Doom3 sound

[beatle]

Are there any settings for audio other than the surround on/off option? I'm running low quality due to my video card, but my CPU, RAM and sound card should be well up to snuff for top-of-the-line sound. Are there any console switches or other options I need to turn on/set up to get maximum quality sound?

 

[SynthDude2001]

As far as I can tell, the Surround On option fully utilizes my 5.1 speakers and sounds absolutely amazing in doing so.

 

[beatle]

I remember reading in some article/interview that the game may use fewer sounds (only using one bullet noise instead of 7-8 different noises) in some of the lower quality options. Since there doesn't seem to be a quality option for sound, I was curious as to where you can change this.

 

[Noid]

Anyone losing sound while going from 'in-game' to menu or console...?

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: Noid
Anyone losing sound while going from 'in-game' to menu or console...?

The sound cuts out on me every once in a while. It just gets grainy, then poof--dead silence. I found a workaround to avoid restarting--I just hit ESC to the menu, go to sound, deselect surround sound, then reselect it and the audio comes back. Using an NForce 2 board (Soundstorm).

 

[Noid]

I fixed the problem by selecting 'surround sound' NO
(oh well)
It was too annoying

 

[Spudd]

Same problem and solution as mine then.

 

[DefRef]

Originally posted by: Spudd

Originally posted by: Noid
Anyone losing sound while going from 'in-game' to menu or console...?

The sound cuts out on me every once in a while. It just gets grainy, then poof--dead silence. I found a workaround to avoid restarting--I just hit ESC to the menu, go to sound, deselect surround sound, then reselect it and the audio comes back. Using an NForce 2 board (Soundstorm).

Getting the same thing (crackles and sound disappearing) and un/re-checking the surround box does the trick.

 

[mangoluvr]

Yip, I got the same problem with the sound disappearing on me, even though switching to the menu and reactivating the sound works, its really anoying to have to do this every 5 minutes. The game is cool but the sound is just disappointing me, hope they get a fix for this and some other minor issues.

 

[Ninepepper]

Seems I remember reading that Doom3 treats its sound functions different than other games. IIRC the game engine itself does all the heavy lifting for sound procesing. It doesn't pass the processing on to any dedicated sound card you may have, the engine has to do all the work. Uncertain how to describe it because I am not tech savy enough to know the proper terminology, but there is no "dedicated" coding for sound cards per se.

 

[Slick5150]

I have the vanishing sound problem on my soundstorm as well.

I'm also not 100% sure I'm getting all of the surround effects.

 

[PliotronX]

Originally posted by: Spudd

Originally posted by: Noid
Anyone losing sound while going from 'in-game' to menu or console...?

The sound cuts out on me every once in a while. It just gets grainy, then poof--dead silence. I found a workaround to avoid restarting--I just hit ESC to the menu, go to sound, deselect surround sound, then reselect it and the audio comes back. Using an NForce 2 board (Soundstorm).

Ouch, what a PITA =\ I think you can bind s_restart or s_reset to a key and when you hit the key it will perform the equivalent of fiddling with the menu

 

[Regs]

Well what I heard in another thread is that Id struck a deal with creative labs and hopefully will come out with a patch for driver support. That should fix sound completly.

 

[beatle]

So does this mean there are no configurable options for sound other than the surround box?

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: Regs
Well what I heard in another thread is that Id struck a deal with creative labs and hopefully will come out with a patch for driver support. That should fix sound completly.

Well, A) Creative isn't known for great driver support. B) Everybody's sound issue seems to be with Soundstorm audio, not audigy/live. C) I've had plenty of problems in games w/ EAX.

So I'm sure ID will fix the problem soon, but it isn't going to have anything to do with Creative's help.

 

[CJP]

The game doesn't seem to suppot 4.1 speaker systems for 3d audio, only 5.1 surround. Pretty dissapointing not to get the full effect with my Logitech Z560's.

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: CJP
The game doesn't seem to suppot 4.1 speaker systems for 3d audio, only 5.1 surround. Pretty dissapointing not to get the full effect with my Logitech Z560's.

I have 5.1 surround (Klipsch GMX 5.1 in dolby digital mode), but I still don't seem to be getting great surround effects going on.

 

[Spudd]

While I have no way of knowing whether I am getting all the available sound effects, I did test the surround effect by walking up to a fire and turning 360 degrees to listen to the intensity coming from each speaker, corresponding to where the fire's sound should be. And it worked. The sound disappearance is very sporatic. Sometimes it happens within 10 mins of the last one. Sometimes it doesn't happen for hours. I don't know why they didn't just pass the heavy lifting onto a dedicated sound processor instead of having the engine chug it out.

PilotronX--thanks for the tip! I'll have to look into that, as it could really save me some harassment if it works. :beer:

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: CJP
The game doesn't seem to suppot 4.1 speaker systems for 3d audio, only 5.1 surround. Pretty dissapointing not to get the full effect with my Logitech Z560's.

i am running a klipsh 4.1 system and have enabled 5.1 sound . . . using an Audigy II . . . no sound cutting out and positionality seems ok (i can tell where attacks are coming from) - don't seem to be missing much from the front center channel . . .

 

[CJP]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: CJP
The game doesn't seem to suppot 4.1 speaker systems for 3d audio, only 5.1 surround. Pretty dissapointing not to get the full effect with my Logitech Z560's.

i am running a klipsh 4.1 system and have enabled 5.1 sound . . . using an Audigy II . . . no sound cutting out and positionality seems ok (i can tell where attacks are coming from) - don't seem to be missing much from the front center channel . . .

I've got an Audigy (1) and when I try and enable 5.1 surround in Doom it gives me an error message saying it could not detect a surround system.

 

[Slick5150]

How do you enable 5.1 sound? Or do you just mean setting "Surround Sound" to 'yes'?

 

[Andvari]

This problem you are all describing with the sound crackling then going out... actually happened to me during the credits of Quake 3. I haven't had this problem in D3 though.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: PinwiZ
How do you enable 5.1 sound? Or do you just mean setting "Surround Sound" to 'yes'?

Go into your Sound card's (in my case, AudigyII's) control panel and change your speaker's setting to 5.1 . . . THEN enable it in the game.

 

[NeoV]

if you have the "creative" volume icon in your taskbar, not only do your creative speaker settings have to be on 5.1, but the regular sound - Control Panel setup needs to have your speakers on 5.1 as well...

 

[monterus]

I also have the problem of the sound cutting out - seemingly at random, but usually in ~5 minute intervals. Go the the menu and toggle the sound setting and it works. This is unacceptable...I didn't buy a Creative Audigy2 Platinum and relatively powerful 5.1 Logitec z-5400 speakers to use NOT use them.

I'm going to try switching my sound card to another PCI slot since I think I have too much IRQ sharing... I hope this works, but I doubt it will. I'll let everyone know if it does.

My specs aren't that great, but the game runs well considering my CPU and video card are getting somewhat outdated. Here's my build:

Nvidia2 motherboard (EPOX 8rda3+)
AMD 1600+ CPU (not OCd)
Nvidia Ti4200 graphics
The above mentioned sound set up
1GB RAM (512 x 2 dual channel mode)

The RAM is probably making up for a slow processor, but if the bulk of the sound is handled by the CPU as many have mentioned, then I'm probably screwed regarding the sound issue...fortunately a 2500+ Barton is <$100.