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feat: Add DirectAudio driver support - #1806

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joshuatam:feat/directaudio
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feat: Add DirectAudio driver support#1806
joshuatam wants to merge 4 commits into
utkarshdalal:masterfrom
joshuatam:feat/directaudio

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@joshuatam

@joshuatam joshuatam commented Aug 12, 2026

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Description

Introduces DirectAudio as a new audio driver option for Wine.

This driver provides direct audio output to Android's AAudio, bypassing PulseAudio or ALSA middleware, potentially improving audio latency and compatibility for users.

Thanks for the interesting work from @The412Banner
https://github.com/The412Banner/directaudio

Recording

N/A

Type of Change

  • Bug fix
  • Performance / stability improvement
  • Compatibility improvements
  • Other (requires prior approval)

Checklist

  • If I have access to #code-changes, I have discussed this change there and it has been green-lighted. If I do not have access, I have still provided clear context in this PR. If I skip both, I accept that this change may face delays in review, may not be reviewed at all, or may be closed.
  • This change aligns with the current project scope (core functionality, stability, or performance). If not, it has been explicitly approved beforehand.
  • I have attached a recording of the change.
  • I have read and agree to the contribution guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Summary by cubic

Adds DirectAudio as a new Wine audio driver on Android, routing audio via AAudio to reduce latency by bypassing PulseAudio/ALSA. Previously only ALSA/PulseAudio were supported; now Proton 11 arm64ec (Bionic) users can select DirectAudio, with automatic fallback to PulseAudio when unsupported or when Wine/variant changes.

  • UI: Adds “DirectAudio (Proton 11 arm64ec only)” to audio settings; validates selection against Wine version and variant; keeps the dropdown synced with config changes.
  • Runtime: Writes Software\Wine\Drivers:Audio=directaudio. When a container uses DirectAudio, ContainerManager.extractDirectAudio installs winedirectaudio.drv and winedirectaudio.so into Wine (lib/wine/aarch64-{windows,unix}) and copies the .drv to the prefix system32. XServerScreen.refreshComponentsFiles now triggers extraction for DirectAudio containers.
  • Assets: Bundles DirectAudio v1.2.1 (directaudio-20260813.tzst) plus a diagnostics build (directaudio-20260813-diagnostics.tzst); defaults via DIRECTAUDIO_ASSET. v1.2.1 includes fixes for a MIDI notify CPU spin and background/foreground audio stalls.
  • Legal: Updates THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES for DirectAudio (LGPL-2.1-or-later).

Rollout

  • Proton 11 arm64ec (Bionic) users can select “DirectAudio”; the driver installs automatically. Others continue on PulseAudio.
  • To trace issues, set DIRECTAUDIO_ASSET to directaudio-20260813-diagnostics.tzst for additional logcat probes.

Written for commit 600958b. Summary will update on new commits.

Review in cubic

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The412Banner added a commit to The412Banner/GameNative that referenced this pull request Aug 12, 2026
Rebuilt directaudio-20260812.tzst from The412Banner/directaudio branch
feat/directaudio-switching-usage (v1 + the two utkarshdalal#1806 review comments):
- broadened AAudio error-callback recovery (INVALID_STATE/INVALID_HANDLE/
  TIMEOUT as well as DISCONNECTED), matching module-aaudio-sink.c, with a
  stream-identity guard + no-lost-wakeup reopen gate (device-proven, 7
  route/bg-fg cycles, no drops).
- AAUDIO_USAGE_GAME via dlsym + android_get_device_api_level()>=28 guard
  (the unixlib direct-links libaaudio; a direct ref would fail .so load on
  minSdk 26 / Android 8).
Same filename/layout; arm64ec, 16KB-page .so (loads on 4KB+16KB).
joshuatam pushed a commit to joshuatam/GameNative that referenced this pull request Aug 12, 2026
Rebuilt directaudio-20260812.tzst from The412Banner/directaudio branch
feat/directaudio-switching-usage (v1 + the two utkarshdalal#1806 review comments):
- broadened AAudio error-callback recovery (INVALID_STATE/INVALID_HANDLE/
  TIMEOUT as well as DISCONNECTED), matching module-aaudio-sink.c, with a
  stream-identity guard + no-lost-wakeup reopen gate (device-proven, 7
  route/bg-fg cycles, no drops).
- AAUDIO_USAGE_GAME via dlsym + android_get_device_api_level()>=28 guard
  (the unixlib direct-links libaaudio; a direct ref would fail .so load on
  minSdk 26 / Android 8).
Same filename/layout; arm64ec, 16KB-page .so (loads on 4KB+16KB).
joshuatam and others added 4 commits August 19, 2026 11:16
Introduces DirectAudio as a new audio driver option for Wine.

This driver provides direct audio output to Android's AAudio, bypassing PulseAudio or ALSA middleware, potentially improving audio latency and compatibility for users.

Thanks for the interesting work from @The412Banner
Rebuilt directaudio-20260812.tzst from The412Banner/directaudio branch
feat/directaudio-switching-usage (v1 + the two utkarshdalal#1806 review comments):
- broadened AAudio error-callback recovery (INVALID_STATE/INVALID_HANDLE/
  TIMEOUT as well as DISCONNECTED), matching module-aaudio-sink.c, with a
  stream-identity guard + no-lost-wakeup reopen gate (device-proven, 7
  route/bg-fg cycles, no drops).
- AAUDIO_USAGE_GAME via dlsym + android_get_device_api_level()>=28 guard
  (the unixlib direct-links libaaudio; a direct ref would fail .so load on
  minSdk 26 / Android 8).
Same filename/layout; arm64ec, 16KB-page .so (loads on 4KB+16KB).
Two upstream fixes since the driver currently bundled here (v1.1):

v1.2 - mmdevapi MIDI notify thread spun a CPU core for the whole session.
midi_get_driver was unimplemented, so DirectAudio became its own MIDI driver
and mmdevapi spawned notify_thread(), which loops on midi_notify_wait - a
contractually BLOCKING call. The stub returned immediately and never wrote the
uninitialised `quit`, so it spun forever (mmdevapi_midi_n held 34079 of 34314
utime jiffies on device). That black-screened heavy DX12 titles and silently
cost every other game a core. Fix mirrors winepulse.drv: return L"alsa" so MIDI
is delegated to winealsa.

v1.2.1 - permanent audio loss on rapid background/foreground. The guest freezes,
the in-process AAudio stream starves, AudioTrack disables itself after the
underruns and auto-restarts, but the data callback never resumes - and this
raises NO error, so the driver's only stream-rebuild path never ran. Adds a
stall watchdog (callback silent 1s with voices playing => recreate), fixes a
liveness counter that only incremented inside a TRACE_ON() test, and stops the
adaptive buffer treating a frozen guest as timing pressure (it was inflating
192 -> 5568 frames, 4ms -> 116ms, permanently).

Verified on device across 7 games (D3D9/11/12, WASAPI/FAudio/DirectSound):
zero underruns, and for the bg/fg bug specifically - 5 stream rebuilds with no
audible dropout, plus 5 minutes of normal play with 0 false rebuilds.

Both archives ship so you can choose:
  directaudio-20260813.tzst              release build (default)
  directaudio-20260813-diagnostics.tzst  same driver + 23 logcat probes

ContainerManager picks via the DIRECTAUDIO_ASSET constant - one line to swap.
Note the release build now logs stream rebuilds itself
("DirectAudio: reopen: <reason>"), so the diagnostics archive is only needed
for per-callback detail.

Driver source + full notes: https://github.com/The412Banner/directaudio/releases/tag/directaudio-v1.2.1
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