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Changing audio output via the Steam client is unreliable or does not work #74

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doodlerobot opened this issue Feb 23, 2020 · 15 comments
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Changing audio output via the Steam client is unreliable or does not work #74

doodlerobot opened this issue Feb 23, 2020 · 15 comments
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@alkazar

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@doodlerobot
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doodlerobot commented Feb 23, 2020 •
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steam is showing 5 baffin HDMI/DP audio devices but unable to select HDMI as output. Whats strange is that sometimes HDMI shows up as option but still has no audio after selection.

using AMD RX 460 video card
@alkazar
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alkazar commented Feb 25, 2020 •
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The audio output selection screen in the Steam client seems to be unreliable sometimes. I am not sure what is going on, some users report it works fine, and others that it doesn't.

You can try this workaround:

  • plug in a keyboard & mouse
  • press ctrl-alt-f3 to open a tty
  • login with username gamer and password gamer
  • run sudo frzr-unlock to change the system to read-write mode
  • run sudo pacman -Sy
  • run sudo pacman -S pavucontrol
  • switch back to the UI with ctrl-alt-f7
  • add pavucontrol as a Steam shortcut from the settings and run it
  • use pavucontrol to switch the audio output

I will take a look if there is anything we can do to make a better workaround.

You can also try pacmd (already installed) or ponymix (needs to be installed) for switching audio output from the command line.

@alkazar
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alkazar commented Feb 26, 2020 •
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Looking at the Steam log, I see this error message when attempting to change audio output:
AL lib: (EE) ALCpulsePlayback_streamStateCallback: Received stream failure!

Looks like an issue with OpenAL. However, the audio output was changed for games, but not for the menu sound effects of Steam itself until after some time passed.

@doodlerobot
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doodlerobot commented Feb 26, 2020 via email

@doodlerobot
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doodlerobot commented Feb 26, 2020 via email

@doodlerobot
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doodlerobot commented Feb 26, 2020 via email

@sharkwouter
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That might explain a lot actually. Maybe this is stored in a directory which isn't writable by default.

@alkazar alkazar added this to To do in GamerOS Mar 4, 2020
@xxMagnanimoxx
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Installed GamerOs and I had no audio. I attempted the above measures to use pavucontrol but i was unsuccessful. The audio was stuck on sdif. I went into my MOBO bios and disabled the HD Audio controller. Sound instantly worked through my GPU HDMI connection.

@doodlerobot
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doodlerobot commented Mar 7, 2020 via email

@alkazar
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alkazar commented Mar 13, 2020

Another option might be to install pulsemixer. It is a pretty easy to use ncurses based cli tool to change audio settings. I might just include this in a future GamerOS build by default.

@alkazar alkazar moved this from To do to In progress in GamerOS Mar 22, 2020
@alkazar alkazar self-assigned this Mar 22, 2020
@alkazar alkazar moved this from In progress to In Testing in GamerOS Mar 22, 2020
@alkazar
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alkazar commented Mar 22, 2020 •
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I added audio controls to Steam Buddy. This doesn't fix the root cause, but offers an alternative. I am not sure that we can fix the root cause, likely Valve will need to fix the Steam Client.

@alkazar alkazar changed the title no sound via HDMI Changing audio output via the Steam client is unreliable or does not work Mar 28, 2020
@alkazar alkazar moved this from In Testing to Backlog in GamerOS Mar 28, 2020
@alkazar
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alkazar commented Mar 28, 2020

The next release of GamerOS will also include a command-line/ncurses based audio settings program called pulsemixer installed by default which might be useful in some situations.

@alkazar alkazar removed this from Backlog in GamerOS Mar 28, 2020
@alkazar alkazar mentioned this issue Mar 31, 2020
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@alkazar
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alkazar commented Apr 12, 2020

Just a note, that I have been playing around with a testing build of GamerOS that includes two additional pulseaudio tools: ponymix and pulsemixer.

My own GamerOS machine would often boot without sound. I was able to fix this using pulsemixer to disable my unused sound interface and setting my hdmi interface to default.

I did also implement an audio swithcing interface into Steam Buddy, however, it doesn't work when Steam Buddy is run as a systemd service, so this will have to wait until I figure out how to fix that.

I also noticed that the Steam UI interface for switching audio DOES actually work. But you have to be extremely patient. I find I have to switch the sound interface a half-dozen or more times until the change sticks, then you have to navigate around and eventually the sound starts playing. Starting a game can also force the sound to start working again.

@Batterman
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Installed GamerOs and I had no audio. I attempted the above measures to use pavucontrol but i was unsuccessful. The audio was stuck on sdif. I went into my MOBO bios and disabled the HD Audio controller. Sound instantly worked through my GPU HDMI connection.

That worked for me as well!

@wumbowarrior
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Might be that I'm using weird hardware, but I'm having this issue as well. I grabbed an HP EliteDesk 705 G4 because it packs a good amount of power in a small form factor and it's not too expensive, but I think the hardware is having some issues.

I'm also having issues with bluetooth and games running really choppy when they ran fine on Windows. I'll try some of these suggestions and update later.

@Samsagax
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Does this issue still relevant? If so, please comment and we will reopen it.

BPM is being phased out in favor of Gamepadui and it works fine there. Could you please test? If it doesn't work for you, the alternative is using pulsemixer from the command line to switch outputs immediately.

@tbyte80 tbyte80 mentioned this issue Feb 19, 2024
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@Samsagax @alkazar @doodlerobot @sharkwouter @Batterman @wumbowarrior @xxMagnanimoxx