Crackling audio and Stuttering Video
I have been playing SWTOR since release and only with in the past couple of weeks I have encountered this problem. My video, every few seconds, will drop in frame rate briefly, as if I am missing ...
Forum Discussion
@DBWoodynz Here is the DxDiag in a text format, or do you want it in here as a comment?
Morning you were quick
I can see that your sound is correctly set as the Default, so we are good there; can you please explain what kind Hardware set-up your using
Your motherboard is certainly rocking on in years it's almost retro... "Nice" DDR2 will certainly be pushing things on your end.
Are you using a USB headset ? USB Speakers, Standard Headphone Jack Speakers?.. if so which particular brand.. have you tried using a different plug or speakers?
Something of this age I would be looking/expecting a bad 'Earth' or Minor Corrosion - nothing a rag and some elbow grease couldn't sort.
Yes, I am very quick hah. As I'm eager to start playing SWTOR again. Yeah this is an old computer I dusted up a while back and put some other stuff in. I'm using standard headset in the jack as 'speakers' and also tried switching them out. The computer has been running perfectly for 2 to 3 months now and I'm able to play World of Warcraft, DCUO, Minecraft, Skyrim, ... without any issues whatsoever, I have also checked the inside and everything is running fine and is hooked up nicely.
I have an AMD Athlon 64x Dual Core Processor 5600+ @2.80 Ghz, some standard 4GB DDR ram that came with it when I bought it (a very long time ago), an AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
BTW: It just started happening after the new update to SWTOR, so I'm guessing the update broke something for some people.BTW2: I think OP has the exact same issue, since the crackling also goes in correspondence with framerate drops
A framerate drop would be suggestive that your pc is struggling to keep up, there are a few things that may also effect your game, I am unclear if you have seen it or used it but I did do a 'guide' to help folks set things up with windows 10.. a big one that I have found is turning off all the background items that load with windows 10..
Completely a guess, but without knowing it without asking have you managed to turn off the xbox gamer dvr function that is automatically turned on with Windows 10?
Don't forget to go into your Realtek HD Audio Manager Software and select 'Device Advanced Setttings' in the top right in Blue and 'Separate all input jacks as independent input devices' also while your here right click the 'lit-up' Analog connector and check the 'Connector Retasking..' ensure it is the correct box ticked.
Just did everything you referred to. Turned off all the pesky background apps, the DVR function and I also checked everything at the Realtek HD Audio manager. Everything is in order. I ran the gam for 5 minutes (my knight is on Tattooine) and I still have the same crackling sound at times. I don't have it on any other game. I checked the core temps and they are normal as on any game.
Confirmed - my GPU is NVidia and system is quite stable and runs all manner of other games networked and solitary campaign regardless. Drivers are not the issue it is system level either instantiated by a game patch/update or newer O.S. updates fixes/patches breaking game compatibility.
It is more than likely issue with the operating system than the game; Windows 7 & 8 have gotten a slew of security patches & updates recently and Windows 10 opts to do entire "in-place" upgrades to itself. Why would the game already work with the system and drivers then gradually degrade about the time it begins to rain updates, patches and hot-fixes for Windows - do the math. Other Windows users reported that they sought assistance in the Microsoft Windows support channels only to get a response like "it's an issue with Electronic Arts services" - maybe - maybe not - more than likely not.
Have the same exact issues (noise, popping and frame-rate drop/lag) as everyone else while using Windows 10; everything thing else like video editing software, games and scores of other larger, memory intensive software work as they should, but SWTOR has issues everywhere like the hard drive and RAM hate it. I'm not buying that it's EA, I'm not buying the user installed their drivers incorrectly canned responses. Content and patches often bring with them holes that need patching and rests upon the game developers and if it is at the O.S. level they need to contact Microsoft for support concerning the matter and may take some time doing so.
These issues are not operator head space or EA lacking interest in our gaming enjoyment, but O.S. system level management. The game had worked prior to release of Windows 10 and an awesome slew of updates to Windows 7 and 8.1 recently, the newer content was also working well with little negative feedback or performance loss, so it has to be - yes the o.s. I've beat the dead horse long enough, but in closing don't hate yourselves, EA or SWTOR dev-heads or the stupid advice flying around we merely must wait for the inevitable quiet hot-fixes and system patches that update our operating systems - this is the same stuff that happened with XP, Vista, 7 and 8 (s.o.s. peeps) get used to it.
I should and will also inform anyone reading this thread that many Windows 10 users are reporting these exact issues in scores - do be aware of this fact.
On a side-note - I was trying to play SWTOR today while Windows 10 was updating itself in the background; once complete Win10 decided to reboot my system while I was right in the middle of the first mission. I only knew that Windows butchered my gaming moment due to the alert/notification that "Windows has installed updates" after the system rebooted. This type of behavior has been going on for some time and has met nothing but excuses and flame wars in the Windows forums when mentioned. I was in the Windows Insider Preview testers group (think I still am) and have seen numerous complaints about the auto-update mechanism doing things like this. As it currently stands there are few update configuration opportunities to iron out the problems manually. Depending on how frequently your Windows 10 system updates you may notice intermittent performance issues & disconnections like those discussed in this thread for some time to come.
- I hadn't considered the issue being OS related. I've been on windows 7 then entire time and as it had only started up relatively recently I didn't think to ask about that one.
