Xenogears Audio Help Needed

[Krishnak779]

Hi, I'm rekatively new to Emulation in general, but am intensely excited about the prospect of playing my old PS1 games on my PC. I picked Xenogears for my initial game to play again, since it is an old favorite, but am having some difficulty with the audio. The intro sequence has static in it with XA Audio options disabled, and with XA enabled, the sounds sound too fast or too slow, not in sync with the game.

My system:
AMD Athlon 64 3400+
1Ghz Ram
ATI Radeon X800 XT video card
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Sound card

Config. Settings:
Plugin: Pete's OpenGL Driver 1.1.75
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
GFX card: RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition x86/MMX/3DNow!/SSE2

Resolution/Color:
- 1152x864 Fullscreen - NO desktop changing [32 Bit]
- Keep psx aspect ratio: off

Textures:
- B8G8R8A8
- Filtering: 6
- Hi-Res textures: 2
- VRam size: 128 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limitation: off
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: 200

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 1
- Framebuffer texture: 0
- Framebuffer access: 0
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: off
- Advanced blending: off

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

And Audio:
P.E.Op.S. DSound Audio Driver 1.9
Mode: 2
Volume: 1
Reverb: 2
Interpolation: 1

XA Music:
Enable XA Music: Yes
Change XA Speed: Yes

Misc:
All un-checked



If someone could assist me I would be humbly honored!
Thanks again, if I need to post more info please let me know.

[hushypushy]

well the main problem lies in your FPS limitation settings (you havent set it) and the compatibility section. i suggest you try OpenGL2. here are some settingsto get you started:

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.6
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
GFX card: GeForce 6800/AGP/SSE/3DNOW!

Resolution/Color:
- 640x480 Window mode <<< or whatever res you like.
- Internal X resolution: 1
- Internal Y resolution: 2
- Keep psx aspect ratio: off
- No render-to-texture: off

- Filtering: 4
- Hi-Res textures: 2
- TexWin pixel shader: off
- VRam size: 128 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limitation: on << crucial!!!!
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: Auto << very important as well!!

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 1
- Framebuffer effects: 3
- Framebuffer uploads: 2

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Mdec filter: on
- Screen filtering: on
- Shader effects: 0/1
- Flicker-fix border size: 0
- GF4/XP crash fix: off
- Game fixes: off [00000000]

you should definitely get quality shots like the ones in this thread: http://www.ngemu.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43237

your sound config looks good, you might want to bump up Interpolation to 2 however.

for a smoother gaming experience, i suggest you make an ISO of the game. otherwise, the CD-ROM drive will be bottlenecking the performance of the rest of your equipment. however, this is completely optional.

[Krishnak779]

How would I go about creating an ISO image of a PSX disc I already have?
Would an ISO solve my audio problem? The sound still seems choppy, and the animation is a bit sluggish seeming as well.

[fireblaster_lyz]

Originally Posted by Krishnak779

Althon 64 + GFX card: RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition x86/MMX/3DNow!/SSE2

OMG....that's is really some good hardware for PSX emulation...

EDIT: Use Alcohol 120% to create an image of your CD. It seems that your CD is pretty worn out, causing sound breaks, cutoffs.

Yes, an ISO will help you get out of this situation.

[Krishnak779]

Thanks alot, I'll try the ISO image and see what happens, wish me luck.

Ok, I used IsoBuster, and this seems to help alot, the audio sounds good, and the video looks alot better but I think it could be "smoother."

Not that the graphics don't look good, they do, but it seems to be my comp is good enough to run it faster. Any ideas?

[fireblaster_lyz]

Try installing the Windows XP 64-Bit Edition here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/default.mspx

[hushypushy]

how many FPS are you getting? (press delete to see your FPS) do you have AA or AF enabled? (turn em both off if so). what drivers are you using? (go to www.ati.com and get the newest)

btw, the XP 64 bit is still in prerelease stage...i'd be careful with using it.

[fireblaster_lyz]

His computer is able to max out all settings as with my system and obtained 49.9fps with all settings maxed.

My cousin's computer runs Half-Life 2 at 70-80fps in Windows XP 64-bit Edition. However, exercise caution with it like what hushy has said...it is still in its BETA testing stage.

[Krishnak779]

I have AA and AF on, but they're pplication-controlled it says, so I doubt they would be affecting. As for drivers, I just updated my video card driver last week witht he Catalyst 4.12 I believe.

Am I using the right version of ePSXe? 1.60?

What about video and audio plug-ins? I was told to use Pete's OpenGL2 plugin and am using spuPeopsDSound plug-in for audio.

Here are my current settings, keep in mind I have a ATI video card...

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.6
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
GFX card: RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition x86/MMX/3DNow!/SSE2

Resolution/Color:
- 1280x1024 Fullscreen - NO desktop changing
- Internal X resolution: 1
- Internal Y resolution: 2
- Keep psx aspect ratio: off
- No render-to-texture: off

- Filtering: 6
- Hi-Res textures: 2
- TexWin pixel shader: off
- VRam size: 128 MBytes

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

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 1
- Framebuffer effects: 3
- Framebuffer uploads: 2

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Mdec filter: on
- Screen filtering: on
- Shader effects: 1/1
- Flicker-fix border size: 0
- GF4/XP crash fix: off
- Game fixes: off [00000000]

Thanks again for all the help and assistance!

[hushypushy]

looks fine to me. you might want to try ePSXe 1.5.2 to see if that helps, however, i dont think there are any problems with 1.6.0 and xenogears, of course there is the dream sequence + F7 thing with ePSXe, you'll get there later though

i would suggest trying Eternal's sound plugin to see if you like it better. i was using Pete's Dsound and playing FF7 yesterday and all teh sounds were wrong (sound effects too quiet and in some cases the wrong background music playing...)

anyway, strange it is not going full speed. try turning the texture window pixel shader on.

[I-Chan]

Again, check your framerate. If it's 50 with a pal game, or 60 with an ntsc one, it's running fine. You might want to tweak the speed a bit, setting a manual fps limit. If your game is pal, input a value like 55-60-65, or if it's ntsc, try 65-70-75. That way you'll notice a faster gameplay, but keep in mind that it will be faster than the own psx, and might lead to glitches (mainly in fmv's and sound).

[hushypushy]

you CAN switch to OpenGL if you'd like, you wont get shaders though. but if you do, check out the Enable PC FPS calculation special fix. that might help a stutterng framerate.

[Krishnak779]

Ok, through much laborious tweaking and adjusting, I have gotten what appears to me as a perfect resoultion/quality balance. But! There still remains a problem, maybe it's just me, but there will occasionally be a line, almost like a wave that will pass over the screen, horizontally, disrupting the image, it's not VERY noticeable, but it is driving me mad, any suggestions on how to fix this?

[fireblaster_lyz]

Lowering the resolution might help.

[Krishnak779]

I just tried that, all the way down to 1024x768, it was on 1280x1024, and the problem remains, it reminds me of "static" on an old VHS, like horizontal lines across the screen that are wavy, not very noticeable, and not affecting performance, but are aesthetically annoying.

[fireblaster_lyz]

Have you tried FORCING VSYNC on in the Cataylst Control Panel?

[Krishnak779]

Uh, where is the option for VSync control located in Catalyst control panel? I can't seem to locate it.

[hushypushy]

interesting. i have 1 line across my entire screen, but that's just a broken line that has been there since i got my monitor...

[Krishnak779]

Wait, maybe it IS my monitor! This is an old one I'm using, and perhaps it becomes evident when using the emulator. Hmmm.

[fireblaster_lyz]

I was SUSPECTING your monitor as MAYBE it nearly exceed your refresh rate...that's why I told you to reduce the resolution to a lower one. BUT....

EDIT: Oh man...the Vsync thing is buried deep....you must activate Custom Settings in order to adjust that.