Sound cutting

[Dox778]

Some sounds are being cut at some point, and some don't even play correctly. Using the latest GZDoom (3.2.5) with Brutal Doom from dec 31.

This happens even in vanilla doom at one point.

[Lord Misfit]

I've been having odd sound issues too. Made my own video for this, but on my end [not sure this is the global issue you might also be having but] the sounds likes to cut off or fade really quickly if the sound is supposed to be emitting on your LEFT side. Notice how when I turn right while firing the sound very quickly fades, but if I turn left while firing it doesn't. Seems to occur for sounds not directly emitted by the player, like projectiles that have their own sounds, enemy sounds, etc. :V

Using 3.2.5 as well, for the record.

Edit:



Uploaded a video that proves vanilla Doom does it too and demos a Zombieman shooting me from multiple angles to further demonstrate it.

[Rachael]

Does this issue affect previous versions? If so what version did it start breaking?

[Lord Misfit]

The sound cutting issue... I saw your response, and did some more testing. The weird thing is, it might be related to the OpenAL32.dll file. The one in the official 3.2.4 and 3.2.5 were really having the problem I mentioned and also recorded in my videos. But if I get the openal32.dll in the pre-273 and some earlier devbuilds, the sound volume on the left side is present [though I will also note it's still not nearly as strong/loud as sounds from your right side seem to be, but at least I can hear them now]. That's the extent of what I can tell you right now. :\

I don't know the specfics of Dox778's issue so I can't speak for him. His second video has a part which it seems like the sound is doing the same drop off on the left side as mine, but he barely does any turing while firing, so I can't be sure. His first video, I honestly can't tell if there's really any actual cut off in that or not, since again, he doesn't really try to do a lot of fast turning in either direction while firing his weapons.

[Rachael]

The files I use came from the last build that Graf compiled himself, which was 3.2.0 I believe. If the files from the dev builds are working better, I can use those for future compiles.

[Lord Misfit]

Yeah. I'm just not sure what it is that still makes the sound on your left side quieter than on the right side in the devbuild version. I'm not sure if there's an option to remedy that or not. I tried a few things, but nothing yet. x.x

[Rachael]

This issue is going to require Chris's attention, then.

[_mental_]

The recent Windows releases come with OpenAL Soft 1.18.1 (why not 1.18.2 by the way?)
Devbuilds use 1.15.1 for 64-bit version and 1.17.2 for 32-bit one. Just why?

[Rachael]

I haven't been compiling OpenAL releases.

What we could do is add a linked repo if OpenAL uses Git, and then simply add it as a dependency for CMake and drop it into the release folder when it builds.

[_mental_]

OpenAL Soft uses Git.

Chris makes Windows binaries for releases of OpenAL Soft. These DLLs (built with MinGW I think) are used in our releases and devbuilds.
I'm more curious why versions are so different.

[Kotti]

This is just taking a wild guess but can it be related to the compatibility option known as "Cripple sound for silent BFG trick"?

This one has definitely caused some sound problems for me once that sounded quite similar to what is going on here.

If not, you could also check the setting for 'snd_channels'. If that is too low it will also result in audio dropouts.

[Lord Misfit]

This is just taking a wild guess but can it be related to the compatibility option known as "Cripple sound for silent BFG trick"?

This one has definitely caused some sound problems for me once that sounded quite similar to what is going on here.

If not, you could also check the setting for 'snd_channels'. If that is too low it will also result in audio dropouts.

BFG Trick is off [has been for me] and my number of sound channels is 256. I have a feeling that those don't have any affect in my situation at least. >.>

[Korell]

I just gave this a try using GZDoom v3.2.5 and both Brutal Doom v20 and Brutal Doom v21 Beta (Jan 2nd). Initially I couldn't detect any cut sounds, but then with certain weapons (like the Mancubus Flame Cannon, the Unmaker and the BFG) I noticed that the weapon sound would cut out if I switched weapon whilst the fire sound was still playing (as they have weapon sound that lasts a little longer). A little further testing did seem to suggest that some sounds are more affected than others, and I couldn't get as bad an issue as was shown in the videos, like with the rocket launcher.

Anyway, after quitting I then checked my ini file for the snd_channels value and I have it set to 256, which I think is the maximum value. Also, the compatibility setting for Cripple sound for silent BFG trick is set to No.

UPDATE 1: Just tested it using v3.2.4 and v3.2.1 (both times using Brutal Doom v21 Beta Jan 2nd) and it was the exact same result.
UPDATE 2: Now I've tried using the OpenAL32.dll from 3.3pre-273 but the same cutting out of certain sounds still happens when I switch weapons.

[Guest]

Just to let everyone know, these sound bugs began to happen once I updated GZDoom to 3.2.5. Everything worked perfectly fine before.

[Rachael]

Just to let everyone know, these sound bugs began to happen once I updated GZDoom to 3.2.5. Everything worked perfectly fine before.

The thing is - there are no major differences in the sound code between 3.2.4 and 3.2.5. The two minor things that changed was one an expansion on the menu for fluidsynth which should not affect this code, and the other was a CVAR allowing GZDoom to play such sounds from the background.

Additionally, I am unable to notice any difference in my own personal tests - everything sounds perfectly fine to me. So I suspect there is some sort of external fuckery or config file issue going on here.

I'm going to need something other than Brutal Doom to test here - I am sorry. I need a simple example that reproduces this problem. Brutal Doom is MUCH too big for that.