Audio issues

Paz · Post by **Paz** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:05 pm

Trying out ResidualVM for the first time but unfortunately the sound isn't right.

Many lines of dialogue have dropped/garbled audio for a fraction of a second. It's kind of subtle and doesn't happen on every line, but still annoying enough I wouldn't want to play the game this way.

In addition there are problems when examining items in the inventory. For example I will be in Manny's office and look at the scythe, and the audio will be 60% from the right speaker and 40% out of the left. Then I enter the hallway, do the same thing, and it'll be 80% out of the right speaker and almost silent in the left.

I tried changing the SDL_AUDIODRIVER to waveout as was mentioned in the FAQ but that only made the audio issues worse.

Is there anything else I can try? Really love how the game looks without banding and with anti-aliasing, but forcing it in the normal game causes Manny to disappear for me.

I am on Win 7 x64 using an on-board Realtek HD audio chip (ALC889A) with latest drivers. The ResidualVM build was 0.0.8git February 9 2012.

somaen · Post by **somaen** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:32 am

Which language version of the game?

Paz · Post by **Paz** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:17 am

It's the standard English version of the game.

epmode · Post by **epmode** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 6:57 pm

I'm having the same audio problem. Many dialogue lines start with a slight distortion. Setting SDL_AUDIODRIVER to waveout doesn't help.

I am also using Win 7 64 with a Realtek HD audio chip on an EVGA P67 motherboard. Feb 9 2012 build of ResidualVM.

This is using the original English release. The same dialogue lines play correctly when I launch the game normally (as opposed to using ResidualVM)

MeddlingMonk · Post by **MeddlingMonk** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:48 pm

OK, so I'm not crazy. I've been hearing this, too, but it's so subtle I've never really been sure: little pops or soft clicks or something, kind of like the effect of having dust in the grooves of a vinyl record. (Yes, I'm dating myself with that analogy, but at least I don't have to buy myself flowers.) I've heard it in Windows, Fedora and OSX on different computers. I've wondered if it might be a game speed issue, but then everything else seems fine, including music playback. I only hear it in the voice audio.

Like the others, this is the English version and I don't hear the pops when playing with the original version.

epmode · Post by **epmode** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:12 pm

It might also be useful to point out that while the pop/distortion happens at the very start of an audio clip, that same exact audio clip might be perfectly fine when replayed. It's an intermittent problem.

And since we're on the subject, I've found that incidental sound effects simply don't play if I launch the game and then immediately go into the menu to load a savegame. Music and voices are fine but everything else is missing. If I start the game, press ESC to skip the initial cutscene and THEN load the savegame, the sound effects are still there.

Paz · Post by **Paz** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 7:22 pm

epmode wrote:It might also be useful to point out that while the pop/distortion happens at the very start of an audio clip, that same exact audio clip might be perfectly fine when replayed. It's an intermittent problem.

Yeah, it's like every time the game plays a line of dialogue there's a chance the audio isn't loaded into the buffer fast enough, resulting in dropped or repeated audio samples before it catches up.

Also it's much harder to hear but I believe I get this with sounds as well, like the tube noises when picking up the very first message.

MeddlingMonk · Post by **MeddlingMonk** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:17 am

Like I said, I find the effect so subtle that I hadn't been all that sure I was hearing it. I think, for what it's worth, that epmode is probably right that the effect is at the start of a clip. If it happened throughout, it'd be much more noticeable, especially in the music. So it's possible that it does happen with music after all, but I'm not noticing because there may be a pop but only once and that shortly after a music loop first begins playing. It's probably best to just disregard what I said about the pops only occurring in the voice tracks. The fact that I'm not noticing it with music and sound effects probably only means that I'm not noticing it with music and sound effects.

shoreguy · Post by **shoreguy** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:21 am

Informative thread.

epmode · Post by **epmode** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:35 pm

This is still happening in the 0.1 release.

Mark Spencer · Post by **Mark Spencer** » Tue Apr 16, 2013 7:58 am

Impressive knowledge. Good to know about Audio driver information and valued discussion of other guys. Its great to learn and t practice to solve this issue.

Stheo · Post by **Stheo** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 1:59 am

Same problem here, happens with both the stable 0.1.1 and the current daily. Does anyone know if this is hardware dependent or if it happens to everyone? It's so noticeable I can't really play the game without constantly thinking about it so it seems strange that very few people seem to mention it.

Tried both with my Asus Xonar card and Intel HD Audio, exactly the same thing.

I'm using Windows 7 64-bit on a core i7 3.4ghz 16gb ram GTX 670 so it really shouldn't be due to a slow system. It does sound similar to the buffer issues you get running an emulator on a system that can't cope though... weird stuff.

swgermany · Post by **swgermany** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 8:10 pm

I can confirm the described issues, happens on my system too. Doesn't really seem hardware dependent.

System specification: Intel Core i7-3930K, Asus Rampage IV Formula, Corsair 4x 4GB DDR3 1600, Palit GTX780 Super JetStream, Creative SoundBlaster ZxR, Samsung SSD 830 128GB & 840 Evo 1TB. OS is Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit with all updates, and all drivers are current.

Tested it today using the stable version 0.1.1 of ResidualVM and both the English and German version of Grim Fandango. Identical results. Most likely independent of language version and more of a general issue. Has this already been filed as a bug?

I encountered the same issues almost a year ago, before the 0.1.1 update came out, on my previous gaming PC and therefore stopped playing Grim Fandango. Just somehow thought about trying it again today...

giucam · Post by **giucam** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 9:13 am

It is not filed as a bug on github, but it is a well known issue given the time this thread has existed. Unfortunately this seems like a bug which happens on Windows (7) only, so I have never been able to investigate it.

swgermany · Post by **swgermany** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 10:47 am

Do you mean due to time constraints or because you don't have a Windows 7 license available? If the latter is the case, would it help if I were to donate one?