Audio doesn't work in Steam and Serious Sam 3, works in TF2

[RobbieThe1st [Linux]]

I've got a problem. I've got an Audigy 2ZS sound card, running through ALSA for drivers, and then through pulse. I've also got the pulse-alsa module so the default ALSA card is actually run through pulse. This means that all apps should be running through Pulse.

With TF2, everything works fine - Not only does the audio work(which is going through pulse, as expected), but the microphone works perfectly as well.

With Steam itself, the audio-in part works -- in the 'voice' settings page, I can see the audio-level bar correspond to my voice, so I've got audio-in, but that audio isn't being relayed to my speakers -- i.e. no audio out.

With SS3: BFE, same deal - No audio out(haven't tested microphone).

Now, I've tested everything I can - pacmd shows me that the default-sink is correct, as does alsamixer(Card 0 = pulse)

I've tried testing SDL by having MPlayer route it's output through it, which seems to work, but I'm only testing the x86_64 version.

Here's my system information stats:

Processor Information:
    Vendor:  AuthenticAMD
    Speed: 3200 Mhz
    4 logical processors
    4 physical processors
    HyperThreading:  Unsupported
    FCMOV:  Supported
    SSE2:  Supported
    SSE3:  Supported
    SSSE3:  Supported
    SSE4a:  Supported
    SSE41:  Unsupported
    SSE42:  Unsupported
    
Network Information:
    Network Speed:  
    
Operating System Version:
    Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy) (64 bit)
    Kernel Name:  Linux
    Kernel Version:  3.6.0-11.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64
    X Server vendor:  The X.Org Foundation
    X Server release:  11204000
    
Video Card:
    Driver:  NVIDIA Corporation GeForce GTX 560/PCIe/SSE2

    Driver Version:  4.3.0 NVIDIA 310.19
    Desktop Color Depth: 24 bits per pixel
    Monitor Refresh Rate: 119 Hz
    VendorID:  0x10de
    DeviceID:  0x1201
    Number of Monitors:  2
    Number of Logical Video Cards:  1
    Primary Display Resolution:  1920 x 1080
    Desktop Resolution: 1920 x 2104
    Primary Display Size: 20.04" x 11.26"  (22.95" diag)
                                            50.9cm x 28.6cm  (58.3cm diag)
    Primary Bus: PCI Express 16x
    Primary VRAM: 1023 MB
    Supported MSAA Modes:  2x 4x 8x 16x 
    
Sound card:
    Audio device: SigmaTel STAC9721,23
    
Memory:
    RAM:  16028 Mb
    
Miscellaneous:
    UI Language:  English
    LANG:  C
    Microphone:  Not set
    Total Hard Disk Space Available:  69790 Mb
    Largest Free Hard Disk Block:  44067 Mb

Note that alsamixer shows me that that SigmaTel chip is part of the Audigy 2ZS card.

Also note that I'm reluctant to post this as a bug just yet, as I'm running a somewhat nonstandard setup.

Any suggestions?

[AlenL]

We don't really care which audio setup is underneath, as long as it plays well with OpenAL. You should check the settings on that. If all else fails, please post Sam3.log as that has the data important for us.

[RobbieThe1st [Linux]]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.

That being said, OpenAL seems to be installed and working, but I'm not sure how to test it. Config file seems to be stock, all settings are commented out(which should give them the defaults).

Here's a complete Sam3.log file I just made. I:
1. Started the game,
2. Watched the intro movies(played file, no audio)
3. Started a new game -> Campaign -> Summer in Cairo
4. Watched the intro for that as well, until Sam wakes up after crashing through the building roof and you are able to move.
5. Quitted the game.

http://pastebin.com/kT6qz79q

I'm running OpenAL 1.14 I believe.

----------------------------------
Speaking of which, another minor issue you might be able to offer advice on:
If I have the 'max 3d rendering mpix' setting set to something less than whatever resolution I am trying to display, I just get a black screen where any 3D should be - hitting esc and bringing up the menu works fine. Overlay/HUD also displays.
If I put it in windowed mode and make the window smaller than that mpix setting, it'll display fine. As soon as I scale the window larger, it black screens again and sometimes crashes.
I'm guessing something to do with scaling the 3d or adding black boxes around it isn't working?
Once I set the mpix setting to "unlimited" I had no issues with black screening, but it was seriously confusing at first.


Thanks,

-Rob

[AlenL]

The only thing wrong I see in the log is the OpenGL API errors regarding textures. But I don't know why you get those with that GPU and that driver. Is that perhaps a dual-GPU system or something?

[RobbieThe1st [Linux]]

Nope, single GTX 560, with the 310.19 beta drivers.
Here's my glxinfo output: http://pastebin.com/EwCRPdTZ



As far as my audio problem, I didn't see anything error-like, so I thought OpenAL might be working, just sending the audio data to an incorrect card/port.
------------
Looks like I found a workaround:
There is a file named ~/.alsoftrc which has the user-specific OpenAL configuration.
If I changed it to use ALSA instead of Pulse by default, it works.

[general]
drivers = alsa
[alsa]
device = default
capture = default
mmap = true

This fixes Steam audio as well as SS3:BFE, but I'm still not sure why Pulse isn't working(directly anyway). I suppose I'll just have to do some more research, but I've got something working as it is.