Doom 3 Sound Issues

By RGSPro
in PC Gaming

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CrimsonBlur

Posted
Posted
I was having this same problem and I have an Audigy Platinum. I hopped onto creatives web site, got the latest drivers and the EAX 4 support pack and that seemed to fix everything. Hopefully this will help you.

As has been said a couple times, but which I will repeat: Doom3 does not use the hardware-acceleration on any sound cards. It doesn't use EAX, it doesn't use DirectSound hardware acceleration. It is purely processed in software by the Doom3 engine on the CPU. So this problem is obviously a bug in Doom3 which will have to be fixed with a patch. Whatever made the sound start working again on your computer was probably either a coincidence, or Creative has some software running the the background that was interfering and the new driver changed what was happening (but I doubt that happens at all).

What's ironic is id used a software-only solution to ensure this exact scenario would not take place, that the amazing surround sound would work no matter what your configuration (as long as your configurations supported 4.1/5.1+), heh.

Veteran

aldo

Posted
Posted

I've done some more research on stuttering sound. It turns out it's related to disk access using DMA. This is why it occurs most at the start of the levels while files are still being precached.

I'm using a VIA IDE chipset, and I've tried turning DMA off on all controllers but this just makes it worse as PIO is too slow to load the files.

This is some crazy schzit that is going on here and basically it means im SOL because there is no updated VIA drivers apart from the ones that ship with XP, I've tried 2 sound cards (cmedia onboard and creative soundblaster live value).

Crimson: I belive you are wrong with the no DirectSound. Turning off all hardware acceleration means that I get no sound, so it's gotta be using basic directsound access.

I agree however that it's very ironic. The sound problems people have had on this game way outnumber any on other games that I've heard of.

Community Regular

Explicative

Posted
Posted

You can restart the sound system in the game easily by binding a key to s_restart. For example, bring down the console (ctrl+alt+~) and type "bind m s_restart" so that hitting m will restart the sound system in-game quickly.

Anyway, I'm using an Audigy 2 and I too notice some scratchy, intermittent sound sometimes on my 2.1 setup. To be honest I don't think it's a bug but rather a result of the CPU being stressed by video rendering to the point where it doesn't have enough juice to process the sound properly (so I suppose if you have a really high-end system you might not experience any sound problems). Also, in most games I get great surround simulation but with Doom 3 it kind of sucks to be honest, not to mention that the weapon sounds really lack bass and so feel weak.

Grand Master

mattmatik

Posted
Posted
Yes, I should of posted my computer specs. Sorry.

The readme just says get latest drivers and put hardware accelaration down. I've tried that, and it don't work.

My CPU is an AthlonXP 1800+ Palimino, 768MB PC2100 RAM, MSI KT400 mobo, GF4Ti4200 128MB. I'm using the latest drivers from NVidia.com - 61.77 I think. I don't think it's a driver/hardware related issue.

I've got same motherboard/video card as you, except I'm running a 2100+ with 1GB 2700 DDR.

Anyway, on newer games (FarCry, NFS:U) I have a different kind of problem, and I'm pretty sure it's sound related, although it COULD be video related. I can play Doom3 for about 2-3 minutes then all of a sudden my video freezes but the sounds keep playing. After about 10 seconds, it goes right back to normal...then it does it again after a said amount of time. On FarCry, I can't play more than 40 seconds without this happening. It doesn't matter what graphic settings I have in any of the games, it eventually happens.

I guess this isn't what is happening with the rest of you, but just thought I'd post it in case someone else has a fix or a similar issue.

BTW, I'm running Dets 45.23. With the 61.77, I had an instance in Doom3 where all lighting disappeared. If I turned on the flashlight it wouldn't illuminate anything. I've had no problems with the 45.23s though.

Veteran

aldo

Posted
Posted

I am starting to think 100% that the IDE controller is at fault here.

Can you just check that you have a VIA IDE controller with a driver date of 7/2001? (sometime in 2001).

The worrying thing is that I think that ID actually know this is a problem as it's in the readme and the only people who have stuttering problems are on a VIA chipset mobo. This probably means they couldn't fix it and it's an external driver issue :/

Mentor

RGSPro

Posted
  • Author
Posted

restarting the sound works for me (when the sound just stops working), though it is still a pain in the butt (in the options menu of course, I haven't tried binding a key or anything yet). Im hoping its just a problem with the cracked exe and not the real game. I guess I will find out tomorrow morning :). I bet ID will have some patches out soon either way, their usually pretty good about things like that.

Enthusiast

BertilDator

Posted
Posted
I've tried a different sound card (SBLive Value) and it's the same problem. Seems like it's a doom3 bug :(.

I had some problems with SBLive Value but changing the drivers to Windows XP default drivers seemed to fix the problem. My problem was that after (maybe) 10 minutes of play, the game/computer froze and the sound went into a very fast loop, sounding more like a machine gun :huh:

And I'm also considering if I should buy the required cable and try the onboard 5.1 digital sound output (AC'97 on Shuttle SB61G2), but I'm not sure if it eats much CPU compared to using the SBLive Value. Any ideas on this?

Mentor

ZombieFly

Posted
Posted

Thank god for this! i thought i would be the only one with this problem..

I have an Audigy 1 Platinum, and i'm having the sound cut off problem. Everything works fine, superb sound etc, then suddenly, silence... I was using the menu/surround off/on method to bring the sound back, but that basically ruined the game. Here's my findings:

1.I tried lowering the Hardware Accelleration settings on the audio device one notch. The problem still occurred..BUT... 90% of the time pressing ESC and returning to the menu would result in the sound coming back without having to unset/reset the surround sound option. However, this method is still pretty useless as it ruins the whole flow of the game.

2.I tried disabling the surround option (with Hardware Accelleration set to full). Again, the sound cut out randomly

3. I set the keybind to restart the sound.... this works well, but it's still damn annoying.

4.I switched to my motherboard's onboard sound, which is c-media 5.1. I now have uninterupted 5.1 surround sound, albeit slightly poorer quality than the Audigy puts out but still excellent. Occassionally, there is the odd crackle, which seems to be when accessing the disc, but i can live with that.

So, luckily, i have onboard sound to fall back on.. If you have onboard sound and you havent tried it yet, give it a go, it might give you a quick fix until the problem has been addressed via patch etc. It's interesting that I had this exact problem with Far Cry and Joint Operations. As far as I know, all 3 of these games have their own sound handling and dont use the actual card support?! (i could be wrong here).. until today I suspected that this issue was the audigy... and I was thinking of replacing it... now i just don't know.. is this soundcard related, motherboard, drivers, bad coding? ....it's definately damn annoying, and seems to be happening more and more with new titles.

Mentor

ZombieFly

Posted
Posted
restarting the sound works for me (when the sound just stops working), though it is still a pain in the butt (in the options menu of course, I haven't tried binding a key or anything yet). Im hoping its just a problem with the cracked exe and not the real game. I guess I will find out tomorrow morning :). I bet ID will have some patches out soon either way, their usually pretty good about things like that.

i dont have a cracked exe and its doing it for me, so i think you will experience the same problems with the retail :unsure:

Veteran

aldo

Posted
Posted
I had some problems with SBLive Value but changing the drivers to Windows XP default drivers seemed to fix the problem. My problem was that after (maybe) 10 minutes of play, the game/computer froze and the sound went into a very fast loop, sounding more like a machine gun :huh:

And I'm also considering if I should buy the required cable and try the onboard 5.1 digital sound output (AC'97 on Shuttle SB61G2), but I'm not sure if it eats much CPU compared to using the SBLive Value. Any ideas on this?

I'm using the default Windows drivers...

Grand Master

mattmatik

Posted
Posted
I am starting to think 100% that the IDE controller is at fault here.

Can you just check that you have a VIA IDE controller with a driver date of 7/2001? (sometime in 2001).

The worrying thing is that I think that ID actually know this is a problem as it's in the readme and the only people who have stuttering problems are on a VIA chipset mobo. This probably means they couldn't fix it and it's an external driver issue :/

Aldo - I'm at work but I'll get back to you when I get home. But, I can almost assure you that it is 07/2001. I saw that date a bunch of times earlier today when I was trying to find a fix for my problem. I've tried a bunch of different Hyperion drivers, and unfortunately, the on-board sound drivers for CMedia go back to like 2001/2002. If it is a IDE Controller issue, I think you're right and we're going to be looking for a new mobo soon.

What BIOS version do you have for your KT400? I doubt it will fix anything, but I'm just curious. I have the 1.3 dated 01/2003.

Mentor

ZombieFly

Posted
Posted

you are aware of the ongoing issue relating to the via southbridge/PCI conflict issue?

i was plagued by this about 2 years ago... there were big problems with the controller I had on my board, which seemed to have issues with creative cards.. there was much arguing between via and creative, and i think it was creative who ended up with the blame. It was dubbed the 686 Southbridge issue or something like that? :blink:

The problems caused crackling and popping when the controller was being used. I got so fed up with it that I ditched VIA altogether, and instead tried another chipset manufacturer. I'm sure they will have fixed the problem that i was having back then, but this does sound very similar to what was happening back then. Check out www.viaarena.com and see if there are any issues with your board/controller. That site was very useful for me back in the day [;)]

Veteran

[ timko ]

Posted
Posted
best fix currently for the sound just cutting off is pulling down the console and binding a key to restart the sound. still sucks, but it will have to do.

Open up the DoomConfig.cfg file (which can be found in the .\base folder of Doom3's main install folder) and add the following line somewhere in the bind section at the top...

bind "x" "s_restart"

...but replace the letter x with a key of your choice. Once you're in the game and the sounds starts fugging up just tap the key you chose and everything should be fixed. No need to go into options and toggle surround or bind it manually everytime you play the game :)

Veteran

aldo

Posted
Posted
Aldo - I can confirm now that the VIA Bus drivers I have are 07/01/2001.

I guess it's just time to upgrade, which I was planning on doing anyway.

That's what I thought :/. I'm using default BIOS that came with my board, and it's probably something like early 2003. I'm actually gonig to get a new rig anyway, but this is a real pain.

The only problem is that I am going to get a NForce2 board to replace this - either the MSI Delta something or the ASUS one - do you know if this will pose a problem with all these reports of problems :(

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