Sam and Max Music Issues 101
Ryan
Telltale Alumni
Hey everyone,
I am currently investigating the Music problem with Sam and Max. The problem has been that music is either missing from parts of the game or all together, however, the dialog and SFX are still audible.
The 101 fix is to make sure you have checked both your system and game levels and rebooted.
If you have recently had an issue, or if you have posted in the past, please answer these questions to help me get this working for you guys.
1) Have you updated your DirX drivers recently?
2) Have you run the DirX diagnostic tool? if so what were your findings?
3) Have you downloaded your most recent drivers for your sound-card?
4) Have you ever had music work in the past?
5) If you have tried turning off background programs, which one has caused a change? (for example, there have been reports that a firewall or anti-virus program being deactivated in some cases, will fix the music bug) NOTE: If you do find that changing or turning off a program has corrected the problem, please try to recreate your findings to narrow down the problem program.
6) If you have this problem in Sam and Max and have other Telltale software (BONE 1 and 2, CSI, Texas Hold 'Em) is this an issue when running those as well? If you don't have any of our other software, please try downloading a demo to see if the problem is persists in those games...and no this isn't a ploy to get you hooked on other TTG products.....*shifty look*.
The more of you that answer, the better chance I'll have of flushing out this problem.
Thanks for your help guys!!
-Ryan
I am currently investigating the Music problem with Sam and Max. The problem has been that music is either missing from parts of the game or all together, however, the dialog and SFX are still audible.
The 101 fix is to make sure you have checked both your system and game levels and rebooted.
If you have recently had an issue, or if you have posted in the past, please answer these questions to help me get this working for you guys.
1) Have you updated your DirX drivers recently?
2) Have you run the DirX diagnostic tool? if so what were your findings?
3) Have you downloaded your most recent drivers for your sound-card?
4) Have you ever had music work in the past?
5) If you have tried turning off background programs, which one has caused a change? (for example, there have been reports that a firewall or anti-virus program being deactivated in some cases, will fix the music bug) NOTE: If you do find that changing or turning off a program has corrected the problem, please try to recreate your findings to narrow down the problem program.
6) If you have this problem in Sam and Max and have other Telltale software (BONE 1 and 2, CSI, Texas Hold 'Em) is this an issue when running those as well? If you don't have any of our other software, please try downloading a demo to see if the problem is persists in those games...and no this isn't a ploy to get you hooked on other TTG products.....*shifty look*.
The more of you that answer, the better chance I'll have of flushing out this problem.
Thanks for your help guys!!
-Ryan
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
2) Did that, and all sound-test were finished successfully (I've sent the diag-file to you)
3) Yep, as the music wasn't working after the DirectX-update, I've installed the latest sound-drivers for my on-board card, but it didn't help.
4) Yes, up until Episode 5 (timewise... so before updating DirectX) it worked perfectly... now even the older episodes play without music.
5) I've changed nothing here, and I only have XPs own firewall active... no virus-scanner running
6) Bone 1 & 2 worked in the past, but now they show the same problem as the S&M-episodes... no music, but ambient-sounds, speech and sound-effects are working
In your case, this is sounding like a Setup vs. DirX vs. TTG engine problem. I'd suspect it's not just the update that is causing the problem in your case Laserschwert, or I'd be up to my eyeballs in this bug. I am going to check out your diag-file you sent.
This info has helped a bunch.
The music in Telltale Texas Hold 'Em seems to be slightly reduced in quality, but remains very clearly audible. The DxDiag tests come back fine for both drivers (though hardware-accelerated audio is unsupported, but that's with both of them). I'm using a built-in SigmaTel Audio card in a Dell Dimension E520.
2) yes, everything seems normal there, and it didn't help anything to adjust the Hardware sound acceleration slider
3) yes, but unfortunately the newest drivers were some beta drivers for XP x64, since this issue only occured on XP x64.
4) In 32-bit XP the game works fine with this aging sound card, but I never got music on XP x64 except in a few selected places
5) I didn't run anything in the background despite of standard windows prosesses, since I just had installed x64 in a hope of a more stable PC while gaming.
6) Too late for that now, I ditched my XP x64 when I got my new soundcard. I haven't tried playing the games on XP x64 with my new sound card. My old sound card was a Creative SB Live! card, which I suspect was causing the problems. Especially since the drivers were still beta drivers, and I am not sure if the SB Live! card works properly with newer games. I had some issues with the sound in Oblivion, but other games worked really good. It seemed some of those games which usually works had some issues with the beta drivers, though.
So yeah, I'm pretty sure the drivers were causing it for me, but unfortunately I can't prove it since I don't have XP x64 anymore
This problem has not been consistent enough symptom-wise, for us to effectively trouble shoot right now. It seems the problems is caused and effected by a diverse set of criteria.
I will still be working on this issue. We have tried recreating the problem by using the same sound drivers and hardware you guys have listed, in combination with DirectX 9 and other configurations that you guys have let me know about. So far everything has worked fine with these attempts.
If you guys try anything in the FAQ that works or changes the problem please post it here.
thanks!
I realized I had sound problem because of the "War song sequence" in episode 5 which stay desperately mute whatever I tried.
So here are you re answers :
1 - Not before the problem, yes after with the latest version : no change
2 & 3 - Yes and I passed all the sound test. I'm using an old Sound Blaster Live 5.1 with those old creative Driver (on XP) but I have no problem on other games or windows apps.
4 - I have some music in the game, now I wonder if I m missing some. I have music in the beginning and in some sequence (for example when you give the truth serum to the little guy, there is music). I can t really remember if I had more music before or in the previous games...
5 - I have closed everything with no success and shutdown my antivirus and firewall
6 - I've just tried "Bone episode 1 (director's cut)" and I definitely have background music
If you want me to run some test, I'm always available.
Thanx,
Romain
Since there hasn't been a lot of reports on this issue, and none of the fixes reported are consistent, I don't have a for sure answer for you.
Do you have any other sound cards you could swap out? Even tough the card works with other games, my gut feeling is that the card your using is causing the problem, especially if the card is old and has drivers that are no longer being supported. I think the reason that re-installing the OS has worked for people, is because they could be rolling back DX updates etc. when they do, that's just a theory..
"Turtle Beach" makes excellent audio cards, and is a good alternative to Creative. They also tend to have better driver support, plus they cost a lot less and have essentially the same features as Creative cards that cost 2x or 3x more.
Turtle Beach Montego DDL Sound Card, 24-Bit/96kHz, PCI 2.2 Interface $54.98
http://www.directron.com/montegoddl.html (I shop here if Newegg.com doesn't have what I need.)
2) Everything's fine. No issues at all (mentioned).
3) Yes, I'm using a Realtek AC'97 ALC 658 onboard sound chipset with latest drivers A4.00 installed.
4) My music works fine in most (see point 6) games and video/audio players.
5) I didn't notice any differences, no matter what programs were running in the background. Sorry.
6) I tried Texas Hold'em and encountered the same problem. Some of the vocals were inaudible, that's why I had to play with subtitles on, similar to Sam & Max. Sometimes the next player started talking when the previous wasn't finished yet, so a part of the sentence was never spoken (reading the subtitles fast enough was the only way to experience it complete).
I'm using Windows XP Pro.
Same here. The entire sequence was mute. But the Bonus DVD has it in the Cutscenes, so I was able to see and hear it there.
I received my Season 1 Bonus Disc on Friday (I love it), so I started playing from the beginning again. I'm currently playing Episode 2 and in the TV station the shows have some sort of introduction, were the title is shown, Cooking without Looking, Midtown Cowboys... I know every show is supposed to have sound while this intro is playing, but only some shows are audible.
It's not even the same sound every time (that's missing), from my first run through Episode 2, I can remember that different show intros were mute.
I'm sorry that I can't be more specific. However, I wish you luck (of course) to find the source of this problem. Some patch for this would be great.
Happy (bug-) hunting.
Please try to take some time to repair this bug on Season 1 and make sure it won't reproduce on season 2.
PS : For those wondering I have also the DVD version and the sound problem is the same
Answers:
1 - Yes, it's ever up to date. I don't remeber if the problem started after an update.
2 - Yes, and everything is perfect. I can send the diag-file, just ask here or pm me.
3 - Yes, A4.02 for Realtek AC97 (another guy is having this issue with this sound card....)
4 - Yes, I finished Season 1 with music. Then one day I wanted to play it again and the music was gone. In Season 2, the only part that has music ****SPOILER**** Is when you get out of your neighborhood and go to the North Pole with the Desoto. There's that little 2 seconds music, and then music is gone again. ****SPOILER****
5 - Yes, since I finished Season 1 I changed anti-virus. Bur deactivating or even uninstalling it didn't bring the music back.
6 -No, I don't have any other product... I will donwload a demo and post the results.
Have you tried adjusting your level of hardware acceleration for sound? There are a couple of ways you can find it, but probably the easiest is under the sound tab in Dxdiag.
Oh yes baby! lol!
Thanks, man.
I said that with basic acceleration it works. BUT, I don't know what I did, it stoped working. Then, I went to dxdiag and set it as full acceleration again. It started working again! That's creepy.
Well, that's all I've got
1) Yes, been with DirectX 9.0c for a while now and recently re-installed it again just in case. I'm on a WinXP 64-bit machine so no DirectX 10 for me!
2) All fine. Ran DirectSound Test as well and all tests were successful.
3) Latest ones available for Audigy 4 Pro were ones made in 96 so yes - reinstalled them again just in case, though.
4) Worked for some scenes and not for others. It seems pretty consistent though - even now I can't hear the music for Sam & Max's Office nor Bosco's Inconvenience and that's for every episode (well, every episode you have access to them, anyway). But starting now for 203, I can't seem to hear the music for the street outside our duo's office. The appropriate music for conversations seems to start when chatting - but disappears again to silence and ambient noise when conversations end.
5) Turned off all other applications except the game itself. Nada.
6) Purchased the Bone games in the past and didn't find any sound problems (music or otherwise) in those.
I've tried fiddling around with the hardware acceleration and found that it DOES work - but only when I set the hardware acceleration to "None" and that plays havoc with the rest of the sound. So I can either hear everything normally with some missing pieces of music with full hardware acceleration, or I can can hear music with everything else getting stutters and glitches under no hardware acceleration. Kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place, here.
Additional: Not sure if this is just a coincidence, but I did a little trawling through the music files and discovered that the ones which were consistently not playing on my end were more than 4 or 4:30 minutes in length. The only exception to this rule is the version of Max's song in Stinky's which runs for 4:31 and seems to work fine when I play it on the jukebox. Mind you, this is just checking through Season 2 music files only.
Thanks for the extra information, I'm trying to get as much data as possible on the issue.
Now when I try to play them there is no sound on any of the games from Sam and Max Season 1 (or atleast episodes 2, 3 and 4). There is no music and I can't hear any of the speech.
1) Have you updated your DirX drivers recently?
I'm running on a fresh install of Vista. Just re-installed three days ago.
2) Have you run the DirX diagnostic tool? if so what were your findings?
Everything seems to be okay. The only thing worth noting is that the Creative Audigy 2Z drivers are not WHQL certified according to DXDiag. They are the most current drivers available at the Creative website. Doing a search for updated drivers through Windows Device Manager did get a slightly newer driver but it to came up as not being WHQL certified. I can't seem to run any tests though. I did save my log if it would help to e-mail that to anyone.
3) Have you downloaded your most recent drivers for your sound-card?
Yes.
4) Have you ever had music work in the past?
Yes, on my machine before the re-install. Everything worked perfectly.
5) If you have tried turning off background programs, which one has caused a change?
Haven't found anything that makes a difference. So far I'm running all the same programs I was running before. I did try shutting down my firewall and anti-virus but neither had any affect on the sound.
6) If you have this problem in Sam and Max and have other Telltale software (BONE 1 and 2, CSI, Texas Hold 'Em) is this an issue when running those as well?
I do have the Bone games. I played one and I can hear sound from people talking. The voices seem to work without any problem, but I didn't hear any music at all.
Hope this helps. Or at least I hope it helps you help me!
I don't see how it would be related but I had a problem with my Vista activation. Something went wrong with my activation (gotta love DRM) so I had to re-install it again. Not a big deal as I'd only just started re-installing my other programs, plus the side effect was that Sam and Max now has sound. All the same programs are installed and I really have no idea why it's working now.
I did do one thing differently that's worth noting. I installed the same driver pack I used before, only this time I installed it before I updated Vista. The previous time I installed all the updates and then found I needed to install the Audigy drivers. The first time, installing the drivers after the Vista updates a window popped up complaining that the drivers weren't Vista certified. The second time, installing the same drivers prior to updating Vista the installation went by without any warning. They still show up under DxDiag as not being WHQL, but I installed Sam and Max again and all is well. Sound is everywhere and I'm excited to finish up these great games.
I hope this random and confusing cry for help might help someone else later or at least give you guys an idea of what might potentially be wrong with the sound in the game. I'm glad I can now go from being one of the few people with problems to one of the vast majority that can just enjoy the game!