Re-encoding could solve all your freezing, CTD, and sound problems

[scotoman]

OK, I've posted this in another thread but thought it deserved its own because people are finding it fixes their game.

X2 had the same problem with mp3s being encoded in a way that my computer does not like. I tried changing codecs and Windows Media Player but it didn't help. I learnt this trick on this forum back then and when I had problems and CTDs and some music garbled in X3, I tried it again. Since then I've played the game smoothly with no crashes, freezes, and hardly any stuttering.

All you have to do is re-encode the mp3s in the soundtrack folder (make a back-up first) and that's it. You can use a free program, such as dbpoweramp.

This doesn't cost you anything to do, except for a few minutes, and it might fix your game.

For those who are unsure how to do this I've written it down step by step.

1. Download dbpoweramp from www.dbpoweramp.com. You want the dBpowerAMP Music Converter.

2. Install this.

3. Now back-up the mp3s in your X3 Reunion\soundtrack\ folder. Copy the whole folder to another location on your harddrive.

4. Select all the mp3s in the X3 Reunion\soundtrack\ folder. When selected right click and choose Convert To from the menu that pops up.

Alternative 4. If the Convert To option is not there, load dBpowerAMP and it asks you what files to convert. Browse to the X3 Reunion\soundtrack\ folder and select all the mp3s.

5. The options you want selected are Converting 99 files to Mp3 (Lame). You don't need to rename files. You can leave the default bit-rate, channels and frequency. Output to the same folder. Leave everything else as is and click 'Convert >>'

[Note: by lowering the bit-rate you do lose quality but make smaller files and therefore they should be faster loading. You can choose where you want the tradeoff. I converted to 56Kbps and can barely distinguish the quality difference. It doesn't effect the atmosphere for me one bit though Smile]

6. TA-DA! Takes a few minutes but then you'll have your shiny new mp3s. Play them in your media player of choice to make sure they sound good to you.

7. Load the game and see if it's made a difference.

Sorry if that over simplifies the procedure but in writing manuals as part of my job I find it's better to be thorough.

Let us know by posting back in this thread if that works for you.

Good luck

[krait_daoc]

This definitely worked for my game,I've not had a freeze or CTD since I did it (fingers crossed I won't ;=) )
Even if it dos'nt work for everyone,at least it does no harm as far as i can tell.

If it does go pear-shaped,then you can also copy/paste the original mp3's from the CD to your x3 mp3 folder.

[AsterXiphos]

Solved my problem so far . . . haven't had a freeze in the time it would have taken to have two or three. Back in the saddle again!

[muppetts]

Any official feedback on this from Mods?

[Crypton]

See updated post on this thread. *edited*

[MadBoris]

Well, I never had any crashes but I did recompile all to a higher bitrate at 160k at 44khz, as I was preserving quality of some of the 160k files. I seem to have had a couple more fps but it's too early to say I need to test more(only tested once). I will try 56k later. As information, the codec that is being used by default in X3 for MPEG 3 is 'l3codecx.ax' on a standard XP install. It's comes as part of DX9. There is an advanced version that comes base on windows and as part of media player l3codeca.acm(advanced) but I haven't noticed much difference in using that one. It's possible for some people that X3 is grabbing a different codec, it's quite the notorious problem. So I can see how a fixed bitrate at 44khz could make a difference for certain codecs. This seems like it could be a good workaround for some having mp3 codec issues until a better way to control codecs comes around.

[CBJ]

Any official feedback on this from Mods?

If it works then that is great, but people should generally try the less drastic methods to solve audio codec problems first.

[scotoman]

Thanks for all the input, and for CBJ letting people know that there's nothing wrong with the method

The only thing I'd add is that I consider it far less drastic to re-encode your mp3s than mess around with codecs that before X3 worked fine on your computer. Your computer ran well, you could play all audio files, video files, and games with no problems so why mess with that. If you follow my steps from above it's a very simple process and the rest of your computer continues to work

[DarkusChi]

Thanks Scotoman, seems to have workes for me so far (no freezes all morning, still a bit early to say for sure)

And also thankyou Egosoft for such a superb game, one of this complexity is bound to have some teething problems, however as the differing bit rate and frequency of the mp3s was known to cause some people troubles in X2, perhaps they should have been encoded to one rate for X3.

EDIT: Darn Spoke to soon just had a freeze , back to the drawing board!

[SteveMill]

Thanks for the link and the instructions, i'll give this a try but I don't want to lose quality. Brearing in mind I know nothing, what do I have to do to convert the mp3's at the original bps, using this utility?

how on earth in xp, can I find out what codec x3 is using? Or change codec priority?

Thanks

steve

[scotoman]

Hi Steve,

If you use the default setting of 128Kbps and 44100Hz in dbpoweramp you won't lose any quality. Some of the mp3s are already this but others are the lower 56Kbps.

If you follow the steps above, including backing up your soundtrack folder, you have nothing to fear from this method. You can retry it with your backed up mp3s as many times as you want

And if this works you won't have to mess around with codecs not that doing that ever solved anything for me.

[muppetts]

Any official feedback on this from Mods?

If it works then that is great, but people should generally try the less drastic methods to solve audio codec problems first.

But correcting the in game freezing problem? I would love to do this but I would also like an official comment that this is a solution to the freezing issues in the game, this would be a big step forward if this could be officially sanctioned as my may issues are all freezing!

[SteveMill]

Hi Steve,

If you use the default setting of 128Kbps and 44100Hz in dbpoweramp you won't lose any quality. Some of the mp3s are already this but others are the lower 56Kbps.

If you follow the steps above, including backing up your soundtrack folder, you have nothing to fear from this method. You can retry it with your backed up mp3s as many times as you want

And if this works you won't have to mess around with codecs not that doing that ever solved anything for me.

Cheers.

[CBJ]

Any official feedback on this from Mods?

If it works then that is great, but people should generally try the less drastic methods to solve audio codec problems first.

But correcting the in game freezing problem? I would love to do this but I would also like an official comment that this is a solution to the freezing issues in the game, this would be a big step forward if this could be officially sanctioned as my may issues are all freezing!

You seem to have misunderstood my reply. If doing this fixes any symptoms then that is because those symptoms are caused by audio codecs, whether it be performance issues, CTDs, freezes, screeching or stutter.

As you have probably gathered, audio codecs are among the biggest headaches for everyone here, players and moderators alike, and solutions like this are therefore welcome.

Obviously it is not ideal that people find themselves doing this, but the situation is rather difficult. If the Windows functionality were to behave as it was supposed to, and the standard audio codecs were to be used by Windows as they are supposed to be, then the issue would not arise.

Even offering the resampled files for download wouldn't necessarily be a good solution. First of all the amount of data that needed downloading would be huge, and second there is no guarantee that this would even work. It is quite possible that the only reason resampling works is because the exact same codec that is used for playback is used for encoding the file, meaning that the converted files that solve the problem for each person may be subtly different.

[acrh2]

Hi Steve,

If you use the default setting of 128Kbps and 44100Hz in dbpoweramp you won't lose any quality. Some of the mp3s are already this but others are the lower 56Kbps.

If you follow the steps above, including backing up your soundtrack folder, you have nothing to fear from this method. You can retry it with your backed up mp3s as many times as you want

And if this works you won't have to mess around with codecs not that doing that ever solved anything for me.

What "fixed" SETA freezing for me is using it in Freedom's Reach (or other lightly populated sectors where you are pretty much in an OOS situation).
Is there any reasonable explanation why poorly encoded (most likely very rushed job) mp3's might be the cause of freezes in busy sectors, but not in empty ones?

[scotoman]

muppetts, if you haven't re-encoded your mp3s yet, why not?

You won't negatively affect the game but you might cure it!

Even if it doesn't work you haven't lost anything. You could keep your newly encoded mp3s or copy back your original back-ups. It won't harm your game either way.


acrh2, my computer only had problems in some sectors because different sectors play different music. So it could be why some sectors work and some don't. If you re-encode you take away that variable.

For all those people hesitant to try this, all I can say is:
Do it, you lose nothing and you might gain and if you don't at least that's another thing you know is not the problem with your game. If you follow the simple steps at the start of this thread you may join the others that this method has helped.

Good luck everyone

[Darth Ratty]

Does anyone know if setting the music volume to 0 actually stops it from playing, or does it just stop you hearing it? Setting it to 0 doesn't seem to affect game performance at all, so it either uses negligable resources when it's on or is still playing when set to 0.

[Crypton]

Believe it just stops you from hearing it. Same as turning down the Wave control on volume control.

[hox]

yeah when I started getting the freezing I had the music at 0% its only when I turned it back on I noticed the 'stuck' looping music everyone else with the same problem has mentioned

[Crypton]

** UPDATED **

X3 - Reunion MP3 Re-Encoder v.2.5
Powered by: Lame Encoder
© 2005 - Crypton
Run - Decide - Choose - Encode

Changes:
- Single EXE distro
- Choose from 4 presets, or choose your own BitRate and SampleRate
- resample, no need for decoding first.

This program will do the following:
- Backup MP3's (renames origionals to *.mp_)
- Re-Encode/Sample MP3's to new settings of your choice.

Usage:
Copy the file x3encoder (x3encoder.exe)

to your:
\X3 Reunion\soundtrack\
folder

Double click it to run it.

If you decide you want the old MP3's back,
simply double click the undo (undo.bat) created in the soundtrack folder.

ToDo:
- Tag Track Numbers
- Tag where ingame the music can be heard
- Installer/uninstaller for more user friendly usage.

Problems? Bug? Typo? Or other error? Please PM me here on the EGOSOFT Forums.

// Regards,
Crypton

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J1FJS3AR

If anyone has a list of what music files go with what sector ingame, please PM me