PTW + Winamp3 + Diplomacy Screen = Freeze

Backpack · November 11, 2002, 01:37

Here's a new bug/problem that I believe can be fixed simply in the next patch.

In PTW, I turned the music volume to zero. I was playing music in the background using the Winamp3. Apparently, the music that plays in the diplomacy screen does not get changed by the music volume slider. I believe this is a change from Civ3 because I never had this problem before (and I decided today for the first time that I had had enough of the music in PTW). Could someone please check the innards of PTW and see about tweaking this behavior? I would prefer that when the music volume is set to zero, that the music not play in the diplomacy screen. I would also prefer that when the music slider is set to zero that the music not play silently, rather, a zero volume on the music should mean turn off the music playing. ( I don't know that this is what is happening, but somehow I got the idea that the music is playing regardless, and the volume level only adjusts the output.

Any one else have/notice this problem?

Thanks for Listening

KP

Zero · November 11, 2002, 01:53

Yea I had the same problem with my old notebook causing problem whenever i was playing civ3 w/ winamp (version 2) on. It was prolly because of oldness of my laptop that it was crashing whenever multiple mp3 was playing so I just swapped the civ mp3s to the music i wanted to listen to. If you ever played The sims you know what Im talking about. However, the songs dont play if they are not renamed as civ3 filenames unlike Sims which supported all mp3 in folder despite context of filename... So you are limited to how many songs you want it to be played.

I havent had this problem ever since I got a new laptop (i dont play civ much with desktop) but then again I havent tried playing winamp w/ ptw yet so I'll let you know if this is common problem.

Backpack · November 11, 2002, 19:39

If this were old hardware, 'I' could fix that. Unfortunately hardware isn't the problem. I am running on an Athlon 850, 256 MB, 80 GB, with a Soundblaster OEM sound card and a 32 MB NVidia TNT 2 Video Card. I built this system last fall SPECIFICALLY so that I could play Civ3 with better than recommended hardware. (At the time, the fastest machine in the house was a creaky AMD K6-2 400).

8 Days ago I had the 30 Gig I had been using for my C drive crash, and I have installed every driver, Windows XP update, and latest version of all my software within the last week. I am quite positive that my machine is up to date with the latest stable (not bleeding edge beta) everything.

Problem Update:

I turned the music volume down, AND I unchecked the 'music on' box. I'm currently at war with the only other civ I have contact with, so I couldn't test the diplomacy screen. I played a few turns and then at the end of a turn two sound efects attempted to play simultaniously. The "Tock Tock Tock" that sometimes plays at the end of turns, and the "Wolf Howl" effect. When this happened, my music from winamp cut out, the Tock Tock Tock went three times, and the wolf howl was stuck in mid howl until I reset my machine. For me at least, this problem is officially repeatable now.

Suggestions???

Thanks for listening,

KP

alva · November 11, 2002, 19:47

Well, winamp3 isn't the most stable thing out there (yet).
I unistalled it, after about 2 or 3 hours.

So it could be that this is your trouble maker

Backpack · November 11, 2002, 20:59

Sounds like a plan. I'm gonna see if Winamp2 takes care of the problem. I thought 3 was out of beta, but I see now where 2 is still available for D-load.

Thanks for the suggestion

KP

Alex · November 11, 2002, 21:05

It's nice to be aware of this. I downloaded Winamp 3 last night but did not install it, I'm glad I made the right decision.

alva · November 11, 2002, 21:12

my info does date back a month (+-) or so.
So it might have improved now.
Maybe they patched it allready

Backpack · November 12, 2002, 20:06

Well it seems I may have jumped to conclusions...

Oops

I decided to play music from my wifes computer (from the shared drive on my machine). Well, About 10 minutes into my game winamp froze on hers (but not the whole machine) and my machine locked hard. Now windows disk access and network file sharing should not in anyway be afftected by the installation of a game and it occured to me that it could be a problem with that cheap IDE card I installed a few months ago. So I pulled the card, rearranged my drives, and haven't had a problem (in Civ or out) for almost 42 hours now.

Thanks for listening to me complain until I figured out how to fix it.

Kevin

Zero · November 12, 2002, 20:11

I still suggest replacing civ background music w/ your own. I like it better.

Backpack · November 12, 2002, 20:36

In the end, I think that would be to much effort for just playing music. Now, if someone were to put together 'Collections' of music lists that they recommend and that add to the game, I could see myself installing/finding/dloading/ripping those particular songs.

Any Suggestions?

Off the top of my head, maybe a 'Gladiator' themed collection, perhaps a set based on Holst's Planets (Including the venerable 'Mars'). Maybe music from Jurassic Park, for a mod that uses the dino barbarians.
Maybe a varied collection with Jimmy Buffett for the 'At Peace' times, Gun n Roses or Metallica for the at war.... who knows....
Sounds like another weekend project that I personally will never get around to putting together, but I wouldn't mind if someone else put something like this together I could use.

Note: I am not suggesting anyone upload or make available illegally gotten Mp3's, Rather listings of the tracks that are recommended to go together with the new names they should be named as and the directory to be dropped into.

Heck If they were interesting enough, some anonymous person might even post the collection (renamed, and properly labelled) to one of those newsgroups I've heard about.....

Oh well,

Thanks for the idea!

KP

Admiral PJ · November 12, 2002, 21:01

This bug happens in civ3 too,
sometimes I have the diplo music playing even if the music volume and checkbox is off.

Its best to press the checkbox 3 or 4 times , then both the diplo music and normal music is off,

so winamp won't hang.

Civ3 uses mp3 winamp type music too, so trying to play 2 mp3's at once makes it crash.
With some sound cards it should be possisble to play different songs together, but I think its a software problem.

Its likely to be a Civ3's coding problem as much as winamps problem.

SK138 · November 13, 2002, 16:22

I have an old computer, Pentium 2 400 MGhz and Winamp3 and Civ3 and PTW all work fine together for me. I am constantly alt-tabbing between the two also and I've never had an error.

Chuckles · November 13, 2002, 23:52

I have a new computer and I am always atl-tabbing between winamp3 and civ3 and I haven't had any hangs yet. I don't know if I specifically went to the diplomacy screen in that time but I find it hard to believe that I didn't at some point.