Pipewire - Wurm not detected as audio source

[CalebXephrime 47]

Hi there,

 

this question might sound a bit strange. I was using F34 with KDE and normally each audio application does have some sound mixer next to it that allows e.g. to mute the application in the task bar. Also each application playing audio will show up in the audio mixer and sound volume can be setup individually. This is pretty nice if you want to lower the volume of wurm while seeing some video.

 

Since I upgraded to F36 wurm is not detected anymore as audio application. Even tho the sound is working absolutely fine, but I cannot change the volume of it anymore and this is often quite nasty. I initially thought that there would be some issue between Pipewire and Java, but I am having this issue not with other java applications. So I am a bit lost what makes wurm special that it is not detected as audio source by the system anymore.

 

Anyone have an explaination for it or even might have an idea to fix it? Many thanks in advance!

[MordosKull 822]

I can concur that wurm audio is strange. If I switch audio outputs (like from headset to speakers or vice versa), there is no sound. If I want to switch outputs, I need to quit game, switch, then log back in. Sometimes my volume mixer also loses control of wurm sound. I don't have these problems with anything else but wurm.

 

Maybe it's related to your issues?

[Vessel 52]

4 hours ago, MordosKull said:

I can concur that wurm audio is strange. If I switch audio outputs (like from headset to speakers or vice versa), there is no sound. If I want to switch outputs, I need to quit game, switch, then log back in. Sometimes my volume mixer also loses control of wurm sound. I don't have these problems with anything else but wurm.

 

Maybe it's related to your issues?

 

Minecraft also got that issue so I assume it's a java thing. Especially frustrating because some minecraft modpacks can take like 15 minutes to boot

[Batolemaeus 181]

What version of Pipewire does F36 ship with? It's working for me on 0.3.56.

 

There was a period of serous churn around pipewire and its session management, so Fedora might have jumped the gun a bit.

 

It sounds like your Wurm client is trying to directly use ALSA instead of going through the sound server. I am not quite sure whether using a sound server is the job of the JRE or the Wurm client binary, so you might be able to run the Wurm client with OpenJDK and OpenJFX and hope it is a JDK thing… I made that post for Ubuntu, so you may have to adapt it to Fedora:

 

 

 

//edit: Interesting, there's a difference between using "Software" and "Hardware (OpenAL)". "Software" defaults to using ALSA, which on my machine goes to pipewire-alsa. "Hardware (OpenAL)" goes to pipewire-pulse.

 

Does F36 install pipewire-alsa by default? Does changing audio in Wurm settings help?

Edited July 21, 2022 by Batolemaeus

[Batolemaeus 181]

23 hours ago, MordosKull said:

I can concur that wurm audio is strange. If I switch audio outputs (like from headset to speakers or vice versa), there is no sound. If I want to switch outputs, I need to quit game, switch, then log back in. Sometimes my volume mixer also loses control of wurm sound. I don't have these problems with anything else but wurm.

 

Maybe it's related to your issues?

 

Probably not.

 

Create the file ~/.config/alsoft.conf as a standard text file with the following content:

 

drivers=pulse
[pulse]
allow-moves=true

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Batolemaeus

[CalebXephrime 47]

Hm, not checked minecraft, but with some other Java Application and own written it is working as expected.

Pipewire version here is currently 0.3.55, so I'll have a look if I can get an update. With F35 everything was working fine as well, maybe that version is somehow borked.

The Audio output in wurm would be a possible candidate as well. All packages are installed, however I am unable to change it. If I change it and press save, it jumps back to Hardware.

 

I have somehow the feeling as it might be related to the distributed JRE version as it is quite old meanwhile and likely working better with other titles using the one from the OS.

[CalebXephrime 47]

Hm, I am starting to think that it might be related to OpenAL. I have basically the same issue with Minecraft as well. Audio is working fine, but it is not listed as audio source and thus cannot be volume controlled nor muted. I found this on the net:https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/wireplumber/-/issues/70

 

A workaround might be to switch away from OpenAL, but for some reason, I cannot switch either. When I select "Software" from the configuration and press "safe" and reopen it, it is automatically reset to "OpenAL". When editing the gamesettings.txt to sound_engine=1 it is automatically reswitched to sound_engine=2 after the next restart. Any ideas?

[CalebXephrime 47]

Okay, I dug deeper into the system and not full understand it. Seems like OpenAL is for some reason using "jack" as backend. Thus audio playback is working fine, but the application is not detected as audio source.

I am now launching wurm with following env: ALSOFT_DRIVERS=pulse

This seems to fix the issue for me and wurm appear in the mixer again.

[Batolemaeus 181]

All audio is OpenAL. I have no idea why the dropdown exists or why it does what it does.

 

You should be able to use the alsoft.conf I posted above to fix the misuse of jack for anything that uses OpenAL without using the env variable.

[Siinamon 11]

Can confirm that adding `ALSOFT_DRIVERS=pulse` to my Steam launch parameters fixes sound problems.

[Ringhai 30]

On 7/21/2022 at 1:14 PM, Batolemaeus said:

Create the file ~/.config/alsoft.conf as a standard text file with the following content:

drivers=pulse
[pulse]
allow-moves=true

 

 

I had the same behavior with no sound when switching output devices and above configuration fixed it (steam and direct client).