Hi!
I recently got a new PC that is finally able to run Xenoblade Chronicles with HD texture pack on Dolphin and got everything else working out fine but I get occasional audio crackle during the game (I'm playing the NTSC-U version).
My PC specs are:
- OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600, AM4, 3.2 GHz, 6-core
- GPU: msi GTX 970 Gaming 4G
- RAM: G.Skill 16GB (2x8GB), Ripjaws V, DDR4 3200MHz, CL16
- MB: ASRock AB350 Pro4, ATX-motherboard
I'm using Dolphion version 5.0-4662-x64. I attached pictures of my current Dolphin Configuration, Dolphin Graphics and Xenoblade Properties settings to this post.
I tried switching Audio Backend from XAudio2 to OpenAL but on low latency I still got crackling and at 10+ latency there was a big audio delay so that wasn't optimal either.
I had to put V-Sync and "Speed up Disc Transfer Rate" on to eliminate screen tearing.
Does anyone know what I could try to do to eliminate the crackle (or delay when using OpenAL with high latency)?
Edit: Downloaded the latest dev build of Dolphin (5.0-6671-x64) and tried the newly added "Cubeb" Audio Backend but I still get minor crackling during cutscenes at times with both available Audio Backends. So I'm guessing the problem is somewhere with my settings but I have no idea where.
Any reason you´re not using -latest- dev build?
(03-25-2018, 08:42 AM)DJBarry004 Wrote: [ -> ]Any reason you´re not using -latest- dev build?
The reason why I have 5.0-4662 build is 'cause it was the latest build when I first attempted to get the game working. I figured there probably wouldn't be too many differences between 5.0-xxxx versions so I hadn't bothered downloading a new version (seeing how they keep getting updated all the time).
I guess I'll try downloading the latest version and see if that helps but the audio problem seems to be a common problem with Xenoblade so I figured the Dolphin version difference probably isn't the crucial factor here but rather something to do with my settings. Some people said that OpenAL fixed the problems for them but for me it caused tons of audio delay.
Edit: Downloaded the latest build (5.0-6671-x64) and tried the newly added "Cubeb" Audio Backend but I still get minor crackling during cutscenes at times with both available Audio Backends. So I'm guessing the problem is somewhere with my settings but I have no idea where.
Audio crackle is usually caused by slowdown. If the game isn't running full speed, Dolphin runs out of audio to play, and you get the cracks in the audio where it doesn't have anything to play. You can either turn on audio stretching or make sure the game is running full speed.
(03-25-2018, 07:22 PM)JMC47 Wrote: [ -> ]Audio crackle is usually caused by slowdown. If the game isn't running full speed, Dolphin runs out of audio to play, and you get the cracks in the audio where it doesn't have anything to play. You can either turn on audio stretching or make sure the game is running full speed.
This game's sound behaves strangely when audio stretching is turned on. It's sort of like a crackling or a wow sound... don't know how to describe it. It does it because somehow the fps fluctuate by 0.1-1 frames even when the game is turboing well over 70fps (don't pin me on that exact number though) I can easily hear it in the screen with the Monado (titlescreen). It completely vanishes with Audio stretching off.
(03-25-2018, 09:05 PM)mstreurman Wrote: [ -> ]This game's sound behaves strangely when audio stretching is turned on. It's sort of like a crackling or a wow sound... don't know how to describe it. It does it because somehow the fps fluctuate by 0.1-1 frames even when the game is turboing well over 70fps (don't pin me on that exact number though) I can easily hear it in the screen with the Monado (titlescreen). It completely vanishes with Audio stretching off.
I have audio stretching turned off by default on the latest dev build and I still get the occasional crackle. It happens regularly on certain parts of cutscenes (like when the opening cutscenes switches to Shulk's narration for the Battle of Sword Valley it always happens) and occasionally on other parts too (for example when the opening cutscene shows Dunban cutting down Mechons the audio sometimes, but not always, crackles during it).
Here is a a clip of the crackle happening when Shulk starts the narration for the Battle of Sword Valley:
https://webmshare.com/VGRxV
That's a very mild case of crackle though. The aforementioned cutscene with Dunban cutting down Mechon has way worse crackle whenever it occurs there.
This happens to me with both "XAudio2" and "Cubeb" Audio Backends and audio stretching not being enabled while using HLE (I attached picture of my current Dolphin Audio settings to this post). All my other settings are the same as the ones shown in the opening post pictures except I turned off "Speed up Disc Transfer Rate" from the .iso settings 'cause the 5.0-6671-x64 build of Dolphin doesn't seem to require it anymore (I tried turning it both on and off just in case but it had no impact on the crackle).
(03-25-2018, 10:21 PM)o-s_f Wrote: [ -> ]I have audio stretching turned off by default on the latest dev build and I still get the occasional crackle. It happens regularly on certain parts of cutscenes (like when the opening cutscenes switches to Shulk's narration for the Battle of Sword Valley it always happens) and occasionally on other parts too (for example when the opening cutscene shows Dunban cutting down Mechons the audio sometimes, but not always, crackles during it).
Here is a a clip of the crackle happening when Shulk starts the narration for the Battle of Sword Valley: https://webmshare.com/VGRxV
That's a very mild case of crackle though. The aforementioned cutscene with Dunban cutting down Mechon has way worse crackle whenever it occurs there.
This happens to me with both "XAudio2" and "Cubeb" Audio Backends and audio stretching not being enabled while using HLE (I attached picture of my current Dolphin Audio settings to this post). All my other settings are the same as the ones shown in the opening post pictures except I turned off "Speed up Disc Transfer Rate" from the .iso settings 'cause the 5.0-6671-x64 build of Dolphin doesn't seem to require it anymore (I tried turning it both on and off just in case but it had no impact on the crackle).
Try the following steps and see if the issue is still present:
1. If you haven't done so already download and extract the latest development version in a NEW folder *do not overwrite an existing installation*, you can find it at the top of the download page
2. Download and install the latest nVidia Driver for your GPU (found here
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/39...l-whql.exe)
3. Turn off Shadowplay in the GeForce Experience
4. Set the nVidia Control Panel to "Prefer Highest Performance" in the Advanced 3D settings
5. Set up the Windows Power Options to "High Performance"
6. Make sure Dolphin is running at its Default settings (by renaming the Dolphin Emulator folder in "My Documents" or by creating a portable.txt in the same folder as Dolphin.exe)
7. In Dolphin set IR to 1x (Internal Resolution)
8. Set Ubershaders to Hybrid
9. Set Graphics Back-end to D3D
10. Set Anti-Aliasing to 1x (or off)
11. Set Sound back-end to CubeB and HLE
12. Turn off Cheats
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Int...1927vs2984 > it shouldn't be that much of a difference in speed for emulation.
That sounded like Shader Generation to me in the video. Shader Generation or lag loading the ISO.
(03-26-2018, 03:57 AM)mstreurman Wrote: [ -> ]Try the following steps and see if the issue is still present:
1. If you haven't done so already download and extract the latest development version in a NEW folder *do not overwrite an existing installation*, you can find it at the top of the download page
2. Download and install the latest nVidia Driver for your GPU (found here http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/39...l-whql.exe)
3. Turn off Shadowplay in the GeForce Experience
4. Set the nVidia Control Panel to "Prefer Highest Performance" in the Advanced 3D settings
5. Set up the Windows Power Options to "High Performance"
6. Make sure Dolphin is running at its Default settings (by renaming the Dolphin Emulator folder in "My Documents" or by creating a portable.txt in the same folder as Dolphin.exe)
7. In Dolphin set IR to 1x (Internal Resolution)
8. Set Ubershaders to Hybrid
9. Set Graphics Back-end to D3D
10. Set Anti-Aliasing to 1x (or off)
11. Set Sound back-end to CubeB and HLE
12. Turn off Cheats
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Int...1927vs2984 > it shouldn't be that much of a difference in speed for emulation.
Tried all of this but the issue still persist. I also tried messing around with audio stretching and changing the Graphics Back-End to OpenGL just in case but those didn't help either.
I'm starting to think that the problem might just simply be with my hardware. The wiki.dolphin page for Xenoblade does mention "There are minor audio cracks and frame-drops with shaders." when tested with GTX 970 (which is my GPU also).
(03-26-2018, 05:31 AM)JMC47 Wrote: [ -> ]That sounded like Shader Generation to me in the video. Shader Generation or lag loading the ISO.
Is there some way to impact these aside from messing around with ubershaders (using them didn't help, I tried)?
I dunno. I played Xenoblade to completion on a GTX 770 and 4790k. And Ryzen matches Haswell clock for clock in single threaded perf. Though, my 4790k runs at 4 ghz minimum.
Do other games have this problem for you or just Xenoblade?