Sound dropping out


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Never a dumb question - Here is where you can find them depending on your OS:


Windows
C:\TheDirectoryYouInstalledSteamTo\steamapps\common\TheLongDark\tld_Data\output_log.txt

OSX
~Library/Logs/Unity/Player.log

Just grab the log file and attach it to your post and we will take a look. Another question is are you noticing any graphical hitching when this occurs? Such as stuttering or the game pausing for a moment. 

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8 hours ago, Support said:

Never a dumb question - Here is where you can find them depending on your OS:


Windows
C:\TheDirectoryYouInstalledSteamTo\steamapps\common\TheLongDark\tld_Data\output_log.txt

OSX
~Library/Logs/Unity/Player.log

Just grab the log file and attach it to your post and we will take a look. Another question is are you noticing any graphical hitching when this occurs? Such as stuttering or the game pausing for a moment. 

Thank you so much for the guidance!
Log attached.

output_log.txt

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We're seeing  some concerning errors in your log that could be related to save data. Could I get you to attach your save files? They are located here: /users/username/.local/share/Hinterland/ - just zip up the Hinterland folder and attach it to the post. 

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6 hours ago, Support said:

We're seeing  some concerning errors in your log that could be related to save data. Could I get you to attach your save files? They are located here: /users/username/.local/share/Hinterland/ - just zip up the Hinterland folder and attach it to the post. 

Thanks again for the guidance. File is attached. 

Hinterland.zip

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/30/2016 at 3:03 AM, Support said:

We're seeing  some concerning errors in your log that could be related to save data. Could I get you to attach your save files? They are located here: /users/username/.local/share/Hinterland/ - just zip up the Hinterland folder and attach it to the post. 

I have occasional sound drops from the desktop system (from which the log is from). However, sound drops are much more frequent on my laptop which is a newer system.

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  • 8 months later...
On 23/03/2016 at 8:41 AM, Wasteland Watcher said:

Occasionally all sound drops for a split-second. When it occurs seems completly random. Sometimes in-game walking around outdoors, sometimes on the "Trapper's Cabin" menu screen before loading a game. 

I've noticed this on both a laptop I use as well as my desktop system. 
Please advise how to resolve.

I've got this problem since i have bought the game. 

all sounds and effects stops for a second then continues although the game graphics flows in a decent frame rate (there is no hesitation on game flow except sound problem).

specs; Win 10 OS,

fx4300,

r7 240 (playing in "low" for decent fps - i've tried in all screen resolutions and detail levels),

kingston SSD,

msi 970-g43 MoBo,

endnote: i have tried to play the game via HDMI on TV, sound problem still stays. there is no problem when playing any other game or music etc. I've tried to reload all the game data. I wrote on steam forum too.

please help, if you have resolution...

best regards...

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I have found a solution:

I discorevered that there is a connect/disconnect problem with my front audio panel! randomly my pc detect a front panel connection and it makes a restart of all sound devices. it didnt make any change of any other audio streaming except TLD. So it was hard to find the cause.

  • In "Control Panel", i opened the Realtek's configurations and i've found the option of disabling front panel detection. It solved my problem.

have fun with The Game.

 

RealtekHDAudioManager.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

I still have this issue to this day. Could it be a driver issue maybe?

EDIT: It only drops out when a certain sound or voice message starts to play. So while I'm going through a drawer and I find something. Just before the character says "This might come in handy", the sound cuts. After that cut, the voice message just plays like it should.

It doesn't just happen with voice messages though, also when a wolf or bear growls. That means I lose my advantage of hearing him when he's coming for me.

Also, lithiumplain's solution didn't work for me, I don't have that option.

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On 22.2.2017 at 8:34 AM, VinceCgto said:

I still have this issue to this day. Could it be a driver issue maybe?

EDIT: It only drops out when a certain sound or voice message starts to play. So while I'm going through a drawer and I find something. Just before the character says "This might come in handy", the sound cuts. After that cut, the voice message just plays like it should.

It doesn't just happen with voice messages though, also when a wolf or bear growls. That means I lose my advantage of hearing him when he's coming for me.

Also, lithiumplain's solution didn't work for me, I don't have that option.

This is exactly what happens to me as well. I too attached my files and hope they can be of any help.

Hinterland.zip

output_log.txt

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On 26.2.2017 at 1:47 AM, AZHockeyNut said:

I lose the background sound like the howling wind from a blizzard if I alt tab out of the game into another window...I tend to do that a lot while playing. if I go inside then back out it fixes itself.

In addition to my described issue, I also lose the background sound when I alt+tab out of the game.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/29/2017 at 10:49 PM, lithiumplain said:

I have found a solution:

I discorevered that there is a connect/disconnect problem with my front audio panel! randomly my pc detect a front panel connection and it makes a restart of all sound devices. it didnt make any change of any other audio streaming except TLD. So it was hard to find the cause.

  • In "Control Panel", i opened the Realtek's configurations and i've found the option of disabling front panel detection. It solved my problem.

have fun with The Game.

 

RealtekHDAudioManager.jpg

 

On 2/26/2017 at 9:47 AM, AZHockeyNut said:

I lose the background sound like the howling wind from a blizzard if I alt tab out of the game into another window...I tend to do that a lot while playing. if I go inside then back out it fixes itself.

 Thanks for the replies but it did not resolve my problem.

 Also, I never Alt-Tab out of any game. Ever. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/4/2017 at 6:35 PM, VinceCgto said:

@Wasteland Watcher Same here.

I think the problem they're describing is a different one.

I still have the issue. It makes an otherwise perfect experience jarringly ...not.

 

TO SUPPORT STAFF:
It happens on three systems I have. Two laptops, one desktop, all different makes with different sound cards.

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There are potentially 2 different issues here. For those that are having consistent drops in vocals/wolf sounds/bear sounds/etc I recommend first checking to make sure your system settings are setup to match your output. For example ensure that if you have 2 speakers, that windows is not set to anything other then 2 speakers and you're not using virtual surround. This can be done through the audio properties. Essentially this could be an issue with windows thinking there is a center speaker channel, when there is none. So the audio plays on that channel, but there is no output for it, resulting in missing audio. 

Outside of that we've found that general audio drops are usually due to high CPU usage. When at very high CPU usage the audio streamer will pause as it can't get the resources to load in a new sound. So that sound gets dropped. This tends to manifest with SFX like wind. but can impact much of the audio. 

This is likely the cause of Wastland Watcher's issue based on the cpu and windows version shown in the log (without going into it too deeply, an AMD X6 is pretty close to min spec and have not aged very well over 7 years, even on release were never great performers. I say this as someone who had an X6 at launch.) Also note that the 6 cores on the X6 don't always get utilized, more so on Windows 7 as it's a fairly early implementation of multi-threaded support. I would hazard that most of the machines you've tried this on are not strong in the CPU department.

I'd recommend trying medium settings as this disables some of the more CPU intense audio and video processing. Lowering your resolution can help a bit as well, but the visual settings are a good place to start. Also try disabling things like temporal AA or other processing you have setup on the video card side, as they also have an impact on CPU usage as well. And of course, limiting the number of running apps in the background will help as well. 

Note that this can also happen due to the HDD being saturated, but I'd expect to see game stuttering and loading issues at that point. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/8/2017 at 1:12 AM, Support said:

There are potentially 2 different issues here. For those that are having consistent drops in vocals/wolf sounds/bear sounds/etc I recommend first checking to make sure your system settings are setup to match your output. For example ensure that if you have 2 speakers, that windows is not set to anything other then 2 speakers and you're not using virtual surround. This can be done through the audio properties. Essentially this could be an issue with windows thinking there is a center speaker channel, when there is none. So the audio plays on that channel, but there is no output for it, resulting in missing audio. 

Outside of that we've found that general audio drops are usually due to high CPU usage. When at very high CPU usage the audio streamer will pause as it can't get the resources to load in a new sound. So that sound gets dropped. This tends to manifest with SFX like wind. but can impact much of the audio. 

This is likely the cause of Wastland Watcher's issue based on the cpu and windows version shown in the log (without going into it too deeply, an AMD X6 is pretty close to min spec and have not aged very well over 7 years, even on release were never great performers. I say this as someone who had an X6 at launch.) Also note that the 6 cores on the X6 don't always get utilized, more so on Windows 7 as it's a fairly early implementation of multi-threaded support. I would hazard that most of the machines you've tried this on are not strong in the CPU department.

I'd recommend trying medium settings as this disables some of the more CPU intense audio and video processing. Lowering your resolution can help a bit as well, but the visual settings are a good place to start. Also try disabling things like temporal AA or other processing you have setup on the video card side, as they also have an impact on CPU usage as well. And of course, limiting the number of running apps in the background will help as well. 

Note that this can also happen due to the HDD being saturated, but I'd expect to see game stuttering and loading issues at that point. 

Thanks for answering.

Sadly, everything I tried yesterday didn't work. I checked all sound settings, updated drivers, reverted drivers, lowered visual settings. Nothing seemed to work.

Do you have any more ideas I could try?

Thanks.

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have you tried a different sound device? I recently had some issues with an external sound device. I changed to a new headphone device and it works again. I have not heard of any sound issues since.

you might have to play with win10 settings a bit as well - just type Sound into win10 search (near start menu)

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1 minute ago, nicko said:

have you tried a different sound device? I recently had some issues with an external sound device. I changed to a new headphone device and it works again. I have not heard of any sound issues since.

I have.

Normally I connect it to my TV with HDMI. But often I just play it through the laptop speakers or headphones.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

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30 minutes ago, nicko said:

you might have to play with win10 settings a bit as well - just type Sound into win10 search (near start menu)

hrm i use head phones, yet it windows still says its speakers. either way this works for me. I will worry about that when or if it plays up again for me.

and for those try pluggin into different jacks- yes tried them all multi times, this one config finally worked for me at least.

 

audio1.jpg

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