Sound stuttering/looping, and other issues

[aCRaSSiCauDa]

I recently started playing this game again. I always have problem with the sound stuttering/looping and the game freezes. Once I hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete the game runs fine until it freezes again. This happens every single time I play, so far I did not have any match for more than a minute.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Another thing is that many times when I try to play online, after loading the map; I get the message "Map is different from server version" or something similar.



I'd be grateful for any help as I got tired of searching for solutions, almost all google search results for this issue are now purple.

-Specs-
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.101014-0432)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q9400  @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 6140MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
Graphic Card: GeForce GTX 280
Sound Card: ASUS Xonar DX Audio Device

Posted this one Steam forums but no luck so far, hopefully someone around here ran into the same problem.

Thank you

[dr.flay]

Until you let us know what "this game" is, how can anyone help
This site is for all Unreal games (which have similar ini settings).

Try changing whatever audio renderer is set in the main ini file to something else,
Try swapping between DirectX and wave-out,
If you are using OpenAL audio, have you updated the driver?
http://connect.creativelabs.com/open...%20Vista™.aspx

Going by what you have posted, Vista is your first (and biggest problem).
Second, Vista SP2 was released in 2009. Why have you not updated ?
Look for the little update icon in the system tray, and open it (it is waiting for you to click OK).
Service packs are not automatic.
If you have disabled updates for some reason, then you can download the stand-allone version.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935791

The only other thing (until you say what game) I can suggest is to ALWAYS update you MoBo chip-set drivers, before sound and graphics.
The embedded chipset is the foundation of your PC. Everything talks to it, but it is always over-looked.

...but realistically, you need Windows 7 or XP

[aCRaSSiCauDa]

Oops my bad, it's Left 4 Dead 2.

I'll try the SP2. Just got the computer second hand though.

Will let you know of the result.

[Bi()ha2arD]

Vista SP2? Do yourself a favour and acquire Win7.

[aCRaSSiCauDa]

Bi()ha2arD I will try to get Win7, just can't afford it for now. Any other solution for this time?

[Bi()ha2arD]

Well, update all your drivers I guess. Also try verifying the game cache in steam. And try resetting the configs in L4D.

[aCRaSSiCauDa]

I've done all of this, I had just messed up a couple times with the console commands, is there any command to restore everything to original settings?

[dr.flay]

I should point out that "sound stuttering and looping" is not your problem. That's just what a PC does when the OS or something freezes. You are hearing the contents of audio-buffer (so actually your thread title is not that useful).

Don't know the required spec for a good game, but I'm guessing yours is plenty.
Though Vista has a need for lots more beef than 7.

If you have updated to SP2, and the mother-board chipset drivers, then you may have some BIOS settings incorrectly set.

Motherboards are supplied with the settings for compatibility, so you have no problems installing most OS's or hardware.
Very often I find most of my customers PCs still in this default state. You may be able to make improvements there.
If the BIOS has been adjusted by the previous owner, you may need to reset to the default or optimal settings (commonly F7) and set it up yourself.

I would also log the GPU temperature, and check the graph when windows responds after locking.
Try going down to 1024x768, or turning the antialiasing and anisotropic filtering to half of their max value.
Check the fan and heatsink on the GFX card. If the previous owner had an open fire, smoked, or had pets, you may need to remove an alien life-form from inside the PC.

If you can rule out the hardware letting you down, then it is most likely an issue with the windows installation (did you have a fresh install when you got it?).
Hopefully you have the windows disc? If it is a brand-name PC, it should have something in the start-menu, to burn an install disc. You may find the option to make the PC "factory-new" from the recovery boot option.
Alternatively, borrow a copy of Vista and use the key from the sticker somewhere on the PC case.

Other than that, maybe there's a Linux version of L4D2

Your other issue: Your caching seems odd if you have not been installing custom downloads, and only getting content from playing online, unless your files are getting corrupted.

I find many Vista SP1 PCs were installed with FAT32 not NTFS. Check what you have.
You should do regular scan-disk tests (once a month at least) with a second-hand drive if you do not know it's history.
A tool to check the "SMART" info of the drive, will tell you how healthy it is, and how many hours it has run.
Defraggler by Piriform will show SMART info, and let you do a disk-check.

[aCRaSSiCauDa]

Thanks guys. Updating to Vista SP2 seems to solve the issue. Appreciate your help