Yet another sound problem

[Makenshi]

See, my monitor is actually a TV/Monitor (LG 22"), I use DVI-HDMI cable, and I'm getting loud static sound from it's speakers when I play DoW 2: Retribution (doesn't happen in other games, music, movies, whatever, hell even when I alt+tab to the desktop it doesn't happen, the game can stay 'alt+tabed' for hours and it doesn't happen).

It happens even thought the sound is not coming out of the monitor (which volume is set to zero), but the actual sound is coming out of my 5.1 subwoofer speakers... pausing the game doesn't prevent the static sound, but turning off the monitor stops it (only to begin again like 10 minutes after I turn it on again, IF playing DoW 2 Retribution)

Never had this problem until now, and I tested everything possible (my cables, other people's cables, RGB cables instead of DVI-HDMI, my monitor, a friends monitor which is absolutely the same, other games, movies, musics, etc), so this has to be something about the game being optimized for ATI cards, since I'm using nVidia GeForce 9800GTX+, or some bad blood between Retribution and DVI-HDMI cables - or worse, a hate triangle between Retribution, NVidia cards and DVI-HDMI cables (why are all problems in my life so fucked up, complex to figure out and hard to solve...?)

On a side note, it happens every ten minutes during the Cyrene mission (I'm playing Eldar and didn't go past it, but I'm assuming it's the last), while it happened randomly and not frequently in the rest of the game.

Can a video driver update solve this? If there is any advice about this issue, thanks a lot; if not, I'll be happy if it's adressed in a patch.

[Pulse.r]

The game isn't 'optimized' towards any single card manufacturer. This sounds more like a sound card issue, or a sound card configuration issue. What are your sound settings in the game? What operating system are you running? What sound card are you using, and what are its settings?

[Makenshi]

Sorry for saying that, I just heard it more than once on this forum and believed it, due to the change from nVidia logo to ATI logo during game initialization. I really didn't mean anything against ATI or RelicTQH (love you guys so much).

Sound setting in game: default
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64
Video Card: GeForce 9800GTX+
Sound card: none, it's onboard and this problem never ever happened (it's not happening now, it's been 3 hours since I've been surfing the internet with music playing on Windows Media Player, it only happens during DoW 2 Retribution I'm telling you)

[Pulse.r]

There is an in-game sound option for 'prologic' - can you try that, to see if the static goes away? Also check your sound card settings - Windows 7 has additional 'behaviours' for when microphones are detected, etc, so review the 'sound' control panel option thoroughly - a fix for this might just be some option in there.

[Makenshi]

For the record, by static sound I mean the 'SSSSSHHHHH' sound any TV does when you put on a channel that has no incoming signal whatsoever. I will look into that prologic thing option and see what happens; the microphone was the first thing I removed when this issue 1st appeared.

Will post results asap, thank you sir/ma'am.


EDIT: the Prologic didn't solve it; entered Retribution, started the last mission, about 10 minutes into it the static started again. It's really loud, really annoying, and I fear that further playing may damage my monitor. I'll try something in the sound control panel, but if it doesn't solve, I'll step away from the game until something is done about it (I played a lot of Magicka in the last hour and, as I said, no static happened - it's only during DoW 2 Retribution).

Actually, I may try other races to see if it's something with the Eldar campaign or whatever; if it happens anyway, I'll definitely stop playing and pray something is done (maybe a patch or whatever).

Thanks for the attention, Pulse. You rule

[Pulse.r]

I just re-read your original post and understand the problem a bit more. That is very, very strange - I don't see how the game could be doing it. What resolution are you running the game at? Is it the same as what you run your normal desktop at? A DVI->HDMI cable would/could only be transmitting a video signal, so it has to be a problem with the TV, potentially not liking the 'mode' the game is using.

[Makenshi]

I run the game at 1680x1050, the same the desktop. Should I change the game resolution to see if it works?

Electronics are a pain, can you believe in 2009 my modem stoped transmitting the ADSL signal, and the problem was it's power source? Everything worked, but the modem decided that the volts/watts/amperage/whatever "wasn't in the exact amount it liked" (example: if 12v were need, it was outputting 11.9v or 12.1v), and I had to buy a new power source for it... the shopkeeper said it was actually a common problem and most people just buy a new modem (which is 3x more costly), only to have the problem again 3 years later.



PS: for the record, in the last 02 hours I've been playing Fallout New Vegas at 1680x1050, and as usual, there's no static...


EDIT: changing resolutions didn't solve it (at some resolutions it got worse, with instant static).

[Mac_Bug]

try disabling all audio / communication devices except for your onboard sound and see what happens

[Makenshi]

I took another look at the DVI cable, made a quick search on the internet, and found this: the cable is DVI-D (digital signals only), and the conector in my video card is DVI-I (digital and analogic signals). Could this be the problem? I got the old RGB cable that came with the monitor and there's no problem at all using it (played two missions now and all went smooth, no static).

[Pulse.r]

Technically no - that just means the DVI cable only has pins to connect to the digital outputs, and the video card has pins to support digital or analog (you should see a different amount of pin support on the video card outlet vs the cable)

But do try what Mac_Bug suggested.