Soundmax integrated audio + VOIP

[JimmyTwoHand]

Now before you string me up for another VOIP post, mine is a little different. I do not have a mic yet but would still like to hear what other squad mates are saying. I enable VOIP in settings and set the volume and it will work fine in the game until I a ) join a squad or b ) the map changes or any loading takes place. Then it takes unilateral action and mutes itself, the only way to reenable it is to disconnect, change the settings and go back in. It also means i can never play in a squad and hear VOIP.

I have the Soundmax integrated digital audio (definitely not a Realtek) and it has the latest drivers according to the website. I do not use TS at the same time as trying VOIP.

It seems to be the same problem this chap below was having. Was there ever a solution found?

http://www.tacticalgamer.com/battlef...highlight=VOIP

I also found this in the readme:

OTHER ISSUES

- DELL 8400 Systems
There is an issue, unrelated to Battlefield 2, that occurs on DELL
8400 Systems; when the onboard SoundMAX audio is enabled and there is
a Sound Blaster Live 24-bit sound card (Model 0401) installed.
A work-around for this issue is to disable the SoundMAX audio in your
computers BIOS.

That is the computer i have, but do not have a SB card. Just the basic onboard job. Could this be part of the problem.

Everywhere else i have looked is a blank.

[Tempus]

I have nothing to offer, but I am wondering... How do you know that you can hear BEFORE you join a squad? In bf2, you only are able to hear other players AFTER you are in a squad.

[JimmyTwoHand]

Hmm, interesting. I know i have heard the VOIP in the public servers. The icon comes up and i can hear. I had assumed this was the commander or some kind of "in team" communication but maybe i had joined a squad. I was working on the basis that my VOIP stops working at some indeterminate point between enabling it and playing a few minutes of the game. I suppose it is an assumption that joining the squad triggers this, although i can not put forward any hard proof of this. Good point.

Tried fiddling with hardware acceleration and this doesnt solve the problem. Is it possible to get by with TS alone or is VOIP a pretty vital keystone of comms and procedure? Would not yet having my mic be causing this to switch off? IT should come through today so i will test that hypothesis later.

[bodark]

I have the same audio card integrated on my mobo but I never used it for BF2 because sound is awful. I use external M-Audio firewire adapter and it improved sound quality as well as frame rate. Sound quality is very important in BF2 because you can easily determine from what direction is tank approaching or if someone is sneaking behind to knife you. I recommend an external sound adapter.

[JimmyTwoHand]

Thanks for the suggestion mate. Im sure it would improve the exprience but I was hoping there might be some sort of fix which didnt need me to chuck $200 at the problem. I cant really shell that much out at the moment especially just before christmas....

[bodark]

Originally Posted by JimmyTwoHand

Thanks for the suggestion mate. Im sure it would improve the exprience but I was hoping there might be some sort of fix which didnt need me to chuck $200 at the problem. I cant really shell that much out at the moment especially just before christmas....

I got my card for 60$ on Ebay.

[JimmyTwoHand]

Noted. i just googled "External Boney M hot cable adapter" (i paraphrase) and was so shocked at the £100-299 price range i closed it. If this is the only solution to the problem then a mans gotta do what a man has gotta do. Hope there is another way around this though. $60 could get me a very nice bottle of christmas Brandy. Really turn the pudding into a smouldering lump of charcoal and scare the fire brigade....but i digress.

[bodark]

Originally Posted by JimmyTwoHand

Noted. i just googled "External Boney M hot cable adapter" (i paraphrase) and was so shocked at the £100-299 price range i closed it. If this is the only solution to the problem then a mans gotta do what a man has gotta do. Hope there is another way around this though. $60 could get me a very nice bottle of christmas Brandy. Really turn the pudding into a smouldering lump of charcoal and scare the fire brigade....but i digress.

You can try BF2VoiceSetup.exe, it is in Program Files\EA GAMES\Battlefield 2 and it is used to setup BattleCommo microphone level. Make sure your card is operating in Windows, dxdiag (Start>Run) is the best tool for that. I hope that helps.

[JimmyTwoHand]

Thanks again for your help. Ive just got my mic/headset combo and set up TS on it. Now that there is a mic plugged in VOIP seems to be working ok so far. I wonder if it checks for an output device and if not found it switches itself off.... I have only had a quick run onto the servers and have not had a map change yet so fingers crossed for that.

[StrikeFear]

I'm not sure if this will help:

I have an Audigy 2 Platinum. The important thing about the "Platinum" is that it has a front panel that gives you some plugins and dials, inluding a very important "Line-in2/Mic-2" jack along with a gain knob.

Using the recording settings dialog, I set the device from which I wish to record as the "Line-in2/Mic-2".

Battlefield 2 (and I've noticed, HL2) are attempting to be helpful when the map loads, by setting my recording device to "Microphone", thinking that is the jack I am using.
(However, they're unfriendly in not giving me a way to turn that ****e off, cuz I don't use that jack)
After BF2 loads it's first map, and EVERY time HL2 loads a map, I have to alt-tab and change it back to "Line-in2/Mic-2".

My point? Is what you're experiencing something like that? Is BF2 mucking with your settings when it loads a map?

[JimmyTwoHand]

Thanks for the input StrikeFear. I think you could be right about the settings. Since i got the mic through VOIP has worked perfectly. Joining squads, loading maps etc does not affect it. I have come to the conclusion that upon loading or trying to join a squad which was using VOIP the game checked for a recording device(despite having the broadcast volume set to 0 in BF2 options), and, when not finding it, turned off VOIP. All the fiddles which were suggested did not work without the mic. Now i have one i can turn acceleration back on and restore normal settings without a hitch....

Not being too technically minded i could well be wrong but fortunately it seems to have cleared up by itself...

[elmerfudd]

If you happen to have SoundMAX Integrated audio made my Analog Devices(same thing that I have), you have to rollback your drivers for it to the ones made at 4/9/2004. Old yes, but it's the only driver version that worked for me in BF2.

[JimmyTwoHand]

I have to assume my SoundMax isnt made by them as currently the latest drivers are working fine. Just to clarify this for anyone else who may be searching this post in the future for a similar problem, VOIP only worked for me after getting a mic/headset. Before then no combination of settings would allow VOIP to stay enabled through an entire game.

[UberSprite]

I had a similar problem with SoundMax not working for BF2142's VOIP (I have not used TS yet, but Skype and X-Fire work perfect). All settings were correct, and all tests would perform flawlessly. Once entering play, the VOIP would automatically disable.

My solution was to go into (any one of these):
Windows XP Control Panel > Sounds & Audio Devices > Volume Tab > Speaker Settings Section > Click Advanced Button
Windows XP Control Panel > Sounds & Audio Devices > Audio > Sound Playback Section > Click Advanced Button
Windows XP Control Panel > Sounds & Audio Devices > Voice Tab > Voice Playback Section > Click Advanced Button

Any one of those will bring up the Advanced Audio Properties Window.
Go into > Performance Tab

Then I adjusted the Hardware Acceleration Slider from "Full" down to "Basic".

This solved my VOIP Disable Issue.

[Steiner]

Strange. Sounds almost exactly like the problem that I ran into two days ago, and I also run the same kind of computer and onboard-card as the original poster.