Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) Technical Problems Sound errors with static - maybe fix found!

Note -- My german thread about this problem can be found here: http://www.larian.com/ubbthreads/sh...&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

Hello, I had the problem with static coming from the speakers instead of a proper sound effect randomly in the game. Several people here mentioned this bug and it is quite annoying. The "static" makes you "jump out of your seat" or so many people stated - and it´s true. Other threads about this: http://www.larian.com/ubbthreads/sh...&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

Well, after investigating the issue I believe I found a solution - but this only applies to systems with more than one CPU or Dual Core CPUs.

If you for example have any intel Core 2 Duo (or similar) and you encounter the sound problem: just choose to run the game with ONE cpu core only. (You can do this using the task manager while ingame) The game will not be any slower and the audio bug will be gone. I had this bug and after running <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> on only one core I could play for hours with normal sound.

Here are other facts about the bug (all tested but I could be wrong still since I do not have other systems to compare, so use the information with caution):

- it´s quite possibly NOT the sound driver
- it´s not the installation of <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" />
- it doesn´t matter if you have every file installed correctly, it can even occur if you have every file crc checked and the game is working fine
- it does not matter where you are in the game
- it happens randomly and can also take half an hour before the next "static" noise or several seconds
- it MAY be the Dual Core CPU (see above)
- if you´re not on a Dual Core system it MAY be caused by onboard sound/chipset/CPU incompatibilities (I´m afraid only Larian can check this)
- it MAY only occur on XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (people who reported this bug all had Home Edition SP2 - including me)
- it MAY be the CPU in general!! The people who reported this problem seem to all have 64-bit CPU´s, so this MIGHT be a little to "next-gen" for the <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> engine. If Larian could investigate this problem in relation to different CPUs, a solution might be found.

Please post any good/bad experiences with this here!

To bring up the Windows Task Manager while the game is running, alt-tab out of the game (or hit ctrl-esc or the windows key to bring up the start menu, which will minimize the game), then either hit ctrl-alt-del or right click on the taskbar and select 'Task Manager'.

Monitoring and Optimizing Apps on Dual-Core and Multiprocessor Systems - briefly describes how to 'Set Affinity' of an application to a specific CPU through the Task Manager or using a couple other utilities.

So long to "Set Affinity"... - mentions another program to set CPU preference, as well as driver updates and an MS hotfix


I have not tried any of the above, since I do not have a multi-core CPU.