[Openal] OpenAL versus Realtek ALC650 chip - Only =Generic Software= works properly?

[Wile E Coyote]

Hi Garin,

I am using a debug build of Openal from the trunk in cvs.  I cannot 
reproduce a problem I posted about a little while ago now - instead it seems 
to pretend to play (including setting the playing state) but sometimes no 
sound comes out - without setting any errors.  I've stepped in to 
alSourcePlay and it does not seem to set any error codes - and straight 
after the I check for them too using alGetError and it comes up with 
AL_NO_ERROR.

If you are only expecting two devices... I bet it is enumerating through my 
local debug build of the openal stuff, then going in to the system directory 
and going through them too.  I have got the Creative runtime package 
installed.  OpenAL32.dll and wrap_oal.dll from my own debug build are in my 
application directory.  wrap_oal.dll and OpenAL32.dll are in the system32 
directory, I'd assume from the Creative installer.

If you can point me towards anything in particular to look out for I'll be 
happy to help out, but my gut instinct is that this is something to do with 
that Realtek driver.  The audio driver version number is reported as 
5.10.0.5890, audio controller INTEL(ICH4), Directx 9.0c, AC97 Codec ALC650.
The driver package I last installed was WDM_A375.exe dated 20050809.  For 
reference I got them via this link:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads1-3.aspx?series=8&Software=True

At time of writing these were the most up to date drivers.  Confusingly on 
the site they are reported as 3.75, rather then the other version number 
reported above.

I will try and break imy application again on the computer giving me 
trouble, but will also check to make sure it does not give me trouble on a 
non-realtek chipset - if I have a computer that doesn't have one!


>From: Garin Hiebert <garinh at cheesetoast.net>
>To: "Wile E Coyote" <paulsdsrubbish at hotmail.com>
>CC: openal at opensource.creative.com
>Subject: Re: [Openal] OpenAL versus Realtek ALC650 chip - Only =Generic 
>Software= works properly?
>Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 08:35:45 -0700
>
>>Generic Hardware, Generic Software, DirectSound3D, DirectSound,  MMSYSTEM
>>
>>The only ones that seems to work playing music and a sound effect  
>>consistantly and simulatinously are "Generic Software" and  "DirectSound".
>>
>>Does this indicate a driver / hardware problem do you think, or is  there 
>>some mistakes in an application "Generic Software" picks up  that the 
>>others do not?
>
>Generic Software and DirectSound are exactly the same path.  In your  case, 
>the router seems to be misbehaving, in that the only two  devices that I'd 
>like it to display are "Generic Hardware" and  "Generic Software."  Could 
>you tell me what the distribution of  OpenAL DLL's is on your system, so I 
>can try to figure that out?  I  need to know what AL DLLs are in your 
>system directory and  application's directory (openal32.dll, openal*.dll, 
>or *oal.dll).
>
>What is supposed to happen is that you get "Generic Hardware" and  "Generic 
>Software" through enumeration.  "Generic Hardware" maps to  
>"DirectSound3D".  "Generic Software" maps to "DirectSound".  If there  is 
>an initialization failure with any of them, they automatically try  again, 
>one level lower -- DS3D --> DS --> MMSYSTEM.
>
>MMSYSTEM should be working as well -- if it isn't, then there's a bug  on 
>the AL library side.  The only difference between the MMSYSTEM  code and 
>the DirectSound code is where the final mixed output goes --  to either a 
>single DirectSound "buffer" or to a single MMSYSTEM output.
>
>Since the Generic Hardware and DS3D paths are the same, there pretty  much 
>has to be some kind of bug on either the Realtek or OpenAL side  (funny how 
>Realtek DS3D drivers seem to come up a lot in these  reports...).  If you 
>could build a debug version of the OpenAL  libraries and help debug this, 
>I'd be happy to try to help remotely.   I'll ask around and work and try to 
>find one of these Realtek cards  -- maybe we can debug on our end.  
>Regardless of "fault," I'd like to  get this fixed on the AL side, since 
>Realtek devices seem to come up  moderately often.
>
>Check to make sure you have the latest Realtek DS3D drivers, and  report 
>the version number here so that we can try to sync up on  driver rev while 
>debugging.
>
>Thanks,
>]
>Garin
>