Voice

Voice is a feature that made its debut on its own grid and beta viewer in March of 2007[1].

Frequently Asked Questions

There's an exhaustive Voice FAQ which provides answers to many questions about the new voice feature.

Groups

The Voice Mentors group and Voice in SL: A Community Forum are advocacy and help groups for users having problems adjusting to the new system.

Settings

You can set your preferences directly in your Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\SecondLife\user_settings\settings.xml file, or you can set them from the viewer.

Some settings can be made through the UI panels, but all can be set from the Client menu.

If you haven't already done so, you enable the Client menu using Ctrl-Alt-D (not to be confused with Ctrl-Alt-Delete). Then select

Client -> Debug Settings

to get the Debug Settings window. In the selection box, hit the triangle to bring up the list of debug variables and select the setting that you wish to change.

Here is a list of settings relating to Voice chat together with their default values and descriptions.

AudioLevelMic: 1.0; Audio level of microphone input

AudioLevelVoice: 1.0; Audio level of voice chat

EnablePushToTalk: TRUE; Must hold down a key or moouse button when talking into your microphone

EnableVoiceChat: FALSE; Enable talking to other residents with a microphone

FloaterActiveSpeakersRect: 0 300 250 0; Rectangle for active speakers window

OverdrivenColor: 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0; Color of various indicators when resident is speaking too loud.

PushToTalkButton: MiddleMouse; Which button or keyboard key is used for push-to-talk

PushToTalkToggle: FALSE; Should the push-to-talk button behave as a toggle

SpeakingColor: 0.0 1.0 0.0 1.0; Color of various indicators when resident is speaking on a voice channel.

VivoxDebugLevel: -1; Logging level to use when launching the vivox daemon

VivoxDebugServerName: bhd.vivox.com; Hostname of the vivox account server to use for voice when not connected to Agni.

VoiceCallsFriendsOnly: FALSE; Only accept voice calls from residents on your friends list

VoiceEarLocation: 0; Location of the virtual ear for voice

VoiceImageLevel0: 041ee5a0-cb6a-9ac5-6e49-41e9320507d5; Texture UUID for voice image level 0

VoiceImageLevel1: 29de489d-0491-fb00-7dab-f9e686d31e83; Texture UUID for voice image level 1

VoiceImageLevel2: 29de489d-0491-fb00-7dab-f9e686d31e83; Texture UUID for voice image level 2

VoiceImageLevel3: 29de489d-0491-fb00-7dab-f9e686d31e83; Texture UUID for voice image level 3

VoiceImageLevel4: 29de489d-0491-fb00-7dab-f9e686d31e83; Texture UUID for voice image level 4

VoiceImageLevel5: 29de489d-0491-fb00-7dab-f9e686d31e83; Texture UUID for voice image level 5

VoiceImageLevel6: 29de489d-0491-fb00-7dab-f9e686d31e83; Texture UUID for voice image level 6

VoiceInputAudioDevice: Default; Audio input device to use for voice

VoiceOutputAudioDevice: Default; Audio output device to use for voice

WarnFirstVoice: FALSE; Enables FirstVoice warning dialog

Technical

Voice in Second Life uses Vivox technology that is based on RTP (using the oRTP library), SIP (using the amsip library from Antisip), OpenAL, TinyXPath, OpenSSL, and libcurl for the transmission of voice data. The positional 3D audio is achieved with technology from DiamondWare. These technologies are contained in external daemon software that is started and stopped by the Second Life client.

The SecondLife viewer handles configuration, control, and display functions, but the voice streams (from the microphone and from the Vivox voice server) do not enter the viewer. Unfortunately the source code for the external SLVoice daemon is not available due to contractual obligations between Linden Labs and Vivox.

The executables can be found in the Program Files\SecondLife directory of the runtime and in the linden\indra\newview\vivox-runtime\(platform) directory of the source distribution.

SLVoice.exe
- Thin wrapper around the Vivox SDK
- Launched when voice is enabled in SL
- Runs a TCP server that listens and replies to commands and queries using an XML format
SLVoiceAgent.exe
- Actually called the DiamondWare Thin Voice Client
- Launched by SLVoice, but don't know under what conditions
- Unclear how this fits in the communication chain
- Not launched for normal proximity voice chat; don't know about group chat or P2P yet
vivoxsdk.dll
- The Vivox SDK
- Used by SLVoice.exe
- Uses a solution from Antisip for SIP, RTP, and G.711
- Uses OpenAL for playing and recording audio
- Additionally implements the G.722.1/C (aka Siren14) codec
ortp.dll
- Real-time Transport Protocol (RFC3550) stack under LGPL
- Used by vivoxsdk.dll
- Originally from Linphone
- Distributed as part of amsip by Antisip
wrap_oal.dll
- OpenAL, a cross-platform 3D audio API
- Used by vivoxsdk.dll
alut.dll
- The OpenAL Utility Toolkit (ALUT)
- Used by vivoxsdk.dll
ssleay32.dll and libeay32
- From the OpenSSL Project, a collaborative effort to develop a robust, commercial-grade, full-featured, and Open Source toolkit implementing the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2/v3) and Transport Layer Security (TLS v1) protocols as well as a full-strength general purpose cryptography library.
- Used by SLVoiceAgent.dll
tntk.dll and srtp.dll
- Part of the DiamondWare distribution
- Apparently not used

SLVoice

SLVoice is started from the viewer in SLVoiceClient::stateMachine() using:

SLVoice.exe -p tcp -h -c -ll <VivoxDebugLevel, default -1>

usage: SLVoice [flags]

valid flags are:

[-ll <log-level>] 0-5, or -1 for no logging

[-lf <log-folder>]

[-lp <log-file prefix>]

[-ls <log-file suffix>]

[-p tcp]

[-i <address>] application sends requests to this address

[-o <address>] according to the executable, the gateway sends responses and events to this address, but according to the official documentation, the gateway both sends and receives to/from this address. Please update this if you determine which is correct.

[-vo] vivox only functionality

[-ov] (undocumented and unused)

[-c] cleanup orphaned SLVoice processes. If this is the only argument to SLVoice, then it cleans up and exits; if there are other arguments, it cleans up any old instances and launches a new one.

[-h] hide the window associated with SLVoice. On MS Windows, this appears to be the default, because there is no window whether this parameter is set ot not.

[-r] (undocumented and unused)

SLVoice.exe was called vivox-gw.exe in the beta release, so you may still see some references to the old name.

IP Address

The SecondLife viewer uses IP address 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 44124 to communicate with SLVoice, the voice client gateway.

It is possible to connect to a client gateway running on another host. This is useful for testing. According to comments in the source code: to do this, launch the gateway on a nearby host,

SLVoice.exe -p tcp -i 0.0.0.0:44124

and modify the code in SLVoiceClient::stateMachine() to set the host IP address, mDaemonHost.

Logging

The logging for SLVoice is controlled by a viewer variable, VivoxDebugLevel. You can set it directly in your Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\SecondLife\user_settings\settings.xml file

or you can set it from the viewer. To set it from the viewer, you have to enable the Client menu if you haven't already using Ctrl-Alt-D (not to be confused with Ctrl-Alt-Delete). Then select

Client -> Debug Settings

to get the Debug Settings window. In the selection box, hit the triangle to bring up the list of debug variables and select VivoxDebugLevel. In the text entry box, you'll see the current value. Above it is the description, "Logging level to use when launching the Vivox daemon." You can set the level as you like. If you want the output to go somewhere other than the default location, you can enter it in the box as well, for example,

5 -lf myDirectory -lp myPrefix -ls .txt

If <log-folder> is a relative path, it is relative to the directory that SecondLife is running in, ususally C:\Program Files\SecondLife

The default folder is c:/Documents and Settings/<user>/Local Settings/Application Data/Vivox/logs. The default prefix is SLVoice and the default suffix is .txt.

The log file is named <log-file prefix>-<yyyy>-<mm>-<dd><log-file suffix>

The default on September 3, 2007, for example, would be: SLVoice-2007-09-03.txt

The <log-level> must be at least 2 to see INFO messages and 4 to see TRACE messages.

Whenever log level is other than "-1", there is also a log file written to LL_PATH_LOGS, which is usually set to c:/Documents and Settings/<user>/Application Data/SecondLife/logs, with the <log-file prefix> "Connector," that contains log information for the Connector. This logging comes from vivoxsdk.dll which is used by SLVoice.exe. The content does not depend on the log level for SLVoice; the Connector.Create.1 request hardcodes the Connector log level at 10.

There is apparently no Response sent to the viewer for Session.Set3DPosition.1
SLVoice does not log ParticipantPropertiesEvent
SLVoice does not log Account.Logout.1
SLVoice may not log the Response to Connector.InitiateShutdown.1 but when it does it tends to spew tens of thousands (about ten per millisecond) of messages to the log.

17:11:38.988, 0x00001414, INFO , disconnectHandler Client Connection Closed - shutting down

17:11:38.988, 0x00001414, INFO , shutdownGateway Terminating Gateway Process

SLVoice logs commands with added default values for fields not sent by the viewer, for example,

for Account.Login.1 the log includes fields

<EnableBuddiesAndPresence>false</EnableBuddiesAndPresence>

for Connector.Create.1

<AttemptStun>AttemptStunUnspecified</AttemptStun>

for Session.Create.1

<JoinText>false</JoinText>

<PasswordHashAlgorithm>ClearText</PasswordHashAlgorithm>

for Session.Set3DPosition.1

<OrientationType>legacy</OrientationType>

Message Protocol

<---- is a request from the viewer to SLVoice

----> is a response from SLVoice to the viewer

====> is an event notice from SLVoice to the viewer

Login

<---- Aux.GetCaptureDevices.1
<---- Aux.GetRenderDevices.1
<---- Connector.Create.1
----> Aux.GetCaptureDevices.1
----> Aux.GetRenderDevices.1
----> Connector.Create.1
<---- Account.Login.1
----> Account.Login.1
====> LoginStateChangeEvent
<---- Session.Create.1
----> Session.Create.1
====> SessionStateChangeEvent
====> ParticipantStateChangeEvent
====> ParticipantPropertiesEvent
<---- Session.Set3DPosition.1
<---- Connector.MuteLocalMic.1
<---- Connector.MuteLocalSpeaker.1
<---- Connector.SetLocalSpeakerVolume.1
<---- Connector.SetLocalMicVolume.1
<---- Aux.SetCaptureDevice.1
<---- Aux.SetRenderDevice.1
====> ParticipantPropertiesEvent
----> Connector.MuteLocalMic.1
----> Connector.MuteLocalSpeaker.1
----> Connector.SetLocalSpeakerVolume.1
----> Connector.SetLocalMicVolume.1
----> Aux.SetCaptureDevice.1
----> Aux.SetRenderDevice.1

If someone else is already there

====> ParticipantStateChangeEvent
====> ParticipantPropertiesEvent

for each participant

Movement

<---- Session.Set3DPosition.1

many times per second

and if anyone is there

====> ParticipantStateChangeEvent
====> ParticipantPropertiesEvent

for each participant

many times per second

Mute your microphone

<---- Connector.MuteLocalMic.1
----> Connector.MuteLocalMic.1

Adjust the volume of your microphone

<---- Connector.SetLocalSpeakerVolume.1
----> Connector.SetLocalSpeakerVolume.1

many times per second

Mute or adjust participant volume

This first command is internal to SLVoice

<.... Session.SetParticipantMuteForMe.1
<---- Session.SetParticipantVolumeForMe.1
----> Session.SetParticipantVolumeForMe.1

many times per second

Audio Wizard

<---- Aux.GetCaptureDevices.1
<---- Aux.GetRenderDevices.1
----> Aux.GetCaptureDevices.1
<---- Session.Terminate.1
----> Aux.GetRenderDevices.1
====> SessionStateChangeEvent
----> Session.Terminate.1
====> SessionMediaEvent
====> SessionMediaEvent
<---- Aux.CaptureAudioStart.1
----> Aux.CaptureAudioStart.1
<---- Aux.SetMicLevel.1
<---- Aux.SetSpeakerLevel.1
----> Aux.SetMicLevel.1
----> Aux.SetSpeakerLevel.1
====> AuxAudioPropertiesEvent

many times per second

<---- Aux.CaptureAudioStop.1
----> Aux.CaptureAudioStop.1
====> AuxAudioPropertiesEvent
<---- Session.Create.1
----> Session.Create.1
====> SessionStateChangeEvent
====> ParticipantStateChangeEvent
====> ParticipantPropertiesEvent
<---- Connector.MuteLocalMic.1
<---- Connector.SetLocalSpeakerVolume.1
----> Connector.MuteLocalMic.1
----> Connector.SetLocalSpeakerVolume.1
====> ParticipantStateChangeEvent
====> ParticipantPropertiesEvent
<---- Aux.SetRenderDevice.1
----> Aux.SetRenderDevice.1

Logout

<---- Session.Terminate.1
====> SessionStateChangeEvent
----> Session.Terminate.1
<---- Account.Logout.1
<---- Connector.InitiateShutdown.1

We usually disappear before getting the rest

----> Account.Logout.1
====> LoginStateChangeEvent
----> Connector.InitiateShutdown.1

Message Format

Events

These are examples of the Vivox SDK event messages sent to the SecondLife viewer.

AuxAudioPropertiesEvent

</Event>

LoginStateChangeEvent

<AccountHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy</AccountHandle>

</Event>

ParticipantPropertiesEvent

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy2</SessionHandle>

<ParticipantURI>aBcDeFgHiJkLmNoPqRsTuVwXy</ParticipantURI>

<IsLocallyMuted>false</IsLocallyMuted>

<IsModeratorMuted>false</IsModeratorMuted>

</Event>

ParticipantStateChangeEvent

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy2</SessionHandle>

<StatusString>'</StatusString>

<ParticipantURI>aBcDeFgHiJkLmNoPqRsTuVwXy</ParticipantURI>

<AccountName>aBcDeFgHiJkLmNoPqRsTuVwXy</AccountName>

</Event>

SessionMediaEvent

Ignored by the viewer

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy1</SessionHandle>

<HasText>false</HasText>

<HasAudio>false</HasAudio>

<HasVideo>false</HasVideo>

</Event>

SessionNewEvent

Used by p2p

SessionStateChangeEvent

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy0</SessionHandle>

<URI>sip:confctl-505189@bhr.vivox.com</URI>

</Event>

Actions

These are examples of the Vivox SDK commands used by the SecondLife viewer.

The requestId must be unique for each request, but other than that there doesn't appear to be any restrictions on its value.

Each request is followed by three newline characters "\n\n\n" to indicate the end of the message.

Account.ChannelGetList.1

Coded in llvoiceclient.cpp but not used

Account.Login.1

<AccountName>abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy</AccountName>

<AccountPassword>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW</AccountPassword>

<AudioSessionAnswerMode>VerifyAnswer</AudioSessionAnswerMode>

<EnableBuddiesAndPresence>false</EnableBuddiesAndPresence>

</Request>

<AccountHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy</AccountHandle>

</Results>

<AccountName>abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy<AccountName>

<AccountPassword>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW</AccountPassword>

<AudioSessionAnswerMode>VerifyAnswer</AudioSessionAnswerMode>

<EnableBuddiesAndPresence>false</EnableBuddiesAndPresence>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Account.Logout.1

<AccountHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy</AccountHandle>

</Request>

The viewer doesn't get the response before the Connector shuts down

</Results>

<AccountHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy</AccountHandle>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Aux.CaptureAudioStart.1

</Request>

</Results>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Aux.CaptureAudioStop.1

</Results>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Aux.GetCaptureDevices.1

<Device>Realtek HD Front Pink Jack</Device>

</CaptureDevice>

<Device>Realtek HD Digital input</Device>

</CaptureDevice>

<Device>Realtek HD Front Green Jack</Device>

</CaptureDevice>

<Device>Back Line in/Mic, Front Line in</Device>

</CaptureDevice>

</CaptureDevices>

<Device>Realtek HD Front Pink Jack</Device>

</CurrentCaptureDevice>

</Results>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Aux.GetRenderDevices.1

<Device>Realtek HD Audio rear output</Device>

</RenderDevice>

</RenderDevices>

<Device>Realtek HD Audio rear output</Device>

</CurrentRenderDevice>

</Results>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Aux.RenderAudioStart.1

Coded in llvoiceclient.cpp but not used

Aux.RenderAudioStop.1

Coded in llvoiceclient.cpp but not used

Aux.SetCaptureDevice.1

<CaptureDeviceSpecifier>Realtek HD Front Green Jack</CaptureDeviceSpecifier>

</Request>

</Results>

<CaptureDeviceSpecifier>Realtek HD Front Green Jack</CaptureDeviceSpecifier>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Aux.SetMicLevel.1

</Request>

</Results>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Aux.SetRenderDevice.1

<RenderDeviceSpecifier>Realtek HD Audio rear output</RenderDeviceSpecifier>

</Request>

</Results>

<RenderDeviceSpecifier>Realtek HD Audio rear output</RenderDeviceSpecifier>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Aux.SetSpeakerLevel.1

</Request>

</Results>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Connector.Create.1

<AttemptStun>AttemptStunUnspecified</AttemptStun>

<AccountManagementServer>https://www.bhr.vivox.com/api2/</AccountManagementServer>

<Enabled>false</Enabled>

<Folder>C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator\Application Data\SecondLife\logs</Folder>

<FileNamePrefix>Connector</FileNamePrefix>

</Logging>

</Request>

</Results>

<AttemptStun>AttemptStunUnspecified</AttemptStun>

<AccountManagementServer>https://www.bhr.vivox.com/api2/</AccountManagementServer>

<Enabled>false</Enabled>

<Folder>C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator\Application Data\SecondLife\logs</Folder>

<FileNamePrefix>Connector</FileNamePrefix>

</Logging>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Connector.InitiateShutdown.1

</Request>

The viewer doesn't wait for a response

</Results>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Connector.MuteLocalMic.1

</Request>

</Results>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Connector.MuteLocalSpeaker.1

Used only if AudioLevelVoice is 0 at startup

</Request>

</Results>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Connector.SetLocalMicVolume.1

</Request>

</Results>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Connector.SetLocalSpeakerVolume.1

</Request>

</Results>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Session.Connect.1

Used by p2p

Session.Create.1

<AccountHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy</AccountHandle>

<URI>sip:confctl-505189@bhr.vivox.com</URI>

<JoinText>false</JoinText>

<PasswordHashAlgorithm>ClearText</PasswordHashAlgorithm>

</Request>

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy0</SessionHandle>

</Results>

<AccountHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy</AccountHandle>

<URI>sip:confctl-505189@bhr.vivox.com</URI>

<JoinText>false</JoinText>

<PasswordHashAlgorithm>ClearText</PasswordHashAlgorithm>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Session.Set3DPosition.1

When sending a 3D position for speaker and listener, the "listener" is either the avatar position or the camera position. That is, it describes the speaking position and the listening position for this avatar.

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy1</SessionHandle>

<OrientationType>legacy</OrientationType>

</Position>

</Velocity>

</AtOrientation>

</UpOrientation>

</LeftOrientation>

</SpeakerPosition>

</Position>

</Velocity>

</AtOrientation>

</UpOrientation>

</LeftOrientation>

</ListenerPosition>

</Request>

The viewer doesn't get a response

Session.SetParticipantMuteForMe.1

This message is additionally processed internally by SLVoice whenever a Session.SetParticipantVolumeForMe.1 is sent from the viewer.

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy1</SessionHandle>

<ParticipantURI>sip:aBcDeFgHiJkLmNoPqRsTuVwXy@bhr.vivox.com</ParticipantURI>

</Request>

No response is sent to the viewer.

Session.SetParticipantVolumeForMe.1

Used by IM panel and Active Speakers volume control

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy1</SessionHandle>

<ParticipantURI>sip:aBcDeFgHiJkLmNoPqRsTuVwXy@bhr.vivox.com</ParticipantURI>

</Request>

</Results>

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy1</SessionHandle>

<ParticipantURI>sip:aBcDeFgHiJkLmNoPqRsTuVwXy@bhr.vivox.com</ParticipantURI>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Session.Terminate.1

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy0</SessionHandle>

</Request>

</Results>

<SessionHandle>c1_m1000abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy0</SessionHandle>

</Request>

</InputXml>

</Response>

Voice

Frequently Asked Questions

Groups

Settings

Technical

SLVoice

IP Address

Logging

Message Protocol

Login

Movement

Teleporting

Participant enters the area

Participant leaves the area

Speech

Mute your microphone

Adjust the volume of your microphone

Mute or adjust participant volume

Audio Wizard

Logout

Message Format

Events

AuxAudioPropertiesEvent

LoginStateChangeEvent

ParticipantPropertiesEvent

ParticipantStateChangeEvent

SessionMediaEvent

SessionNewEvent

SessionStateChangeEvent

Actions

Account.ChannelGetList.1

Account.Login.1

Account.Logout.1

Aux.CaptureAudioStart.1

Aux.CaptureAudioStop.1

Aux.GetCaptureDevices.1

Aux.GetRenderDevices.1

Aux.RenderAudioStart.1

Aux.RenderAudioStop.1

Aux.SetCaptureDevice.1

Aux.SetMicLevel.1

Aux.SetRenderDevice.1

Aux.SetSpeakerLevel.1

Connector.Create.1

Connector.InitiateShutdown.1

Connector.MuteLocalMic.1

Connector.MuteLocalSpeaker.1

Connector.SetLocalMicVolume.1

Connector.SetLocalSpeakerVolume.1

Session.Connect.1

Session.Create.1

Session.Set3DPosition.1

Session.SetParticipantMuteForMe.1

Session.SetParticipantVolumeForMe.1

Session.Terminate.1

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