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

> > Server Admin
> > Channel Admin

> "?" Status indicators

> 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 has buttons for going 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 picking up 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

In Figure 1 you will see 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

Version 2.3.0 introduces 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 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 can drag a user from the lobby into a channel.

The Server Properties has an option to select how the channels are ordered. If the that 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 the 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

In Figure 2 you will see 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.

> Toolbar mode

> > This option will toggle the program between Toolbar mode and default mode. Default mode is what the window looks 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 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 can not resize it.

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.

> Copy comment

> > When clicked on a user name it will copy the users current comment to the system clipboard.

> 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 is 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.

Miscellaneous

> Copy channel path

> > When clicked on 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

> > 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.

> 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 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 clicked on 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.

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.

> Allow 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 of 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 of 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.

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.

> 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 like: The user who was kicked, who kicked them, the reason why if one is provided.

> 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.

> Ban list

> > This option will open a new window which allows you to see who is currently banned from the entire server. It will also allow you to add new bans and delete existing ones.

> 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.

> MOTD

> > This option can be selected by anyone. 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 that will be the message they see.

> User Editor

> > This will open a new window that allows you to see who is in the USR file. The USR file can be used to reserve login names and their associated passwords. It can also be used for restricting who is allowed to transmit in a given channel, as determined by the channel options.

> RCon

> > This option will open the dedicated Remote Console window for issuing text commands to the server. Prior to version 2.3 this was performed by preceding commands in the Chat window the /rcon.

> 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.

Channel Admin

> Login / Logout

> > An admin password can be assigned to any channel, but normal use would be to assign a channel admin password to each of the root channels and then give the admin password to a specific person who accepts responsibility for that specific channel and it's associated sub-channels. Note: Only server admin's can assign channel admin passwords to root level channels, but a channel admin can assign additional admin passwords to any of his sub-channels.

> > When right clicked on a channel a dialog box will open where you can enter the channel admin password for the selected channel. If the server accepts your password then an "A" will appear next to that channel indicating that you now have channel admin rights for it and all of it's sub-channels. If one of it's sub-channels has another admin password then you will still have access rights over it i.e. higher level admin's always have access rights to lower level admin's, but lower level admin's don't have access rights above their current channel.

> > If you already have admin rights to the channel then selecting this option will remove your admin rights for the current connection.

> > Note: Starting with version 2.3.0 channel admin's are persistent and the admin right will be automatically restored when you reconnect to the same server.

> Create

> > When right clicked on the server item 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 in side 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 logged in with the selected channels admin password.

> > The option will open a new dialog box where you can enter the new channels Display name, phonetic pronunciation name, channel password and the admin password. If you do not give it a channel password then the channel is available to anyone unless one of it's parent channels has a password on it. Sub-channels of a password protected channel inherit the password of it's parent until it reach's the lobby. Thus, if no parent channel's 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 it's sub-channels if any exist. Any users in the selected channel or sub-channels will be automatically moved to the next highest channel or to the lobby as a last resort.

> 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 of them. This option can be selected by anyone even though it appears in the Channel Admin sub-menu.

> 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 from the server.

> 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.

> > 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.

> Ban list

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

> 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.

"?" 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 it's 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.

Overriding the default icons:

Starting with version 2.3.0 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 then 256 colors.

2) The icons files them selves 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 that feature will be be removed in future versions.

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

To locate the location of 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
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)

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