Curse

Kampfkeks · Sep 08, 2005, 12:40 PM // 12:40

Okay, this is a bit i will send in to the support but decided it could be of use to post as well. This is by no means a try to bash the DirectSong Idea, in fact i like it. However, and this is where my complaints are directed, there seems to be some kind of implementation problem with it.

So we got that nice "little" game update and all is fine until i reached the new areas where the new (nice) soundtrack started playing. First i thought it would be sudden problems with my pc as the game kept on doing a full break every 2-3 minutes for about 20-30 seconds and area loading times where prolonged by that 20-30 seconds as well.
I did some observations of course and tried out several things none of which did work. I was getting a bit disappointed for i never had those huge performance issues before. Sure my pc is not the fastest and below minimum requirements but the game was allways doing fine until the addition of that update.

It was then, that after a few minutes i noticed a pattern in those breaks and i also noticed that during those breaks no music was playing. I stood still for a while and listened to the music, just to wait for the moment the tracks would switch... and that is when i noticed that everytime DirectSong switched one of the ambient tracks my game would freeze for 20-30 seconds. Heavy fighting or not, standing still or running around. Each change of track brought me those breaks.
Finally... to make sure i left the new areas and headed to the "old" ones where no DirectSong Implementation was active. And it is as i expected, no strange pauses there. Everything was running as smooth as it allways did.

I asked a few friends and publically in districts and it seemed that one out of 10 had problems with strange performance issues. I asked my friends to have a look as to when those things would occur and all of them answered me (without me saying my suspicions aforehead) that it seems to be something with the music.

However, this is where i'm standing now. Deactivating the music (by lowering the volume to zero) did not do a thing to lower those performance issues. I've yet got to try uninstalling the Minisound Update you could download as a seperate - maybe that is what is causing the problems. But overall, i've got no clue as to what might be a solution or if a solution is even possible for us.

Anyone else experiencing these problems or is it just a very limited problem with me, a few friends and a few folks from the districts?

Mormegil · Sep 08, 2005, 02:20 PM // 14:20

Dozens of people are experiencing this problem, with totally different hardware. It's not a lag spike either ( I do have the issue and I've been monitoring my ping).

The problem is, people think it has to do with the new update being released, servers' badnwith issues and so on.

Kampfkeks · Sep 08, 2005, 02:38 PM // 14:38

As a short update, i simply renamed the DirectSong Folder and started GuildWars... everything was going smoothly from then on. No more total freezes after that. As a test i renamed it back to its original state, started GW, tested, Freezes.
Right now i'm playing with DirectSong disabled and that did seem to solve the problem.

CKaz · Sep 08, 2005, 03:31 PM // 15:31

unforutunately I do really enjoy the music though :b

Not sure if its the DMR or DS itself or what, but yeah, noted same - I'd just STOP for 5-10 seconds periodically. No noted IP/connectivity issues, nothing really to explain it. Thought it maybe GW servers but that (one would think) would be more generalized not such an abhorrent spike noone else in the party could speak too.

So I'm not sure why EVERYONE wouldn't have this going on (unless they didn't bother with directsound) but I'll be looking to unhook it tonight too once I get home - really don't need such a pause in the hot areas..!

alucard_x · Sep 08, 2005, 04:07 PM // 16:07

its most likely because of DRM and .wma nonsense.. shoulda just went with .mp3 or .ogg since it was a free release anyway.

Saerden · Sep 09, 2005, 11:07 AM // 11:07

Sad to see that even free things are no longer free.

kyeo138 · Sep 09, 2005, 12:49 PM // 12:49

It is the Direct Song stuff as Kampfkeks said. I did the exact same thing, renaming the folder, and it stopped. When I put it back the freezing started again. I'm disappointed, because I really liked the music.

Kampfkeks · Sep 09, 2005, 01:57 PM // 13:57

Allow me a quick question, did anyone of you get a response to his/her (support) Mail yet?
I'm thinking about sending it in a second time (tomorrow) it might have been lost or i might have put in the wrong recipient. However if someone did get a respone, i'd like to read it and i'm sure those that are experiencing the same problem want to read it too.

TheZens · Sep 09, 2005, 03:38 PM // 15:38

This is happening to me so ive just uninstalled it and its not going back either.

Owen · Sep 09, 2005, 03:47 PM // 15:47

I think that Direct Song is certainly in some way responsible for this but i also would be willing to bet that most of these users experiencing this problem have some type of hardware/software specs in common.

Perhaps these users are using an older version of Media player or it's decoder or have out of date sound card drivers.

If only about 1 in 10 are having the problem then it's not simply a flaw in the Direct Song software expressly but more likely a seperate issue that Direct Song is simply brining to light.

Thaf · Sep 09, 2005, 04:32 PM // 16:32

Just like to add my voice to say I also have this problem, with the whole system pausing for 10 seconds everytime a new song is loaded.

AMD Athlon 64 3400+ processor
512MB RAM
GeForce FX 5700 256MB Graphics Card
Logitech USB Headset (acts as my soundcard)

Everything has the latest drivers installed and the issues are definately related to DirectSong as since I've disablded there has been no problem.

GenRabbit · Sep 10, 2005, 12:33 PM // 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Owen

I think that Direct Song is certainly in some way responsible for this but i also would be willing to bet that most of these users experiencing this problem have some type of hardware/software specs in common.

Perhaps these users are using an older version of Media player or it's decoder or have out of date sound card drivers.

If only about 1 in 10 are having the problem then it's not simply a flaw in the Direct Song software expressly but more likely a seperate issue that Direct Song is simply brining to light.

Mediaplayer? Were playing the game here, not only listening to the music. Anyway if its using any mediaplayer parts it should stop. Mediaplayers is crap at best. Can't remember last time I used it. But its far back.

EternalTempest · Sep 12, 2005, 02:26 PM // 14:26

WMP is used to verfy the license of the files and GW plugs in to it. Not sure it uses WMP to play the file but it may. Reason being if GW does not have the ability to play copy protected WMA files, then it has to use WMA to play. Not sure if this is the case.

I would e-mail direct sound and let them know. May want to give this a try.
Download the most current version of WMP - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...0/default.aspx
Then install this microsoft hotfix -
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...global-enu.exe
info on hotfix here -
http://www.support.microsoft.com/def...b;en-us;888656

It should upgrade your wmp to version 10.00.00.3923
(To find out what version, launch wmp, Help -> About Windows Media Player)

Other then having some install issues (not working at all which I was able to resolve with some help) it's been running fine for me.