TS2013 and EFX Audio Issues

[JasonM]

I to have a Creative X-Fi Platinum sound card in Windows 7 and also notice the split second sound cuts and no sound direction, lets hope a fix is forthcoming.

[rededge]

OK, Guys- an update from me...

After hours of head scratching, trawling forums (of years old threads, hmmm) and fiddling about with settings for the soundcard properties, and openAL I met with disappointment as the stutter remained.
I used "Chasing Yellows" as my test scenario (formerly Ox- Padd route we all know and love). Depart Padd, increase throttle upto 40 mph and every so often the same momentary stutter (tile loading?) of sound drop out. If you're suffering this, you'll be familiar.

So I gave up, thought "well put up with it".

And I re-installed all my AP sound packs.

...stutter is gone! I've opened the cherry brandy to celebrate

Could it be as easy as this? Do you guys with the same symptom have (un)installed sound packs?

One other thing of note which may or may not be relevant; are you aware that the Creative audio service (CTAudSvc.exe *32) seems to be set by default to run at High CPU Priority? I use Prio (freeware) to nobble it...

[x5pgr]

Glad to hear of your result rededge as the problem you describe is exactly what I am still experiencing. Interestingly 'Chasing Yellows' is also my test bed scenario for checking out these sort of things. Howver I still have a totally clean fresh install of TS2013 and have not yet re-installed any of my AP Sound Packs etc so I am afraid that this may not be the definative answer......

Peter

[ttjph]

Thanks to all who are looking into this.

I'm also getting the stutter on an X-Fi. However, I don't own any AP sound sets - the stutters are on RSC-provided sounds (default HST, and Steam 66)...

[ScruffyBee]

I fixed my mono audio problem and harsh scratchy sound by removing the OpenAL32.dll file from the main railworks folder. Now works as it used to. Nice 3d and effects.
I use aXonar DG sound card and have the GX setting turned off. Probably works just as well for Creative cards.

[b101uk]

Well I was playing last night, up to that point I had directional sound just with the skip/stutter/clip every 30 to 45 sec which I could put up with , however I was half way through a scenario and the sound directionality screwed up totally!

If I look straight ahead or straight backwards the sound of the loco disappears and e.g. the engine & horn sound cannot be heard, if I look to the 90deg right the engine sound is at a medium level and the horn sound CAN be heard at a fraction of the volume it formally was, if I look to 90deg to the left the engine sound is extremely loud and the horn sound is totally inaudible, it is the same for both internal and external views, also if I turn the engine off (says 0rpm) the engine sound continues as if nothing had happened though the loco obviously won’t move.

When I exited the game at the end of the scenario Steam had downloaded 0.5mb of TS2013 files initiated at about the time of the problem starting, which I just cannot fix, it’s affecting all the diesel & electric locos (haven’t tried steam loco yet) seemingly on all the routes.

I have tried “verifying game cache” multiple times with no luck though it has downloaded files, have tried turning off/on available audio setting in game, forcing on/off audio settings via command line switches, and changing settings in windows for my sound card (Creative X-FI)(drivers are the latest available & no other games are showing the problem) and deleted the game cache (TS2013 > in game options > tools) and nothing will fix it which is rendering TS2013 now unplayable even though up until ~10pm last night it was perfectly fine!

Dose anyone know where ts2013 saves and game configuration files and other volatile user files are stored/saved??? I have looked in the normal locations (where game user files etc are saved) with no luck of finding anything railworks/TS2012/TS2013 related (hidden folders is off)

As it is at the moment I would gladly put up with mono sound rather than totally screwed up directional sound than seemingly confused left/right/back/front audio layers in the cab-view and externally.

[clivejames1st]

I, too, have been getting the sound stutter every 15-20 seconds. I have a Creative card and , personally, it is getting on my nerves. It is very noticeable on the new Sherman Hill route. I will be trying the Alchemy method later as that worked fine with 2012.

Clive

[scefhwil]

Dose anyone know where ts2013 saves and game configuration files and other volatile user files are stored/saved??? I have looked in the normal locations (where game user files etc are saved) with no luck of finding anything railworks/TS2012/TS2013 related (hidden folders is off)

Railworks/Content/PlayerProfiles.bin might be what your looking for.

[clivejames1st]

I, too, have been getting the sound stutter every 15-20 seconds. I have a Creative card and , personally, it is getting on my nerves. It is very noticeable on the new Sherman Hill route. I will be trying the Alchemy method later as that worked fine with 2012.

Clive

Well that failed. Activating Alchemy causes a loss of horn, partial engine sound and bell( on US locos) to not be heard from within the cab.

[x5pgr]

Just for the sake if it I tried the rather drastic step of deleting the OpenAl32.dll from the Railworks folder as suggested by ScruffyBee. As far as I can tell it has made absolutely no difference to the sound at all – intermittent glitches are still there. It makes you wonder what the actual purpose of this .dll is.

I hope that a solution to this problem can be found soon as these audio drop-outs are really irritating and spoiling what otherwise and so far has been a generally favourable experience since the upgrade to TS2013.

Peter

[ScruffyBee]

Just for the sake if it I tried the rather drastic step of deleting the OpenAl32.dll from the Railworks folder as suggested by ScruffyBee. As far as I can tell it has made absolutely no difference to the sound at all – intermittent glitches are still there. It makes you wonder what the actual purpose of this .dll is.

My thoughts exactly.
I am lucky and have not had the intermittent glitches others have and it is still working perfectly without the file.

[ttjph]

Don't forget: if you're getting sound problems with a fully verified, standard install of TS2012 then please email support@railsimulator.com and tell them, in as much detail as possible (route, loco, scenario, type of problem, sound card details, operating system, etc).

[gptech]

Just for the sake if it I tried the rather drastic step of deleting the OpenAl32.dll from the Railworks folder as suggested by ScruffyBee.........It makes you wonder what the actual purpose of this .dll is.

If you're running a 64bit OS it may not have any purpose...it's a 32bit library so there's a possibility that under a 64bit OS this routine(s) is handled elsewhere.

[x5pgr]

Interesting comment re 32/64 bit. I am in fact running Vista 32 bit on an Asus Maximus Formula motherboard (a self build now about six years old) with the ‘on board’ Supreme FX II Audi Card – never experienced any similar sound problems with this set up until now although I am not really a games player.

As a slightly separate issue I was, in any event, thinking of building an new PC before the end of the year and moving to Windows 7 64 bit. Has anyone any particular thoughts on the merits or otherwise of using a separate dedicated sound card and if so what? My current PC is the first one I have built where I have settled for the on board sound rather than a dedicated card having in the past been through various incarnations of Creative Labs SoundBlaster, Terratec etc. Any advice or thoughts on this would be appreciated.

I will get an email off to RSC support over the weekend regarding the sound stuttering issue.

Peter

[JustRight]

Here is yet another audio problem I have now encountered!

Have any of you noticed that some sounds simply do not play at all? For example, the roller doors on the Class 325 Mail Express used to make a nice clattering sound as they opened and closed. Under TS2013 however here is nothing but silence????!!!!!

The sound files appear to be in the Audio directory, but just don't get played, or something. Anyone notice this, or any other completely missing sounds?

(Note hat I have Richard Armstrong's Class 325 Sound Pack, and the lack of door sounds affects that as well as the default sound set)

Oh dear. What have RSC done?