Decoded no data, .ogg error when zoning
|
So, I've seen a thread here and there about this, but absolutely no information as to what's causing it. The only "advice" I've seen is along the lines of "update your drivers" and "turn hardware audio off", the former of which is obvious, and the latter isn't helpful at all; I don't want to play with software audio.
I didn't use to get this error while playing PoE, until about a couple weeks ago or so, which leads me to believe there's absolutely nothing wrong at my end, seeing as though I've not done any software updates of any kind, and my HDD's are almost brand new and in pristine condition, giving absolutely no headache anywhere else. It happens when I zone to an area, namely either Docks or the Marketplace. The loading screen pops up, followed shortly by a bunch of error screens saying something about decoding no data and something about .ogg files. I'd give you more details but seeing as how there have been details given in earlier threads with no replies from GGG, I'm sure it'll make no difference whatsoever. I'd guess there's some kind of a cache this game has, from where it's loading corrupted files or something, since this didn't use to happen in those areas until recently. That, or patching has screwed up my client. PackCheck.exe gives absolutely no errors though. My OS (WinXP Pro 32bit, although I'm on a 64bit CPU), my drivers, and anything else third party is updated and working perfectly everywhere else, and in every other game. Except for Fallout New Vegas, which throws BSOD because of Creative's drivers (to which there seems to be no cure either.) However, I'm having a hard time understanding how it can be Creative's drivers, since I've not touched them, and I played quite a while before these errors began to happen. I also don't get BSOD, nor do I get any error about Creative. I just get the decoded no data and .ogg something bla bla. So I'm just throwing this here, in case someone else is suffering from the exact same symptoms. My Creative's card is a bit older, but it uses the same drivers as some newer ones, and I think I saw a thread with a guy having similar problems and he had an X-Fi, so buying a newer sound card wouldn't do much good, especially since I'm not exactly going to buy anything non-Creative (and motherboard audio is always completely and utterly useless.) I'll give some more information the next time this error happens, about what the error screens say and so forth. And no, I'm not going to post my PC data here beyond what I've explained already. Maybe it helps, maybe there'll be a solution, maybe not. If it's a problem enough people are having then I'm sure you guys will fix it, and if not then who cares really. |
|
|
The problem with the hardware audio is that Creative drivers do not natively support OGG decoding. That is why Software Audio is required in a lot of cases with those cards. The Hardware audio attempts to take the audio data and decode it in the hardware and render it to your speakers. If the hardware doesn't support decoding a specific format, it cannot decode that audio properly, and thus relies on software (cpu) to decode the data and then render it to the standard audio stream.
I'm not specifically sure why it would have worked before but now doesn't as Creative has never supported OGG (Vorbis) format in their hardware to my knowledge. |
|
|
It's working most of the time, including on those two areas. It's just that sometimes it hasn't worked, and I'm completely at a loss as to why. I tried reverb off and on, no change. Tried zoning in with the client in the background and client focused, no change. Background muting, no change.
If I get to zone in to an area, everything works just fine. It's only been when zoning into areas and at apparently random occasions, and not even that often. Mainly it's been those two areas I've been farming on merciless. Anyways, I do find it very interesting that GGG would use .ogg then, seeing as though most likely a very large portion of gamers do use Creative as their sound card. Might be nice to include .mp3 as an option perhaps, if that's even possible. Whatever the case may be, if this is a common issue, a fix might be nice. Doesn't seem to be that common though, so go figure. I'm convinced a lot of people use Creative. Confusing how they're not having the same problems. |
|
" If it's working most of the time then that is odd. I'd expect it to either work or not work. If it only stopped working after a patch, you could have a corrupt content.ggpk file which is sending bad ogg data as well. Might be worth trying to re-download the Content.ggpk file while connected to a VPN just to ensure that you have a clean version and not getting an ISP Cache corruption. If you do that, I recommend renaming the content.ggpk file rather than deleting it so you have a backup in case anything goes wrong. As for the Creative cards... I honestly don't know a lot of people who use them anymore. The on-board sound cards these days aren't bad and pretty widely supported. They don't have the hardware power of the Creative cards, but they also don't cost a load of money either. Creative cards USED to be required because the on-board either didn't exist, or was terrible. They've gotten better recently and for most people (non hard-core gamers) a Creative dedicated card is overkill. |
|
" Yeah, corrupted files or corrupted game cache was my guess, but I checked my HDD, I ran the packcheck executable, even checked my RAM, and everything seems to check out. Well, I'll see about downloading that file, if I keep crashing a lot. " I've yet to own a single MB, or see one my friends have, which has an onboard audio with bass. Meaning, you can't tune the bass at all. It just "is". I can tell you that for any X.1 speaker system that's complete BS, since the subwoofer won't get anything to amplify. Also, all the ones I've had, including my latest one, and the ones I've tried, are complete BS if you plug in headphones without built-in amp in them, because you'll end up setting your audio 100% and wav 100%, and still you won't hear anything. I don't know, there may be some MBs that have actual bass amps that let you adjust bass (and treble), but I've yet to own one. I'd much rather pay a measly 100€ for a Creative than try to listen to music or game sounds from absolutely useless onboard audio. Also, all my friends who actually appreciate music and sound quality have sound cards, and they're all Creative. Anyways, that's off-topic, sorry about that. I'll get back to this if I figure out something about the error, so if anyone else is having this they might get some help. |
|
|
I have the same problems http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/120795
And yes, motherboard audio is horrible for me... |
|
" Did you try using software audio by putting -swa at the end of your shortcut? software audio will still play the sound out of your creative card, but it is rendered into the audio stream from your CPU rather than using the creative hardware for the processing. This is normally the case with creative sound cards. |
|
" YES, click pleas on my link :) (but sw sound isn't clear - poor quality) NO, it's ambnormal :) TY |
|
" even thought he audio quality is poor, it is a "normal" circumstance for dedicated Creative sound cards to need to use -swa to play Path of Exile. While you might consider it abnormal in relation to other games, swa is required by a lot of cards to play Path of Exile at all. That is what I meant by "normal". I don't compare games to each other because they aren't comparable. I take each game on its own merits (and shortcomings). It's not fair to the game or the developer/publisher if you start attempting to compare games to each other... especially when a lot of games have HUGE money behind them vs Indie studio like GGG which comparatively has a very tiny budget. My original point however is that -swa fixes the crashes and errors correct? You might not find that solution "acceptable" but that's a different issue and belongs in a Discussion forum and not a Support forum. The "Support" answer is to enable Software Audio. I'm sorry you don't find that option acceptable. It's the only one I have until the game developers change stuff or the hardware (drivers) start natively supporting the formats completely. Why don't you go complain on the Creative Support forums about how their hardware has no support for ogg (vorbis)? Really it is just as much their problem as it is GGG's use of the format. FYI: ogg (vorbis) is quickly becoming a new and accepted "standard" format due to the open free nature of the format. Stuff is going to have to start supporting it or become obsolete. I'm just saying. |
|
" Yeah, it's a mutual problem, but the fact is that software is developed around technology, not the other way around. I'm using software audio myself now, so I'll report back if I still experience the same crashes. I'm just so used to having EAX on, which I'm guessing software audio doesn't and can't support (or does it?) Anyways. Creative is the biggest name in gaming sound cards. There's just no other mainstream brand as big as they are, competition similar to AMD vs Intel or ATi vs nVidia. The only real competition to Creative these days is MB audio, but as said before, MB audio doesn't have bass, and anyone who doesn't demand bass doesn't deserve to be debating about sound in any form. :) |
|
