choppy/repeating sound in mame, at a loss

[phishpac]

Hello,

I've searched around but have had a tough time finding information to help me out.  I have the newest version of mame  (.124) running with mala.  My pc is a 2.6 ghz with a gig of ram.  When I play games, there is choppy and repetitive sound.  The graphics run very smoothly and there seems to be no problem there.  I've tried the following as recommended at mamedev.org:

# Enable -refreshspeed. This causes mame to run not quite the correct speed for most games, though.
# Set the correct -speed value. This will vary game to game, and enabling -refreshspeed should set this correctly. If it does not, you can hand set it instead with this option.
# Disable -waitvsync, -syncrefresh, and -triplebuffer. (This is the default settings.)

None of these seemed to do the trick.  Any advice out there?  Thanks!

[Minwah]

Have you read this?:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=78901.0

[phishpac]

I did, and I tried running an older version, but was unable to get that working.  Is there a certain version of MAME that you would suggest above the others?  Is the proper way of installing it to put it into a seperate folder and point mala to the new .exe file?

Thanks

[Jdurg]

MAME 0.124's -refreshspeed option does not work.  It was corrected in 0.124u3, I believe.  Unless you compile your own version, you'll have to wait for version 0.125.

[phishpac]

Thanks minwah and jdurg.

I dropped down to .99 and the problem has gotten a lot better, although it still exists.  Thanks for any extra advice you  might have!

[Minwah]

I dropped down to .99 and the problem has gotten a lot better, although it still exists.  Thanks for any extra advice you  might have!

Try some different resolutions...particularly if you are currently using a high resolution.  640x480 always works well for me as a test case.

[Ummon]

I think there's something else going on....unless it's the games themselves, which weren't specified. For example, if they're something like......CPS2, maybe, or something 3D, then you're just out of luck. If you're talking anything up through 95...or even World Class Bowling or GT2K, then your 2.6ghz should be running just fine with any Mame version before the rewrite, and possibly after.

[phishpac]

It's a problem in all games, but more of a problem with mkII and gt2k.

i have street fighter alpha and it runs nearly perfectly.. that game seems more taxing then the other two.. but I admit I don't know a ton about this stuff.

as far as compiling my own version of mame as mentioned earlier in the thread, I am all about learning new skills on the computer.  is there a particularly good resource for me to learn from?

thanks for everyones advice

[phishpac]

Also, I forgot to mention that everything runs perfectly on my laptop.  It's a dual core 1.8

Is the CPU what is making the difference?  Shouldn't games like golden tee and mkII be working better on a 2.6 ghz cpu?

[Jdurg]

Speed isn't everything.  MKII uses the DCS sound system which takes up a LOT of resources to emulate.  A 1.8 GHz Dual Core is about equivalent to a 3.6 GHz P4.  The Dual Core CPUs are able to get more work done per calculation than the P4 can, so two chips at the same speed will have much better performance on the dual core.  (Basically, in 1 cycle the dual core does a LOT more than the P4.  So that 1.8 GHz speed equates to a LOT of processing.  Far more than the P4 at 2.6 GHz could do).

[phishpac]

I went back and read my post and realized that I didn't type what I meant to.  I understand the idea of the dual core processor and everything.  What I meant was, shouldn't a 2.6 ghz be plenty to run games like gt2k and mkII ?

[phishpac]

Just an update for those who might have some ideas.

 I unhooked the CRT television that I've been using as a display, and connected my computer to a regular computer monitor.  I set the video card and monitor at 75 hz to see if that was the problem.  The sound was still the same.  Not sure where to go from here.

[alfredbot9000]

I'm having the same problem on .0124 with Donkey Kong.  I read the thread that was mentioned about but not sure if anyone had a fix to the problem.  I compiled my own version of mame 0124 last night.... I used Mame 64 compiler which was amazingly simple, but don't know what to do to fix the sound problem.

[Jdurg]

You'll need a faster CPU.  Prior versions of MAME did NOT emulate the sound in Donkey Kong.  They used a hack that required little to no CPU power.  This was done because the way the sound was produced on the original boards was not yet coded.  Now that it has been coded, much to the dismay of many people who have upgraded really for no reason at all, the amount of CPU power needed to fully emulate the sound has increased tremendously.

If you absolutely must play Donkey Kong on your system, you'll have to go back to an older version of MAME.

[phishpac]

My next question would be.. is there anyone out there running .124 on a comparable pc (p4 2.6, 1 gig) and getting good results?

Do I just need a better computer?

[ablizno]

I doubt it has anything to do with your pc, i think it might be a sound card problem. I am running a pentium III with 256 mb ram and i am getting that very slight sound echo. I tried updating Directx and it didnt work. According to the internet i think we need to get a nonintegrated graphics card.... but if anyone else has any answers that would be great.

p.s. i am using .124a

[ablizno]

also is there any alternative to using this version of mame that would not give choppy sound. I chose it because it was just the latest mame and was the first time i downloaded it.

[Jdurg]

I am running a pentium III with 256 mb ram and i am getting that very slight sound echo. I

p.s. i am using .124a

It most certainly is the computer.  What is quoted above is the reason you're getting the echos.  A Pentium III is too slow of a CPU with too poor of an architechture to run a good number of games in current versions of MAME.  You'll need to either get a better CPU (which in your case would require a brand new computer), or get an older version of MAME.

Newer versions of MAME, like all software on the planet, has evolved to work best with the current technology out there.  That results in older technology not functioning as well, or in some cases at all, with current versions.

[ablizno]

What version of mame do u suggest, for i can not afford to get a new computer at the moment.

[phishpac]

jdurg, would you say that my pc is insufficient as well?

[Jdurg]

What version of mame do u suggest, for i can not afford to get a new computer at the moment.

Well that depends on what games you want to play.     Something around the era of 0.84 would probably work well for the majority of games, but I'd really need to know what you want to play before stating anything.  (As some games wouldn't be supported at that older version, or some would be but with a large number of bugs).


phishpac - I would try something before 0.106.  That is when a huge core rewrite took place that caused issues for many people.  I'd just start with that one, and work back with different versions until you find one that's right for you.  Granted, it will take a while but isn't that everything in this hobby?   

[ablizno]

I want to play games like donpachi, Pac-man Jr., Fatal Fury, and bubble bobble(which i cant seem to find a working rom). Some of the other games were released on Super Nintendo so i will be fine emulating them (unless there is a controller hack so i can play my hard copies). Thanks for all the help u have given.

[Jdurg]

You could probably get by with version 0.55 then.  It's a much older version but was coded around the time that a Pentium 3 was considered a top line system.   

[gonzo90017]

ablizno you didn't mention the speed of your cpu.

[ablizno]

Im not at home right now but i think its a 750mhz or something like that im pretty sure its less than 800mhz

[gonzo90017]

You can try FastMame 84. It's an optimized version of mame.

[ablizno]

Fast mame works great. Glad i switched.

[protokatie]

Simple question: Does Fastmame support NEOGEO roms? The compy I will be getting for free is a c.700mhz P3, and I am afraid I wont be able to offer the NEOGEO games I want on it now. (I have a 2ghz compy I could use, but would rather not unless I have to)

[phishpac]

OK, an update on thread author's problem:

I have been doing some more reading, and decided maybe my computer doesn't have what it takes to run these games.  I put gt2k, mkII, and a few other games on and hit f11 to watch the Frames Per Second and Frameskip information.  None of the games ran at a steady 100%.  When the sound was the worst, the percentage was the lowest.  So this raises a few questions:

Will adding RAM help out any?
Would a seperate PCI sound card do any good?
Should I just buck up and get a dual core cpu and move on?

Thanks to everyone who has been offering thoughts/ideas.

[ablizno]

@phishpac i got a new sound card, it didnt help with the choppy sound but did improve quality. I would seriously look into using fastmame it worked wonders on my computer. If u want i will try mortal kombat ii and see if any problems arise.

[phishpac]

I just put on fastmame with mala, and the difference is HUGE.  I only had one sound hiccup in gt2k, and I think I can stomach that.  I'm about to test raiden fighters jet, and if everything goes OK, then I will be a happy camper.

thanks

[phishpac]

holy crap, it runs perfectly.  this is looking like an AWESOME solution so far.  I will keep everyone posted.

might end up saving quite a bit of scratch on this deal!

[Jdurg]

Yeah, RAM is not going to help MAME performance unless you are trying to load a ROM that is larger than the amount of RAM you have available and MAME has to access your hard drive during gameplay.  I don't know of any games at the moment which would require loading of more ROM data than there is RAM available.  (And CHDs aren't loaded in full into RAM.  Only parts that are needed at the time).

So unless you have a mere 128 MB of RAM, adding more in really won't help.

[gonzo90017]

Like he said more ram won't help.

protokatie Fastmame does support neogeo roms. But I have no idea if it supports the newer roms like metal slug 4 and 5. But for that you can use Nebula or Finalburn Alpha. They use the same roms as mame and they run full speed on my 400mhz Celeron.