06-05-2005 22:50									#1
	Computer sound technical question - can you play mp3s during a game with sound FX? Enter the AD-FREE zone

Is there anyway to play mp3s and gamesounds at the same time?

One can, IIRC, play CD music and game music at the same time, but when you launch winamp, for example, during a game, it will show you a small error message about the the device being occupied. ( this is because CD music is played through a different... umm.. thingee.

So, can you somehow bypass that? ( without ripping your MP3s on CDs, of course)

	06-05-2005 23:21									#2
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Hum, atleast CIV3 and winamp co-exist peacefully... I think it might have something to do with directsound output, as opposed to waveout... In winamp.

	07-05-2005 00:53									#3
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bump.

Tattila: they do? I never tried, to be honest.

	07-05-2005 01:02									#4
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Yep. Doesn't even take that much juice, which was a consideration with my old AMD 500mhz.

But I think you should check, whether your soundcard drivers are fully direct x compatible, and support, hum, was it "full duplex"?

Been awhile since I actually touched any settings...

	07-05-2005 01:04									#5
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Heh, P3 500MHz over here.

about the other stuff, how does one check this?

	07-05-2005 01:07									#6
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As far as I know, I was able to do this since Windows 98. As a matter of fact, I'm doing this right now.
I don't know about other OS's, but if you have winXP you should be fine.

	07-05-2005 01:12									#7
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What system? I'm assuming win98...

There should be, in the windows/system, or system32 folder, a program called dxdiag. It should tell you, if you have non-compatible drivers and such.

And your, um, control panel has a "sound and sound devices", or similar. If anywhere, there's your answer.

Sorry I can't be of much help, my stuff usually works of the box. (knocks on wood)

	07-05-2005 01:38									#8
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did the sound check, and it came out great.

as to

quote: And your, um, control panel has a "sound and sound devices", or similar. If anywhere, there's your answer.

There is no such things. no full multiplex, no nothing.

	07-05-2005 01:42									#9
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You have to select and use the DirectSound output plugin in Winamp. Check your Preferences.

At least if you are still using winamp 2.x, don't know about newer versions, but I guess it's worth a try.

	07-05-2005 02:42									#10
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Winamp gives an error message:

It sez: "DirectSound output v2.2.10 error:

Bad DirectSound driver. Please install proper drivers or select another device in configuration"

Without the game ( Civ 2 ) it plays it very well, otoh.

	07-05-2005 03:45									#11
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Personally I turn video game sounds off. They get so repetitive and annoying after a while.

	07-05-2005 03:47									#12
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I like the sounds, but the music sometimes drives me insane. ( 'cept Quake 2, which has the best videogame soundtrack ever, IMO )

	07-05-2005 04:30									#13
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quote: Originally posted by Az Winamp gives an error message: It sez: "DirectSound output v2.2.10 error: Bad DirectSound driver. Please install proper drivers or select another device in configuration" Without the game ( Civ 2 ) it plays it very well, otoh.

hmm don't know.. try to play around with the configuration of the plugin.
Does it work with Civ3 ?

	07-05-2005 16:18									#14
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Played around the plug in config.... winamp crashed like a motherplucker.

	07-05-2005 16:26									#15
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If you want to play you own music in games and
a) have lots of HD space
b) have an mp3 decoder
c) want to reduce CPU usage for music playback
or
d) want to play music without needing a CD
and
e) only intend this for your own personal use

Convert the tracks from a music CD or an MP3 file into .wav files. While these can be 10-15 times the size of an MP3 file, they also require much less CPU to play. They will also run quite fine from win media player which itself has low system usage.

	07-05-2005 16:27									#16
	Re: Computer sound technical question - can you play mp3s during a game with sound FX Put an end to popups!

quote: Originally posted by Az Is there anyway to play mp3s and gamesounds at the same time? One can, IIRC, play CD music and game music at the same time, but when you launch winamp, for example, during a game, it will show you a small error message about the the device being occupied. ( this is because CD music is played through a different... umm.. thingee. So, can you somehow bypass that? ( without ripping your MP3s on CDs, of course)

Uh...depends on the game. I can often play mp3s and games with sound at the same time.

Might also depend on your sound card (how many something or others it has)

	07-05-2005 16:33									#17
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Oh, to answer the original question, yes you can play mp3s at the same time as a game, or at least it should be possible depending on how many channels the game is using. Most modern sound cards support multiple sound channels with average being around 16 channels.

What this means is you could simultaineously play as many mp3s as there are sound channels on your sound card. It's would sound awful though.

	07-05-2005 16:34									#18
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channels. that's the word I was looking for

	07-05-2005 17:09									#19
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Qilue, how the hell do I check this stuff?

	07-05-2005 18:09									#20
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What kind of sound card do you have?

	07-05-2005 18:30									#21
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The soundcard on my machine bought back in 1998 could not do it - it's possible yours can't either. All I know is I remember being flabbergasted when one of the truths of my universe (only one source of sound at a time may be heard) was shattered when I bought a new computer.

	07-05-2005 18:30									#22
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some sort of ancient bullshit.

Creative Vibra 128

	07-05-2005 18:58									#23
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That card should be able to do it. The problem might be either Winamp or the game demanding sole use of the sound card.

Have you tried using windows media player? While it doesn't have all of winamp's bells and whistles, it also tends to be more polite about how much of your computer's resources to use.

	07-05-2005 19:12									#24
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t3h hilarity: it supposedly plays, but all I hear is the annoying drums of civ2.

	07-05-2005 19:20									#25
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So winamp was the culprit. The volume issue I'm not sure on how to fix though. Is the Civ2 drums a midi file or a wav file?

	07-05-2005 19:37									#26
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Maybe I should've made myself clearer. I don't hear anything. It just doesn't give an error message, and the progress thingee moves.

	07-05-2005 19:38									#27
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That means it's working but the sound is muted somehow.

	08-05-2005 02:52									#28
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Hold on, Vibra? Isn't that integrated on motherboard?
I have SB128PCI, the same chip, but on it's own card... I've had winamp give me similar errors for no apparent reason, they have usually disappeared after reboot.

Be sure to get latest drivers for it, if that isn't obvious.

	08-05-2005 02:55									#29
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quote: Hold on, Vibra? Isn't that integrated on motherboard?

No.

Have they been updating the drivers for this card, actually? That would come as quite the surprise.

	08-05-2005 03:13									#30
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New drivers, same error.

Actually with DirectSound output it says " bad directsound driver" or somesuch.