Sound Problems in Unreal Tournanent (GOY Ed.)

[Neo_Geo]

Hi,

I seem to be having some minor sound problems in UT:

1.) Every once in a while I get an error beep. It sounds like the motherboard error beep, not a windows beep. I think the beep happens when some other sound is supposed to be played during the gameplay due to some event (like a death or jump), but I am not certain what event triggers the beep.

2.) I get strange "scratches" while playing the game. Hard to explain, but is sounds like the volume is momentarily cranked way up, hitting the limit of my speakers and causing massive distortion.

I am running Windows 2000 with a SB LIVE! 5.1 and a GeForce SDR. I have tried the 4.36 patches (both the Creative version and the original version), but I keep having the same problems. I have also tried disabling and enabling EAX (Hardware 3D sound) which seems to have no effect.

Any suggestions??
Thanks

Neo_Geo

 

[Vrangel]

1. Some keyboards produce system speaker beep
when certain combinations of 3-4 keys are pressed at the same time.
(Are you leftie and use p l ; ' keys for movement ?)
You can reproduce beep in Windows by pressing various 4 keys simultaneously.
New keyboard should cure the problem.

2. Occasional scratching sound during gameplay usually means system is overloaded
at that moment.You can try to lower video settings until scratching goes away.
Upgrading hardware like more memory or faster CPU will help as well.

 

[Neo_Geo]

Thanks for the suggestions! BUT.....

I am reasonably certain that the beep is not being caused by pressing certain key combos... For one thing, I have used the same key bindings for games from quake1 to quake3 and now UT. I have only experienced this beep in UT. I think the sound originates when someone else jumps (not certain though).

As for the momentary scratches, It could be some sort of overload, but I have it set at 640x480x16 and average about 50fps. I have 256 MB of memory and a 600MHz P!!! (Katmai). I will try lowering some quality settings anyway...

Thanks again!

 

[Vrangel]

You can check if theres any IRQ sharing :
start/programs/accessories/system tools/system info/hardware resourses/IRQs

Eliminate sharing by moving PCI cards to different slots.
The worst thing would be if soundcard shares IRQ with videocard.

Updating BIOS might help too. What mobo is it? What else do you have inside ?

I also feel you should have more fps at these setiings.
What videodriver are you using?

 

[cmaMath13]

This may sound weird, but I just got the SB Live! card on my new computer and has similar sound abnormalities. Here is what I did to fix.

1. Go into UT
2. Go into options
3. Go into Audio
4. Turn down the volume levels a little in game
5. Use speakers to adjust sound level

It worked for me. Now when I crank it, crystal clear.

 

[Neo_Geo]

Ok, here is a complete listing of all my hardware ( should put this in that new forum feature thing):

• MB: SuperMicro P6DBS Bios Rev 3 I think. (has dual cpu and onboard Adaptec 7895 Dual Channel UW SCSI )
• Processor: Single P!!! 600 (Katmai, for some odd reason the P6DBS does not support the Coppermine under Win2k... believe me, I tried. I see a bios Rev 3.1 is available, I will have to check that out.
• 265MB generic PC100 SDRAM
• Quantum Viking II 9.1 GB SCSI HD
• Pioneer 32x SCSI cdrom (Slot load, I love it)
• Plextor R820T cdr (8x20 scsi)
• Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator (Geforce 32MB SDR) with Nvidia ref driver 631
• CL SoundBlaster Live 5.1
• 3COM ISA 56k Winmodem

I have decreased the sound settings in UT (both volume and other effects settings) to no effect.

Looking at my IRQs I see that my vid card and sound card both share IRQ 17. I will try switching my sound card to a different slot and see what happens. I will also check out that Bios rev.

Thanks for the input, keep the suggestions comming!!! Gee I love Anandtech Forums!!

Neo_Geo

 

[Vrangel]

IRQ sharing is the most promising lead so far.

 

[Neo_Geo]

Well, I switched my sound card location and I think it took care of the scratching problem. I will no more after some extended "testing."

As for the error beep, that is DEFINATELY still there.

PS. I had to reinstall my sound drivers after I switched slots. And now, when I minimize Winamp to the system tray only, I cannot maximize it from system tray. And when I try to do anything, by right clicking on the tray icon, I get all sorts of display errors on the Winamp window (parts of it just disappear). I had this problem before after I installed my new Live 5.1. I fixed it by reformatting... Needless to say, I don't want to do that again!

 

[Vrangel]

You need to uninstall sound drivers completely and then
do fresh install.First remove them from control panel and dont
forget to clean up windows/inf/other and windows/system as well.
Fresh Winamp install might help too.

As for system speaker beep, try latest BIOS.
If you have another keyboard around , plug it in
and see if beep goes away.

 

[Neo_Geo]

Ok, now for an update....

The switching slots to eliminate IRQ sharing seems to have worked. I have not experienced the "Scratching" since I did this.

The IRQ thing did not fix the error beep thing, though. And neither did a BIOS update. After listening more carefully, I am now certain this nagging little error beep is comming from my sound card speakers and NOT the system speaker. It really does sound like some sort of system errror beep, though...

I finally got that winamp display thing fixed too.. Had to totally uninstall the Live!, uninstall WInamp, then reinstall them in the same order. I also went through the registry, deleting any creative references.

You know, I hate it when uninstalled software/hardware leaves things on a system! I think there should be some sort of law that says an uninstaller should remove EVERY TRACE of the software/hardware. After all, that is what an uninstaller is supposed to do, isn't it?!?!?! I think ALL tech companies are very lazy when it comes to this issue. They "uninstall" just enough that it won't function under windows (maybe just flicking an "off" switch), and leave the rest to either clutter up my HD and slow windows down or botch up the clean install I was trying to do for that product I uninstalled!!!

Well, enough of my rantings. Any more suggestions for that Error beep?

 

[Vrangel]

Play with sound turned off for awhile ,
to be sure where this beep comes from.

BTW can it be 'message beep' in UT ?
You can turn it off in audio preferences in UT.

 

[Neo_Geo]

Message beep is turned off. I already played a while with my speakers turned off. That is how I came to conclusion that the beep is through the speakers....

Oh well.