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I'm having trouble with the new version of OpenArena (0.8.1).
I don't get any errors, but it sounds as if some of the sound effects are absent.

E.g. firing a rocket, there is a sound when the rocket is launched, but none upon impact on the wall (unlike the old version).
E.g. firing the lightning-gun, there is a sound when firing, but none if the fire-button is continuously held down (unlike in the old version, there was the *lightning*-nose which kept on until the user released the fire button).
E.g. firing the plasma-gun, there is a sound when firing, but none when the plasma bullets strike the wall.

Is the new version supposed to be like this? In that case I think that is terribly sad, because it feels like there is something seriously *wrong* with the sound.
I don't have any other issues with my sound, works perfectly fine in other games and in general and I don't get any errors whatsoever from OpenArena.

My system is: GNU/Linux Slackware 12.2 on an x86 with Sound Blaster Live!.

Any ideas how the issue can be resolved?

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

If I'm not wrong, there has never been impact sound when hitting a wall, and the engine doesn't even "support" it. So, what you experience with the RL and Plasma seems normal.
BUT, normally, we can hear rockets and plasma when they are flying around us, some kind of constant whistling.

As for the lightning gun, you're right, we don't hear the "holding phase" as loud as before. Simply because it was *too* loud.

Some sounds have been slightly changed, maybe leaving a negative feeling in the overall.
Most people got used to these sounds, but if they are that bad I think they could still be changed for some next versions.

What version were you playing before?
What backend (SDL, OpenAL) are you using?  (s_backend or s_info should tell you more.)

Sound in OpenAL is much louder and (by default; this can be adjusted) fades away more quickly.  The rocket impact is sometimes very distinct and sometimes not audible at all (both at different times in SDL and OpenAL, unfortunately).  (You can try this with machinegun bullet impacts -- they will be very clear, or they won't be very noticeable.)

It's possible that some new sounds were designed with OpenAL assumed.  The lightning hum is definitely there in OpenAL, but is very hard to hear in SDL.  The gauntlet is also much different under both SDL and OpenAL, even after setting s_volume to half.

OpenAL hardware mixing or acceleration will also change things.

Hi again and thanks for the replies so far. :-)

I'm afraid I don't know what version I used prior to this current one.

In OpenArena it seems I'm using OpenAL, however I attempted to turn it "off" (I assume it uses SDL then), I also attempted to change quality from "high" to "low".

Edit: I just noticed:

Loading "libopenal.so.0"...
Failed to load library: "libopenal.so.0".
SDL_Init( SDL_INIT_AUDIO )... OK

So I'm not using OpenAL, I'm using SDL.

Here is some information on my ALSA:

x86_1$ ./alsa_info
ALSA library version: 1.0.17a

PCM stream types:
  PLAYBACK
  CAPTURE

PCM access types:
  MMAP_INTERLEAVED
  MMAP_NONINTERLEAVED
  MMAP_COMPLEX
  RW_INTERLEAVED
  RW_NONINTERLEAVED

PCM formats:
  S8 (Signed 8 bit)
  U8 (Unsigned 8 bit)
  S16_LE (Signed 16 bit Little Endian)
  S16_BE (Signed 16 bit Big Endian)
  U16_LE (Unsigned 16 bit Little Endian)
  U16_BE (Unsigned 16 bit Big Endian)
  S24_LE (Signed 24 bit Little Endian)
  S24_BE (Signed 24 bit Big Endian)
  U24_LE (Unsigned 24 bit Little Endian)
  U24_BE (Unsigned 24 bit Big Endian)
  S32_LE (Signed 32 bit Little Endian)
  S32_BE (Signed 32 bit Big Endian)
  U32_LE (Unsigned 32 bit Little Endian)
  U32_BE (Unsigned 32 bit Big Endian)
  FLOAT_LE (Float 32 bit Little Endian)
  FLOAT_BE (Float 32 bit Big Endian)
  FLOAT64_LE (Float 64 bit Little Endian)
  FLOAT64_BE (Float 64 bit Big Endian)
  IEC958_SUBFRAME_LE (IEC-958 Little Endian)
  IEC958_SUBFRAME_BE (IEC-958 Big Endian)
  MU_LAW (Mu-Law)
  A_LAW (A-Law)
  IMA_ADPCM (Ima-ADPCM)
  MPEG (MPEG)
  GSM (GSM)
  SPECIAL (Special)
  S24_3LE (Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes)
  S24_3BE (Signed 24 bit Big Endian in 3bytes)
  U24_3LE (Unsigned 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes)
  U24_3BE (Unsigned 24 bit Big Endian in 3bytes)
  S20_3LE (Signed 20 bit Little Endian in 3bytes)
  S20_3BE (Signed 20 bit Big Endian in 3bytes)
  U20_3LE (Unsigned 20 bit Little Endian in 3bytes)
  U20_3BE (Unsigned 20 bit Big Endian in 3bytes)
  S18_3LE (Signed 18 bit Little Endian in 3bytes)
  S18_3BE (Signed 18 bit Big Endian in 3bytes)
  U18_3LE (Unsigned 18 bit Little Endian in 3bytes)
  U18_3BE (Unsigned 18 bit Big Endian in 3bytes)

PCM subformats:
  STD (Standard)

PCM states:
  OPEN
  SETUP
  PREPARED
  RUNNING
  XRUN
  DRAINING
  PAUSED
  SUSPENDED
  DISCONNECTED

You may try to install libopenal (maybe both "0a" and "1" if you're running a debian based system)

Oops, slackware, so some openal package should do the trick ... but I'm not sure it would change anything about your problem. :|