How to make Custom Radio less laggy? The Answer is simple

[log233when]

Use poor quality 32000 sample rate, 8 bit depth, WAV file.

[Colonel Meow]

Hmm, so the custom radio is only happy with AM quality... makes sense

...My question is... does the game still freeze for like a third of a second or not at all? That's kinda dealbreaking for me.

[SoanoS]

I think I remember reading that the game lags when .MP3-files are used with the custom radio.

Have you tried .OGG?

[Colonel Meow]

Originally posted by SoanoS:

Have you tried .OGG?

Yup, didn't make a difference in my case. Some time soon I will try doing as OP said, small files must be better afterall. But if there's still any freezing I'd just say nope and go back to listening to Shane and Jason lol

[log233when]

Originally posted by SoanoS:

I think I remember reading that the game lags when .MP3-files are used with the custom radio.

Have you tried .OGG?

MP3 lags about a second, which is enough to cause a loss of control of the vehicle you are currently driving. OGG lags about half a second. Music production quality WAV (60+MB per song) doesn't lag but it will half the frame rate when loading.

Originally posted by Colonel Meow:

...My question is... does the game still freeze for like a third of a second or not at all? That's kinda dealbreaking for me.

32000Hz/8bit/mono WAV doesn't lag at all/

ADPCM doesn't work, if you use ADPCM on the WAV, all you can hear is silence.

[Colonel Meow]

Originally posted by log233when:

32000Hz/8bit/mono WAV doesn't lag at all/

Ooh, that's nice to hear (ahem) thanks a lot! Imma convert the files tomorrow... is it still okay if I do it with VLC?


(Though I can't stop worrying because mp3's here lagged for two whole damn seconds...)

[log233when]

I used Audacity to convert it. Load the file, in the menu Tracks > Mix > Mix stereo down to mono
Then select the Project Rate to 32000 in the lower-left corner
Then File > Export > Export to WAV, choose Unsigned 8-bit PCM

[Colonel Meow]

Ouch... I've got 450 songs (all from the 80's btw), Audacity will take forever to deal with that XD
Guess I'll have to set&forget before sleep, and hope it doesn't crash midway lol

In VLC I chose 22050Hz (no 32000 option) and it did the job in 5 minutes, mono and all... turned out almost perfect, no lag and they sound okay-ish - even fits better in the game's atmosphere IMO. Only problem is VLC doesn't give a bit depth option and now the folder is 3x larger :O