Why I Hate Team Speak

[Karkianman101]

Let me list the reasons:
-Either everyone uses it, or noone can
-You dont know whos talking
-You have to take care of settings manually, and in games like BF2 where I cant seem to minimize and switch to the right team, this is a bother
-Even if you do figure out everyones voice, you dont know their status, eg in CS:S when someone talks their blip flashes on the radar, you see an icon over their head, and an indicator pops up displaying their name and location. With TS, this does not happen.

Whats the upside of TS? Slightly higher transmit time, and fairly higher voice quality. Often times, garble from the in game CS voice system plus seeing at least who is trying to talk and where they are, and then seeing them die, is much more helpful (and at least more fair) than someone saying "They are all rushing my pos-", the "-" being when they realize they died and should shut up, while the "ing" is when they died.

>_<

[Root]

Someone didn't read the post about TSO. Check the CS SOP forum. Failing that, identify yourself when you tx. I'm a regular radio user IRL, so I have to fight the urge NOT to identify myself in game.

As for not knowing where they are, learn a bit of radio discipline, which can be desperately lacking on the CS server at the best of times, and adapt. Real CT's don't get radar when they're go after T's, so ask yourself how *they* know where everyone on the team is?

Perhaps we should turn the radar off.....?

Root

[=Sarc=]

Another plus of TS is separating the game audio and TS chatter. Long ago, I started using two sound cards to route game audio to speakers and TS chatter to my headset. It really helps in games with loud audio (vehicle engines, explosions, etc.).

I do like the integration of voice with games. It definitely allows for cool features like who's speaking and where they are located. I just hate that developers have to put that in with every game instead of a modular approach. I know that TS has a basic SDK that allows for some neat plugins. I think BF1942 has one that can switch players to the correct team automatically.

Speaking of plugins, TS3 is in development. There's not much information about it but I think the plugin system will be improved. Hopefully, it'll be released soon and we can start seeing tighter integration with games. For now, try out Teamspeak Overlay to display who's talking while gaming. It even shows text that users send to you or the channel so you don't have to alt-tab. For switching channels, you should set up some hotkeys so you don't have to alt-tab. I wrote a guide on multi-channel protocol that you may want to read. It has some instructions on setting up hotkeys. http://www.tacticalgamer.com/joint-operations-official-rules-announcements-sops/9573-teamspeak-multi-channel-protocol.html Coupled with TSO, you can see which channel you're switching to and who's switching in and out of your channel.

[Karkianman101]

I saw the TSO, but I had forgotten. But TS still just irks me. Its higher quality, but it just isnt as integrated into the game as in game voice comm, and people in the game that arent using TS cant hear you.

[9 v]

Originally Posted by =Sarc=

Another plus of TS is separating the game audio and TS chatter. Long ago, I started using two sound cards to route game audio to speakers and TS chatter to my headset. It really helps in games with loud audio (vehicle engines, explosions, etc.).

Wow. i didn't realise this was possible. i've often thought that would be handy, not just for gaming but other stuff too. Never bothered as i didn't think 2 cards would run side by side.

Is it easy enough to set up?

i tried TS a little while ago, and have to say i liked it. Paranoid about saying anything once i was dead, didn't want to be misinterepreted as any kind of cheating, and would prefer it to be more game integrated like you, K, but apart from that the sound quality was sooo much better.

[Root]

Originally Posted by 9 v

Is it easy enough to set up?

It should be an absolute doddle. You have to do it if you need more than 16 MIDI channels, and it was dead simple back in the days of win95.

Originally Posted by 9 v

Paranoid about saying anything once i was dead, didn't want to be misinterepreted as any kind of cheating

Again, radio discipline is all that is required. Granted not everyone has practical experience, so there is a learning curve, but it's not very steep.

Root

[MrShoop]

Originally Posted by Root

It should be an absolute doddle. You have to do it if you need more than 16 MIDI channels, and it was dead simple back in the days of win95.

Again, radio discipline is all that is required. Granted not everyone has practical experience, so there is a learning curve, but it's not very steep.

Root

Can you use something like a Logitech USB headset for Teamspeak audio and mic, and still keep game sound coming into and out of soundcard output to speakers? It really would be nice to have independent volume control, but I'm not sure I'm ready to take on two sound cards.

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by MrShoop

Can you use something like a Logitech USB headset for Teamspeak audio and mic, and still keep game sound coming into and out of soundcard output to speakers? It really would be nice to have independent volume control, but I'm not sure I'm ready to take on two sound cards.

Yes .

[=Sarc=]

There's no need to get a second sound card if you already have a USB headset. In the Windows sound properties set the default audio device to your sound card where the speakers are connected. In TeamSpeak, go to Settings then Options to set your input and output device to the USB headset.

[Red_Dog]

Another plus of TS is separating the game audio and TS chatter. Long ago, I started using two sound cards to route game audio to speakers and TS chatter to my headset. It really helps in games with loud audio (vehicle engines, explosions, etc.).

Can you be a little more specific. This is a very big issue with me. I've tried turning down my Wave volume in Windows (which was maxed uppp) And that helps, but having sound from two sources would be very cool. What if I have onboard sound, can I and another sound card just for TS? I have no idea how that would set up.

[=Sarc=]

Originally Posted by Red_Dog

Can you be a little more specific. This is a very big issue with me. I've tried turning down my Wave volume in Windows (which was maxed uppp) And that helps, but having sound from two sources would be very cool. What if I have onboard sound, can I and another sound card just for TS? I have no idea how that would set up.

Your onboard sound with another card will be fine. If my last post isn't specific enough, I can take some screenshots of exactly what to do.