So... What happened to the Sound Effects? UPDATED: Solved!

[Alex]

EDIT: Solved 

For some strange reason, my game has suddenly stopped playing most (but not all) of the sound effects in the game. The game is freshly installed after formatting my hard drive due to a virus yadda yadda yadda and all that crap. I installed FreeTime a few days ago and the sound was perfectly alright and all the sound effects were playing correctly. But now most of the sound effects such as the clicking noises (when clicking a button), the "cha ching" noise when buying something, footsteps, the pop-up noise, some sim voices ect. seem to have mysteriously stopped (although obvious major SFX such as toilets flushing and telephones ringing still work). A quick look at the cheats console showed loads of audio sound effects errors, but I don't know what's causing it. I thought it might have been something in my downloads folder but I completely disabled it and haven't really installed anything new apart from that dodgy looking file for the Montgomery Hawker.

So, does anyone have any idea what's going on here? It's getting a little difficult now that I am unable to hear half of the game. I might try completely deleting my Custom Radio Stations and see whether that's borking my SFX, but I think they were still working when I made my first station.

[bowrain]

Why don't you tried removing your downloads before even posting?

[Alex]

I did try. It had absolutely no effect, hence why I am here.

EDIT: I tried deleting my custom stations, but every time I reload the game they come back again! I'm really beginning to think it's causing the problems so I've deleted the 'customstation' file in the music folder and will test to see what happens.

EDIT: Okay the stations are gone but the audio errors are still present. I can't think what I have done to have caused this. Here is an error log:

ERROR TSAudio: Segment at %DataDirectory%Res\Sound\Locale\%Language%\Sfx\Samples\Karaoke\ has no extensions defined in section DBSegmentDirectoryFiles
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(944)
ERROR TSAudio: Segment at %DataDirectory%Res\Sound\Locale\%Language%\Sfx\Tracks\Karaoke\ has no extensions defined in section DBSegmentDirectoryFiles
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(944)
ERROR TSAudio: Segment at %DataDirectory%Res\Sound\Locale\%Language%\Sfx\Samples\DJBooth\ has no extensions defined in section DBSegmentDirectoryFiles
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(944)
ERROR TSAudio: Segment at %DataDirectory%Res\Sound\Locale\%Language%\Sfx\Tracks\DJBooth\ has no extensions defined in section DBSegmentDirectoryFiles
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(944)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Buy) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Build) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (CAS) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (NHood) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (CAS) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Buy) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Build) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (NHood) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (NHood) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Buy) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (Build) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudioMusic     : Music category (CAS) listed twice in category property set.
.\source\TSAudioMusicManager.cpp(1667)
ERROR TSAudio: Failed to cache resource. 0b9eb87e:0da1f2ca:ff99e0de
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(1220)
ERROR TSAudio: Failed to cache resource. 0b9eb87e:eb8ab356:ff8bceb2
.\source\TSAudioResourceManager.cpp(1220)

[morriganrant]

That is not the correct way to submit an error log. Look for the right instructions here.

Other then that, I have no information on the subject other then the fact that many sound errors are normal. Eaxis was stupid with it and it's been busted since the beginning. I've noticed even more sound errors since I've added FT.

[SimKat]

Yep been getting those same audio&application errors forever sence Seasons and I still haven't gotten any answers on it yet.I also have this glitch when hovering over the phone it causes stuttering lag and it does it too with the stereo when its turned on and hoverd over.
Maybe a leak somewhere?I dunno but I hope someone knows and can help.Goodluck and if you find out before me let me know k?And vise versa.

[danicast]

I have audio errors like these since NL. There was a thread somewhere where Pescado explain what are these errors. Maybe the myth thread, can´t really tell.

[jsalemi]

The audio errors are harmless -- they've been around since the original version, and are left-over debugging stuff.

[Sivany]

Do you need a driver for your sound card or for your speakers that might need redownloading or updating? I'm not particularly good with stuff like that but I remember once when I plugged in some new speakers they seemed to work fine for some things but for other things they didn't. My brother fixed it in the end and I'm sure he said he'd downloaded a new driver to make them work properly. Just a thought.

[jsalemi]

Another thing to check is that you haven't accidentally changed the type of audio in the control screen, as in made it 5.1 when your sound card doesn't completely support 5.1 sound, or doesn't down-mix the 5.1 to 2.0/2.1 properly.

[Alex]

Yes it turned out to be the 5.1 setting, which is strange because my card supports it and I have a surround speaker system (plus it worked before). 4.0 works though.

As I mentioned, I just reinstalled windows recently. Is there perhaps an option I need to set somewhere on my computer that I have overlooked?

[jsalemi]

As I mentioned, I just reinstalled windows recently. Is there perhaps an option I need to set somewhere on my computer that I have overlooked?

No, I'd say more likely you need to either update your sound card drivers, or delete and re-install them.  I know the Creative cards come with a utility that sets the sound card to the type of speakers connected, and that may be mis-configured, so check that first.  If you have another type of sound card, or don't have such a utility, time to do the update or re-install dance.

[Kazzandra]

Well, that takes care of one of my (many) Sims-related problems, too. Same situation-- same errors-- same setup-- same fix! That's probably the most surprising thing of all Kudos to everyone.

[Alex]

I've just realised that my rear speakers do not work. At all. They are plugged in, obviously (it's the first thing I check). All the computer sound settings are set to 5.1 surround sound (and I've tried others for good measure). My soundcard, Realtek AC97, comes with a utility to configure the sound card and as far as I am aware, it's all set to 5.1 settings. I've also installed the latest driver for it. Still, absolutely no sound at all. There's a speaker test as well, and when I click the rear speakers the sound comes out of the middle one instead (front speakers work fine for that matter). Anyone know what's wrong here?

[jsalemi]

Is it the on-board (i.e., built-into the motherboard) Realtek?  I had a lot of problems with mine on a brand new motherboard, to the point I said the hell with it and put a Creative card into the computer.  They're cheap enough.

[Kazzandra]

Ah yes-- I also share the same on-board sound card. Well, there's our problem then.  Plus I didn't have this problem at all until the latest driver came out. My speakers work fine as long as I keep them on an inaccurate setting! Yay for borked technology! Roll back driver time!

[Alex]

Now this is weird. I simply went into "Sound Effect" and set the speakers to Stereo then back to 5.1 and they work perfectly again! I don't know it didn't work the first time I set it, but they work now!