Sound Crackling in DirectX Games with Windows Vista?

[ultimatebob]

I'm having a weird problem with crackling and studdering sounds coming from my speakers when I'm playing DirectX games. The sound is fine when I'm playing MP3's and Movies, but games with a lot of explosion type noises like Battlefield 2 or Civilization 4 seem to cause this issue.

I've already tried upgrading my sound card drivers to the latest version, and even tried a different sound card, with no results. Adjusting the in-game volume levels and quality settings doesn't seem to help, either. The problem doesn't seem to be with the speakers as well, since I don't get any crackling noises if I plug them into my iPod and crank it up to a high volume.

Please let me know if you're ran into this issue before, and how you fixed it. I'm posting this to the motherboard forum since I've heard that PCI latency settings might be the issue. I already tried adjusting this setting in the BIOS, though, with no results.

Here are the specs on my computer if it helps:

Intel DP965LT motherboard (Latest BIOS, Sigmatel/Intel HD integrated audio is disabled)
Sound Blaster Audigy SE sound card
Windows Vista Home Premium (I think that this is my problem... Vista's driver support seems to suck in general)
Intel Core 2 Duo 6420 processor
2 GB memory
NVidia 8600 GTS video card
Logitech 2.1 speakers
SATA Hard Drive
Antec Sonata 2 with 450W power supply

 

[postmortemIA]

That Sigmatel HD audio is as good as Audigy SE (on paper it is even better)... have you tried to play with it?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If you already have BF2 patched to the latest version, try lowering the DX sound acceleration-

"Click Start.
Click Run.
Type in DXDIAG into the available text field, and press OK.
Once the DirectX Diagnostic tool has loaded, click on the Sound tab.
This tab will show you your sound device and drivers.
In the DirectX Features section, adjust the slide bar from where it is currently to Basic acceleration.
Warning : This may disable advanced audio features which worked previously in other games. Should you notice a negative change in any other game, simply change the acceleration level back to where it was or to Full Acceleration.
Click the Exit button.
Start your game, and verify that the game now works properly."

 

[HardWarrior]

I've noticed the same thing, but not in all games and it happens mostly when I'm trying to play sound from more than one source. I don't recall this happening under XP.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
That Sigmatel HD audio is as good as Audigy SE (on paper it is even better)... have you tried to play with it?

Yeah... The integrated audio had the exact problem, which is why I got the external card.

DXDIAG in Vista doesn't have any sliders for the Audio tabs, either

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
That Sigmatel HD audio is as good as Audigy SE (on paper it is even better)... have you tried to play with it?

Yeah... The integrated audio had the exact problem, which is why I got the external card.

Well, sorry, but that external card uses software for 3D games (SE was always short for sh**ty edition), which means it isn't any better than onboard in this concern.

 

[Abram730]

Software sound has that problem in games. In windows Vista only allowes software mixing because of..... It's DRM most likely...but MS says it removed hardware sound for stability. Does your sound, sound stable?

It's vista.
If the game uses openAL then you can use hardware sound...also there is an emulator for some games. Yes you have to hack Vista for good sound. CL is still having a hard time making DRM drivers.

I'd suggest complaining to Microsoft. What they took away is called HAL and yet they didn't put anything in it's place...so as it stands Microsoft says No Soup for...oops No Sound for you!!

Sound is Way better in XP....You got suckered.... Well I have a very expensive vista shelf decoration myself.

 

[iluv2fly]

Vista has issues with USB.

Unplugg all of your USB cables. (That worked for me)

Try your game again.

If it does not work try moving your PCI cards around.

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: iluv2fly
Vista has issues with USB.

Unplugg all of your USB cables. (That worked for me)

Try your game again.

If it does not work try moving your PCI cards around.

I hope I don't have to disconnect mouse and keyboard to play the game

 

[orion23]

Almost every Vista Notebook or Desktop I have worked with, has a major audio crackling / pausing issue.

It happens in games and while playing mp3's.

I didn't have the Problem for months with my Vista Ultimate, but it has developed it since last month.

 

[evolucion8]

I used to have the same problem with my X-Fi on any OS, and sometimes during bootup, the startup tone sounded distorted or crappy, I just raised the PCI Latency timer from 32 to 64 and all the problems got solved, my friend also had the same issue with the same card as mine but a different mobo. Even integrated Audio uses the PCI Bus.