Crysis 2 Message Board  

I know its a long shot, but goto the speaker icon on your taskbar and right click it, and choose playback devices see if you have the option to make the HDMI to TV option for sound (it will come through your TV speakers) but it is for a test.

If it works. It could be your current sound driver for the onboard sound is the cause, and may need updating.

To check the current version and age of the sound driver, you can easily goto START > type in the search box "dxdiag" without quotes, and when it finishes what it is doing, save the information to a text file and open it and scroll down to the audio driver details and check the date.

If a few years old, check the motherboard's manufacturer's website and check for an updated driver.

Or if it works fine through the TV you could always hook up the speakers if they are 5.1 or 7.1 to the TV itself.

As an example.. Here is mine on a test machine I use..

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: 19"W HDMI-1 (NVIDIA High Definition Audio)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10DE&DEV_0012&SUBSYS_10DE0101&REV_1001
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: nvhda64v.sys
Driver Version: 1.02.0022.0001 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 3/3/2011 16:59:18, 174184 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: NVIDIA Corporation

(the TV is actually 32" not sure why it reports 19"

[Edited by DABhand, 5/7/2011 6:09:42 PM]

DING DING DING - You found the problem!

I pressed F1 and it just said "Trainer Activated". Although it said Activated a few more times, so I will have to test and see if this is *really* fixed. But as it stands, it appears the on-board audio was the problem.

As soon as ASUS fixes their website, I am going to see if they have new drivers. I would prefer to use the on-board audio rather than HDMI (I use headphones a lot), but I'll take what I can get!

I'll play around for a while, and let you all know how things go - or if it was just a fluke or something.

Thanks!

You can set the output to be for 7.1 speakers to the TV, and put your headphones into the TV earphone socket? It is more up to date than the onboard sound chip you have which is about 3-4 years old, even if the motherboard is newish.

The onboard sound chip is from Realtek. Here is the link take the top file and use US2 server to get it.

Link

So, some good news and some bad news.

Good news is that routing all audio through HDMI (AMD (ATI) HDMI Output) has allowed for all the trained gameplay I want; the trainer runs perfectly, and I have progressed through the game with great ease and enjoyment.

The bad news is the RealTek drivers didn't do anything for me. Before upgrading, I checked, and my drivers were Microsoft issued from October-2010 - thanks, Windows Update ... I did upgrade them to the May-2011 drivers from RealTek, but they have the same issue with the looping activate/deactive. As you say though, HD Audio chipset is 3-4 years old now, despite the motherboard being less than a year old (or about a year...in that neighbourhood anyhow).

Maybe a future investment should be an independent sound card. But, so long as the HDMI output works, I'll count this as a victory. I have to thank you sincerely, as I would never have thought to look at audio devices or drivers to solve this problem - and I am fairly thorough when it comes to computers!

Now that ASUS' website is up, I see they have a BIOS update, which I intend to apply. This board wasn't terribly stable when I get it, but the subsequent BIOS updates have made it a dream. Each one makes the board just a little bit better.

Thanks again for the help, and to anyone with HD-Audio chipsets who ever experience this problem, it may just be your hardware.

P.S. I could always run the HDMI to an AVR, and do a full scale surround setup with Dolby/DTS 7.1 support...Someday!

While I don't think it's necessarily a problem with Realtek (or other onboard audio) drivers or cards, it just happens to be a problem with your particular configuration or combination of drivers and sound output.

I have an almost identical setup to yours (same MB, CPU, RAM) with the only real exception being I have 2X AMD 6990 GPUs and an Intel 510 250GB SSD. I also run off the onboard HD audio but I run to a BOSE surround system and not through to a television.

Regardless, I am glad that your issue has been resolved and a big thanks for DABhand for his expert help on getting this sorted.

[Edited by PWizard, 5/7/2011 10:24:27 PM]

Very true - it could, very well, just be a quirk with my setup. I may go ahead and do a format/reinstall and start fresh; not just for Crysis 2, but because, every now and then, Windows can benefit from a format.

I also wanted to just say kudos on your setup - I am really happy to see I am not alone in the components I chose! People said I was crazy when I was ordering the parts, but they ate their words once the system was up and running.

How do the 6990's perform? When I built mine, the 5970's were the top-of-the-line, and now that I am back in school, upgrades have to be carefully decided if they are worth it. As someone using them in a dual Crossfire setup, is upgrading from 5970's worth it?

I was also curious what power supply and case you used, if you don't mind me asking. I know this is off-topic for this forum, but I am just curious.

I went with a Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250 watt supply, and a Cooler Master HAF 932 case.

I am thinking about liquid cooling as my next major upgrade, but I am kinda curious if I should consider the graphics cards instead...But these are questions for a hardware forum, not a cheat forum.

Sorry for going off-topic, and thanks for your insight. If you happen to have the same case and power supply as me, I might just break out into a few lines from "It's a small world, after all"...

I upgraded from two 5970's to the 6990's. I sold the two 5970's on ebay so it didn't cost quite as much to upgrade. For me it was worth it, but the drivers still need some work. I run a 30" Dell monitor and like to crank everything to the max.

I have a CM Real Power 1250W PSU and a HAF-X case. I use liquid cooling for the CPU and have it stable at 4.5Ghz.

Your suggestion to turn options off during map loads or level switches is becoming mandatory in my case. I've found the latest patch & trainer will crash my system back to desktop if the trainer is activated at the main menu as suggested in the instructions. Activating the trainer and options after the map begins goes fine but the game crashes again at level switch. The problem is the level switch happens so abruptly there isn't time to de-activate the trainer or options.