[Bug 28856] New: Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 from 1.3.30 onwards (regression from 1.3.29)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Bug #: 28856
           Summary: Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 from 1.3.30
                    onwards (regression from 1.3.29)
           Product: Wine
           Version: 1.3.30
          Platform: x86-64
        OS/Version: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: -unknown
        AssignedTo: [e-mail]
        ReportedBy: [e-mail]
    Classification: Unclassified

Running Debian unstable without Pulseaudio. Problem is not present in 1.3.29
(so I suspect it has something to do with the DirectSound re-implementation
done in 1.3.30).

I am currently running 1.3.29 without a problem, and have already tried 1.3.31
(issue is still present).

I can make logs from both 1.3.29 (working) and 1.3.31 (has issue). One error
which shows up (repeatedly) only in 1.3.31 is
> warn:alsa:alsa_read_data read failed, recovering: -11 (Resource temporarily unavailable)
> warn:alsa:alsa_read_data Recover failed: -11 (Resource temporarily

unavailable)

Could this be relevant?

Thanks

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 from 1.3.30 onwards (regression from 1.3.29)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

DL  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #1 from DL  2011-10-22 21:53:20 CDT ---
Appears to affect PCSX2 with the SPU-X plugin and dsound mode selected (within
the plugin). Disabling mmdevapi results in the plugin failing. Older wine
versions wine-1.3.29 or earlier work fine. I'll post a regression test later.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 from 1.3.30 onwards (regression from 1.3.29)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Austin English  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Keywords|                            |regression
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 from 1.3.30 onwards (regression from 1.3.29)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #2 from DL  2011-10-22 22:55:58 CDT ---
Regression test:

8258a5188cc36563809ac7495e49bc43ae4326e4 is the first bad commit
commit 8258a5188cc36563809ac7495e49bc43ae4326e4
Author: Andrew Eikum 
Date:   Fri Sep 23 15:03:51 2011 -0500

winealsa.drv: Remove wave, mixer, and dsound driver code.

:040000 040000 e34e9dab6f585755d23f4cad91d4af6dc37b786b
bf2a47c73bcdd75db339177384a4d566c4fa41e6 M      dlls

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Dmitry Timoshkov  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Summary|Crackling/popping sounds in |Crackling/popping sounds in
                   |Starcraft 2 from 1.3.30     |Starcraft 2
                   |onwards (regression from    |
                   |1.3.29)                     |

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Henri Verbeet  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Regression SHA1|                            |8258a5188cc36563809ac7495e4
                   |                            |9bc43ae4326e4

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #3 from [e-mail] 2011-11-08 14:58:49 CST ---
Tested with 1.3.32, and the problem is still present.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #4 from [e-mail] 2011-11-22 22:24:52 CST ---
Tested again with 1.3.33. Problem still present (and downgrading to 1.3.29
continues to resolve the issue).

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #5 from Austin English  2011-11-23 15:15:53 CST ---
Please attach a
+tid,+mmdevapi,+winmm,+midi,+dsound,+dmusic,+mci,+oss,+alsa,+coreaudio trace.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #6 from [e-mail] 2011-11-23 19:26:45 CST ---
I have absolutely zero experience debugging Wine--or, really, any other
multi-person project. Can you please direct me to instructions on how to
produce this kind of trace?

Thanks

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Bruno Jesus  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #7 from Bruno Jesus  2011-11-23 20:04:44 CST ---
How to run the application in console to get the output log:
http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#get_log

How to debug using specific debug channels:
http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-16da35b6327024d6ea576e3678488b16862d0f5e

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #8 from [e-mail] 2011-11-28 00:52:23 CST ---
Created attachment 37673
  --> http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=37673
1.3.33 log of crackling sounds

wine1.3-dbg 1.3.33-0ubuntu1~ppa1~oneiric1
(from http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-wine/ppa/ubuntu)

WINEDEBUG="+tid,+mmdevapi,+winmm,+midi,+dsound,+dmusic,+mci,+oss,+alsa,+coreaudio"

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #9 from [e-mail] 2011-11-28 01:03:15 CST ---
Sorry about the delay. I was unable to post this log earlier, since I have just
returned from traveling for Thanksgiving.

I have attached the requested log. I cannot attach an analogous log for 1.3.29
because the wine1.3-dbg package version 1.3.29 has been removed from the Ubuntu
ppa I use.

Please note that I used:

winetricks droid fontfix fontsmooth-rgb gdiplus gecko vcrun2008 vcrun2005
allfonts d3dx9 win7

before installing the game. I am running in "Windows XP" mode, and also of
course am using mmdevapi builtin (not "disable" as some outdated howtos
suggest). I can try to perform an installation without some of these winetricks
if you believe that the install will succeed.

Thanks.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #10 from Andrew Eikum  2011-11-28 08:24:25 CST ---
No, that log is just fine, thank you. There are some known issues with the ALSA
driver, and we're working on improvements in Bug 28723. Your log shows signs of
the same problems (it looks like your ALSA period and buffer sizes are
incompatible with how the audio data is fed from dsound, which causes the
underrun messages from alsa_write_data). After those fixes get into Wine, we'll
have you retest and see if the issue is solved.

By the way, you might have better luck if you open the Wine configuration tool
(winecfg) and set the Windows version to Windows 7 for your StarCraft 2
installation. I think StarCraft 2 uses mmdevapi directly instead of going
through dsound if you have that Windows version set, and it may just happen to
work better. Even if that fixes it, though, this is still a bug that we need to
fix.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #11 from [e-mail] 2011-11-28 20:44:16 CST ---
So, I tested again running Win7 mode--still crackling. It might be less
pronounced (i.e., the crackling may occur less frequently) or it could be the
same and I am just imagining a difference. I can post a log in win7 mode if it
would be helpful to someone.

Though it is almost certainly unrelated--I am running in winxp mode because of
the crash on exit in win7 mode (http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=22097).

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Michael Cronenworth  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #12 from [e-mail] 2012-02-01 16:26:41 CST ---
I was (finally) able to test a recent version of Wine. This issue is resolved
in 1.4-rc1.

Thanks.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #13 from Michael Cronenworth  2012-02-01 21:44:20 CST ---
(In reply to comment #12)
> I was (finally) able to test a recent version of Wine. This issue is resolved
> in 1.4-rc1.

Not entirely true. Try running the game multiple times. Eventually the sound
crackling returns. I thought it was fixed with all of the ALSA fixes (from bug
28723) but sound can still underrun and cause crackling. It is much better than
before though.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Jörg Höhle  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]
                   |                            |t

--- Comment #14 from Jörg Höhle  2012-02-17 16:34:45 CST ---
To everybody suffering from crackling sound,
I'd like you to read bug #28723, comment #128 then perform the interactive
render test
cd dlls/mmdevapi/tests/ ; rm render.ok
WINETEST_INTERACTIVE=1 make render.ok
and report what you hear. Crackling or not? Case 1 2 or 3?
Then apply attachment #38788 from bug #28723. Repeat. How does it change?
> warn:alsa:alsa_read_data

I've not yet looked much at capture.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Vítor Ferreira  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #15 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-17 21:56:40 CST ---
(In reply to comment #14)
> To everybody suffering from crackling sound,
> I'd like you to read bug #28723, comment #128 then perform the interactive
> render test
> cd dlls/mmdevapi/tests/ ; rm render.ok
> WINETEST_INTERACTIVE=1 make render.ok
> and report what you hear. Crackling or not? Case 1 2 or 3?
> Then apply attachment #38788 [details] from bug #28723. Repeat. How does it change?
> > warn:alsa:alsa_read_data
>
> I've not yet looked much at capture.

I'm also affected by this issue in many of my games like Sins of a Solar Empire
Trinity, Star Trek Online, Tropico 4, Europa Universalis III and Crusader Kings
II. I'm running Fedora 16 with pulseaudio 1.1 and alsa stack 1.0.25 (from
drivers to alsa plugins). Compared to the previous versions of alsa and
pulseaudio, sound crackling is not so constant. It tends to appear after the
computer has been running for a while and I've run a game for some time.
Eventually the sound begins to crackle constantly, accompanied sometimes by
alsa underruns. Sometimes restarting pulseaudio helps.

I've ran the test you asked with the latest wine 1.4-rc4 and the output is
annexed to this bug report. What I heard did not change from before applying
the patch to after (I did recompile wine after applying it). First it was a
more or less continuous crackling and then it gave out more intermittent and
separate crackling sounds, particularly when it outputs in verbose mode
something like "Should play 1000ms continuous tone with fragment size (...)"

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #16 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-17 21:59:24 CST ---
Created attachment 38937
  --> http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=38937
Wine sound testing debug output
> From WINETEST_INTERACTIVE=1 make render.ok

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Vítor Ferreira  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Attachment #38937|application/octet-stream    |text/plain
          mime type|                            |

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #17 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-17 22:04:00 CST ---
(In reply to comment #15)
> (In reply to comment #14)
> > To everybody suffering from crackling sound,
> > I'd like you to read bug #28723, comment #128 then perform the interactive
> > render test
> > cd dlls/mmdevapi/tests/ ; rm render.ok
> > WINETEST_INTERACTIVE=1 make render.ok
> > and report what you hear. Crackling or not? Case 1 2 or 3?
> > Then apply attachment #38788 [details] from bug #28723. Repeat. How does it change?
> > > warn:alsa:alsa_read_data
> >
> > I've not yet looked much at capture.
>
> I'm also affected by this issue in many of my games like Sins of a Solar Empire
> Trinity, Star Trek Online, Tropico 4, Europa Universalis III and Crusader Kings
> II. I'm running Fedora 16 with pulseaudio 1.1 and alsa stack 1.0.25 (from
> drivers to alsa plugins). Compared to the previous versions of alsa and
> pulseaudio, sound crackling is not so constant. It tends to appear after the
> computer has been running for a while and I've run a game for some time.
> Eventually the sound begins to crackle constantly, accompanied sometimes by
> alsa underruns. Sometimes restarting pulseaudio helps.
>
> I've ran the test you asked with the latest wine 1.4-rc4 and the output is
> annexed to this bug report. What I heard did not change from before applying
> the patch to after (I did recompile wine after applying it). First it was a
> more or less continuous crackling and then it gave out more intermittent and
> separate crackling sounds, particularly when it outputs in verbose mode
> something like "Should play 1000ms continuous tone with fragment size (...)"

I forgot to add that I would say then first Case 1 and then Case 2.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Vítor Ferreira  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Attachment #38937|0                           |1
        is obsolete|                            |

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #18 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-17 22:10:34 CST ---
Created attachment 38939
  --> http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=38939
Wine sound testing debug output

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #19 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-17 22:22:38 CST ---
Interesting! I restarted pulseaudio and ran the test again. This time there was
no crackling and also this time when running the test before applying the
patch, the continuous tones emitted at the end of the test had 2 or 3 pops
each. After the patch, each continuous tone emitted was heard completely
continuous.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #20 from Jörg Höhle  2012-02-18 01:30:56 CST ---
> I'm running Fedora 16 with pulseaudio 1.1 and alsa stack 1.0.25
> Interesting! I restarted pulseaudio and ran the test again. This time there was
> no crackling

Please, please do submit a bug to pulseaudio.org. It is undeniably a bug in
either PA or alsa_plugins when restarting the PA server fixes sound.
I can't submit a bug report that would be taken seriously because I'm using the
outdated Ubuntu Intrepid and Lucid, though I've been liasing with the PA guys:
http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/pulseaudio-discuss/2012-February/01283...
But you're using the newest PA and plugins there is and still facing issues.
Well, perhaps I should go to the PA bug tracker and post your logs?!?

Then hopefully, there will be less PA issues in the Wine bugtracker.

This PA bug number 2:
> render.c:1204: hpctime 460 pcpos 466
> render.c:1209: padding 0 position 22500/22500 slept 450ms iteration 0
> render.c:1204: hpctime 584 pcpos 590
> render.c:1209: padding 10980 position 34020/34020 slept 550ms iteration 1

Within 124ms, PA pretends that the speaker position as reported by
snd_pcm_delay advanced by 249ms. That cannot be.
> render.c:1217: Test failed: Position delta 12960 not regular

Same here within 103ms.
> render.c:1209: padding 6720 position 152100/152100 slept 1250ms iteration 8

Here it pretends to be at 3.168 seconds within the stream after solely 1.327
seconds elapsed.  That is PA's buffering, not a speaker position.
Please attach the corresponding WINEDEBUG=+alsa,+tid,+timestamp log.
> After the patch, each continuous tone emitted was heard completely
> continuous.

That's the one bug on the Wine side:
1. We need to perform tests to check whether CreateTimerQueueTimer's current
behaviour is correct. As observed in bug #28723, comment #126 and #130, unlike
timeSetEvent, it does not maintain a constant pace. Should it?
2. Depending on results, either fix TimerQueue or choose another time base.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #21 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-19 12:05:30 CST ---
Created attachment 38975
  --> http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=38975
render.ok test debug output with alsa channel enabled before and after the
patch

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #22 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-19 12:08:52 CST ---
Created attachment 38976
  --> http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=38976
render.ok test debug output with alsa channel enabled after restarting
pulseaudio

Only tested without hack patch applied, immediately after pulseaudio has been
restarted.
No crackling sounds in the two tests performed. In 2nd test, each tone was
continuous.
As a sidenote, eventually the problem will surface again.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #23 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-19 12:44:27 CST ---
(In reply to comment #20)
As you can see, I posted new trace logs as you requested of the render.ok
tests.
By the way, I would like to add that currently I only know of three ways to
workaround this issue.
- Restarting pulseaudio;
- Killing pulseaudio after disabling autospawning, so that wine directly
accesses alsa (no cracling sounds while wine is running directly on top of
alsa).

However the third workaround is the strangest IMHO, because it results in no
crackling sound like in the 2nd workaround.
I've tested it with many of the games I have, and it's the only way I know of
making pulseaudio work with wine without any kind of sound distortion.
I've built wine 1.3.24 with the winepulse set of patches, which add a native
pulse driver to wine. In winecfg, I made sure to select the pulse driver. Why
it works I cannot tell!

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #24 from Jörg Höhle  2012-02-19 14:39:17 CST ---
Vítor, I believe Maarten and/or Andrew will end up integrating a winepulse
driver into Wine.  So far for PA's promise to integrate with ALSA. :-(
Still, no crackling from winepulse 1.3.24 does not prove that the 10ms write
mmdevapi scenario in place since 1.3.25 will work without trouble.
> render.c:1217: Test failed: Position delta 12960 not regular

Looking at your pre-restart logs from comment #21, it appears that it's not
snd_pcm_delay which is at fault, rather than PA which is already in broken
state:
 2.178:trace:alsa:alsa_write_data XRun state avail -32, recovering [10x]
At each underrun, all frames written so far are consumed, which makes it look
like GetPosition advances too fast, whereas you probably heard nothing at all
from the speakers.
> so that wine directly accesses alsa

Can you use the registry since 1.4-rc4? "plug:dmix" might work. Either it'll
block all sounds from PA or PA will sit in dmix' back, without improvement.
You can also use plughw:0 via winecfg, blocking PA from access.

BTW, I've submitted PA bug reports
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=46296
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=46297
Let's hope for the best.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #25 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-19 15:16:25 CST ---
(In reply to comment #24)
> Vítor, I believe Maarten and/or Andrew will end up integrating a winepulse
> driver into Wine.  So far for PA's promise to integrate with ALSA. :-(

I do hope so. I've been testing that experimental winepulse driver once in a
while and I've just finished preliminary testing with the latest iteration in
its git repo (from today). While it's not there yet, when PA it's in its broken
state and games running on wine are producing just crackling sound with vanilla
wine 1.4-rc4, games running on top of this winepulse driver can produce more
discernible audio. I tested two games until now. With Crusader Kings II, sound
is almost normal, except for some crackling in the background and with Star
Trek Online, sound went from mostly crackling to mildly discernible with a kind
of "broken" echo.
> Still, no crackling from winepulse 1.3.24 does not prove that the 10ms write
> mmdevapi scenario in place since 1.3.25 will work without trouble.

That was not my intention. I just wanted to mention one workaround which did
not involve killing pulseaudio and thus be as unintrusive as possible.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Sylvain Petreolle  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Jörg Höhle  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           See Also|                            |https://bugs.freedesktop.or
                   |                            |g/show_bug.cgi?id=46296

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 (PulseAudio)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Jörg Höhle  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Summary|Crackling/popping sounds in |Crackling/popping sounds in
                   |Starcraft 2                 |Starcraft 2 (PulseAudio)

--- Comment #26 from Jörg Höhle  2012-02-21 15:26:55 CST ---
I'm considering closing this bug.
- The OP said in comment #12 that the original issue is fixed.
- Crackling is possible in Wine because of a timer issue, but that should be
dealt with in bug #28723.
- We don't need several bugs open in Wine because PA needs a restart.
- Other people have found the need to restart PA outside Wine:
http://opensource.creative.com/pipermail/openal-devel/2012-February/005861.h...
(even with the straight pulse driver, not the ALSA bridge!)

OTOH, this bug is currently the only one to link to 2 of 3 bugs I posted to the
PA bugzilla.

Wine is by no means perfect.  For instance, I consider the tiny audio buffers
that it currently uses because of mmdevapi to be a design bug.  I believe
wine-1.3.24 worked better specifically thanks to larger buffers.

If you experience crackling sound either without PA or when it's freshly
started and that is *not* fixed by the CreateTimerQueue hack, it's time to
speak up now!

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 (PulseAudio)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #27 from Vítor Ferreira  2012-02-21 18:44:42 CST ---
(In reply to comment #26)
> I'm considering closing this bug.
> - The OP said in comment #12 that the original issue is fixed.
> - Crackling is possible in Wine because of a timer issue, but that should be
>
> dealt with in bug #28723.
> - We don't need several bugs open in Wine because PA needs a restart.
> - Other people have found the need to restart PA outside Wine:
>
> http://opensource.creative.com/pipermail/openal-devel/2012-February/005861.h...
> (even with the straight pulse driver, not the ALSA bridge!)
>
> OTOH, this bug is currently the only one to link to 2 of 3 bugs I posted to the
> PA bugzilla.
>
> Wine is by no means perfect.  For instance, I consider the tiny audio buffers
> that it currently uses because of mmdevapi to be a design bug.  I believe
> wine-1.3.24 worked better specifically thanks to larger buffers.
>
> If you experience crackling sound either without PA or when it's freshly
> started and that is *not* fixed by the CreateTimerQueue hack, it's time to
> speak up now!

The tests I did before were with alsa stack 1.0.25 over the in-kernel alsa
drivers 1.0.24 (had updated kernel recently). This time I am running over the
alsa drivers version 1.0.25 and sound is definitely better. I can't say there
is no crackling sound in any circumstance, but there surely isn't after
pulseaudio is freshly started or after killing pulseaudio, since it is directly
accessing alsa. At this point for me, sound in wine 1.4-rc4 works without
crackling just after starting pulseaudio and unlike before it can like that
indefinitely. If by any chance I begin to play a game after having started
pulseaudio for some time, I just have to restart pulseaudio. Anyway, the
likehood of having crackling audio is significantly smaller and when there is
crackling audio, sometimes it's in the background. The pulseaudio driver being
developed by Maarten shares the same results AFAIK.
Thank you and let's hope that with bug #28723 resolution and/or pulseaudio
developers addressing the bugs you reported, this situation can be finally
resolved in the future.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 (PulseAudio)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

--- Comment #28 from Michael Cronenworth  2012-02-21 19:18:20 CST ---
I'm fine with consolidating the bugs. Your fixes have improved sound playback.
As of wine 1.4 rc4 I no longer have to restart PA and crackling rarely happens
in SC2 or other apps. If I do hear crackling it takes anywhere from a few
seconds to a minute to correct itself, but I have not had a case yet where it
is constant until the app is restarted or PA is restarted. Good work.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 (PulseAudio)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Jörg Höhle  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|UNCONFIRMED                 |RESOLVED
         Resolution|                            |FIXED

--- Comment #29 from Jörg Höhle  2013-03-02 16:31:47 CST ---
Closing based on comments like "improved sound playback" ... "Good work", "I no
longer have to restart PA", "likehood [...] significantly smaller and the
pulseaudio driver [...] shares the same results" and no degradation of the
situation (no new comments) since.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 (PulseAudio)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Alexandre Julliard  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|RESOLVED                    |CLOSED

--- Comment #30 from Alexandre Julliard  2013-03-15 14:46:55 CDT ---
Closing bugs fixed in 1.5.26.

[Bug 28856] Crackling/popping sounds in Starcraft 2 (PulseAudio)

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28856

Pavel  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #31 from Pavel  2013-03-24 09:16:40 CDT ---
I just recently discovered this bug, so may it is too late already. I
experience similar crackling with World Of Warcraft, and it looks like version
1.5.26 didn't change much. In my case, just as described in comments here,
restarting pulseaudio fixes the problem for some time.