remove it from your task bar. However, it will remain active and continue to receive information. If the chat window is hidden then pressing the Chat button again will make it visible. When someone has an active chat window open you will see a "C" in front of their name.

Setup

This button will activate the setup options for the currently selected user.

Note: If you are connected to a server and have outgoing voice comm enabled, pressing this button will disable your microphone from communicating with the rest of the users. However, you will continue to receive and hear voice streams from the other users. The microphone will be enabled for normal use once you close setup dialog box.

About

The About button will display the Ventrilo Version number, Copyright, Author and URL information for the program. It also contains buttons for quick access to the main Ventrilo.com web site.

Close

The close button will disconnect the program from any active server and instruct the program to exit the system.

Help

The help button activates this help page.

Mute Sound

The mute sound check box will mute all sound being generated by the program. This includes incoming voice comm traffic, text-to-speech messages, wave file messages, comments and most other sound generating events. There are several events which intentionally ignore the mute sound setting. These include connecting and disconnecting from the server because the user would consider those notifications to be very important. There is a function in the key bindings setup dialog box that allows for toggling the mute features.

Mute Microphone/Binds

The mute microphone check box will prevent your microphone from transmitting any sound. The program will continue to monitor the microphone but it will not transmit any sounds that it picks up. There is a function in the key bindings setup dialog box that allows for toggling the mute features.

When checked, this option will also prevent any wave file binds or Text-to-speech binds from being sent out to the rest of the users.

 


General usage

Figure 1 displays an example of what the program looks like when connected to a server.

The first entry in the active users window is always the name of the server and any comments that the administrator has assigned to it.

The speaker icon indicates that an item is a user and the color green indicates that he is transmitting.

The blue and red cross icon's indicates public and private channels. If you double click on a channel name the server will move you into that channel and you will only hear sounds being generated by other users in the same channel. Likewise, the only people that will hear you are those that are in the same channel. In order to return to the lobby simply double click the server name. You can also bind keys to switch channels at any time. See the bindings setup page for more details on switching channels binds.

Double clicking on another users name will move you into the same channel they are in.

Figure 1

Beginning with version 2.3.0, the client introduced a better user administration feature that uses standard drag and drop techniques.

Server admin's can grab any user and drag them to any channel or back out to the lobby. This also means that you can drag them to a password protected channel so that you can communicate with them without giving them the password.

Channel admin's can grab any user that resides within a channel for which they have channel admin rights and move them to any other channel for which they have admin rights. This includes all sub-channels. For example, you might have a channel that has two sub channels but you have admin rights to the root channel. The two sub-channels might be password protected as well. If the user manually joins the root level channel then you, as the channel admin, could then drag him into any of the sub-channels, including the password protected channels, thus allowing the user to communicate with others in the passworded channels but without giving the user the channel password. Note: Channel admin's can move users out to the lobby but they cannot drag a user from the lobby into a channel. Only a server admin can do that.

The Server Properties has an option to select how the channels are ordered. If the option is set to "Manual" then a server admin or channel admin can drag a channel up and down and drop it on a parallel channel to change the display order of the channels. If a server admin grabs a root channel that contains sub-channels and users within those channels then all sub-channels and users will be moved as well.


Popup menu options

Figure 2 displays the pop up menu that is created when you right click in the main window. The options above the divider line are meant for all users, while the options below the divider are meant for server and channel administrators.

The menus are context sensitive and some options will be grayed out depending on what you have clicked on, whether it be the server name, a channel name, a user name or possibly outside of the user list window entirely (which is supported as of version 2.3.0).

Figure 2

 

View

Working directory

This option will open a new "Windows Explorer" window and will display the contents of the working directory for the currently selected User Name. This is a very easy and convenient way to locate the directories for wave files binds, stream recording files, the Icon override directory and other items that pertain to the configuration of the program.

Log file

This option will open the current state of the program log file by starting a copy of the system notepad program. Please note that each entry in the log file is time stamped and that you will need to scroll to the end of the log file in order to find the most recent event warnings or errors.

Server browser

This option will open the built-in server browser window. If the window is already open but is obscured by other windows you can select this option again to bring it to the foreground.

Record / Playback

This option will open the recording and playback window which is used for recording voice conversations and playing back recordings of prior conversations. If the window is already open but is obscured by other windows you can select this option again to bring it to the foreground.

Error message list

This option will open the applications Error message list window. It will contain a running list of errors that have been generated since you started the program or cleared any outstanding items.

Voice Targets

This option will open the Voice Targets window.

Commanding Targets

This option will open the Commanding Targets window.

Equalizer - Outbound

This option will open the Outbound Equalizer window. This is very useful when you are streaming music and would like to tailor the sound depending on the source material or to help offset sound loss caused by codecs.

User Options

This option will open a free floating window that can be used to mute, kick, ban and select image files for the currently selected user in the main window. Clicking on a different user in the main window will change what is being edited in the User Options window.

Toolbar mode

This option will toggle the program between Toolbar mode and Default mode. Default mode is what the window looks like when you install it for the first time where you have the large buttons down the right hand side of the window. Toolbar mode removes these large buttons and displays a new iconic toolbar up by the XMIT and PING indicators. Toolbar mode is very useful for maximizing window space horizontally.

Extended mode

This option will toggle between Extended Mode and Default mode. Default mode is what the window looks like when you install it for the first time where you have the 3 pulldown windows and the associated edit buttons at the top. Extended mode removes these pulldown windows and edit buttons completely and moves the XMIT / PING indicators to the top of the window thus vertically maximizing the window real estate space.

Grid lines

This option will toggle the grid lines in the user display window on and off. These grid lines are what you would normally see in the Windows Explorer when viewing the contents of your hard drive, where directories are nested under other directories and there are little dotted lines showing the parent / child relationship.

Title bar

This option will toggle the Title bar on and off. When the Title bar is turned off it further extends the useable space of the window. Please note that you can still move the window around the screen while the title bar is turned off by left clicking in any open space of the window that doesn't have any purpose. Clicking in the XMIT / PING area is the most logical place to grab the window if you wish to drag it around.

Border

This option will toggle the window sizing border on and off, but its only valid when the Title bar is turned off. Turning off the sizing border will prevent you from resizing the window and will give the program window a "flat" look and feel, as if the window was part of some other application. Note: You can still move the window around but you cannot resize it.

Rank

This option will toggle the display of individual users rank abbreviations on and off.

Bold channel names

This option will toggle bold font mode for channel names on and off.

Integration text

This option will toggle on/off the display of Integration messages next to user names on and off.  This can be info such as track number, song title artist, media player, etc.

Manually position Overlay...

This option will allow you to manually reposition the location of the Overlay using your mouse. Once in this mode simply press the left mouse button to finalize the new location.

User

Mute

Right clicking on a users name lets you enable or disable muting of that specific user. You will continue to receive the sound events generated by the user but Ventrilo will not play them. When a user is muted an "M" will appear in front of their name.

Send Page

When clicked on a user name it will send a "Page" to the selected user. As of version 2.2.0 this will produce a TTS message on the target clients computer to say "Page from X" where X is the name of the person sending the page.

If the target user does not want to be paged or is in a channel that has paging disabled an error will popup telling you that the selected user can not be paged.

Private Chat

Right clicking on a users name will let you open a private chat session window with that user as long as your account has access rights to do so. You will be able to have a private text or voice chat with the selected user.

Lodge complaint about

Right clicking on a users name will open a new window where you can enter a complaint about the user. The complaint will only be visible by those users who have been given access rights to receive complaints. This option is available only if you have been given access rights to send complaint messages.

Miscellaneous

Special effects

This option will open the Special Effects setup window which allows you to apply special sound effects such as reverb or echo to the selected item in the user list window. You can also perform more advanced tasks such as adjusting the volume for the item or applying 3D surround sound directional properties to the item to create a more immersive and vibrant communication experience.

Special effects are unique and persistent to the item you selected when this option was activated. This applies to users, channels and the server name. You can also apply global special effects to the User Name account by clicking the SFX button in the Setup-Voice window.

Add / Remove phantom

This option will either add a phantom user to the selected channel or remove an existing phantom. Phantoms allow you to listen in on other channels while you are currently in a different channel. A phantom user will show up with your logon name but a "P" will be in front of it denoting it as a phantom to you and all the other users connected to the server. Phantoms are persistent and will be restored when you reconnect to the same server. Note: Each phantom will consume a connection slot on the server.

Copy channel path

When selecting a channel name the program will copy the correct syntax for making reference to the given channel. This is important when clicking on sub channels as the formatting will look like the following:

Channel/Sub-channel/another-sub-channel

Note: This is left over from version 2.2. Starting with version 2.3 the binds editor has helper buttons for selecting specific channels making this option obsolete.

Clear channel passwords

This option will erase all channel passwords that have been remembered for the current server.

Copy comment

When right-clicking on a user name it will copy the users current comment to the system clipboard.

Copy comment URL

When right-clicking on a user name it will copy the URL portion of the users comment (shown as U: in comment field) to the system clipboard.

GUI Ignore keys

When using Push-To-Talk mode and a regular letter or number key for the PTT trigger, the main window will generate bell sounds. This is normal operation for a GUI window that does not understand what to do with the key. It's best to use a modifier key like Control or Shift, but when that's not possible you can enable this feature to help prevent the bell sounds from occurring.

Note: This feature only applies to the main Ventrilo window at the current time. When enabled it also means your standard navigation keys like Tab and arrows will no longer function inside this window. Thus, it should be used sparingly and only if you understand the side effects.

Change state

Accept pages

Allows you to dynamically toggle the option of accepting pages vs. your default setting as specified in the connection editor for the current server.

Accept User-to-user communications

Allows you to dynamically toggle whether or not another user can transmit directly to you using the User-To-User transmit mode. The default for this option is specified in your connection editor for each server.

Accept Private Chat sessions

Allows you to dynamically toggle whether or not another user can initiate a private chat session with you. The default for this option is specified in your connection editor for each server.

Allow others to record my conversation

Determines if anyone is allowed to record your conversation. The default for this option is specified in your connection editor for each server.

Starting with version 2.3.0, recording and playback of conversations is now supported.

Display

Expand

When clicked on a channel, it will expand that one channel to what is currently underneath it. It does not expand all sub-channels.

Expand All

When clicked on a channel, it will expand that one channel and all of it's nested sub-channels.

When clicked on the server, or an open space it will expand all channels and their nested sub-channels.

Collapse

When clicked on a channel, it will collapse that single channel and all of it's sub-channels.

Collapse All

Can be clicked anywhere and all channels and associated sub-channels will be collapsed.

Integration

This feature enables or disables integration with one of the selected media player programs listed in the menu. The currently supported players are as follows:

iTunes
WinAmp
Windows Media Player

When enabled the Ventrilo client will periodically poll the specified application for details about what it is currently playing: song, artist, track, etc. This information will be sent out to all of the other users on the server to see and it will be displayed in quotes after the transmitting users name and after their comment if there is one.

Only one application can be selected at any given time. Please note that this feature does not transmit the sound from your media player program. It only intercepts the details about the song. If you want to broadcast the sound as well then you will need a sound card that supports line input options like "What you hear" or "Stereo Mix". It is beyond the scope of this document to explain how that it is done.

Caution: Interaction between the Ventrilo client and media player can be a little unusual at times. See the following caveats. None of these quirks are serious, but you should be aware of them.

Windows Media Player

You should always start your WMP program before you enable this integration option. otherwise it may get confused about who is actually the owner.

If you close your WMP program then you will also need to deselect this integration option for the music from your player to actually stop and close. Otherwise, the WMP components will remain in the background and continue playing because another application is attached to it.

iTunes

Similar to the Windows Media Player problems, but in this case you should deselect this integration option before you close the iTunes main window. If you try to close the iTunes main window first it will wait about 10 seconds before it responds to your close window request and will complain about another application being attached to its scripting interface.

Server Admin

Login / Logout

This option will open a window in which you can enter the administrator password for the server. If the server accepts the password the "A" indicator will show up on the server name at the top of the list indicating that you are now a server administrator. If the server rejects the password then a popup message will be displayed.

If you are currently logged in as a server admin then this option will be displayed as "Logout" and can be used for removing server admin rights for your current connection.

Changes in version 3.0 and above:

Login in as server admin with this option does not give you full server admin rights like older versions of the software did. You will need to create a unique login account, assign it server admin and any other admin rights you think it should have to take full advantage of the more advanced and possibly dangerous admin features.

Each time you provide an invalid server admin password you will be kicked from the server. You will be allowed 3 tries before the server adds you to a timed ban list. Each time you waste your 3 attempts the amount of time you are banned will be increased. All attempts at using the server admin password are logged.

Ban list

This option will open a new window which will display a list of currently banned users from the entire server. It will also allow you to add new bans and delete existing ones.

MOTD

This option can be selected by anyone with an account on this server. If you are not a server admin it will display the last known ‘Message of the Day’ when you connected to the server, in case you need to see it again but don't want to disconnect and then reconnect.

If you are logged in as a server admin it will allow you to edit the Message of the Day and send it back to the server so that when a client connects it will display the new message.

Guest MOTD

Similar to the regular MOTD menu option but it will display or edit the Guest version of the MOTD instead.

The Guest MOTD is only sent to those users who do not have an account created on this server. It is always displayed at login as well, unlike the regular MOTD which is only displayed if it changes or if the Server Properties has dictated to always be displayed.

User Editor

This will open the User Editor window that allows you to create, edit and delete login accounts names. The USR file is where account names and access rights are stored. If you are not a server admin and do not have the “Add users” right then you will see your own access rights when you select this menu option.

RCon

This option will open the dedicated Remote Console window for issuing text commands to the server.

Server Properties

This option will open the Server Properties window which is used for modifying the persistent configuration options that define how the server should function.

Complaint list

This option will open the complaint list reception window if you are allowed to receive complaint messages.

Rank list

This option will open the Rank list window. If you are a server admin it will allow you to edit the ranks, otherwise it will only display all of the currently available ranks.

Kick

Right clicking on a user and choosing the kick option will open a window where you can enter a reason for kicking the user off of the server. If you then press the OK button it will send the request to the server which will then disconnect that user. This information is logged by the server and includes details including: The user who was kicked, who kicked them, the reason why if one is provided.

Kick all Guests

Similar to the Kick menu option, but instead of being performed on the selected user, it will kick all clients that are currently logged in with the Guest account. This is denoted by their comments always starting with the word GUEST:

Ban

The ban option is similar to the kick option except that the users IP address will be recorded in a ban file for future reference if the server is restarted. Once in the ban list that IP address will not be allowed to connect to the server.

Globally Mute

Globally mute or un-mute the selected user. When globally muted a user will have a "G" next to their name and they will not be able to transmit any voice, TTS binds, Wave file binds, change their comment or send any Chat messages. This can be useful for when you don't need to kick the user off of the server but don't want them to interrupt anything else.

Channel Admin

Create

When right clicked on the server name in the user list window the program will create a root channel. Although, only Server Admin's can create root channels.

When right clicked on a channel the program will create a sub-channel inside of it. Server Admin's can do this by default in any channel and Channel Admin's can do this for any channel for which they have been given admin rights.

The option will open a new dialog box where you can enter the new channels Display name, phonetic pronunciation name, channel password and more. If you do not give it a channel password then the channel is available to anyone unless one of the parent channels has a password on it. Sub-channels of a password protected channel inherit the password of the parent until it reaches the lobby. Thus, if no parent channels have passwords then the new channel will be available to everyone.

Delete

When right clicked on a channel it will delete the selected channel and all of the sub-channels if any exist. Any users in the selected channel or sub-channels will be automatically moved to the lobby.

Edit

When right clicked on a channel it will allow you to selectively change specific portions of a channels details. All changes take effect immediately and all clients are informed about the changes.

Info

When right clicked on a channel it will open a new window and display the current configuration settings for the selected channel, but you will not be able to change any of them. This option can be selected by anyone even though it appears in the Channel Admin sub-menu.

Ban list

When right clicked on a channel it will display the current list of IP addresses that have been banned from the root level channel. Only root level channel admin's can view or edit channel ban lists.

Kick

When right clicked on a user, and you have channel admin rights for the channel the selected user is in, then that user will be kicked out to the Lobby.

Ban add

When right clicked on a user, and you have channel admin rights for the channel the selected user is in, it will open a new window asking for the reason to ban the user, at which point the users IP address will be added to the channel ban list. It will also kick the user out to the Lobby.

This option is only available to a root level channel admin. If you are a sub-channel admin then you will not be able to use this feature.

Mute

When clicked on a user, it will either mute or un-mute the selected user while they are in their current channel. Useful for when a channel is configured for "Muted" mode and a channel admin wants to un-mute them so that they can talk. Can also be used to silence annoying  people while they are in a normal channel.

If a user is channel muted an "N" will appear next their name.

Move User To

When right clicked on a user name, this menu option will let you chose which channel to move the user to.

It will only display those channels that you have admin rights to and only if you have admin rights to the channel the user is currently in. If you have Server Admin rights then it will display all channels.

Note: This was removed in version 2.3 but due to popular demand it has been added back in, but will be more specific about what channels are displayed depending on your access rights.

You should also consider using Drag-and-drop. With version 3.0 the list will auto scroll up and down if you move past the top or bottom of the window.


"?" Status indicators

When connected to a server some of the items in the user list window will have special status indicators in front of their names and surrounded by double quotes. The following is a list of what each of those status codes mean.

A

When displayed in front of the server name it means you have server admin rights. When displayed in front of a channel it means you have admin rights for the specified channel and all of its sub-channels.

C

The specified user has opened their chat window.

N

The user is channel muted. The state might change depending on how the channel is configured.

G

The user is globally muted and will not be bothering anyone on the server.

M

The user is locally muted by you only and nothing he says or does will be played on your local system.

T

The user has sent a Text-To-Speech (TTS) bind message and it is currently playing. When the message is complete the indicator will be removed.

W

The user has sent a Wave file bind message and it is currently playing. When the wave file completes the indicator will be removed.

S

A Special Effect has been applied to the specified item. This can be on a server, a channel or individual users.

P

The user is a Phantom of a user that has the same name.


Device Support

The Ventrilo client has built in support for special hardware devices such as keyboards and headphones that provide non-standard features that you would not normally find on similar products. The following links will direct you to Ventrilo specific help and features for the listed items.

Keyboards:

Logitech G15 - Monochrome (Gamepanel and soft buttons)

Also applies to G13 keypad and Z-10 speakers.

Logitech G19 - Color (Gamepanel and soft buttons)

Headsets:

Logitech G35 (Soft buttons)

Overlay:

Enabling and configuration of overlay

Using overlay


Overriding the default icons:

You can override the default icons that are displayed in the active users window. You can also override the toolbar icons as well. In order to override the icons you must abide by the following rules.

1) The icon must be 16x16 and no higher than 256 colors.

2) The icons files themselves must be in the default working directory. If you have overridden the WorkDir when you created your User Name then that working directory will not work. We strongly recommend that you not override the User Name WorkDir anyway as this feature will be removed in future versions.

3) The program must be restarted for the override icon files to take effect.

To locate the default working directory all you need to do is start the program, right click in the window, select View and then select the Working Directory option. This will open the Windows Explorer window and will take you directly to the correct location on your hard drive. In this window you will see a folder named "icons". Double click it as that is where you will need to place the override icon files. If you plan on experimenting its best just to leave the Windows Explorer window open while you make changes and start / stop the program.

If you do not provide the following filename(s) then the program will use the default copy of the icon. This way you chose which icons to override.

This table is for the icons that appear in the User List window.

File name

Purpose

server.ico

The server icon at the top of the user list window when connected

channel.ico

Non password protected channel that has not been expanded (Closed)

voiceoff.ico

User icon who is not transmitting

voiceon.ico

User icon who IS transmitting and you are receiving the stream.

chanpass.ico

Password protected channel that has not been expanded (Closed)

channelopen.ico

Non password protected channel that has been expanded (Open)

chanpassopen.ico

Password protected channel that has been expanded (Open)

chanauth.ico

User authorization mode channel has not been expanded (Closed)

chanauthopen.ico

User authorization mode channel is expanded (Open)

voicebegin.ico

User is transmitting but you are not receiving the stream.

voicechan.ico

User is transmitting and you are receiving the stream because they are using cross channel communication

voiceu2u.ico

User is transmitting and you are receiving the stream because they are using U2U directly to you.

voicegroup.ico

User is transmitting to a Voice Target group of which you are a member.

voicep2p.ico

User is transmitting directly to you using Private Chat window.

netstatus.ico

Net status icon displayed before connecting to server.

This table is for the main toolbar.

File name

Purpose

mtbconnect.ico

Connect to server

mtbdisconnect.ico

Disconnect from server

mtbrecon1.ico

Part 1 of animated reconnect button

mtbrecon2.ico

Part 2 of animated reconnect button

mtbrecon3.ico

Part 3 of animated reconnect button

mtbrecon4.ico

Part 4 of animated reconnect button

mtbcomment.ico

Send a comment to the server

mtbchat.ico

Open the Chat window

mtbsetup.ico

Open the Setup window

mtbabout.ico

Open the About window

mtbclose.ico

Close the program

mtbhelp.ico

Open the main windows Help page

mtbextenddown.ico

Disable extended mode

mtbextendup.ico

Enable extended mode