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Author Topic: Random sound disappearence in Intro  (Read 2082 times)
Aks1
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Random sound disappearence in Intro
« on: June 13, 2012, 05:20:56 pm »

Ok, this is it.
I've installed the game for the first time and I don't know whether it's bug or not, so I'm writing here.

I have Windows 7 x64
I've just starting the game and trying to see intro.
It plays clearly for some time (~ 30 sec - 4 min as I tried it ~10 times) and then sound disappears (until the end), also the video continue to play, but freezening periodically and slower than it should be (like 3x slower).

I should also add that game after the Intro plays ok (e.g. I talked to Ur-Quan and to human colony - graphics, sound and music act as they should).

What should I do?
Thank you in advance!
« Last Edit: June 13, 2012, 05:23:38 pm by Aks1 » Logged
AzureRaptor
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Re: Random sound disappearence in Intro
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2012, 12:25:40 pm »

I'm having the exact same issue, except on XP.  Sound drops out, video becomes horrendously sluggish at a random interval from start.

The thing is, I've played this game in the past completely successfully on this system - 3do .duk/.tbl/.frm/.hdr files in the correct places, and everything.  Video and game in general played great in previous versions.  I just wanted to see what changes were up in 0.7.0.

Maybe this new "content management system" has a few kinks that need ironing out...
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meep-eep
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Re: Random sound disappearence in Intro
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2012, 06:39:50 pm »

I have a theory: There is a known bug in the resource loader, in that it is not thread-safe. This would only be a problem for the intro video.
If this is the case, then I'm afraid that there's nothing which you can do. I think this would only be an issue when the (3DO) videos are in a zip-file though, so this is probably not the cause of the problem for AzureRaptor.
Aks1: are you talking about the 3DO video's, or the default intro slides?

On the other hand, it wouldn't be the first time that the Windows video or audio drivers themselves caused problems. Make sure that you have the most recent version.
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AzureRaptor
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Re: Random sound disappearence in Intro
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2012, 11:34:17 pm »

I have a theory: There is a known bug in the resource loader, in that it is not thread-safe. This would only be a problem for the intro video.
If this is the case, then I'm afraid that there's nothing which you can do. I think this would only be an issue when the (3DO) videos are in a zip-file though, so this is probably not the cause of the problem for AzureRaptor.
Aks1: are you talking about the 3DO video's, or the default intro slides?

On the other hand, it wouldn't be the first time that the Windows video or audio drivers themselves caused problems. Make sure that you have the most recent version.


Thanks for replying, meep-eep.  I checked my drivers before I posted; I figured that'd be the first thing somebody suggested I do.  Wink  My system plays very new, demanding games w/o hitches and with pretty much all the bells and whistles turned on at 1920x1080, so...

Is there any way in 0.7.0+ to get the loader to just use the intro files outside of a .zip or .uqm file?  I didn't even know about the new content management system affecting them until I installed stuff, and noticed that I got slides instead of video even though I'd put all the right stuff in the right places, and turned on the video option.  Then I searched here to see what was up.  The content management system seems like a neat idea, definitely...just maybe needing a little more debugging.  I'm willing to help as much as I can.  I'm sorry I'm not much of a coder Sad, but I _do_ have a little experience in the past in QC.  If there's any tests or diagnostics I can run for you and give logs, I'm willing.
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meep-eep
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Re: Random sound disappearence in Intro
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2012, 02:24:17 am »

The resource loader which I was talking about it not the content management system. I'm talking about UIO, the virtual file system which I wrote to transparently load resources from various sources, including .zip files. It has been in UQM since I think 0.3, and has hardly changed since.
The content management changes in 0.7.0 are about how to find the correct resource. Once the resource to load has been determined, it is out of the picture. So it's very unlikely that it is related to your problem.

The fact that your system plays very new, demanding games without hitches is not going to matter much; what we're seeing here is probably a bug, not a performance issue. And UQM may very well make use of different functionality of the graphics system than those other games.

The new content system does expect files in different locations, and this is likely why you get the slides instead of the videos.
It can use files outside of a .zip/.uqm file just fine, as long as they are in the correct location. See also http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Content_Management.

Are you using all the standard content packages?
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AzureRaptor
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Re: Random sound disappearence in Intro
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2012, 07:40:16 am »

The resource loader which I was talking about it not the content management system. I'm talking about UIO, the virtual file system which I wrote to transparently load resources from various sources, including .zip files. It has been in UQM since I think 0.3, and has hardly changed since.
The content management changes in 0.7.0 are about how to find the correct resource. Once the resource to load has been determined, it is out of the picture. So it's very unlikely that it is related to your problem.

The fact that your system plays very new, demanding games without hitches is not going to matter much; what we're seeing here is probably a bug, not a performance issue. And UQM may very well make use of different functionality of the graphics system than those other games.

Ok, thanks for that clarification.

The new content system does expect files in different locations, and this is likely why you get the slides instead of the videos.
It can use files outside of a .zip/.uqm file just fine, as long as they are in the correct location. See also http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Content_Management.

Are you using all the standard content packages?


Yes, I think I'm using what would be considered all the standard packages.  I know I'm using the 3do voice & "content" packages, in the very least, and I believe I checked off the remixes and other options too.

Also, I'm sorry if I didn't express myself well earlier.  Under 0.7.0, I was able to get video instead of slides - I constructed a 3dovideo.zip file by hand, and obtained the relevant .rmp and .nfo files for it.  Video _did_ work for me - sort of.  It just went silent and stuttery in the same way that it did for the OP.

Previously I thought using the .zip (or .uqm) container was my only option now.  Thank you for that clarification as well.  I've just tried mimicking the directory structure in the 3dovideo.zip file "outside" of it (also found out the hard way that while it doesn't need the .nfo file, it does want that .rmp file), and the video works flawlessly here, at least over several trials just now.  If there is any other data I can provide or tests I can perform, please let me know.

I also feel bad that I didn't lead off with this in my original post, but I want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for making The Ur-Quan Masters.  It beats the pants off quite a few payware games I've played.  While I've been gaming since the C-64, somehow I missed the Star Control series, so, aside from somebody pointing me at an old copy, and me beating dosbox into shape (which I've done for X-COM, mind Wink) I'd've missed out on this.  It's just awesome.
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Aks1
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Re: Random sound disappearence in Intro
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2012, 11:08:18 pm »

Followed meep-eep suggestion to copy videos out of zip and - hurray! - it works like a charm now!
I've also (like AzureRaptor) thought that zip is the only option, so, I suppose, this info (and how to avoid Intro problem) should be posted somewhere in the FAQ.

And yes, thanx for the great work, guys!
SC is the favourite gameseries of my childhood!  Smiley
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AzureRaptor
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Re: Random sound disappearence in Intro
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2012, 02:12:56 am »

[...]
I've also (like AzureRaptor) thought that zip is the only option, so, I suppose, this info (and how to avoid Intro problem) should be posted somewhere in the FAQ.
[...]

Agreed, technical faq entry for videos should be updated.  I would do it myself but I'm not very good at writing documentation.  :{
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