Spatialized Blueprint VoiceChat Plugin.

Hello guys,
we are working on a plugin for a new upcoming game project and developed a VoiceChat plugin that we can throw at any of our projects to quickly add VoiceChat to it. The way it works is that you simply add a newly available “VoiceChatComponent” to your actor where you receive Audio/Microfone Data from and a VoiceAudioComponent where you want to play it back.

Features :

  • No engine modifications, pure Plugin.
  • No C++ knowledge needed, all custom C++ functions are exposed to Blueprints.
  • Spatialized VoiceAudioComponent that can be attached to any actor.
  • Lightweight Networking, will only transmit VoiceData to players that are in hearing range. (No multi-casting to just everyone on the server)
  • Support for multiple VoiceChat Channels. (Global, Spatialized/Local area, Clan/Party only)
  • Total control in Blueprints over the VoiceChat Data. (Could support recording, later playback, further altering of VoiceData)
  • Compressed/Uncompressed VoiceData Nodes.

Please let me know if there is any interest in such a plugin and if so what it would be worth to you.

I would really like to have this for a project of mine :slight_smile:

Will you be able to do filters to make voice chat sound like radio?

Considering just how much the built in VOIP system is locked behind private structures and functions in the engine currently (not plugin accessible), this would likely be much appreciated by a lot of people.

It would also likely have better performance than the steam version which has packet saturation issues.

nice! do you have a release date?

I would definitely use this if it will support channels (actually more into guild/parties only)

/thumbsup

Thanks guys, to answer some of the questions :

  • It does support different channels as you have total control over what happens with the voice data and where it is sent to. I’m working on a demo project that will come with channels the local/direct/party. As for filters, you’ll be able to use an audio component so it will have the same features like regular audio files. (Not sure if you can make radio effects out of the box with UE4).

It’ll take aprox. 2 weeks to finish it up as it lacks a documentation/sample project currently.

Sound good ill be bound to use it in my own project thanks.

I would be interested in this one if its has really Lightweight Networking :stuck_out_tongue:

yes please

I’d love that.

I was actually just looking into building something along the lines of ACRE (Arma plugin for teamspeak for radios and proximity chat) so this would be very much appreciated.

Depending on features and ease of use I’d probably be willing to spend 20 to 100 USD on it. Full blown ACRE style support (looks to have most of it, simulating radio interference shouldn’t be that big a deal if there’s a way to hook into playback) would push it to the high end, just proximity chat would push it towards the lower end.

Very interested. I’m working on something similar now for my game, but would be cool if I didn’t have to do it myself haha.

Yeah, the idea was to give you total control over the voicedata - the system really allows you to be creative. I played around with it and had some ideas already how to use it.

Examples & Things i tried so far with it:
A. Player can only talk to a certain channel when picking up a radio and holding right mouse button. (Check if player holds Actor)
B. When talking to a radio the voicedata plays back in his local area AND ONLY to everyone holding the radio. (Same as above but stream to multiple channels and check if receivers have item X)
C. Use VoiceData to make NPCs ‘hear’ the player, the game-world can react to (Use Makenoise-node when receiving TalkingEvent)
D. Store the voice data and play it back later. (It’s a bytearray so you can do whatever you want with the data.)
E. Alter the pitch of the user and make them sound like Mickey Mouse.

In short, it allows you to utilize the microphone of the user in ways that weren’t possible before. I’m polishing the example project currently, the plugin itself works perfectly fine already. Also have to work on the documentation right now. As for pricing, i was thinking about charging 90$ for it, for less i wouldn’t be interested in selling it since i have to take care of updating it every time a new UE4 version is released.
@Vormulac i think you can apply a low/highpass filter on the voicedata and then just play/overlay it by playing whitenoise at the same time.

Yeah i was thinking about using volume curves and noise curves and filters to dynamically model environmental interference. This sounds like a mighty powerful plugin, looking forward to being able to play with it.

This is something I can completely understand and why I haven’t released any plugins myself. For as robust a plugin as you’ve described + support $90 is very friendly. If it’s as good as it sounds you’ll likely get quite a few sales.

This is an integration of mumble or similar via a plugin?
Curious to see how it goes vs the built in system.
You can modify the engine to change the sound component used for VOIP to be processed like any other sound component, but it requires some minor changes to the engine.
Well, it did for us :slight_smile:

Hey hey, just curious if there’re any updates or possible time tables you could share. Really looking forward to checking this out.

Would definitely buy.

I would most definitely be interest in buying this. Right now if available. For 20 pounds or less I will do it this instant.

I would buy as soon as it released. These are exactly the features I would want in my multiplayer projects.