Mumble (voice chat)

[Pilot_51]

It would be sweet if a voice chat program like TeamSpeak or Ventrilo was ported to DS, but since they aren't open source and obviously don't want to release any source code, that's not an option.

There's another program which I've grown to love that is very similar, I actually think it's better in almost every aspect. It's called Mumble, and it's open source (revised BSD license) so I'm assuming it should be relatively easy to port with minimal loss of features.

VoIP has been proven to work great with SvSIP, so I don't see why this wouldn't work just as good if not better.

I'm certain the developer would be delighted if someone ported it to DS. He is very passionate about the project and the community around it.

http://mumble.sourceforge.net

Here's the forum post about this on the SourceForge project site: http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1838760&forum_id=492606

[LordMerlin]

I'm pretty sure a voip program is already out for the DS. And with such a simple thing like voice over IP, why would you need source code to port it? Record with mic, send over wifi, receive. Google "DS voip" and I think you'll find something.

[Pilot_51]

All the VoIP apps I know are either limited to only DS users (DSVoiceChat) or they connect to the SIP network to act like an Internet phone (SvSIP). They fall short of impressive. There is nothing for DS even close in similarity to the features of a gaming-oriented voice chat application such as Mumble, TeamSpeak, or Ventrilo. I don't have many friends that have DS homebrew and none of my friends to my knowledge use the SIP network, but several of them regularly use a gaming voice chat application (mostly either TS or Mumble).

Source code makes it easier to create such applications, since it's mostly down to modifying it to run well on the system rather than completely starting from scratch. The existing homebrew applications aren't nearly as advanced as Mumble, so at the very least they could apply some of the Mumble source code for improvement.

[LordMerlin]

I don't see why porting vent or TS to the DS would make it any more of an impressive app than what is already out there. If you're looking to be able to chat while in game, I hate to break it to you, but I seriously doubt that's going to happen. What more can you ask for than what is already out there for DS VoiP? As for nothing being "as advanced as Mumble," not only have I never heard of it being used in any big game, the applications out are probably just as advanced as Mumble. Even if they weren't, perhaps you could suggest specific updates to already existing apps for the DS out there, ie a computer client which seems to be the only thing you are asking for.

[Pilot_51]

By no means do I expect for DS homebrew to include in-game voice chat of this type. What I'm aiming for is more the functionality of channels and a permission system and the ability to talk with people playing a game on their PC.

Mumble is new and it isn't backed by a company with advertising or anything, so of course it's not going to be familiar to most people. The developer doesn't make any money aside from a donation every once in awhile. Being open source and in very active development (new versions released every couple months, not including snapshots), it is improving faster than any other voice chat application I know of and the developer is incredibly open to user input unlike any developer I have ever witnessed. It might be personal opinion as to how advanced it is, but how does arguing about it help if you haven't tried it for yourself?

By the way, the latest version of SvSIP doesn't work with my Gizmo account for some reason and Wifi VoiceChat isn't really the kind of voice chat I'm interested in.

[LordMerlin]

Now I think I see what you're aiming for and I totally like it :P I don't suppose you do much programming for the DS? I wouldn't mind starting a project like this, but I'm not much for the whole solo-act thing. Drop me a line some time, but for now I suppose I'll look into a start. My Xfire is lordmerlin102, aim N3cr0s1s57.

[Pilot_51]

I don't do any programming as of yet, the most I do is BF1942 modding and you can hardly call that programming. Learning to program games and apps from the ground up is one of the things I'm interested in doing eventually, I just need to figure out where to start and not be intimidated by the complexity of it all.
I would however help with such a project (porting Mumble) the best I could.

[LordMerlin]

http://www.palib.info/wiki/doku.php?id=day1
That's a good place to start for looking at programming on the DS. It requires a slight knowledge of C++ but if you've never done any before, you should still be able to get into it. There's not much for mic use in that tutorial, but I'll see if I can find one later. I doubt I'll be able to start today, however tomorrow is wide open and I think I can put a nice dent in this project then.