Troubleshooting Voice Chat

If two players are trying to chat together and one or both of them can't hear each other, try these troubleshooting steps.

Check the chat indicators

PlayFab Party's chat indicators can be used to troubleshoot audio problems.

Use PartyLocalChatControl::GetLocalChatIndicator() to inspect the instantaneous audio state of the local chat control. A healthy chat control should return either PartyLocalChatControlChatIndicator::Silent or PartyLocalChatControlChatIndicator::Talking depending on whether the library is detecting voice from the microphone input.

• If PartyLocalChatControlChatIndicator::AudioInputMuted is returned, the chat control's outbound audio stream was previously muted via a call to PartyLocalChatControl::SetAudioInputMuted(true) and the mute must be disabled by calling PartyLocalChatControl::SetAudioInputMuted(false)

• If PartyLocalChatControlChatIndicator::NoAudioInput is returned, either the local chat control's audio input was never set by calling PartyLocalChatControl::SetAudioInputMuted() or the audio input failed to initialize. Continue to the next section for tips on diagnosing audio input initialization failures.

Use PartyLocalChatControl::GetChatIndicator() to inspect the audio input state of a remote chat control, relative to a local chat control.

• If PartyChatControlChatIndicator::Silent is returned while you were expecting to hear audio this might means that there is a problem with the remote audio device or that the chat permissions on the remote device are not configured to send audio to this chat control. Continue to the following section if this sounds like what you are experiencing.

• If PartyChatControlChatIndicator::Talking is returned but you can't still hear any audio, there might be a problem with the local audio output device. Continue to the next section to learn how to check if an audio device is healthy.

• If PartyChatControlChatIndicator::IncomingVoiceDisabled is returned, this means that the local chat control has not had its chat permissions configured to allow audio from the remote chat control. Continue to the chat permission section.

• If PartyChatControlChatIndicator::IncomingCommunicationsMuted is returned, this means that incoming audio has been muted via a previous call to PartyLocalChatControl::SetIncomingAudioMuted(). Call PartyLocalChatControl::SetIncomingAudioMuted() to unmute the remote chat control.

Verify that the audio device is successfully initialized

Shortly after calling PartyLocalChatControl::SetAudioInput() or PartyLocalChatControl::SetAudioOutput() you will receive a PartyLocalChatAudioInputChangedStateChange or a PartyLocalChatAudioOutputChangedStateChange. Both of these state changes will contain information that may help you troubleshoot any issue related to audio devices. These state changes contain a PartyAudioInputState field and a PartyAudioOutputState field that will give you information on the state of the audio device. If the state of the audio device is anything other than Initialized, this means that PlayFab Party was unable to use the desired audio device. The errorDetail field on the state change can also be used to get further information on the situation. Call PartyManager::GetErrorMessage() to get the human readable form of the error detail.

Note

By default, chat controls will not be associated with any audio device. Be sure to call PartyLocalChatControl::SetAudioInput() and PartyLocalChatControl::SetAudioOutput() on all of your chat controls.

Verify that the chat controls have the right chat permissions

Use PartyLocalChatControl::GetPermissions() to look up the PartyChatPermissionOptions between two chat controls. For example, if a user Alice is unable to hear another user Bob, you will want to make sure that Alice has the permission to receive audio from Bob and that Bob has the permission to send audio to Alice.

On Alice's device:

PartyChatPermissionOptions chatPermissions;
PartyError error = localChatControlAlice->GetPermissions(remoteChatControlBob, &chatPermissions);
if (PARTY_SUCCEEDED(error))
{
    if (static_cast<bool>(chatPermissions & PartyChatPermissionOptions::ReceiveAudio))
    {
        printf("Alice can receive audio from Bob!");
    }
}

On Bob's device:

PartyChatPermissionOptions chatPermissions;
PartyError error = localChatControlBob->GetPermissions(remoteChatControlAlice, &chatPermissions);
if (PARTY_SUCCEEDED(error))
{
    if (static_cast<bool>(chatPermissions & PartyChatPermissionOptions::SendAudio))
    {
        printf("Bob can send audio to Alice!");
    }
}

Check default device vs. default communication device in Windows

A frequent point of confusion for audio on Windows is around the concepts of default device and default communications device. Windows supports both concepts, and they can be different devices. PlayFab Party, by design, uses the default communications device in the Windows version of the library when AudioDeviceSelectionType::SystemDefault is passed to PartyLocalChatControl::SetAudioInput or PartyLocalChatControl::SetAudioOutput. Troubleshooting and testing should always be performed in relation to the default communications device.