X3 : Farnhams Legend sound issue

Lazzie · October 28, 2023, 9:10am

So, i’ve just returned to Linux, and am woefully unaware of many things… I do like my games, although it sadens me, that most my games (75%) on Steam can’t be played on Linux. Never the less, i still got a few.
X3 is one of those titles, and i like just chilling to it, when i’ve got time on my hands…

So, i was playing just now, and listening to Spotify in the background, and about an hour in, i noticed that the sound from X3 had disappeared ? Spotify was still playing…

I rebooted my PC. Updated my Tumbleweed. And a couple other things, but everytime i start my X3 now, it’s without any sound. - Anyone have any experience with this ? And a potential fix ?

Spotify works fine still… So i know i have sound, and it’s not muted…

Lazzie · November 3, 2023, 6:58pm

Reinstalled Tumbleweed. And got it working again. The computer and everything runs perfectly. Smoothly. It’s everything i hoped for.
I’ve had 3 great days, with sound in all games, since i reinstalled… Then about an hour ago, for absolutely NO reason, sound up and disappeared AGAIN…

Anyone got a clue, how i might regain the sound ? What i might try to get it back again ? - Sound is important in the game, as it gives audiotory ques, if you have ships, or factories being attacked…

Thanks…

Lazzie · November 3, 2023, 7:00pm

Oh, and i tried uninstalling, and reinstalling X3… No avail… Last install i tried to do that with Steam as well, with no effect…

deano_ferrari · November 4, 2023, 7:34pm

I assume PipeWire is active in your environment? Do you also have ‘pipewire-alsa’ and ‘pipewire-pulseaudio’ installed? (These packages provide wrapper support for applications that work with ALSA and PulseAudio in a PipeWire environment.)

Post the output from

systemctl --user list-units | egrep -i "wire|pulse"

zypper se -si wire

Also, compare the output from

lsof /dev/snd/*

when the game sound is working and not working.

Lazzie · November 4, 2023, 8:17pm

Thank you. I’ll look into that…

Lazzie · November 4, 2023, 8:45pm

Systemctl :
sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:01.2-0000:02:00.2-0000:03:08.0-0000:04:00.0-net-wlo1.device loaded active plugged RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
sys-subsystem-net-devices-wlo1.device loaded active plugged RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
pipewire-pulse.service loaded active running PipeWire PulseAudio
pipewire.service loaded active running PipeWire Multimedia Service
wireplumber.service loaded active running Multimedia Service Session Manager
pipewire-pulse.socket loaded active running PipeWire PulseAudio
pipewire.socket loaded active running PipeWire Multimedia System Sockets

Zypper :

lsof :

lsof: WARNING: can’t stat() fuse.portal file system /run/user/1000/doc
Output information may be incomplete.
lsof: WARNING: can’t stat() fuse.gvfsd-fuse file system /run/user/1000/gvfs
Output information may be incomplete.
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
pipewire 2048 Lazzie 55u CHR 116,1 0t0 452 /dev/snd/seq
pipewire 2048 Lazzie 56u CHR 116,1 0t0 452 /dev/snd/seq
wireplumb 2050 Lazzie 35u CHR 116,15 0t0 754 /dev/snd/controlC2
wireplumb 2050 Lazzie 36u CHR 116,12 0t0 727 /dev/snd/controlC1
wireplumb 2050 Lazzie 38u CHR 116,11 0t0 716 /dev/snd/controlC0

As i stated in the begining - I’m woefully… Well, “dumb” for a better word… Most of this is jibberish to me… Not sure what i’m looking for…

But as far as a comparison between sound on and sound off ? Well, if you mean in regards to X3… I have to reinstall tumbleweed, to get the sound back, as i have no clue how else to get it back… If i did, this would be a problem…

I read a post, saying with steam games, lacking sounds, you could try disabling Pulse Audio. So i did that…

Almost everything lost its sound. - Not a big surprise there, in high sight… But what puzzled me, was a thing like “Audacious” didn’t ? I could hear music fine on that, but spotify, and Netflix (Chrome) was dead…
And of course, it did jack to my steam/X3 issue… ??

deano_ferrari · November 4, 2023, 9:38pm

It is not necessary for you to understand the requested output. That is to help others to understand your particular environment, and provide definitive information that might lead to the next steps - including further questions, or advice etc.

Anyway, the posted output shows that ‘pipewire-alsa’ and ‘pipewire-pulseaudio’ packages are already installed, and lsof is consistent with WirePlumber and PipeWire in control of sound devices.

When playing a steam game, examine the output from

wpctl status

We’re looking to see if the source and pertinent streams are are present.

hcvv · November 5, 2023, 10:54am

Just a few hints to make it easier for others. Please always include the line with the command inside the copy/paste. It is only one line more and as a bonus you do not have to says things like:

as that is then superfluous and incomplete.

Also use the Preformatted Text button </> from the toolbar of the post editor on your copied/pasted text.

Lazzie · November 6, 2023, 4:25pm

Ok, thank you… I’ll try to keep that in mind…

But after a few re-installs (Only way i can get my sound back, so far) - I’ve noticed, that the sound disappeared, the last couple of times, because i “Alt-tab” minimized the game. I use Chrome in the back ground, for various things related to the game. Complex calculators, ship stats, and so on…
So apparently, minimizing the damn thing, MIGHT(Not will) kill the sound. But once it’s gone, i can’t get it back. And there’s very little… Audio settings in X3… Basically, all you can do is adjust general volume, music volume and game sound…
This is very frustrating. I’ve been on Egosofts forums. Plenty of views. No replies. I’ve been on LinuxQuestions.org - Plenty of views, no answers. I’ve been scouring the internet, looking for posts that might even REMOTELY hold a clue… And nothing…
I really don’t wanna go back to windows. I really don’t… But i have no need for my computer, if not for the games… Everything else is just secondary, you know?