Friday 8 July 2016

How To Get Military Radio Voice Effect / Voice Changer For VOIP / Skype Sessions Using TeamSpeak 3 and CrossTalk Plugin!

Intro:

Hi Everyone,

How cool would it be to play Arma 3 (or any appropriate FPS for that matter!) and to have you and your friends' VOIP / Skype session sound like you are talking over a military radio? This could add a lot of extra atmosphere and even suspense and drama!

Yet when researching how to create a military radio voice effect for VOIP sessions when playing Arma 3, I found it very difficult to do so. So I have created this blog to make it easier for anyone that comes after me!


------------------------------- Download Working CrossTalk Installer Files: ----------------------------------

It was especially difficult to download the CrossTalk plugin for TeamSpeak, so I have included links for those files below. (also here! Just click on one of the beta builds. The one I have tested is: CrossTalk_1_6_3_111601-beta.ts3_plugin)

- If the above link doesn't work, go to my own link here.
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So this is a "quick and easy" procedure for creating a "global" military radio effect on your VOIP calls. More complicated (but more realistic and exciting systems can be used, such as Task Force Radio for Arma 3: http://radio.task-force.ru/en/ )


I have tested the setup that follows on Window 10 64bit and it all works great - including with a USB headset!


Don't be put off if it seems like a long and complicated process. It really not too bad, especially with this step by step guide to follow.

Perhaps the hardest part will be doing the port forwarding, but there are lots of guides available for that too, with especially good help at portforward.com. The trickiest part is working out to do the port forwarding on your particular router!


SO HERE IS THE HOW TO:

1. If You Dont Use TeamSpeak For Your VOIP Calls, Set Up Teamspeak For VOIP:
(Based on: http://forum.teamspeak.com/threads/75729-How-to-host-a-teamspeak-3-server-on-my-computer)

Here we are going to install and configure TeamSpeak VOIP software to allow you and and your friends to talk live over the internet during game play:

- Forward UDP Port 9987 in your Router (See google)

- VERY IMPORTANT: ALSO create a new Inbound Rule on your Windows firewall for UPD Port 9987 (See google) and restart your computer

- Download the Teamspeak Server from teamspeak.com/?page=downloads
- Extract the zip file to a desired location
- Run the ts3server Executable

- IMPORTANT: Be sure to copy and paste the Admin Privileges Key and Server Password to a text document for safe keeping. (If you lose it, delete your Teamspeak server files and download another copy and it will create and display another Privileges key!)

- Search google for "how to find my public IP address" - it will then display it for you!
- Download the Teamspeak Client from teamspeak.com/?page=downloads and install and run it.
- Connect to your own TS3 Server! Do this by going to Connections - Connect, and then entering your public IP address. (Yes, you will have the server and your client running on the same computer!)
- Enter the Privilege Key displayed in the Server Popup Window so you can take control of the server you created earlier

- Give your Friends your Public IP so they can also connect to your Teamspeak server using their own Teamspeak client!

- For quick and easy setup, choose "default channel" on your clients. Or Create Channels.



TROUBLESHOOTING:


- If using a USB headset, you may need to unplug and then re plug in the headset while Teamspeak is running, to help it be recognised.
- Also be sure to go to Settings - Options - Capture - Capture Device  and choose your usb headset!


2. Get CrossTalk Military Radio Plugin For TeamSpeak:

Now we are going to get a plugin for TeamSpeak that will actually change your friend's voice as it comes to you through TeamSpeak and make it sound like your friend is talking over a military radio:

- So now you have done all that, close down your TeamSpeak server and client! (You can not install TeamSpeak pluggins while it is running).

- Get CrossTalk military radio plugin for Teamspeak by going to this page here and click on a beta version of CrossTalk (the only page I could find with a download link for an actual installer for CrossTalk!!!) (The one I have tested is: CrossTalk_1_6_3_111601-beta.ts3_plugin)

- If the above link doesn't work, go to my own link here.

- Double click on the downloaded file and follow the prompts to install the CrossTalk plugin!

- Relaunch TeamSpeak server and client on your computer and follow this guide: (BUT NOT BEFORE READING THE IMPORTANT NOTES BELOW!)

- IMPORTANT: The links in this video for CrossTalk and Nextel seem to no longer work!

- IMPORTANT: I disabled Plugins - CrossTalk - Position Spread and Plugins - CrossTalk - Positional Audio and that worked for me.

- VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you go to TeamSpeak Settings - Options - Playback - and UNTICK Always set clients 3D positions!! (I dont know why, but for me, having this ticked totally disabled hearing anyone's voice via CrossTalk! Very frustrating!! :) )


3. Get Some Nice Mic Clicks Activated:

Ok so now you have got the voice sounding cool, how about some "mic click" sound effects at the beginning and end of transmissions to add that finishing touch?

- First go to Settings - Options - Playback in your TeamSpeak client and tick both "Own client plays mic clicks" and "Other client plays mic clicks". (This will give you the vanilla, default mic click sounds. They are better than nothing, but they are a bit soft and short in my opinion and dont have any beeps included, if you like that kind of thing :) .) (If you prefer, you can only tick the second box, which means you will only hear these mic clicks when someone else transmits to you.)

- Download a combo pack of alternative mic click sounds here.

- Back up your existing   mic_click_on.wav   and   mic_click_off.wav   files from C:\Program Files\TeamSpeak 3 Client\sound\default

- Simply listen to and then choose your favourite "start of talking over radio sound", as well as your favourite "finished talking over the radio sound" from the alternative clicks pack you have downloaded.

- Copy both these files to C:\Program Files\TeamSpeak 3 Client\sound\default

- Rename these files as   mic_click_on.wav   and   mic_click_off.wav   as appropriate.

- Now the sounds you have selected will be played by your TeamSpeak client instead of the default sounds!


OK ENJOY!!!

:)