Using Teamspeak 2
What’s TeamSpeak?
TeamSpeak is among the several
Downloading TeamSpeak 2
You can download TeamSpeak directly from the official site. Like many of the other downloads you might find across the internet, you will have to choose the package that corresponds to your Operating System and a mirror to download from. Ensure that you download the client, not the server, and agree to the End User License Agreement to start your download.
After the TeamSpeak file has finished downloading, run the file to go through the installer.
Connecting to a Server
Now that you have your newly installed TeamSpeak, go ahead and run the TeamSpeak client. The light purple interface for TeamSpeak should appear, but before you can actually talk to anyone, you will need to connect to a server.
As pictured below, go to connect on the top bar then press “Connect.”
You should be at the Local Addressbook. If you already know the exact details of the Teamspeak server you wish to voice chat in, right click anywhere in the white box that says “Servers” and click “Add Server.” If you do not already know a TeamSpeak server you wish to connect to in mind, skip to the “For the Serverless” section.
An entry to the server list called “New Server” should appear by default. Immediately after creating this list entry, you can choose to rename the server by typing the new name then pressing enter. Press enter without typing the new name if you don’t want to change the name. After pressing enter, the right side of the Addressbook should appear to have several data fields. Of these fields, the top three should be “Label”, “Server Address”, and “Nickname”.
Those Addressbook Fields
“Label” refers to the name of the server, which you either defined already or left as “New Server” in a previous step. “Server Address” is the URL of the TeamSpeak server. You may have to ask another person who already visits the TeamSpeak server you plan to use for the address if you do not know it or are not sure. “Nickname” is the name you will enter the TeamSpeak server with. You can change this later. For your first time visiting a TeamSpeak server, you should check the “Anonymous” box. Then, you enter the TeamSpeak server’s password if the TeamSpeak server you plan to use has a password or leave the password field blank if the TeamSpeak server does not have a password.
In TeamSpeak’s Local Addressbook, auto-reconnect is an optional checkbox. If you check auto-reconnect, your TeamSpeak client automatically attempts to reconnect to the TeamSpeak server in the event that you are kicked or disconnected from the server.
The “Registered” box is intended to be checked instead of the “Anonymous” box if you are registered with the TeamSpeak server. Generally, this will not be the case on your first
visit to a TeamSpeak server. Registration occurs after entering the TeamSpeak server.
For the Serverless
Often, people download a software like TeamSpeak in order to chat with friends who already have a TeamSpeak server prepared, but this is not always the case. If you are among the people who do not come to TeamSpeak with a server you wish to chat on in mind, then TeamSpeak still allows you to find your way into a server.
When you are at the Local Addressbook, instead of adding in the details of your TeamSpeak server, switch to the Web Server List tab at the top. Then, press the “Change Filter” button at the bottom of the window to get another window like the one shown below.
The filter determines which TeamSpeak servers you will see listed in your Web Server List. Fill in the search criteria for a TeamSpeak server you want to visit. It is not recommended that you check “Show servers with passwords only” unless you are searching for a specific TeamSpeak server that you know has a password. The name filter is the only criteria here that is used to discern TeamSpeak servers by content, so you may wish to use the “Server Name Filter” section for a keyword. However, you should not be extremely specific in this section unless you are searching for a specific TeamSpeak server.
After choosing your filter options, some TeamSpeak servers should populate your Web Server List. You may double click any of these TeamSpeak servers to connect. A box will appear asking for a password if the TeamSpeak server requires a password. Or, you can highlight a TeamSpeak server and press the “Copy to Local Addressbook” button in order to save the details of the TeamSpeak server. Once a TeamSpeak server is copied to your Local Addressbook, you can directly connect from the Local Addressbook entry unless the TeamSpeak server requires a password.
Things About a Server
Channels
Most TeamSpeak servers choose to organize by some form of channel structure. In TeamSpeak, a channel is essentially a division of a server in which users voice chat. The most notable feature of a TeamSpeak channel is that the conversation occurring within a channel is isolated to the specific channel. Hence, TeamSpeak channels can be intended for different groups of people within a TeamSpeak server, private conversations, or anything of the like.
When entering a TeamSpeak server, you will usually be put in a Lobby channel by default. You can switch to different TeamSpeak channels, listed in the top left section of the interface by clicking on channels’ names. Note that some channels, denoted by an “R” flag in parentheses, require registration to enter, and other channels denoted with a “P” flag require a password to enter.
You and Your Fellow Users
Normally, users in TeamSpeak are listed with green buttons left of them. Sometimes a person may have a red button in place of a green button if he or she has the “Channel Commander” option ( accessible through the Self menu ) set. If a user does not have a red or green button before his or her name, he or she is away or has his or her sound muted, options which can also be accessed and seen through the Self menu.
If you left click a TeamSpeak user, you can mute him or her. This is essentially the equivalent of an “Ignore” option for voice chatting. Left clicking a user also allows other options for those with power. An SA, or Server Admin, can kick or ban a user from a server or promote a user to any rank up to Server Admin. The CA rank, which denotes a Channel Admin, gives a user the power to kick people from or promote new Channel Admins in the TeamSpeak channel(s) that he or she is a Channel Admin in.
Registering
It is also notable that an “R” within parentheses next to a person’s nickname denotes that he or she is a registered member of the server. Registration has been mentioned before, and if you plan on frequenting a server, you probably will want to register to access channels for registered member, to keep a steady identity, or to retain ranks such as the previously mentioned Channel and Server Admin ranks.
In order to register with a TeamSpeak server, you go to the Self menu and click “Register With Server”. If this option is grayed out, chances are that the TeamSpeak server requires a Server Admin to grant you registration rights before you can register. In this case, you could search for a person with the SA flag to grant you registration rights although requirements to be granted registration rights vary by TeamSpeak server.
Once you click “Register With Server”, enter the login name and password you wish to register with. In TeamSpeak, your nickname is changeable and separate from your login name, so you don’t necessarily have to worry about being stuck with the name you choose although people will still be able to see your login name. After you enter the details, you will be registered and in order to log onto the TeamSpeak server with your registered account, you will need to go to your Local Addressbook entry of the server, and check the “Registered” box instead of the “Anonymous” box.
In the Login Name and Password fields, enter the Login Name and Password you registered with. These two values will be saved by the Local Addressbook, so you can automatically log on as a registered user without having to remember or retype the values.
Sound Settings
If you have a microphone attached to your computer already, you might find that TeamSpeak is set to automatically pick up input from the microphone and send it to the other users in a channel. This setting may or may not be favorable by your circumstances, so upon first using TeamSpeak, you may wish to visit “Sound Input/Output Settings” under the Settings menu.
A window like the one pictured left should pop up.
In this window, “Output Volume” refers to the volume of the sound you will hear from the other people talking. Readjust this bar to a convenient level for you or a level you think may be convenient for you if you cannot actively double check with a TeamSpeak channel of talking people.
There are two options under “Voice Send Method”. With the “Push to Talk” option, TeamSpeak will send input from a microphone only when you press a certain keyboard key. To set the key used for talking, press “Set” then immediately press the key you wish to be set. “Voice Activation” is the default setting in which sound is sent to the channel every time a microphone picks sound up. This setting is not recommended if you are chatting in a noisy environment.
If you choose the “Voice Activation” setting, adjust the sliding bar so that the microphone picks up your typical tone of speaking well. You may want to press “Activate Local Test Mode” while you do this so that you can hear the volume your voice is at with the different levels. Note here that if you do choose to use “Voice Activation” in an environment with background noise, you should try to choose an option that minimalizes the picking up of background noise while still picking up your voice. In this case, you may need to adjust your tone of speaking for optimal results.
The Things of an Ending
Voice chatting can be a very enjoyable experience in which a lot of the conventions of real life speaking return to the internet world. Frequently, voice chatting is used to grant a communication method that is faster than typing and frees the hands more. In online gaming, voice chatting is often used for this purpose as freedom of the hands or speed of communication is often crucial to advantageous online gameplay. TeamSpeak is one of many programs used for voice chatting. Others include Ventrilo and Skype.
No matter what your purpose in voice chatting may be, I hope that you may enjoy your times using TeamSpeak.
August 6, 2008 at 7:10 pm | Useful Stuff | No comments