Audio Stutter

[66685b8f4b09eClive]

Hi, i just installed System Shock 2, on win2k, with a 2.3 patch, it runs well, but i'm having big trouble with the audio because at some points it is very difficult to play. It sounds very slow and lagged, especially when i look at the "source" of the audio, like the droid in the training exercises, i tried to turn on and off the hardware acceleration and eax, but it barely makes a difference. I think it's something related with the positional sound bias (which is in the middle), because there's no audio stutter on the main menu at all, and this lag seems to depend on where i'm looking in the game.

Any ideas?

[66685b8f4b29evoodoo47]

post full system specs (and maybe shock2.log as well, it's in the SS2 root).

[66685b8f4b45dKolya]

It's only okay if you're looking at SHODAN.

[66685b8f4b5a9Clive]

Thanks for responding, my specs are:
- VMware Virtual machine with Microsoft Windows 2000 Server  Service Pack 4 (Build 2195)
- SB PCI drivers
- DirectX Version 8.1b
- AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 250 Processor
- 384MB memory
- 12GB hard drive
- Motherboard: Intel 440BX Desktop Reference Platform

by the way, i'm not talking about shodan, it happens on every voice or sound while playing the game

[66685b8f4b68aClive]

Sorry, but i don't have the shock2.log file.

[66685b8f4b782voodoo47]

if you are running the game on a virtual machine, don't expect it to work properly. any special reason you are doing this?

[66685b8f4b899Clive]

yes there is a reason why i do this, i have other 90's games in the virtual machine that didn't work on my Windows 10 computer, so i decided to install all old games that i'd like to play in there, hoping no compability issues at all.
However, i googled around and i saw that this sound problem occurrs on regular computers as well.

[66685b8f4ba3dZylonBane]

Sigh. A very large part of the point of NewDark is that it updates the engine to play well with modern versions of Windows. Try installing it like a normal person and see if you're still having issues.

[66685b8f4bb50Yankee Clipper]

Using a virtual machine is a sign of mental illness? I never took many psych classes, so I guess it's a lucky thing that I read these forums.

[66685b8f4bc4aZylonBane]

Whatever it is you're trying to do, you're doing it badly.

[66685b8f4c0abOlfred]

Usually the "sound card" on virtual machines isn't a good one. On top of that, the interface between the virtual machine and the actual sound card on the system can lead to problems.
You could try lowering the audio channels as it might be that the "sound card" just receives more channels as it can handle.

But as ZylonBane already mentioned, you should just instal it normally under Windows 10. Especially with the NewDark patch the game works fine under new Windows versions. On top of that some features were added which need more performance and this could also hit the limit of your virtual system.

[66685b8f4c1cfClive]

ok, now it works better with the patch, installed on windows 10. But it is still a little slow, playable. Thanks for the help anyway. by the way like i said i only use the virtual machine for SOME games that are complicated to run on newer Operating Systems. It is not the easiest thing, but i skip a lot of trouble.

[66685b8f4c2a5Olfred]

Still slow?
The sound or the whole game?

[66685b8f4c3edvoodoo47]

assuming you've got the cd version, go here, and make a clean install. anything newer than pentium3 should have little problems running the game at full speed.

and yeah, trying to run a 3d accelerated game on a vm is bananas.