Hello ya'll - as mentioned, this seems to some extent be another version of the issue going on here, however, I didn't want to step on any forum rules when the problem is a little different in nature.
Similar issue: visualizer skins just up and stopped working. Recent system changes? None. I periodically fuss with my audio hardware settings when doing recordings, but I've been doing that kind of stuff for months and nothing has ever impacted my skins before. I've already gone and installed the most recent beta or rainmeter, checked my appropriate plugins (they're there!), and logged a refresh of my skin (see spoiler below).
Because I haven't fussed with permissions or harddrive changes, I didn't fuss with folder ownership like mentioned in the other thread, though I'd be willing to if it seems relevant? Let me know if there's any other information I can supply, I'd like to see what's going on with this too!
So as a follow-up (and a bit of a bump, since things have been quiet), I tried to ownership fix reported in the other thread (check the OP for a link), and nothing's changed. What's particularly wonky is that my same code on another computer (albeit with a different sound system) still works just fine.
---- EDIT:
Some additional searching has shown that nothing is actually registering with the skin, it seems. In the About menu, while audio is playing through the outbound system(s), nothing actually is registering. The skin still refreshes and updates and all that good stuff, so I'm really kinda stumped at this point.
---- EDIT #2:
So I'm coming back here to add this to the information repository, because it's relevant to the actual skin.
From a Windows perspective, the issue seems to be with one particular outbound sound device (Digital Output [S/PDIF]) being the ONLY source of outbound audio that AudioLevel seems to want to play with. The catch? After quite a lot of poking and prodding, it doesn't seem as though I can do anything to both use this output, and actually hear anything. While it makes the AudioLevel plugin react, it doesn't actually produce any sound to any port on my computer. That seems like a bigger issue, but one that's possibly avoidable by...
Going into the skin itself, and setting an outbound ID in the parent measure. Yay, now we're back in rainmeter territory! Again, though, there's a catch. Even when using a child measure to track the Type=DeviceList, it doesn't seem to make a real difference. So maybe it's a skin issue at this point, maybe it's a hardware one, I'm not sure. And yes, before anyone asks, I've had my usual speakers (the ones that make sound) set to my default outbound for years - I'm not entirely sure where the Digital Output is even coming from. It's setting that Digital Output to the default outbound on a system level that makes Audiolevel react, while simultaneously silencing my speakers.
One final note for this round of confusing edits: while fussing with my skin's code and adding in the ID data, something happened that made rainmeter mad: the skin was claimed to "not contain any meters or measures" (despite being some 1200 lines), and when notepad++ reloaded, the skin was empty. I copied over another version and made the changes again, and so far it's been okay, but it seemed like a noteworthy occurrence.
As before, any thoughts would be welcomed with open arms!
Sorry I didn't check the forums over the weekend. Try Control Panel -> Manage Audio Devices. In the Playback tab there should be a list of audio outputs, pick the one that's actually connected to your output hardware and set that as the default. Restart Rainmeter. Any change?
Further debugging: in Rainmeter -> Manage, in the Settings tab, enable Debug Mode Logging and Log to File, restart the skin and upload the file here and I can take a look.
I can't help you with the skin, but I can at least help figure out if the AudioLevel plugin isn't talking to your hardware.
dgrace, thank you for taking the time to check this one out. Means a lot that the dev responsible for the plugin is providing feedback!
If you'd like a copy of my debug log, check the OP, it's in the spoiler. To summarize, it's basically just "Releasing dummy stream audio device" and "Releasing audio device" over and over again.
Furthermore, I've played with my default audio quite a bit through windows' system settings. I've found that the Audiolevel plugin responds to only one of the various options, however, this option is NOT the one which actually produces sounds for my headphones/speakers ("Speakers/Headphones" produces audio with a 2 channel, 24 bit, 48k Hz Studio Quality that can actually be heard, and this has been the default on my system for pretty much ever. I've flipped the exclusive control option on and off between rainmeter restarts and that hasn't had an effect either. "Digital Output [S/PDIF]" registers with AudioLevel, however, provides no actual output and doesn't seem to correspond to any ports on my PC. It's also set to a 2 channel, 24 bit, 48k Studio Quality output with exclusive mode on. Both of these use the same IDT HD Audio CODEC).
Lastly, I've taken the time to identify the specific outbound ID of my actual speakers (Speakers/Headphones above) and set it using the corresponding parent measure command, but it's made no difference.
Aethrios wrote:To summarize, it's basically just "Releasing dummy stream audio device" and "Releasing audio device" over and over again.
Ah sorry, missed that in the OP. Yeah not much help there. I would have expected one of the error messages to pop up during device creation, but I don't see any.
Aethrios wrote:"Digital Output [S/PDIF]" registers with AudioLevel, however, provides no actual output and doesn't seem to correspond to any ports on my PC. It's also set to a 2 channel, 24 bit, 48k Studio Quality output with exclusive mode on.
Hmm... well, if you don't specify a device, it should use whatever was listed as the default for Playback. You probably want to make sure none of the devices are able to take exclusive control of the stream, there's a known issue where the loopback client will fail to initialize if the device is running in WASAPI exclusive mode. Some details in here:
Out of curiosity, if you change the AudioLevel parent's Port value from Output to Input, does the meter work? (assuming you have some audio you can feed into the system via a microphone or line input). Strange that changing the device manually doesn't work for you. If you specify the device and then create a measure which reports DeviceName, does the name update appropriately?
dgrace wrote:
Hmm... well, if you don't specify a device, it should use whatever was listed as the default for Playback.
I do, but it doesn't seem to be compliant!
dgrace wrote:
You probably want to make sure none of the devices are able to take exclusive control of the stream, there's a known issue where the loopback client will fail to initialize if the device is running in WASAPI exclusive mode. Some details in here:
Thanks for the reading! Interesting stuff. I followed the directions there (even though it's something I've played with earlier in my fussing with this issue), and nothing changed.
dgrace wrote:Out of curiosity, if you change the AudioLevel parent's Port value from Output to Input, does the meter work? (assuming you have some audio you can feed into the system via a microphone or line input). Strange that changing the device manually doesn't work for you. If you specify the device and then create a measure which reports DeviceName, does the name update appropriately?
When setting it to Input, it works just like it should. It even changes automatically between what's set to the default - my sound card when nothing is plugged in, but then a USB mic when it's turned on and plugged in, registering off my voice.
Yes. I've got the ID set to my actual outbound sound hardware (used the skin provided in the AudioLevel mega-thread to double check the IDs of my stuff, and copied it from there), and set up a little meter to display the name - it registers like it should. Even when directed so specifically, it doesn't work properly.
Aethrios wrote:When setting it to Input, it works just like it should. It even changes automatically between what's set to the default - my sound card when nothing is plugged in, but then a USB mic when it's turned on and plugged in, registering off my voice.
That sounds like the skin is doing something like keying a Refresh event off the DeviceStatus of the AudioLevel parent - that's not default behavior for the plugin. I'd probably try a stripped-down really simple skin when debugging this that doesn't do anything fancy.
Here's a really simple debug skin. See if this works:
dgrace wrote:Here's a really simple debug skin. See if this works:
Works flawlessly. I'll rebuild mine and see what the issue is. Thank you, very much, for your time and effort. I'll be back once I've rebuilt everything, and key you in to what the issue was (if I can figure it out :P)
All the best!
--- EDIT:
I had an issue when I booted up today with my IDT HD Codec not being listed in my audio panel (no sound, from anything, at all) right after startup. I restarted, then had windows update the driver, and all of a sudden after setting my whole skin back to just Port=Output rather than trying to specify the ID exactly, it works fine. My apologies for taking so much time, right when this started I attacked the drivers and tried to update them, but it wasn't making a difference. Hopefully this actually sticks!
