run... "lsof /dev/dsp". If it says esd, artsd, esound then thatcould be part of the reason..... because... if you are running X as user and the GUI you are using has sounds that run through its own sound server. Then the GUI might be trying to run sounds through the server at the same time as the game, hence crappy sound. Now, the reason this doesnt happen as root is because you arent running the GUI on root, so the sound for the game isnt going through the sound server (artsd, esd, esound, etc.). So, run "lsof /dev/dsp" and tell us what the results of that command says.
[ April 18, 2003: Message edited by: The Master of Reality / Bob ]