Cutscene audio & video out of sync
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Hey guys!
For the last few years I’ve been having problems with Single player cutscenes audio and video being out of sync. It starts of normal, and then gradually ends up out of sync, with audio being slightly faster than the video. The strange thing is, it only happens in five cutscenes (the first encounter with Lonnigan on Manhattan, the conversation with Syd on Manhattan, meeting Doctor Sinclair on Sprague, the cutscene with Tekagi on the Arch, the cutscene with the artifact in the lab on Toledo).
Can anyone help?
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Nope, it’s still out of sync. I also installed a fresh copy of Freelancer without any mods or tweaks, and it’s still off.
Any ideas?
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Are you running some audio card in your machine? If so, there might be some driver incompatibility which causes the audio entries to load slowly. If that’s the case, try and find some legacy drivers.
Otherwise, does the picture move smoothly? It might be a visual lag.
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The picture moves smoothly. There isn’t any lag in the cutscenes or the game.
I’ve updatead my audio drivers and still nothing. I really don’t know what to do anymore
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Yep, tried running XP compatibility mode. Didn’t work.
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Try to update your video card drivers and/or reinstall DirectX, disable 3D sounds in the FreeLancer settings
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Updated graphics card drivers, reinstalled DirectX, disabled 3D sounds and it’s still out of sync.
Any more ideas?
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I just replayed my JFLP version of “Mission 02: Manhattan, New York” (the first meeting with Lonnigan) and noticed everything from the slap was out of sync - this was something I moved back a second (when I was still on XP and before MP3codec); restored the original and it was back in sync (now I’m on 7 x64, with MP3codec). The audio for this one (and probably the others) is a single file ([c]DATA\AUDIO\MIXES\mix_s010x.wav[/c]), which may have something to do with it, as may the choice/version of codec.
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You might be on to something there. Every file in the MIXES folder is from a corresponding cutscene that has been giving me trouble. I’ll dig around a bit and see if I can find out something.
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Well, after days of fiddling with this I’m still out of luck. I tried updating my codec pack and editing the .wav files, to no avail. I also tried looking in the .thn files, but I can’t make heads or tails of it.
If anyone has any clue what can be causing this or any advice on what to do about it, I’d greatly appreciate it.
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What’s the shortest script that exhibits the problem? I don’t experience the Lonnigan one till about 1:56, which is just too long to experiment with. Speaking of which, can you tell just how out of sync you are? And was the JFLP version one second earlier? Still, I don’t know what to do about it, short of editing the scripts for your particular requirements.
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Hey, sorry it took so long to reply, but I took some drastic measures. I reverted back to Windows XP, hoping that would solve the problem, but it’s still there.
The cutscenes start off normal, then gradually slip out of sync (the Lonnigan cutscene at about 0:40) and the longer the cutscene is, the more out of sync it eventually becomes (the Lonnigan cutscene audio being almost 2 seconds faster by the time the cutscene finishes).
I think the shortest script that exhibits the problem is s019a_offer_syd_li_01_cityscape_01.thn, which goes out of sync at about 0:50.
Interestingly, now that I’m on XP again, with JFLP scripts, the Lonnigan cutscene starts going out of sync at around 1:40, and the s019a_offer cutscene is completely normal.
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s019a is one I modified for JFLP, shaving 0.3s off starting at 50s. Turns out that’s wrong on this system as well, restoring the original works okay.
That experience with Lonnigan suggests that your MP3 files are playing fast. Does the same thing happen in an audio player? On my system, the slap in [c]mix_s010x.wav[/c] is pretty much spot on 1:56 (which is what the original script expects, too; the JFLP version is at 1:55). You could also try converting to a normal wav (i.e. PCM). If you happen to have it, a simple [c]ffmpeg -i mix_s019a.wav mix.wav[/c] will do the trick - then just swap the files (you can even do it while FL is running, just start the mission again). Apparently WinAmp can also do conversions, otherwise you’ll have to look around…
It is possible to use MP3codec to point to a different codec, but that’s not much help if you don’t know what MP3 codecs you have (can’t help you there, my experience is limited to just changing Fraunhofer to Professional). But if you do know, experiment by opening up a Command Prompt, typing [c]set FL_MP3=codec name[/c] and starting Freelancer from there (so it recognizes this environment variable; if it works, use System Properties to make it permanent).
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No, all the files are playing normally in every audio player I have. Everything is normal: every other piece of media and video game on my hard drive works normally. The only problems are with the following Freelancer cutscenes: s010x, s019a, s019b, s027xb, s051xa, s051xb, s069x and s072ab.
I’ve tried converting the files to PCM, it made no difference. As for the MP3 codecs, I have Fraunhofer, Lame, and have now installed Fraunhofer Professional.
I don’t know my way around Command Prompt that good, so can you explain that part with a bit more detail?
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Use this to try out LAME (adjust paths to suit, of course; press TAB to “complete” the names):
C:\Users\Jason>cd \Games\Freelancer\EXE C:\Games\Freelancer\EXE>set FL_MP3=Lame ACM MP3 Codec C:\Games\Freelancer\EXE>Freelancer.exe ```That's all, not terribly complicated. Still, if using PCM didn't have an effect, I don't see this making a difference, either. The only other thing I can think to do is chop up the mixes into 30 second chunks and adjust the scripts accordingly - hardly worth the effort. But if you're really that keen, you do the chopping and I'll do the adjusting… -
Yep, you’re right. It didn’t make any difference. Ah well, it looks like I’ll have to learn to live with it.
Thanks for all your help adoxa.
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If you’re willing, give it one more try: resample the audio to slow it down. In FFmpeg it’s:
ffmpeg -i mix_s019a.bak -af asetrate=21805 mix_s019a.wav ```I think that will add an extra second every 90 seconds, since you said you were two seconds ahead on the 3-minute Lonnigan scene - 178/180 * 22050 = 21805. -
I tested it with mix_s019b, but now it varies wildly, First the audio is a little bit faster, but barely noticeable, and in the end the video is much much faster than the audio.
