Forum Discussion

DecrepitPixel's avatar
13 years ago

'No Sound Bug' Troubleshooting Assistance: What We Know And What Can Be Done About It

***To Everyone Viewing This Thread***

If you are experiencing the no sound bug, please post a dxdiag report. This critical information is very useful to EA and can assist them in determining a possible cause and solution to the no sound issue. Instruction on how to create and post a dxdiag report can be found near the bottom of this post.


What We Know

From observing the developments in the 'no sound bug' over the past week, this bug appears to be a game issue. Here is a quick run down of what I have observed so far:

1. The no sound bug began affecting players upon the installation and running of The Sims 3 Showtime Expansion Pack.

2. Not all players are affected by the no sound bug.

3. Some players report sound "coming and going" (working then not working) throughout the course of a play session.

4. The no sound bug only seems to affect objects and interactions from The Sims 3 Showtime Expansion Pack.

5. Players with sound issues are affected to varying degrees. For some people it is just the singer singing and the accompanying music, while for others it is singing, accompanying music, sing-o-grams, jukeboxes, dj booths, karaoke machines, pool tables, etc.

6. All players seem to have a different combination of sounds that they can or cannot hear. For example, with the karaoke machine some people can hear music but not singing, while others can hear nothing at all.

7. A couple of users have reported the sound bug sporadically going away without having made any changes to their game or audio driver. Following the sporadic resolution, the issue has yet to return.

8. The sound issue is affecting all types of computers and game configurations including low, mid and high end computers/graphics cards, computers with outdated and updated audio drivers, games with and without custom content or mods, and people running the game on low, mid, and maxed out settings. Furthermore, having the audio quality set to 'high' and the proper speaker setup for the player's specific audio configuration is mostly being reported as ineffective for the majority of players affected by the no sound bug.

9. A wide variety of audio drivers are affected by the no sound bug (Realtek High Definition Audio, Microsoft High Definition Audio Device, IDT High Definition Audio CODEC, etc.). Moreover, the system manufacturer is equally as varied (Compaq, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, Asus, Alienware, HP, Gigabyte, Intel, Acer, custom builds, etc.

10. Several players have noted that being logged into the game seems to lessen the severity of the no sound issue.


What Can Be Done About It

Please visit the 'Updates & Announcements' to keep up with the latest developments, and use this thread to document any and all pertinent information and observations regarding the no sound bug. There is also a list of guide questions concerning the type of information that is being sought out.

For those of you out there that are affected by the no sound bug, you can try updating your audio driver, but please note that the results are extremely hit or miss. For a minuscule number of players, an audio driver update "appears" to fix the issue, but for an overwhelming majority of players, it makes absolutely no difference and the sound issue remains. Only time will tell if those whose no sound bug seems to have been resolved by an audio driver update was truly fixed.


How To Post Your Dxdiag Report:

Windows XP & Windows Vista (link provided by SimGuruMeatball)

http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/22070.page


Windows 7
1. Click Start (windows icon)

2. type "dxdiag" in the "search programs and files" bar

3. Click the program dxdiag (blue circle with yellow x icon) *A new window should open with the title "DirectX Diagnostic Tool"*

4. At the bottom of this window click the button "Save All Information..." *Make a note where you are saving this file*

5. Open text file "DxDiag" press CRTL+A to select all text, and then copy and paste this information into your forum post.


***Disclaimer***

While I am happy to help you to troubleshoot the 'no sound bug' and offer suggestions of a possible fix, please only try updating your audio driver if you feel completely comfortable and confident in what you are doing, and if the available driver listed on your system manufacturer's website is more recent than the one that you already have installed. If not, I recommend waiting for a bit as the Showtime EP is still quite new, and EA will probably have a suggestion/solution for the affected users sometime in the future.