Hippy Druid 10 Posted July 5, 2009 (edited) Howdy, I have recently downloaded the Steam version of Arma 2 but I am experiencing a very frustrating sound issue. I had downloaded the non-steam demo version of Arma 2 and this also had the exact same sound latency issue, so I am pretty sure it's not due to the steam version. I am running an AMD FX60, 9600GT, WinXP SP3 and I have an EMU 1616m PCI sound card, updated with the latest EMU firmware and drivers. I am only running a stereo setup and not a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound setup from my device. Anyway, I can fire up to a 3 round burst before I will hear any kind of sound from the rifle. The shots are firing when I press my mouse button, and registering at appropriate times for the distance etc, so I am confident it is not some other kind of lag issue, but an actual delay in the sound. I have had a bit of a search on these and other forums for the last few days, and tried a number of things to solve the issue: These range from changing my sound hardware acceleration levels through the four different settings, and infact I won't get any sound at all unless I am on the minimum (Emulation) setting, which is fine, but I get sound latency. I have deleted my sound drivers and re-installed them. The DX9 redist is included in the steam download, so I know it's not a lack thereof. I have tried editing the profile config file to enable 'soundEnableHW'. I also tried this with a combination of adjusting the hardware acceleration, nothing. I have tried disabling 'soundEnableEAX' in the config file, again nothing I have tried the -dsound command line. I have tried adding Steam.exe & Arma2.exe to the ffdshow audio codecs exception list, and still nothing. It's becoming a very frustrating experience when trying to play a game, as other sounds are not being heard until a fraction later, which is annoying when someone is trying to shoot at you. It's definitely not a problem with faulty hardware, as I use my sound card every day for other applications with absolutely no problems whatsoever. If anyone has some suggestions I haven't tried, (and not rolling back to AC97) I would greatly appreciate it. Arma 2 is a great game, I get good FPS, and it's a very playable game. I just hope I can fix this sound issue. Cheers, Hippy Edited July 5, 2009 by Hippy Druid Additional information added. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MPBR 10 Posted July 5, 2009 (edited) Howdy,I have recently downloaded the Steam version of Arma 2 but I am experiencing a very frustrating sound issue. I had downloaded the non-steam demo version of Arma 2 and this also had the exact same sound latency issue, so I am pretty sure it's not due to the steam version. I am running an AMD FX60, 9600GT, WinXP SP3 and I have an EMU 1616m PCI sound card, updated with the latest EMU firmware and drivers. I am only running a stereo setup and not a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound setup from my device. Anyway, I can fire up to a 3 round burst before I will hear any kind of sound from the rifle. The shots are firing when I press my mouse button, and registering at appropriate times for the distance etc, so I am confident it is not some other kind of lag issue, but an actual delay in the sound. I have had a bit of a search on these and other forums for the last few days, and tried a number of things to solve the issue: These range from changing my sound hardware acceleration levels through the four different settings, and infact I won't get any sound at all unless I am on the minimum (Emulation) setting, which is fine, but I get sound latency. I have deleted my sound drivers and re-installed them. The DX9 redist is included in the steam download, so I know it's not a lack thereof. I have tried editing the profile config file to enable 'soundEnableHW'. I also tried this with a combination of adjusting the hardware acceleration, nothing. I have tried disabling 'soundEnableEAX' in the config file, again nothing I have tried the -dsound command line. I have tried adding Steam.exe & Arma2.exe to the ffdshow audio codecs exception list, and still nothing. It's becoming a very frustrating experience when trying to play a game, as other sounds are not being heard until a fraction later, which is annoying when someone is trying to shoot at you. It's definitely not a problem with faulty hardware, as I use my sound card every day for other applications with absolutely no problems whatsoever. If anyone has some suggestions I haven't tried, (and not rolling back to AC97) I would greatly appreciate it. Arma 2 is a great game, I get good FPS, and it's a very playable game. I just hope I can fix this sound issue. Cheers, Hippy Well, TBH I would be inclined to think that maybe that card is not supported. Having looked thru its specs and drivers, its not really a gaming card. Actually : E-MU sound interfaces and games Speaking of games, some users are puzzled why a pro soundcard doesn't support 3D sound. Newbie and home musicians, especially SoundBlaster Live owners, mistakenly believe that a professional device is the same as a gaming, but way uber and more expensive. E-MU underlines that their product is a professional sound recording interface. And this doesn't mean one can use it as a usual soundcard. The device is initially designed for sound processing and music creation. So, like any other pro interface it might not work with certain media players, games, and Web applications. We'll add that limited games support means, above all, the lack of hardware 3D sound (DirectSound, OpenAL) that results in software emulation of DirectSound with worse sound quality and higher CPU load. For media players it's expedient to use ASIO professional interface that guarantees card operation at a custom fixed sampling rate. And those who need an uber soundcard should pay attention to Creative X-Fi Elite Pro that has the same top-end converters. Taken from :http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/proaudio/emu-1616m.html And Direct from E-MU Support page: E-MU Soundcards: Game support My 0404, 1212M, 1820, 1820M, 1616, or 1616M don't seem to work well with games? The E-MU product that you now own is a professional digital audio interface and recording tool. It is not meant to be used as a generic soundcard. It was designed and is focused on audio and music creation as it’s top priority. It is possible that it may not perform as well as or the same as other soundcards in non professional audio applications such as media players, games and internet related audio tasks. And really, it is not intended to be a gaming card, and gaming companys usually have to cater for the most common system components. Maybe throwing in a second card or using internal, and activing it only when needed thru windows for games ? Edited July 5, 2009 by MPBR Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hippy Druid 10 Posted July 5, 2009 Thanks for the reply MPBR. I have never actually encountered a problem with the sound in any game that a few adjustments to the hardware acceleration hasn't fixed. In saying that, I was dubious about having multiple audio drivers running on my OS, for obvious reasons. Anyway after your post I gave it some further consideration. Maybe throwing in a second card or using internal, and activing it only when needed thru windows for games ? This is exactly what I have done, I should have done it earlier. My problem now has a workable solution. I downloaded the realtek AC97 drivers, installed them, restarted etc. All I need to do now is swap between either the EMU drivers or the AC97 drivers in Control Panel>Sound and Audio Devices>Hardware>Properties So far everything works as it should. My audio device responds correctly and accurately when using the appropriate software :pet3:, and Arma 2 plays and sounds fine. Thanks Hippy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites