Bad sound on almost all games

Ask for help with ScummVM problems

Moderator: ScummVM Team

Post Reply
User avatar
CaptainJei
Posts: 200
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:57 am

Bad sound on almost all games

Post by CaptainJei »

Since some snapshot between stable versions 1.9 to 2.0 I started getting bad sound on most games, and this continued onto stable version 2.0 and up to the current snapshot.

Basically, sound skips frequently and is moderately distorted. This applies to digital sound, Ad-lib emulation, and MT32 emulation. The only games it seems to not be affecting are AGI games.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Or could this be a bug?
User avatar
CaptainJei
Posts: 200
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:57 am

Post by CaptainJei »

By the way, I tried out a variety of games on different engines, including multiple Lucasarts and Sierra games, Beneath a Steel Sky, Blue Force, Kyrandia 2, and Myst.
User avatar
criezy
ScummVM Developer
Posts: 947
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:41 am
Location: West Sussex, UK

Post by criezy »

On what system are you using ScummVM? Windows?

You could try to change the audio buffer size to see if it helps. See http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/User_ ... escription
User avatar
CaptainJei
Posts: 200
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:57 am

Post by CaptainJei »

I'm using the Windows32 snapshot.

I tried changing the audio buffer to every setting mentioned on that page, but the sounds still sounded distorted and crackly. On some of the higher settings, there was a regular sound drop-out in addition.
User avatar
CaptainJei
Posts: 200
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:57 am

Post by CaptainJei »

Also, I tried this on both my internal sound card, and on a USB sound device, with similar results.
User avatar
CaptainJei
Posts: 200
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:57 am

Post by CaptainJei »

If I switch back to stable version 1.8.1, everything sounds good again.
filipetolhuizen
Posts: 89
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:18 am

Post by filipetolhuizen »

Try using an older version of SDL2, previous than 2.0.6.
User avatar
CaptainJei
Posts: 200
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:57 am

Post by CaptainJei »

filipetolhuizen wrote:Try using an older version of SDL2, previous than 2.0.6.
I'll try it, but could you please tell me how I could go about doing that? Thanks!
User avatar
CaptainJei
Posts: 200
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:57 am

Post by CaptainJei »

Is this something I should post a bug ticket about, or is it more like a personal problem?
User avatar
Raziel
ScummVM Porter
Posts: 1513
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:27 am
Location: a dying planet

Re: Bad sound on almost all games

Post by Raziel »

Since switching to SDL2 i also got frequent audio dropouts on both digital and MIDI.

Thanks to this thread and thanks to @criezy for the link i increased the audio buffer from 1024 (the setting ScummVM uses) to 4096 (my systems default).

I still have a question though, the linked page tells me that
The default value is calculated based on output sampling frequency to keep audio latency below 45ms. (since 2.0)
I'm probbaly the only one, but wouldn't it be better to not be so strict?
I mean, i increased the value by a factor 4 and don't hear any problems on sound output, but it cured the dropouts.
I have yet to test with 2048, but since 4096 is my system's default and it works, i think i leave it as that.

What would be the worst if latency is set too high?
Would music/sound/MIDI lag?
Would that even be audible?

Thanks
Post Reply