Ambient Static

Drummer

for as long as i can remember, at random points in a game, the ambient noise will start to have static in it. i was about to capture some sound, but it has stopped. so i will post it later.

Sarisel

Make sure it is not your speakers' or headphones' bass shorting out.

edit: happens with your bass cranked up and volume a bit higher than what your hardware can handle

TheAdj

This happens to me, but it's not quite static. It's like a choppy noise that happens when ambience is playing, other sounds don't have this issue. I have to retart steam (not just NS) in order to get the ambience to play correctly.

Minstrel_Knight

What type of soundcard do you have?

I recall having this problem on Sound Blaster Live and/or Audigy Platinum, but using 3rd party drivers I no longer get this error.

Renegade.

this is a technical problem with SOUND BLASTER audigy cards. Their sound drivers cause this problem with NS and since SB has HORRIBLE driver support, is hard to fix/update. I've had this problem with both my old SB LIVE and my new SB audigy. It happens randomly, however, since I've updated to XP pro I haven't experienced this again. I recommend restarting your comp when this happens, or updating to XP pro.

Marr

Drummerman might be referring to the clipping that happens when multiple bass-heavy ambient mp3s play simultaneously.

Many of the default NS ambient sounds have lots of bass, and when two or more play, their cumulative bass breaks the threshold for cutoff, resulting in clipping distortion. (Or so my observations indicate.)

Drummer

well, it happens at all sound levels and i dont have a bass boost or anything like that, i have an on board nForce2 audio chipset, so it isnt the sound card

i only have to restart NS to fix, not steam. and nothing but a restart of NS fixes it either

any other ideas?

Ari

Problem needs to be isolated. Moving to discussion.

TheAdj

<!--QuoteBegin-@nthony+Oct 20 2004, 01:42 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (@nthony @ Oct 20 2004, 01:42 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> this is a technical problem with SOUND BLASTER audigy cards. Their sound drivers cause this problem with NS and since SB has HORRIBLE driver support, is hard to fix/update. I've had this problem with both my old SB LIVE and my new SB audigy. It happens randomly, however, since I've updated to XP pro I haven't experienced this again. I recommend restarting your comp when this happens, or updating to XP pro. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Considering that I'm using onboard sound on an NForce2, I believe you're wrong.

Emanon

I've had this problem but its usually related to an alt-tab out of the game to check something.
Nforce2 here 2

Mintman

I get the same problem and I'm using a Genius SM32MX (hmm something like that, I'll check when I'm at home).

NightCrawlerz

I had this problem before....

The fix is to find out what onboard sound hardware you are using and go to their main site and download the new sound drivers.


remember people just cause you have on board sound doesnt mean that you dont have to download the latest drivers. its the same with graphics cards.

CMaster

I had this probllem with an MSI K7N2L onboard sound. The solution -download the RIGHT driveers (not the stanard nforce onesthat came with the mobo) and also, buy a faster graphics card, bizzarely.

eVox

Ive had this problem many times.

I have an onboard AC97 soundcard and a SB LIVE 5.1 VALUE card which i actually use.


When the crackling happens, it can be heard through my surround sound speakers, headset, and surround sound head set. It seems to be related to alt-tabbing, but not always.