Microphone Problem

[delirium_trigger]

Whenever I host a server in Garry's Mod I seem to have a problem with people talking. The server itself does not experience any other lag. Whenever somebody talks it cuts them off from talking every 2-3 seconds. Nobody can say a complete sentence. It is very odd.

I know this is not because of my connection because I can host in other games (HL2, Left 4 Dead) and people talk perfectly fine in my server.

What can cause this, could it be related to ULX? Is there a way to fix this?

[Megiddo]

Never heard of this problem, and shouldn't be anything related to ULX, sorry.

[JamminR]

Though ULX mute command does have a timer when activated, they wouldn't be able to talk for 2-3 seconds.
The timer fires every .3 (about 3 times a second) on the muted player.
Worth trying 'ulx unmute *' from the console, but we (Team Ulysses) seriously doubt that is the issue.

Gmod/Garry may use different (old?) codecs than what the newer games do.
Gmod is, usually, much more bandwidth intensive than the games you mention.
Combine that with any number of codec/audio issues on the server and it may cause that.

Have any other audio mods, HLSS, etc? Look into those too.

[delirium_trigger]

I do not have anything like HLSS and unmute didn't work. If the problem is because of the game's inferior codecs is there a way to replace or change the codecs to optimize sound in the server?

[JamminR]

Don't know. That's just a suggestion.
Again, it may actually be due to bandwidth too. Gmod uses more than any other game most times.
Try Google.
Or (*gasp*) try asking in Facepunch forums "Gmod help"
I wouldn't recommend mentioning 'ulx' though. Too many will try to blame it.
If you remove ULX/Ulib, does the sound issue stop?

Also, some report UTeam breaks voice. Make sure if you are using Uteam that you have sv_alltalk 1 in your server.cfg file.
That really isn't caused by UTeam...see http://forums.ulyssesmod.net/index.php/topic,3297.msg9854.html#msg9854
(If that fixes it, well, technically, Gmod sv_alltalk is broken...you shouldn't even hear 1-2 seconds)

[delirium_trigger]

Well that sucks then. You guys should make a codec plugin or something that would really be usefull to people with average to mid-range bandwidth.

Facepunch... the most unhelpful community I've ever witnessed. They don't respond to ANYTHING. I don't know where else to go for Gmod help. *sigh* 

[delirium_trigger]

Also, would reducing the number of available slots help since reservation of those slots take up bandwidth?

[delirium_trigger]

Actually scratch that. Every 2-3 seconds when I press the tilde key and go to Player List. It says all players are Muted, then it disappears, then says Muted again after 2-3 seconds. Whats causing this? It mutes all players. Even when I unmute with ULX it still over-rides it.

[JamminR]

Definitely not a ULX issue then.
Sounds like you have an exploit or badly done sound script of some sort.

[delirium_trigger]

Is there a plugin that disables mute? I still don't know what's causing the auto mute. I don't know of any scripts or commands that simultaneously mute all players in the server. At the same time, its very frustrating.

If there's no other alternative I'm about to call it quits and rent a server. Blah... know any cheap ones?

[Megiddo]

Why not try taking out all your addons and adding them back in one by one to see which is causing it?

[delirium_trigger]

Tried that, I even cleared out my entire Addons folder and it still was doing it. I'm guessing maybe its a feature of Garry's Mod that is triggered because of an inferior codec that rejects my bandwidth and tries to compensate by muting as a fail safe. I can't think of any other logical reason behind it. I even verified integrity of the game cache just to get all the bases covered. It still does it. 

[Megiddo]

Do you have anything in your garrysmod/lua/autorun folder? Some of those files are garry-files that need to be there, but try clearing it out anyways and seeing if you have the same problem (clear out the 'server' folder within 'autorun' as well).

[JamminR]

because of an inferior codec that rejects my bandwidth

98.9% unlikely.
Steam/Source games use few codecs by default. My theory was just a possibility, and would NOT mute them in game.
It would just make them sound choppy during actual game play... it wouldn't mute them.
Now that you've given the fact they are actually being muted in Gmod, not just randoml silence..codecs wouldn't be at fault for that.

Also, besides what Megiddo is asking, are you running a listen server (server started in gmod?)
Or are you running a dedicated (srcds.exe) game?
If dedicated, can the players still hear each other, just not you?
If that's the case, it's not your server, it's your local copy...some lua or exploit muting it.

[delirium_trigger]

It happens to everybody not just me. I just did a sweep of my entire Garry's Mod folder after thinking about what you guys have been saying and I found out that the problem is the game mode I was hosting. I downloaded a Jail role playing game mode and there's something in that folder that causes mutes when I host. I hosted sandbox just now and there were no muting problems at all.

Thank you very much guys you have been a great deal of help. You guys respond on the same day while Facepunch still hasn't replied in 3 days. Do you guys accept donations because I think you guys deserve it.