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sound/Windows 11 instability?

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 7:46 pm
by zach_holbrook
Hey all, it's been awhile! I've dipped back into testing Malkin in my very limited spare time -- it's been a rough semester.

I seem to be getting random crashes while playing, and I'm not sure what to attribute them to, but the error log suggests it's audio-related (the only errors that get logged are audio ones, anyway).

Unfortunately, I'm finding it impossible to reproduce, but once I even crashed on the New Game menu page -- maybe because of the clicking sound that plays when the pointer floats over a button. I know sound has always triggered errors, but it seems to be happening more often now, and I'm still using IB203. Is it possible that Windows 11 make this happen more often? That's the only thing that's really changed since I last tested extensively.

Re: sound/Windows 11 instability?

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 10:12 pm
by slowdive
It could be windows 11 since we are using a sound player that uses Windows Media Player and maybe Win11 has issues with that. I don't have win11 to check with (my computer says it is too old like me, haha), but i'll do some looking into it with google searches. I've been looking to change out the audio system in IB to use the one I have in IBbasic so maybe that will help (although I think it uses windows media player in the end as well).

Re: sound/Windows 11 instability?

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 3:18 pm
by zach_holbrook
Interesting! I also deleted the error log and am going to test with it -- I wonder if its being too big could also be a factor. I'll test more and let you know. Is there a way to integrate an open source audio system I wonder?

Re: sound/Windows 11 instability?

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 5:13 pm
by slowdive
The one I’m using for IBbasic is an open source library, but most will still tie into windows media player for the underlining output. I’ll try and see if there is a good solution that uses directX or some other sound diver. I’m not that knowledgeable in the subject so I’ll need to read up some more.

Re: sound/Windows 11 instability?

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:05 pm
by slowdive
I wonder if you could test the PC version of IBbasic and see if it has the sound issues as well. It is using a different sound control library. If it works okay then I'll convert IB to use the same setup.

Re: sound/Windows 11 instability?

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 5:54 pm
by zach_holbrook
Hey, reporting back several months later! I tested IB Basic and had no problems. I'm still getting crashes at seemingly random times in Malkin, usually not long into the game. The crash window says something along the lines of not being able to divide by 0.

*However*, if I run the same version of Malkin on my older, non-Windows 11 machine, I do not encounter the same crashes -- at least not so far. So it seems likely that the update had something to do with it, and because Malkin uses a lot of sound and music, may have something to do with how IceBlink uses those assets.

Re: sound/Windows 11 instability?

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:11 pm
by slowdive
Thanks Zach! I'll work on converting IB to use the same sound system I am using with IBbasic which should help with many sound issues, hopefully. IBbasic has been slow, not a ton of interest at this time so I don't see any updates or new features happening right now. I'll be turning my focus back to IB v204 as previously discussed. I'll start working through the feature board list again (once I have some time). I may need to make some options for using the new Karl graphical system or a more simpler version. Karl's system is very complex and I have a difficult time figuring out how everything works and I don't want to create more bugs by messing with it.

Re: sound/Windows 11 instability?

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:40 pm
by zach_holbrook
Sounds great! Thanks. I hope to plug away at Malkin a little bit more this semester (I hope to have an extra day in my schedule on which to do so). I'd be happy to test any new options.