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General FreeSpace => FreeSpace & FreeSpace Open Support => Topic started by: Mr_Blastman on November 20, 2012, 11:26:16 pm

Title: Audio popping whenever sound starts/stops
Post by: Mr_Blastman on November 20, 2012, 11:26:16 pm

I never had this before but lately I get this strange audio popping noise (sometimes a crackle) every time a new sound plays.  For instance, say in the hangar and I click on a door to open, when it plays the sound I hear a quick pop and then the sound.  If I switch to a new door I hear a quick pop again and then the sound.

I don't get this in other applications--only OpenAL related ones maybe?  It is strange and makes little sense.

I'm running the same hardware as always, a SB X-Fi Fatality Pro card.

Any ideas?

Title: Re: Audio popping whenever sound starts/stops
Post by: pecenipicek on November 21, 2012, 05:37:41 am

i think thats related to audio buffers being a smidge too small. sure smells like it. however i know not what can be done about it, but its familiar to me from shenanigans i had with my audigy 2 zs...

Title: Re: Audio popping whenever sound starts/stops
Post by: Mr_Blastman on November 25, 2012, 12:32:26 am

I think I've narrowed this down to specifically being a Windows 7 64-bit, Nvidia n-force Chipset / X-Fi issue from all the research I've done.  Supposedly there's a way to fix it by changing pci interrupt latency timers but... none of the tools to change the timing for individual PCI devices work in Windows 7 64-bit, thus, why nobody can ever solve this issue.

Yeah, crazy right?  So I guess the only solution is to ditch the Nvidia n-force motherboard chipset.

http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=24669

Title: Re: Audio popping whenever sound starts/stops
Post by: pecenipicek on November 25, 2012, 02:36:47 am

Quote from: Mr_Blastman on November 25, 2012, 12:32:26 am

I think I've narrowed this down to specifically being a Windows 7 64-bit, Nvidia n-force Chipset / X-Fi issue from all the research I've done.  Supposedly there's a way to fix it by changing pci interrupt latency timers but... none of the tools to change the timing for individual PCI devices work in Windows 7 64-bit, thus, why nobody can ever solve this issue.

Yeah, crazy right?  So I guess the only solution is to ditch the Nvidia n-force motherboard chipset.

http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=24669

have you tried? http://www.nhancer.com/

Title: Re: Audio popping whenever sound starts/stops
Post by: Mr_Blastman on November 26, 2012, 12:51:35 pm

Yeah, that doesn't work with the latest drivers though--I've got a 670 GTX in the machine now.

I did find this, though...

http://downloads.guru3d.com/NVIDIA-Inspector-1.94-download-2612.html#download

Nvidia inspector.  It seems to be a more recent replacement candidate for Nhancer (which stopped being updated back in 2010).  I'll have to play with it a bit and see.  It would be nice if I could figure out how to fix it and then post it for others... I'm sure there are plenty of Creative users with Nforce boards.

Title: Re: Audio popping whenever sound starts/stops
Post by: mjn.mixael on November 26, 2012, 11:47:31 pm

I have a similar issue occassionally, but I'm using my mobo's onboard Realtek card... which is probably the issue. I've been meaning to pick up a good sound card at some point, but I need to make sure I have space in my case for it first.. which requires work... which requires I not be lazy.