(13.3) Music Distorted

[Rorim]

I loaded up DU one day and suddenly the music was horribly distorted. I hadn't played the game in a few days, but it had been working fine previously. The only change I made between the play sessions was installing the "Famous Faces of the Iliac Bay" mod, but I doubt that was the culprit. Sound effects do not seem to be affected.

I wasn't sure what, if anything, I should post in the way of attachments.

Solutions I have tried:
* Reinstalling Daggerfall Unity
* Reinstalling Daggerfall and re-routing Unity to the new install
* Starting Unity in a fresh install with no mods
* Deleting Famous Faces of the Iliac Bay
* Trying a different set of speakers
* Changing the "Alternate Music" option in settings to "True"
* Turning my computer on and then off again

Thanks for any help which you can provide.

[Interkarma]

Hey there, welcome to the forums.

I'm not familiar with any recent music issues in DFU. This hasn't been changed in years now, and I wouldn't expect any breaking change in recent versions. DFU has its own internal MIDI synth, provided all files are intact this should work consistently on all platforms.

Working from a clean install without mods is the best starting point for troubleshooting. Could you please also delete or rename your settings.ini just to rule out any problems there. The game will create a default settings.ini on next startup, where you'll need to repoint it to your game files. See here to locate your settings.ini.

Speaking of game files, please use the recommended DaggerfallGameFiles if you aren't already. This gamedata is curated for DFU, contains all patches, and is supported on all platforms.

If the problem continues with a fresh install using DaggerfallGameFiles and clean settings.ini, the next step is to take a look at your player log. This is found in the same folder as settings.ini above. Maybe something is failing/erroring in the background causing a delay that impacts MIDI synth.

[Rorim]

Hey there, welcome to the forums.

Thank you for the warm welcome! I've been a big fan of DU for quite a while now.

I tried deleting settings.ini, but that didn't help. I also replaced the files in my Daggerfall folder with the ones you linked to (I'm not sure if I was using them already). That hasn't helped either. While tinkering, I noticed another strange thing- character portraits aren't appearing at all in conversation windows. I'm not sure if this was already happening since the first time I noticed the music issue or not. This also happens when I start the game off a file with no mods at all in the folder. Additionally, sometimes if I die a lady's conversational portrait appears in the upper left corner of the screen for a moment as everything goes dark. Very weird

I'm guessing I bleeped something up with mods or the problem is with my computer. I'm going to keep try an absolutely total wipe and re-install of Daggerfall Unity and everything associated with it and see if that improves matters. Thank you for all of your suggestions!

Also, I tried attaching the "player.log" file from the appdata but it wouldn't upload here for some reason.

[Interkarma]

Zip up your player.log first, then attach the zip file to a reply here. It might give us some insight.

I'd definitely try a clean setup if you can. This would involve deleting your current install and gamedata then setting up from scratch using the DaggerfallGameFile method to completely fresh folders. Your saves and settings will be safe in the persistent data folder.

Edit: Do portraits display if you run game as administrator (right click > run as administrator)? Maybe there's a file access issue here depending where gamedata is placed.

[Rorim]

I tried a *totally* clean setup- even torched the persistent data folder (I backed everything up of course). On a fresh install of 12.3 using DaggerfallGameFiles my music is still borked.

Here is the original player log file. I hope this isn't just some personal computer problem I'm wasting your time with. I just wish it hit a different game

[Interkarma]

Thanks for log.

I'm seeing errors like below, which at least explains the portrait issue. You appear to have your gamedata installed to Program Files and local system permissions are blocking access.

Code: Select all

Access to the path "C:\Program Files\Daggerfall\arena2\TFAC00I0.RCI" is denied.

I'd really like to see a clean DaggerfallGameFiles setup. Please try the below for me:

1. Download DaggerfallGamesFiles zip and unzip to "C:\Games\Daggerfall".
2. Download Daggerfall Unity 0.13.3 and unzip to "C:\Games\Daggerfall Unity\0.13.3".
3. Delete settings.ini from persistent data path.
4. Start game again and point to folder in step 1 when asked for gamedata.

If music still isn't right, please zip up your player.log again and I'll take another look. Thanks!

[Rorim]

I did as you said, but the problem remains for now.

[Interkarma]

Thank you. I'm no longer seeing the TFAC00I0.RCI access denied message. Did that solve the portrait issue at least?

Could you describe in a bit more detail how the music sounds? Or provide a short audio clip? The nature of the distortion might give us a clue.

As a potential workaround, try using a remastered music mod like Daggerfall Remastered Music Project or Vanilla MIDI OST. These mods use actual track renderings, so will bypass MIDI synth and play like regular music in engine.

[Rorim]

The music sounds lower, harsher, and if I'm not mistaken a bit slower. I'll see what I can do about collecting a sample, but I may not get to that tonight.

Yes, portraits are working again! Took me a bit to get out of PH and to Gothway Garden to check

Thank you for those suggestions! I will give them a try.

[Rorim]

The Vanilla MIDI OST works just fine. Thanks for all of your help! I'll see about collecting the sound sample if you are still interested.