(Help)! Source games audio looping and lag.

[OrangeOtaku]

I have 4gbs ram, a geforce 280 gtx, and a intel core 2duo cpu @ 2.53Ghz and all source games lag and loop audio +freeze. My pc has fine specs for all valve source games and running them should not be a problem. If anyone could explain to me why I am getting lag and audio looping +freezing that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Gornot]

We need a bit more info here. Is this happening while you're actually playing, or what?

Because audio looping is, I dare say it, almost a "feature" of the Source engine. Any audio sample that gets caught into a loading process (either when loading a new map or the next part of a map like in HL2) starts looping until the loading finishes, and as far as that goes, you can't do anything about it.

But if freezes and graphics lag are present during actual gameplay, make sure your graphics and audio drivers are up to date, and check the game settings. Your rig is not all that powerful, so I recommend you return to default video settings, and only change the resolution to match the native resolution of your display. Your game should run fine.

Antialiasing, anisotropic filtering (and perhaps shadow details) are the top two (three) things that can slow down a game's performance, so poke around the settings until you find the game smooth enough to be playable.

 

[OrangeOtaku]

Thank you for the reply. And the audio looping, freezing and everything is happening when I click buttons in the game menus and it also happens in-game. and my graphics drivers are all up to date. I have on-board audio and I am not really sure where to look for drivers for it :\

 

[Gornot]

As far as menus go, it's somewhat expected and not a problem. But in-game, that's another issue.

If you have onboard audio, it's probably Realtek. Do you still have the software DVD that came with your motherboard? You don't have to install that version, but you can at least check the contents and see which drivers it offers for audio, then go from there. Alternatively, you can go to Device Manager and see if you can update the drivers from there using Windows Update.

It would be easier to install a third party software to check what your exact audio is, like Speccy, but I suggest otherwise unless you have no luck with the steps above.

As for graphics lag, get the DirectX Installer from here and run it, make sure you uncheck "Install the Bing bar" and see if the setup finds any components missing. If so, proceed with the installation and run the game again.

 

[sygnus21]

Could you tell us what you mean by "all source games"? Please specify.

Thanks.

 

[Gornot]

It would be good to know, but I don't think it even matters. All Source games have this kind of behavior. From the way the OP described it, it's just more drastic and annoying for him.

I mean, remember how HL2 would load new areas of the map and if anything gets caught into the loading process, the audio would loop as if the game's about to crash before you can proceed with the gameplay. I've been having this behavior in all Source games, from HL2 and Portal to Team Fortress and mods etc. for years.

 

[OrangeOtaku]

EDIT: I went to device manager and tried to find updates for my audio and it said there were none. Also here is a picture from speccy on my audio Gyazo - fa936460b3201c0d1c8a783577ab5bb8.png
Just thought I'd drop this by you before I install the windows updates. Al post again after they are done installing and I try a source game.


Alright. Thanks for all your help so far. I do not have the software DVD that came with the motherboard sadly, I got this motherboard from my uncle and the motherboard originally belonged to his brother and he told me they played source games (valve source games: gmod, etc) all the time on it. I will try Speccy and the on-board audio is realtek. I installed the realtek audio drivers but that did not do anything for me. I will also try going into the device manager like you said and updating the audio. I was also just about to run a windows update. and I will install the direct X from the link you provided. I will get back to you after I do all of this okay. Thanks again

 

[sygnus21]

It would be good to know, but I don't think it even matters. All Source games have this kind of behavior. From the way the OP described it, it's just more drastic and annoying for him.

I mean, remember how HL2 would load new areas of the map and if anything gets caught into the loading process, the audio would loop as if the game's about to crash before you can proceed with the gameplay. I've been having this behavior in all Source games, from HL2 and Portal to Team Fortress and mods etc. for years.

It actually does matter for a few reasons...

1- There are many games using the source engine - from Half-Life: Source to Half-Life Episode 2 to Left 4 Dead 4. Even Titanfall uses the source engine - The 10 Best Source Engine Games | Maximum PC

2 - with that is the OP implying he has all of those games? Some? Which ones.

3 - As the source engine matures, more and more games are using it. Thus Half-Life: Source is different from Left 4 Dead 4 to Portal 2 to Titanfall.

So yeah, it really does help, just as specific system specs helps since the specs of the PC may determine how well a specific game runs - Titanfall vs. Half-Life: Source - which both use the Source engine.

4 - Lastly it is always helpful to provide as much information as possible when troubleshooting game issues.

The OP stating his monitor is failing when gaming is a different from stating games make my system crash. One may not necessarily need a list of games for the first issue, but in the second issue, the list may be necessary. In this case, yeah, specific helps.

You might see my post here: http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/77293-tips-troubleshooting-game-issues.html and this one here: Helping the OP (VIP section so every may not have access)

In the end it's about helping the OP solve their issue... and that means asking questions.

Thanks.

 

[OrangeOtaku]

okay so I did everything you told me to try Gornot and the games are still lagging and looping audio in game. It also flashed a black screen in-game for a split second (the source game I tried: fistful of frags). All the source games I have: CS:GO, GMOD, HL2, Fistful of Frags and I am also prob gonna try one called "neo tokyo" and "no more room in hell (a mod for hl2) on steam if I can get this problem fixed .

Would some more screenshots from speccy maybe help? motherboard information, CPU information, Graphics information. Pretty much anything.

 

[Gornot]

So updating drivers does nothing. Bleh.

Check the games' settings, see if lowering some of the graphics effects change anything. Like I mentioned, antialiasing and anisotropic filtering is a ***** for performance. If you have them turned on way up, lower them or disable completely.

 

[OrangeOtaku]

I have tried playing the games on the lowest settings they could possibly go on and it did not help me.