Hello everyone,
I have subscribed to GOG a few days ago, so I'm kind of a newbie :p I already bought Fallout, Unreal, Duke Nukem 3D, Sanitarium (never heard of this game but it looks awesome) Messiah and Earthworm Jim 3D. They all work perfectly... err, except for the last two : the music are all choppy and it ruins everything :( Some things I noticed :
> musics are choppy when I don't/can't move my character (during in-game movies for exemple) but when I start moving, the problem stops (and if I stop moving, same problem)
> when I open the task manager during the game (by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL) I go back to the desktop and I can still hear the music, but it sounds perfect here. When I go back to the game, musics are still choppy...
> and now, I think it might be the reason why there's a problem : both games have a "Music" folder and all the files are .ogg files... I downloaded libvorbis.dll and put it in my c:/windows/system32 folder but it doesn't change anything... I downloaded a player that can read .ogg files (Winamp) but nothing as well, in-game music is still choppy... I tried to lower the hardware acceleration for the sound (thanks to Ralackk who quicky answered me on the Messiah forum) but same thing...
So, any ideas ? Did anyone encountered the same problem ? I am using Windows XP... If anyone can help me, I'd be very thankful :)

I've never noticed that. What sound card do you have? How much RAM? I've noticed these RAM can dramatically affect sound quality in some titles.
You shouldn't need to install the codecs to get the sound working as that should be included with the titles concerned. If you do need them in general I recommend free-codecs.com instead of installing random players off the net.

Is it ONLY the music that gets stuttery or does the game do it too?
It does sound a bit like a codec or hardware issue if you can't play them with winamp either. I seem to recall having problems with the slightly more obscure codecs when I was using onboard audio, I always put it down to an AC97 being crap

It only affects the musics, the games run very well (I know what you mean, when I said "it ruins everything", I meant that the games are unpleasant to play because of this). I can read the .ogg files with Winamp however ! Here are some information about my computer (it comes from the Dxdiag file) :
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Memory: 512MB RAM
Page File: 190MB used, 1059MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
As for the sound card... Well, I'm using an USB sound card (Hercules USB 5.1 Channel Audio Adapter) because the former one gave up the ghost a few years ago.
PS : by the way, is it the right place for such a thread ? I wasn't really sure :\

It seems that GOG has chewed my reply.
Anyway, you're using a laptop, correct?
That's going to make replacing the RAM a bit more of a hassle but it's still something you're going to have to do. I had exactly the same problem in numerous games when the RAM was inadequate. So you're going to have to do your research (or post the make and model here and hope that someone knows the answer) and upgrade the RAM as far as it can go. You need at least 1GB. That would make all the difference.

No, my computer isn't a laptop, it's an old computer that I use for old games !
More information about it :
System Manufacturer: VIA Technologies, Inc.
System Model: P4X400-VT8235
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG (don't know what it is but if it can be useful)
Hm, I don't know a lot about computers, but what does the fact of upgrading RAM consists in ? (edit : hm ok, I checked and it means that I'll have to manipulate what's inside... That's what I thought and it sounds bad lol)
(I sent a message to GOG support team as well, I'll let you know if the manage to find a solution)

Ah. I thought you were replacing the sound card with an external because it wouldn't otherwise have been possible to do so. My mistake.
Don't worry about it. Replacing the RAM is about the easiest internal upgrade you can do. Just make sure you disconnect all the cables from the case first and then hold in the power button for about 45 seconds. That will clear any static.
Okay, from what I can gather, your motherboard supports up to 3GB of DDR333. So getting an extra 1GB in there shouldn't be a problem. Although it's no longer the cheapest RAM on the market.
There are two things to make sure of here. One is that it's DDR333. The second is that it's not laptop RAM. Laptop RAM should be marked as such. But if you're unsure ask again here and we'll confirm it.
But basically what you're looking for is something like this.Note: I'm not recommending that retailer. I haven't used them. But that is a pretty damn good price all the same.

If you decided to upgrade your RAM, a Google search says:
VIA P4X400 Chipset
NewEgg results
No idea if they ship to France or not, but that gives you an idea what you're looking at.
The Max Memory of 16GB seems a bit much for a P4 desktop, so you'll want to double-check everything should you order RAM.

My money is on the 512MB of ram. Upgrading isn't as scary as it sounds as long as you can reach it (some cases are very tight) and as long as you can get the right sort, more than likely it uses DDR, you should be able to find some of that on ebay quite cheap

Make sure your sound drivers are up to date. Go to the manufactures website and check for updates for your computer. Also they may be available at Windows Update. I've had my sound broken / fixed by an update. . . =)

You might also want to consider getting an internal sound card and installing that while you're in there. It won't alleviate the stuttering. But it should improve sound quality while not needing its own power supply.
Off the same page you linked to: � Supports up to 3.0GB DDR200/266/333 SDRAM.
But still getting an extra 1GB in there shouldn't be a problem.

That pretty much goes for all drivers really. Seeing as this is primarily a performance issue, graphics card drivers might make the biggest difference.

I agree, it's easy to forget driver updates. I went almost a year once without updating my video card drivers . . . =D
There was a period when the HD sound updates were garbage and it was a gamble every time you updated. If he has not been on top of his drivers he may be using old sound and video drivers which he should update first thing.
Click here for ATI
Click here for Nvidia

I don't know if it makes as much difference as it used to. But it's still something I like to keep on top of.
Back in the days when Nvidia and ATI were still finding their feet it used to make a very profound difference. Given the age of Willdo's hardware, it might even go as far as to address the problem in some games. Not all though. As there's no way 512MB is enough.

Yeah, he needs an upgrade . . . soon . . . =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7vt_VYt6vY
An okay video about upgrading ram, should show you how simple it really is
Another page describing it
http://lirent.net/hardware/how-to-install-ddr-ram-to-your-computer.html