WC3/DOTA: sounds gone

[QCassidy352]

this is a small gripe, but it's annoying. The sounds unique to dota (e.g. "first blood," "killing spree") no longer play for me. I thought they had just taken them out in one of the patches, but then I played with my brother and his were still there. He was on a PC though... anyone playing DotA on a mac and still hearing those sounds? Thanks!

 

[Edot]

Same thing happened to me. I checked the console, and there are a bunch of errors loading the sounds, but I have no idea why.

This is what I see in the console:

Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\Dominating.mp3, 7210 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\Double_Kill.mp3, 8046 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\firstblood.mp3, 6269 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\GodLike.mp3, 7314 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\Killing_Spree.mp3, 9509 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\MegaKill.mp3, 10449 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\Ownage.mp3, 10344 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\triple_kill.mp3, 7628 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\Unstoppable.mp3, 8150 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\WhickedSick.mp3, 10449 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\MonsterKill.mp3, 13375 bytes, -2048).
Couldn't MovieImportDataRef (Sounds\HolyShit.mp3, 9300 bytes, -2048).

In addition to those I find hundreds of these normal errors
WAVPlayer::SetWAVSourceImmediate: Failed to open [Units\NightElf\AncientProtector\TreantAttack2.wav]
WAVPlayer::SetWAVSourceImmediate: Failed to open [Units\NightElf\AncientProtector\TreantAttack1.wav]
WAVPlayer::SetWAVSourceImmediate: Failed to open [Abilities\Weapons\WitchDoctorMissile\WitchDoctorMissileHit1.wav]
WAVPlayer::SetWAVSourceImmediate: Failed to open [Units\Creeps\HeroFlameLord\FireLordMissileDeath1.wav]

I wonder if it has something to do with any quicktime plugins that are installed. Do you have any installed like Flip4Mac or DivX?

 

[QCassidy352]

VERY interesting finds, thanks a lot. Yes, I have both DivX and Flip4Mac installed. Have you found (tried to find?) any fix?

 

[Sdashiki]

this is a small gripe, but it's annoying. The sounds unique to dota (e.g. "first blood," "killing spree") no longer play for me. I thought they had just taken them out in one of the patches, but then I played with my brother and his were still there. He was on a PC though... anyone playing DotA on a mac and still hearing those sounds? Thanks!

They removed the sounds to cut down on the size of each map and the loading time. I think they did. I havent heard the sounds since like v6.x i think


Then again, clarification is needed, is this DotA for RoC or FT?


ps: you have to had also known that those sounds were actually taken from Unreal Tournament.

 

[QCassidy352]

They removed the sounds to cut down on the size of each map and the loading time. I think they did. I havent heard the sounds since like v6.x i think

That's what i thought too, until I heard the sounds on my brother's PC on the current version. And if you look Edot's post, it seems clear that the sounds should be playing, but there's an error.

Then again, clarification is needed, is this DotA for RoC or FT?

Frozen Throne

ps: you have to had also known that those sounds were actually taken from Unreal Tournament.

Nope, didn't know that. The only games I've ever played are blizzard games and the Civilization series.

 

[Edot]

Well I have started investigating this a little further. I have uninstalled Flip4mac and DivX. To my knowledge I have no other quicktime plugins installed, as I cannot find anything in the usual places. I am still getting these errors via the console.

This error was reported here on MacRumors immediately after the 1.21 universal binary patch in this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/272533/

I also came up with this post regarding the MovieImportDataRef error I am seeing.

http://lists.apple.com/archives/QuickTime-API/2001/Apr/msg00213.html

It seems like this error can be thrown if the mp3 file is not formatted in a way that Quicktime is expecting. So there could be many causes to this problem.

1) The sound files in DotA changed around the time the 1.21 patch was released.

2) The 1.21 patch is referencing sound files in a new manner than older versions of Warcraft, and this new way is causing errors.

3) A newer version of Quicktime was released and changed the way MovieImportDataRef works and now throws error for these files.

I am guessing that number one is not the problem simply because the DotA developers had no reason to change the sound files. One or both of the other two causes are more probable however. I am going to try and revert back from version 1.21 of Warcraft to an earlier version and see if the errors still exist. If they do then we know it is a quicktime issue, or more unprobable a Dota issue. If it fixes the problem then it is a Warcraft 1.21 issue.

 

[Edot]

I tested this issue by reinstalling WC3 and installing the stand alone 1.20e patch. The sounds in the current DotA map 6.48b work fine. So the issue is with the 1.21 patch. Unless you want to revert to 1.20e and lose all the advantages of the 1.21 universal binary patch it looks like you will have to do without the sounds until Blizzard releases a fix.

If you are going to reinstall WC3 make sure to backup the following folders outside of the WC3 application folder or you will lose a lot of saved and customized data.

Maps folder, specifically the Download folder within the Maps folder.
Save folder
Replay folder
CustomKeys.txt or any custom key files you have within the WC3 folder.
Anything else you put in the WC3 folder that you may want to keep.

You can then copy the folders back after you reinstall WC3.

Make sure you download that stand alone patch from blizzard before connecting to Battle.net or you will get the current 1.21 patch instead.

It can be found here:

http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/war3x/patches/Mac/

I am guessing the sounds aren't this important to you. They aren't for me. There are too many improvements performance wise to justify reverting to the old 1.20e non-universal binary patch, but at least you know why the sounds aren't working and how to get them back.

If you just miss them, you can download them from this thread (free membership required):

http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showtopic=42237&hl=sounds


Good Luck.

 

[QCassidy352]

thanks very much, Edot! That's a lot of exploring and experimenting on your part. I'm glad to know what's causing it. But you're right - it's not worth losing UB support to get those sounds back. *Especially* not when I'm on a macbook (the GMA 950 needs every drop of help it can get ).

Disappointing that the problem can't be fixed (and likely will not be, since DotA is not a blizzard-supported map), but I'll gladly stick with the 1.21 patch.

Thanks again for all your hard work on this silly question!

 

[jephyb]

Straight from the horses mouth at blizzard:

"As I recall the problem is that he is storing those sounds as MP3's in the mopaq archive, but he is also applying mopaq compression, and the Mac sound engine can't play the MP3's if they are also compressed in the archive, it needs them to be stored as the raw MP3 data with no additional compression in the MPQ."

Maybe contact Ice Frog about this issue?

 

[aquanutz]

I like where your head is at, jephyb. It's almost as if you and I always pwn in 2v2 apemom...

 

[Edot]

Straight from the horses mouth at blizzard:

"As I recall the problem is that he is storing those sounds as MP3's in the mopaq archive, but he is also applying mopaq compression, and the Mac sound engine can't play the MP3's if they are also compressed in the archive, it needs them to be stored as the raw MP3 data with no additional compression in the MPQ."

Maybe contact Ice Frog about this issue?

The sounds work on 1.20e. Perhaps the sounds are encoded wrong, which was of my guesses in the above posts, but blizzard must have also changed the way they are loaded, or they wouldn't have worked in 1.20e. Perhaps the sounds can be encoded differently and they will work in 1.21, but what broke the sounds was the 1.21 patch not the way the sounds were encoded. I'd guess the sounds have been the same format all along.

I'll send an e-mail to IceFrog and inform him of the issue. I'm guessing he is already aware of it.

 

[Calipso]

Bumping this, as you seem to have missed a larger problem. As someone posted above, there are errors other than the dota sounds.

In addition to those I find hundreds of these normal errors
WAVPlayer::SetWAVSourceImmediate: Failed to open [Units\NightElf\AncientProtector\TreantAttack2.wav]
WAVPlayer::SetWAVSourceImmediate: Failed to open [Units\NightElf\AncientProtector\TreantAttack1.wav]
WAVPlayer::SetWAVSourceImmediate: Failed to open [Abilities\Weapons\WitchDoctorMissile\WitchDoctorMissileHit1.wav]
WAVPlayer::SetWAVSourceImmediate: Failed to open [Units\Creeps\HeroFlameLord\FireLordMissileDeath1.wav]

As he said, there are 100 hundreds more. I am having the exact same problem, and have reported to blizzard.

Straight from the horses mouth at blizzard:

"As I recall the problem is that he is storing those sounds as MP3's in the mopaq archive, but he is also applying mopaq compression, and the Mac sound engine can't play the MP3's if they are also compressed in the archive, it needs them to be stored as the raw MP3 data with no additional compression in the MPQ."

Maybe contact Ice Frog about this issue?

This may be, but that does not explain the awful sounds in normal game play and all the other errors other people are getting. It DEFINITELY has something to do with the 1.21 patch and intel machines. Because i have an old 3 year eMac with powerpc processor sitting beside me and it is running 10.4.11 - and I can play war3 flawlessly on it, with no sound errors. I received my new iMac 5 days ago, and it has 10.5.1 with intel processor and there are errors.

I posted a video on youtube of how the sound is messed up on my machine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sOAg_EKL7k

 

[haiggy]

My sound seems to be fine... I don't have DivX I don't think but I do have Flip4Mac installed.

Recently I've gotten a lag spike issue... still investigating

 

[QCassidy352]

Glad this issue is resurrected, as it still bugs me. Calipso, good catch on the other sounds being off - I never really noticed that. I guess there isn't much we can do though - except email blizzard and hope they take care of it in a future patch. It's an old game, but they are very good to mac folks (at least, before the merger... let's hope it stays that way).

Haiggy, are you playing on the intel machine in your sig without problems? That would be interesting indeed...

 

[haiggy]

Glad this issue is resurrected, as it still bugs me. Calipso, good catch on the other sounds being off - I never really noticed that. I guess there isn't much we can do though - except email blizzard and hope they take care of it in a future patch. It's an old game, but they are very good to mac folks (at least, before the merger... let's hope it stays that way).

Haiggy, are you playing on the intel machine in your sig without problems? That would be interesting indeed...

Yeah I'm on a new MBP and my sounds seem to be fine.

 

[Calipso]

Well, discovered that you can "fix" the problem by running in Rosetta mode, but then you do not get the vast performance upgrade on the intel machines. The difference between Rosetta mode and non Roesetta is quite alot!

If you right click on Warcraft 3 application, you can tick the box, run using Rosetta. It fixes the sound problem, but as I said, the grahpics are poorer. The problem lies 100% in the patch, either on its own, or interacting with quicktime or something, when using the intel version.

I have e-mailed blizzard, any I await a response. You can e-mail them yourselves to report the problem - macsupport@blizzard.com

Make sure to add your system profiler as XML (zip it too) too your e-mail.

 

[QCassidy352]

Well, discovered that you can "fix" the problem by running in Rosetta mode, but then you do not get the vast performance upgrade on the intel machines. The difference between Rosetta mode and non Roesetta is quite alot!

especially on a macbook!

Good find, but as you said, not really a fix. I'll email them too and hope somebody notices. Blizzard is usually pretty good about that.

(which reminds me - has anyone seen rbarris around the forums lately?)

 

[KingYaba]

Well, discovered that you can "fix" the problem by running in Rosetta mode, but then you do not get the vast performance upgrade on the intel machines. The difference between Rosetta mode and non Roesetta is quite alot!

I don't see that option when I right click. Anyway, I sent an email so hopefully someone may look at this issue.

 

[Calipso]

KingYaba -

Firstly, I am presuming you have an Intel mac machine? Well go to the warcraft 3 directory in your applications folder. Then look for the file called "Warcraft III". Right click on this and click "Get info". Then you will see a box with "Open using Rosetta". Tick this, and it will run with Rosetta.

On another note, I got a response from Blizzard support, and they seemed to believe that the problem lied in the Dota map. However i did a test in single player, and the sound problems are still there. I uploaded a high res video, but dont want the bandwith to die, so I uploaded a lesser quality one on Youtube. However on youtube it is mono and highly compressed, so you do not get the full effect, but it is still noticable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXGYpUy8rjQ

The movie on the left, is recording using Rosetta. Window on the right is NOT using Rosetta. Notice the sniper sounds spiking and quieter and not playing properly. Its only one example of many.

 

[KingYaba]

My Macbook Pro runs quietly under Rosetta but the processor was reaching 85+ Celsius without the fans activating. Kind of nice to play the game without the notebook screaming but hearing the UT sounds is not worth overheating my innards.