GOTY Undocumented Sound Problem

[leaderdante]

I just started playing Fallout 3 for the first time. I've yet to venture to Minefield for the first time because I've had to deal with finding out about an *undocumented sound issue* unique to the Fallout 3 version of the game engine Bethesda has refused to scrap for how many years now?

 

Anyway, I'll describe it like this as best as I could:

 

Think of when you play a sound file extracted from Fallout 3 in Winamp or Windows Media Player. Let's say it's played at full volume from within the player itself. That's full volume for the sound itself.

 

In Fallout 3, ambient sounds are played JUST LIKE THAT for me. Depending on every factor possible. Where I am, where I'm going, what I do, what direction I'm heading, what direction I'm facing, using VATS, talking to someone, etc. I can hear the Enclave Eyebots and the BloatFlies and anything else with a looping ambient sound for miles ingame before I ever see them.

 

This happens the worst in the actual Wasteland itself ever since exiting Vault 101. It happened during the tutorial part as well. In Megaton or indoors it plays normal most of the time but can and does happen again. Exiting dialog would make characters play their dialog at full volume until it ended.

 

I've used the same computer for 7 years now. This is the only Bethesda game that has this problem. It's a Pentium 4 Northwood 3ghz. 2048 megs of RAM. Radeon x850 Pro. Sound Blaster Audigy, first generation. Windows XP Professional.

 

Now before you criticize that it's the sound drivers, I strongly disagree. This is because I can use no other driver version other than the factory shipped driver. This causes a recursive startup crash under Windows XP. Creative has not ever found a solution and since support has been dropped.

 

On the contrary my sound card works like a charm. No game has ever done this before. Google does not turn up any results regarding this issue. Only one other person has this problem on my friend's list. The exact same issue, but his setup is entirely different from mine.

 

Here's what my FALLOUT.ini says:

 

[Audio]

fASFadeInTime=3.0

fASFadeOutTime=10.0

fRegionLoopFadeInTime=5.0

fRegionLoopFadeOutTime=5.0

fAudioDebugDelay=0.0

bEnableAudio=1

bEnableAudioCache=1

bMultiThreadAudio=0

bEnableEnviroEffectsOnPC=0

; cache sizes in kilobytes

iAudioCacheSize=2048

iMaxSizeForCachedSound=256

bUseAudioDebugInformation=1

fAudioDebugDelay=0.0000

fDefaultMasterVolume=1.0000

fDefaultFootVolume=0.5000

fDefaultMusicVolume=0.3000

fDefaultRadioVolume=0.5000

fDefaultEffectsVolume=1.0000

fDefaultVoiceVolume=0.7500

iMaxImpactSoundCount=32

fMaxFootstepDistance=1100.0000

fPlayerFootVolume=0.6500

iCollisionSoundTimeDelta=150

iRadioUpdateInterval=250

fMinSoundVel=90.0000

fDialogMinDistance=125.00

fDialogMaxDistance=1800.00

fMainMenuMusicVolume=0.6

fDBVoiceAttenuationIn2D=2.0

fCollisionSoundHeavyThreshold=60.0

fDialogueFadeDecibels=6.0

fDialogueFadeSecondsIn=2.0

fDialogueFadeSecondsOut=1.0

fDialogueHeadPitchExaggeration=2.0

fDialogueHeadRollExaggeration=2.0

fDialogueHeadYawExaggeration=2.0

fHardLandingDamageThreshold=500.0

fWoodMediumMassMin=7.0

fWoodLargeMassMin=15.0

fStoneMediumMassMin=5.0

fStoneLargeMassMin=30.0

fEarthMediumMassMin=5.0

fEarthLargeMassMin=30.0

fSkinMediumMassMin=5.0

fSkinLargeMassMin=30.0

fMetalMediumMassMin=8.0

fMetalLargeMassMin=25.0

fRadioDialogMute=0.50

fFilterDistortionGain=-7.5

fFilterPEQGain=-15.0

fFilterdBAttenuation=11.5

 

I do not know what most of these variables mean. What struck my eye is that fRegionLoopFadeInTime=5.0 is the same as fRegionLoopFadeOutTime=5.0. That would most likely be in relation to the problem, just like fASFadeInTime=3.0

and fASFadeOutTime=10.0. Except I do not know if these strings are at fault or something else is or what they do. I can find no documentation on the entire Audio section of Fallout.ini

 

It's some kind of rolloff, distance, threshhold, or fade issue I think. I cannot be too sure. I made a backup of Fallout.ini and will try messing with the variables until I get a partial fix. I will post updates whether or not I find anything.

[phoneyLogic]

I'd suggest to turn off all sound cart related effects like eax, 5.1 live dolby digital or whatever. Just use plain stereo with lets say 4 speaker (if you have 4) without sound or speaker emulations or virtulation etc.

 

The sound itself is cached, so changes may not take effect instantly. Load an older save and try a little around.

Edited December 30, 2010 by tortured Tomato

[leaderdante]

Well here's the thing. I don't use any audio extensions including EAX or Dolby. Now if Fallout 3 has those on by default somehow, how do I turn those off?

 

Also the only setup I have for Windows XP is set to Stereo Headphones. The only difference it makes to me is that Valve Source games like Half-Life 2 will also default to Headphones for audio output if detects that from Windows. You mean I should try turning that back to Stereo Speakers (meaning 2 speakers)?

 

Also I read up on another topic that it has something to do with the save games. Would that mean my save files are screwed somehow?

 

And btw, messing with the ini file didn't help, or I don't know what variables to adjust.