Sound Card & (Controller) To PC Adapter...

[Desert Drifter]

Just curious, I noticed buzzing sounds and delayed music using the emulator in certain games, though play fine in speed wise. Is this because I need a newer sound card? Got an on-board SoundMax, maybe crappy, but thinking this is the issue with the emulator... Also, what is the best Gamecube to PC adapter out there? See a few and kind of lost... Don't know if actually programmable and fully useable, but would like to use a Gamecube controller for the emulator, if actually possible. Thanks. :)

[Doomulation]

There shouldn't be much problem with your sound card. It's either drivers or settings. If it's possible, you can always try to reconfigure the sound. Buffer, latency and such. Different cards likes different settings.

[squall_leonhart]

soundmax is actually the better of the onboard suppliers. you might need to update drivers though.

[Desert Drifter]

If nothing wrong with my soundcard, then must be the settings on the software for it... Have the lastest drivers, so shouldn't be a problem...

[squall_leonhart]

some games crackle when emulation isn't able to stay continuous at 100% try increasing the priority for pj64 to above normal, this causes some keyboard lag though, so increase explorer.exe's process priority to match.

[Desert Drifter]

some games crackle when emulation isn't able to stay continuous at 100% try increasing the priority for pj64 to above normal, this causes some keyboard lag though, so increase explorer.exe's process priority to match.

Running Windows 2000 here, so not sure how to do this, though I know you can in Windows XP. Maybe you can point this out? Can't seem to find the options, unless I'm just not seeing it. Thanks. :)

[ethangilchrist]

If I remember correctly (and it's been a while so YMMV) you can right click the process in the task manager and change its priority there.

[squall_leonhart]

it should be available in Task manager when you right click a process, as long as you have the latest service pack installed

but if not
download Microsoft Process Explorer, and it will allow you to do so,

[Desert Drifter]

it should be available in Task manager when you right click a process, as long as you have the latest service pack installed

but if not
download Microsoft Process Explorer, and it will allow you to do so,

Ah, now I see it, never knew that. I get a list from "Real-time" to "Low", maybe you know what's best here... I don't have any service packs installed, every time I try to install service pack 4, I get a file missing error and can't finish, though I see the file there. Tried to install a service pack before that, still get the same problem, don't know what to do with that issue, but don't seem to effect emulation anyhow, hopefully... I'm use to 98 here, so 2000 is a little new, but anything helps. ;)

[Desert Drifter]

try increasing the priority for pj64 to "above normal"


Didn't see that. :P Of course didn't see ethangilchrist's post until now either. Sorry about that... Can I increase it to "high" or will I end up crashing it? Of course might have to set explorer.exe as the same. Seems to run a bit faster then it was, but curious what happens if increase it, don't want to crash the system and wish I didn't. :P Thanks again. :)

[squall_leonhart]

the higher the setting the more cpu is given to the app.

i only use High if im after super FPS when frame limit is disabled

[Desert Drifter]

the higher the setting the more cpu is given to the app.

i only use High if im after super FPS when frame limit is disabled

How about "realtime"? Try "high" for now, but do you also set the same for explorer.exe? Thanks again. ;)

[squall_leonhart]

Realtime can cause crashes, i don't actually know how you would apply the realtime priority...

[Desert Drifter]

Tried it and still the same, though lags even more, maybe it's my video card not picking up the speed? Got a Geforce4 MX440-SE w/64MB. Running a PIII 866 w/384RAM and that ADI SoundMax3... Maybe you might know here...

[Doomulation]

Realtime is not recommended unless you have dual core or more. Using realtime on one processor can cause the whole system to be unstable as all resources are dedicated to the realtime priority process.
In essence, the higher you go, the more resources is dedicated to the process. I usually use High or Realtime (since I have dualcore). Setting Idle prevents a process from using anything but spare CPU cycles (this will make not it will not bottleneck any applications or the OS).

And btw, the crackling is probably due to slow speed. Can you read the FPS counter? It should be 60 or 50. Another thing to try is using Sync to Sound in plugin options.

[Desert Drifter]

Realtime is not recommended unless you have dual core or more. Using realtime on one processor can cause the whole system to be unstable as all resources are dedicated to the realtime priority process.
In essence, the higher you go, the more resources is dedicated to the process. I usually use High or Realtime (since I have dualcore). Setting Idle prevents a process from using anything but spare CPU cycles (this will make not it will not bottleneck any applications or the OS).

And btw, the crackling is probably due to slow speed. Can you read the FPS counter? It should be 60 or 50. Another thing to try is using Sync to Sound in plugin options.

Alright, I'll just stick with "high". ;)

The FPS is reading at (when not checked that is) 32 to 38 on average & (with checked) at 40 to 45. Don't even come close... Yeah, probably due to slow speed, though the graphics seem to run fast, just the lagging music... Not sure what I need to fix or update, but lags a little here and there on certain games... Thanks again. :)

[Doomulation]

That means you're not getting full speed, which in turns lead to crackling. You need more speed. Try some speed tricks. Try 1964 or another plugin. I'm sure there are some things that can be done to speed up. Hacktarux's RSP plugin might help too.
Once you get 50 for PAL or 60 for NTSC, the crackling should go away.

[Desert Drifter]

That means you're not getting full speed, which in turns lead to crackling. You need more speed. Try some speed tricks. Try 1964 or another plugin. I'm sure there are some things that can be done to speed up. Hacktarux's RSP plugin might help too.
Once you get 50 for PAL or 60 for NTSC, the crackling should go away.

Where do you get Hacktarux's RSP plugin at? 1964 works fine with speed, though lot of games seem to be missing graphics, reason why now using PJ64. Thanks again. :)

[Doomulation]

I believe it comes with Mupen. It's named RSP.dll in the plugins folder. Rename your pj64 rsp.dll and copy mupen's over and you should have Hacktarux's HLE RSP I believe...

[Desert Drifter]

I believe it comes with Mupen. It's named RSP.dll in the plugins folder. Rename your pj64 rsp.dll and copy mupen's over and you should have Hacktarux's HLE RSP I believe...

Okay, got: Hacktarux/Azimer hle rsp plugin - v0.2, hope that's the one. Seems to run to little bit faster with the sound then it was. Reading the FPS at 48 - 50 now, but still lags in certain games...

[Doomulation]

You can also use a HLE audio plugin, like Azimer's. You must disable send audio to rsp, though. Refer to the manual; it should have instructions.
You can also zip through the general speedup guide by Rice: http://www.emutalk.net/showthread.php?t=13173

[Desert Drifter]

Well, I'll try everything and see if I can get it too gain speed, hopefully I'll find a result. Thanks for the help and suggestions. ;)

[ethangilchrist]

Dude, looking at your system specs (from your profile) I'm not surprised you're having issues. If at all possible I'd strongly suggest upping your ram at the very least. Also how up to date is your Windows and your drivers? That may be an issue as well. Closing down any un-needed processes would help as well. IIRC Win2k had a bunch that would run that weren't needed unless you were running a server or something along those lines. Anyway, that's just my two cents.

[Desert Drifter]

Dude, looking at your system specs (from your profile) I'm not surprised you're having issues. If at all possible I'd strongly suggest upping your ram at the very least. Also how up to date is your Windows and your drivers? That may be an issue as well. Closing down any un-needed processes would help as well. IIRC Win2k had a bunch that would run that weren't needed unless you were running a server or something along those lines. Anyway, that's just my two cents.

I meet the system requirements, so not a problem, though thinking of upgrading to WinXP, like everyone suggests. Don't have much running in the background, though connected to a server, business wise... The RAM? Probably not my problem also, upgrading my OS is probably the answer here. ;)

[Doomulation]

If anything, upgrading OS makes most things go slower.

[Desert Drifter]

If anything, upgrading OS makes most things go slower.

Yeah well, Window XP has better driver support, unlike 2000's lack of driver database. Can't seem to even install DirectX 9. Had less problems on 98, but didn't support my "fussy" PC. :P Nothing seems to work, I'm puzzled here... It lags here and there no matter what I do. :(

[Doomulation]

If you can't get the VI/s (shown as FPS in PJ64 1.6) to 50/60 despite speed tricks, then you may need to upgrade your processor.
You could also disable sound, I believe.
But there are a lot of solution, like using HLE sound. Did you try? With everything, it should be possible to hit full speed. If it still crackles, enabling sync to sound should help to get clear sound (some games like Zelda wants it).

[ethangilchrist]

I would have suggested upgrading the processor as well but normally that requires a new mobo and I was trying to give ideas that could be done fairly quickly/easily.

[Doomulation]

Not always. Processors can be overclocked and there are always compatible processors that are a little faster.

[Desert Drifter]

If you can't get the VI/s (shown as FPS in PJ64 1.6) to 50/60 despite speed tricks, then you may need to upgrade your processor.
You could also disable sound, I believe.
But there are a lot of solution, like using HLE sound. Did you try? With everything, it should be possible to hit full speed. If it still crackles, enabling sync to sound should help to get clear sound (some games like Zelda wants it).

Yeah, tried it all, still the same, though worse then I had it... Anyway, I'm using a beta of v1.7, so might have to wait for the final version, probably in 2008, but just have to deal with it til then. 1.7 lags on lower-end PCS, though 1.6 works perfect in speed, but then again, 1.7 has a lot of graphic fixes in a lot of games, so don't want to go back to 1.6 because of it... Oh well, I'll just deal with it for now, at least the games work, so can't argue. ;)

[Doomulation]

Well, that kindof explains it. Still, you should discuss/talk about 1.7 on the 1.7 beta forum and 1.6 (and earlier) here...

[Desert Drifter]

Well, that kindof explains it. Still, you should discuss/talk about 1.7 on the 1.7 beta forum and 1.6 (and earlier) here...

Well, where is this beta forum everyone keeps pointing me too? Looked around, but guess I'm getting blind these days. :P Thanks again and sorry about that. :)

[Doomulation]

http://www.pj64-emu.com

[p_025]

I used to play on an MX440. Definitely a bad card for PJ64. It's quite simply too old. As for a GCN controller to USB adaptor, I use the "TigerGame NGC JoyPad to USB Box," It's awesome. Use it with the newer NRage plugin. If you install the drivers you can use the rumble too.