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Let me start by stating that I have not played any online games yet. I am experimenting with/learning Roll 20 for a non PFS project, but it looks intriguing. I am possibly interested in trying out PFS-online at some point in the future.
Having messed around with Roll20 and its inherent voice and video chat, I was wondering why people are posting scenarios on here that use Roll20 AND Google Hangouts. What are people getting via G+ that they aren’t getting with Roll20 by itself? The answer might be obvious to those people playing, but I was curious, since my VERY LIMITED experience with Roll20 seems to cover everything you need to play and run a standard PFS session.
Thanks for taking the time to answer this n00b question.
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My understanding is that the voice chat leaves something to be desired in Roll20's voice compared to G+ or Skype which is designed for it. I can't remember if it's to do with call quality or muting or something else.
Really, give Roll20 on its own a go and see for yourself. If it works for you, disregard what anyone else is doing. And let us know!
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Back in the day, Roll20 was notorious for cutting out when bandwidth got high. This meant a lot of lag between connections at certain times of the day. You can't chat in text, can't use voice or video (yes, Roll20 allows video), and certainly can't use the tabletop.
Using G+ allows you to keep talking while Roll20 gets fixed, usually taking anywhere between 5-20 minutes, sometimes longer.
G+ is a reliable voice-chat system which, as indicated, can interface to some degree with Roll20 (though I personally never used that interface). Additionally, it is free and can be as bandwidth-hogging as you want it to be with video and effects to your heart's content.
I cannot speak to the current state of Roll20's voice and video options as most are still in the habit of using G+, self included. But it is pretty much not putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. If one fails, you already have a contingency.
Does G+ have its drawbacks? Of course. Sometimes it just lags, mutes, or up and kicks you out. But at least it is bearable and/or infrequent.
For me, it's mostly because I know how Google Hangouts works, so using it is easier than figuring out voice chat in Roll20.
Indeed, based on some of the comments here, it seems that switching might be a bad idea.
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Thanks for all the responses! As I said we're in early testing of Roll20 and I was curious. I was a bit surprised to see all the posts for games that were using 2 different systems and wanted to know what the deal was. We got voice and video to work just fine in a simple 2 person test (my son is overseas for a few months).
Currently all my PFS action has been in person (mostly gaming stores, and a few home games) but the extra convenience of playing some random weeknight from my living room (for example) is intriguing.
Venture-Agent, Nevada—Las Vegas
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Roll20's voice support has, supposedly, gotten better, but when I first started, it was, pretty much, kill the voice/video in Roll20 and use Google or Skype.
It also helps when something kicks Roll20 past their threshold, and your game interface goes wonky. Red box saying no connection, someone using extensive and intensive Dynamic Lighting which slows the game to a crawl, one of their servers crashing, or, as has happened, mainly during things like one of the early PFS Game Days, the sheer number of simultaneous games overwhelming their servers wholesale.
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The thing that Hangouts does that drives me nuts is that it sometimes will turn the gain way down on one person when it things more than one person is talking. It tries to "guess" which one everybody wants to hear (I suspect), and it doesn't always guess very well. As a result, sometimes the person you want to hear fades away and you can't hear them any more.
I'm not sure exactly where this is happening; it may be some sort of "background nose vs. speech" detection in the client, or it may be something server-side. But, it is occasionally very irritating.
I haven't used Roll20's Voice.
I've had very good luck with Mumble, with one exception -- Mumble doesn't seem to do echo cancellation very well. If everybody is using a headset, then it works quite well. But, if somebody is using speakers and a mic, then you get echo loops where you hear what you're saying echoed back with a delay because somebody else's mic pics up what their speakers say.
(In my experience, people are far more understandable on Google Hangouts when they use headsets as well. It works with mics and speakers, and sometimes people across the room, but people sound so much better when they use an actual headset.)
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The only bad thing about google hangouts is starting the damn thing for the first time. It doesn't exist as a program, or an ap, and google for some ungodly reason will link you to 50 pages about how great it is but not any of the "here's the damn chatroom" pages.
Clicking here should prompt the download and get it ready.
Rutabaga kumquat minotaur
Venture-Agent, Georgia—Atlanta
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Mumble is, by far, my favorite client and service for voice in game play. If there's a Pathfinder or Starfinder, with voice on a mumble server, and dice rolling happening on rolz.org or an irc server, I'd love to learn of it! For players who are bline (myself included), mumble and irc would be a nearly-ideal setup! My PFS experience has all been in person at game stores. This is great, but, getting an online fix would be a nice addition.
Many of the current online games have moved to Discord for the audio. Would that meet your needs as well as Mumble? The dice rolls often happen on the Roll20 server, but GMs may be flexible.