Skyrim Lip Sync Bug - Finally Fixed

[Nebulous112]

All over Reddit and the STEP forums today...

Meh321, the author of Crash Fixes, seems to have fixed the lip sync bug after a lot of research was done on the issue by some members of the Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil team.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/75951/?

From the posts section of the Nexus page:

The lip sync bug is due to a faulty Patch 1.9 optimisation that caused an (intentional) audio/lip sync playback delay feature that had been in the game since launch to malfunction. Some lines of dialogue have always been subject to an audio and lip sync playback delay designed to ensure that the FaceFX (lip sync middleware) integration has time to properly morph the face so it can keep up with the start of the audio file. Pre-Patch 1.9 this worked fine, and the delay on the lip sync was the same as the delay on the audio. Post-Patch 1.9, the lip sync delay became around 2x the length of the audio delay, causing the infamous desync.

While I'm not entirely sure of the specifics of how Meh's code changes actually work, they basically prevent the delay from being multiplied 2x, thus ensuring that lip sync delay remains proportional to the audio delay and preventing the desync. It basically restores the behaviour to how it was before the 1.9 Patch that introduced the bug.

The bug was never due to issues with resource load, as evidenced by the fact that the same lines (those that trigger the FaceFX delay feature) displayed the bug consistently. It wasn't random or situational, the bug was 100% reproducible on each line, each time, to the same degree.

In case you're curious, the reason why some lines displayed the bug moreso than others is due to the fact that the issue was essentially caused by the aforementioned 2x multiplication of the delay. Those lines which only had a short delay instituted by the FaceFX delay feature obviously don't display as much desync when multiplied by 2 as those that have a longer, more drastic FaceFX delay.

And the reason why some lines never displayed the bug? Those lines weren't targeted by the FaceFX negative keyframe delay feature since the engine didn't need to delay their playback in order to have time to properly morph the face.

[VaultDuke]

that guy's on fire. He's on a roll!

[Arthmoor]

I've been poking around with this one on a few NPCs I recalled having the problem before and it seems to work. Though I'd still be more comfortable with it if I could remember an NPC whose lines ALWAYS get biffed so I could see if this works to fix them for good.

 

This may be gold, but don't assume that everything the guy is doing is also of equal value. There's a huge difference between fixing one rogue byte of lip sync code in the specific circumstances vs things listed as CTD fixing that are making the game ignore a crash.

[lmstearn]

Like to try this out as well. In many cases in this setup some NPCs do not move lips at all during dialog and that can occur even with followers in certain exterior locations.

[NightStar]

Looks good to me, though more thorough testing may be required to be sure, but I'm loving what I'm seeing (or not seeing ).

 

 

[Deathbydestiny]

Ahh I see you guys found this. I had posted it in the USLEEP section for inclusion in the topic about additional bug fix mods. It really works without a hitch. Now if only the issues with AI pathing can be fixed that were gimped for the ps3.