Issues with sounds/chat/announcements in game

[ffree]

Hi all,

This is a repost from thread http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=246239 from Bug Report.
I am not sure that this is the [Sound] issue, but this is the best fit.

Note that bug occrus on vanilla game, no mods, reistalled 2 times.

Description:
Hi all,

I've been plagued with a persistent bug, which occurs in 90% of my games.

So, the issue is as follows:
The match starts ok, with no issues. I am able to type in chat, see players responses, hear the announcer messages such as "Your tower is under attack" etc.
After several minutes in game (I cannot determine what triggered it, as it almost always undetectable - I notice it after a while. I usually realise that it occurs after I notice that I do not hear the walking command confirmation from my heor) the bug occurs and the following happens:
* I cannot see chat messages, can't see chat history (at least can't see player chat history, the system messages like "Your barracks has been destroyed" still can be seen in chat log).
* I cannot type in chat - I can write a message, hit enter, but it won't pop up in chat log and on screen.
* No more announcement speech for me - no "Tower under attack", "Bloodlust" etc.
* No more hero command acknowledgement (if it turned on)
* No more sound and text trigger when vote starts (meaning no chat text "player1 started a concede vote") - but the vote bar still appears and could be voted.
* After victory or defeat or concede vote the "Disconnect" button never appears. I can disconnect manually through menu, but it raises a standard leaver % calculation window - like I am leaving a game in progress. Leaves, though, do not add up after leaving after victory.

The following things are still visible and heard despite the bug:
* Can see, hear, do map pings
* All other sounds - music, spell effects, attack effects - are played ok
* Can voicechat

---

The worst case here is that:
* In like 10% of games the bug does not appear
* I cannot determine what actually triggers it
* It is not seen on replays - when I download a replay of a game, I can perfectly see my team chatting (example - 35907069. I lost ability to chat in like 5 mins after start)

---

Is there anything I can do to help solve it?

[ControlF8]

hmmm seems strange. Can you post a console.log for us? Upload it to http://tools.heroesofnewerth.com/upload.php and post a link to view it here?

Secondly, could you give us your systems specs?

I would suggest double checking that all your drivers, audio, graphics, CPU... are all up to date as well as your DirectX.

[ffree]

Hi,
Thanks for replying and sorry for a delayed answer - I've just played a game in which a bug occured and gathered all required info.

The game is 38430968
Console log is here: http://tools.heroesofnewerth.com/view.php?key=49f6342985c58150&action=download
It is played on vanilla HoN w/o mods (checked with ListModdedFiles --> You are not using any mods responce).
The bug occured around 16 mins in game time - this is when I first noticed that I am not hearing characters move command confirmations and realized I've once again lost the ability to chat.
I've downloaded the reply after that and checked - as usual, it was only me, the team and enemy team were chatting as normal.

I also made a screenshot after the game end with the chat history - will upload it in the next post.

----
System Specs:
Win 7 32 bit
Intel i5 750
4 Gb ram
ATI Radeon 5870
Onboard sound card (Realtek)

All drivers are generally up-to-date, directX also up to date.

[ffree]

Here's the screenshot I've made after the game's end.

http://i55.tinypic.com/19b02p.jpg

Note the several bug related issues:
Chat log clearly shows that I didn't receive any chat messages after a certain time (check the reply to see that there were a plenty)
Chat log misses some of the other info - for example, it lacks the generall announcements of "Player A started a concede vote" (which usually appear on the chat)
No disconnect button despite the game has ended.

[ControlF8]

I am seeing the error

Query not S_OK

In your console.log followed by a direct3d restart... rather frequently. This is usually a sign that the game is struggling graphically. Could you show me a screenshot of your games graphical settings?

[BASH]

Please try the latest drivers, there are two newer versions of your video driver out for example.

[ffree]

Hi all,

Please find below the screenshot of the graphics settings:
http://i52.tinypic.com/zo9nkh.jpg
They're pretty much default, I never tweaked them.
Also note that I never experienced any graphics or perfomance related issues, the game runs smooth and fast - never noticed any slowdowns or hangups due to the direct3d restarts you mentioned (if there should be any at all).

I've also updated the video card drivers from the ATI site and will now try and check if the bug persists.

[ffree]

Just played the game to confirm (38536982) - bug occured.

[ControlF8]

Try lowing your settings (Turning off anti-aliasing etc) and you have all the setting on low/off, if the problem stops, start turning them back on one by one to see what is causing it.

This will also help us figure out if it is a graphical bug or not.

[ffree]

Hi,
I've just tried to play with the lowest settings - this is the screenshot of the graphics setup http://i51.tinypic.com/ei9s3r.jpg

Bug occured anyway - game 38564076.
In game screenshot - you can see that the graphics is set to low, but the bug manifested anyway: no chat messages after a certain period, no concede vote mentions, no disconnect button.
http://i55.tinypic.com/nl4qxx.jpg

[ControlF8]

Well, we can rule that out.
Oh, and please re-upload a new console.log now that your drivers are up to date. If I still don't find any issues, I'll have to show it to a senior techie.

[ffree]

Hi,
http://tools.heroesofnewerth.com/view.php?key=6832dd34f2a29160&action=download

This is the console log from the last time I played - this was the one with the lowest graphics settings.
Let me know if this is ok or if it is better to play a game with a regular settings and upload that one.

[ControlF8]

You have to keep your mods off, or I can't help. Please uninstall your mods.

[ffree]

Hi,
Sorry for a slow responce, was out of town for holidays.

Here's the no-mods console log for a game 39448053, in which the bug occured again
http://tools.heroesofnewerth.com/view.php?key=17ab89eac30ef8b9&action=download

[ffree]

Any udpates?
I cannot play normally and this is annoying as hell. How can I finally get rid of this?

[ffree]

Hello?

[IAmRoot]

I've never seen this issue before. Have you tried reinstalling HoN?

[ffree]

Yes, several times. It occurs even on vanilla HoN just right after reinstall.

However, I only uninstalled via standard uninstaller (+ manually deleted known game directories in Documents and in the actual installation place). If HoN leaves registry entries and/or hidden files in other places, they were not known to me and I wasn't able to delete them.

I am willing to try a full wipe and reinstall. Can you help me with the list of the files/registry entries I should manually delete?

[ControlF8]

When you reinstalled did you re-install in the same location? If so, try installing to a new location such as C:\HON

[ffree]

Just tried to uninstall, reinstall into different directory, play a game.
Bug occured, match 41506912, console log here: http://tools.heroesofnewerth.com/view.php?key=a83587c9dc11ff77&action=download

This was the very first game on a newly installed HoN on different location.

[ControlF8]

Your bug is EXTREMELY odd... And I feel as though I am a bit unequipt to help you. Let me toss this over to some senior members for analysis.

[SpaceSavage]

I have seen something similar sound wise when someone pulls with out a headset while playing.

the chat effects are really odd however ill take a deeper look later

[ffree]

I do not use headset - sometimes I use headphones with regular 3.5 mm jack (not USB ones), however it never seemed to affect the bug - it occurs in the games I didn't use headphones at all and in the games I've used headphones from the beginning to the very end.

[ffree]

Hello?
I do understand you'd been busy with the DDoS and other fun stuff, but can I hope for any kind of a solution soon?

[Tobias]

So to sum up, you've tried reinstalling the game without any mods, right?

Have you tried updating your sound driver?

[ffree]

Three or four times, yes. As I've posted before, the bug occured once on a very first game on a freshly installed HoN.
I've also tried to update all drivers, both video and audio, though I seriously doubt that my audio driver can selectively block announcer's messages while leaving all others intact, as well as mess with in-game chat.

[Tobias]

Could you tell me what audio driver you use?

[ffree]

System Information report written at: 06/19/11 22:02:34
System Name: NEW
[Sound Device]

Item Value
Name ATI High Definition Audio Device
Manufacturer ATI Technologies Inc.
Status OK
PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_1002&DEV_AA01&SUBSYS_00AA0100&REV_1002\5&323E0330&0&0001
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\atihdw73.sys (7.11.0.7709, 99,52 KB (101*904 bytes), 14.12.2010 23:59)

Name Realtek High Definition Audio
Manufacturer Realtek
Status OK
PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0888&SUBSYS_1458A002&REV_1000\4&35A89E12&0&0201
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\rtkvhda.sys (6.0.1.6066, 2,90 MB (3*036*832 bytes), 21.03.2010 21:04)

[Tobias]

Eh, which one of them are you using? And have you tried using the other?

[ffree]

Realtek one, the second is not even connected.

[Tobias]

Could you try connecting the other (just for testing purposes)?

[ffree]

Really. Really?
You want me to take my year-old rig, which is working fine in all possible aspects and on which I played HoN since beta with no particular issues at all, unscrew it, find a motherboard-integrated sound card which never had been used and for which even the jacks are not connected with the rig's case exterior and plug my speakers into it hoping that for some bizzare reason this will solve the bug which screws in-game text chat, announcer sounds and the disconnect button?
Sounds like a great plan!

Whatever.
I do not have much to do this evening, so I'll give it a try. I'll switch the speakers, play a game or two, let you know of the results.

[Tobias]

It would help me troubleshoot.

[ffree]

I believe I used the motherboard one this time - at least I found the 3.5 mm jack I never used before, plugged headphones there, unplugged and disabled the speakers which were plugged in the regular soundcard.

And who would have thought. Game 50177024 - bug occured around 5 mins in the game.

[Tobias]

Check the game settings to see which device the game is using.

[ffree]

Checked. Only Realtek sound card is available in the game menu.

[ffree]

Well, to get rid of the funny "let's test the audio card because this is a [Audio Issues] thread" stuff I've just played game with all sound cards disabled and no sound at all.
Here's the screenshot of game settings:
http://i.imgur.com/uOgJF.jpg
All sound devices were disabled in the device manager.

Game 50863799. Bug occured anyway. Will this help you troubleshoot?

[ffree]

And another precious piece of info that nobody seem to care about: in a game where bug already occured (game 50954850), meaning I was unable to send and receive chat messages, the global messages from S2 team made through. I actually got and seen announcements from IamRoot about K2 exeption errors or something like this.

[ffree]

Hello? 2 weeks since the last comment - anyone is going to propose a solution?

[ffree]

Hello?
Are you going to keep ignore me? Or should I just give up and go play LoL?

[ffree]

Great support, guys.

[ffree]

Oh yeah. Now I can stop hoping. You went F2P, so it is obvious you will not care much about keeping existing customers - one leaves, 2 come in.
Thanks for caring about your product's quality.

[ffree]

Well, I tried LoL and it was bad, HoN is better as a game. But with this level of support - where you just stop replying and waiting quietly till a customer with an issue gets tired and walks away - this is really beyond any reason.

As soon as Dota 2 is out I am off forever - just uninstall and forget.
I'll prefer a game from a respectable company who can write code and can support their customers to this piece of indie crap.

Hope you burn in hell.