(Mac) Unreal Editor Freezes if no audio device plugged in

Development Platform & Builds
, , , , ,
1

Hi,

I think this a Major problem i come by,i have been having problems with unreal editor freezing when a C++ compilation end or simply if you click play,thinking it was a driver problem or hardware as i have just reinstalled OS X(10.10) …

but after much headache and test on several version (4.7.5 to 4.10.1),it turn that the editor freezes when no audio is device plugged in or if there isn’t any audio driver(i don’t know :slight_smile: ),especially when it emit a sound(when you click play or notification like end of compilation), i have plugged in my usb audio interface and everything works…
i hope this get fixed or at least show an error when no audio device is detected :).

2

Hi baeklor,

Please provide more information about your Mac’s specs. You can find this in the Apple menu >About This Mac>More Info> Add the information from this window (serial # not necessary).

Thanks,

3

Hi baeklor,

Since there is a similar issue reported here:

https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/335974/410-freezing-when-i-click-play-or-compile.html

I have moved forward and entered a bug report for this issue: JIRA [UE-24750] However, in order for our developers to properly address the issue we need the information I’ve requested above about your Mac’s hardware as well as the callstack from when the editor crashes/freezes which can be found in the crash reporter if present.

If not, I will need the exact name of your project and the last time you encountered a freeze. Please provide this information and we will continue to investigate the issue.

Thanks

4

Since we have not heard back from you in a few days, we are closing this issue for tracking purposes. However, if the editor continues to freeze when not audio input device is plugged in, please respond with the requested information above and we will continue to investigate -Thanks!

5

The same thing happens to me on 4.14.3 and 4.15 preview 2 using a freshly created project (from any template)
Mac OS with NO SOUND CARD, i7 7700k, 32GB Ram, Radeon x480, evo 850SSD. There is no mac audio driver for my audio board.
Framerate drops to 3-4 (down from 120) only AFTER the first time I press the play button.

Managed to narrow it down using stats: FAudioThreadTask.AudioUpdateTime takes up to 250ms per frame, average 31ms per frame.

I can work around this by simply connecting to my bluetooth headset. Framerate rises to 120FPS immediately.
I have NO audio in my level. Even the editor is slow if no audio device is connected.

My guess is the audio thread is trying to initialize audio (lazily) every tick.

6

For testing purposes, what year/model is your Mac and what OS are you running?