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PC Sound Skipping and Crashing

Débuté par Guest_newlyred_* , janv. 12 2011 09:07

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4 réponses à ce sujet

#1
Guest_newlyred_*
Posté 12 janvier 2011 - 09:07

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Hello Forum, I know this problem is very prevalent for Mass Effect PC, but I digress: my googling schools have lacked a proper solution.

I have ME 1 on PC via Steam with:

Intel Core 2 1.86Ghz
4 GB RAM
x64 Win7
Geforce 9800 GT (8.17 drivers)
Generic HD Audio Device driver

Tl;dr: I've been experiencing two main problems: i) Crashing when I freshly start ME ii) Sound stuttering problems

i. When I start ME for the first time (after a boot), it seems when I select the left subtree conversation options, the game freezes and appears with this error message.  It is a small problem as it never crashes again until I restart the computer.  I have checked the cache file/error in Steam's download and nothing is wrong.... (And I had heard that the patch addressed this issue, but seeing as their is no way to patch the Steam version, I have yet to determine if the version is up to date other than the box saying "check for updates automatically")

ii.  So the infamous sound problem.  Well firstly, I have tried several recommended methods: remove background processes, utilize an audio/video stablizer program [which I think never worked properly to begin with], change the Step configuration in the BIOS, and the one that helped people the most - change the BioEngine.ini file (the maxchannel settings).  Nothing worked (though the last option did confuse me as to which value I changed it to: 64->512 and 62->510?), but its just a minor inconvinience at the moment.  Sure some audio is crackly and jarbled, but the subtitiles are fine.

edit: I also forgot to mention, the sound stuttering had also been attributed to NVDIA drivers at the time of the games release, but that was within the 7.xx era (first implemented the PhysX) and they suggested going back to 6.xx...I did uninstall PhysX, but again, no solution.


iii.  Any suggestions for texture popping (my computer terms are lacking...not popping into existence, but higher detailed surfaces appear on the low polygonal ones at sporadic intervals).  I have lowered my resolution significantly for slightly better performance, but the FPS is mostly the same.

Thanks for the help and sorry for the wall of text.

Modifié par newlyred, 12 janvier 2011 - 09:09 .

#2
Bogsnot1
Posté 12 janvier 2011 - 10:44

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"Generic HD audio" is not a brand, nor manufacturer. If you dont know the chipset of your audio device, then any problem that may be specific to your actual model will be overlooked.
To find out you game version, fire up the ME launcher, select "Confgure", and then on the left hand menu, select game. It will give you version numbers for masseffect.exe, masseffectlauncher.exe, and masseffectconfig.exe. There may also be a blank listing for masseffectuninstall.exe, but thats normal for Steam versions.
First thing to try is to download DirectX9.0c from Microsofts website and install that. It -should- have been done automatically by Steam, but Steam hasnt exactly been doing what it should of late. ME and ME2 specifically require that version. It will run on later versions, but issues are known to occur. Win7 is capable of running DX9 and later versiosn side by side without issue.
Video drivers: nVidia's latest drivers are listed as 260.99, so I dont know where you got the 8.17 figure from. That said, try rolling them back to a previous revision anyways. Go to your display adaptor properties in control panel, and under the drivers tab, select the "roll back" button.

#3
Guest_newlyred_*
Posté 13 janvier 2011 - 02:06

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Hey Bogsnot1, thanks for the reply and help. Yeah I wrote this post in a bit of rush and said some dumb things...

Well firstly, I never realized there was a Launcher...curse you steam and your accessibility. So:

-Mass Effect is version 1.02 - that should be the patched version, correct?
- DX9 installation did pop-up during installation, but I have had previous problems with DX instalation, so I'll try it again.
-And despite my decent knowledge of computers, I am quite clueless about audio devices. I have a Internal 7.1 channel (I believe) with the generic Sigmatel 9227 audio codec. Does this help?
-Lastly, for the driver, I had accidentally checked Device Manager (8.17 is that driver's version, sorry);
I'm 260.99, but due to several computer repairs, it's the only one installed on my computer (can't rollback). Do you by chance know a stable driver that would be better than this DX11 one?

Thanks for the help and I'll report if the change of DX helps. Also, my audio (in the launcher) is currently set to Software...would this affect it negatively?


---
So I tested it out, and the DX 9 appears to make it run a little smoother.  I also removed the unesscary audio enhancements that were on and that seemed to really help.  There are still cracky moments when the entire Citadel is coming into view, but my CPU usage skyrockets to 100% at that point, probably the main cause of the crackling.  

I am not sure about the game crashes yet or if any other cutsceen is incomplete/broken audio.

Modifié par newlyred, 13 janvier 2011 - 02:39 .

#4
Bogsnot1
Posté 13 janvier 2011 - 03:00

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DX direct from MS is the first thing I would try.

1.02 is the patched version of ME, and 260.99 is the very latest revision of nVidia drivers. Some people are reporting problems with that release, so try a previous version, such as 260.89, link here;

http://www.nvidia.co...hql-driver.html

You can also browse through various driver revisions here;

http://www.nvidia.co...aspx?lang=en-us

Select you card make, model, OS, and select "All" under the Recommend/Beta drop down box for the full list.

You may have to uninstall the new driver in order to install the older one.



Also, in the ME config util, under Audio, you should have a setting for hardware and software. If installing DX doesnt sort the problem out, try swapping that around.

No need to feel bad about lack of knowledge on the audio devices. Even with my obsessive tinkering, I still get stuttering sound (just the background music, not SFX or dialogue) on my system when I enter Flux on the Citadel. Its the only place in game I have audio problems though, so I'm not too concerned about it.

Good luck.

#5
Guest_newlyred_*
Posté 13 janvier 2011 - 06:27

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Great thanks for all the help!
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