# Set up Simple Voice Chat on your server

> Proximity voice chat on a FadeHost Minecraft server: install the plugin or mod, give it a port, and get players talking.

Source: https://fadehost.com/docs/simple-voice-chat/

Simple Voice Chat adds proximity voice to a Minecraft server. It runs as a plugin on Paper, Purpur and Spigot, and as a mod on Fabric, Forge and NeoForge. Voice travels over its own UDP port, and that port is the one thing you have to set up by hand on a hosted server. Everything else works out of the box.

## 1. Install it

- **Plugin servers (Paper, Purpur, Spigot):** open the **Resources** tab, choose **Plugins**, search for "Simple Voice Chat" and press **Install**.
- **Modded servers (Fabric, Forge, NeoForge):** open the **Resources** tab, choose **Mods**, search for "Simple Voice Chat" and press **Install**.

Restart the server once. The first start writes the config file you edit in the next step.

Players need the Simple Voice Chat mod on their own game too (Fabric, Forge or NeoForge, matching their Minecraft version). Without it they can still join a plugin server as usual, they just will not hear anyone. Bedrock players who join through crossplay cannot use voice chat.

## 2. Give it a port

By default the voice chat listens on port 24454. On a hosted server only the ports assigned to your server reach the internet, so a default install shows a "voice chat connection failed" message to everyone until you change the port. Pick one of the two ways below.

### The clean way: a port allocation

1. Open **Settings**, then **Network**, and create a **Port Allocation**. The panel assigns a port number. Copy it.
2. Open the **Files** tab and edit the voice chat config:
   - plugin servers: `plugins/voicechat/voicechat-server.properties`
   - modded servers: `config/voicechat/voicechat-server.properties`
3. Set `port=` to the allocated number and leave `voice_host=` empty:

```properties
port=31234
voice_host=
```

4. Save and restart the server.

Allocated ports are opened for both TCP and UDP, so the voice chat is reachable right away. Free tier servers have no port allocations; if you are on the free tier, or the panel says your port quota is reached, use the next method instead.

### Without an allocation: share the game port

Your Minecraft port also accepts UDP, so the voice chat can ride on it. In the same config file set the port to the server's internal game port and tell clients the public address:

```properties
port=25565
voice_host=eu1.fadehost.net:26253
```

Replace `eu1.fadehost.net:26253` with your server's address exactly as the panel shows it on the server page, including the port. Save and restart.

## 3. Check it works

1. Join with a client that has the Simple Voice Chat mod installed.
2. Press the voice chat key (V by default) to open the voice menu. A green microphone means you are connected.
3. If the client shows "voice chat connection failed" or "voice chat not available", the port is not reachable: re-read the config file, make sure the server was restarted after the change, and check that the port in the file matches the allocation.

## Good to know

- Keep the config file's other settings as they are unless you know what they do. `bind_address=` stays empty.
- If you move the server to another region, its ports can change. Repeat step 2 after a migration.
- Player groups, whisper and the push-to-talk key are client-side settings inside the voice chat menu, nothing to configure on the server.