Hello everyone,

After a very long hiatus (2+ years lost in Everquest) I am back and kicking. I have been working on some Linux stuff to get back to my *nix geekness roots.

So I set up a linux network including a nice little cluster, IPsec encryption all the way around and bandwidth shaping/policing using iptables and tc.

PHEW! Ok so now I am back in the groove and the hardest thing is, of course, the games.

I got sound working with my onboard VIA ICEnsemble chip (via82xxx) but I had to use OSS and that ANNOYING startup screen with associated noises to remind you to register and pay for it. Ok fine, when I have the money I will. In the meantime that is the only way to get Quake3 sound to work, using the osslinux module.

Great, fine, dandy I say. then I find out Loki has gone out of business. DAMN them. So pure linux "ports" of Tribes 2 are RARE and hard to get and well honestly I just don't have the money to spend. So I got Tribes 2 working using my old Winbloze CD using Winex 3.1. Great job, kudos Transgaming and Wine. The issue with Tribes is that I can play the single player maps but the dedicated server mode bombs in wine (e.g. No Bots useable). Any suggestions there or should I just play online? I need practice, that's why I ask. *giggle*

And don't even GET me started on UT2003. I downloaded the linux only demo and I can get EVERYthing to work great except of course sound. Even WITH osslinux loaded I get no sound.

So sound still screws the pooch even after how many years of not touching Linux? Boooooooooooooo!

Seriously though. I am no noob and this stuff is just killing me. Anyone have any suggestions? Really only two major issues I have,

1.) playing against BOTs in Tribes2 but NOT on the internet.
2.) Sound under UT2003

Here's my config:

Kernel - 2.6.1
CPU - Athlon2500+
RAM - 1.5GB 400Mhz DDRRAM
Video - GeForce FX 5200 (128MB)
Network - WUSB2.6 wireless lan
Sound - VT8233 AC97 controller (ICemble 16xx I believe)
MoBo - Abit KD7

I have tried disabling and enabling esd/arts/OSS/ALSA/openAL in every configuration possible for the sound issue with no results.

The tribes issue I imagine I am pooched on... no big

Thanks ahead of time peoples.

-Markusman

As far as Tribes I am not sure about that, but your sound issue. It appears that ALSA supports your soundcard etc. Also when running UT2003, make sure nothing else is accessing your soundcard.
Here is a link to alsa page with information on your soundcard.
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...module=via82xx
I see that you have the latest 2.6.X stable kernel, alsa can be built directly into the kernel or as a module. Just make sure you select the correct stuff in configuring your kernel. ALSA may seem like it is not working. Make sure you unmute your soundcard in "alsamixer" and save the settings. Many people have this problem. Press 'M' to mute/unmute. If all else fails and you are not able to get your sound working, you could buy a cheap Sounblaster Live card or 5.1. They are reasonably cheap and work well. Anywhere from 25-40$. Maybe some of this helps. Good Luck.

Thank you Mint,

Never one to give up, I was hoping for a solution to my current hardware profile rather than take one of the SBlives I have lying around and slapping it in.

Yes I tried ALSA. the stuff that comes with the kernel actually worked GREAT but Quake3 didn't work at all, 'tis a common issue I hear. Also the sound coming out of my 5.1 system is SO much better with ALSA drivers than OSS.

Is it feasible to have two separate sets of drivers installed and then load each one as needed? (e.g. ALSA for XMMS, Tribes2, and OSS for Quake3)

Also my Tribes2 problem is more or less solved. My wife told me to install Tribes2 on HER machine and I could run a server off of it. I did that last night and even coerced her to play, she LOVES it. I can't wait to DM her

Ok, the more I think of it the more I am leaning towards throwing that SBlive in... hmmm, ok...

I'll give it a shot.

Thanks again!

I am an avid quake3 player. As for your quake3 issue, Make sure you have the ALSA OSS Emulation modules/drivers installed. I beleive that quake3 accesses the OSS sound and not ALSA. I could be wrong. Since you are using onboard sound, atleast I had this problem with my cmedia card onboard a7v333, I could only play one stream of sound at a time. If I had xmms playing music, it could not initialize the sound for quake3. I tried for the longest and I finally just put in my SBLive and all is good. There is a newer version of alsa, 1.01 that is not included in the 2.6.1 kernel but it is in Mortons patch on www.kernel.org. I have all of the ALSA drivers built into my kernel and they work perfectly for me. Also if it is the first time installing ALSA on your system, you need to install the alsa libs etc. Most distros that are the newer version have alsa already except a few. Just another hint. Also if ALSA is compiled as modules, you can get the latest 1.01 from www.alsa-project.org and compile them yourself. It is easy to just follow the instructions. Just another idea.

www.newegg.com is reliable and fairly inexpensive if you want to get a SBLive card. If you have one already it wouldn't hurt to put it in and try.
Good Luck.

Ok, that's funny. I just got my machine powered back up after disabling my onboard sound and tossing in the SBlive LOL

I'll tell you how it guys, I am compiling ALSA cvs drivers right now.

Ok here was my final solution, your mileage of course may vary. I compiled alsa drivers from CVS and also the 1.0.1 drivers with minimal success.


Minimal meaning:

-no sound in UT2003
-no sound in Quake3 unless I do the /proc "hack" of enabling half-duplex sound support for /dev/dsp
excellent sound with desktop multimedia and mp3's

NEXT

I disabled my via82xx chipset in BIOS and installed an SBlive card making sure all modules were cleaned up. I reinstalled alsa 1.0.1 and then CVS also with the same results as above.

(REMEMBER I am using 2.6.1 people)

FINAL SOLUTION

I recompiled my kernel with sound support INCLUDED NOT MODULAR. This included sound support for my SBlive and also ALSA sound support which of course is included in 2.6.1

I now have absolutely NO sound support loaded as modules and everything works PERFECTLY!

I hve tested Tribes 2, UT2003, Quake3 AND played mp3's with xmms while playing each one of those games.

Thanks for the help Minty!

I tell you what, not to knock anyone else but I have to say that the ALSA drivers give the absolute BEST all around sound whether gaming or just listening to some music (and I listen to classical music at 384 bit encoding.)

I have to say "FLAWLESS VICTORY" on my part.

If my eyes stop bleeding from playing to much Quake3 I may swap out the SBlive with the onboard VIA again with sound compiled in ainstead of modular just to see if that makesa difference. Does anyone care about the results? Should I post em?

Thanks everyone.