Choppy audio in Ubuntu

[poldie]

I've installed OpenArena 0.8.0 on my Acer Aspire One.  To be honest I was amazed it even installed, let alone ran, but it's great.  But the audio is a mess - it's really choppy.  I'm using the 1gig ram, 120gb hard drive model, using Ubuntu 8.4.1.  I've tried using different sound options in the US but it doesn't make any difference.

Another problem I've got is that sometime there's a white mouse icon in the centre of the screen.  This problems isn't limited to OpenArena, though, and I've seen it mentioned regarding other games.  Still, it's a problem.  Seems that for a fraction of a second shortly after the game loads up you can move the mouse, so I've been moving the mouse down and to the left when it's loading so I can get the mouse as far from the centre of the screen as possible!

[kit89]

Make sure Compiz is not running.

Have you installed libopenal0a?

If it is installed & your still getting audio problems your best bet is to disable openAL in OpenArena. Using the command: /s_useOpenAL 0 , in the OA command line should disable it.

Hope this helps.

[Cacatoes]

There's a simple switch in Game Options to (en/dis)able OpenAL.

For information, personally I've always used libopenal1 package with OA 0.8 ; libopenal0a would just be necessary to run older versions (such as 0.7.1).
I installed both, libopenal0a wasn't in my Debian Testing repositories, but they don't conflict ...

[sago007]

For audio: You will need to install libopenalX or all your work changing settings will have no effect.

For the mouse in the middle: Use the serverfix binaries. (http://brie.ostenfeld.dk/~poul19/public_files/oa/dev080/serverfixFor080.zip)

[damocles]

If it's something like Ubuntu Hardy, you may have Pulseaudio enabled, which is not recommended for ioquake3 (see Why is my audio crackling / distorted under Linux?).

\s_info in the console should tell you whether you're using OpenAL or SDL.

[poldie]

If it's something like Ubuntu Hardy, you may have Pulseaudio enabled, which is not recommended for ioquake3 (see Why is my audio crackling / distorted under Linux?).

\s_info in the console should tell you whether you're using OpenAL or SDL.

It's v8.4.1, which is Hardy.  I don't have pulseaudio in use - it might be installed.  I had openal disabled in the in-game option, but s_info told me it was using it.  I disabled it using one of the other suggestions above and that seems to have fixed it - s_info now just returns some info about samples.

I am using compiz.  Is the suspicion that this might be involved with the mouse icon problem? I could try disabling it.  I'm not sure about the serverpatch suggestion - for one thing I don't know what to install or how, and I'm running a client, not a server.

I've not consciously installed libopenal0a, I believe.  This is for the audio though, right?

The mouse problem is weird - sometimes, in the middle of the game, the mouse icon will come to life and respond to my mouse movement, meaning that although the keyboard still works and I can move around as before, all mouse movement to the game is ignored, so i can't turn and point and fire at anyone.  This lasts for up to 10 seconds, during which sometimes the previously full screen game becomes windowed.  A few seconds later the game continues as before in full screen mode.

I'll try turning off compiz and see what effect that has.   I'm a bit of a linux newb - this Acer box is my first (serious) attempt at using it.  I really like it, but it's still fairly alien to me!

Thanks for all the advice so far.

[damocles]

The serverfix binaries at http://brie.ostenfeld.dk/~poul19/public_files/oa/dev080/serverfixFor080.zip also have some different input code (the "mouse in the middle" may already be fixed).

[dash9]

I am using compiz.  Is the suspicion that this might be involved with the mouse icon problem? I could try disabling it.  I'm not sure about the serverpatch suggestion - for one thing I don't know what to install or how, and I'm running a client, not a server.

The "serverpatch" also contains a newer client which you could try. Not the best name..

I've not consciously installed libopenal0a, I believe.  This is for the audio though, right?

Yes

The mouse problem is weird - sometimes, in the middle of the game, the mouse icon will come to life and respond to my mouse movement, meaning that although the keyboard still works and I can move around as before, all mouse movement to the game is ignored, so i can't turn and point and fire at anyone.  This lasts for up to 10 seconds, during which sometimes the previously full screen game becomes windowed.  A few seconds later the game continues as before in full screen mode.

You can try to disable the screensaver before starting the game, using this command:

Code:

xset s off