Wirehead Studios

hey guys, i need help.

you kno the corny backround music in quake 2, and all the expansions? it stopped working all of a sudden,  and i have no idea how to make it work. plz respond soon

Wish I knew the answer to that too... I messed around with my file and screwed something up. And blam no ambience. Don't really want to reinstall.

Moral: Don't delete what you don't understand.

Nova you may want to try a reinstall, looking like I'll have to also.

did you try making sure the CD with the music is in the drive? The music comes from the CD audio.

First, let's make sure you have sound at all.  Digital sound like the Windows startup noise working, etc?  If not, you've got a bigger problem, like bad sound drivers or a toasted soundcard, though sometimes it's as simple as a cable needing to be wiggled wherever it plugs into the sound card.

If .wav stuff is playing, check your mixer to make sure the CD Audio slider is not at minimum, and that the CD Audio is not muted.  If that's good then let's check to see if the CD-Rom is working.  Throw in an audio CD of any kind and see if it plays.  If the CD player application is running like it's playing the CD but you have no sound, try plugging headphones into the headphone jack on the CD-Rom and see if you have sound from there.  If so, you need to power off the system and check the cable running from the CD-Rom to the sound card and make sure it didn't work loose.  If the cable is seated correctly at both ends and reseating it does not help then you may have a problem with the sound card or a defective cable.  Try replacing the cable first, they're cheap.  If that doesn't work and a driver reinstall doesn't fix anything, then your sound hardware has a problem.  You might try moving the CD-audio cable to a different input if your sound card has more than one CD audio input and see if that helps.  If not, either your aux output on the CD-Rom is bad, or the CD input circuit on the sound card is bad.  If you have onboard sound, you've got a problem.  CD-Roms are cheap and easier to replace, so if it's a "shot in the dark" decision try that first.

If you have no sound from the headphones jack, or the CD won't recognize at all then eject the CD.  Try putting a data disc in and seeing if Windows will recognize that.  If not, eject that CD, and note which way the label is facing.  Close the CD tray.  Wait for a minute, then eject the CD again.  Try this a few times, noting the label position each time.  If the label is facing identical to how you put it in each time, then the CD's spindle motor is shot and the drive has to be replaced.  If the CD has been turned, then try using a cleaning disk and seeing if that helps to get disks to recognize.  If the disks refuse to recognize but the drive letter exists under My Computer then you probably need to replace the CD-Rom drive.  If the drive letter does not exist under My Computer check the boot screen to see if it's showing up when the system starts.  If not, power off the system and check the data cable to the CD-Rom to make sure it's not worked loose either at the drive or the mainboard.  Try reseating the cable.  If this does not help, the drive probably needs to be replaced.

If your disk fails to eject then check the power cable to the CD-Rom.  If the power cable is firmly plugged in then try swapping power connectors.  If the disk still fails to eject the CD-Rom is bad, replace it.

Hope that helps.

OR maybe re-install to a different folder eg. Quake2test or something, then see if it works, and then move saves etc. over to it?

Well, took Pho's advice on looking inside the case and checking the sound card. Well, my little brother has some questions to answer. Knew it was a bad idea to let him mess with my comp while I was at work. :evil:  He tries to be like his big brother. Always tinkering.

Anyhow problem solved.

So it wasn't just Q2 that had no sound.

You got that right... When everybodies home I keep my speakers off. So not to disturb anyone. I go loud when everyones out.

Got home from work toyed around with my program file. Booted up and wham... no sound. Went nuts trying to figure it out. Hopefully nothing else is messed up, but every thing else seems to be in place.

I guess he was trying to recreate the time I did one of my labs at home. I was faking a memory upgrade for my Intro to PC's class. Should have known better then to do it in front of him. He's 9 and was way to fasinated with the insides of the computer. He may make a good Tech one of these days.

i remember on my windows 98 there was alwase backround music, even without the cd. if not then im just going crazy cuz ido remember it. the sound is all working, its just the corny backround music isnt working

Wait... corny background music without the CD?  Quake 2 has no music except CD audio.  I can understand someone might think Q2's music is corny if they don't really like metal-ish stuff, but I completely misunderstood what you meant.  No, there should be ambient sounds like explosions, ships flying past, sparks and computer equipment sounds, but no other music except the CD tracks.  If there was, then it was something very wrong with your Q2 install.  Now, the CD tracks would run out after 4 passes and loop to the last CD audio track after that, which is the same one played on the Comm Satellite level, and the Final Showdown level, which is rather corny.  You might try manually playing the CD and skipping to that to see if that's it.  I have my CD loopcount variable set to 99 so I don't lose the normal level music if I take me time running around blastering everything to death. ;)

Death Stalker:  Glad to help! (and glad all that typing didn't go to waste). :)

Very Informative to say the least. ^_^ , but alot of help also.

wait, i think i DID have a cd i nthere a long time ago...

how do i work the cds again?

It should play automatically when you play the game.  If you've completed all of the level's current objectives the music stops.