No sound from the main menu on

[ABtoxicevent]

Hello. Recently I have been frustrated by a lack of sound in my Steam version of Civ V. The game worked flawlessly on my Macbook for a few weeks prior to the start of this random-seeming problem.

When I launch Civ V from Steam, the usual company intros play with sound. When the intro video is enabled it plays fine with audio. But after this point, I get no sound from the game - no effects, music, leader dialogue, etc. Moreover, attempts to adjust the sound from the in-game options menu have no effect...if I move any of the sliders from '100' and hit 'Accept,' these changes are not reflected upon re-opening the audio options menu.

I made sure to update my Mac OS software, including audio. Restarting my laptop after these updates didn't do anything. I checked the 'usersettings.ini' file and the audio values at the bottom were at 100- in another settings file, all audio settings seemed to be unmuted and in order.

So I attempted a couple re-installations of the game via Steam, without noticeable effect: still no sound from the menu on. The only noticeable change after a reinstallation is that the 'usersettings.ini' file in the 'Aspyr' folder seems to be missing the audio settings completely.

Again, I'm playing Civ V via Steam on a Mac OS. My notebook meets the sys reqs, and I have been running the game fine until now. My issue is a complete lack of sound upon hitting the main menu. If anyone could help, or give suggestions for further troubleshooting, I would really appreciate it. Obviously if I can clarify anything, just ask. Thanks!

 

[Heerlo]

You could try validating the game files, but I don't know if that would help anything.

 

[ABtoxicevent]

Thanks for the response. I did try validating/verifying the files on Steam before I did the reinstalls, without success. I'll do it again because it won't hurt, but like you said I don't expect it to solve my issue.

 

[ABtoxicevent]

Just to update, the bug definitely seems to lie with the game creating/editing settings, in the UserSettings.ini file... upon initial launching, the UserSettings.ini file that's created is missing the .Volume variables completely. Adding them manually doesn't seem to do anything. If someone (on a Mac or PC) could open their UserSettings file and copy &paste the text, that might help me, but really I'm at a loss here.

 

[Heerlo]

Here's mine, if it helps you any.

Spoiler :

[AutoSave]

TurnsBetweenAutosave = 10

NumAutosavesKept = 5

[GameSettings]

AutoWorkersDontReplace = 1

AutoWorkersDontRemoveFeatures = 0

NoCitizenWarning = 0

NoRewardPopups = 0

NoTileRecommendations = 0

CivilianYields = 0

NoBasicHelp = 0

StraightZoom = 0

GridOn = 0

ScoreList = 1

ResourceOn = 0

YieldOn = 0

PolicyInfo = 0

SkipIntroVideo = 0

Tooltip1Seconds = 110

Tooltip2Seconds = 500

DebugMode = 0

; Disables the advisor speech (GAME_ADVISOR_SPEECH volume knob)
DisableAdvisorSpeech = 0

SinglePlayerAutoEndTurnEnabled = 0

MultiplayerAutoEndTurnEnabled = 0

BindMouse = 0

MinimalTerrainBuildOnLoad = 1

SinglePlayerQuickCombatEnabled = 0

SinglePlayerQuickMovementEnabled = 0

MultiplayerQuickCombatEnabled = 0

MultiplayerQuickMovementEnabled = 0

HideTouchHelp = 0

EnableMapInertia = 1

DragSpeed = 1.000000

PinchSpeed = 1.000000

[InterfaceSettings]

SmallUIAssets = 1

AutoUIAssets = 1

AutoUnitCycle = 0

[TutorialSettings]

TutorialLevel = 0

AdvisorBadAttackInterrupt = 1

AdvisorCityAttackInterrupt = 0

TutorialPopupSeen = 1023

TutorialSeen_LowBits = -17426296

TutorialSeen_HighBits = -1

AdvisorLevel = 2

[User Settings]

Music.Volume = 100

Effects.Volume = 100

Ambience.Volume = 100

Speech.Volume = 100

 

[OmniPotent42]

I have the EXACT problem on my PC, haven't done a reinstall nor shall I.

Here's the link to my thread:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=499098

I can't think of anything I did differently that made it like that...can you?

 

[ABtoxicevent]

Omni, I can't think of anything I did. What comes to mind is a Steam update just before I had this issue, but I can't imagine how that would be related. Are you playing through Steam?

It's helpful (though obviously I'm sorry you're having this issue too) to hear you're on PC, I was pretty convinced this was a Mac issue- just because the config stuff is in the Aspyr folder for me. Also writing about your headset made me check to make sure Civ wasn't switching my audio outputs or anything, no luck. I'm still stumped.

Edit: Also, thanks again Heerlo. Those .Volume controls aren't being set up, definitely.

 

[Heerlo]

Edit: Also, thanks again Heerlo. Those .Volume controls aren't being set up, definitely.

No problem. Sorry I couldn't help you more.

 

[Petek]

@OmniPotent42 - Open the program or programs that control your Windows audio settings and/or your sound device's settings. Look for anything that has been set to 0 or muted. On my system, these settings sometimes get reset for no apparent reason.

@ABtoxicevent - Similar advice for Mac and/or sound device settings

 

[OmniPotent42]

Yes, I am running the game on Steam.

I submitted a problem to the 2k site like 2 days ago but they haven't got back to me yet. I'll keep checking my request. I checked my userSettings.ini file and they are all at 100%.

Hmm...there was an update on my Steam too, now that you mention it. Let me try downloading another game on Steam and see if the volume on that is muted as well. Then we can at least pinpoint the culprit program. Do you have any other games on Steam?

@Petek: All volume controls for all programs are at 100%. As mentioned before, the firaxis soundbit and intro video work fine, but any sound after that quits, so this leads me to think it's a problem with the game itself, as if it was steam or OS related no sound would work at all. But I'll see if my other steam games work, just to make sure.

 

[Petek]

Before I made my previous reply, I searched for similar problems (sound works at first, then stops working) in the past. I discovered several other instances (both PC and Mac), but never a solution. The Civ 5 sound folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\Sounds) contains at least two types of files (.mp3 and .ogg), so it's not out of the question that some of those types are working and others aren't. I disabled all the sound devices on my system. After doing so, I was unable to save my sound settings within the game. When I enabled the devices, I could again save my sound settings. When you open the Sound applet in Control Panel, the Playback tab might not display disabled devices. You have to right-click on an empty portion of the window and select Show Disabled Devices. You also might want to run DxDiag (Hit the "Windows key" and "R", type in Dxdiag, hit enter.) to see if the sound tabs in that report contain any useful information.

 

[OmniPotent42]

But when you unmuted your system, did the game volume go back to what it was? Because it's still at 100%, just not actually effective.

I tried all those things, but there aren't any disabled devices and all of my drivers are up to date with no errors. Sorry.

 

[timtofly]

I don't know if it will work, but have any of you removed steam via the OS? Then after rebooting reload steam. It could be a registry issue where steam is blocking the game's communication with the OS. It is not supposed to happen, but there have been stranger things in regards to steam.

 

[OmniPotent42]

what do you mean 'remove via the OS'? Like an uninstall?

EDIT: but if that was the case, wouldn't it have blocked all sound?

 

[timtofly]

In windows there is a place in the control panel that lets you uninstall programs. I am not sure how it works in a Mac. Some programs have their own uninstall option, but doing it through the OS should change the registry (at least in windows). That it is doing the same thing may mean that a Mac has become as penetrable as windows?

If it does not solve the problem, you are probably right. Perhaps it has nothing to do with the OS, but there could be a corrupt file within steam. If re-installing steam does not fix that, then nothing will or at least that is what it seems like to me. I suppose if you just deleted all of the files in the steam folder, perhaps steam would rebuild itself hopefully resolving the issue.

I just mentioned steam because you have exhausted "fixing" the game files.

 

[ABtoxicevent]

Timtofly, reinstalling Steam did the trick. Great suggestion. After reinstalling Steam & then Civ I have sound. The Usersettings.ini file seems to have been set up correctly now as well, something that wasn't happening with just a Civ reinstall. Definitely worth a bit of time and having to re-download a couple of games. Omni, let us know how this goes for you if you try it.

Thanks again Timtofly, and everyone else for their help.

 

[OmniPotent42]

Thank you, Timtofly! It worked for me as well!

 

[SweetBro]

It worked for me once then the next time I go to play no sound again, now what. I repeated the steps again but sadly did not fix the issue a second time.