How do I install Simple Voice Chat on my Minecraft server?

Proximity voice chat — talking to players who are standing close to you, just like on the famous voice SMPs — comes to Minecraft through Simple Voice Chat. In this guide you will install Simple Voice Chat on your server (as a Paper plugin or as a Fabric/NeoForge mod), open the extra UDP port that almost everyone forgets and set up groups with passwords. Once you are done, everyone with a microphone can simply talk in-game.

Plugin or mod: which variant do you need?

Simple Voice Chat comes in two flavours; pick the one that matches your server type:

• Paper, Purpur or Spigot — use the Bukkit/Paper plugin; it goes into the plugins folder.
• Fabric or NeoForge — use the mod for your mod loader; it goes into the mods folder.

Important: in both variants, voice chat only works for players who have installed the Simple Voice Chat mod client-side as well (via Fabric, NeoForge or Forge). Players without the mod can usually still join and play, but they will not hear or say anything. Even with the Paper plugin, vanilla players get no voice chat — the plugin simply means you do not need a modded server.

Step 1: Install Simple Voice Chat on your server

1. Download Simple Voice Chat from Modrinth. Pick your server type as the platform (Paper/Spigot or Fabric/NeoForge) and select the exact Minecraft version your server runs.
2. Log in to the MC-Node panel, open your server and go to the Files tab.
3. Upload the .jar file to the plugins folder (plugin variant) or the mods folder (mod variant). Also see our guides on installing a plugin and manually installing a modpack.
4. Restart your server from the Console tab. On startup, Simple Voice Chat creates its configuration file and the console reports that the voice chat server has started.

Step 2: Open the extra UDP port (24454)

This is the step almost everyone misses. The actual voice audio does not travel over the normal server port, but over its own UDP connection — port 24454 by default. If that port is not open, text chat keeps working but voice chat stays silent.

1. Add an extra port to your server. Our article How do I add an extra port? walks you through it.
2. An assigned port is open for both TCP and UDP; only the UDP traffic matters for voice chat, so there is nothing separate to request for UDP.
3. Write down the port number you received. If it is exactly 24454, you are done here. If you got a different number, put it in the config (step 3).

Step 3: Set the port in the voice chat config

1. Go to the Files tab and open the configuration file: plugins/voicechat/voicechat-server.properties (plugin) or config/voicechat/voicechat-server.properties (mod). This file appears after the first start.
2. Find the line port=24454 and replace the number with your assigned port, for example port=25572. If you were assigned exactly 24454, you can leave it as it is.
3. Optional: adjust max_voice_distance=48 to control from how many blocks away players can hear each other.
4. Save the file and restart the server from Console.
5. Have a player with the client mod join and open the voice chat menu (default key V). If there is no error message there and the microphone bar moves, the connection works.

Setting up groups and passwords

1. Check that groups_enabled=true is set in voicechat-server.properties; restart the server after changing it.
2. In-game, players open the group menu with the default key G.
3. Choose to create a group, give it a name and optionally a password. Group members hear each other anywhere on the server, regardless of distance — great for teams or events.
4. Other players join through the same menu; for a password-protected group they enter the password first.

Common problems

• "Voice chat unavailable" — The client cannot reach the UDP port. Check that the extra port was really added, that the number in voicechat-server.properties exactly matches the assigned port, and then restart the server. Also have the player test without a VPN or strict firewall.
• Port checker says "closed" — Most online port checkers only test TCP, while Simple Voice Chat uses UDP. A "closed" result from such a checker tells you nothing about your voice chat; simply test in-game with two players instead.
• Players cannot hear each other, no error shown — Usually the client mod is missing, or the server and client run different versions of Simple Voice Chat. Have everyone install the same version for the correct Minecraft version and use the menu (key V) to check the microphone is not muted.
• Bedrock players via Geyser — Honesty first: players joining from Bedrock through GeyserMC cannot use Simple Voice Chat. The client mod cannot be installed on Bedrock and there is no working workaround. For a mixed community, consider running a Discord voice channel alongside your server.
• Group menu missing — Set groups_enabled=true in the server config and restart the server.

Ready for your own voice SMP

With the plugin or mod installed, the extra UDP port open and the right port number in the config, everything is in place for proximity chat on your server. Still stuck? Open a ticket via our support page and include the error message from the console — we will take a look with you.