Since I upgraded to LFS_X, I'm experiencing very annoying sound cracks when racing online...

I know the problem was fixed in patch V and indeed i never had any probs running LFS_V on my Vista Ultimate.

I tried everything from updating drivers for my SB XFi sound card, latest Nvidia-drivers for the graphics (8600GS), experimented even with different speakers, headsets and setting LFS to low details incl. the sound lag slider, but the sound keeps cracking in multiplayer-games... it really drives me nuts!

How can i get this fixed? Anyone have any idea at all?
What settings should i change to get rid of these sound cracks?
Please let me know..

Have you tried different cars? The engine could be popping from engine damage.

Well yeah, it's not really car-related as it's there from the start...

Try reducing the "car sound volume" in LFS under Options > Audio. If that works, you can increase the volume in Windows to compensate. Another thing to try is playing with the "sound lag" which can be found under Options > Misc.

Do you have an official version of Vista, or is it a beta testing version, or have you upgraded from XP to Vista without deleting everything off your harddrive (always forget what that is called).

If you upgraded from XP to Vista, then there is your first problem, and most likely the problem causing all of the trouble.

tnx Android, but halas.. been there, done that..
I've tried almost anything I read here on the forum (hell, I almost feel like i live here!), including the thread about the vista-sound problem, but to no advance. Sound is still horribly filled with cracks that 'll blow ET's mind.. especially when nearing other cars in "multi-pleasure"..

As I already gotten me a new soundcard, speakers, video-card and such, I thought I'd install an old machine with XP and guess what : no problem there, even when that machine runs my "older" hardware.

Quite amazing actually, 2 weeks back everything was running so nice on patch W... pit spotter online, running our own server with Lapper active, lotsa plans and shit.. and now 2 weeks later : crackling sound, no pit spotter, can't get lapper (4.0!) running on our server (allthough it says its working, no one gets to see it, possibly 'cause our server runs W2K3 64x), no one wants to race anymore it seems and all prefer a game of Forza 2 on the Xbox 360... all very disappointing ofcourse.

Such a shame, 'cause I really enjoyed LFS but now it's getting a real pain and I'm losing my appetite for it myself...

Quote : "have you upgraded from XP to Vista"

XCNuse, tnx for the reply and in reply to your question :

running vista ultimate (official), clean install on a Dual Core 6600 system with 4Gb. DDR-2, RAID-1 S-ATA, NVIDIA 8600GS & Creative XFi Exteme soundcard.

Might want to have a look if the sound card manufacturer has released some Vista drivers. That's the only thing left I could think of.

Now, I know that's not the way to solve the problem but, why did you change to Vista in the first place? I mean, there is no doubt if someone wants to switch from 98 to XP, but I can't find any features in Vista giving me a clear reason to change. On the contrary, it has plenty of "features" that drive me away from it. Anyhow, it's your decision and you probably have your reasons.

indeed, not to keen on vista (actually, i think it sucks!) .. but for business-reasons : required.

Android I belive you're correct. That is why I asked that question, because if you go from XP to Vista I've heard some people just plain have problems with hardware because it wasn't updated properly and just made a mess out of their harddrive. But I would see if you can find some updates for your Sound Blaster audio card. I tried checking their website, but not much of it seems to be working so it may not have any vista compatible updates.

I dont know if this might help:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1661

This is so ridiculous.LFS run fine under XP and Vista makes so many problems.Of course Microsoft would blame as always someone else rather then looking ino their lines.Arghhh....

And do you know why we have so nice new sound system in Vista?
Because of the fu*** DRM.Vista controles 30 times in a second! if something not going around this system.It takes resources and makes problems.

Sorry guys.I know its offtopic but I couldnt helpmyself.Call it propaganda or whatsoever but I recently experienced some unbeliveable thing.Legal Vista refused to install on my mates motherboard.Guess what he got an Microsoft helpline...

Try installing the xp drivers? I'm not sure how good the XFI drivers were but the Audigy vista drivers were absolutely crap.

I was running ultimate for a while and getting the crackling and popping noises with the vista drivers with my audigy 4. In the end I just installed the latest xp drivers from the creative site and the problems went away.

Hey Devil, tnx for the reply.. I downloaded the drivers you mentioned but when i tried installing them, it says no supported product was found.
So, I extracted the archive to see if i could install them manually, but also that didn't work...

Still, tnx for the tip, it was worth the shot...

Dizman, tried your advise too and installed XP-drivers for the souncard.. but same shit, i'm afraid... i still have the cracks in the sound, almost instantly after logging on to a multi-pleasure game...

Guess I'm gonna have to run LFS on my old XP-machine... ah well, it's not the first time I'm experiencing trouble with that goddamn vista-crap..

Anyway, tnx all for the advise and tips.

Quote from DEVIL 007 :

And do you know why we have so nice new sound system in Vista? Because of the fu*** DRM.Vista controles 30 times in a second!

Um, no. That's only when you play back protected (HDCP) content like Blu-ray and HD-DVD. If you don't do that, the protected path is inactive (obviously). Please stop spreading the FUD.

The reason the sound system was reworked wasn't just the DRM either. A lot of it was to eliminate problems with poorly written drivers (Moving audio processing out of the kernel and into user mode, much like what has been done with graphics drivers). Creative drivers for instance have been notoriously bad over the years, so it looks like Microsoft finally had enough and took away their toys. Instead of enabling drivers to process sound on the sound card, everything is now done on the CPU and the sound card is merely a big DAC (Unless you bypass it all through OpenAL or ASIO).

Sorry about bringing the thread up again, but I noticed same issue in my LFS...

While in multiplayer (never while HotLapping, or Practice Sessions) with more than 20 cars on track, the sound becames choppy, more likely to happen while steering, not while dragging/going straight or braking

Already tried to lower volume inside LFS and gaining in OS but nothing, still there with that crazy sounds, its painfull to race like that.

I guess its related to the many sounds the sound card tries to reproduce, and while steering, the tyres and skids just makes the sound go freak (just my idea, don't know how to confirm it). Also, its hard to reproduce and try to fix it while its happening, because its only in MP with +20 cars online...

By the way, i didnt notice this while in patch W.

hello same problem for me... since x30 online became nightmare.

os XP
sound xfi
8800gts....

playing online with this bug is dangerous


//edit - problem solved - new instalation lfs y, the same settings like before, but no problem