Verison 3.0.0
General:
Added support for automatic scrolling when dragging a user or channel around.
Modified “Is window visible” test so that it doesn’t think the position is invalid if the window coordinates are negative. This is a valid value in multi monitor configurations if the primary screen is to the right of the secondary screen.
Added Error Message List window. Keeps a running log of errors and warning messages that the program is generating. Allows for more detailed explanations as well.
Server Editor: Added new option called “Show login name in remote status requests”. See Server Properties “Require remote status Show login name” option.
Server name is always the first visible item in the list after connecting, if no default channel is defined locally or on your account.
Modified so that the first visible item in the main window doesn’t change when a person joins / leaves the server or if a person joins / leaves a channel above the one you are currently looking at.
A new login account now defaults to PTT mode and the Hotkey defaults to Left Control. Since most people use PTT anyway this made more sense.
Modified comment button to give the user two different fields, a text comment and a URL comment. If a URL comment is entered it causes the clients to display a U: in the braced comment field next to the user’s name. This is very beneficial for those users who feel the need to send URL’s and uncheck the “Send silently” option. Note: The URL comment does not show up in remote status requests nor is it pronounced via TTS.
Comments are auto restored after an automatic reconnect occurs.
An existing comment will be displayed in the comment editor window.
All (X) close window buttons are now properly handled. In the case of the Setup window clicking the (X) is the same thing as clicking the OK button.
Rcon window now uses a little bit of color to make the info easier to read.
User-2-user, cross channel, etc limits have been increased from 4 to a maximum of 16. Voice Targets should be used as a better solution and globally configurable. See below.
Modified all password entry fields to use Bullets instead of Asterisks.
Login names now support every character except those below Space and a few select characters. This will enable European names that use characters above the standard ASCII 127.
Fixed client crash if you start a drag operation and the source item moves from its last known location.
Fixed auto-restore from systray on disconnect not removing the systray icon.
TTS will now attempt to filter out URL’s.
Sound:
Modified sound system to remove 99% of clicks at the start and stop of a voice stream. Carry over from 2.3.2.Beta.3
Modified sound system to be less aggressive when detecting “wave headers coming in too fast”.
Changes made in Setup or any of the SFX windows are applied immediately after pressing the OK button to any current voice streams. No longer need to Check/Uncheck “Mute Sound”.
New and (and some existing) default sound event wave files have been updated and are more pleasing to the ear. Thanks to TJ Powell Publishing (
www.tjpowell.com)
Added option in Binds editor to mute all inbound streams to your self while you are transmitting. Affects your local client only. (See Binds below)
Added option in Binds editor to mute anyone else that is transmitting while you are transmitting. Affects other clients who are receiving your voice stream. (See Binds below)
Modified the Speex codec to solve problems with certain people creating some obnoxious noises when they laughed or coughed into the Microphone. Carry over form 2.3.2.Beta.3. NOTE: You should set outbound amplifiers to 0 and use mixer/mux/line.
Added equalizer window for adjusting sound quality when transmitting.
Visual:
Modified most of the windows so that any inner control windows cover the entire width of the outer frame window. There are a few exceptions like the Error List window where text appears above the list so that computer novices are presented with info about how to use the window.
Connected users are sorted in each channel according to their type. Accounts then Guests then Phantoms.
Menu:
Reordered some of the menu items so that they break down according to User or general use with a separator between them. Makes the menus easier to understand.
Modified Popup menu to be more informative about things such as a window already being open or a mute state set by properly applying a check mark to the specific menu item.
Added “Move User To”. Back from the dead. Also modified to display only valid target channels depending on your access rights.
Moved User->Copy Comment to Miscellaneous menu. This way you can copy the comment of a user or a channel. Carry over from 2.3.2.Beta.3
Added View -> Error Message List
Added View -> Voice Targets
Added View -> Commanding Targets.
Added View -> Equalizer – Outbound
Added View -> Rank
Added View -> Bold channel names
Added User -> Private Chat
Added User -> Lodge Complaint About
Added Miscellaneous -> Copy Comment URL
Added Miscellaneous -> GUI Ignore Keys
Added Change State -> Accept Private Chat sessions
Added Integration -> iTunes
Added Integration -> WinAmp
Added Integration -> Windows Media Player
Added Server Admin -> Guest MOTD
Added Server Admin -> Complaint List
Added Server Admin -> Rank List
Added Server Admin -> Kick All Guests
Removed Channel Admin -> Login / Logout. (See UAR)
Modified Channel Admin -> Delete (Confirms that you really want to delete)
Added “Rent a server” to bottom of menu.
Record / Playback:
Fixed so that it doesn’t consume lots of time if an individual sample is very long.
The “Mute sound” on the main window will now mute sound being played back.
Logitech Game Panel:
Added support for Logitech Game Panel (aka the G15 keyboard). Carry over from 2.3.2.Beta.3
Modified the 4 th soft button to toggle the name of the person who sent the message on and off.
Modified the first three lines on page 1 to use two character abbreviations. Ch: Rv: and Ev: so as to have more display space.
Modified so that when a user stops transmitting their name will continue to be displayed on the “Rv:” line for a few more seconds but with a * added in front of their name.
Comments and Integration messages will appear on the “Ev:” line and in the Events page.
If more then one copy of Ventrilo is running and both are using the Game Panel then both will be displayed simultaneously but their names will show up as Ventrilo-1, Ventrilo-2, etc.
Setup-Voice:
Modified control panel buttons to work properly on Vista. Note: These buttons still do not work properly on 64Bit XP, 64Bit Win2003 and 64Bit Vista. In these cases you will need to open the control panels manually.
Modified the Amplifier Outbound slider to pop a message once if a Mixer/Mux/Line is not selected. This is the cause of so many bad sounding people. Use the Line Volume first and the Outbound Amplifier as a last resort as the documentation says.
Modified the Hotkey to support multiple key combinations.
Setup-Events:
Redesigned for easier use and expansion.
Added Private Chat Open event
Added Private Chat Message event
Added All Wave button
Added All TTS button
Added All Nothing button
Added Play button and pre-programmed examples for TTS events.
Setup-Speech:
Added Speech filter
Added Phonetic filter
Setup-Overlay:
This tab is new with version 3.0. It controls whether or not the hardware overlay system will be used and how it is configured. See Overlay below.
Server Properties:
Removed the following items. They have been moved to User Access Rights.
Duplicate IP’s
Reserved Slots
Default Channel
Restrict phantom.users to USR file
Added the following items.
Guest logins:
Max guest logins
Auto kick after (X) minutes
Auto ban for (X) minutes
Require remote status “Show login name”
User Access Rights (UAR):
This by far is the most advanced and far reaching feature of version 3.0. The following items are available in the new user editor. For more detailed explanations how these features work please click the help button from the User Editor window.
You can also visit the following page for more details about suggested configuration options.
http://www.ventrilo.com/uar.php
Only a server admin can assign any of the “Admin tab” rights.
User Editor properties include the following:
Profiles:
Profiles allow you create custom configurations that you might want to assign to people on a regular basis. You can use the two pre-defined profiles (one for the average user and one for a low powered admin) or you can create your own and save them to a file so that they will show up in your Profiles menu the next time you add or edit a user account.
Info:
Login name
Password
Owner
Rank
Notes
Network:
Account is locked
Reason locked
In reserved list
Receive broadcast streams
Add phantoms
Record
Ignore inactivity timers
Send complaints
Receive complaints
Duplicate IP’s
Switch channels
Default channel
Transmit:
Broadcast
Broadcast to lobby
Broadcast User-to-user
Broadcast Cross Channel
Send TTS binds
Send Wave File binds
Send Pages
Set Phonetic Name
Send Comments / Integration
Generate Comment Sounds
Event Sounds Conn / Disc, Join / Leave
Mute Globally at Login
Mute others while talking (PTT Advanced)
Use Global Chat
Initiate Private Chat
User Equalizer – Outbound
Display:
See Guest Accounts (Caution)
See non-Guest Accounts (Caution)
See MOTD
See server comment
See channels
See channel comments
See user comments
Admin:
Server Admin
Add users
Delete users
Ban users
Kick users
Move users
Assign / Edit channel Admin / Auth
Assign rank
Edit Ranks
Edit MOTD
Edit Guest MOTD
Issue RCon commands
Edit Voice Targets
Edit Commanding Targets
Assign reserved
Chan Admin:
User accounts are now assigned channel admin rights for specific channels. This eliminates the chance of a global channel admin password from being leaked.
Chan Auth:
User account can be assigned the right to enter specific channels that have been configured for “User Authorization” mode.
Channels:
Channel features have also been greatly enhanced. The following items have been removed or changed:
Channel Admin
Check box in front of Channel password
Phantom mode (Replaced by Allow Phantoms)
Restrict transmitting to USR file entries (Replaced by Disable Guest account transmitting)
Added the following items:
Allow Phantoms
Allow Guest Accounts to Join
Allow Voice Targets
Allow Commanding Targets
Exempt from Inactivity Timers
Disable Guest Account Transmitting
Protected Mode
Channel specific codec (See below)
Transmit Rank Level
Fixed the Max Clients bug if a value greater then 50 is specified.
Private Chat:
This is a new feature for version 3.0. It’s like the global chat window but between two individuals only.
Also supports a Push-To-Talk button inside the window it self when held down will act just like a physical PTT button but using the GUI instead. The voice stream is sent only to the person the session is attached to and no one else, provided that Voice Activation is not used.
Also displays an XMIT and RECV when a voice stream is active.
NOTE: Not supported on Public version of the server.
Chat:
Modified to display clickable URL links.
Modified so that text auto wraps instead of using horizontal scroll bars.
Message length extended to 256 characters.
Added Timestamp option.
Displays color for system messages and user names. (Carryover from 2.3.2.Beta.3)
MOTD:
Modified to display clickable URL links.
Fixed bug in RTF messages.
Same applies to Guest MOTD.
Guest MOTD:
New for version 3.0. Similar to the MOTD but is sent only to guest accounts. Guest accounts do not see the regular MOTD.
Can not be turned off like regular MOTD.
Complaints:
This is a new feature for version 3.0. It allows you to send a complaint about another user currently logged into the server. User accounts who have been authorized to receive complaint messages can then review the complaints.
This feature was added for those occasions when technical solutions do not provide the best desired way for stopping bad behavior. See UAR.
If you are allowed to send complaints you can send a complaint about yourself requesting that an admin make changes to your account. Assuming that an admin with correct privileges will review your complaint.
Icons:
Version 3.0 introduces a more advanced communication system that provides better visual feedback as to what and where information is coming from. For example: In previous versions if a person was in different channel than you and they are transmitting to just their local channel you would still see his Speaker icon light up as Green.
Using the above scenario you will now see the speaker icon light up as Yellow meaning that he is transmitting but you are not an intended recipient of the stream.
There are several new icons that show why you are receiving the stream. They are:
A Green letter P indicating that it’s a private chat voice stream.
A Green letter U indicating that it’s a User-2-User voice stream.
A Green letter C indicating that it’s a Cross Channel voice stream.
A Green letter G indicating that it’s a Voice Target voice stream.
New yellow channel + and – signs indicating that the channel is configured for “User Authorization” mode. See Channel below.
All of these icons can be overridden by the user. Click the help button from the main Ventrilo window for details on how to do that. Note: Mac client does not support this just yet.
Rank:
Version 3.0 introduces the concept of Ranks. A Rank can be created with the Rank List window via the Server Admin menu option.
Each rank is assigned an abbreviation, a long description and rank level. Each user account created in the User Editor (See UAR) can be assigned no rank or a rank from the rank list. The abbreviated value will appear before the users name in brackets (if so desired).
Rank levels are used to control whether or not a person is allowed to transmit while in a channel that has a Transmit Rank Level assigned to it. This way you can have auto-muted channels and anyone with the appropriate rank level will be automatically un-muted as soon as they enter the channel. The old way they had to be manually un-muted.
Binds:
Added Commanding sub-functions.
Added Overlay sub-functions.
Added support for multi key binds. (See below)
PTT Advanced: Added Voice Target option.
PTT Advanced: Added Mute other users option.
PTT Advanced: Added Mute inbound streams option.
Complete redesign of the Binds editor. Much cleaner and easier to use and understand.
Hotkey names are user friendly now.
Voice Targets:
Voice Targets are new with version 3.0. They allow an admin to create multiple groups with unique names and each group is assigned a list of account names that will receive voice streams. Some users in this group will be assigned the right to transmit to the named group while others will only be allowed to receive.
The advantage to Voice Targets is that all users in the group will receive the voice stream no matter what their current channel is.
There are two ways to use a Voice Target:
1) Define a PTT Key in the binds editor that when held will allow you to transmit a voice stream to one or more Voice Target groups.
2) Open the Voice Targets window. Select one or more of the target group names for which you have been given transmit rights too and press and hold the Push-to-talk button in the window.
Not supported in Public versions of the server.
Commanding Targets:
Commanding Targets are new with version 3.0. They allow an admin to create multiple groups with unique names and each group is assigned a list of account names that will receive commanding messages. Some users in this group will be assigned the right to transmit to the named group while others will only be allowed to receive.
When a commanding message is received the message will either be displayed in the Commanding Window and the Overlay (See below) if enabled. This way you can have pre-defined Binds that send out commands, or orders, to a group of people telling them it’s time to achieve a new objective. The message can also be run through the Text-to-speech engine for audible notification.
There are two ways to send a Commanding Target message:
1) Define a PTT key in the binds editor that when pressed will send a pre-programmed command text message to one or more Commanding Targets.
2) Open the Commanding Targets window. Select one or more of the target group names for which you have been given transmit rights too, enter a text message and press the Send button in the window.
Not supported in Public versions of the server.
Connections:
Modified so that the connection to a server and initial display of user information is considerably faster, especially on large channel count servers.
Pressing the connect button is now asynchronous. If the connection is not established in a timely fashion the user can press the Disconnect button to cancel immediately.
The server will display a Question mark followed by a “MSG:” tag in the user list window as soon as you start the program. It will tell you the current state of the server selected even before you try connecting to it. It will also display an error message if there is a problem.
If the DNS Servers (Domain Name System) for your hosting company are currently off line, and you have previously connected to the selected server, the program will now ask if you would like to use the last known IP address.
Overlay:
Hardware Overlay is new with version 3.0. It is a mechanism that allows status information about the Ventrilo client to be displayed over the top of the standard screen. For example, if you are playing a game then an ordinary desktop program like Ventrilo can not display information on top of the game if it’s running in full-screen mode without disrupting the keyboard and mouse focus.
Hardware overlay uses a mechanism available in many video cards that allows an image to be displayed on the screen without the actual desktop or game image being modified. This technique also requires minimal CPU usage in order to present the data.
See the Overlay function in the Bindings editor to change the Overlay in real-time.
Status page: Connection, Ping, --XMIT--, who is transmitting, most recent events and latest Commanding Target message received.
Channel clients page: Shows all the clients that are currently in your channel.
Events page: Shows a running list of the most recent events.
Global Chat page: Shows a running list of the most recent global chat messages and who sent them.
Dynamic Private Chat pages: If a private chat window is opened then a corresponding private chat page is added to the overlay so that you can see any text the person on the other side is sending.
There are some caveats to this technique. You should visit the following link for the latest details about supported hardware and special considerations with particular games and operating systems.
http://www.ventrilo.com/overlay.php
Media Player Integration:
This feature is new with version 3.0. It enables the Ventrilo client to interact with the following media players and to extract info about the song they are currently playing. This information is then sent to the other clients and shows up after your name in quotes.
The supported media players are:
iTunes
WinAmp
Window Media Player
Key combinations:
Version 3.0 introduces the concept of key combinations for binds. This includes the Hotkey in the Setup-Voice page and the Bindings editor.
Key combinations are very open ended. It can be any two keyboard keys, it can be two mouse buttons or two game controller buttons. But it can also be any combination from any device. Like a keyboard key and mouse button. A mouse button and game controller button, etc. There is no limit to the combinations.
Key combos are currently only supported when Direct Input is enabled.
Per Channel Codec:
Version 3.0 introduces per channel codecs. When the server has been configured to enable this feature a channel admin can select a specific codec for any given channel or they can use the server defined default.
This is useful if you have a preference for music streaming channels vs. regular voice communication. It can also help if you have modem users who just want to talk with other members but can’t handle the high bandwidth requirements of a 44Khz GSM codec.
Not supported on the Public version of the server.
Macintosh specific:
Most of the changes above apply to the Mac client as well. Here we list those changes unique to the Mac client.
Added support for Drag-n-drop of users and channels.
Fixed Move User menu when channel names start with a dash.
Modified to pop an error message when ever the client joins a non-Speex channel or if the default codec for the server is specified to be non-Speex. This way the Mac client can coexist on a server that has at least one Speex channel.
Help buttons are now fully supported. The help is taken from the Windows client and tweaked to fit the Mac since they are so similar. There are a few things that still need to be changed, but we’ll get those with the next minor client side upgrade.
Better support for Command-W
Fixed internal tracking mechanism of sound devices so that it is more tolerant of USB devices being added, removed and then plugged back in again. You may have to enter Setup at least once after installing 3.0.0 and manually select the desired sound input and output device, but after that they should remain intact.
Fixed the Line Input level being adjusted when default input device selected. When default it should never set the line level and only display the current setting when you enter Setup. But you can adjust it from there. The Line Input level should only be restored to a known value if a specific sound input device is selected.
Added support for F16 as a valid hotkey. F14 and F15 still do not register properly.
Periodic updates of the Mac client over the next few months will add support for the Record / Playback window, Integration (if possible), TTS Filtering options in Setup-Speech, Features in Setup-Misc, Overlay support (If possible), etc.
What’s coming in client side updates:
Over the coming months we will be adding features that are client side only and making them available on a semi-regular basis. These are features that were not ready for the 3.0.0 release but are not crucial to the core features listed above. The following are just a few of the things to come.
Proprietary Instant Messaging
Recording export