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Author Topic:   Voice repeats; very annoying...

BrandonQ posted 07-20-99 07:50 PM ET
The voice constantly repeats in my game; I get the feeling that its supposed to do this, but I'm not sure -- is this a problem, or just something really stupid that the designers put into the game?
Is there anyway to get the voice to talk normally, instead of repeating words and being rather hard to understand??
bronko posted 07-21-99 10:26 AM ET
JM has been suggesting that we set eax=0 and ds3d=0 in the .ini file...but I got this with version 1.0; no eax, no ds3d entries in the .ini file at all. I am certain that it is *not* a design feature, as it makes relatively unintelligible the various philosophical points much beloved of Sid Meier... Upgrading with the 3.0 patch did not change this; see my post under v4.0 sound problems, and sound doubling threads.
FWIW, I have an Aptiva with MWave card...
FinnishGuy posted 07-21-99 10:51 AM ET
I'm experiencing similar symptoms. I didn't have this problem back when I played SMAC v1.0 and 2.0 games. But now after a longish break I started a new game (upgraded to v4.0 first) and I hear a lot of cracking in the sound and also repetitions of words in speech. And I've had my first EVER SMAC crash with version 4.0...
During the break from SMACing I changed my old SB16 sound card to SB Live Value. So those 1.0/2.0 games were played with the SB16.
Current system:
SMAC v4.0 English (originally UK)
PentiumII 350, 128M memory
SB Live Value with LiveWare 2.1 installed
Diamond Viper V550 (Riva TNT) with Detonator 1.09 reference drivers
Directx 6.1 installed
Windows 98 UK
FinnishGuy posted 07-21-99 03:24 PM ET
OK, I reinstalled and then applied every patch v2, v3 and v4 in turn. The repetitions are there all along, although it seems I got rid of the cracky noises. Setting eax=0 ds3d=0 doesn't help either.
While trying, I had more two crashes (one with v2 and with v4) "TERRAN caused invalid page fault in SOUND.DLL".
So, SMAC doesn't like SB Live Value? I had no problems with my old SB16.
Oh, I noticed that if you install the minimum custom setup (sound and movie files remain on cdrom), you don't get music in any of the versions.
Dman37 posted 07-21-99 03:37 PM ET
having the same problem, I posted at about the same time in a seperate topic. Upgraded to four recently was having it on one though also. (sigh). If you find a way to fix it let me know.
Oh if you do minnimum install do you get the tech readings, and the base improvment sounds?
LarsHanson posted 07-21-99 08:54 PM ET
SB Live! and Live! value sound cards are POSes, in MHO. Both grab a second interrupt on the PCI bus - and no one has developed either a PCI or motherboard BIOS that can handle the request. So the second interrupt goes largely undetected, and invariably conflicts with other devices, especially other PCI cards - and particularly high-end graphics boards. (Memory addresses are probably also conflicting).
The stuttering sound started as the primary problem with playing SMAC under NTW 4.0 - but has expanded as the patches have been released, and the installed base grew. It probably has little to do with the way Firaxis codes the software - more likely it is new hardware not fully compliant with DirectX 6.0 and greater. Hardware and software buffering have also come into question as potential issues.
SMAC does this, and other games don't, because it is written to take maximum advantage of the DirectX features. Blame Microsoft, but don't point the finger at Firaxis. MS has multiple revisions of DirectX out in the cyberworld - and we are all just beta testing them. I believe DirectX technology is still a year or so away from maturity. At least Firaxis tried to create a state-of-the-art turn-based game, and then support it in the midst of new product chaos.
In the meanwhile, Creative Labs hasn't done us any favors. They pushed the hardware envelope based on VERY questionable software advances. And they won't even acknowledge the Live! problems. Check out THEIR forums!
My PCI128 card did a whole lot better than my Live! card - but even it is not immune to these problems. I finally pulled it for a Yamaha Xwave 192 - a cheap card that actually works.
For the moment, don't expect bleeding edge hardware depending on DirectX performance to handle SMAC. If Firaxis does find an application workaround, be thankful. But don't bet on it.
BTW, SMAC funs fine under Windows 2000 - IF you have up-to-date system BIOS, build 2072, and nothing better than an AWE32 card.
Hope this sheds some light. I don't pretend to have all the answers - but I've followed these threads for 5 months now - and they've all started to point in the same direction.
BrandonQ posted 07-21-99 11:44 PM ET
Thanks for the replys; it's nice to know both that it "is" a problem with the game (and that the developers, thus, have some common sense) and that I'm not the only one experiencing it...
Especially big thanks to LarsHanson; you definately had the best message--even if the basic sense of the message seemed to be "get used to it."
FinnishGuy posted 07-25-99 10:32 AM ET
I've found a fix. It seems that SMAC's sounds don't like anything that runs simultaneously in the background. I have a few such applications that show up in the Windows tray. I tried exiting these and, behold, no more repetitions or cracks in SMAC sounds! Especially big troublemaker seemed to be a certain screen saver (Seti@home). Even EAX functions now perfectly in SMAC.
Anyway this worked for me.
FinnishGuy posted 07-25-99 01:11 PM ET
The Seti@home wasn't actually "running" (computing data). It was only in standby state and still caused those problems. I exited it so that the icon no longer appeared on the Windows tray and this helped.
Dman37 posted 07-25-99 04:13 PM ET
What exactly do you mean by the windows tray? The little place on the bottom right corner of the screen where some programs make icons? Did you close things through crtl-alt-tab? Was able to get the sounds to run by clicking on the actual files and they rock! Want to here them in the game please help...
FinnishGuy posted 07-25-99 04:35 PM ET
Yes, by "Windows tray" I mean that place on the lower right corner of Windows desktop. Just right-click every icon there and a menu with exit option appears where applicable. I guess a good advice is to exit ALL other programs in taskbar, tray or where ever before starting SMAC.
FinnishGuy posted 07-25-99 04:51 PM ET
Oh, and your earlier question Dman... I did get speech and sound effects with minimum install but not the music.
bronko posted 07-27-99 09:36 AM ET
I don't seem to have anything running - I even turned off the clock display :P and still no luck. Are you suggesting that I need to disarm my screen saver entirely? Hmm...
FinnishGuy posted 07-27-99 11:35 AM ET
I've been SMACing for several hours now and there's still the occasional repetition. Rarely though, maybe once in ten spoken texts. Generally the sounds are OK. And no more SOUND.DLL crashes thank GOD...
bronko: Do you have the MS Office Sidebar running? Applications in the task scheduler? Does your AUTOEXEC.BAT load stuff? Close everything. However, I'm not promising a 100% sure fix. With all the different computer setups, something that works for me maybe doesn't for someone else.
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Author	Topic: Voice repeats; very annoying...
BrandonQ	posted 07-20-99 07:50 PM ET The voice constantly repeats in my game; I get the feeling that its supposed to do this, but I'm not sure -- is this a problem, or just something really stupid that the designers put into the game? Is there anyway to get the voice to talk normally, instead of repeating words and being rather hard to understand??
bronko	posted 07-21-99 10:26 AM ET JM has been suggesting that we set eax=0 and ds3d=0 in the .ini file...but I got this with version 1.0; no eax, no ds3d entries in the .ini file at all. I am certain that it is not a design feature, as it makes relatively unintelligible the various philosophical points much beloved of Sid Meier... Upgrading with the 3.0 patch did not change this; see my post under v4.0 sound problems, and sound doubling threads. FWIW, I have an Aptiva with MWave card...
FinnishGuy	posted 07-21-99 10:51 AM ET I'm experiencing similar symptoms. I didn't have this problem back when I played SMAC v1.0 and 2.0 games. But now after a longish break I started a new game (upgraded to v4.0 first) and I hear a lot of cracking in the sound and also repetitions of words in speech. And I've had my first EVER SMAC crash with version 4.0... During the break from SMACing I changed my old SB16 sound card to SB Live Value. So those 1.0/2.0 games were played with the SB16. Current system: SMAC v4.0 English (originally UK) PentiumII 350, 128M memory SB Live Value with LiveWare 2.1 installed Diamond Viper V550 (Riva TNT) with Detonator 1.09 reference drivers Directx 6.1 installed Windows 98 UK
FinnishGuy	posted 07-21-99 03:24 PM ET OK, I reinstalled and then applied every patch v2, v3 and v4 in turn. The repetitions are there all along, although it seems I got rid of the cracky noises. Setting eax=0 ds3d=0 doesn't help either. While trying, I had more two crashes (one with v2 and with v4) "TERRAN caused invalid page fault in SOUND.DLL". So, SMAC doesn't like SB Live Value? I had no problems with my old SB16. Oh, I noticed that if you install the minimum custom setup (sound and movie files remain on cdrom), you don't get music in any of the versions.
Dman37	posted 07-21-99 03:37 PM ET having the same problem, I posted at about the same time in a seperate topic. Upgraded to four recently was having it on one though also. (sigh). If you find a way to fix it let me know. Oh if you do minnimum install do you get the tech readings, and the base improvment sounds?
LarsHanson	posted 07-21-99 08:54 PM ET SB Live! and Live! value sound cards are POSes, in MHO. Both grab a second interrupt on the PCI bus - and no one has developed either a PCI or motherboard BIOS that can handle the request. So the second interrupt goes largely undetected, and invariably conflicts with other devices, especially other PCI cards - and particularly high-end graphics boards. (Memory addresses are probably also conflicting). The stuttering sound started as the primary problem with playing SMAC under NTW 4.0 - but has expanded as the patches have been released, and the installed base grew. It probably has little to do with the way Firaxis codes the software - more likely it is new hardware not fully compliant with DirectX 6.0 and greater. Hardware and software buffering have also come into question as potential issues. SMAC does this, and other games don't, because it is written to take maximum advantage of the DirectX features. Blame Microsoft, but don't point the finger at Firaxis. MS has multiple revisions of DirectX out in the cyberworld - and we are all just beta testing them. I believe DirectX technology is still a year or so away from maturity. At least Firaxis tried to create a state-of-the-art turn-based game, and then support it in the midst of new product chaos. In the meanwhile, Creative Labs hasn't done us any favors. They pushed the hardware envelope based on VERY questionable software advances. And they won't even acknowledge the Live! problems. Check out THEIR forums! My PCI128 card did a whole lot better than my Live! card - but even it is not immune to these problems. I finally pulled it for a Yamaha Xwave 192 - a cheap card that actually works. For the moment, don't expect bleeding edge hardware depending on DirectX performance to handle SMAC. If Firaxis does find an application workaround, be thankful. But don't bet on it. BTW, SMAC funs fine under Windows 2000 - IF you have up-to-date system BIOS, build 2072, and nothing better than an AWE32 card. Hope this sheds some light. I don't pretend to have all the answers - but I've followed these threads for 5 months now - and they've all started to point in the same direction.
BrandonQ	posted 07-21-99 11:44 PM ET Thanks for the replys; it's nice to know both that it "is" a problem with the game (and that the developers, thus, have some common sense) and that I'm not the only one experiencing it... Especially big thanks to LarsHanson; you definately had the best message--even if the basic sense of the message seemed to be "get used to it."
FinnishGuy	posted 07-25-99 10:32 AM ET I've found a fix. It seems that SMAC's sounds don't like anything that runs simultaneously in the background. I have a few such applications that show up in the Windows tray. I tried exiting these and, behold, no more repetitions or cracks in SMAC sounds! Especially big troublemaker seemed to be a certain screen saver (Seti@home). Even EAX functions now perfectly in SMAC. Anyway this worked for me.
FinnishGuy	posted 07-25-99 01:11 PM ET The Seti@home wasn't actually "running" (computing data). It was only in standby state and still caused those problems. I exited it so that the icon no longer appeared on the Windows tray and this helped.
Dman37	posted 07-25-99 04:13 PM ET What exactly do you mean by the windows tray? The little place on the bottom right corner of the screen where some programs make icons? Did you close things through crtl-alt-tab? Was able to get the sounds to run by clicking on the actual files and they rock! Want to here them in the game please help...
FinnishGuy	posted 07-25-99 04:35 PM ET Yes, by "Windows tray" I mean that place on the lower right corner of Windows desktop. Just right-click every icon there and a menu with exit option appears where applicable. I guess a good advice is to exit ALL other programs in taskbar, tray or where ever before starting SMAC.
FinnishGuy	posted 07-25-99 04:51 PM ET Oh, and your earlier question Dman... I did get speech and sound effects with minimum install but not the music.
bronko	posted 07-27-99 09:36 AM ET I don't seem to have anything running - I even turned off the clock display :P and still no luck. Are you suggesting that I need to disarm my screen saver entirely? Hmm...
FinnishGuy	posted 07-27-99 11:35 AM ET I've been SMACing for several hours now and there's still the occasional repetition. Rarely though, maybe once in ten spoken texts. Generally the sounds are OK. And no more SOUND.DLL crashes thank GOD... bronko: Do you have the MS Office Sidebar running? Applications in the task scheduler? Does your AUTOEXEC.BAT load stuff? Close everything. However, I'm not promising a 100% sure fix. With all the different computer setups, something that works for me maybe doesn't for someone else.