bbosen - 2025-04-09

Good News!

We added a lot of permission and Access Control List ("ACL") logic to our mumble server to make all of our mission-related channels work in a more useful heirarchy. As you probably know, within each of our 32 realms, every one of our online missions is allocated three distinct, related mumble channels in an arrangement that can be visualized like this example:

                 ---Realm01M4Blue
Realm01M4 ------|
                 ---Realm01M4Red

As you can see, each mission has a "Parent" channel and two "Child" channels. In the example above, the "Parent" channel is named "Realm01M4", identifying the fourth mission within Realm 01. The "Realm01M4Blue" and "Realm01M4Red" channels are "children" of that "Parent" channel, and are "sibling" channels to one another. (The first is intended for use by BlueTeam players, and the second is intended for the RedTeam.)

Prior to today's Mumble Server enhancements, the family relationships among each set of three channels like this were unsophisticated, and LAC users were required to configure their mumble apps with custom keyboard "shortcuts" to force sensible usage patterns. For example, most of our players have been mapping their "F1" keyboard function key for "Push To Talk On the Current Channel", and they have been mapping their "F2" keyboard function key for "Push To Talk on the Current channel, its Parent Channel, and all of the Parent Channel's children". The result of this is that players have been using "F1" to talk to their team-mates ("TEAMCASTING") and they have been using "F2" to talk to both team-mates and opposition ("MISSIONCASTING").

Under the new arrangement now administered by our enhanced Mumble Server, all of those legacy keyboard mappings are still valid, but they are no longer required, because the Mumble Server now asserts additional new logic as follows:

  • Any voice transmission on any of our mission-related "Parent" channels is also broadcast to its two "Child" channels.
  • Any voice transmission on any of our mission-related "Child" channels is also broadcast on its "Parent channel, but is isolated from its "Sibling" channel.

As a consequence of this change, you no longer need to customize a mumble "F2" shortcut for use when you want to speak to everybody (friend and foe) participating in your mission. When you transmit on your TEAMCAST channel, your voice is heard only by those tuned to that channel (usually this will be your team-mates) and the MISSIONCAST channel. It is isolated from people tuned to the "sibling channel" (which is intended for your opposition). When you transmit on your "MISSIONCAST" channel, your voice is heard by everybody tuned to any of the three channels associated with your current realm and mission. This will include all of your team-mates and all of the opposition.

LAC makes it easy to tune to your own TEAMCAST channel in flight. Just tap "F10". LAC also makes it easy to tune to your MISSIONCAST channel in flight. Just tap "F11". Once in the desired channel, just hold "F1" for "Push-To-Talk" (or if you've customized voice activation with some other keyboard key or if you've tuned it up for activation by sound levels detected thru your microphone, just proceed accordingly).

When you want to make it difficult for your opponents to hear your private, team-oriented plans, just tap F10 to tune to your team's "TEAMCAST" channel and talk. Your team-mates will hear you, and you'll hear anything your team-mates transmit on that channel too. You'll also hear every voice transmission originating in the mission's "MISSIONCAST" (parent) channel, but you'll be isolated from voice transmissions originating from your opposition's TEAMCAST channel.

When you want one or more opponent players to hear your voice, just tap F11 to tune to the "MISSIONCAST" channel matching your current realm and mission. Anything you transmit on that channel will be sent to anybody else tuned to that channel, and to both of its "children" (one for BlueTeam and one for RedTeam). And you'll hear anything anybody says in any of the three channels associated with your current realm and mission.

This new arrangement will be especially useful to people using "plumble" on an Android phone to communicate with LAC players as described HERE, since plumble has no provision for configuring keyboard mappings like those we have been using with "mumble" to configure "F2" for transmission to the "parent" channel and all of its children. With this new server arrangement, there's no need for that: Just let your choice of tuned channel determine whether you're TEAMCASTING or MISSIONCASTING!

If you're curious as to how we enhanced our Mumble Server to assert these new channel heirarchy rules, take a look at THIS thread from our forums:

https://sourceforge.net/p/linuxaircombat/discussion/mumbleandlac/thread/01f26efc96/

 

Last edit: bbosen 2025-04-09