Star Wars Battlefront II (2005) - Audio sounds terrible.

[lankv2]

Installing this on the steam version (not sure if other versions are affected) results in very poor audio quality. It sounds like its coming from a tin can or something. all the bass is gone and it just doesn't seem to work right. I am running this in proton on steam in linux btw. I recall a different version of this from nexusmods working with this game even in wine on linux.

[lankv2]

what is this?

[kcat]

I removed the link since there's no indication on what it is or where it comes from, and people shouldn't be running random executables from the internet. Especially from an account that just joined. If you're able to explain and provide a proper source, I can look into it.

As for the issue, it may be a result of HRTF, which is auto-enabled when OpenAL detects the device as being headphones. Though I don't think Wine/Proton actually reports a device as headphones through WASAPI for that to happen automatically. Are you able to generate logs using this batch file? Just drag the game's main executable onto it, and it should write a couple log files into the current working directory when playing the game.

[mirh]

#177 seems pretty fine with the game on windows

[lankv2]

Are you able to generate logs using this batch file? Just drag the game's main executable onto it, and it should write a couple log files into the current working directory when playing the game.

Not sure how i can do this through steam. nvm i figured it out

[lankv2]

alsoft_error.txt
dsoal_error.txt

i just started the game and got to menu and then quit. let me know if you need one of me trying to actually play the game.

[kcat]

Looks like there is an alsoft.ini file in the game's executable directory, which enables HRTF. The simplest thing you can do is rename or remove it, so OpenAL Soft will use defaults detected on the system. Though if you're using headphones, it may not sound great that way (it will have the deep bass, but no cross-talk expected for 3D positional audio on headphones and be like you had plain stereo pressed right against your ears).

[lankv2]

yah i just tried it and it just sounds like normal stereo so there's no real point of using it at that point.

[kcat]

If you're using headphones, OpenAL Soft allows for the option of using BS2B filters instead. It's not a full binaural mix like HRTF, but it attempts to add some cross-talk to a stereo mix to make listening on headphones slightly better. It can be enabled by making an alsoft.ini with:

[general]
cf_level = 1 # can also try other values between 1 and 6 (inclusive)

Or regardless of whether you're using headphones or speakers, you can also try UHJ or TSME modes, which encode some surround information into the stereo mix. That gives a sense of sounds to the rear since the left and right will be out of phase (as opposed to in phase for sounds in front). Any recordings of the mix can also be fed through a surround decoder to recreate a surround mix. That can be enabled with:

[general]
stereo-encoding = tsme # or uhj

Just be aware that you can't enable both BS2B and TSME/UHJ simultaneously. BS2B will be disabled if TSME/UHJ is enabled.

[lankv2]

So i actually have figured it out. i had to edit alsoft.ini to use channels = surround71. The game has issues with cutting off sounds with dsoal unless you set it to 7.1 surround. so after i did that now i can hear the effects.