One of the most enjoyable aspects of SAMNet is getting to know other SAMNet community members who share your interests. You can sit back and relax with your friends in the SAMNet Cafe, play games in the Game Room, or even let your geek side show in the Tech Room.
Before you begin chatting, you should adjust your microphone and your headset or speakers to an appropriate level. You will want to make sure you can comfortably be heard, as well as hear others.
The best method for finding the volume adjustment for your microphone will depend on which operating system you use. If you are using Windows XP, open the Run dialogue by holding down the Windows key and pressing the letter R, and typing "sndvol32" without the quotes, and then pressing Enter. In the resulting window, press Alt+P to access the options menu, followed by the letter R to access properties. Next, choose Recording from the radio button to adjust settings. Finally, tab to the slider which allows you to adjust the volume of your microphone. Use your Up or Down Arrow keys to make small adjustments, or your Page Up or Page Down keys to make larger adjustments. A good place to start is around 80%. If you've tested your microphone with people in the chat room, and it is not loud enough to hear even at 100%, tab to the Advanced button in the Volume Adjustment dialogue, and check the box to boost your microphone levels by 20DB.
If you are using Windows Vista, Windows 7, or later, you can access your volume controls by first opening the run dialogue with Windows key+R, and typing "mmsys.cpl" without the quotes, and pressing Enter. In this dialogue, you'll want to alter your recording settings.
To do this, press Control+Tab until the system announces: "Recording Tab." Now, press Tab to find the list of microphones currently on your system, and use your arrow keys to select the microphone whose settings you want to adjust. Next, press the Tab key to find the Properties button, and press the spacebar to activate it. Once inside the Properties Dialogue, press Control+Tab until you find the tab called Levels. Within this dialogue, you'll see a slider which you can adjust with your Up or Down Arrow keys for making small changes, or your Page Up or Page Down keys for larger adjustments. A good place to start is around 80%. If you have tested your microphone with people in the chat room, and it is not loud enough to hear even at 100%, Tab to the Advanced button in the Volume Adjustment dialogue and check the box to boost your microphone levels by 20DB.
Now that your microphone has been configured correctly, you are ready to chat. There are two ways in which you may access SAMNet Voice Chat. The first is to choose the Voice Chat option from SAMNet Home, and then choose the room you'd like to join by pressing Enter on it.
Note that in rooms which already have participants, you will see the room name followed by the number of people chatting in it. The second way you can enter a chat room is by looking in the SAMNet Socializer, which will show all chat rooms that currently have participants. Just press Enter on the chat room you've chosen, and it will open.
When you are ready to speak in a chat room, you may hold down the Enter key on your keyboard and begin speaking. When finished speaking, release the Enter key. The system will play a beep with a higher tone when you are transmitting, and a beep with a lower tone when you are no longer transmitting your voice.
If you would like to know who is in the room with you, just press the number 1 on your keyboard to get a list of users in the room. If you would like to know who's talking, press the number 2 on your keyboard for a list of everyone who is transmitting audio.
Some chat rooms are full duplex, meaning that you can both hear those speaking in the chat room as well as keeping your own microphone transmitting continuously without having to press Enter each time you speak. Each time you enter a full duplex room, you will be prompted whether you would like to enter in full-duplex mode, or in the traditional mode where you press the Enter key to speak. If you are entering a room that is full duplex, it is extremely important that you wear headphones. If you listen to the chat room through your speakers and your microphone is continuously transmitting, each person who speaks will hear a delayed echo of themselves. For this reason, please enter all rooms in Push to Talk mode, and use your Enter key to transmit if you are not wearing headphones. To choose how you'd like to enter a full-duplex room, begin by reading the dialogue which pops up before you can enter the room. This dialogue asks if you are wearing headphones. If you are wearing headphones and wish to enter the room in full duplex, answer Yes to this dialogue. If you are not wearing headphones, or you just prefer not to have your microphone transmitting continuously in the room, answer No in the dialogue.
This information should give you everything you need to start enjoying chats with your fellow SAMNet community members. Whenever you're ready to leave a SAMNet chat room, simply press the Escape key to close the window.