HELP: MAME Donkey Kong Dilemma

[candycabguy]

My setup is running very well save for 1 thing that drives me NUTS - Donkey Kong (all sets) 'sputters & jerks' after the first death, and I cannot stop it, ALL other games are problem free.  CANNOT get it running smooth.

My setup:

P3 2.3Ghz
1 Gig RAM
WinXP
MAME .126

On my non- MAME machine (AMD dual core 2 Gigs RAM) the same exact build  runs flawlessly on DK, but not this machine.

The glitch seems to be sound related, so tried running w/samples & without, still there.

Its almost like the game isnt buffering correctly, but why just THIS game on THIS system?

Any ideas?  Anything I'm missing?

THANK YOU, I NEED to fix this, I need my DONK

Lee

[TheShanMan]

DK no longer needs samples. Are you using an LCD monitor? I recall that there are issues when using an LCD monitor. I don't recall the solution. But I experience similar issues if I run mame on my desktop system.

[Paul Olson]

Donkey Kong sound is fully emulated now (instead of using samples, and it takes a lot of computer power to run it. Your old system doesn't cut it anymore. Your computer might run it if you drop back to .120; it emulates sound, but they made some more changes in, I think, .121 that upped the cpu requirement. I was able to use .120 with my Athlon XP 2500+, but it couldn't handle any later versions.

[DP Louie]

Check out post #14 by Delusional29 from this thread:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=85899.0

I was having the exact same issue on a system with lower specs than yours.  I'm running MAME 119 and an nLited version of XP.  Changing the sample rate worked great, and I haven't noticed any audible degradation of the sound in other games (but this is on my vertical cab, mostly classic games).  Good luck. 

[Ginsu Victim]

DK runs fine in version .127 on my 2 ghz, 1 gb ram system. No problems at all.

[candycabguy]

THANK YOU everybody

Dropping the samplerate DID make DK playable, vastly improved, with only the occasional audio 'garble' in the background, no lagging.  So thats a temporary fix.

Thing is I havent messed with other games to see what this will do to audio quality.

Any way to drop the sample rate for ONLY DK?

Looking into nLite now........

Lee

[u_rebelscum]

P3 2.3Ghz

Did you mean P4?  Or P3@1.3?
If a P3 could run at 2.3, I'd think it'd have enough bang to do it (p4 @1.4Ghz == p3 @1.0Ghz)

DK runs fine in version .127 on my 2 ghz, 1 gb ram system. No problems at all.

As hinted above, Ghz is not the way to compare systems anymore (wasn't since 486, but it took the core2 vs p4 twice as fast per hertz to beat into the main stream).  A core2solo (yes solo, intel had one model of that) at 2Ghz is about the same as a P4@ 3.6-4.0, AFA mame is concerned.

Any way to drop the sample rate for ONLY DK?

Yes, make a dkong.ini file in the ini folder if mame.ini has the default "inipath ,;ini").  I suggest it having only one line, the sample rate one, so the game will use all the other settings in the mame.ini file.  IOW, if you change something besides samplerate in mame.ini, this way it will also change dkong.

[candycabguy]

Thanks rebelscum!

But I must admit, and hate to plead ignorance, but how do I generate individual ini files for each rom?  & what folder are they stored in?

I hate being a newb:(

Thanks in advance for any lessons

Lee

[u_rebelscum]

... how do I generate individual ini files for each rom?  & what folder are they stored in?

The default is a folder named "ini" in the mame folder.  This can be changed in mame.ini, but I suggest leaving it the same.  Look for inipath in the mame.ini file if you think you changed it.

MameUI can make the folder for you automatically, but in windows explorer, right click, new, folder, and rename it ini.  The files are like the mame.ini in the main mame folder, but named the same as the gamename.ini.  You can edit the files with any text editor, such as notepad.  You can copy the mame.ini file into the folder, rename it dk.ini, and edit the one line that's different.  However, I like deleting all other lines too, so that if I make a global change in mame.ini, it also effects that game without needing to also edit that file.  IOW, the dk.ini should (IMO) only have one line, about the sample rate.

I hate being a newb:(

Everyone starts as one.   I'm glad to help you.  (I'm not as helpful for people demanding or insulting not as understanding, though.)

Oh yeah, if I go too complicated, I'm sorry.  I do that a lot.  Just ask, "Huh?" and where I lost you.

[SirPeale]

The latest beta version of Mame has some performance improvements directed at Donkey Kong.

[massive88]

The latest beta version of Mame has some performance improvements directed at Donkey Kong.

Oh yeah?  I stopped keeping up with versions recently, what have they been doing?  Is it all sound related?  My DK still screws up on sound every once in a while.

[Ummon]

I saw a huge improvement in performance in DK back in .127. It was almost completely smooth and clean (probably matching .104) on my 2.8ghz P4. However, don't expect something less to necessarily match this.