That mysterious growling sound !

[RealmEleven]

I've heard it only when my player avatar was in the vicinity of an actor who's "AI" (e.g. a Cazador) seemed to be experiencing nav-path difficulties. Sometimes, instead of stuttering the video during error recovery, the game stutters the audio instead - and it makes a specific sound effect (whether background or object related) sound more like some sort of low growl.

 

Have you noticed that sometimes you get slimed (that splashing sound associated with some venomous creature attacks) when there is nothing to see? This is because hostile actors occasionally approach from beneath the terrain mesh when the nav-mesh does not resolve correctly according to the actor "AI" (as opposed to resolving correctly in the GECK's nav-mesh validation function, which seems to be a completely different thing). This is something worth remembering if you ever plan to make a fortress mod or any extensive exterior cell mods with the GECK.

 

I'm not certain of any given solution. I did find that fast-travel or a quick jog over some broken terrain (lots of rocks) tended to make the sound go away on occasion. However, the sound also tended to be associated with certain regions (I vaguely remember lot's of cazadors on two occasions, and coyotes on at least one other). In fact, it would often return when I returned to those regions but wouldn't show up in certain other regions. From my perspective, this might raise questions about nav-mesh integrity in the affected regions. However, I haven't always encountered this in the game and use a variable number of mods - so it is also possible that the sound is associated with a buggy script in one of the mods.

 

If you can back up your save game and then run it without other mods on board, it would be interesting to know if it makes the low growly sound go away. If it does, it might be worth discussing mods in use to see if a short list of possible offenders jumps out. At this point, it is just a matter of deactivating mods on the short list, one at a time until the problem disappears - et voila! There's the culprit.

 

Good Luck

 

--

Tim

RealmEleven

[kruftwark]

Interesting theory.

 

I've just tried running the game with no mods at all, but the sound is still there.

 

If anyone wants to experience the sound, fast-travel to vault 3 and you should hear it shortly.

[RealmEleven]

Interesting theory.

 

I've just tried running the game with no mods at all, but the sound is still there.

 

If anyone wants to experience the sound, fast-travel to vault 3 and you should hear it shortly.

 

I think you're giving my suggestion waay too much credit. I have to point out that what I suggested is a hypothesis, not a theory. It can't become a theory until someone can present evidence to substantiate it. However, as long as we are exploring what is based on preliminary observation, we are hypothesising...

 

...and I am currently pontificating so I'll stop monkeying around on the soap-box and let this thread get back on topic.

 

Based on your finding then, hypothetically speaking, that raises the question of nav-mesh. It may yet turn out that I am wrong and something else is stalling the system. However, I'm fairly convinced that this is not regular game behaviour.

 

And I'll take a peek at Vault 3 and see if anything jumps out...

 

--

Tim

RealmEleven

[RealmEleven]

Interesting theory.

 

I've just tried running the game with no mods at all, but the sound is still there.

 

If anyone wants to experience the sound, fast-travel to vault 3 and you should hear it shortly.

 

I've checked out Vault 3 - both just outside and just inside. I did not hear the sound there, even though I have definitely heard it in a few other places. This suggests to me that the problem triggers a performance issue that varies with system, setup, and/or savegame. What this originates with is a bit of a mystery to me. I've a lurking suspicion about how updates alter load order - but I'm in possession of insufficient facts to turn that suspicion into a hypothesis.

 

Next time I pick up the noise, I'll make a note of the location, check a few things (e.g. the NavMesh) & post what I find here.

[kruftwark]

Well now I'm even more perplexed.

[eLucifer]

This thread is a creepy story material right here.

[kibblesticks]

Have you noticed that sometimes you get slimed (that splashing sound associated with some venomous creature attacks) when there is nothing to see? This is because hostile actors occasionally approach from beneath the terrain mesh when the nav-mesh does not resolve correctly according to the actor "AI" (as opposed to resolving correctly in the GECK's nav-mesh validation function, which seems to be a completely different thing). This is something worth remembering if you ever plan to make a fortress mod or any extensive exterior cell mods with the GECK.

 

Errrm actually I'm pretty sure that poison sting sound is made because the cazador's files aren't correctly linked in the GECK (it uses a 2D sound instead of the correct 3D one).

 

Fix is here: Cazador Audio Fix (not sure if it's the same sound the OP is hearing?)

 

If this doesn't fix it, it might be the sound of night stalkers? They rattle and growl and are also invisible so they don't show up on radar.

[Rossum]

Random idea: Do you have the Dino Toy in your inventory or somewhere nearby? The wiki says that it roars every minute or so when not in your inventory (never tried this myself. Just found one in a Powdergangers camp and looked it up to see I could give them to the mini-boomers).

 

Not sure if this helps but the Dino Toy could be another culprit for making weird sounds.

[Seviche]

Have you checked to see if you need to take a break from Fallout and eat something? I know my tummy rumbles something fierce when I need to eat...

 

...yeah, I got nothing.

 

I also have never heard the sound you're mentioning. I find your problem quite mysterious.

[RealmEleven]

I found a couple of spots that trigger a cute little terrier growl - at least on my system: There's a rock overlooking Boulder Beach Campground from the south (near the shoulder of the access road) and it also occured in the water near the southern-most sunken boat at the Boulder Beach pier. At both locations, the noise only occured when strafing or turning (and even then only occasionally) - and continued from time to time after combat had ceased.

 

There appears to be no phantom actor - not any hostile phantom actors if the complete lack of sneak attacks on the player throughout the game and background music at the time of the growl is anything to go by. I have noticed that the game does rarely play the wrong sound at the wrong time. My favourite is when occasionally walking into an NCR camp only to hear the Legion theme-song stike up a tune. At this point, I generally take the hint and restart the game (after saving, of course).

 

The location of Boulder Beach gets the occasional sound of distant assault rifle bursts when things are working as one would expect. However, in this case it's the phantom terrier (& wiley coyote sounds quite like this) so the possibilities are:

 

• The sound handling woofing it's woofies when the system is at it's limit
  
• The game engine accidentally playing the wrong sound
  

Anyway, I'll have a quick look at the NavMesh and also see what happens when I drop the system load (e.g. by purging background memory before running the game and taking no company along to the location). If I see anything else that narrows it down further, I'll post something about it on this thread.