GridTalk

An in-game overlay for Assetto Corsa that shows who is in your TeamSpeak channel and who is talking right now.

• Everyone in your current TeamSpeak channel, with a red/green light that turns green while they transmit. Active speakers' names go bold; your own name is marked "(you)".
• Updates instantly when someone starts or stops talking, joins, leaves, or is renamed. If a network update is missed, it corrects itself within a second.
• The window sizes itself to the channel (up to 24 names) and stays small and translucent.

GridTalk has two parts that talk to each other over your own PC only (127.0.0.1, UDP port 9999). Nothing is sent over the internet.

1. The GridTalk app draws the overlay in Assetto Corsa. Everyone needs it.
2. A TeamSpeak connector reports your channel to the overlay. Which one you need depends on your TeamSpeak version:

Your TeamSpeak	Connector	Download
TeamSpeak 3	Assetto Corsa Notifier, a TeamSpeak plugin	AssettoCorsaNotifier-<version>.ts3_plugin
TeamSpeak 5 or 6	GridTalk TS6 Relay, a small tray app	GridTalk-TS6-Relay-<version>.exe

You only need one connector. TeamSpeak 3 users don't need the TS6 Relay, and TeamSpeak 5 and 6 can't load TeamSpeak 3 plugins. Not sure which you have? Look at the version number in TeamSpeak's About window or in Windows' Settings → Apps → Installed apps: it starts with 3, 5 or 6.

Requirements

• Windows.
• One of:
  • 64-bit TeamSpeak 3 client (3.6.x; plugin API 26), or
  • TeamSpeak 5 or 6, with Remote Apps enabled in TeamSpeak's Settings → Remote Apps (it is on by default).
• Assetto Corsa (works with or without Content Manager).

Install

From the latest release, download GridTalk-<version>.zip and the connector for your TeamSpeak (see the table above).

1. The Assetto Corsa app (everyone)

1. Extract GridTalk-<version>.zip into your Assetto Corsa folder (for Steam, usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\assettocorsa). This creates apps\python\GridTalk. Content Manager users can drag the zip onto Content Manager instead.
2. Tick GridTalk in the Python apps list (Content Manager: Settings → Assetto Corsa → Python apps; original launcher: Options → General → UI Modules). In a session, open GridTalk from the apps bar on the right of the screen.

2a. TeamSpeak 3: the plugin

Close TeamSpeak, then double-click AssettoCorsaNotifier-<version>.ts3_plugin. TeamSpeak's installer opens and warns that the package is unsigned; continue to install. Start TeamSpeak and check that Assetto Corsa Notifier is enabled under Tools → Options → Addons. That's all: the plugin runs whenever TeamSpeak does.

Installing the TeamSpeak 3 plugin by hand

A .ts3_plugin file is a zip. Rename it to .zip, then copy plugins\assetto_corsa_notifier.dll into %APPDATA%\TS3Client\plugins and restart TeamSpeak.

2b. TeamSpeak 5 or 6: the TS6 Relay

TeamSpeak 5 and 6 don't support plugins like TeamSpeak 3 did. Instead, the GridTalk TS6 Relay is a small program (about 250 KB, a few MB of memory, no installer) that reads your channel through TeamSpeak's Remote Apps feature and passes it to the overlay.

1. Save GridTalk-TS6-Relay-<version>.exe somewhere permanent, for example Documents\GridTalk, and double-click it. Windows may warn that the file is unsigned; choose More info → Run anyway.
2. TeamSpeak asks whether to allow GridTalk as a Remote App. Allow it. You're only asked once.
3. The relay has no window. It sits in the notification area as a GridTalk icon (Windows may tuck it under the ^ arrow; drag it onto the taskbar to keep it visible). The icon's lamp turns green while your channel is being sent to the overlay and is grey otherwise; hover over it to see why.
4. Click the icon and tick Start with Windows so the relay runs automatically from now on. Otherwise, start it yourself before racing.

The relay and TeamSpeak can be started in either order: the relay waits for TeamSpeak and reconnects if TeamSpeak restarts. To stop it, click the icon and choose Exit.

Upgrading

Download the new files and repeat step 1, then 2a or 2b; the new files replace the old ones. For the TS6 Relay, choose Exit from its icon before replacing the .exe. If the new file has a different name or location, tick Start with Windows again on the new copy.

Uninstall

• Assetto Corsa app: delete apps\python\GridTalk from the Assetto Corsa folder.
• TeamSpeak 3 plugin: remove it in TeamSpeak's Addons page.
• TS6 Relay: click its icon, untick Start with Windows and choose Exit. Delete the .exe and the %APPDATA%\GridTalk folder, and remove GridTalk under TeamSpeak's Settings → Remote Apps.

Options

In Content Manager, open Settings → Assetto Corsa → Python app settings → GridTalk. Changes apply the next time you start a session.

Option	What it does
Show title	Turn off to hide the "GridTalk" title text. The bar still appears when you hover the window, so you can drag it.
Background opacity	0% (fully transparent) to 100%. Only the grey window background changes; the name pills do not. Default 40%.
Speaking hold	Keeps someone green for up to 10 extra seconds after they stop talking, so a short word is not missed. Default 0 (off).
App scale	Resizes the overlay (names, lamps and spacing) from 50% to 200%. Default 100%.

Aliases

The Aliases page, shown after the main options, lists the people GridTalk has seen, so it grows as you meet people (up to 200). Type a name like "Simon" in someone's Alias box and the overlay shows that instead; leave it empty to keep their real name. Changes are picked up within a second or two while a session is running.

Aliases belong to a TeamSpeak display name, so if someone renames themselves they need a new alias. Once the list is full the oldest names without an alias are dropped.

Without Content Manager, edit apps\python\GridTalk\config\GridTalk.ini (copy the lines from GridTalk_defaults.ini) or GridTalk_Aliases.ini in the same folder.

Troubleshooting

The overlay shows a status line when it isn't displaying a normal roster:

Status	Meaning
Waiting for voice sender	Nothing received yet. Is TeamSpeak running, with the plugin enabled (TeamSpeak 3) or the TS6 Relay running (TeamSpeak 5/6)?
Voice sender disconnected	TeamSpeak is running but not connected to a server.
Voice connection lost	No updates for five seconds (TeamSpeak closed, the plugin disabled, or the TS6 Relay exited). Speaking lights are cleared.
Channel is empty	Connected, but the voice app reported an empty channel.
UDP port unavailable: 9999 (retrying)	Another program is using port 9999. GridTalk keeps retrying every three seconds.
Showing 24 of N users	Large channel; only the first 24 names are shown.

GridTalk TS6 Relay (TeamSpeak 5/6):

• Allow GridTalk in TeamSpeak (Remote Apps) in the overlay means the relay is waiting for you to approve it in TeamSpeak.
• Nothing at all in the overlay: check the relay's icon is in the notification area, and that Remote Apps is on in TeamSpeak's settings.
• The tray icon's lamp is green while the relay is sending your channel and grey otherwise; its tooltip says why. Its log is %APPDATA%\GridTalk\relay.log; it is rewritten each time the relay starts.
• If you clicked Deny in TeamSpeak's prompt, the relay's icon says it is not allowed. It keeps trying, waiting longer each time (up to five minutes), so it doesn't nag. TeamSpeak may keep refusing GridTalk after a Deny; restarting TeamSpeak and then the relay brings the prompt back.
• With several server tabs open, the relay follows the tab whose microphone is active.

Logs:

• TeamSpeak 3: Tools → Client Log shows plugin startup and any send errors.
• Assetto Corsa: Documents\Assetto Corsa\logs\py_log.txt shows GridTalk startup and receive errors.
• With Assetto Corsa closed, python tools/listen.py prints the packets TeamSpeak is sending.

Limitations: only people in your current channel of the active TeamSpeak tab are shown. Names are TeamSpeak names and aren't matched to cars. Speaking while your microphone is muted is ignored.

Other voice apps

The overlay doesn't depend on TeamSpeak. Any program can feed it by sending small JSON messages to 127.0.0.1:9999. The sender protocol, JSON Schema and example packets describe the format. A Discord bridge is not included yet.

Building from source

Requires Windows, CMake 3.20+, Visual Studio C++ build tools, Python 3, and the TeamSpeak plugin SDK at the pinned revision:

git clone https://github.com/teamspeak/ts3client-pluginsdk.git sdk
git -C sdk checkout 4aa90a53aa150cbf81e13bc97e68c0431b26499f
cmake -S . -B build -A x64
cmake --build build --config Release

This produces the TeamSpeak 3 plugin, build\Release\assetto_corsa_notifier.dll, and the GridTalk TS6 Relay, build\Release\GridTalk-TS6-Relay.exe. The relay needs no SDK; it uses TeamSpeak 5/6's Remote Apps WebSocket API (ws://localhost:5899). Run it with --console --dump to log to the console, including the structure (never the contents) of each kind of TeamSpeak message. The AC app in ac_app\GridTalk is plain Python and needs no build. The version number is set once in CMakeLists.txt (project(... VERSION ...)) and must match VERSION in ac_app/GridTalk/GridTalk.py.

Tests

Tests use a separate build that sends to port 19999, so they can run while Assetto Corsa is open:

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\python -m pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File tests\run_all.ps1

run_all.ps1 builds build-tests, then runs the schema, native plugin, relay and overlay tests. The relay test drives it with a fake TeamSpeak Remote Apps server. If Assetto Corsa is installed, it also runs the overlay inside the game's own embedded Python 3.3 (-SkipAcRuntime skips this step). GitHub Actions runs the same suite on every push.

Releasing

1. Update the version in CMakeLists.txt and ac_app/GridTalk/GridTalk.py, and add a CHANGELOG.md entry.
2. Commit, then tag and push: git tag vX.Y.Z and git push origin main vX.Y.Z.
3. The release workflow builds the DLL and relay, runs tools/package.py, and creates a draft GitHub release with the downloads attached. Review it on GitHub and click Publish.

To build the downloads locally instead, run python tools/package.py after the production build. It writes them to dist\ and refuses a DLL or relay built for the test port or a different version.

Repository layout

Path	Contents
src/plugin.c	TeamSpeak 3 plugin (Assetto Corsa Notifier)
relay/	GridTalk TS6 Relay for TeamSpeak 5/6 (tray app)
ac_app/GridTalk/	Assetto Corsa app (copied as-is into apps/python)
protocol/, docs/SENDER_PROTOCOL.md	Wire protocol for other senders
tests/	Native, overlay, schema and AC-runtime tests
tools/	Packaging, packet listener, benchmark, UI texture and relay icon generators

Licence

GridTalk is released under the MIT licence. The bundled _socket modules in ac_app/GridTalk/lib are from CPython 3.3 and are covered by the Python licence. The TeamSpeak SDK is fetched separately and is subject to its own terms.