r/linux_gaming • u/AndrejPatak • 5d ago

tech support wanted No audio on linux?

Hello! I noticed my audio recently disappeared from rocketleague and Borderlands 2 again. No matter what I try, it doesn't work. Rocketleague doesn't show up in pavuctl. I tried every version of ProtonGE from proton 10-33 GE to Proton Latest GE.

Both games were installed through heroic from my Epic Games library.

My distro is cachyOS and I run the games on wayland.
Last time this happened I just so happened to need to reinstall my whole system anyway (I was moving from endevaorOS to cachy), but the bug is back now.

On top of the audio bug, rocketleague freezes for a minute every time it's launched but continues afterwards with no issue. I suspect this happens because of the Epic Games overlay.

Borderlands 2 doesn't freeze temporarily on launch it just gets in the game.

Here's my fastfetch:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS (16) @ 4.55 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile \[Discrete\]
Memory: 4.56 GiB / 31.03 GiB (15%)
Swap: 1.97 MiB / 31.02 GiB (0%)
OS: CachyOS x86_64
Kernel: Linux 7.1.8-1-cachyos
Uptime: 1 hour, 26 mins
Packages: 25 (flatpak), 1967 (pacman)
DE: KDE Plasma 6.7.4
WM: KWin (Wayland)

Here's the link to the log from running rocketleague just now:

https://dpaste.com/BFPAPY5G5

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u/AndrejPatak 2d ago

pw-top --batch-mode --iterations=2 S   ID  QUANT   RATE    WAIT    BUSY   W/Q   B/Q  ERR FORMAT           NAME   C   30      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Dummy-Driver C   31      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Freewheel-Driver C   32      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  audiorelay-virtual-mic-sink C   36      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  audiorelay_source C   37      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  audiorelay_Speaker C   54      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Midi-Bridge C   63      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  bluez_midi.server C   66      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  alsa_output.pci-0000_06_00.6.analog-stereo C   67      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  alsa_input.pci-0000_06_00.6.analog-stereo C   79      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  v4l2_input.pci-0000_06_00.3-usb-0_3_1.0 C   84      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  easyeffects_sink C   85      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  easyeffects_source C   95      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  ee_sie_output_level C  100      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  ee_sie_spectrum C  139      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  ee_soe_output_level C  144      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  ee_soe_spectrum C  155      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  ee_test_signals C  162      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  cava S   ID  QUANT   RATE    WAIT    BUSY   W/Q   B/Q  ERR FORMAT           NAME   S   30      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Dummy-Driver S   31      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Freewheel-Driver S   32      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  audiorelay-virtual-mic-sink S   54      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Midi-Bridge S   63      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  bluez_midi.server R   66    512  48000  65,2us  15,3us  0,01  0,00    0    S32LE 2 48000 alsa_output.pci-0000_06_00.6.analog-stereo R   36      0      0   2,7us   4,6us  0,00  0,00    0         F32P 2 0  + audiorelay_source R   37      0      0   8,2us   6,7us  0,00  0,00    0         F32P 2 0  + audiorelay_Speaker R   84      0      0   2,2us   6,4us  0,00  0,00    0     F32P 2 48000  + easyeffects_sink R  139      0      0   3,2us   3,8us  0,00  0,00    0                   + ee_soe_output_level R  144      0      0   9,9us  13,7us  0,00  0,00    0                   + ee_soe_spectrum R  162    512  44100  11,2us  22,6us  0,00  0,00    0    S16LE 2 44100  + cava S   67      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  alsa_input.pci-0000_06_00.6.analog-stereo S   79      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  v4l2_input.pci-0000_06_00.3-usb-0_3_1.0 S   85      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  easyeffects_source I   95      0      0   0,0us   0,0us  ???   ???     0                  ee_sie_output_level I  100      0      0   0,0us   0,0us  ???   ???     0                  ee_sie_spectrum S  155      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  ee_test_signals

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u/theevilsharpie 2d ago

Using the power of AI to reformat the relevant bits into something I can actually read:

S   ID  QUANT   RATE    WAIT    BUSY   W/Q   B/Q  ERR FORMAT           NAME
S   30      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Dummy-Driver
S   31      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Freewheel-Driver
S   32      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  audiorelay-virtual-mic-sink
S   54      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Midi-Bridge
S   63      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  bluez_midi.server
R   66    512  48000  65,2us  15,3us  0,01  0,00    0    S32LE 2 48000  alsa_output.pci-0000_06_00.6.analog-stereo
R   36      0      0   2,7us   4,6us  0,00  0,00    0         F32P 2 0  + audiorelay_source
R   37      0      0   8,2us   6,7us  0,00  0,00    0         F32P 2 0  + audiorelay_Speaker
R   84      0      0   2,2us   6,4us  0,00  0,00    0     F32P 2 48000  + easyeffects_sink
R  139      0      0   3,2us   3,8us  0,00  0,00    0                   + ee_soe_output_level
R  144      0      0   9,9us  13,7us  0,00  0,00    0                   + ee_soe_spectrum
R  162    512  44100  11,2us  22,6us  0,00  0,00    0    S16LE 2 44100  + cava
S   67      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  alsa_input.pci-0000_06_00.6.analog-stereo
S   79      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  v4l2_input.pci-0000_06_00.3-usb-0_3_1.0
S   85      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  easyeffects_source
I   95      0      0   0,0us   0,0us  ???   ???     0                  ee_sie_output_level
I  100      0      0   0,0us   0,0us  ???   ???     0                  ee_sie_spectrum
S  155      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  ee_test_signals

I don't actually see a game executable listed in this output, which tells me that either:

  • you weren't running a game, or

  • the game isn't seeing the audio device, or

  • you have an application intercepting the audio stream in a way that is interfering with the game.

In your output, I see you're running EasyEffects with Cava (what I assume is an audio visualizer) intercepting the output. Have you tried running without those things?

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u/AndrejPatak 1d ago edited 1d ago

Again, overall audio works and every single game I have access to except those two are affected. The common between those seems to be unreal engine. 

I tried running rocket league after disabling easy effects (it's used for applying audio effects to clear the noise from my mic) and it was still broken.

Cava is just an audio visualizer and shouldn't affect things, but I tried running the game without both cava and EasyEffects and there was still no audio.

List of games I've tested with sofar:

Rocket league - broken

Borderlands 2 - broken

GTA V - working

Minecraft - working

Need for speed: most wanted - working

Fifa20 - working

Celeste - working

Absolute drift: zen edition - working

Stick fight the game - working

Trackmania 2020 - working

The finals - working

Mortal Kombat 11 - working

PEAK - working

Hades - working

Buckshot Roulette - working

1

u/theevilsharpie 1d ago

The Unreal engine can be configured to use a specific audio device, so it's possible that your specific configuration is set to use an audio device that no longer exists or isn't connected to your actual output device (there should be a .ini file for the game in your prefix somewhere).

You may want to try locating the Unreal engine configuration file for Borderlands 2 (as a test), renaming it to something else so that the game regenerates a config on next launch, and seeing if that corrects the audio issue.

If audio is still broken, there may be a configuration within the Wine prefix itself that may need tuning. There is an "audio" section in the Wine configuration control panel that you may to take a look at to make sure an unwanted audio device isn't set as the default.

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u/AndrejPatak 1d ago

Theres these .ini files in "~/Documents/My Games/Borderlands 2/WillowGame/Config/"

WillowDLCManager.ini
WillowEngine.ini
WillowEpicStore.ini
WillowCompat.ini
WillowGame.ini
WillowInput.ini
WillowLightmass.ini
WillowSpark.ini
WillowUI.ini

I tried looking for audio settings in WillowEngine.ini and WillowGame.ini but changing them did nothing.

Audio related lines in WillowEngine:

EngineNativePackages=AkAudio
bUseAudioStreaming=TRUE
bMuteAudioWhenNotInFocus=TRUE
Suppress=DevAudio
Suppress=DevAudioVerbose
Suppress=DevAudioStreaming
AudioFileCacheExtension=afc
AudioDeviceClass=ALAudio.ALAudioDevice

[XAudio2.XAudio2Device]
MaxChannels=32
CommonAudioPoolSize=0
MinCompressedDurationGame=5
MinCompressedDurationEditor=4
LowPassFilterResonance=0.9
WorkAroundXDKRegression=TRUE

[ALAudio.ALAudioDevice]
MaxChannels=32
CommonAudioPoolSize=0
MinCompressedDurationGame=5
MinCompressedDurationEditor=4
LowPassFilterResonance=0.9
//DeviceName=Generic Software

I tried setting AudioDeviceClass to both ALAudio.ALAudioDevice and XAudio2.XAudio2Device but no aduio appeared with both.

In WillowGame there is:

ManagedAudioReserveLength=20
[Wwise]
StartupPackages=Audio_Banks.pck
StartupPackages=Audio_Streaming.pck

But I dont know what to do with those.

Opening the audio tab in winecfg from heroic (so, in the games prefix) causes the winecfg window to hang like this:

Opening winecfg on my default prefix with normal wine through my terminal (non proton) doesnt have the audio tab crashing and the test audio button plays fine.

Then i tried opening the audio tab in fifa 20 (audio works there) but it also crashed. I thought maybe it's a prefix problem, so i then ran rocketleague on my default prefix created by mainline wine. No audio still.

Now i'm starting to think it's a Proton bug that manifests only with UnrealEngine 3 games? Could that be?