Silent Hill videos stutter

[rotulos1]

Silent Hill videos play perfectly when running from a clonecd image. However when run from a backup cd burned from the ccd image the videos and sound stutter, not a lot but enough to be annoying. I've tested the internal cdrom plugin (aspi and spti) and the peops cdrom plugin and tried different settings but can't get those videos to play smoothly. The cd is not scratched at all and is not from a generic brand.

Here are my specs: Windows XP Pro sp2, Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 CPU, 2GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT video adapter, LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1S DVD writer, Petes OpenGL Driver 1.77 ("nice" settings)

This also happens with an athlon x2 4800+ PC, 2GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS video adapter.

Almost forgot to mention, the pSX emulator plays the videos very smoothly.

[jonc2006]

is this the only game that does this?

[karas81]

Post your GPU/SPU plugins setting.

[hushypushy]

Well, since you're fine off the ISO and you're having problems from the CD, I'd guess it's a CD reading problem. Try changing CD plugins and changing the configuration.

[rotulos1]

is this the only game that does this?

No, Parasite Eve and Nightmare Creatures 2 do that too. Don´t know about any other game, those 3 are the only ones i got now.

Post your GPU/SPU plugins setting.

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL Driver 1.1.77
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
GFX card: GeForce 8800 GTS/PCI/SSE2/3DNOW!
OGL version: 2.1.2

Resolution/Color:
- 1280x1024 Fullscreen - NO desktop changing
- Keep psx aspect ratio: off

Textures:
- R8G8A8A8
- Filtering: 0
- Hi-Res textures: 0
- VRam size: 0 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limitation: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: Auto

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 3
- Framebuffer texture: 2
- Framebuffer access: 0
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: on
- Advanced blending: on

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Line mode: off
- Unfiltered FB: off
- 15 bit FB: off
- Dithering: off
- Screen smoothing: off
- Game fixes: off [00000000]

Well, since you're fine off the ISO and you're having problems from the CD, I'd guess it's a CD reading problem. Try changing CD plugins and changing the configuration.

Then how come pSX plays them ok?

[hushypushy]

Then how come pSX plays them ok?

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I'd say it's because pSX has a more efficient/better way of CD reading and/or playing FMV's. Keep in mind that while ePSXe has to work with different plugins, everything is self-contained (and optimized) in pSX.

Also, I've been plagued by choppy CD reading with ePSXe as long as I can remember. Sometimes I can fix it by using Sapu's or Xeven's or Pete's CD plugins, but then the problem returns :???: If I'm going to play a game seriously, I'll always make an ISO. 450GB of hard drive space, I have room for a temporary 700mb image ;)

[jonc2006]

yeah i would not bother with playing directly from a disc, i get performance issues myself if i play from the discs so i always try to use images of my games instead.

[karas81]

OK, try my setting (man you're not using the filtring options, whats wrong...!?).

http://hanibal81.diinoweb.com/files/Pete_GPU_Silent-Hill.GIF

By the way the stutter, is a normal thing in all Silent Hill FMVs & Silent Hill OSTs, its a trick done by Akira Yamoaka (Sounds like a burning paper/wood or something).
Unless the sound is cracking, and thats another story (pay attention to the marked options).

[myloch]

yeah, I can confirm. had the same problem with my silent hill. No problem with intro and the majority of videos. Only with some of them. But not too serious problem for me. I finished the game many times so never bothered trying with an iso.

[rotulos1]

Thanks everybody, you are the best. I´ll follow your advice.