Setting Up Voice Chat in FiveM: Complete pma-voice Guide (2026)

Why Voice Chat Matters for Roleplay

Voice communication is the backbone of roleplay. Text chat works for some interactions, but real immersion comes from hearing other players speak with proximity-based audio — voices that get louder as you approach and fade as you walk away.

pma-voice is the most widely used voice chat resource for FiveM in 2026. It's open-source, actively maintained, and provides proximity voice, radio channels, phone calls, and more. This guide covers everything you need to set it up.

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What pma-voice Provides

• Proximity voice — Players hear each other based on distance, with configurable ranges
• Radio channels — Dedicated radio frequencies for organized team communication (police radio, EMS radio, etc.)
• Phone calls — Voice chat between two players regardless of distance
• Voice ranges — Players can toggle between whisper, normal, and shout distances
• Audio indicators — Visual UI showing who is talking and at what range

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Installation

Step 1: Download

Download pma-voice from its GitHub repository. Use the latest release version for stability.

Step 2: Place the Resource

Extract the downloaded files into your server's resources/ folder. The folder should be named pma-voice.

Step 3: Add to server.cfg

ensure pma-voice

Place this line after your framework's ensure line. pma-voice should load after core resources but before gameplay scripts that depend on voice features.

Step 4: Configure the Convars

pma-voice is configured through convars (configuration variables) in your server.cfg:

setr voice_enableUi 1
setr voice_enableProximityCycle 1
setr voice_defaultCycle "GRAVE"
setr voice_defaultVolume 0.3

Key settings:

• voice_enableUi — Shows the voice UI indicator (1 = enabled, 0 = disabled)
• voice_enableProximityCycle — Allows players to cycle through voice ranges (whisper/normal/shout)
• voice_defaultCycle — The keybind for cycling voice range (GRAVE is the tilde key ~)
• voice_defaultVolume — Default voice volume (0.0 to 1.0)

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Voice Ranges

pma-voice supports multiple proximity ranges that players can cycle through:

Range	Distance	Use Case
Whisper	~3 meters	Private conversations, secrets
Normal	~12 meters	Standard conversation
Shout	~32 meters	Yelling across a distance

Players press the configured cycle key (default: tilde ~) to switch between ranges. A UI indicator shows the current range.

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Radio System

The radio system allows players to communicate on specific frequencies regardless of proximity:

How It Works

1. A player selects a radio frequency (e.g., channel 1, channel 155.5)
2. When they hold the radio key (default: N), their voice broadcasts to everyone on the same frequency
3. Other players on that frequency hear the transmission with a radio audio effect

Common Frequency Assignments

• Channel 1 — Police primary
• Channel 2 — Police secondary / tactical
• Channel 3 — EMS / Fire
• Channel 4 — Mechanic dispatch
• Channel 5 and above — Available for custom jobs and organizations

Radio integration typically happens through your phone or radio item script, which calls pma-voice's export functions to join players to channels.

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Phone Integration

pma-voice provides exports for phone call functionality:

• When a phone script initiates a call between two players, it uses pma-voice exports to create a private voice channel between them
• Call audio works regardless of distance
• The phone script handles dialing, ringing, and hanging up — pma-voice handles the actual audio

Most popular phone resources (gcphone, qs-smartphone, lb-phone) have built-in pma-voice integration.

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Troubleshooting

"No one can hear me"

• Check that your microphone is selected as the input device in Windows/macOS sound settings
• Verify pma-voice is loaded (ensure pma-voice in server.cfg)
• Make sure no other voice resource is conflicting (remove mumble-voip or other voice scripts)
• Check that your FiveM voice settings (in the FiveM main menu) have the correct input device selected

"Voice sounds robotic or cuts out"

• This is usually a network issue. Check your server's bandwidth
• Reduce voice range distances if your server has many players in close proximity
• Ensure your server's tick rate isn't dropping (check with resmon)

"Radio doesn't work"

• Verify your phone/radio script is properly calling pma-voice exports
• Check that the player has actually joined a radio frequency
• Confirm the radio key (N by default) isn't conflicting with another keybind

"Voice works in development but not in production"

• Ensure UDP ports are properly forwarded on your production server
• Check that your hosting provider allows UDP traffic on the required ports

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Best Practices

• Test with multiple players before going live — voice issues are hard to catch solo
• Don't install multiple voice resources — Use only pma-voice, remove any other VOIP scripts
• Keep pma-voice updated — Audio quality and performance improve with updates
• Configure ranges for your server type — Racing servers might want longer default ranges; dense city RP might want shorter ones

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Immersive Communication for Your Server

Voice chat transforms your server from a text-based chat room into a living, breathing world. With pma-voice and roleplay tools like Jobs Creator, your players will experience FiveM at its best.

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