Extremely loud sound | Forums

[ArienMalfoy]

I loaded up a previously saved game, and ever since then there are times when I try to enter certain areas and an extremely loud feedback sound occurs. These are areas I have entered before with no problem, and this sound issue never came up until today. Can anyone explain this? I can't go any further at this point because I can't stand to enter certain areas because of the sound. I don't want to just turn the volume down because I know I might miss something I need, and I also know it just shouldn't be doing this.

[ArienMalfoy]

Can't anyone help me?

[hogarth...]

Do you have any other programs running at the same time as Myst V? I have noticed that even having Internet Explorer open at the same time as running the game will cause problems with audio.

[ArienMalfoy]

No, I never run any other programs when I play games. And I would think that would cause a problem with the audio throughout the whole game, not just in certain areas. These areas don't have any special sounds either, so I can't pinpoint it to a particular sound file or anything, though I don't know why that would only affect a previously saved game and not all games.

[Heimdall_G]

Try re-installing (or installing) the latest driver for your mouse.

Also, if you have lots of processes and applications running in the background, that could be the cause of the EoA sound problem. Try using Windows Task Manager to close everything except for Explorer.exe, Ctfmon.exe, and whatever your hardware needs:
-- a. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del once and then click on Task Manager.
-- b. Select the Applications tab.
-- c. Click on the desired application to highlight it.
-- d. Click on the End Task button at the bottom of the tab.
-- e. Repeat this procedure until all unnecessary applications and processes are closed. If you aren't sure which background processes or applications can be closed using Task Manager, check out the AnswersThatWork Task List Programs index. The most common tasks are described, and which ones are essential and which can be safely closed are noted.
-- f. Play EoA.

Note: DO NOT leave your Internet connection active after doing this, especially if you have only a software firewall. An active connection with no firewall is an open invitation to hackers, who are most assuredly not your friends!

[ArienMalfoy]

What would my mouse have to do with it?

And I'm not sure why I'd need to close all programs but those you mentioned, when I wasn't having a problem the first several times I played the game. It's only since I loaded up one particular, earlier, saved game that I'm having a problem, and it only comes up in certain areas (ie. the control room on Todelmer and the stairway leading down from the Great Shaft). I've been in those areas with no problem before. Why would I be having this problem now when absolutely nothing has been changed on my computer? I'm beginning to think that the saved game itself is corrupt, in which case I am going to have to uninstall and reinstall the game (or possibly go back to a waaaayyy earlier saved game), as I had to go back to that earlier saved game because of that Todelmer bug that dumps you at the end of the age without doing what you need to do.

This is so wierd. I just can't think of why I would suddenly have this problem when I didn't have it before and nothing has been changed on my computer. If the game worked before and nothing has changed, why would it not work now?

By the way, under "Applications", there's only my one internet application running (this board), which I never have running when I'm playing a game, so that definitely can't be it.

[myster3]

What would my mouse have to do with it?

computers are weird, you never know what might affect something. i any event, it can't hurt to try!

I'm beginning to think that the saved game itself is corrupt, in which case I am going to have to uninstall and reinstall the game (or possibly go back to a waaaayyy earlier saved game)

if the saved game file is corrupt, uninstalling and reinstalling Myst V will *not* help. if you have other save files work, but this one doesn't, then you should stop using it!

This is so wierd. I just can't think of why I would suddenly have this problem when I didn't have it before and nothing has been changed on my computer. If the game worked before and nothing has changed, why would it not work now?

like i said, computers are weird! and believe me, things change on your computer every time you use it. the fact is that your problem is so specific that short of hiring an expert to come to your house and look at your computer, you'll probably never know exactly why that save file isn't working.

By the way, under "Applications", there's only my one internet application running (this board), which I never have running when I'm playing a game, so that definitely can't be it.

i seriously doubt that any running background processes are causing your problem. have you done all of the computer tune-up things that are now posted in a sticky tread? updated drivers, defrag, registry clean-up, etc? do all of that stuff, and if you still have a problem, then you are probably going to have to bite the bullet and revert to an earlier saved game file.

good luck,

-myster3

[hogarth...]

Okay, now I have the problem.

I am on Todelmer. I was on the top of the first pinnacle, and had just looked through the telescope.
I then began to descend the stairs toward the room with the controls bathed in red light. As I turned the corner towards the room, a feedback loop of sound began that grew louder and louder until it overwhelmed my system - and my ears. I quickly turned off my speakers, hoping to perevent them from burning out from the loudness of the sound.
I shut down the game.
Next I started the game again, finding myself in the same area, as the red room appears, there is a small "pop" of sound, and then the feedback loop starts up again, growing to an unbearably loud level.
I went into game settings and lowered all sound settings to their minimum. I also checked the "mute" setting. This has no effect on the sound. It continues to roar at top volume.
I shut down the game.
I started the game again. Same problem. I go to the sound settings again and find that the Mute setting has been unchecked - the game did not remember that I had checked it before.

There is nothing wrong with my drivers or my computer. The game played fine up to this point - well, at least after lowering the video settings so that my machine could handle it.
I have completed the Great Shaft, visited all the Ages, completed Tahgira, and done some work in all the other Ages. Nowhere else have I run into this audio bug.

And it IS a bug.

I will wait for further instructions, but at this point the game is no longer playable.

EDIT: Ok - I have been able to stop the howling by turning off EAX support in the game settings.
Clearly the game is giving instructions that my soundcard - a Soundblaster 5+1 - does not understand. It is odd that this has not happened anywhere else in the game though.

I am uninstalling the game from this machine and I'll start over again when my new Alienware box gets here. It's obvious this game is not meant for "common" people with normal machines.

Anyone reading this, be aware that simply being able to play Uru or Myst IV is no guarantee that this game will run properly on your machine. This game is - to put it in the kindest words possible - less than carefully designed.

[ArienMalfoy]

THANK YOU!!!!! That is EXACTLY what I experienced, and I also experienced it in two other locations (both times when I tried to enter a room of some type, once in Taghira and once back in D'Ni at the Great Shaft; but the problem started in Todelmer). I will try turning off the EAX support as well and see if that solves my problem. Does that affect the game in any other way? I have no plans to get a new computer anytime soon, so I'm stuck playing on the one I have.

[hogarth...]

Let us know if that solution worked for you, Arien. I am going to try one more time before uninstalling the game to turn EAX effects back on. Turning it off obviously helped, but I'm curious to see how repeatable the issue is.

I'm also curious what sound card you are running on your machine. I hope this problem hasn't caused damage to the sound card. For those who haven't experienced it - yet - the sound is very, VERY loud when it occurs. Unbearably so.

And myster3, your statement that "things change on your computer every time you use it" may be technically true, but it is not likely that "things change" to the extent that your sound card flips out because you've turned a corner in a game. I believe that there is some spurious coding in this game. I have wondered why, for example, merely opening a web browser while the game is running often causes the sound track of the game to double up on itself, such that you hear the same sound effects in a sort of delay-echo chamber effect.

This is not what happened when I heard the howling effect earlier, by the way. The howling would happen even with nothing else running, and with system processes pared back to the minimum.

Dis game is wack.
I hate to say it, because I love Cyan, but they have goofed up here.