Steam and microphone help

[rclaxx14]

hey i guess this is for anyone whos familiar with Steam. is it possible to have my mic play only the voice and project all the game's sounds thru the speakers? This is what i want, voice chat thru the mic and game sounds thru the speakers. is that possible? thanks.

[Force Flow]

yes.

However, if your mic is picking up the game's sounds from your speakers, you either need to lower the speaker volume, decrease the microphone gain in the steam microphone options, or use a headset instead.

[rclaxx14]

Sorry i wasnt clear, i am using a headset (that's what i meant by mic). But it's playing all the sound thru the headset and all i want comming from the headset is other peoples' voices. is that possible? Thanks so far.

[Force Flow]

If you fiddle with the sound settings, you can change the receiving volume of other peoples' mics and the game sounds, but other than that, you can't really separate the audio.

[rclaxx14]

So there's no way to take a headset and disable it's playback?

[Hi Ho]

I had the same question and as far as I can tell the answer is no. There does not seem to be a way to have Steam direct the sound output to anything other than the currently selected main speakers whether that be your headset or actual speakers.

The way I got around this is by using Windows Live Messenger for voice comm. It allows me to direct the audio however I please. I use this when I game on my projector in my living room and don't want all of the voices blasting through the speakers. Otherwise I use Steam for voice comm because when I'm sitting at my desk I use headphones for gaming.

Do you have a sound card? What kind of headset do you have (USB, analog)? The way I make it work is by using the onboard sound for voice comm (mic in, heaphone out) and my sound card for everything else.

[rclaxx14]

Originally Posted by Hi Ho I had the same question and as far as I can tell the answer is no. There does not seem to be a way to have Steam direct the sound output to anything other than the currently selected main speakers whether that be your headset or actual speakers. The way I got around this is by using Windows Live Messenger for voice comm. It allows me to direct the audio however I please. I use this when I game on my projector in my living room and don't want all of the voices blasting through the speakers. Otherwise I use Steam for voice comm because when I'm sitting at my desk I use headphones for gaming. Do you have a sound card? What kind of headset do you have (USB, analog)? The way I make it work is by using the onboard sound for voice comm (mic in, heaphone out) and my sound card for everything else.

So Windows Live Messenger allows you to direct where certain sounds come out? Like all I want to do is to be able to talk to my friend in a Steam chat without having to be interupted by grenades and gunfire (or lower the volume of the game). Should I download Windows Live Mesenger and try it? Does my friend need to do that too in order to chat while we game?

I'm using a laptop, and I'm pretty sure I have a sound card (RealTek High Definition Audio??) and the headset I was using was USB.

[Hi Ho]

The RealTek HD Audio is onboard sound but since you have a USB headset that is not a problem.

If you're using Live Messenger then you both need to use it. Live Messenger isn't the only choice. As far as I know, most of the IM programs have the same capability. Skype would work too.

If you use Live Messenger and have a USB headset then you would do the following:

Go to: Tools > Audio and Video Setup

Choose "Custom" from the first drop down menu

Select your USB headset for both the Speaker and Microphone dropdown box

[rclaxx14]

would ooovoo work?

I attached the settings page.

[Hi Ho]

Possibly. I have never used it and from what I've heard it is rather problematic for video chat at least.

[rclaxx14]

I posted the setting page of oovoo right after you replied

[Hi Ho]

It should work fine. Just select your USB headset under "Microphone" and "Speakers for Audio".

[rclaxx14]

Alright thanks. This works better for me cuz my friend already has this on his comp and I don't think the video will be a problem becuase u can turn off the video, which I will do.

[glc]

Oovoo is decent. That's what my stepdaughter uses daily to video/voice chat with her husband in Iraq.