BUG: Broken looping Sounds

[jkr4m3r]

Please search for existing issues and check for potential duplicates before filing yours.

**ezQuake version:**3.6.5

OS/device including version:
Win10

Describe the bug
Ambient sounds are no longer loading or playing. Doesn't matter whether they are new or the ambient sounds from the mod I play, still using the original .pak files from 1997.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Add ambient looping wind or mod sound effects to a map, only players with earlier versions of ezquake hear the sounds.

Expected behavior
Expected behavior is that ambient sounds that loop in a 25-year-old game should work as they have for that long. Last version they work in is 3.2.3 AFAIK.

Screenshots
Zipped cfg and screenshot attached.

config.zip

[dsvensson]

I successfully produced some looping sounds by crafting wav headers like this a while back.

https://github.com/qw-ctf/ambiencefix

Think I just checked the vanilla id1 sounds and did the same thing. I did this to help out a fellow mapper who had working looping sounds in other engines that didn't loop in ezQuake. Think I found some 1990's software that was able to produce loops this way but it seems to be otherwise pretty dead. This approach however works just fine in both ezQuake as well as other engines so it solved my problem.

Might be that other engines support a less archaic version of loop headers that actively developed sound editors can produce.

But there has been a few changes to snd_mem.c since 3.2.3, you could always have a look at those and see if you find something if you don't want to use ambiencefix to generate cue headers.

This issue looks related, #671

[jkr4m3r]

you could always have a look at those and see if you find something if you don't want to use ambiencefix to generate cue headers.

I'm afraid that's way over my head! So is the ambiencefix thing... Win10 here
Looked like Linux commands?

[dsvensson]

Nah, it's go, so you can just build it from the command line if you have go installed, it's platform independent. But if you're not creating new stuff, it's less relevant. Nice to know that 3.2.3 worked. Devs around that time - that are gone now - seems to have replaced the playback mechanism, so very much a bug that someone needs to chase down.

[jkr4m3r]

That's my point. I have no clue what "go" is. Not a developer. I tinker with weapon strengths in Quake C here and there and fiddle with maps for a certain mod, beyond that it's all over my head :P

[dsvensson]

It's not. Any google search or AI prompt ought to be able to provide you with extremely simple step-by-step instructions on how to install go and compile a single go file without any prior knowledge. The question is more if you want to do it, or if you want to gamble on the bug being fixed. Don't build fake limits on what you can achieve, it's 2024, halfway to the future.

[jkr4m3r]

I'm 65.

[dsvensson]

Stop flexing with your infinite amount of spare time 😂

[jkr4m3r]

That's the issue, always wondering why I got up and came into this room. I'll remember eventually.

[hemostx]

This issue looks related, #671

For sure related. In fact I checked this thread hoping it would be referenced.
Would have to go back to pre 95f4f98 (but not all the way to 3.2x - and rebuild without vcpkg, yuk !) to check playback.
Would also need to procure the painkeep paks and figure out which ones are looped so someone can reproduce with them and see how different from #671 it is (if at all).

[jkr4m3r]

All ambient sounds played fine in 3.2.3, is there some reason why this can't be fixed so they work in newer versions? Without having to redo the .wavs, I mean.

FWIW, I prefer 3.2.3 for various reasons, and will eventually move on to newer versions. But a couple of guys I play with are using 3.6.5 now and always see the errors in the console on map load and never hear the ambient sounds (which are cool in Painkeep).