Loading Video Audio Issues *FIXED, Solution inside!*

[fudgeycaca]

Hey, I've got an otherwise fully functional ALP cab setup with a fullDMD LCD and mostly Visual Pinball tables listed in the Home playlist. Running v1.4.6, so Custom Scripts should be fully supported.

 

I have Audio configured in the media frontend config for each table as well as FS loading videos with their own audio. Problem is, the audio for the table keeps playing while the Loading audio plays on top.  I have entered the below info to the Global Config Script Custom Options, but they don't seem to have any effect on tables configured with a blank transparent T-ARC and a fullscreen loading video.  The audio doesn't fade, the backglass and FullDMD screens continue to play video, and both audio files clash.

 

NOTE:  For tables with no Loading video configured at all, the default Loading bar plays with audio and the other audio clip stops.  For these same tables, if I flip PauseOnLoad to 1, the FullDMD, Backglass, and Playfield videos stop, so the Custom Options are definitely working as expected, except for tables with Fullscreen loading videos.

 

PauseOnLoad=0
PauseOnLoadPF=0
FadeoutLoading=1
muteLaunchAudio=1

 

Any ideas as to how I can get the full screen loading video's audio to be the only thing playing at load? Is there a different Custom Option I should be using? Is there even a solution to this other than silencing the loading video OR silencing/lowering each table's front end audio file? 

 

I'm glad to say I have solved this and have a solution to share with everyone!   

 

After fiddling with it last weekend, I got it fixed 100%.  If you care to understand WHY there are issues with front-end content playing multiple layers of audio together, see the explanation and details below.  If you only care about fixing the problems with audio embedded in Loading Videos playing on top of Table Audio, skip to the bottom and follow each of the numbered steps IN ORDER.  Each part is critical!

 

In my testing, I determined that:

• Table Audio does NOT  get triggered to stop when you launch a game or when another video plays even if it has embedded audio.  As a result, the front-end continues playing the table audio and piles all other embedded audio sources on top of it, including the Loading Video. 
• If you have FadeoutLoading=1 in your global Scripts for popper that fades the Loading Video and audio in/out (as I do), it seems to further exacerbate the problems by causing the audio embedded in the Loading Video to sporadically not play at all, or start playing much later in the loading process (often JUST as the table is loading). 

 

Since the Loading Video never fails to play the video portion from the beginning whether the FadeoutLoading code is present or not, it seems clear to me that the problem has to do with the way the audio streams are being handled.  If I had to use my audio engineering experience to take a guess, I have a feeling the threshold for playback of the embedded audio in the FadeoutLoading code is set too high, so any normal volume levels for practical usage fail to trigger the embedded audio to begin playback (The symptom is just like a gate threshold in an audio production environment being set too high, resulting in no audio output). 

 

ONTO THE GOOD NEWS!

 

SOLUTION: Use the Launch Audio field conceptually as a "Loading Audio" field.  When there is something present in the Launch Audio field for a table, it triggers the front-end to stop the Table Audio!  Unfortunately, when using this method, you can no longer use the Launch Audio field as a dedicated Launch SFX field.  The way I see it, it's a much bigger issue to have clashing Loading Screen audio that works inconsistently.  

 

 

I know these instructions may sound stupid (and they do take time to go through for every table), but there's a method to the madness and it works:

1.) Open Media Manager

2.)  Copy your Loading video file to the Launch Audio field (Yes, the audio box accepts video files as well!)

3.)  Right click your Loading video file and choose Convert  

4.)  In the Convert menu, choose the bottom option to Mute Audio

5.)  Test playback of the video you copied over to your Launch Audio field.  If it's too quiet / loud, you can use the Convert menu, there are options to increase or lower volume by 50%.  They can be used multiple times for those that need it.

 

Using this method, your Table Audio will still play back while browsing the front-end menu, but now it will consistently and seamlessly cut over to the Loading Video along with its audio when launched.  

 

I hope this helps fix this problems for others!  Hopefully people will try it out rather than giving up after seeing the amount of steps in this workaround...  Honestly, it took me over an hour to fix all of my tables and I've got under 200...

Edited July 18, 2023 by fudgeycaca
Problem solved, updating title and information to share solution

[Bogusking]

Thankyou sooo much for sharing this! Worked like a charm!!!