S4PG
Encyclopedia
S4PG is a client–server software package that works with Skype
for Windows
to provide automated VoIP call and Group Instant Messaging
(IM) conferencing functionality. Other VoIP server packages such as Ventrilo
, TeamSpeak
and XFire
have provided this capability for years but some would argue that they have lower audio quality and less mature instant messaging capabilities.
S4PG was founded by a group of online gamers who were avid Skype users that wanted a different feature set than what were available with Ventrilo and Teamspeak. In 2008, they began developing both a server and a client to bring the added functionality to Skype to have different features enabled, such as Push-to-Talk.
games.
When the Skype user has S4PG.Servers added to their contact list, the client has a dedicated set of tools to interface with and control the server. The S4PG-specific functionality in the client provides the users with easy to use controls allowing them to utilize the expanded feature set that the server provides. If the user owns the S4PG.Server instance(s), they are able to fully administrate them, controlling its permissions database
, caller profiles, active calls/conferences, Text To Speech (TTS) events, and more.
S4PG.Client is completely free and will fully work without having S4PG.Server rooms to communicate with. The client also offers a few extra fun and useful tools. See features below.
games. New alpha versions are typically released every month and will auto-update when the user reloads their PLAYXPERT
client. It is expected that S4PG.Client will reach "Beta" status in late Q2 2010 and will be officially publicly announced for a wider audience than the alpha test early adopters.
In Q3 2010 S4PG will re-release a version that does not use PlayXpert and features only basic functions.
should typically be able to easily host several moderately sized (10–15) VoIP conferences.
S4PG.Server has also been successfully run under a Vmware
virtual machine
while a second guest OS played a resource-heavy DirectX game.
ran 15 rooms, each with between 5 to 10 callers (per room) for an approximate total of 112 active users at once. With no other major applications running, the server experienced an average of 17–28% CPU load across all four cores. Each Skype instance averaged 35 MB–40 MB of system memory usage, and each S4PG.Server instance averaged 8 MB–11 MB of system memory usage. The test was conducted using Skype 4.1 beta and S4PG.Server Alpha 0.3.
However, in general testing, a server instance will use as little as 1.2–4 KB
/s with two or three users talking, or up to 12–18kB/s during heavy audio transmission between more users. This is also variable depending on the levels of background noise or other constant audio sources that one or more users are feeding into the call.
With the release of Skype 4.0, the level of bandwidth utilization required for the equivalent or better audio quality (compared to Skype 3.8 and earlier) has been reduced 30%–40%. This is due to Skype's new SILK super-wideband codec
Skype will also vary its audio sample and bit rate
according to the user's CPU and network resources. In the example image to the right, call data for a two person call using Skype 4.2.0.141 is utilizing SILK's
v3 highest sample rate of 24,000 samples per second. The network traffic ranges between 3 kB/s and 4 kB/s (or 6-8 kB/s combined total upload and download). For an audio stream that contains wide-band audio at a continuous rate, Skype will use up to 6 kB/s. However this is rare and the average tends to be 2.5-3.8 kB/s.
(such as key) but it is often buggy (as of release 4.1) and users cannot tell what their mute status is within a game as they can with S4PG.Client.
games. This is accomplished via S4PG's partner PLAYXPERT
, Inc's True Overlay technology.
This feature tends to be most useful for users who have multi-monitor setups and have extra desktop real estate to display their friend's game. However, it can be utilized in game if the player is willing to give up some of his screen real estate.
GameShare is not a streaming video system, it streams grabbed images from the user or their partner. It uses the latest HD Photo file format to create smaller sized, higher quality images to stream to the user's remote friends.
A GameShare receiver (viewer) does not have to be in a game to observe their friend's gaming session. It is possible for a viewer to watch as many of his friends play at once as bandwidth and system resources allow.
standard Text To Speech (TTS) engine on the Windows platform and is used to announce events as configured by the server administrator. For example, "John Smith entered the conference", or "John Smith went on hold and joined room 2".
streaming. This will allow server operators to reach a broader audience and won't require them to be running Skype to listen in on the channel. If the webcast listener has Skype installed they will be able to click a Skype URI
hyperlink which will load Skype and automatically add them to the conference (assuming they are an approved user on the server).
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
to provide automated VoIP call and Group Instant Messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
(IM) conferencing functionality. Other VoIP server packages such as Ventrilo
Ventrilo
Ventrilo is a proprietary VoIP software which includes text chat.The Ventrilo client and server are both available as freeware for use with fewer than 8 people on the same server . The server software is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, or Unix variants such as Linux, Kopi, Solaris,...
, TeamSpeak
TeamSpeak
TeamSpeak is a proprietary Voice over IP software that allows users to speak on a chat channel with other users, much like a telephone conference call. A TeamSpeak user will often wear a headset with an integrated microphone...
and XFire
Xfire
Xfire is a proprietary freeware instant messaging service for gamers, that also serves as a game server browser and has various other features. It is currently available for Microsoft Windows. Xfire was originally developed by Ultimate Arena based in Menlo Park, California...
have provided this capability for years but some would argue that they have lower audio quality and less mature instant messaging capabilities.
S4PG was founded by a group of online gamers who were avid Skype users that wanted a different feature set than what were available with Ventrilo and Teamspeak. In 2008, they began developing both a server and a client to bring the added functionality to Skype to have different features enabled, such as Push-to-Talk.
S4PG.Client
The client's primary purpose is to provide the basic functions that gamers often require to properly use Skype in a gaming environment. In its basic form, it allows gamers to set a Push-to-Talk (PTT) Key, a Mute-Toggle-Key, and provides an interface to control their conversations and VoIP calls while in full screen DirectXDirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
games.
When the Skype user has S4PG.Servers added to their contact list, the client has a dedicated set of tools to interface with and control the server. The S4PG-specific functionality in the client provides the users with easy to use controls allowing them to utilize the expanded feature set that the server provides. If the user owns the S4PG.Server instance(s), they are able to fully administrate them, controlling its permissions database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
, caller profiles, active calls/conferences, Text To Speech (TTS) events, and more.
S4PG.Client is completely free and will fully work without having S4PG.Server rooms to communicate with. The client also offers a few extra fun and useful tools. See features below.
Current release and software status
The alpha S4PG.Client is currently available and includes in-game Skype control for about 75% of DirectXDirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
games. New alpha versions are typically released every month and will auto-update when the user reloads their PLAYXPERT
PlayXpert
PLAYXPERT is an in-game tool set targeted towards gamers. It was built by former Xfire users, who felt it could use improvement. It features several in-game widgets, such as multi-protocol instant messaging, web browsing, a media manager, and others, all of which can be opened in-game, eliminating...
client. It is expected that S4PG.Client will reach "Beta" status in late Q2 2010 and will be officially publicly announced for a wider audience than the alpha test early adopters.
In Q3 2010 S4PG will re-release a version that does not use PlayXpert and features only basic functions.
S4PG.Server
The server's primary purpose is to act as an intelligent, completely automated voice and instant message group conference server. It manages users and how they are routed to new or existing VoIP and IM conferences as configured by the administrator or sub-administrators.Configuration
It is typically configured to run standalone – attaching itself to a dedicated Skype user that the server administrator doesn't typically interact with directly. Server administrators will often configure one or more Skype instances with S4PG.Server(s) controlling them to act as dedicated 'always-on' conference rooms. In the most ideal scenario, a separate PC is used to host the administrator's dedicated servers, but due to Skype 4.2's more efficient threading (and improved Multi-core scaling), a user with a modern dual-core or quad-core CPUCentral processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
should typically be able to easily host several moderately sized (10–15) VoIP conferences.
S4PG.Server has also been successfully run under a Vmware
VMware
VMware, Inc. is a company providing virtualization software founded in 1998 and based in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2004, and operates as a separate software subsidiary ....
virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
while a second guest OS played a resource-heavy DirectX game.
Performance and scaling
In load-testing sessions performed by S4PG developers, an Intel quad-core 3 GHz PC running Windows 7 64-bit with 8 GB of system memoryRandom-access memory
Random access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time. Strictly speaking, modern types of DRAM are therefore not random access, as data is read in...
ran 15 rooms, each with between 5 to 10 callers (per room) for an approximate total of 112 active users at once. With no other major applications running, the server experienced an average of 17–28% CPU load across all four cores. Each Skype instance averaged 35 MB–40 MB of system memory usage, and each S4PG.Server instance averaged 8 MB–11 MB of system memory usage. The test was conducted using Skype 4.1 beta and S4PG.Server Alpha 0.3.
Bandwidth
The exact amount of bandwidth a Skype conference will require is difficult to precisely predict. This is due to some conference members being idle (or on mute), some actively talking, or some feeding background noise into the call (When the "Force PTT" option is not set on the server).However, in general testing, a server instance will use as little as 1.2–4 KB
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
/s with two or three users talking, or up to 12–18kB/s during heavy audio transmission between more users. This is also variable depending on the levels of background noise or other constant audio sources that one or more users are feeding into the call.
With the release of Skype 4.0, the level of bandwidth utilization required for the equivalent or better audio quality (compared to Skype 3.8 and earlier) has been reduced 30%–40%. This is due to Skype's new SILK super-wideband codec
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
Skype will also vary its audio sample and bit rate
Bit rate
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....
according to the user's CPU and network resources. In the example image to the right, call data for a two person call using Skype 4.2.0.141 is utilizing SILK's
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
v3 highest sample rate of 24,000 samples per second. The network traffic ranges between 3 kB/s and 4 kB/s (or 6-8 kB/s combined total upload and download). For an audio stream that contains wide-band audio at a continuous rate, Skype will use up to 6 kB/s. However this is rare and the average tends to be 2.5-3.8 kB/s.
Current release and software status
S4PG.Server is currently in alpha testing with around 200 daily users spanning 12 dedicated instances on a single server. Alpha version 0.5 is currently under heavy development and is scheduled to be released to beta testers at the end of April 2010. The public beta server release date has not been announced but is expected in May 2010.Push-to-Talk (PTT) and Mute-Toggle-Key (MTK)
S4PG.Client provides PTT and MTK functionality that works with any keyboard or mouse key, even extended custom keys that other software often fails to recognize. Skype itself comes with a MTK that requires a modifier keyModifier key
In computing, a modifier key is a special key on a computer keyboard that modifies the normal action of another key when the two are pressed in combination....
(such as key) but it is often buggy (as of release 4.1) and users cannot tell what their mute status is within a game as they can with S4PG.Client.
Instant messaging
S4PG directly interfaces and controls Skype's instant messaging system adding auto group conferencing management and maintenance. When using S4PG.Client's PlayXpert Edition, users also have the ability to converse in-game with AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Sony Station Friends, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and Xfire.In-game overlay
S4PG brings the only complete interfacing and control system for Skype that can be used in full-screen DirectXDirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
games. This is accomplished via S4PG's partner PLAYXPERT
PlayXpert
PLAYXPERT is an in-game tool set targeted towards gamers. It was built by former Xfire users, who felt it could use improvement. It features several in-game widgets, such as multi-protocol instant messaging, web browsing, a media manager, and others, all of which can be opened in-game, eliminating...
, Inc's True Overlay technology.
GameShare
The GameShare feature is a first of its kind system for sharing streaming screenshots of one gamer's screen to one or more other players. This can present a tactical advantage when in multi-player online games. For example, eight players in an online RTS could have four people on each team. The two groups (teams) could start a GameShare session with their Skype/S4PG friends (who are also their teammates) enabling each team to view each others game screenshots. Each friend the user is viewing screenshots with will have individual scaled windows showing screenshots from each.This feature tends to be most useful for users who have multi-monitor setups and have extra desktop real estate to display their friend's game. However, it can be utilized in game if the player is willing to give up some of his screen real estate.
GameShare is not a streaming video system, it streams grabbed images from the user or their partner. It uses the latest HD Photo file format to create smaller sized, higher quality images to stream to the user's remote friends.
A GameShare receiver (viewer) does not have to be in a game to observe their friend's gaming session. It is possible for a viewer to watch as many of his friends play at once as bandwidth and system resources allow.
Automatic Voice Conference Manager
Similar to the way a Teamspeak or Ventrilo Server operates, S4PG.Server acts as an automated call attendant. Other Skype users either call the server, or via the S4PG.Client they click a button telling the server to add them to the desired conference. Based on the per user security settings that the administrator sets up, that user may be granted any number of rights (voice, group IM chat participation, page other contacts, group wide announcements, etc.). It is possible to host up to 23 callers (+host = 24) per server instance. This is a limitation that may not be desired by players of certain types of games that require more than 24 callers at once. For the majority of online gamers 24 members is more than enough, especially if the server administrator has set up multiple rooms.Text-To-Speech Event Engine
The server is fully integrated with any SAPISpeech Application Programming Interface
The Speech Application Programming Interface or SAPI is an API developed by Microsoft to allow the use of speech recognition and speech synthesis within Windows applications. To date, a number of versions of the API have been released, which have shipped either as part of a Speech SDK, or as part...
standard Text To Speech (TTS) engine on the Windows platform and is used to announce events as configured by the server administrator. For example, "John Smith entered the conference", or "John Smith went on hold and joined room 2".
Public Phone Number Auto-Conferencing
Unlike its competitors, S4PG.Server can be configured with SkypeIN by purchasing the option from Skype directly. Using this, a S4PG.Server administrator could enable their room to be callable over standard PSTN phone numbers. These PSTN numbers could even be located in different countries or have multiple PSTN numbers in various states and countries.Skypecast-like functionality
On September 1, 2008 Skype discontinued its very popular free Skypecast public service. S4PG.Server will be the first product allowing the Skype community to create their own "Skypecast-like" (as described by S4PG on their website) rooms that will feature some of the functionality Skype's service provided. S4PG eventually plans to offer a public rooms directory via their own website as well as partner websites.Streaming Audio Webcast
Expected in version 1.2 of S4PG.Server, users will be able to stream the audio from their conferences over the web via webcastWebcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
streaming. This will allow server operators to reach a broader audience and won't require them to be running Skype to listen in on the channel. If the webcast listener has Skype installed they will be able to click a Skype URI
URI scheme
In the field of computer networking, a URI scheme is the top level of the Uniform Resource Identifier naming structure. All URIs and absolute URI references are formed with a scheme name, followed by a colon character , and the remainder of the URI called the scheme-specific part...
hyperlink which will load Skype and automatically add them to the conference (assuming they are an approved user on the server).