Multiplayer Communications (newb)

So I'm interested in playing multiplayer (particularly when it's fixed) . First step would be setting up comms , as i don't want to be rude and just lurk on a server while mute . WHAT A NIGHTMARE ! Discord , SRS and Teamspeak , to say nothing of Voice Attack and the add-on for DCS . Did I mention that i have only just started to train my 'puter's speech recognition as I HATE talking machines ? (Sigh)

Feeling kinda overwhelmed , but gonna try to set all of these up incrementally , but even so , i have to plan ahead with no real knowledge of what needs to be done ! Let's start with Teamspeak . Joined the ts.aerobaticsonline.com server , and insim i had sim audio , but no chatter , with 20+ people on . ??? Does the audio only work through the radios (which i did not yet have on) ???

Ptt buttons . Do i need a dedicated button for Voiceattack ?

As i understand it , the Hornet comm switches on the throttle are ptt's for each radio , but i assume that Teamspeak only allows one ptt for it's function . Is another dedicated ptt button needed ? In other words , do i need to push two switches simultaneously to send a radio call through Teamspeak ? I'm thinking i should avoid a voice-activated mic to avoid crosstalk between Teamspeak and Voiceattack .

Anyone know of a good guide for DCS multiplayer comms ? I would be most grateful for any and all help with these questions .

discord had a good guide on the web-sight https://support.discordapp.com/hc/en-us/articles/219470277-Getting-Started

The short and simple explanation of Voice Attack.

You will need one ptt button for each radio, 3 buttons in total. VA will then bind each radio to the different aircraft radios. So for the F-18 you will only use the first 2. In the A-10 you will use all 3. this allows you to pick what radio you want to send the command through

As a example in my set up i have a 5 way button hat switch on my throttle. left, up, and right are the 3 VA Ptt. when i push the hat in (button 5) it activates my voice-coms Ptt (discord, teamspeak , SRS, ect)

The VA manual helps with a lot of this. https://www.vaicompro.com/uploads/7/5/4/3/75436709/vaicom_pro_user_manual.pdf

if you need someone to help you set it up / work out any bugs PM me.

Simplify - you don't need to do everything.

Start with picking a favorite server to fly on. Use their comms and get used to it. These days almost all use Discord.

Only step into SRS if you feel its necessary for the servers you like. To be brutally honest, many MP servers promote SRS use but when you are actually on the server there is very sparse / coordinated comms using it. It might only be worth looking at if you want to fly in a larger coordinated online event. Stay away from it for now. You are not missing anything. Some may disagree with me but trust me... you can fly just fine with others and not use it.

Voice Attack is not necessary at all - for any server. If training the computer is annoying, dont do it. focus on keeping it simple and have fun because it shouldnt be work.

Thanks for the helpful replies ! I think i have Voice Attack and Viacom Pro working , except i have not yet programmed the ptt's . Teamspeak is prolly working as well , we'll see...I think Viacom will largely take care of all the ptt issues . Discord and SRS seem to be the way things are going , so I have those downloaded as well , but not yet set up . I'm having Voiceattack/Viacom run on startup ('puter is only for DCS) , but will selectively run the various mp comm alternatives as needed . To get to the point i am took about 8 hours !! Sims have always been a pain 'puter-wise . I remember a bunch of "loadhigh" commands and dedicated batch and config sys files to run "Aces over the Pacific" , "Strike Commander" and "Fleet Defender" on my first unit , a 486-33 ! Nothing's changed ! Thanks again for the help , and i'm sure i'll need more down the road :)

VoiceAttack isn’t for communication with other humans. Most use srs which when setup properly is transparent you tune freqs using the aircrafts radio and you setup a ptt button and your good to go srs has its own server and password plus configuration. But once everything is configured it’s transparent. TeamSpeak and discord are like the water cooler at the office and used for preflight breifing some still use it for comms but srs is better.

I think it would be great if ED would unify the comms for multiplayer and have a standard like the Simple Standalone Radio and everyone use the same. The problem for me, is with so many bits of software needed to join different servers. I do hope this does get sorted sometime

@tmansteve +1

@ blackie Thanks for the advice . I forgot to mention that i wanted also to talk to AI , thus VA and Vaicom which i finally got working-sort of . Hornet only works on "easy comms" at the moment , waiting on a fix from Hollywood . It's so cool to TALK to the tower ! I have TS and Discord set up . Hoping to get SRS set up soon . That is my go-to as it's integrated with the DCS radios .