GameBanshee Forums

OK. I have a Sound Blaster PCI 128. In BG2 on almost all sounds the sound crackles and causes a static-like sound. At first I thought this was the card but it works fine in windows and in other games. I also have brand new drivers that were made specifically for my operating system (WinME). Anyone have any ideas what this might be?

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Lars the GrimReaper, mighty member of the Council of Mages and brother of Ghaleon the Mage

I'm having the same problem. I have a sound blaster Live Value and it crackles and distorts.

I also find that in the config, I set the sound to the highest (600Mhz), and apply the changes, yet when I do it again, i find it's been set back down to the 450mhz level? WTF? I have a pentium 4 1.4Ghz!

Does anyone know of a solution to this problem? I notice it's only BG2 and TOB that does it.

Thanks in advance.

Are either of you using VIA south bridge chipsets?

Nope, I'm using Intel.

Weird, I've got Soundblaster PCI 128, Intel chipset and I used to have SoundBlaster Live Value. In BGConfig everything is on max, in BG2 options page everything is on and maxed, but I've got no problems. I have also WinME. Perhaps it's a directx problem. Check your directx version, I should have 8.

Yep, I've got direct X 8. I just re-installed my entire operating system (only just got my P4 couple of days ago )

It was fine before my new PC, but I noticed a while ago, it did something similar with the sound while in BG2: SoA.

Problem still isn't fixed.

Anyone have any ideas?

A guess harping back to the BG days, turn off your EAX settings in options (i am fairly sure most people have probably tried this already )

In BG it used to crash after every save if one had EAX enabled, TOTSC sorted that problem, perhaps it is a recurring bug in the Infinity engine. Try some of the fixes that were suggested with BG.

Another possible is looking at the following registry entry

HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Multimedia\Audio\Default format

It might be set to "Radio Quality", if it is try changing it to "CD Quality" it might not make a difference but I have found that it has helped with other audio problems releted to SB PCI sound chips.

I cannot remember where I read it but there is a known (occasional) problem with Soundblaster cards and (I think!) Intel chips. Reports of crackling sound during games etc.

I have a SBLive and an Athlon processor. No problems for me. I suggest you contact SB direct as I understand it is an issue they are trying to sort out.

In the meantime I will do a search to see if I can find the site that published this information...

Well, I did not find the site. BUT. Whilst I was searching my sound card died!!! Can you believe it? No crackles or pops though - not the problem you guys have, just lost all the drivers and am having major problems reinstalling! My speakers scream like a banshee!

I just thought I would share this ironic tale... Whoever recommended Creative Labs?

Thanks for all the input everyone!

Yshania. I found this while looking on Creative Lab's web site:

Crackling sound can have a number of different causes. The first thing to check for is resource sharing of the soundcard itself. To do this right-click on My Computer, select properties, and go to the Hardware tab. Under this listing press the Device Manager button. At the top of the screen, select View and choose Show Resources by Type. Double-click on the IRQ listing, and find where the SB Live! is listed. Please note that Windows 2000 uses an ACPI HAL on newer motherboards by default, and it may list several of your peripheral devices on one IRQ, commonly IRQ 9 or 11. This does not necessarily indicate a resource conflict as each device is still using the IRQ indicated by the BIOS at startup on a hardware level. If the card is sharing resources, try it in another PCI slot.

If swapping slots doesn’t resolve the problem, go into the BIOS and look for an option for PCI Latency Timer. Try it at 0 and 32, respectively. This number indicates the number of clock cycles a PCI device must wait before accessing the bus again. This helps solve problems if you have one device in the system that is particularly bus intensive. If changing the value for PCI latency doesn’t resolve the problem, try enabling the memory hole at 15MB-16MB in the BIOS.

If you are still experiencing problems, it is suggested that you contact your motherboard manufacturer for updates. You might also update the drivers for your video card and any other device in the system that interacts with or runs concurrently with the soundcard.

So if anyone has similar troubles, try this.