Doom3 Sound Shuttering Help!
 

just received another copy from the shop (first one was corrupted, posted somewhere in other thread). got through installation, started to play. the gfx was great, the loading was fast........but the sound! Shutters like hell. :mad: it kills my mood of playing Doom3. i tried using the no-cd crack (maybe it'll go away if i load from the pc), but no luck. tried extracting all files (maybe it shutters while loading the game) still no luck. tried reinstalling again, and again, no luck.

so i decided to try the demo doom3 instead. but! even in the demo game the sound shutters. so maybe it's my pc. updated all drivers (ATi Catalyst 5.3 and Via Audio 590b). still shutters. lowered the game quality. no luck.

can somebody help me? i'm so desperate to play this game!

my specs :
P4 2.0GHz
512MB DDR RAM
ATi Radeon 9600
AC97 built in sound (could this be the problem?)
HDD 40GB + 6GB + 160GB
Headphone Speakers (does it matter?)

theres been reports about this error that happen with certain "on-board" sound cards, apparently theres nothing u can do about it, ur onboard sound card simply cant take it, ur only choice is to buy a new sound card (doesnt have to be nothing special, so it wont be expensive)

@ AmienZero. What Luciel posted is very true How ever theres a couple of very basic things you can try. When you load up Doom3 go into the settings/system and there is only 2 options for sound in here. make sure you have surround speakers set to no (as your using headphones) but surround sound requires more from your PC. Also make sure the "reverse channles" option is set to no . As Luciel mentioned this has been an issue for many people (sound stutters) but have you updated the game ? (mabey the sound issue is addressed in a patch, Just a thought).
Also its well worth closing any programs down you may have running in the background as these eat up valuable resources and it goes without saying that if you use onboard sound make sure you are using the updated drivers for it. (dont mean to state the obvious but you wouldnt belive how many people forget the basics at times ;)

set surround speakers to no.........checked!
set reverse channels to no...........checked!
update the sound drivers.............you're using the latest drivers!
update Doom3 to Doom3 v1.1........checked!
kill all unused apps........checked!
play the game again.........sound still shutters....sigh....


oh well, i really don't wish to buy any soundcards.......but it seems i don't have a choice. but some of my friends who plays Doom3 with built-in sound cards the same as mine said that the sound was perfect. :(

Its a real shame then. If i were you id buy a cheapish sound card and check to see if it sorts the problem out. If you buy from certain places your able to return within 14days so you could install it, see if prob is sorted out.If not return it and you havent lost any £s

Actually you could try this as well. (I had some stuttering in Vampire the masquerade Bloodlines. The stuttering got to the point where the game was unplayable).

Nforce™ Audio Users: (But all onboard audio user's could benifit).

1.) Click on the Windows® "Start" button.
2.) Click on the "Run" option on your Start Menu.
3.) Type "dxdiag" in the Run Dialogue Box without the quotes.
4.) Once the DirectX® Diagnostic Tool has finished running, click on the "Sound" tab.
5.) Turn the "Hardware Acceleration Level" down to "Basic."

This can help with a big performance increase if your audio is stuttering badly. Its quiet a basic thing that should be tried out sooner rather than later.(but one of those things i over looked when having audio probs with bloodlines, but thanks to a reminder from DABhand i was reminded :D

can't be simply fixed updating the soundcard drivers? you should try that and if not works try what the other users said you

@ acal3000
Sound card driver update has been discused Already.

Yeah as said AC97 onboard is software sound cards, either turn down the hardware emulation in the dxdiag OR buy a new soundcard that is hardware :)

tried the lowering hardware acceleration to basic.........it doesn't help. so i decided to have an upgrade.......rather than going out buying a sound card, i bought a new mobo with Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card + a new comp casing.

setting everything up, tried doom3, no shuttering sound, graphics are a little garbled, formats the pc and installed back everything. finally, i can play Doom3 with ease. i'm so happy.

how do u go from buying a cheap sound card to buying a new mobo all togueter? o.O

So are we. we're all happy for you. (honest).

well, i've been looking for a reason to buy a new mobo :D . rather than just getting me a new cheap soundcard, might as well get a mobo upgrade since my last mobo was MSI 6787 with 4x AGP and 2 RAM slots supporting only PC2100. :rolleyes:

anyway guys, thanks for the help. ;)

@ AmienZero
 

So what Mobo did you opt for ? Also as i mentioned in earlier posts i have DOOM3 (but to be honest its gets very repetative, in my opinion).

then again coffin, doom was and is repetitive, i think the point of the game was always the adredaline :)

Ahhhh good point,and there i was waiting for something "good" to happen ;)

well, i bought Asus P4X-8X mobo, upgraded the RAM to 768MB, plus a new comp casing, now i'm playing Doom3 with 1024x768x32 with high settings :D. i wish i could play Doom3 with a higher resolution but that's the max resolution my monitor supports. guess i'll be adding a new monitor in the next upgrade. :p