Audio Sync and Time Outs

[whitetigerx7]

I don't know if this was addressed or not but for some reason many games just do not sync up audio, video, and overall general CPU timing correctly.

I was wondering if this has been addressed already and if so what is the timeline for possible corrections look like.

Also, I was wondering to ask pSX Author if there is anyway he can further optimize pSX and possibly reduce overhead needed by the CPU and such to speed up emulation and such? Does pSX use an Interpreter CPU or a Dynamic Recompiling emulated CPU?

[Ultima]

It's probably dynarec by default, but you can always switch between dynarec and interpreter via commandline.

I find it odd that pSX is running slowly for you, and wouldn't expect it to be so if you have a Pentium M 1.73GHz (which should be *essentially* equivalent to probably Pentium 4 2.8GHz ;o)...

[patrickp]

How are you playing the games, whitetigerx7 - image or Playstation CD? And, most importantly, what games? You say 'many' games, which suggests you don't have this problem with all games: it would be useful to know what games you have problems with and what games you don't.

[Gamesoul Master]

Well, he didn't exactly say that it was running slowly for him... but if that's what he meant, then I wouldn't understand either. My Celeron 1.0 GHz computer with 512 MB RAM runs pSX near flawlessly, so his computer should have absolutely no problems (judging by his specs, I'd have to guess that it has *at least* 1 GB of RAM, but even 256 MB would be enough).

I think that at this point, optimization is probably a rather low priority. It seems like his main concerns right now are bugs and compatibility. But... all three of those things are, of course, on the list.

[Ultima]

whitetigerx7 said:

speed up emulation and such

Dunno, but that sounds to me like it's running slowly for him =T

[whitetigerx7]

It's more or less stuttering rather than slowness. It's like the emulation pauses while the game still runs and then resyncs and the game jumps forward. Sometimes the whole game slows down while everything like audio goes ahead till the rest of the game catches up.

[patrickp]

Again, how are you playing the games and what games, whitetigerx7?

[insane1]

Regardless of games, if it's stuttering...perhaps a Vsync issue? I know for some odd reason when certain settings are used with certain display drivers, Vsync can cause issues with some things like pSX. At least I think I had this problem once (Stuttering) with that being the cause.


Note this is just a guess, but I think it'd be best to check all possible solutions.

[patrickp]

Well, stuttering can have all sorts of causes, insane1, that's why I asked whitetigerx7

how are you playing the games and what games?

twice. Some games stutter badly in FMVs in pSX when played directly from an image, for instance, but are fine if played from a CD or a mounted image.

But, yes, audio/video synchronisation problems might well suggest VSync problems.

[whitetigerx7]

I'm playing them off legal CD-ROMs. I refuse to use backup copies due to ethics.

It's with V-Sync both on and off really. Neither really helps through with V-Sync off I get better frame rates.

Does the CD-ROM software allow for Read-ahead with Cashe? Maybe if the data was pre-read and cashed it might give time for the data to be prepared and processed.

I know Pete Burnett used this type of CD-ROM Read mode with his Plug-Ins for ePSXe and other PSEmuPro style emulators.

If so I'd suggest we start with maybe a small 4mb Cashe for Read Ahead. Nothing too fancy but enough to test out and see if it helps process and/or prepare the data more efficiently.

IF I'm not mistaken the Playstation actually did use a Read Ahead Mode with a small Cashe of sorts or similar feature. I know Final Fantasy 7 was one of the first games not to actually have a loading time.

[Gamesoul Master]

Ethics??? If just about every law-making body in the world says it's completely legal to have a back-up of your original CD (and they love to restrict *lots* of things that are ethical)... how is it not ethical? Maybe you shouldn't answer that... I'm willing to bet I'll end up hating you if you do... :/

Final Fantasy VII... you, of course, mean "not very long" loading times? Cuz it has loading times... just not as bad as other PS1 games.

OK... Considering that 99% of us do *not* have this problem that you are talking about, it'd be *really* appreciated if you just stopped dodging the question that patrickp asked you twice. What games are you playing that cause this problem??? And if you can be bothered for them, the other relevant settings you're using would be extremely helpful as well.

And... are your system specs the same as they were when you first started posting here? Cuz if they are... something is seriously wrong with your computer. It should be running all PS1 games on pSX almost flawlessly, even with the best settings.

[whitetigerx7]

Well Final Fantasy 7 was actually one of them. Castlevania: SotN was another and Valkyrie Profile the other one. each has moments where the emulation of the game stops, jerks forward, audio stops totally, or freezes up and I have to restart the application.

BTW I am using a Laptop PC not a desktop PC. As a rule most laptops, even high end ones like mine, do not have the equal power of a desktop PC.

Also I noticed this... at the cut scenes with Maria and Richter sometimes the game will just freeze. Also the audio sometimes will pop and stutter every few seconds.

[patrickp]

As GM says, whitetigerx7, making a backup copy of your game is entirely legal, added to which, you would not be acting unethically in any way in ripping an image for your own use. If you were to pass it on to someone else, that would be a different matter, but I would presume, particularly since you seem concerned about the ethicality/legality of copying, that this would not in any way be your intention. Tell me - or rather, don't, but consider the ramifications of it - where did your get the BIOS(s) you are using for pSX?

Additionally, I think many of us here would consider that companies like Sony have devalued their stance on copyright issues considerably. On the one hand, companies like Sony and Microsoft are trying to get legislation enacted or altered so as to give them an unfair position as regards intellectual property rights.

On the other hand, Sony, as a perfect example, went way over the line last year with their efforts to protect their CDs - they put the systems of PC users playing those records at serious risk of compromise from hackers, with potentially no way to recover, and made a mess of the fixes they offered for this, putting the systems of their victims at further risk. The courts found that their actions were unlawful but, as is usual where big business is concerned, the penalties imposed were laughable.

It also turned out that a component of the software they had used (which was provided for them by a separate company but, considering the head of the company actually had held senior positions at Sony, it would seem fairly ludicrous to assume there was no involvement) was taken from LAME, an open source audio compression application, without the permission of the owner (which would not have actually been needed) but also without acknowledging this in the licence (which was required) - indeed, the original versions of the software, before their actions were brought to public attention, displayed no licence at all, as they would seem to have been installed without users' knowledge.

So, having got all that off my chest, unless you're severely limited for hard drive space on your laptop, it would be worth considering using images of your games rather than disks. Particularly on a laptop, hard drive access is going to be much better than optical drive access, and it's possible that your CD/DVD drive is the cause of your problem.

It would be useful to know the versions of the games you are playing as well: I know for instance that my PAL version of Final Fantasy VII (SCES-00867) plays every bit as well as the console in pSX. However, another member here found that his US NTSC version was having problems somewhat like you are describing - oddly, this was with an image played directly. When he tried mounting the image and playing it as a CD, the problems went away. Go figure.

Oh, and when I say versions, game IDs are what we really need. Since you're playing from original games, that should be no problem; these should be on the spine of the jewel case, and are sometimes printed on the CDs as well (particularly with multiple disk games).