Mystery of the Druids - no sound

[valliant]

It's time I got to *ask* smt for a change :P
Only recently did I start playing this great game. The opening sequence (cut-scene) was mute, with just a few jitters of sound coming on from time to time. The main menu music plays just fine. The in-game speech/sound FX are ok, too. But when I got to the second cut-scene...
Any ideas?

(XP, Athlon 1.0, 512MB RAM, TNT2 32MB, Yamaha DX-SG sound card -all drivers are WHQL-signed)

~valliant~

[MaryScots]

Did you try turning down the sound accelaration in DirectX? Just a guess. :)

[valliant]

Did you try turning down the sound accelaration in DirectX? Just a guess. :)

I'm afraid I've tried that already ;(
I've been going back and forth to Portsmouth just to watch the short cinematic with the ferry and see if the sound works.
Nothing so far.
~valliant~

[JoeX111]

I don't own the game, personally, but some things to try are:


Check under the options menu to make sure all of the game volume sliders are maxed out.
ALT-TAB out of the game and check your windows volume settings while you are playing. Make sure you have it set to show you all of the different volume sliders, and not just the two or three that windows typically gives you. Some games will turn these up and down without your approval, occasionally leading to various parts of the game not being audible. Other games will even forget to switch these back, leading you to think your sound is going nuts when really the volume is just down.
Try running the game in one of XP's compatibility modes, by right clicking it, going to properties, and switching the operating system under Compatibility. Since this is an older 95 / Me / 98 game, windows XP might be giving it trouble.
If all else fails, download a program for free off the net called VDMSound. This is a great little file that will allow a lot of older games with audio problems to be run with virtually no difficulties. It should come with instructions of its own on how to run it.


Hope that helps.

[valliant]

Thanks for your reply, but...
1) all volume sliders are maxed, both while in the game and off it
2) compatibility mode did not help either: I tried it with '98-compatible' and it crashes to desktop when I try to start it; anyway, if it were XP-incompatible it wouldn't start at all, now would it?
3) VDM Sound is the only thing I didn't think of yet, so I'll give that a try.
It's not like I do not get any sound at all. Only during the cinematics is there a problem, the sound is *almost* there, mute most of the time and I can hear bits and pieces of it occasionally.
~valliant~

[Mitch]

Look into the game directory to see if there's a bink32.dll or some similar named file. If there's no sound just in cinematics, that's means there something wrong with codec for animation. A lot of (older) games uses BINK codec so if that's your case, try replacing your's file with some newer version from different game or from bink's site. Just guessing... :)

[JoeX111]

2) compatibility mode did not help either: I tried it with '98-compatible' and it crashes to desktop when I try to start it; anyway, if it were XP-incompatible it wouldn't start at all, now would it?

Actually, in a lot of cases, it would, which is why I brought it up.

[valliant]

I've tried all your suggestions except the bink dll (still looking for an... adequately old version!).
Anyone else's got an epiphany?
~valliant~

[Mitch]

Here, try with this one (http://users.volja.net/mico_007/binkw32.dll). It's from Brothers in Arms demo. Version of dll file is 1.7d
which is one of the newest!

Mitch

[valliant]

Here, try with this
Version of dll file is 1.7d
which is one of the newest!

Mitch

Thank you Mitch - I'll put it to the test right away! :)
~valliant~

[valliant]

I've finally put it to the test but it got me nowhere. In fact, what I have now is chunky video playback AND no sound! At least the framerate of the cutscenes was smooth before, so I have to revert...
Thanks anyway, I'd appreciate any suggestions :frown:
~valliant~