Choppy/lagging audio in 1080 Avalanche

[nintendo_nerd]

Game: 1080 Avalanche
Region: NTSC-U
Game ID: GTEE01
APIs I have used:
XAudio2
DirectSound
OpenAL

Issue: Audio skipping/running at half speed, but the framerate is at 60 fps all the time.

Dolphin version: 3.5-2371 x64 global user directory branch
AX HLE audio is merged with this right?

All emulator settings are at default except 2x IR
Using JIT recompliler

Audio sample

http://www.mediafire.com/?tsavgs1934q9gjl

Again, only once did the fps ever dip below 60 fps, so there's something very odd going on here. In fact,
this is the only game that I have that has this issue...

FPS log

Spoiler: (Show Spoiler)

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My specs are in my sig! Like I said, the game itself runs full speed, but the audio is seriously FUBAR

[Shonumi]

Yes, the new-ax-hle branch was merged twice into master quite some time ago, so you're using the new AX ucode HLE implementations delroth worked on. Could you post your Dolphin settings, just so we can be sure what you've set exactly?

Additionally, check if you can run this game at fullspeed with LLE audio (you may have to enabled DSP on Dedicated Thread), and you should be able to find a non-demanding spot to test the sounds (menus, for example). You shouldn't get issues with LLE audio when running this game at fullspeed, but this will tell us if it's something to do with HLE audio vs. something with Dolphin's audio processing in general.

[nintendo_nerd]

(09-15-2013, 03:13 PM)Shonumi Wrote: Yes, the new-ax-hle branch was merged twice into master quite some time ago, so you're using the new AX ucode HLE implementations delroth worked on. Could you post your Dolphin settings, just so we can be sure what you've set exactly?

Additionally, check if you can run this game at fullspeed with LLE audio (you may have to enabled DSP on Dedicated Thread), and you should be able to find a non-demanding spot to test the sounds (menus, for example). You shouldn't get issues with LLE audio when running this game at fullspeed, but this will tell us if it's something to do with HLE audio vs. something with Dolphin's audio processing in general.

Yep, getting full speed on the LLE Interpreter

This is the only game in my collection that does it.

Emulator settings:

Spoiler: (Show Spoiler)

I even recorded a video in with the framerate display, showing that it never dips below 60 fps. The fact this is happening even on LLE audio is worrisome.
All of them have the same results. Enabling the LLE to thread did nothing to help the audio.

Video showing stable speed even on LLE audio core

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTikRfqR-YI

Audio APIs tested:
OpenAL
DirectSound
XAudio2

HLE Audio
LLE Audio + LLE to thread

All results were the same. The game ran full speed during all tests, the audio lags.

If you need more info, please let me know. I know it can't be my CPU, at least not wholly the CPU's fault as I can run all other Gamecube games at full speed using the same settings, and the audio on those games is nearly perfect. In fact, I rarely get skipping on the other games. I don't understand how a game can be full 60/60 and have weird audio. Hopefully this info will prove useful


=================== Please look here for an update!!!=============================

Edit: Okay, interesting, I tried the middle selection, LLE compiler the audio doesn't crackle, but it's still half the temp and the FPS is at 60. This is using the OpenAL and setting the value to 30. Seems to yield the most promising results. Not sure why it skips so much though.

Edit 2: Setting the fps limit to auto seems to help tremendously, it's very close to how it should sound

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijHaF6zPOdw

And yet it still skips!

---

In essence, OpenAL seems to be the most promising audio API to use, and while it sounds a lot better, it still repeats every two seconds

[Shonumi]

I've had audio issues with Xenoblade Chronicles where I would still be getting fullspeed, but the audio was actually too fast. Setting it to Auto helped, so there must be something to it.

Anyway, you shouldn't be getting anything less than perfect audio with LLE audio when you're running it at fullspeed. One more thing, try setting the framelimit to Audio. If the audio quality is still weird with LLE audio, I'd make an issue on Google Code. Only a handful of games (such as a few Resident Evil titles) still don't have perfect audio with LLE audio. I don't recall this game being like them.

[nintendo_nerd]

(09-15-2013, 05:37 PM)Shonumi Wrote: I've had audio issues with Xenoblade Chronicles where I would still be getting fullspeed, but the audio was actually too fast. Setting it to Auto helped, so there must be something to it.

Anyway, you shouldn't be getting anything less than perfect audio with LLE audio when you're running it at fullspeed. One more thing, try setting the framelimit to Audio. If the audio quality is still weird with LLE audio, I'd make an issue on Google Code. Only a handful of games (such as a few Resident Evil titles) still don't have perfect audio with LLE audio. I don't recall this game being like them.

I might have to make a bug report on Google Code. I actually tried both limiting to Auto then Audio, with Auto yielding the most promising results. The game was full speed, even on LLE audio, and yet, it still lagged to oblivion. Tried with HLE audio, using the OpenAL API and the results were the same (same API); almost perfect but still skips, but the good news is the audio no longer crackles, so I am getting somewhere. The API definitely makes a huge difference. Damn....guess my CPU isn't powerful enough for the new SVN/Git builds, is it? It's a Core i5 3570 3rd gen CPU, as well as GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5, so yeah. Not too sure what's going on. I'll try some more combinations tomorrow, and if all else fails, Google Code.

Sorry to have bother you guys, you're probably sick of hearing all these trivial reports

Summary:

HLE or LLE audio plus OpenAL API, setting that to 30, using auto FPS limit = almost perfect audio
Any other combination tested thus far haven't come close, but through all the tests, the game has always ran at 60 fps.

[Shonumi]

nintendo_nerd Wrote:Damn....guess my CPU isn't powerful enough for the new SVN/Git builds, is it?

It should be fine for a lot of games, even without overclocking. Also long as Dolphin reports emulation running at 100% (ignore FPS and VPS, just look at the emulated game speed) then that means you're running the game at fullspeed. If fullspeed + LLE audio gives you bad results, that's a problem that shouldn't be happening under normal circumstances, so something sounds like it's up.

nintendo_nerd Wrote:Sorry to have bother you guys, you're probably sick of hearing all these trivial reports

I got nothing better to do on a Saturday night

[skid]

Continue to use the LLE Recompiler, OpenAL and Framelimit = Auto. Lower the Audio latency to 2. Also check that the MD5 and CRC32 of your disc match a good dump.

http://redump.org/disc/6954/

[nintendo_nerd]

(09-15-2013, 09:31 PM)skid Wrote: Continue to use the LLE Recompiler, OpenAL and Framelimit = Auto. Lower the Audio latency to 2. Also check that the MD5 and CRC32 of your disc match a good dump.

http://redump.org/disc/6954/

Can my CPU even support that configuration for other games? I just tried that combo and the audio sounds like crap. The framerate is full speed, but the audio still lags like hell using the LLE compiler. What the heck? I'm convinced the dump got corrupted. Does Dolphin display the CRC32 and MD5 info?

What's weird is if I let the game show the intro scene, the audio is perfect, but in game the speed is perfect and the audio in-game lags. Can't I just reset the emulator settings to default. For some reason, I can't reproduce the faster audio. I deleted the emulator config and started over, but to no avail. Dammit Maybe I'm never meant to play this game on the CPU I have, but like I said, other games I tested have perfectly audio with audio streaming (THPS3 for example).

Here'a a video showing the intro with nearly-perfect audio on 1080 Avalanche

Edit: Setting the latency to 2 makes it skip too much, setting it to 30 makes it sound better, but it skips every second. 2.....yeah, I have no idea on what to do.

I guess my Core i5 isn't fast enough to run this game with perfect audio. Framerate, sure, I'll get full speed, but audio? Yeah, right. I'm all but ready to give up on at this point, nothing I do helps, no combination I try does anything. I have followed your guys' suggestion and I'm grateful for your help, don't get me wrong, but no matter what I try, the game will not run with smooth audio. I...just have no clue as to what other combinations I can try. Using the LLE audio on a thread makes it worse.

Summary: My CPU must suck it seems :/

Here's a video showing the intro, I had to use another service than YouTube so my video won't get removed. They might remove it for having lyrics to a song, but here is how it should sound.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sj9dki3do6crreb


Anyway, I'll test other games to see what the speed is with the LLE compiler and setting the latency to 2. Is there a reason it has to be on 2? I find the results to sound smoother with a higher value. Ugh, I hope using LLE audio doesn't fry my CPU lol.

Edit 2: Yep. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know what else CAN be done. Must be that my desktop just isn't powerful enough it seems. Crap! I tried a somewhat older revision (also AX HLE) 3.5-1128, same results. There has to be something that I can do!

[skid]

I know it doesn't help you much, but 1080 Avalanche USA version works fine for me under the latest Dolphin development version. The music doesn't skip like it does in the youtube video. I have the latency set on 2. What audio device are you using in Windows? Try switching to DX9, Xaudio2, Framelimit=Auto. Check that the iso dump is 1459978240 bytes in size.

[nintendo_nerd]

(09-16-2013, 10:01 AM)skid Wrote: I know it doesn't help you much, but 1080 Avalanche USA version works fine for me under the latest Dolphin development version. The music doesn't skip like it does in the youtube video. I have the latency set on 2. What audio device are you using in Windows? Try switching to DX9, Xaudio2, Framelimit=Auto. Check that the iso dump is 1459978240 bytes in size.

I'm almost 100% convinced it's a bad dump if every other game I'm playing doesn't have this issues or is running at full speed. Heck, even 1080 runs at 60 fps all the time. But yet, I checked the file size and it's matches yours exactly, but it still might be corrupted; if it's not my hardware, it has to be on the software side of things. I'm using a Realtek HD 5.1 audio and everything (and I mean everything) I run on Dolphin aside from this game, has no issues with it being an integrated sound card. The audio device is the default Stereo Mix for Windows 7. OpenAL does give me the best results, but keeping it at 2 makes it stutter every second, but the crackling is gone. The FPS limit is set at auto, I also tried setting it to "audio", "limit by fps" and even tried forcing it to cap at 60. The speed of the game is perfect like I said, but the audio isn't, which leads me to think the dump is bad, but I'll try ripping it again.

Crap, now I must seem like crazy noob if no one can reproduce this bug

Summary:

The ISO size is the very amount you specified
My PC is definitely up to speed (no pun intended )
Tried DX11 and OpenAL at 2 and 30

Will try DX9 and see.

Edit:

Tried OpenAL with DX9 API, same results as before

Games I tried that don't have this issue:

SSBM
Sonic Adventure DX
Sonic Adventure 2
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Rampage Total Destruction
F-Zero GX
Burnout
Burnout 2: Point of Impact
Paper Mario: TTYD
Bloody Roar:

All of these games have perfect audio, 1080 is the only one proving to giving me hell with audio. The ISO somehow got corrupted during the ripping process. Ugh.