Video Chat question

[xerowing]

I am considering buying Fantasy Grounds. The problem is I see in these gameplay videos people playing with video chat. Although I have downloaded the demo and I couldn't find video chat any where. Is there video chat built into Fantasy Grounds or are they using a 3rd party software for that? Also how do you enable video chat if it is included in the software?

[Trenloe]

Video, or voice, is not included in the software. It is a design decision made by the developers that they'd rather concentrate on VTT functionality than implement and support a single voice/video client. There are many free solutions out there, and people have their own favourites, so I personally believe this is a good decision - use your preferred video solution (a lot of people use Google Hangouts, for example; others will use Skype, etc.) and leave Fantasy Grounds to do the VTT part.

[Griogre]

It should also be mentioned that if you buy on Steam you can use their voice chat program if everyone has Steam, or you can use the free FG Community TeamSpeak server.

[Bidmaron]

See this thread (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?21761-Playing-Aids) for a fairly full discussion of audio and video with FG2.

[xerowing]

Thanks for all the info. It wasn't emailing me when I got a reply so I just eventually decided to check and there were reply's.

[damned]

Oh it is emailing you but something is wrong and they are all being delayed... they will probably turn up sometime in the next week!

[ballan4]

I was wondering what was up with that.

[damned]

I reckon forum participation is done too as people more quickly respond when they see activity on threads they are following... :(

[Zeus]

Forum email notifications should be working again. Doug updated the vBulletin configuration so the emails should be getting forwarded immediately.

As for Voice Chat functionality, as Trenloe has stated, to date Smiteworks have opted to focus on delivering core VTT functionality leaving Voice comms (if required) to the many freely available VoIP platforms like TeamSpeak, Skype, etc. etc. Having said that, this may not always necessarily be the case. As you know we are currently looking at moving FG over to the Unity3D platform so I'd be interested to understand, if Voice Comms were to be considered for a future version of FG, exactly what kind of functionality you guys would value?

[Trenloe]

As for Voice Chat functionality, as Trenloe has stated, to date Smiteworks have opted to focus on delivering core VTT functionality leaving Voice comms (if required) to the many freely available VoIP platforms like TeamSpeak, Skype, etc. etc. Having said that, this may not always necessarily be the case. As you know we are currently looking at moving FG over to the Unity3D platform so I'd be interested to understand, if Voice Comms were to be considered for a future version of FG, exactly what kind of functionality you guys would value?

One thing I'd say would be the ability to connect to voice before connecting to the GM - so players can hangout while waiting for the GM, troubleshoot issues connecting to the campaign, etc. without actually being connected to the GM's campaign. This would also allow for conventions like FG Con where participants frequently hang-out in the voice channel between games.

Essentially I'm thinking of a server based solution - so the bandwidth upload from the GM especially is kept to a minimum, people can connect, talk/socialise, troubleshoot, etc. without the GM having a running instance of FG and the players needing to be connected to that instance of the GM campaign. Of course, the players would have to be at least running a copy of FG - even if not connected to a game at that point.

Other functionality could be: common/lobby area, ability to restrict access to the voice channel of a game, "kick" problem people, control voice quality (if someone is having an issue with a poor connection the bandwidth can be reduced, but good quality can be used if connections are stable), ability to create sub-channels (rooms) within the game voice channel so that the GM can have private discussions with one or more players without the others hearing, ability to have another instance of voice run on the GM PC so they can easily play background music/sound effects (or have a music/SFX plugin), voice comms keeps going if GM disconnects and also while players are connecting to the GM instance of FG.

Basically, what we have now with the community TeamSpeak3 server please. :)

[ianmward]

I agree, embedding the teamspeak client in the fantasy grounds client would make things a little easier. It would also mean we could the see voice status while fg is fullscreen.
I also think that being able to use voice while not connected to a server is important.

[damned]

Sometimes GM has computer issues, FW issues or is late etc. If the players can still chat in TeamSpeak then its not so bad. If the Voice client is on the GMs side... then its fubar all over.

[Griogre]

Yeah, like damned said, that is my greatest reservation. Its much nicer having a separate app for voice because you can walk people through connection issues with FG. Also if the alias server is down you can give them an IP address to direct connect if the players have the lite version or better.

[jshauber]

I am all for keeping them separate.

WOW and World of Tanks have built in voice chat, anyone ever really use those to any great extent? From what I remember WOW voice chat was HORRIBLE and the WOT chat makes it sound like you are talking thru a couple tin cans connected by wire.

Is it really that big a deal to see who is talking? I mean if it is a regular group you will learn the 4-6 other voices quickly enough and if it is a one-off then just click into TS on occasion to see who is talking if they are really annoying (and you never want to play with them again) or really good (and you want to note who they are for future reference).

[ianmward]

I agree. Which is why I said include the TeamSpeak CLIENT in the FG client (both for the players and the GM). This way you could choose to connect to a TS server from the start screen but not have to run two applications...
I don't think it as a big deal, but for beginners it is a bit confusing having to download and install a third party application to join in a FG game. It's just one more hurdle that makes it harder than it could/should be.

[damned]

I agree. Which is why I said include the TeamSpeak CLIENT in the FG client (both for the players and the GM). This way you could choose to connect to a TS server from the start screen but not have to run two applications...
I don't think it as a big deal, but for beginners it is a bit confusing having to download and install a third party application to join in a FG game. It's just one more hurdle that makes it harder than it could/should be.

I think those are the 2 main points... having an integrated client is *simpler* for users but allowing people to use their preferred (and presumably the one that works best for them) client is always going to give a better overall result...

[Moriarity]

I'm successfully using Discord with a private group to DM my games remotely. Discord have recently allowed video but I haven't tried this yet. I would be interested to know if anyone out there has managed to use Discord the video DM sessions and how they managed it.

[c-Sym]

I've spent all day looking for how people are using Discord Video with FG. I read lots of people saying they do it, but no one says how :/

[Trenloe]

I've spent all day looking for how people are using Discord Video with FG. I read lots of people saying they do it, but no one says how :/
Welcome to the forums!

Discord is not integrated into FG, you run Discord separately from FG and use the video in Discord. So you'll have FG and Discord running on your computer at the same time - but they don't interact with each other.

[badula]

Atm i'm in the process of setting up a dnd stream and... sadly i have to use roll20 for cameras (teht pop in fixed position wich make my life easier on obs) and sounds (built in connection to tabletop audio). But this brings a second point of failure wich i would gladly avoid if FG had a built-in solution......

[LordEntrails]

Atm i'm in the process of setting up a dnd stream and... sadly i have to use roll20 for cameras (teht pop in fixed position wich make my life easier on obs) and sounds (built in connection to tabletop audio). But this brings a second point of failure wich i would gladly avoid if FG had a built-in solution......
No reason you can't stream with FG. Many of us do. There are details of how to get your overlay and arrange the video windows etc the way you want them; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?24282-How-to-make-an-overlay-and-setup-OBS-for-streaming!

[dulux-oz]

Atm i'm in the process of setting up a dnd stream and... sadly i have to use roll20 for cameras (teht pop in fixed position wich make my life easier on obs) and sounds (built in connection to tabletop audio). But this brings a second point of failure wich i would gladly avoid if FG had a built-in solution......

And if you want to use sounds with your FG games there's always the DOE:Sound Extension.

Check out my Twitch channel from the below link - Lord Entrails plays in my game, and we use nothing but FG, Syrinsacpe and TeamSpeak for our game (plus OBS? for recording).

[badula]

And if you want to use sounds with your FG games there's always the DOE:Sound Extension.

Check out my Twitch channel from the below link - Lord Entrails plays in my game, and we use nothing but FG, Syrinsacpe and TeamSpeak for our game (plus OBS? for recording).
Sorry if it wasn't clear: i AM using Fg to stream the game and roll20 only for cameras and voices

[LordEntrails]

Sorry if it wasn't clear: i AM using Fg to stream the game and roll20 only for cameras and voices
On the "recording/streaming" side we include OBS (streaming, recording and overlays) and Voicemeter banana (audio control for multiple inuts/outputs)

You can certainly use Roll20 for the audio/video, but you could also use Discrod, Skype or any other application that has both.