Star Wars - MAME settings help required please [SOLVED]

[shrunkenmaster]

I'm getting sound stuttering upon the Death Star explosion that I don't get on another machine with similar spec. Anyone have any suggestions with what I can try? I've exhausted everything I can think of, except more RAM. System details:

P4 2.4Ghz / 512Mb RAM / GeForce FX5200 / Direct X 9.0 / XP Pro

MAME INI:

<UNADORNED0>              

#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig              1
writeconfig               0

#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath                 roms
samplepath              samples
artpath                   artwork
ctrlrpath                 ctrlr
inipath                 ini
fontpath                  .
cheatpath                 cheat
crosshairpath             crosshair

#
# CORE OUTPUT DIRECTORY OPTIONS
#
cfg_directory           cfg
nvram_directory         nvram
memcard_directory       memcard
input_directory         inp
state_directory         sta
snapshot_directory      snap
diff_directory          diff
comment_directory         comments
hiscore_directory       hi

#
# CORE STATE/PLAYBACK OPTIONS
#
state                    
autosave                  0
playback                  
record                    
mngwrite                  
aviwrite                  
wavwrite                  
snapname                  %g/%i
snapsize                  auto
snapview                  internal
burnin                    0

#
# CORE PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
#
autoframeskip           0
frameskip               0
seconds_to_run            0
throttle                1
sleep                   0
speed                     1.0
refreshspeed              1

#
# CORE ROTATION OPTIONS
#
rotate                    1
ror                     0
rol                     0
autoror                 0
autorol                 0
flipx                   0
flipy                   0

#
# CORE ARTWORK OPTIONS
#
artwork_crop            0
use_backdrops           1
use_overlays            1
use_bezels              1

#
# CORE SCREEN OPTIONS
#
brightness              1.00
contrast                  1.0
gamma                   1.00
pause_brightness        0.65

#
# CORE VECTOR OPTIONS
#
antialias               1
beam                    1.00
flicker                 0.00

#
# CORE SOUND OPTIONS
#
sound                   1
samplerate              22000
samples                 1
volume                  0

#
# CORE INPUT OPTIONS
#
coin_lockout              1
# ctrlr                 <NULL> (not set)
mouse                   0
joystick                1
lightgun                0
multikeyboard             0
multimouse                0
steadykey               0
offscreen_reload        0
joystick_map              auto
joystick_deadzone         0.3
joystick_saturation       0.85
natural                   0
uimodekey                 auto

#
# CORE INPUT AUTOMATIC ENABLE OPTIONS
#
paddle_device           keyboard
adstick_device          keyboard
pedal_device            keyboard
dial_device             keyboard
trackball_device        keyboard
lightgun_device         keyboard
positional_device         keyboard
mouse_device              mouse

#
# CORE DEBUGGING OPTIONS
#
log                     0
verbose                 0
update_in_pause           0
debug                   0
debugscript              
debug_internal            0

#
# CORE MISC OPTIONS
#
bios                      
cheat                   0
skip_gameinfo           0

#
# CORE MKChamp OPTIONS
#
disable_hiscore_patch     0
disable_nagscreen_patch   0
disable_loading_patch     0

#
# WINDOWS DEBUGGING OPTIONS
#
oslog                   0
watchdog                  0
debugger_font             "Lucida Console"
debugger_font_size        9

#
# WINDOWS PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
#
priority                  0
multithreading            0
numprocessors             auto
profile                   0
bench                     0

#
# WINDOWS VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video                     d3d
numscreens                1
window                  0
maximize                1
keepaspect              1
prescale                  1
effect                  none
waitvsync               0
syncrefresh             0

#
# DIRECTDRAW-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
hwstretch               1

#
# DIRECT3D-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
d3dversion                9
filter                    1

#
# PER-WINDOW VIDEO OPTIONS
#
screen                    auto
aspect                    auto
resolution              auto
view                      auto
screen0                   auto
aspect0                   auto
resolution0               auto
view0                     auto
screen1                   auto
aspect1                   auto
resolution1               auto
view1                     auto
screen2                   auto
aspect2                   auto
resolution2               auto
view2                     auto
screen3                   auto
aspect3                   auto
resolution3               auto
view3                     auto

#
# FULL SCREEN OPTIONS
#
triplebuffer            0
switchres               0
full_screen_brightness  1.00
full_screen_contrast      1.0
full_screen_gamma         1.0

#
# WINDOWS SOUND OPTIONS
#
audio_latency           2

#
# INPUT DEVICE OPTIONS
#
dual_lightgun           0

[Smeghead]

I wouldnt even run XP for web surfing with 512MB of RAM!
When the PC runs out of physical memory it uses your hard disk instead and thats much slower and will cause disk thrashing and sound chopping.
My MAME system isnt much more than yours except I have 2GIG memory and it never does that.
Mines a P4 2.4Ghz with a crap $10 PCI-E graphics card but 2gig physical mem

[Havok]

That's a pretty low end system. Have you tried using an older version of Mame? Newer versions are more power hungry. Since they are similar specs, it might just be the other system is slightly better where it counts for Mame. Besides going with an older Mame version, make sure you have the latest video and sound drivers on your system as well.

If that doesn't work, try enabling the autoframeskip...

[shrunkenmaster]

That's a pretty low end system. Have you tried using an older version of Mame? Newer versions are more power hungry.

Stop laughing at my system - got it for next to nothing and thought I'd give it a try...

Any idea what version of Mame to try? Am I correct in thinking the graphic engine got overhauled after 0129?

If an older version doesn't change anything, do you think adding RAM would?

[shrunkenmaster]

Thanks everyone. Just tried Mame 0129 and the sound is fine. The game seems to run OK, will find some more RAM just for fun.

[JustMichael]

This wouldn't help and might hinder your sound but for starwars, I use -beam 1.75 -flicker .25 and -resolution 1680x1050 (my lcd monitor's resolution).  Star Wars looks like when I was a kid.

[JODY]

I'm running it fine on a 1.6 Ghz PC with 512 MB of RAM at 1024x768.  Don't recall the exact version of Mame and don't have it handy at the moment.  The latest does stutter the sound but the older version is fine.

[Havok]

Thanks everyone. Just tried Mame 0129 and the sound is fine. The game seems to run OK, will find some more RAM just for fun.

Don't bother - anything above 512MB won't give you any noticeable performance gain.

[DaveMMR]

Thanks everyone. Just tried Mame 0129 and the sound is fine. The game seems to run OK, will find some more RAM just for fun.

Don't bother - anything above 512MB won't give you any noticeable performance gain.

Agreed from what I've seen on my own (similar) setup.  However, depending on how you have XP setup (do you have a FE as the shell, are you using TinyXP, turn off nonessential services, etc.), it'll still be beneficial for the OS running MAME.  Also, I found games (particularly Neo Geo) load faster with more memory.   

[shrunkenmaster]

Thanks again guys, appreciate the advice. I've used TinyXP on other computers so I'll do the same here.

Then I'll be able to install my 4-terabyte Hyperspin setup and launch Gauntlet Legends 

[jimmy2x2x]

hahahahah