Be heard with Mumble and WAGE!

Mumble is an open-source, bandwidth light VOIP, and is 100% free.  This helpful how-to guide will provide WAGE gamers with the knowledge needed to get Mumble up and running. [...]

Mumble is an open-source VOIP product that is 100% free.  Both the client and the server are provided within the package.  You can download Mumble from the official website or from our FTP server.

Essential connection details for Mumble on WAGE:

chat.wage.co.za:64738

Here are some features that stand out in Mumble:

• Mumble is open-source and 100% free.
  The package is open-source and the client and server components are licensed for free.
  You can view the source code and make your own custom builds.
• The audio on Mumble sounds great and it uses low bandwidth.
  Mumble offers great support for poor connections and its VOIP protocols are great for gamers who are on 384Kbps lines.
• The client and server come together.
  If you’re organising a LAN at home or are playing a P2P game on Hamachi and your game doesn’t include VOIP then Mumble is a good choice to make.
• You get certificate security.
  When you register on the Mumble server you can create a self-signed certificate or get a proper certificate from an authority.
  This ensures your identity, secure channels, and authentication requirements are secure.

Here’s how to install your Mumble Client:

Once you’ve downloaded your Mumble Client you’ll need to install it.

• Run the program.
• Choose your language.
• Accept the licensing agreement.

You’ll be asked which components to install.

You can select the type of installation e.g. client only, server only, or custom.

Murmur is the server component that you’ll need if you want to host a server.

Bonjour is used to detect Murmur servers on a local network installation.

We’ll be going over the client only option in this blog.

• Choose client only.
• Click next and you’ll have to save Mumble to a folder.
• You can now choose to have desktop short cuts etc.

Now you’re going to configure Mumble for the first time.

• A wizard will launch to run you through the audio configuration.

• You’ll be asked for which audio device you’re going to use.
• We went with the default settings on a basic PC.
• Now you’ll be asked what buffer size Mumble should use with capturing your soundcard to prevent jitter.
• Follow the on screen instructions and make your adjustments.

• The wizard is going to ask you to make adjustments to your audio pickup sweet spot.
• Play around with the settings and speak into the microphone.
• Make sure that the bulk of your audio output occurs in the green zone and silence keeps the activity bar in the blue zone.
• Audio output going into the red zone will result in distortion.
• Distortion is good for guitars but bad for comprehensible speech.

• Decide whether you’re going to be using Voice Activation or Push-to-Talk.
• Follow the on screen instructions and make sure the pick-up levels are tuned to your requirements.
• If you’re going to use Push-to-Talk make sure you set a key to active voice pickup.

• Choose which codec and rate you want to optimise bandwidth usage and audio transmission quality.
• The balanced option works best for most people.
• You can also choose whether Text-to-Speech is enabled or not.  This means that if someone types text in the audio channels it’ll be read out in a robot voice.  Don’t worry – this is a robot you can trust.

• You’re now at the end of the wizard.
• You can choose to send anonymous usage information to the Mumble development team.
• Make your decision and finish.

Next you’ll be shown Mumble’s server connection dialogue.  This includes a collection of public servers around the world.  Web Africa isn’t listed on the public list so you’ll have to manually connect by clicking add new.

• You’ll need to enter the server name, address, port and username.
• The server name is a friendly name on the actual server e.g. WAGE server.
• Put in chat.wage.co.za and the port number 64738.
• Enter your username.
• Choose something cool like Choc_Salties (fun) or Optimus_Prime (classic).
• Don’t be surprised if people laugh at a username like Unicorn_Power.  Even though that’s actually kind of cool.

• Enter all the information and you’ll go to a server selection window.
• The window now has the WAGE Mumble details visible.

• Press connect and you’re on!
• You’ll more than likely receive a certificate error.  Ignore it and continue.
• Now you’ll be presented with the main Mumble window.

• The server consists of clan channels and is used mostly by clan players.
• You can join one of these channels or find a server admin who will create a channel for you.  You can also mail the Games Master.

Your admins on the Mumble server are:

• [WAGE]Tom aka Koala
• [WAGE]Br34ker
• [WAGE]$t33l

These admins will guide you through the channel and sub channel creation and assign passwords to the channels as required.

Happy Mumbling!