Hi Alex,
As the title suggests, I was able to load the game with sound on for version 0.7, with three mods installed [Lazy Lib, Common Radar, and Simulator Overhaul]. A day later, I receive a flicker and a crash after trying to launch the game from the launcher (and the .bat) similar to the Linux-starting-with-sound problem listed in the FAQ. I've since done a clean install and attempted to install v.0.7.1.a with the same result. The game boots normally with sound disabled in the launcher. I'm not aware of any system changes since I was previously able to run the game with sound yesterday!
Relevant sections of the log seem to be as follows:
0 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Starting Starsector 0.7.1a-RC5 launcher
0 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Running in C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core
0 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - OS: Windows 7 6.1
0 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Java version: 1.8.0_60 (32-bit)
16 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.launcher.ModManager - Found mod: lw_radar [C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\Common Radar]
16 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.launcher.ModManager - Found mod: lw_lazylib [C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\LazyLib]
16 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.launcher.ModManager - Found mod: lw_asirb [C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\Simulator Overhaul]
16 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils - Loading JSON from [data/config/settings.json]
795 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Found display mode: 640x480, 60Hz, 32bpp
...
795 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Found display mode: 2715x1527, 60Hz, 32bpp
795 [main] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Found display mode: 2715x1527, 60Hz, 16bpp
10920 [AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO com.fs.starfarer.launcher.ModManager - Saving enabled mod list [lw_radar|lw_lazylib|lw_asirb]
11766 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Running with the following mods (in order of priority):
11767 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Common Radar [id: lw_radar] [version 2.1] (from C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\Common Radar)
11767 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - LazyLib [id: lw_lazylib] [version 2.1] (from C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\LazyLib)
11768 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Simulator Overhaul [id: lw_asirb] [version 1.2] (from C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\Simulator Overhaul)
11874 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher - Mod list finished
11874 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.starfarer.settings.StarfarerSettings - Loading settings
11877 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils - Loading JSON from [ABSOLUTE_AND_CWD: null (data/config/settings.json)]
11889 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils - Loading JSON from [DIRECTORY: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\Common Radar (data/config/settings.json)]
11971 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils - Loading JSON from [DIRECTORY: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\Simulator Overhaul (data/config/settings.json)]
12247 [Thread-5] INFO com.fs.graphics.OO0O - Using refresh rate:60
13825 [Thread-5] ERROR sound.OoOO - org.lwjgl.LWJGLException: Could not locate OpenAL library.
org.lwjgl.LWJGLException: Could not locate OpenAL library.
at org.lwjgl.openal.AL.create(AL.java:151)
at org.lwjgl.openal.AL.create(AL.java:102)
at org.lwjgl.openal.AL.create(AL.java:201)
at sound.OoOO$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at sound.OoOO.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
14018 [Thread-5] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain - java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: org.lwjgl.openal.AL10.nalDistanceModel(I)V
java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: org.lwjgl.openal.AL10.nalDistanceModel(I)V
at org.lwjgl.openal.AL10.nalDistanceModel(Native Method)
at org.lwjgl.openal.AL10.alDistanceModel(AL10.java:1303)
at sound.OoOO.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
I note it references Java 32-bit - I recently updated Java to 8, but not before Starsector stopped working with sound. Any suggestions? Many thanks in advance!