I was having the same issue Destrutor described in another thread below playing VO on Ubuntu 9.10. I'm not going to bore you with all of the details of my upgrade misadventures, but I am getting inconstant and no sound when I run VO. Initially after I applied the lines Ray advised for config.ini, the crackling and sound issue disappeared.

Also, I don' know if this is related, but VO is running at 100%+ usage of my duel AMD 64 4000 processors. Historically, it has run at 100% on one and the other at around 30% and they would flip flop. I am using an Nvidia 9800 graphics card, and have just done a clean install of both Ubuntu 9.10 & Vendetta (without re-adding my prior settings or plugins). Below is the beginning of my errors log from my most recent session in which I have no sound.

wtf!archive returned 0
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:27 2009] Found driver: "ALSA driver". Type 1, Version 8.1. Load @0x0237e970
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:27 2009] Instantiate address: 0x7f78b86747c0
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:27 2009] Found driver: "Open Sound System driver". Type 1, Version 8.1. Load @0x023808e0
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:27 2009] Instantiate address: 0x7f78b7f70010
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:27 2009] Found driver: "OpenGL Reference GKGL driver". Type 5, Version 78.0. Load @0x02380e10
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:27 2009] Instantiate address: 0x7f78b7d51a10
ALSA initialized: 44100Hz, 16bit stereo, 92ms latency (8 periods x 512 samples)
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:28 2009] load_sample_ogg: Couldn't open sound/mission.updated.ogg (mission.updated)
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:28 2009] load_sample: Couldn't open sound/mission.updated.ogg (mission.updated)
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:28 2009] load_sample_ogg: Couldn't open sound/nfz.warning.enter.ogg (nfz.warning.enter)
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:28 2009] load_sample: Couldn't open sound/nfz.warning.enter.ogg (nfz.warning.enter)
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:28 2009] load_sample_ogg: Couldn't open sound/nfz.warning.leave.ogg (nfz.warning.leave)
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:28 2009] load_sample: Couldn't open sound/nfz.warning.leave.ogg (nfz.warning.leave)
/dev/js0: No such file or directory
Found joystick 'Logitech Logitech Extreme 3D (/dev/input/js0)'
numaxes = 6
numbuttons = 12
/dev/js1: No such file or directory
/dev/input/js1: No such file or directory
/dev/js2: No such file or directory
/dev/input/js2: No such file or directory
/dev/js3: No such file or directory
/dev/input/js3: No such file or directory
Found 1 joystick(s)
Input driver initialized.
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:31 2009] Flight-Assist mode enabled.
[Sat Nov 14 19:59:31 2009] Auto-Aim enabled.
Welcome to Vendetta Online.

Below is a copy of the beginning of the errors log from a moment ago when I logged in to tweak some of the hud settings back to my liking. This time I started out with sound and a crackling noise and a couple of minutes into tweaking, I completely lost sound.

wtf!archive returned 0
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:01 2009] Found driver: "ALSA driver". Type 1, Version 8.1. Load @0x013fd970
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:01 2009] Instantiate address: 0x7f41b59c47c0
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:01 2009] Found driver: "Open Sound System driver". Type 1, Version 8.1. Load @0x013ff8e0
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:01 2009] Instantiate address: 0x7f41b52c0010
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:01 2009] Found driver: "OpenGL Reference GKGL driver". Type 5, Version 78.0. Load @0x013ffe10
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:01 2009] Instantiate address: 0x7f41b50a1a10
ALSA initialized: 44100Hz, 16bit stereo, 92ms latency (8 periods x 512 samples)
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:03 2009] load_sample_ogg: Couldn't open sound/mission.updated.ogg (mission.updated)
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:03 2009] load_sample: Couldn't open sound/mission.updated.ogg (mission.updated)
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:03 2009] load_sample_ogg: Couldn't open sound/nfz.warning.enter.ogg (nfz.warning.enter)
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:03 2009] load_sample: Couldn't open sound/nfz.warning.enter.ogg (nfz.warning.enter)
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:03 2009] load_sample_ogg: Couldn't open sound/nfz.warning.leave.ogg (nfz.warning.leave)
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:03 2009] load_sample: Couldn't open sound/nfz.warning.leave.ogg (nfz.warning.leave)
/dev/js0: No such file or directory
Found joystick 'Logitech Logitech Extreme 3D (/dev/input/js0)'
numaxes = 6
numbuttons = 12
/dev/js1: No such file or directory
/dev/input/js1: No such file or directory
/dev/js2: No such file or directory
/dev/input/js2: No such file or directory
/dev/js3: No such file or directory
/dev/input/js3: No such file or directory
Found 1 joystick(s)
Input driver initialized.
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:06 2009] Flight-Assist mode disabled.
[Sat Nov 14 20:52:06 2009] Auto-Aim enabled.
Welcome to Vendetta Online.

[Sat Nov 14 20:52:12 2009] Welcome to Vendetta Online.

It seems to me that there's some bug with ALSA in Ubuntu 9.10 with certain sound chipsets.

If you can find out what sound chipset you're using, maybe we can make a correlation.

Perhaps below is what your asking for... I'm hoping this problem is related to the excessive processor use as the times I do get audio when I log on, it cuts out and proceeds to chew up both chips.

Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP61 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a5b
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
Memory at fe028000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

Can you find out what version of ALSA and PulseAudio? Did you try choosing the OSS sound driver in Vendetta's Audio settings?

It looks like Alsa v1.0.20 and pulseaudio 1:0.19-Oubuntu4

Edit: I did try to switch to OSS, however VO does not save the setting and it immediately switches back to alsa.

hi,

my nick is spelled "detructor" without a "s" ;)

the thread you are referring to is this one -> http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/6/22127

the line to add is ->
[alsa]
periodsize=512

(just in case someone wants to know)

@death fluffy
> This time I started out with sound and a crackling noise and a couple of minutes into tweaking, I completely lost sound.

yeh, that is the same that I experienced. What I can say now is, that VO is not the only game where I've this problem.

In heroes of newerth (I'm in the beta) I've some crackling noises, too. (not as much as in VO)

What you experienced about OSS is the same what I experienced.

Maybe you could try to start VO with "padsp" that will force PulseAudio to redirect the sound to OSS compatible devices.

When I get my soundcard I'll try VO again, if the crackling noises are still there I'll upgrade ALSA (IMO the problem is alsa, because when you disable pulseaudio (pasuspender) the crackling noises are still there) and see what happens.

*edit
> Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
same for me.

*edit2
oh and for updating alsa you could use this script: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6589810

okay, I've upgraded my alsa version, rebooted and started VO. Played for ~30 minutes: no crackling or something similiar. It works :)

I tried the script with no result. I did try un-installing pulse audio and left VO running for a bit which seemed to do the trick. However, doing so left the other game I play without sound, and even to my tone deaf ears caused sound overall to decline slightly.

I reinstalled pulseaudio and the problem resumed.

Point being, the problem persists though I do have a potential solution should I choose to take it. At this point I'm a bit apathetic about committing.

Changed OS. Problem solved.