TeamSpeak Plugins
TessuMod depends on two TeamSpeak plugins to function:
- Client Query Plugin and
- TessuMod Plugin.
Following subsections describe them more closely.
Client Query comes with TeamSpeak and is enabled by default. The plugin offers most of the functionality that you can do through TeamSpeak's user interface, but in a form of a simplified command line terminal:
TessuMod uses this plugin to detect when TeamSpeak is up and running, when TeamSpeak is connected to a server, when users speak or stop speaking, etc...
TessuMod is useless without this plugin, so make sure you have it enabled if TessuMod has difficulties detecting the TeamSpeak client.
For more info, see plugin's forum post:
http://forum.teamspeak.com/showthread.php/66509-Official-ClientQuery-Plugin
With this plugin TessuMod supports 3D audio, positioning users voice in TeamSpeak so that their voices appear to come from their vehicle's direction on battlefield.
Plugin's installer is included in TessuMod's release archive and you can install it if you wish. Installation is optional, TessuMod works fine without it, it just will not support 3D audio without it.
All positioning is done on your computer, no player positions or other data is sent to external servers or to other TeamSpeak users.
Also, other players do not need to have TessuMod or this plugin installed for their voices to be correctly positioned for you. All that is required is that the players are succesfully matched to their TeamSpeak users at your end.
The mod advertises the plugin in-game in garage's system notification center (lower right corner) when the mod connects to your TeamSpeak client and the plugin hasn't been installed yet:
From the notification you can start the installation wizard. If you're using Windows Vista or newer you will likely get prompted for admin privileges which looks something like this (screenshot from Finnish language Windows 7):
Alternatively you can just execute installer manually. It's installer package tessumod.ts3_plugin is found from res_mods\<version> -folder. Double clicking the file will start the installation.
You may need to restart TeamSpeak after the installation has finished.
Plugin's settings can be found from TeamSpeak main window's menu:
The dialog which opens provides following settings:
You can find more information when you hover mouse over the different UI controls within the dialog for tooltips of what each control does.
Next sections attempt to describe how you should configure the audio options depending of what kind of audio hardware you're using:
Most of the headphones or headsets out there use stereo input. That is one channel/speaker per ear. If you have 5.1/7.1 headphones then see instructions later on below for external speakers.
You have basically three possible ways you can configure your headphones, listed below.
Perhaps best results you would get by selecting OpenAL Soft and checking Enable HRTF. The idea is that TeamSpeak (with help of OpenAL's HRTF-feature) adds audio cues to the stereo output signal which alter the audio to make it sound like it comes from a certain direction:
With those options voices are positioned so that you can tell if the voice is coming from left, right, front, back, below or above you (or somewhere between).
Do note though that the HRTF-feature is very subjective. What one hears as accurate positioning might not sound accurate at all to someone else. You might even confuse voice coming from behind you as coming from your front or vice versa.
For this reason the plugin comes with a bunch of HRTF data sets which you can select from. All data sets alter the audio cues in different ways. Hopefully you can find one that fits for you.
To calibrate the audio output do following:
- Select OpenAL Soft, check enable HRTF and Horizontally (around y-axis),
- Select a HRTF data set from the list,
- Press Test button
- Listen the test tone, it should sound like the tone is rotating around you counter-clockwise starting your behind and moving first to right, then front, then left and finally back to behind. The test tone should stay vertically at same level and you shouldn't get front and back mixed up.
- Pick next data set, rinse and repeat...
When you find a data set that works for you just leave it selected and it will be used from now on.
Your sound card or integrated audio chip, or perhaps your headphones or a separate software might provide virtual surround support. Usually the virtual surround means something that converts 5.1 or 7.1 multichannel audio to stereo adding audio cues into the output signal:
With virtual surround voices are positioned so that you can tell if the voice is coming from left, right, front or back (or somewhere between). Do note though that none of these provide ability to position audio below or above you.
To enable virtual surround you need to select either OpenAL Soft or TeamSpeak's Built-in Audio. Then you need to enable the virtual surround support from your output device/card/software/whatever...
For Creative's Zx -series this is done from Sound Blaster's control panel at SBX Pro Studio -tab and toggling on SBX Pro Studio -button. Make sure you have headphones selected.
Here's a few other virtual surround technologies out there:
- Creative CMSS-3D
- Razer Surround
- Dolpy Headphone
- Realtek Virtual Surround
See if your hardware already supports one of these.
Perhaps the worst choice. TeamSpeak outputs stereo audio which is fed as is to headphones:
With this you can only hear if the sound is coming from left or right side (or somewhere between), no positioning to front, back, above or below will occur.
To use this select either OpenAL Soft or TeamSpeak's Built-in Audio. Make sure HRTF is not enabled and neither any virtual surround functionality.
Audio positioning accuracy depends greatly from amount of speakers you have connected.
With this choice TeamSpeak outputs whatever audio channels your sound card is configured to use and sound card then pipes the signals to your speakers:
Note that audio can be positioned at best to your left, right, front or back side (or somewhere between) if you have four or more speakers connected. No positioning to your above or below will occur.
To use this select either OpenAL Soft or TeamSpeak's Built-in Audio. Make sure HRTF is not enabled and neither any virtual surround functionality.