Fix Audio Skipping in PSOBB

[T_T1K]

I recently installed Ephinea PSOBB and noticed the music skipping on the main menu and when joining lobbies. Seems to be a fairly common issue on modern systems, though there isn't a universal fix. For me, the solution was disabling audio enhancements in Windows 11:

1. Open Settings
   
2. Go to System > Sound
   
3. Select your output device
   
4. Set Advanced settings > Audio enhancements to Off
   

I think it might be related to my Razer headset and THX audio. If you're getting the same problem, it’s a quick thing to try.

[Pixelated]

Howdy folks, 
I decided to sick Claude Code on an adventure of dumping the audio stack and analyzing how it functioned. It helped find a solution to the audio stutters in the main ship block lobby (sometimes happens on the start screen too.) The stock dsound.dll that comes packaged leverages a Windows compatability shim which causes locks and stutters. Simply moving away from that and to a product like DSOAL (indirectdsound may work, haven't tested it) instantly resolves this AND makes the entire client run better. You can get it from here:  kcat/dsoal: A DirectSound DLL replacer that enables surround sound, HRTF, and EAX support via OpenAL Soft

TL;DR: The choppy music isn't PSO's fault — it's Windows' legacy DirectSound emulation. Swapping in DSOAL replaces that emulation with a modern userland mixer, which fixes the stutter and, as a side effect, makes the whole engine feel noticeably smoother.

Claudes Analysis:
What's broken on stock: PSO uses DirectSound, a Windows 98/XP-era audio API. Starting with Vista, Microsoft deprecated "real" DirectSound and replaced it with a compatibility shim that forwards every call through a kernel-mode path to WASAPI. That shim has long-standing bugs that cause steady-state stuttering on certain old games — especially during scene transitions (block loads, lobby entry, the main menu, character select). It's not PSO's fault, not Ephinea's fault, not a hardware or DXVK issue — it's Windows' emulation code path. Happens regardless of audio device format (44.1/48 kHz), regardless of your D3D wrapper, regardless of shader cache state.

What DSOAL does: It's a drop-in dsound.dll replacement that reimplements DirectSound on top of OpenAL Soft. Instead of DirectSound → Microsoft's kernel shim → WASAPI, audio flows through DirectSound → OpenAL Soft (userland) → WASAPI. Same output device, working mixer.

Why it also makes the engine feel smoother: the old kernel shim serializes every audio call through a blocking path. Every time PSO hits IDirectSoundBuffer:lay or Lock — which it does constantly for menu clicks, step sounds, damage tics, spell casts — the main thread can stall for tens of milliseconds waiting on the kernel mixer. DSOAL's path is fully userland with its own dedicated mix thread, so those calls return near-instantly. The UI thread stops getting punished for audio work. Menu transitions, targeting pops, palette switches — anything driven off that thread — gets tangibly snappier.

Install: drop dsound.dll, dsoal-aldrv.dll, alsoft.ini next to PsoBB.exe. Delete those three files to revert.

[T_T1K]

Nice one, have you verified this works? I only get audio skipping on Windows, no problems on Steam Deck - Proton does a great job.