Chat over Foundry VTT
Warning: While in beta, this feature will only be available to users in North American and EU servers.
FoundryVTT offers a native audio/video chat function within the software. For the most part, this works great for those using it.
However, by hosting audio/video on a separate server, we’ve found that users can have a more reliable audio experience, and a more customizable one as well. As a result, we LiveKit servers to our World Builder users. Users interested in this feature can upgrade here. Here’s how to use our LiveKit integration!
How to set up LiveKit
- Upgrade to the World Builder tier, if you have not done so already.
- Install the LiveKit AVClient module, and restart any active servers.
- Launch and join a world you wish to enable LiveKit in.
- Navigate to your Game Settings
tab on the right-hand side.
- Select the “Manage Modules” button.
- Enable the LiveKit AVClient module, and select “Save Module Settings”.
- Navigate to your Game Settings tab again, and select “Configure Settings”.
- Select “Configure Audio/Video”.
- Navigate to the Server tab in the popup menu.
- Change your LiveKit server to “The Forge”. You’ve now enabled LiveKit on The Forge!
Features
The LiveKit AV Client module is created and maintained by At the Tavern, a team building a growing collection of products and services to help you improve your communities. We list the major features of the LiveKit AVClient below.
Increased Reliability
- LiveKit is usually more reliable, including where firewalls would prove problematic for the vanilla Foundry audio/video integration.
- By passing the audio/video through the LiveKit signalling server, the bandwidth required is greatly reduced.
- LiveKit will actively and automatically reduce bandwidth when a player isn’t talking, or their devices are struggling, ensuring optimal performance.
Breakout Rooms
- Allows the DM to right-click on players and begin a separate chat by selecting “Start A/V breakout”. Perfect for when you split the party, or want to speak as a player’s evil warlock patron!
- Allows you to invite more people into an existing room, or form even more breakout rooms!
Expanded UI
- Adds an external window where you can configure audio/video in a separate tab.
- Indicates when players are having difficulties receiving/transmitting audio or video over LiveKit.