Zdoom linux sound.

[neubejiita]

After finally building zdoom 2.3.1 on Ubuntu 8.10, I am wondering if there will soon be a more open replacement for fmod that is actually fun to build software for with out it breaking with each release. I tried 3 versions of fmodex before I got it to work with 4.24. It should not be this hard and I wish there was something else they could use for sound.

Is there anything on the horizon? I know this should be on the zdoom forums, but I forgot my password and I cannot get into my hotmail.

[Catoptromancy]

Zdooms compile method does not error out and tell you what version of fmodex is actually needed. The version posted on wiki is old. The rh-log.txt changelog does not fully document fmodex changes.
Luckily skulltag comes with a prebuilt binary. If you run skulltag it will error out and tell you exact version of fmodex needed. This was how I actually got zdoom's svn to run properly after a year.
Zdoom either didnt compile with fmodex or compiled fine and had terrible lockups that happened to be sound related. If I was lucky enough to use a random fmodex version that compiled, it was not always fully compatible.

fmodex-4.24.16 seems to work very well, and is what Skulltag forces me to use. Skulltag is based on a rather newish svn revision. So that should work well until zdoom start using another version of fmodex.

Better compile scripts or documentation is needed. Even an INSTALL text or update the wiki would do.

[Graf Zahl]

ZDoom is compiled so that it should work with all FMod SDKs between 4.20 and 4.26 and should also be able to run with any of these versions, regardless of what it was compiled with - at least under Windows.

Under Linux I can't say for sure but it should also compile with any of these versions and run with the one it was compiled with - unless there are bugs in some versions that keep it from running.

Regarding sound system replacements, there's an unofficial patch for OpenAL in the forums but this won't get added officially.

[Gez]

The latest ZDoom code has, since r1717, been meant to be usable with versions of FMOD Ex in the 4.26 branch or newer. Skulltag hasn't caught up with that version yet, though: the 97d branch is based on r622, and the 97e/98a branch is based on r1551.

[Csonicgo]

Graf Zahl said:

Regarding sound system replacements, there's an unofficial patch for OpenAL in the forums but this won't get added officially.

Welp, that's a real drag, Graf Zahl!

[Graf Zahl]

The reason for this is that we'd hsve to depend on an external developer for a crucial engine component.

Randy is an outspoken opponent of OpenAL and sound is not my specialty. Not a good combination for future robustness.

[neubejiita]

Well at least with FMOD, people can run zdoom on Linux and that is the best thing anyway, even if you have to use a closed source sound API at least it works well when it is built.

[Catoptromancy]

Is there a single page version of changelog? Would be much faster and easier to search for changes.

[entryway]

Catoptromancy said:

Is there a single page version of changelog? Would be much faster and easier to search for changes.

SVN

[Graf Zahl]

Catoptromancy said:

Is there a single page version of changelog? Would be much faster and easier to search for changes.

Yes, look for rh_log.txt in the docs directory.

[Catoptromancy]

Ah yes. Didnt think of that one. Never needed to svn log|grep to figure out dependencies.

[Catoptromancy]

Graf Zahl said:

Yes, look for rh_log.txt in the docs directory.

"Updated fmod_wrap.h and fmodsound.cpp for FMOD 4.20."

Is the latest mention of an Fmod version in that log. I scoured that log well for fmod info. The wiki style changelog has much more info. The wiki style changelog appears to linked to svn. So grepping the svn log should be as informative as wiki.

[Gez]

Catoptromancy said:

"Updated fmod_wrap.h and fmodsound.cpp for FMOD 4.20."

Is the latest mention of an Fmod version in that log. I scoured that log well for fmod info. The wiki style changelog has much more info.

rh-log said:

- Added support for compiling with FMOD Ex 4.26+ and running the game
with an older DLL. This combination will now produce sound.

You haven't checked very thoroughly, if you grepped for "FMOD" and didn't find "FMOD Ex"...

[Graf Zahl]

He probably checked the one in 2.3.1...

[Catoptromancy]

Gez said:

You haven't checked very thoroughly, if you grepped for "FMOD" and didn't find "FMOD Ex"...

Last Changed Rev: 1912
Last Changed Date: 2009-10-15 04:25:07 -0400 (Thu, 15 Oct 2009)

bash-3.1$ grep fmod  docs/rh-log.txt 
- Made fmodex.dll delay-loaded so the game should be runnable on Windows 95
- Changed the CMake script to search for fmod libraries by full name instead
- Updated fmod_wrap.h and fmodsound.cpp for FMOD 4.20.
- Updated fmod_wrap.h for FMOD Ex 4.18.
- Took some more non-FMOD related code out of fmodsound.cpp, including the
- Moved sound aliasing code out of fmodsound.cpp into S_LoadSound.
  and sectors are done in s_sound.cpp and not in fmodsound.cpp. Also removed
- Moved the sector sound origin calculation out of fmodsound.cpp and into
- Updated fmod_wrap.h for FMOD 4.16 and corrected a bug that had gone
- fixed a GCC warning in fmodsound.cpp
- Updated fmod_wrap.h for FMOD 4.14.
  32767. An fmod now keeps them within range of the sky textures' real widths.
bash-3.1$ 

So r1912 needs FMOD 4.20 or FMOD Ex 4.18?

[andrewj]

Catoptromancy said:

grep fmod docs/rh-log.txt

You searched only lower case "fmod". I suggest grep -i

[Catoptromancy]

Nice that works.

[Csonicgo]

Graf Zahl said:

Randy is an outspoken opponent of OpenAL

And I'm an outspoken opponent of Sound libraries run by pricks!

[Graf Zahl]

Csonicgo said:

And I'm an outspoken opponent of Sound libraries run by pricks!

I have no idea what you mean to imply by that but no matter what, if this has anything to do with FMod it won't help you.

[exp(x)]

CSonicGo has been in a trolling mood lately.

[chungy]

Lately? Did he have a non-troll mode in the recent past?

[Csonicgo]

The author of Fmod has been known to not care about any problems he can tack somehow as a hardware issue. Even though it's bullshit. He even said something about all soundblasters being defective in an effort to not fix his sound library.

MikeRS said:

Lately? Did he have a non-troll mode in the recent past?

Yeah, it's when I'm not around you. ;)

[Graf Zahl]

Csonicgo said:

The author of Fmod has been known to not care about any problems he can tack somehow as a hardware issue. Even though it's bullshit. He even said something about all soundblasters being defective in an effort to not fix his sound library.

I wouldn't listen to people like you, too. Because you wouldn't even consider the possibilty that he's correct.

So how do you think FMod accesses the sound card? Right, through the manufacturer-supplied driver! And that's where the problem lies.

[Csonicgo]

When it's Creative- one of the leaders in the sound card business- that is incompatible with Fmod, it's good practice not to hope Creative fixes anything, and provide a workaround. That being said, The latest cards seem to have problems with WoW, and they're notorious for using fmod.

Correct or not, many other sound libraries don't have the problems Fmod has, so what makes it so different?

[Graf Zahl]

Most likely the drivers reporting bullshit information about their capabilities.

And it seems it's not all drivers doing it. Most Creative users I know of don't have any problems with FMod. Randy himself uses a SB if I am not mistaken.