Radio stutter fix

Introduction

This article tries to give a summary of all possible solutions regarding the Radio Stuttering which came across the Radio Stutter Thread. Links to forum posts can be taken as reference.

NPCs use the ogg codec.

Wasteland Radios use wave format,

Pipboy uses mp3.

That means there are 3 sorts of codecs you need to play all sounds perfectly. The "windows default codecs" works fine, since the game wants to use them. "3rd party" mp3 codecs tend to cause pipboy stuttering, because the default codec get overlayed.

Four basic ways to fix the sound problems:

• A) Increase the size of the audio cache in fallout.ini
• B) Install some "good" codecs and hope they solve it.
• C) Uninstall / Configure "bad" codecs.
• D) Disable all codecs you don't need

If option A) does not work, then in some cases option D) may be your best choice, since you are able to deactivate the codecs you don't need temporarily - without uninstalling

A) Increase the size of the audio cache

Open your fallout.ini in a text editor such as Notepad (your fallout.ini file is located in your Documents or My Documents directory, under My Games\Fallout3\).

Find:

iAudioCacheSize=2048

Try doubling the value to:

iAudioCacheSize=4096

Or if you have a lot of performance to spare:

iAudioCacheSize=8192

Save the altered fallout.ini, exit the text editor, then try running Fallout 3 and check for stuttering audio.

B) Install some "good" codecs

Don't forget to reboot your System after (un)installing codecs, otherwise the issue may persist or could cause scratching noises.

1. Install k-Lite Codec like recommended by pimpbot (post 16)

   Go to <Windows Start Menu> \ Programs \ K-Lite Codec Pack \ Tools

   Run the Codec Tweak Tool and checkmark Detect broken codecs and filters, reboot (post 82)

2. Install CCCP Codec Pack (Post 48 & 61)
3. If you use Vista, you could try the Vista Codec Package.
4. Try to install MADFilter. (confirmed for Vista and Win7 only)
5. Use another driver / update your sound-card (be carefully, leave this point if you are not sure)
6. Try doubling audio cache like suggested by frankc (post 2)

C) Deactivate / uninstall "bad" codecs

1. Uninstall all codecs cine_eater mentioned -> This are: Arcsoft, AC3

   (post 17) and the ArcSoft Audio Decoder (post 73)

2. Also uninstall the TVersity Codec Pack
3. To deactivate ffdshow make sure that the fallout3.exe has been added to the exception list of the control panel.

   

   (taken from post 40, click to enlarge) post 22 and 40 should help.

4. Under Windows XP change your Hardware Acceleration level (post 43)

Windows XP

• Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Volume tab -> Speaker Settings section -> Advanced... -> Performance tab -> Hardware Acceleration -> Basic
• Don't turn it off, or all sound will end up stuttering!
• If all sound stutters at Basic, go up to the next level.

D) If the Radio is still stuttering you'll have to deactivate all codecs you don't need

The little tool InstalledCodec is very practical to deactivate codecs. You’ll have to sort out the codecs you need to play Fallout with all sounds and set them active.

For Windows XP, my suggestion how to do

1. load the little tool InstalledCodec
2. run the InstalledCodec.exe
3. Disable all Codecs (Ctrl + A to select all, then disable all)
4. Sort to Type (by clicking on tab "Type")

   -> hold shift and push arrow up/down to select all Type= driver – video entries

   -> enable them

5. Sort to company (click on tab "Company")

   -> hold shift and hit arrow up/down to highlight all “Microsoft Corporation” codecs and enable them

6. Enable the two Company = Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen IIS – Codecs, these are:

   Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec and

   MPEG Layer-3 Decoder

Enable the two Company = Sipro Lab Telecom Inc. codecs

Load a game and see what is happening (wait a while, because of the audio cache)

For Windows Vista and Windows 7, thanks to Gawdzila and Rebooter (post 88,refering to this post}

1. Download MADFilter
2. Extract MADFilter.ax and Register.bat from archive and copy them to: C:\WINDOWS\SYSWOW64.
3. Click on Windows Start Button. Go to All Programs-> Accessories. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator #:from context menu. Behind the command prompt, type: CD C:\WINDOWS\SYSWOW64 and hit enter. Then type Register and hit enter. If it #:worked you will get a message saying that MADFilter.ax was successfully registered.
4. Extract InstalledCodec and run the InstalledCodec.exe.
5. Find Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec in the list, right-click it and select "Disable Selected Items".

Good luck.

Thanks to anyone who contributed.