Ubuntu 10.04 sound lag with enemy territory quake wars

Bug #577727 reported by Chrisn
168
This bug affects 34 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
pulseaudio (Ubuntu)
Expired
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: pulseaudio

To reproduce:
Install Ubuntu 10.04 x64
Install drivers and update ubuntu
Install enemy territory quake wars demo or full game
Start a game vs computer
Fire gun in air
Sometimes takes a moment or 2 to start lagging. Starts lagging when the sound apparently disappears.

demo available at http://www.fileplanet.com/181742/180000/fileinfo/Enemy-Territory:-Quake-Wars-Demo-%28Linux%29

Apparently works on Kubuntu according to http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9246877&postcount=5
I've not been able to get it to even start on Kubuntu (executable not found) however

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: chris 2085 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: chris 2085 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'D2'/'Asus Virtuoso 200 (rev 2) at 0xe800, irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'AV200'
   Components : 'PCM1796 CS5381 AV200'
   Controls : 23
   Simple ctrls : 12
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf7ff8000 irq 22'
   Mixer name : 'VIA ID 4441'
   Components : 'HDA:11064441,104383d0,00100100'
   Controls : 4
   Simple ctrls : 3
Date: Sun May 9 09:09:53 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
dmi.bios.date: 12/07/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1207
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P7P55D LE
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev 1.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1207:bd12/07/2009:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP7P55DLE:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

Revision history for this message
Chrisn (cnormington) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Chrisn (cnormington) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Monsieurweller (monsieurweller) wrote :

I can confirm that this bug affect lucid (my computer is affected too: lucid x86_64).

Revision history for this message
Ben Scholzen 'DASPRiD' (dasprid) wrote :

Confirming here as well, seems to be related with my bug, where I have the same audio delay:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/572580

Revision history for this message
joern (kottmann) wrote :

Can confirm this bug on a 32 Bit CPU and NVIDIA proprietary drivers. The sound lags for around 30 seconds in ETQW and Quake 4 (did not test other games), but in my case the 30 seconds are very constant. It worked before on that hardware with 8.04 flawlessly.

Revision history for this message
Monsieurweller (monsieurweller) wrote :

Problem solved: removed pulseaudio and returned to ALSA (with audiohacks packages):
https://launchpad.net/~dtl131/+archive/ppa

Revision history for this message
Chrisn (cnormington) wrote :

Thanks Monsieurweller for that very useful ppa.

I've removed pulse using
http://art.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9202903&postcount=134
which seems to be doing the trick.

Hopefully the problems in pulse can be fixed.

Revision history for this message
simonnix (simon-huet) wrote :

Same problem here using Quake4.

Two years after PulseAudio was included in Ubuntu, you would not have any regression on old games. But it's clearly the case here.

Revision history for this message
Charles P. Collins IV (thought-engineer) wrote :

I am experiencing this same problem. ETQW+ 10.04 x86_64

Revision history for this message
los-nikos (id4me) wrote :

Hmmmm.... can't use Skype without pulseaudio, but this bug in pulseaudio is very painful for ETQW...

Revision history for this message
abitwise (abitwise) wrote :

Pulseaudio is not regressive, it is better than ALSA or OSS for sure! I had the same problem that Quake 4 sound didn't work but you can do that:

Edit (use sudo also): /etc/openal/alsoft.conf:

Uncomment drivers so that pulse is first, save the file:
drivers = pulse

Restart your computer just in case. After that i had no problems in Quake 4. It uses OpenAL as it's sound layer for Linux.

You can also look here:
http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/PerfectSetup#OpenALApplications

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : apport information

AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
   Subdevices: 2/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: jcollins 3410 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfe220000 irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1984'
   Components : 'HDA:11d41984,17aa20bb,00100400'
   Controls : 30
   Simple ctrls : 19
Card29.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw 7KHT24WW-1.08'
   Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC 7KHT24WW-1.08'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 1
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card29.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'Console',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu14
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.36-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Tags: lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout libvirtd lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 05/11/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 7LETC6WW (2.26 )
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr7LETC6WW(2.26):bd05/11/2009:svnLENOVO:pn:pvrThinkPadT61p:rvnLENOVO:rn:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T61p
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

Changed in pulseaudio (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
tags: added: apport-collected
Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : AlsaDevices.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : AplayDevices.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : BootDmesg.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : Card0.Amixer.values.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : Card0.Codecs.codec.0.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : CurrentDmesg.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : Dependencies.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : PciMultimedia.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote : ProcCpuinfo.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Tim Froidcoeur (fraco) wrote :

On amd64, updating the 32 bit openal that resides in /usr/lib32 (version 1.11.753) with the latest version from the 32 bit packages in lucid-updates (1.12.854) fixed the problem.
An update of the openal lib in ia32-libs is needed, I think, to fix this.

Luke Yelavich (themuso)
affects: pulseaudio (Ubuntu) → ia32-libs (Ubuntu)
Changed in ia32-libs (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Chrisn (cnormington) wrote :

Thanks Tim. Sadly didn't work for me, unless I did something wrong.
One thing I've found out is that its using Alsa not OpenAL by default which is what I assumed it was using.
I've been unable to convince ET:QW to use OpenAL so far.
I'll try an attach a log from the game as soon as I'm able to.

Revision history for this message
Chrisn (cnormington) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Tim Froidcoeur (fraco) wrote :

I apologize, it's broken again. It seems to have worked one-off that's all. So:

upgrading to the newest openal lib in /usr/lib32 does NOT work.

Luke, I guess the affects: is probably wrong too.

Revision history for this message
Chrisn (cnormington) wrote :

Just tried on a i386 install of Ubuntu on the same system, not updated. Same thing happens. Will try again once I updated.

One thing I have noticed is that it works better on first run. Second run lags sound from almost the beginning.

Revision history for this message
Chrisn (cnormington) wrote :

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. I did manage to update my 32bit Ubuntu and test ETQW, same problem.

Revision history for this message
Aldo Nogueira (aldo-nogueira) wrote :

The only way I found to fix this problem was:
* create the script /usr/local/bin/pakiller that kills pulseaudio and restarts it afterwards
* create the file ~/.pulse/client.conf to prevent pulseaudio from automatically restarting
* call ETQW with "pakiller etqw-rthread"
It works really fine now, but I think the real solution would be a new libSDL-1.2.id.so.0 that uses pulseaudio by default.

Contents of /usr/local/bin/pakiller:
#!/bin/sh
killall pulseaudio
$*
pulseaudio -D

Contents of ~/.pulse/client.conf:
autospawn = no

Revision history for this message
Rajeev Nair (rajeev) wrote :

same issue with quake 4, upto 30 sec lag a few min into the game.

Revision history for this message
Cedric Pinson (cedric-pinson) wrote :

I have tried #28 and it does not work for me, later the sounds is still delayed

Revision history for this message
Aldo Nogueira (aldo-nogueira) wrote :

Answer to #30:
Without the file ~/.pulse/client.conf, pulseaudio restarts again as soon as it is killed.
And then ETQW outputs its sound through EDS API that goes to pulseaudio with a huge delay.

Revision history for this message
J Sanders (kernel528) wrote :

I too have the same issue with ETQW. I have been unable to resolve the lag issue. I am running LInux Mint 9 x64 (based on Lucid). The first time I ran the game after installation the audio seemed fine. Now, it lags by 10-30+ seconds.

I had lag issues and missing audio with other GDF forces with Quake4 as well. For me, the lag issue was resolved by adding the following to the program launch: +set s_driver oss. So, for example.../usr/local/games/quake4/quake4 +set s_driver oss

Revision history for this message
Rajeev Nair (rajeev) wrote :

Hi

Just wanted to add, there is a problem using OSS drivers instead of alsa too in quake 4 .Only thing is, the delay appears after quite some time of playing the game unlike using alsa where it starts almost immediately.

Revision history for this message
Scott Ritchie (scottritchie) wrote :

I don't think this is an ia32-libs issue anymore, since Lucid's ia32-libs was stable-release updated to include the fixed openal some time ago.

Revision history for this message
Ketil Malde (ketil-ii) wrote :

I see the same behavior (sound delayed by half a minute or so) on ia32. Following the advice at

  http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9793314&postcount=9

worked as a workaround for me.

(Nice to see that so many still play this on Linux :-)

Revision history for this message
Chris Hardee (shazzner) wrote :

Bug persists in Maverick, the work-around is annoying because I have to kill every other alsa device (including my browser) before I get sound in etqw. I also have the same problem with doom3 and quake4.

Revision history for this message
Daniel Holm (danielholm) wrote :

Same for me in Maverick. At first I had no audio at all. Then I reset the settings and the lag is back...

Revision history for this message
Michael Zukowski (michael-zukowski) wrote :

Changed to Ubuntu 10.10 same bug, same story.

Can confirm that the sound from Doom III disappeared now completly, which might be better for my nerves ;)

Revision history for this message
Chris Hardee (shazzner) wrote :

Is there an upstream I can report this to? I noticed ia32-libs as 64-bit specific, but I'm running on 32bit 10.10.

Revision history for this message
Davide Capodaglio (davidecapod) wrote :

The bug also affects me on Doom III

Revision history for this message
Davide Capodaglio (davidecapod) wrote :

For me (I am on maverick amd64) seems to be solved launching with

pasuspender -- doom3 +set s_alsa_pcm plughw:0

Revision history for this message
Rajeev Nair (rajeev) wrote :

I can safely say that all new id software games have lag since ubuntu 10.04 using either oss or alsa. and on 32 bit OS also.

Revision history for this message
Jens Askengren (jens-askengren) wrote :

Here is a workaround for etwq.

pasuspender -- ./etqw-rthread +set s_driver alsa

Revision history for this message
jhansonxi (jhansonxi) wrote :

Only reliable solution I've found for Doom3 is to install alsa-oss, set game to use OSS and start it with:
aoss .../doom3

Revision history for this message
ChrisC (chris-ct) wrote :

Thank you Chrisn for post #7
http://art.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9202903&postcount=134
I had the same problem using Mint 10.10 (based on Maverick)
with the game Quake 4 for Linux : Lag sound issue

sudo apt-get purge libcanberra-pulse pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat pulseaudio-module-bluetooth pulseaudio-module-gconf pulseaudio-module-udev pulseaudio-module-x11 gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio pulseaudio-utils pavucontrol

Les paquets suivants seront ENLEVÉS :
  gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio* indicator-sound*
  libcanberra-pulse* mint-meta-gnome* mint-meta-main*
  padevchooser* paprefs* pavucontrol* pulseaudio*
  pulseaudio-esound-compat* pulseaudio-module-bluetooth*
  pulseaudio-module-gconf* pulseaudio-module-x11*
  pulseaudio-module-zeroconf* pulseaudio-utils*

sudo apt-get install gnome-alsamixer alsa-oss python-alsaaudio

Revision history for this message
Davide Capodaglio (davidecapod) wrote :

There is no need to mess up your system totally uninstalling pulseaudio...
just try

pasuspender -- quake4 +set s_alsa_pcm plughw:0

for me this works with all id software games.

Changed in ia32-libs (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Revision history for this message
Rajeev Nair (rajeev) wrote :

Well, the whole point of this bug report is about using these games with pulseaudio running and being used.
Most suggestions here either talk of disabling pulseaudio or using pure alsa to run it, each of which works fine .

I hope they fix this bug so we can enjoy the benefits of pulse.

Revision history for this message
Chris Hardee (shazzner) wrote :

Is there a pulseaudio developer we can assign this too? Instead of letting it languish for another year?

Revision history for this message
lepetit (lacsebastien) wrote :

HI, I have the same bug on my ubuntu 10.10 64 bits
is there a solution ?

Revision history for this message
Virus666 (rea-987) wrote :

Starting the game with "ALSA wrapper for OSS applications" (alsa-oss) solves the problem:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1705760

Revision history for this message
Rajeev Nair (rajeev) wrote :

I request someone again to please look at this bug so we can play the last known 5 star rated linux game from a company who have always supported linux.

Revision history for this message
Scott Ritchie (scottritchie) wrote :

For the above reasons, it seems this indeed isn't ia32-libs.

affects: ia32-libs (Ubuntu) → pulseaudio (Ubuntu)
Revision history for this message
Kristijan456-gmail (kristijan456-gmail) wrote :

It still doesn't work in ubuntu 11.04 x64

Revision history for this message
John Doe (b2109455) wrote :

Ok look, the Pulseaudio team doesn't care. Sorry. I wish they did too, but they don't. Evidence to the contrary has been due for, what? A year now?

They don't care. They got Canonical's nod, they're in Ubuntu, they're golden. They don't have to worry about stuff like this and little people like us. Canonical, bless their heart for what they've done with Linux, doesn't have any particularly soft spot for gaming. Sorry, I wish they did too, but again, evidence to contrary is long overdue.

I know we all like to pretend in Ubuntu land here that all is done for the good of all, but face it, we are officially Unimportant(tm) in Canonical's (and therefore Pulseaudio's) eyes.

Evidence to the contrary is always welcome.

Revision history for this message
skybon (skybon-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Everything works fine if you start etqw as follows:
./etqw +set s_alsa_pcm plughw:0 +set s_driver alsa +set r_alphaToCoverage "0"

Revision history for this message
WSmart (wsmart) wrote :

@abitwise,

Uncommenting the driver=pulse in the /etc/openal/alsoft.conf file works for me, on Kubutu 12.10 and Doom3. Thanks for posting.

Be real. be sober.

Revision history for this message
jhansonxi (jhansonxi) wrote :

With Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) I am able to get it working using PulseAudio by using a custom ~/.asoundrc fix by Brebs that was intended for Doom3:
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1304228.html

Just set in ~/.etqwcl/base/etqwconfig.cfg:

seta s_driver "alsa"
seta s_alsa_pcm "pcm.doom3-surround51"

Also works for Quake 4. Doom3 still requires pasuspender but otherwise the sound is stable.

Revision history for this message
jhansonxi (jhansonxi) wrote :

Note that in Brebs' fix this line:

pcm "hw:0,0"

is a card number of a hardware sound device on HIS system. The number may change at discovery because of udev (http://alsa.opensrc.org/MultipleCards), especially if a USB sound device is added or removed, making the .asoundrc configuration use the wrong device.

To identify current sound devices and related modules:

while read sdmod; do grep "^[[:space:]]$(echo "$sdmod" | sed -n 's/^\([[:digit:]]\+\)\([^[:digit:]]\+.*\)/\1/p')[[:space:]]" /proc/asound/cards ; echo " $sdmod" ; done</proc/asound/modules

For example, the result on my system is:
0 [SB ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI SB
 0 snd_hda_intel
 1 [U0x46d0x8cc ]: USB-Audio - USB Device 0x46d:0x8cc
 1 snd_usb_audio
 2 [HDMI ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
 2 snd_hda_intel

Another way to identify the device is with "aplay -l" (aplay is in the alsa-utils package):

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

The value in brackets from /proc/asound/cards (or the value after the card number and before the bracketed value from aplay -l) is the ID of the device which can be used in place of the card number. So the pcm slave device for the pcm.doom3 entry on my system is:

pcm "hw:SB"

The device can be permanently assigned via /etc/asound but to prevent the device IDs from changing the ID must be set in the options for the module in /etc/modprobe.d using "index=#" where # starts at 0. Use "modinfo -p <module_name>" for a list of parameters. Normally device 0 is the default. The "slots=" option is another possibility but may only work with USB devices.

A custom udev rule can also be used: http://alsa.opensrc.org/Udev

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Chrisn,

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 10.04 (lucid) reached end-of-life on May 9, 2013.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Please upgrade to the latest version and re-test.

Changed in pulseaudio (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

[Expired for pulseaudio (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

Changed in pulseaudio (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Expired
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