Flac playback hickups on new version.

[camaxide]

I've tried the 2.8.1 and find most of the music-tracks in my mega-wad is having hickups.
It seem only the flac files are doing this, not the mp3 files.
I'm using fmodex to allow for surround and flac files for top quality with looping.
In older versions of zdoom (like 2.7.1 which is my previous build) the flac files played without any problems.

The hickups depend on flac-file so I assume its based on how 'heavy' it is on bitrate maybe.
I've tried various buffer settings with no luck.

Here is a testmap with a flac-track on it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B14nij ... sp=sharing

The lagging can happen from once every 10 seconds to each second.
Just run it with the new version and start map01 - let it run for at least 20 seconds and you should have had a few hickups.

I really hope to get this solved as I wish to use the newer versions - but want the fmodex to work well with the flac

[_mental_]

Here is a testmap with a flac-track on it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B14nij ... sp=sharing

This link points to skytest.wad file, 449 KB in size, with a single map but without any sound/music tracks.

I've tried various buffer settings with no luck.

You cannot change FMODEx streaming buffer size without compiling own custom ZDoom executable.

[camaxide]

My apologies, here is the correct Link,

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B14nij ... sp=sharing

[_mental_]

I can confirm that with FMODEx 4.36.23 (which was used in the official 2.8.x builds) hickups are present on PC with a decent spec.
Changing the stream buffer size to 128 KB from the default 64 KB solved the problem for me.

I propose to make stream buffer size user customizable, like this.

[camaxide]

Ah - so the fmod settings - buffer in zdoom is not the same?
When I set that to 128 the music plays back as robotic..
Any way I can solve this myself then? or is it something the Zdoom creator must actually implement?
I can't really expect those who'll play the mega-wad to tinker around with custom builds etc. =)

[Graf Zahl]

The buffer that's the actual problem with FLAC cannot be changed that way.

[_mental_]

Any way I can solve this myself then? or is it something the Zdoom creator must actually implement?
I can't really expect those who'll play the mega-wad to tinker around with custom builds etc. =)

In the next ZDoom devbuild there will be snd_streambuffersize CVAR added. You need to play with its value a bit. Changing it from 64 to 128 solved the hickups on your test for me.

[camaxide]

if the default value for this is set too low it anyway means that anyone not knowing about this will have choppy playback when playing my wad though
so hopefully the default value for the original zdoom and gzdoom releases will be a value that runs all flac's chop-free on standard pc's - as it did before =)

[Graf Zahl]

The default value needs to be set according to the needs of an average system. We do not know yet if your system is the exception or the rule. Also keep in mind that what's necessary for FLAC may not be so great for other formats.

This needs a bit more research before bloating the buffer.

[Gez]

if the default value for this is set too low it anyway means that anyone not knowing about this will have choppy playback when playing my wad though

That's what readmes are for.

[NeuralStunner]

That's what readmes are for.

One in a hundred even bothers with them. "I want to play Doom, not read a novel." (I've been told more or less this before.)

Many don't even read the entire first post of a project thread.

[Gez]

If they won't bother with a readme, I won't bother with their problems. That's fair, isn't it?

[camaxide]

Though why set the default value of something to something that breaks playback if there is no real drawback from setting a 'proper' default value?
And having to go through readme to learn values you have to change in the game for it to actually work seem a bit weird.
Anyway - is there somewhere I can contact to ask for a different default value for this? =)

[Graf Zahl]

if there is no real drawback from setting a 'proper' default value?

Because most people do not use FLAC music and there actually MAY be a drawback in using a larger buffer.

[camaxide]

we are talking a difference of 64kb.. I have a very hard time believing that will trip any computers out there which can run zdoom.
And even so - is the buffer global for fmodex independent on the input file type - or only for flac-source?
Also - what has really changed since the previous versions since I've had flac working for two years before it started lagging on the last build - was the previous buffer larger? or is something else changed, causing the buffer to no longer be enough for smooth flac playback?
I understand few are using flac music - but it's been supported for a long time and working perfectly - so it would be sad that its suddenly changed to no longer being supported properly.