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Integrated Voice and Video Troubleshooting

Roll20 is interested in bringing people around tabletop games (among others). To facilitate that purpose, we've integrated video and voice chat. The purpose of this document is to provide assistance with troubleshooting if issues arise.

Integrated Voice and Video Bandwidth Requirements

Roll20's Integrated Voice and Video utilizes WebRTC. WebRTC can only be used in web browsers that natively support it. Roll20's officially supported browsers, Chrome and Firefox, are both compatible.

Integrated Voice and Video runs on a peer-to-peer framework which means that every additional player in a call will add to the bandwidth requirements for that game for a stable experience. For reference, Integrated Voice and Video should be able to handle a 5 person call on most systems.

Check Your Device

In all cases where you may be encountering sudden audio or video issues, it is always worthwhile to check your devices first.

  • Check in a different browser (i.e. Firefox instead of Chrome)
  • Check with a different software (i.e. Discord, Google Meets, Zoom, etc.)

This can help diagnose certain issues and in the case of browsers provide an immediate workaround while pursing other troubleshooting steps.

Check Audio and Video Settings 

If you or your players are experiencing issues with a call, the first thing everyone should check is the Audio and Video section under the My Settings tab of the Right-side Menu.

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Chat Tech

The GM should have Chat Tech set to Integrated Voice and Video selected. If Chat Tech is set to None (no video/audio) a call will not initiate connections between players.

If you are still using the Legacy Roll20 WebRTC option and are still suffering audio and video problems, we recommend swapping over to the more modern Integrated Voice and Video option.

Broadcast and Receive Settings

Everyone (GM and Players) should check their settings for Others can hear or see and I can hear or see to check if the settings have been unintentionally disabled.

Output and Input Sources

Check that the correct devices are being used for Audio Input Source (your microphone) and Video Input Source (your webcam). Note that the Audio Output Source drop-down menu is not available unless you have joined a call.

Check Camera Pause and Microphone Mute

On your portrait within the game, you can hover to see options appear for muting your microphone and pausing your camera. Ensure that neither effect is active by toggling them.

Attempt to Reconnect

Integrated Voice and Video offers two different ways to reconnect to a call. You can either do a global reconnect (where you reconnect with everyone else in the call all at once) or an individual reconnect which allows for individual connections to be restarted.

If you are requiring a reconnect it is typically indicative of a network level issue. It may take a few attempts to succeed in a reconnect. If you are still having trouble after a few tries proceed to the Network and Bandwidth Settings section.

Individual Reconnect

If you are only have an issue with one other person in the call you can individually reestablish your connection by selecting the "reconnect" button located in the top right of the players portrait. This will cause the connection to refresh between both of you.

Global Reconnect

If you or a player are having issues seeing or hearing multiple people or everyone within a call you can use the Global Reconnect option to simultaneous refresh those connections. To do this navigate to the Settings tab of the Right-side menu and expand the Audio and Video section; once here, you can click the Reconnect button.

Refresh the page

Refreshing the page will mimic reconnects in many cases but can also help clear potential other transient issues which may have been present. You can also attempt via "Shift+F5" which allows for a page reload while also clearing the cache for the page.

Browser Settings

At present, Roll20 only fully supports the most recent versions of Firefox and Chrome web browsers for our VTT. Other browsers may be able to handle Integrated Voice and Video with little to no issues, but we can't guarantee you will not encounter any issues.

Check if the site/tab is muted

While on the VTT, right-click the tab to access the context menu. Ensure that the Mute Site/Tab option is not enabled. If it IS enabled, you will need to select the option Unmute Site/Tab.

Check your browser audio and video permissions

When the VTT loads for the first time, you will be asked to Allow or Block permissions. Selecting Allow should enable your devices to be used within a Roll20 game/call. The below outlines what to do if you previously blocked permission or it were not prompted.

Chrome Permissions
  1. Select the "Lock" icon on the left side of the URL/search bar
  2. Ensure that Camera and Microphone are toggled to "on"
  3. Reload the page

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Firefox Permissions

  1. Select the permissions icon on the left side of the URL/search bar
  2. Click the permissions to clear them
  3. Reload the page
  4. Choose the "allow" options

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Check your browser version

Updating Chrome

  1. Select the More Button (vertical row of three dots icon) in the upper right hand corner.
  2. Select the Help option from the resulting drop down menu.
  3. Select About Google Chrome option from the secondary drop down menu that appears.
  4. Allow Chrome to update then relaunch the browser

Updating Firefox

  1. Select the Menu Button (three horizontal lines icon) in the upper right hand corner.
  2. Select Help at the bottom of the drop down menu.
  3. Select About Firefox from the resulting menu.
  4. Firefox will tell you your current browser version and automatically prompt an update to the latest stable version if you're not using it. Click the Restart to Update button if necessary.

Clear your browser's Cache

Chrome Cache

  1. Select the Menu Button (three horizontal lines) in the upper right hand corner.
  2. Select More Tools from the dropdown.
  3. Select Clear browsing data from the new options.
  4. From the "Time range" drop down select All time option.
  5. Check both Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
  6. Select Clear Data button.

Firefox Cache

  1. Select the Menu Button (three horizontal lines) in the upper right hand corner.
  2. Select Settings from the drop down menu.
  3. Select Privacy and Security from the left side menu
  4. Scroll to the Cookies and Site Data section
  5. Select Clear Data
  6. Check both Cookies and Site Data and Cached Web Content
  7. Select Clear

Unblock WebRTC (VPNs/Browser)

Roll20 utilizes a peer-to-peer WebRTC system to enable Integrated Voice & Video.  If you are having trouble connecting, it may be that you are hiding or preventing WebRTC from accessing your IP address. In order to properly connect to everyone within a call you must ensure that WebRTC is not blocked.

VPNs

If you are using a VPN, we recommend trying the following:

  • Ensure that roll20.net and app.roll20.net are allowed within your VPN for WebRTC access
  • Disable WebRTC blocks within your VPN
  • Disable your VPN

Browsers

If you are using Chrome and are blocking WebRTC, it is most likely through the use of an extension such as "WebRTC Leak Prevent" -- in such cases we recommend disabling this extension while attempting to use Roll20's Integrated Voice and Video.

If you are using Firefox, you can do the following:

  1. Navigate to "about:config" via your address bar
  2. Click "Accept the risk and continue"
  3. Click "show all"
  4. In the search bar, enter "media.peerconnection.enabled"
  5. Ensure that the setting is set to "true" via the toggle on the right hand side

Hardware Acceleration and Video Encoding

First, we recommend making sure that Hardware Acceleration is enabled within your browser, you can do that by following these steps:

Enable Hardware Acceleration within Chrome:

  1. Navigate to "chrome://settings/system" in your URL bar
  2. Ensure the setting "Use hardware acceleration when available" is enabled

Enable Hardware Acceleration within Firefox:

  1. Navigate to "about:preferences#general" in your URL bar
  2. Scroll to the "Performance" section
  3. Ensure the setting "Use hardware acceleration when available" is enabled
  4. To check this, you may need to check/uncheck the "Use recommended performance settings" option.

If you are still having issues, you may need to check and toggle your browsers Video encoding settings.

To check Chrome:

  1. Navigate to "chrome://gpu/" in your URL bar
  2. Under "Graphics Feature Status" at the top, check the "Video Decode" and "Video Encode" settings -- they should both say "Hardware accelerated"
  3. IF "Video Decode" says "Disabled" go to chrome://flags/#disable-accelerated-video-encode  and toggle the setting.

To check Firefox:

  1. Navigate to "about:support" in your URL bar
  2. Search for "HARDWARE_VIDEO_DECODING", "VP8_HW_DECODE" and/or "VP9_HW_DECODE"
  3. Ensure they are set to "Default" and/or "Available"
  4. IF they are not available, Navigate to "about:config" via your address bar
  5. Click "Accept the risk and continue"
  6. Click "show all"
  7. In the search bar, enter "media.hardware-video-decoding.enabled"
  8. Ensure that the setting is set to "true" via the toggle on the right hand side

Network and Bandwidth Settings

Perform a Bandwidth Test

Bandwidth usage for Integrated Voice and Video can vary based on a variety of factors (Browser, hardware, connection, etc.). Roll20 recommends that you use high-speed internet (Cable or better) while utilizing Integrated Voice and Video.

You can take a bandwidth speed test from OOKLA’s Browser-based Speedtest. You will want to run this test in the usual environment you normally play your games on Roll20 and have a Roll20 game currently open.

  1. Once Speednet's home page loads, click the central "GO" button.
  2. Allow the test to run. This process can take a couple minutes to complete.
  3. Once it's finished, Speedtest will give you your download and upload rate in megabits per second (Mbps).

If you are noticing that your bandwidth is low or you are still seeing some general slowdowns you may need to try the following:

Change your settings

In cases where performance or bandwidth are a problem, a quick solution is to disable the video portion of the call. You can do this by navigating to the Audio and Video section under the My Settings tab of the Right-side Menu; From here select Voice for both Others can hear or see and I can hear or see. This will limit the amount of bandwidth that Roll20 will attempt to use at one time.

Attempt via a different connection

Sometimes using a different device or connecting via ethernet as opposed to wireless can make a large difference.

Check security or VPN settings

Some VPN services can have an impact on internet speeds which may impact your experience while in a Roll20 call. We recommend experimenting with these settings to find what works best for your game.

Contact your ISP

If your speeds are lower than advertised or you simply don't have enough to meet the requirements for Integrated Voice and Video it may require reaching out to them directly for a solution.

WebRTC Compatibility Test

Alternatively is to run a test of your webcam and mic through whereby.com. This website is also a Peer-to-Peer WebRTC service that can have up to four users in a conference call.

Filing a Bug Report

If none of the above helped to resolve your issues, please contact our customer support here being sure to include information onw the steps you have taken thus far so we can pick right back up with you!

Further, please provide the following information as well

  • Operating System
  • Browser and Version
  • Any VPNs Currently Enabled
  • Description of the Issue
  • WebRTC Debug Log (Click the "Download WebRTC Debug Log" button under the Audio and Video section of the My Settings tab)
  • Your average Download and Upload speeds from the above Bandwidth Test.
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