Artifacts with DS3D (hardware mixer) only

Pa3PyX · Dec 14, 2007, 08:37 AM

At loss on how to troubleshoot the problem. Whenever I use hardware audio mixer on my SB Live! 5.1 board (SB0222) via DirectSound3D (whether it be directly or via OpenAL "Generic Hardware" device), I often hear artifacts in the form of loud pops and blips. This happens only with hardware mixer; regular software mixing (DirectSound and the associated "Generic Software" device) work just fine. The problem manifests only when the playback of a certain sound is stopped, i.e. cut off -- for example, when entering menu screens from in-game, or when an object making the sound disappears. This is not like a normal pop due to abrupt sound cut-off (which is what may happen in analogous situations with software mixer) -- it seems that, when the sound is stopped from the API, there is some junk data played back at full volume before the sound actually stops. Is this kind of thing normal with 3D sound acceleration?

It appears that all games that use the API are affected (for example Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, when forced to use "Generic Hardware" in OpenAL, and Jedi Outcast).

No matter what I tried, I can't seem to get rid of these artifacts. Here are my (relevant) system specs:

CPU: 2x AMD Athlon MP 2800+
MB: Asus A7M266-D (AMD-762)
Memory: 2 GB
Video: Gainward Bliss 7800GS+ AGP (v162.18)
OS: Windows XP SP2 (/NOEXECUTE: AlwaysOff)
DirectX version: 9.0c

Sound Blaster driver versions I tried:
-Official SB Live! driver pack, LiveDrvUni-Pack(ENG).exe, of 2003-02-28 (CTAUD2K.SYS ver. 5.12.1.252-1.31.120) -- from Creative's web site
-Latest unified SB Live!/Audigy/2/4 driver pack, SBAX_WBUP2_LB_2_09_0016.exe, of 2006-10-09 (CTAUD2K.SYS ver. 5.12.1.1196-2.9.7540) -- from Creative's web site
EDIT: Oversight on my part, latest Creative unified is SBXF_PCDVT_LB_2_15_0003.exe, of 2007-11-05 (CTAUD2K.SYS ver. 6.0.1.1304-2.15.2050) -- for Vista but also works with XP. Either way, that doesn't help.
-YouP-PAX Live! driver pack -- ver. 3.63.03
-kX Project driver pack -- ver. 5.10.0.3537
EDIT: Another oversight, latest kX is 5.10.0.3539. Doesn't help either.

All above driver versions exhibit the same problem.

System settings I tried changing:
-Set PCI Latency of all devices (including display adapter) to various settings (tried 8, 32, and 64)
-Set PCI latency of all devices to 8 and that of sound adapter to 248
-Disable PCI Delayed Transaction and PCI to DRAM Prefetch in BIOS
-Made sure thare are no IRQ conflicts/sharing

No effect.

Tried in a different motherboard -- Soltek SL-75DRV5 (VIA KT333), same problem.

Also uninstalled the SB Live! and tried the on-board sound device instead (C-Media 8738), which also supports hardware mixing. Same problem.

Altogether this leads me to believe that the problem is not in a particular driver or hardware configuration, but rather in the DirectSound3D API itself. Any ideas on how to fight this? DSOUND.DLL and DSOUND3D.DLL are both ver. 5.3.2600.2180.

Dec 14, 2007, 08:37 AM	#1
Pa3PyX DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Artifacts with DS3D (hardware mixer) only At loss on how to troubleshoot the problem. Whenever I use hardware audio mixer on my SB Live! 5.1 board (SB0222) via DirectSound3D (whether it be directly or via OpenAL "Generic Hardware" device), I often hear artifacts in the form of loud pops and blips. This happens only with hardware mixer; regular software mixing (DirectSound and the associated "Generic Software" device) work just fine. The problem manifests only when the playback of a certain sound is stopped, i.e. cut off -- for example, when entering menu screens from in-game, or when an object making the sound disappears. This is not like a normal pop due to abrupt sound cut-off (which is what may happen in analogous situations with software mixer) -- it seems that, when the sound is stopped from the API, there is some junk data played back at full volume before the sound actually stops. Is this kind of thing normal with 3D sound acceleration? It appears that all games that use the API are affected (for example Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, when forced to use "Generic Hardware" in OpenAL, and Jedi Outcast). No matter what I tried, I can't seem to get rid of these artifacts. Here are my (relevant) system specs: CPU: 2x AMD Athlon MP 2800+ MB: Asus A7M266-D (AMD-762) Memory: 2 GB Video: Gainward Bliss 7800GS+ AGP (v162.18) OS: Windows XP SP2 (/NOEXECUTE: AlwaysOff) DirectX version: 9.0c Sound Blaster driver versions I tried: -Official SB Live! driver pack, LiveDrvUni-Pack(ENG).exe, of 2003-02-28 (CTAUD2K.SYS ver. 5.12.1.252-1.31.120) -- from Creative's web site -Latest unified SB Live!/Audigy/2/4 driver pack, SBAX_WBUP2_LB_2_09_0016.exe, of 2006-10-09 (CTAUD2K.SYS ver. 5.12.1.1196-2.9.7540) -- from Creative's web site EDIT: Oversight on my part, latest Creative unified is SBXF_PCDVT_LB_2_15_0003.exe, of 2007-11-05 (CTAUD2K.SYS ver. 6.0.1.1304-2.15.2050) -- for Vista but also works with XP. Either way, that doesn't help. -YouP-PAX Live! driver pack -- ver. 3.63.03 -kX Project driver pack -- ver. 5.10.0.3537 EDIT: Another oversight, latest kX is 5.10.0.3539. Doesn't help either. All above driver versions exhibit the same problem. System settings I tried changing: -Set PCI Latency of all devices (including display adapter) to various settings (tried 8, 32, and 64) -Set PCI latency of all devices to 8 and that of sound adapter to 248 -Disable PCI Delayed Transaction and PCI to DRAM Prefetch in BIOS -Made sure thare are no IRQ conflicts/sharing No effect. Tried in a different motherboard -- Soltek SL-75DRV5 (VIA KT333), same problem. Also uninstalled the SB Live! and tried the on-board sound device instead (C-Media 8738), which also supports hardware mixing. Same problem. Altogether this leads me to believe that the problem is not in a particular driver or hardware configuration, but rather in the DirectSound3D API itself. Any ideas on how to fight this? DSOUND.DLL and DSOUND3D.DLL are both ver. 5.3.2600.2180. __________________ Q: What happens when the value of Pi changes? A: The universe reboots. Last edited by Pa3PyX; Dec 17, 2007 at 05:51 PM.