THE PROBLEM:

Same as many others in the past. I do my movie, settle it in PP and export it. When checking the movie out on this site and in my My Documents file I noticed that the sound effects were off by a lot toward the middle and the end. And not just the ones I added myself, either. Windows would break and the sound would come up three shots later. Cars would explode in silence only to hear the noise crash into a scene that was meant to be silent later on. Sometimes these things were off by 3 seconds and there were times were they were off by over 10.

SOLUTIONS TRIED:

I have researched this subject on the boards thoroughly. Read the Andy Guide... eliminated all background programs, played through the movie multiple times to eliminate/minimize lag, and reduyced graphics settings to aminimum. I read that this would not affect the export but apprently it did, and my movie not only looked crappy but also still had the same bugs!

I tried playing through the audio export twice and even three times once and it did not work.

I have read about the option of doing the same thing only restarting each time you hear a discrepency. Since this seems like it would take at least a few days of nonstop exporting and reexporting (my movie, though only 7 minutes long, had about 40 instances of sound discrepencies) I have not tried it yet.

I have also read about the Export Shaving Technique. I have not tried it for the same reason listed above. Seems like it would take forever to listen through the movie again and again then go shave a scene then repeat. If I misread things and this only has to be done once or twice to disappear the bug then please tell me. I also remember reading posts from a few people who tried it and it still did not work, but I may be wrong.

Most of the posts I found on the issue were way back in 2006 with the latest being in March of 2007. Many of these posts linked to supposed solution threads that have since been removed or deleted. I find it hard to believe the issue has been resolved yet I see no current posts on the topic. I would think that if it had been resolved the solution would be included in the Common Problems sticky threads.

SYSTEM SPECS:

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600). Manufacturer: Gateway. Default System BIOS. Processor: Intel Pentium 3, ~1.0 CHz. Memory: 256 MB RAM. Page file: 385 MB used, 232 MB available. DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904).

Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor AGP (0x4153). DAC Type: INternal DAC (400 MHz). Main driver: ati2dvag.dll. DDI Version: 9 (or higher).

Any other questions just ask. I am not technical but I know how to look stuff up.  

SUMMARY:

I love this game dearly but the sound issue is killing me. It sucks to work so hard on something, sync it all up perfectly and then have sound be out of whack. I can adjust the music in my movie and probably beat the bug (the music was onyl affected by about 3 seconds at the end), but the SFX are another matter. I might be able to sync up the ones I added but there are SFX inherent in some stunt scenes that are not on a timeline and thus to my knowledge cannot be manipulated.

If there is no solution to this I am going to eliminate ambient noises and SFX and release my movie as music only. I do not like the notion of doing this because I think the sound effects in their proper places add a lot to the movie, or any movie. I like that you can advertise for your S&E movies here even if hosted on another site and I plan on always doing that since I think it is only logical to want to show a S%E made movie first to those who know the software!

And 2  questions in summary:

1. Do you think this is an issue with the processor or computer itself? If so I will give up on it because I cannot afforda new computer at this time or in the near future.

2. Is this an issue with my overlays, special effects and extra props? If so I will once again have to give up because there is no way I am redoing a movie I was 100% satisfied with to accomodate a bug.

If the answer to either of those questions is yes then to me the real answer is... external editing. Please post any thoughts--according to my research this issue has not been mentioned in over a year!

Thanks a lot.

I'm not so hot on the whole sound sync bug issue, I'm sure somebody else will come along who might be of assistance with regards to that.
However, your RAM does seem to be on the low side...It meets the requirements to run the game, but I can imagine you'd have plenty export problems with anything below 1GB. Not the answer you were looking for I know But RAM is quite cheap, so it wont be a case of buying a new PC if that is the problem (because I like I said, I don't rightly know if it will make much difference) provided your PC has adequate space to upgrade.

Edit: Oh, and yes...large amounts of overlays and other modded content can cause lag issues with the export, unfortunately.

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The only thing worse that beating a dead horse is betting on one.

Give Export Shaving Technique a try.

The last person who tried it (Pookashells, I believe) only needed to do the shaves once or twice to get his film (which is way longer than yours) into shape.

Your film - as I understand it - only loses 3 seconds in 7 minutes. You might find it surprisingly painless - although I can't promise anything except that you WILL eventually end up with a film you can be proud of using this method - I have not been informed of any failures so far.

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When I had 512MB Ram, I couldn't export even a 10 minute movie without lag or sound sync issues.

When I got 2GB + a 512MB Graphics Card, it has never gone out sync since, nor has the game lagged. I think the best possible answer is an upgrade.

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OK. I will try it then. I would like to point out that the music only loses 3 seconds by the end but the sound effects are all over the place, and off by as much as 11 seconds. It is not consistent either because at some points after the 11 second lapse it is against only off by a couple!

But I will try it and get back to you. A 100% success rate sounds great to me. I like your work here and respect what you have done for the community. So thanks.

I will check into an upgrade once I have some extra money. Right now all bills just got paid and I am wiped out or I would. I want to release a film by my birthday (this Thursday the 20th) and that will be before I can get that money. But I figured that might be the issue and thanks for helping confirm that it probably is...

(This has to be the most helpful message board ever!)