If some other program is making sound (e.g. I'm watching a youtube video) when I start the game, then it doesn't play any audio (neither music nor sound effects). Once the other audio source stops (e.g. I pause the youtube video), then it suddenly plays all the sound effects that should have played before, which gets very loud, then starts playing audio like normal. If no other audio is playing when I boot the game, then audio works normally.
I first noticed this when I switched to the 2.1 experimental version of the game. It doesn't happen on 2.0.
My computer is running Manjaro 26.1 and KDE Plasma 6.6.5, and the `uname` output is:
```
$ uname -srvpo
Linux 7.0.10-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sun, 24 May 2026 04:47:00 +0000 unknown GNU/Linux
```
[2.1.9] Sound doesn't play if any other program is playing sound
Re: [2.1.9] Sound doesn't play if any other program is playing sound
Update on this: I just noticed the "Preferred audio driver" setting, and I set it to "ALSA" and audio now works as I'd expect. Probably still worth investigating why the default didn't pick the correct one for my system, but at least my game works correctly now
Re: [2.1.9] Sound doesn't play if any other program is playing sound
This is almost certainly a driver/system issue and there is nothing Factorio can do (other than choosing a driver). The driver selection is (as far as I know) a simple priority list and first one that will successfully initializes will be used. And from previous reports we've received in the past there is no 'correct' driver to use. My first suggestion would be to try pipewire but if alsa is working for you without issues, there is not really a reason to change it.