Play Diablo3 in Separate Speakers than Skype?

Question

I want to play skype sounds through my headphones but diablo3 sounds through my main speakers? Is this possible / is there a way to achieve this?

Asked by Howdy_McGee

Answer

In your sound properties, you can set your default communication device to your headset and your speakers as your default sound output. This will allow your skype to come through the headset and game sounds through the speakers.

You may also need to change the sound output in Skype (Tools -> Options -> Audio Settings) to output to your USB headset in the Speaker drop down menu.

Answered by Sorean

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PS3 Loading without sound

Question

Okay, so I have the old fat PS3 80gb, which I upgraded with a 250gb hdd ages ago. For the last while, not sure, some stuff has been loading without sound.

1. I get a loading chime and XMB tones
2. I can play music from the XMB without problem, nice sound
3. I can watch TV through the 4OD, iPlayers and the like no issues
4. Game trailers work fine, but, they only work if I press triangle and select the 'Play from beginning'. If I then exit the playback using circle and then play it again, I get no sound
5. I rented a movie from PSN yesterday and it took me 8 tries of playing and quitting to get the sound to work
6. I can't get Little Big Planet to work with sound at all this morning

If anyone has any ideas please do chip in, this is starting to really frustrate me. Infamous seems to load with sound every time, Kill Team is a 3/10 chance of getting sound. So it seems to be some games more than others.

I've reset my Sound Settings again, but short of a system factory reset, I'm really not sure what to do at this point.

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Taking a note from the 'Play from beginning' I tried pressing triangle and then 'Start' from the games menu and this doesn't seem to work either.

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Created a thread on the tech help sony forums also, http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/Technical-Help/Games-movies-and-videos-loading-without-sound/td-p/13842737

Asked by DavidYell

Answer

Are you connected through HDMI for audio? Have you tried hooking it up with another type of connection such as a analog sound cable? Some TVs have shoddy HDMI Audio implementations and switching video modes can cause their audio to "desync" from the stream. You could also try changing which types of streams are sent to the TV could help as well, reducing it to only PCM perhaps instead of Dolby may help it when it transitions from program to program.

You can try shutting the TV off and turning it back on when it happens as well, and that may nudge the HDMI connection into working.

Answered by Kazriko

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How can I have different Audio output for Steam Voice chat?

Question

I was playing Portal 2 today and I wanted to have in-game audio (environmental sounds) through my main desktop speakers, while having my voice chat output to my headset. I couldn't find the setting to change my default output speakers for voice-chat... I ended up having to put all audio through my headset. Is there any way I can set output voice to my headset and leave ingame audio to my main speakers?

Asked by Foxtrot

Answer

Using a program called IndieVolume you can choose which audio output a program will play off, unfortunately, splitting the two different sounds from within portal is not possible, so an external voice client must be used (such as steam chat).

Answered by Ronan Forman

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Xbox 360 slim with HDMI and Audio adapter - No display

Question

Basically I have a new Slim 360 and because I'm connecting to my monitor (which has no speakers or sound output), I need to use the hdmi for video and a RCA audio adapter for sound.

Here's the audio adapter I have: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Cable-Adapter-XBOX-Slim/dp/B005EDAFFS/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

As far as I can tell this should work just fine right? Well for some reason as soon as I plug in the audio cable, the picture on the screen turns black. Does anyone know why this might happen? This is the only way I can get sound so I really need to figure this out.

Asked by HatInACat

Answer

The 'easiest' solution would be here. All in one solution to convert the audio to 3.5mm jack and a VGA (which your monitor should support - otherwise convert from there to DVI).

Answered by Foxtrot

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How can I increase Skyrim's Volume?

Question

Compared to every other program on my PC, Skyrim is nearly deathly quiet by comparison. I looked into the in-game sound menu, but it's already cranked to max!

Is there anything I can do to avoid having to double my system volume settings each time I want to play Skyrim?

Asked by Raven Dreamer

Answer

If you're on windows 7 (I think Vista as well?), try the following:

1. While Skyrim is running, alt-tab back to your desktop.
2. Click the volume icon in the system tray, then click "mixer".
3. In there, there are separate settings for each application currently running.
4. Move Skyrim's slider higher, and it should raise the volume relative to your other applications

Answered by Dave McClelland

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Can Catherine for ps3 be switched to the Japanese voice actors?

Question

I was thinking of getting Catherine for ps3 but then I found out that it looks like you might not be able to choose the Japanese voice actors and I am kind of a snob about that sort of thing. Does anyone know anything else about this?

Asked by russjohnson09

Answer

According to a post in this forum, Aram Jabbari (the Atlus Public Relations manager) mentions the following:

There is no Japanese audio, only English. We really, truly try to explore this option wherever possible. It just wasn’t something we could do for Catherine.

In the same comments section, he also says

There is no Japanese voice option in the game. For the folks out there who simply must have it, you’re right in that importing is the way to go. It’d be a shame, though. We have a heck of a cast for the NA release, and they do every bit of justice and then some to the original audio track!

According to this forum (I do not know how legitimate this is), the developers also said the following:

While we certainly respect your preference and, as weve stated before, always explore options to include a toggle with the original Japanese voices, it should be noted that Catherines story and characters inhabit a generic AMERICAN city. Hence everything in Stray Sheep, their attire, etc. being in English.

And while we recognize the numerous comments from folks adamant that its Japanese or nothing for them, we cant help but feel like those gamers are going to miss out on what is, in our view, one of our best localizations to date, and a fantastic English dub to boot.

Again, thanks for your thoughts. Were certainly always open to feedback.

Answered by Ashley Nunn

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What has happened to EAX and other hardware sound enhancements?

Question

Since Windows Vista has dropped support DirectX support for hardware accelerated sound, new games using EAX have become virtually nonexistent. So what are games using today? Have game developers decided/realized that nobody cares about cool sound effects and are rather doing simple effects in software? Or is there something else they're using?

I'm just wondering because I do care about the sound as a part of gaming experience, so I wonder what I should pay attention to [in this aspect] when selecting an external sound adapter. What standards are there, what hardware features are important? Aside from those that apply to sound quality in general, of course.

Answer

Perhaps you should look at Jeff Atwood's blog on sound cards from May 4th, 2011.

The default, built-in sound chips on most motherboards have evolved from "totally crap" to "surprisingly decent" in the last 5 years. But besides that, in this era of ubiquitous quad core CPUs nearing 4 GHz, it'd be difficult to make a plausible case that you need a discrete set of silicon to handle sound processing, even for the very fanciest of 3D sound algorithms and HRTFs.

If Jeff is considered to be an expert, the need for EAX support died when processing power became sufficent to no longer require external hardware.

From the Wikipedia artcile on EAX:

According to Creative's OpenAL 1.1 specification, EAX should be considered deprecated as a developer interface. New development should use OpenAL's EFX interface, which covers all the EAX functionality and is more tightly coupled with the overall OpenAL framework

From Creative's post explaining OpenAL and Windows Vista (and subsequently Windows 7):

With Microsoft's decision to remove the audio hardware layer in Windows Vista, legacy DirectSound 3D games will no longer use hardware 3D algorithms for audio spatialization. Instead they will have to rely upon the new Microsoft software mixer that is built into Windows Vista. This new software mixer will give the users basic audio support for their old Direct Sound games but since it has no hardware layer, all EAX® effects will be lost, and no individual per-voice processing can be performed using dedicated hardware processing.

Legacy EAX games will likely not perform correctly on Windows Vista and Windows 7. From this March 09, 2011 of the Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 2G Sound Card:

We cannot fault any current sound card for lacking the ability to enable EAX in legacy games. EAX is no longer a standard used in PC game audio. If it works in a game, it is simply a bonus to the sound card buyer.

When EAX came out it was necessary for games to enable EAX for the game to utilize the hardware. Since DirectSound is no longer supported game developers should be using OpenAL, which enables hardware acceleration automatically (if supported by the device) or is otherwise handled through the software.

The list of OpenAL supported games is not extensive (in my opinion) but not all games require a highly emersive sound experience.

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How to privately stream gaming without any intermediate servers while voice-chatting with viewers?

Question

I had a look at this question and another one, which offer good answers on streaming in general. However, I'd like to stream gaming to few (say, one or two) persons, so I'd like to omit using a public server. The second thing is, I'd like to stream audio while voice-chatting, which poses the additional difficulty of echo-suppression. So in brief, is there any (preferably free) streaming software that

• is a local server (so no intermediate service like ustream is needed), or at least
• allows sound streaming while voice-chatting (e.g. via mumble or skype)?

Answer

Hoo. Oh boy. Well, since you're only streaming audio, it won't be too difficult...

Here's some info on what you'll need. I haven't tested this specifically, but it should work. (If it doesn't, feel free to ask and I'll try to set it up myself as well)

1. Virtual Audio Cable. Note that you'll suffer a bit of lag in the sound from whichever you choose to delay, though you can get away with setting it to 150ms. This costs $30, but is pretty well worth it if you plan on streaming often.

2. IceCast. This is a stream server. It's free and supports all sorts of Fun Stuff.

3. ScannerCast. Mostly to stream sound input. I guess it's supposed to be used for radios of some sort, but it works really nicely for simple audio.

Once you have those, here are some instructions...

1. Set up a virtual audio cable and change your default audio device to that cable. This is where all of your sounds will be playing, so don't be surprised when things are quiet.

2. Open a VAC repeater and feed your virtual cable to your usual output device. Set the buffer as low as you are comfortable (150ms works for me, you may have to use more if you're running intensive programs; this is your sound lag from when it plays to when you actually hear it).

3. Set your favorite VoIP program to use your normal sound card, too, since you don't want it being looped through VAC.

4. Set up IceCast and other fun stuff. I won't go into detail here because every setup is different; here's the manual.

5. Start ScannerCast and set it up for your IceCast server. You can disable most/all of the radioreference control stuff since you aren't using it.

6. Make sure you have port forwarding for where your IceCast stream is and then give your friends a link to make sure everything's working. If it is, congratulations, everything is just dandy and hopefully you'll have a long, joyous life of streaming games to the interweb.

Most of these are interchangable. You can substitute VAC for two sound card outputs (and duct-tape a solution together); IceCast can be swapped for plenty of other streaming solutions (VLC, perhaps) and ScannerCast is just the first Icecast-capable stream source I found after a few minutes of looking.

If something really breaks, though, feel free to comment and I can try to help.

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Is there a way to turn on subtitles in the PC version of Assassin's Creed?

Question

I just bought the first Assassin's Creed on Steam. The game plays fine, but the voices are difficult to make out.

Is there a way to turn on subtitles in the PC version of Assassin's Creed?

Answer

According to http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5251069024/m/4691016806/p/3

The game on all platforms does not have subtitles.

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How can I extract the full audio or get subtitles of GLaDOS's sentences in Portal 2?

Question

I started playing Portal 2 and GLaDOS voice and dialogs are simply amazing.

I would like to hear or read again some of her sentences. Is it possible extracting them in audio or text form, from some Portal 2 files?

Answer

Use GCFScape and open up the Portal 2 content file, found at \steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\pak01_dir.vpk (for some reason it's unlike TF2 and HL2 which use .gcf's)

There will be a directory structure visible in the program, browse to \root\sound\vo\ and go nuts with probably close to 1000 audio files in a couple folders:

\root
  \sound
    \vo
      \announcer
      \cavejohnson
      \core01  
      \core02  
      \core03
      \glados
      \turret_defective
      \wheatley

Core 1 is the "space" sphere, 2 is the "fact" sphere, and 3 is the "adventure" sphere. The final song is \root\sound\music\portal2_want_you_gone.wav, and some other talking stuff (turrets mostly) are in the \root\sound\npc\ folder.

Outside of the .vpk with the audio files, the subtitle file can be found at \steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\resource\subtitles_english.txt (or _czech, _danish...) You can actually use this to quickly find an audio file by searching for a word or sentence fragment, e.g. "nine":

"announcer.openingcourtesy01"   "<clr:250,231,181>Announcer: Good morning. You have been in suspension for nine nine nine... nine nine ni- This courtesy call is to inform you that all test subjects should immediately vacate [FADES OUT]"

The related audio file would be in the .vpk, \vo\announcer\openingcourtsey01.wav

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How to find and extract the audio files from Skyrim?

Question

I'd like to get the shout sounds from Skyrim. I bought the soundtrack but they contain just the music and not the shouts. I'd like to get the actual shouts. Does anyone know how to get audio from games? Particularly Skyrim?

Answer

You need a bsa extractor. Skyrim - Sounds.bsa is the file you are looking for. Not sure if there is one for skyrim yet but the old oblivion ones might work if they haven't changed the fileformat too much.

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No Dolby Digital from optical out in Skyrim

Question

I'm trying to get Dolby Digital (DD) when playing Skyrim on my PC. I can successfully get DD to show up on my receiver (Onkyo 5.1) when playing a .MKV in VLC Player (and selecting SPDIF). However, I'm unable to get DD to show when playing Skyrim. I get sounds, but it's only Dolby Pro Logic. Is there a setting I am missing? I have a ASUS Xonar DG with an optical cable to my Onkyo receiver. I have a Radeon HD 6950, but I have the optical out set as my default audio device.

Thanks in advance guys!

Answer

When you play a movie file, the sound is usually encoded in DD/DTS, so all the card has to do is just pass through the signal to your receiver and the receiver does rest of the work. Most PC games I've played, however, don't support audio out as a DD signal, only as 5.1 discreet channels, and that cannot be delivered on optical connection.
Luckily for you, there is a solution. It's called Dolby Digital Live and is supported by some audio cards, I believe your cards support it as well, what DDL does is take the discreet 5.1 channels, encode them as DD and send them through the SPDIF output. To enable it, go to your Xonar software and on the main tab go to the SPDIF dropdown and choose Dolby Digital Live, this should enable this function.

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No Dolby Digital from optical out in Skyrim (PC)

Question

I'm trying to get Dolby Digital (DD) when playing Skyrim on my PC. I can successfully get DD to show up on my receiver (Onkyo 5.1) when playing a .MKV in VLC Player (and selecting SPDIF). However, I'm unable to get DD to show when playing Skyrim. I get sounds, but it's only Dolby Pro Logic. Is there a setting I am missing? I have a ASUS Xonar DG with an optical cable to my Onkyo receiver. I have a Radeon HD 6950, but I have the optical out set as my default audio device.

Thanks in advance guys!

Answer

When you play a movie file, the sound is usually encoded in DD/DTS, so all the card has to do is just pass through the signal to your receiver and the receiver does rest of the work. Most PC games I've played, however, don't support audio out as a DD signal, only as 5.1 discreet channels, and that cannot be delivered on optical connection.
Luckily for you, there is a solution. It's called Dolby Digital Live and is supported by some audio cards, I believe your cards support it as well, what DDL does is take the discreet 5.1 channels, encode them as DD and send them through the SPDIF output. To enable it, go to your Xonar software and on the main tab go to the SPDIF dropdown and choose Dolby Digital Live, this should enable this function.

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How to use PS3 with a monitor?

Question

My TV was recently stolen, so now I'm hooking the PS3 up to a Dell monitor 23". But I have found out it is really difficult to get the sound out of the PS3.

My problem is even if I connect my USB headset, I can't play audio through it, only voice. There are some turtle beach headphones that work off a special plug on the PS3 (or something) but they cost $150. Is there a more clever way to get audio out of the PS3?

Answer

Do you still have the RCA composite + left/right audio output cable? (The one with the yellow, red and white plugs.) It is possible to configure the PS3 to output audio to both HDMI and the RCA cable.

Under "Settings" go to "Sound Settings" and turn on "Audio Multi-Output".

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