No Sound at all, but works fine for other Steam games

[STurtle75]

I do not hear any kind of sound with Portal2 [beta].

Other Steam games on my Linux laptop have sound without problems. I am on openSUSE 13.1, 64bit, PulseAudio. Portal2 was just installed a few days ago (March 2014). The game runs fine otherwise, I could complete several levels in Chapter 3 without any problems (after installing the closed nVidia driver).

I already checked and excluded these issues from the similar bug report #60:

Mixer Settings

I do see an output stream called "Portal 2 : Simple DirectMedia Layer" both in KMix and pavucontrol, and it is assigned to the correct audio device and it is not muted. Nevertheless, I disabled all other unused audio devices, just to be sure, but that did not change anything. The volume meter in pavucontrol for that stream does not show any activity either.

Library File Case

I also checked that the file ~/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Portal 2/bin/libMiles.so has the correct case.

Portal2 Audio Settings

The audio settings inside Portal2 are as follows: Master Volume: 80%, Music Volume: 50%, Speaker Configuration (greyed out): headphones, Sound Quality: Medium, Puzzlemaker Sounds: enabled, CC: Full, EnableVoice: Disabled.

Explicitly declaring PulseAudio

Furthermore, I also followed an older suggestion on the OpenSuse forums and started steam as as follows: SDL_AUDIODRIVER=pulseaudio steam, but I did not notice a change either - still no audio at all in Portal2.

Console Output

Here is the console output (with login replaced by user), but I could not see anything obvious:

> steam
Running Steam on opensuse 13.1 64-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)

(steam:4469): Gtk-WARNING **: Im Modulpfad »oxygen-gtk« konnte keine Themen-Engine gefunden werden,

(steam:4469): Gtk-WARNING **: Im Modulpfad »oxygen-gtk« konnte keine Themen-Engine gefunden werden,
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 78: saw unknown, expected number
[0314/084644:WARNING:proxy_service.cc(958)] PAC support disabled because there is no system implementation
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Generating new string page texture 2: 48x256, total string texture memory is 49,15 KB
Generating new string page texture 3: 256x256, total string texture memory is 311,30 KB
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Adding licenses for the following package(s): 0, 6100, 7878, 40051
roaming config store loaded successfully - 667 bytes.
migrating temporary roaming config store

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/11 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/0 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/1 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/2 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/3 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/4 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/5 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/6 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/7 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/8 settings: (1) type

** (steam:4469): WARNING **: replace_settings: error updating connection /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/9 settings: (1) type
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
sh: lspci: Kommando nicht gefunden.
ExecCommandLine: "/home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam"
System startup time: 8,32 seconds
Running Steam on opensuse 13.1 64-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME has been set by the user to: /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime
Generating new string page texture 72: 1024x256, total string texture memory is 1,36 MB
Generating new string page texture 73: 128x256, total string texture memory is 131,07 KB
Generating new string page texture 74: 128x256, total string texture memory is 1,49 MB
Generating new string page texture 75: 64x256, total string texture memory is 1,56 MB
Generating new string page texture 76: 32x256, total string texture memory is 1,59 MB
ExecCommandLine: "/home/user/.steam/root/ubuntu12_32/steam steam://open/driverhelperready"
ExecSteamURL: "steam://open/driverhelperready"
OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_EWindowTypeSteamDesktop, 0
Generating new string page texture 79: 128x256, total string texture memory is 1,72 MB
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Generating new string page texture 85: 384x256, total string texture memory is 2,11 MB
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
Game update: AppID 620 "Portal 2 (Beta)", ProcID 4561, IP 0.0.0.0:0
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
CGameStreamThread: Added instance ID 4561 for appid 620
CGameStreamThread: Set render instance ID 4561 for appid 620
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.
pid 4563 != 4562, skipping destruction (fork without exec?)
CGameStreamThread: Added instance ID 4562 for appid 620
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.
CGameStreamThread: Added instance ID 4564 for appid 620
CGameStreamThread: Added instance ID 4565 for appid 620
SDL video target is 'x11'

SDL failed to create GL compatibility profile (whichProfile=0!

CGameStreamThread: Set render instance ID 4565 for appid 620
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(gameoverlayui)/version(20140310202955_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(gameoverlayui)/version(1.0_client)
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(gameoverlayui)/version(1.0_client)
Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 78: saw unknown, expected number

(gameoverlayui:4570): Gtk-WARNING **: Im Modulpfad »oxygen-gtk« konnte keine Themen-Engine gefunden werden,

(gameoverlayui:4570): Gtk-WARNING **: Im Modulpfad »oxygen-gtk« konnte keine Themen-Engine gefunden werden,
[0314/084657:WARNING:proxy_service.cc(958)] PAC support disabled because there is no system implementation
Using breakpad crash handler
Setting breakpad minidump AppID = 620
Forcing breakpad minidump interfaces to load
Looking up breakpad interfaces from steamclient
Calling BreakpadMiniDumpSystemInit
Looking up breakpad interfaces from steamclient
Calling BreakpadMiniDumpSystemInit
Steam_SetMinidumpSteamID:  Caching Steam ID:  76561198120682528 [API loaded yes]
Steam_SetMinidumpSteamID:  Setting Steam ID:  76561198120682528
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(gameoverlayui)/version(1.0_client)
Did not detect any valid joysticks.

CSoundEmitterSystemBase::BaseInit:  Manifest 'scripts/game_sounds_manifest.txt' with bogus file type 'new_sound_scripts_must_go_below_here', expecting 'declare_file' or 'precache_file'

Convar r_flashlightscissor has conflicting FCVAR_CHEAT flags (child: no FCVAR_CHEAT, parent: has FCVAR_CHEAT, parent wins)

OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_EWindowTypeNonSteamDesktop, 0
SDL video target is 'x11'
SDL failed to create GL compatibility profile (whichProfile=0!
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_framebuffer_object.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_APPLE_fence.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_NV_fence.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_ARB_sync.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_draw_buffers2.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_bindable_uniform.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_APPLE_flush_buffer_range.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_ARB_map_buffer_range.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_ARB_occlusion_query.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_APPLE_texture_range.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_APPLE_client_storage.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_ARB_uniform_buffer.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_ARB_vertex_array_bgra.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_vertex_array_bgra.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_ARB_framebuffer_object.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_GREMEDY_string_marker.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_ARB_debug_output.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_direct_state_access.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_NV_bindless_texture.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_AMD_pinned_memory.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample_blit_scaled.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_texture_sRGB_decode.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_ATI_meminfo.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GL_EXT_texture_compression_dxt1.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt3.
This system DOES NOT support the OpenGL extension GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt5.
This system supports the OpenGL extension GLX_EXT_swap_control_tear.
Did not detect any valid joysticks.
CSoundEmitterSystemBase::BaseInit:  Manifest 'scripts/game_sounds_manifest.txt' with bogus file type 'new_sound_scripts_must_go_below_here', expecting 'declare_file' or 'precache_file'
Convar r_flashlightscissor has conflicting FCVAR_CHEAT flags (child: no FCVAR_CHEAT, parent: has FCVAR_CHEAT, parent wins)

 ##### swap interval = -1     swap limit = 1 #####
CClientSteamContext logged on = 1

Convar building_cubemaps has conflicting FCVAR_CHEAT flags (child: has FCVAR_CHEAT, parent: no FCVAR_CHEAT, parent wins)

Game.dll loaded for "Half-Life 2"

Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
Fontconfig error: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 70: non-double matrix element
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf", line 78: saw unknown, expected number
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1394510273_client)
OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_EWindowTypeGame, 620
/home/user/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Portal 2/portal2.sh: Zeile 46:  4565 Getötet                ${GAME_DEBUGGER} "${GAMEROOT}"/${GAMEEXE} "$@"
Game removed: AppID 620 "Portal 2 (Beta)", ProcID 4565 

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.

(steam:4469): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.
OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_EWindowTypeNonSteamDesktop, 0

[Tele42]

I hit a simular issue on Gentoo 64 bit with Portal 2 output to pulseaudio intermittently failing, however, this is not the normal audio pipeline for my system as pulseaudio is usually not running, and it picks up the alsa loopback device with no trouble.

[STurtle75]

I have the pulse-alsa-plugins installed, and I now enabled loopback within alsamixer, but I still dont hear anything. Alsamixer does not show an outputstream anyway.

Anyway, is Alsa worth investigating? The game recognizes Pulse and creates a pulse output stream, so far so good - it is just that this output stream remains mute.

[STurtle75]

Hm, issuing $ SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa steam did work. However, now it doesn't (It works fine at first, but I get a buffer underrun message on the console quickly). Instead $ SDL_AUDIODRIVER=pulseaudio steam works now. Maybe some update changed something. I also tried $ STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam as recommended on the openSUSE Steam page, but I did not see an immediate effect at the time. Hm.

[iirelu]

I'm having this issue except with every single valve game. Even non-valve source games have no sound any more. I've tried Portal 2, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, Half-Life, and Estranged Act 1. None of them have sound at all. Non-valve non-source games still have sound. All of these games used to have sound.

In addition, all the games with no sound also freeze eternally when closed, forcing me to pkill -9 them.

[dcelasun]

@iirelu I am having the _exact_ same problem, both sound and freeze-on-close. Did you ever find a solution to this?

Starting Steam with SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa fixes both issues but this literally didn't happen to me until yesterday.

[iirelu]

@dcelasun Some update to something fixed it, probably. I just stopped playing games for a while, came back, and everything was fine. Sorry I can't be of any help.

[dcelasun]

Hmm, thanks anyway.