protonscr

Choppy sound in BPM, sound ok in OS/games.

steamclosed Big PicturereviewedAudio
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#3227 · opened 2014-03-27 by roytt · updated 2017-11-24 · 9 comments · github
Rroytt 2014-03-27 github

** Description **

The issue happens in both these situations on the same hardware:
1/ Ubuntu 13.10 with Steam in Big Picture Mode (outside of BPM, everything is fine).
2/ Inside SteamOS

The issue itself :
All sounds inside the Big Picture Mode client are choppy and distorted. When playing game trailers (Flash) from inside the Big Picture Mode the sound is choppy and parts are skipped. If I play the exact same trailers from the "normal" Steam client for Linux, everything is fine.

** Sound recordings **

(all recorded from within Ubuntu 13.10):

All games I have played behave normally and are not affected by this issue (e.g. TF2, Portal 2 beta). These issues occur in no other circumstances whatsoever, only and exclusively inside of Steam BPM.

** System Info **

Processor Information:
Vendor: GenuineIntel
CPU Family: 0x6
CPU Model: 0x1e
CPU Stepping: 0x5
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 2660 Mhz
4 logical processors
4 physical processors
HyperThreading: Unsupported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Unsupported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Supported

Network Information:
Network Speed:

Operating System Version:
Ubuntu 13.10 (64 bit)
Kernel Name: Linux
Kernel Version: 3.11.0-18-generic
X Server Vendor: The X.Org Foundation
X Server Release: 11405000
X Window Manager: Compiz
Steam Runtime Version: steam-runtime-release_2014-02-05

Video Card:
Driver: NVIDIA Corporation GeForce GTX 460/PCIe/SSE2

Driver Version:  4.4.0 NVIDIA 331.49
OpenGL Version: 4.4
Desktop Color Depth: 24 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 59 Hz
VendorID:  0x10de
DeviceID:  0xe22
Number of Monitors:  1
Number of Logical Video Cards:  1
Primary Display Resolution:  1680 x 1050
Desktop Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Primary Display Size: 18.66" x 11.65"  (21.97" diag)
                                        47.4cm x 29.6cm  (55.8cm diag)
Primary Bus: PCI Express 16x
Primary VRAM: 768 MB
Supported MSAA Modes:  2x 4x 8x 16x 

Sound card:
Audio device: Realtek ALC888

Memory:
RAM: 3945 Mb

Miscellaneous:
UI Language: English
LANG: en_US.UTF-8
Microphone: Not set
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 108278 Mb
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 44109 Mb

Installed software:

Recent Failure Reports:

Rroytt 2014-03-27 github
Ggdrewb-valve maintainer 2014-03-28 github

There are other similar bugs about sound issues but I couldn't turn them up with a simple search.

Rroytt 2014-04-02 github

If you need any other system info or want me to test any specific scenarios, please let me know.

HHalf-Shot 2014-04-20 github

Just going to say that I get that as well only it seems to happen on low powered machines, like my AMD A4 APU laptop which is so choppy steam seems to give up playing it mid intro.

Ccjwijtmans 2014-04-20 github

in ns2 the sound randomly becomes choppy and distorted. In dota2 the sound randomly drops off as if some channels are ok while other channels doesnt seem to work anymore. I think it is all related but i am not sure how.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio#Glitches.2C_skips_or_crackling

BTW my system does not have PA installed and i dont know if steamruntime has PA.

Ggdrewb-valve maintainer 2014-04-28 github

Also see #72.

Rroytt 2014-07-16 github

Just want to confirm this is now fixed for me. Hardware is unchanged since reporting the issue, distro and software stack have changed so it's hard to know what exactly fixed it (e.g. newer PA libs, updated steam client, or something else...).

Processor Information:
Vendor: GenuineIntel
CPU Family: 0x6
CPU Model: 0x1e
CPU Stepping: 0x5
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 2660 Mhz
4 logical processors
4 physical processors
HyperThreading: Unsupported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Unsupported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Supported

Network Information:
Network Speed:

Operating System Version:
Debian GNU/Linux testing (jessie) (64 bit)
Kernel Name: Linux
Kernel Version: 3.14-1-amd64
X Server Vendor: The X.Org Foundation
X Server Release: 11501000
X Window Manager: Openbox
Steam Runtime Version: steam-runtime-release_2014-04-15

Video Card:
Driver: NVIDIA Corporation GeForce GTX 460/PCIe/SSE2

Driver Version:  4.4.0 NVIDIA 340.24
OpenGL Version: 4.4
Desktop Color Depth: 24 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 59 Hz
VendorID:  0x10de
DeviceID:  0xe22
Number of Monitors:  1
Number of Logical Video Cards:  1
Primary Display Resolution:  1680 x 1050
Desktop Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Primary Display Size: 18.66" x 11.65"  (21.97" diag)
                                        47.4cm x 29.6cm  (55.8cm diag)
Primary Bus: PCI Express 16x
Primary VRAM: 768 MB
Supported MSAA Modes:  2x 4x 8x 16x 

Sound card:
Audio device: Realtek ALC888

Memory:
RAM: 3955 Mb

Miscellaneous:
UI Language: English
LANG: en_US.UTF-8
Microphone: Not set
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 107704 Mb
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 92860 Mb

Installed software:

Recent Failure Reports:

Ccjwijtmans 2014-07-16 github

definitly not fixed for me. still getting glitched sound at a random point in time while palying ns2, havent checked dota2.

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2017-11-24 github

Closing as the original issue with Big Picture Mode appears to have been resolved (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/3227#issuecomment-49170538).