I'm starting to second-guess my switch to linux...

[InDarkestNight]

I found that the performance of my computer improved after I started it up today. I've heard re-starts help, and it appears to have. Now my linux games run fine. Skyrim also runs better, though there is this slight stuttering that doesn't ago away. I am having a weird audio issue though; all voices and music are muted. The game isn't completely silent; the music that plays when the VILE bethesda logo displays does work, thoough no other music does. Sound effects also work, including footsteps, the waterwheel in riverwood, and the carts in the intro (decided to start that up to see if I was running at over 60 fps, the cart ride worked fine, and yes I've noticed that Ubuntu seems to be able to limit fps on its own).

Anyway, its still not running good enough, so I'm doing other fixes. I thought about transferring my SSHD to the new SSD (more on that in a bit), but then I decided; why not update the OS first? It does give me the option to do that, and earlier was encouraging me to do so. So now that's what I'm doing. Its not like I have anything to lose; the computer is unuable for anything other than solitaire and web browsing, and I only have 3 or 4 things installed (though Skyrim did take over 12 hours to download, and yes my internet sucks). Besides, even in the worst case scenario I do still have Ubuntu 20 on disc, so I could revert if I need to.

If that doesn't work, I plan to return to the strategy of trying to transfer the data from my SSHD to the SSD. I don't know if it can even be read, since I have no cable to plug into a usb port. I can't do the transfer until those arrive anyway, so its a moot point. I was thinking of three strategies. I don't know how to do a transfer, though I do know that you need a third computer to actually perform it.

One thing I could do is use my laptop here for the transfer. That would be the simplest, since the thing is obviously working. Of course, doing such would surely be painfully slow (I have half a terrabyte on that SSHD).

Another idea would be to remove the drive from here and put it in my gaming computer! Essentially, my 'laptop' would still be doing the transfer, but it would now be doing it with the processor and ram from my gaming comp. Of course, the biggest problem with that is I would have to disassemble the laptop, and then leave it disassembled for hours! That obviously wouldn't be too ideal given how complicated it is to disassemble a laptop.

The third idea is to instead make use of the harddrive from the broken HP. In case we forgot, that computer was infamous for having a glitch where if you weren't running windows xp, IT WOULD UNINSTALL ITS OWN OS AFTER A SET AMOUNT OF TIME. That happened to me, and I did lose some data as a consequence (I had transferred a bunch of files to it intending to use it for office applications, they were clogging up my gaming computer at the time). So right now, that HHD is completely blank. Its slightly older than the one from the gaming computer the fried, but it has barely been used so maybe it'll still work? I did plug it into the gaming computer, and it just told me it had no OS, which was the exact same message the SSD gave me when I first powered it up! Given that, maybe I could install Ubuntu or maybe even windows 10 onto the thing and instead use that to do the transfer? It would probably require the most setup, since I'd have to install an OS onto the thing, along with whatever software I may need. However, the biggest plus to it is it would be using my gaming computer's parts, and my laptop would be completely out the equation, meaning I could at least still use that while the transfer was happening. This is the idea I think would work best honestly. The laptop would take too long, I would have to disassemble it to make it faster, and the third option lets me use my gaming computer while leaving the laptop free.

Either way, right now I'm waiting for this thing to update. I don't see much reason to believe it would improve performance, or fix the highly unusual audio issue, but like I said what do I have to lose? Besides, its far less work than setting up for the transfer, which I don't even have the tools to do right now.

[InDarkestNight]

Oh, and interesting tidbit: MY LAPTOP IS DOING A STEALTH UPDATE AT THIS VERY MOMENT. Its lagging really bad, and its taking minutes for webpages to load I thought maybe it was due to my gaming computer doing an update. However, I noticed that it won't open programs either. I then looked in taskmanager, and lo and behold IT SAID WINDOWS UPDATE WAS TAKING UP ALL MY PERFORMANCE. It gave me no hint it was doing this, and never has on either computer. Why are trolls constantly trying to tell me it doesn't do this? Its a well-documented feature THAT NOBODY LIKES. I've witnessed myself countless times, and in fact am watching it right now. Why wouldn't I believe this? My very computer is telling me its doing it. f*#@ windows. This is actually one of the things I like about Ubuntu; if it wants to update, IT ASKS YOUR PERMISSION BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING. Its really f*#@ing nice. If only windows did this; the damned thing STOPPED ME FROM RUNNING SKYRIM OR ANYTHING WHO KNOWS HOW MANY TIMES.

[InDarkestNight]

Well, this is annoying. Upgrading did fix the stuttering issue, and all versions of proton can now detect my graphics card. Sadly, the audio issue is still present. Most of the guides I can find on how to fix this only work for s#*! Edition. I found one guide that said to install a version of proton form github. That fixed the person's problem, but I still can hear no voices or music. I can live without the music (for a time I played without it to make the game more immersive). I don't see myself playing without voices though, especially since sound effects still work. What the crap could be wrong?

[InDarkestNight]

Well, I finally got audio to work; I tried installing a GE version of proton, but that didn't work. I then did the winetrick thing, but that did nothing. I then went into winecfg, went to the audio tab, and changed the 'output device' to 'pulseaudio'. Finally I can hear voices and music, at long last. Now to see what breaks next I guess...

[Guest deleted34304850]

7 hours ago, InDarkestNight said:

Oh, and interesting tidbit: MY LAPTOP IS DOING A STEALTH UPDATE AT THIS VERY MOMENT. Its lagging really bad, and its taking minutes for webpages to load I thought maybe it was due to my gaming computer doing an update. However, I noticed that it won't open programs either. I then looked in taskmanager, and lo and behold IT SAID WINDOWS UPDATE WAS TAKING UP ALL MY PERFORMANCE. It gave me no hint it was doing this, and never has on either computer. Why are trolls constantly trying to tell me it doesn't do this? Its a well-documented feature THAT NOBODY LIKES. I've witnessed myself countless times, and in fact am watching it right now. Why wouldn't I believe this? My very computer is telling me its doing it. f*#@ windows. This is actually one of the things I like about Ubuntu; if it wants to update, IT ASKS YOUR PERMISSION BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING. Its really f*#@ing nice. If only windows did this; the damned thing STOPPED ME FROM RUNNING SKYRIM OR ANYTHING WHO KNOWS HOW MANY TIMES.

if it was a "stealth" update, surely you would be oblivious, as it would be, you know, steallthy?

as in previous messages in this thread - this can be totally controlled by you, so that the updates are applied when you're not using the machine. why don't you force it to update about 30 minutes before you're going to go asleep, or something? i mean, you know best when you're going to be using your laptop, don't you, so have it perform the update at a different time to that.

also - look up the word "stealth". what you're seeing ain't that.

[zixi]

InDarkestNight

Did the NPC voices etc sound? There were some sound issues with SkyrimSE because of the way that Bethesda handled sound in SE. I've forgotten the details now but on Linux we had some sound (music etc) but not voices. It was weird. But then someone (Glorious Eggroll, I think - the GE Proton) fixed it until Steam caught up with it. But that was years ago... Audio (on Linux) is a can of worms in any case...  Ubuntu has done a lot to make it less hostile but if you ask me it still needs to be stood in the corner till it learns better manners... 

Re Ubuntu - it's one of the more friendly Linux flavours and perhaps you'll grow to like it but don't let it make you sad. It isn't worth it. If you get excited about Linux then there are different desktops (you'll be using Gnome at the moment I expect) so you can change look an feel at a User Interface  level. There are other flavours of Linux. I've run a few. But don't let it get to you. Life is way too short to be beaten up by your OS... 

[InDarkestNight]

NPCs made no sound at all, no. All I could hear was the intro music for Bethesda's (to hell with them) logo and ambient noises basically. Like I said, I could hear the wagon, the waterwheel in riverwood, and footsteps. I didn't even here the notificiation that played when you 'discover' Riverwood. Either way, it seems to all be working now. Based on my experiences so far, I'm expecting something else to go wrong. Of course, I am doing this 100% vanilla playthrough specifically to find such issues (though also to explore all the vanilla content I've never bothered with). After this I intend to add mods gradually, eventually building back up to my LotD load order I was trying to get work. Not sure what order I'm going to do everything in, though I was thinking of installing all the extra quest mods I would need and playing through them with a paladin (I preferred first experiencing them as a good guy anyway, with LotD you essentially needed to be a two-faced villain to get all the items). LotD itself will be the very last mod I add.

Edited December 16, 2023 by InDarkestNight

[InDarkestNight]

Besides, didn't you say yourself that Linux requires endless tinkering? That I'm going to have to go through this process with every program I run? I don't mind that too much; it helps me learn how the system works. My problem is the lack of info on linux.

On a side note, I downloaded a GE version of proton in my attempts to fix this. I wonder, could I use that to run a non-steam program? Such as mod organizer or skse? Or maybe even use it to run some old games I have on disc (by 'old', I mean back from when games were always sold on disc).

[Guest deleted34304850]

1 minute ago, InDarkestNight said:

My problem is the lack of info on linux.

truly, that ain't your problem..........

[zixi]

4 minutes ago, InDarkestNight said:

Linux requires endless tinkering

Hmmm, I think it depends on what you want to do. I'm pretty sure there are people using Linux (and especially Ubuntu) who don't even think about the OS. I've said before if it all dissolves into a soggy heap, I don't care because there are no longer precious things to worry about. I've backed up anything I **really** want and even then I'm good at the difference between want and need. I do tinker...  But once your games are stable I don't see that you'll need to fiddle with them unless you want to... 

re GE - GloriousEggroll is extremely good at responding to the latest calamities and fixing other stuff along the way...