Audio sync issues when using NTSC games with PAL60 video mode

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What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Play any game for an hour or so  
2.
3.

What is the expected output?

After about an hour or so the audio goes out of sync with the picture. It 
sounds like its stuttering for about 10 or 20 seconds, sometimes up to a 
minute. If i turn hq audio off and then go back to the game and then turn it 
back on and go back again the sync issues disappear for a further hour or so.  

What version of the emulator are you using (official, SVN revision,...)?

1.6.0 (though i first noticed this issue with 1.4.1)

Please provide any additional information below (Video settings, Console
region,...)

This is on a pal wii, in pal60 mode using ntsc roms.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by veryape...@googlemail.com on 13 Oct 2011 at 10:59

• Merged into: #196

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Any games ? That's quite curious and I cannot reproduce that,I have been 
playing recently 2 hours or so without any issues. Could you try with no audio 
filter and see if this still happens, I think I already noticed strange sound 
issues after a while when Low Pass filter is enabled, but certianly not for 
every games.

Also please give the Video settings you are using, they are important.

A video capture when this happens would also help if you can do it, since I'm 
not sure to get how it exactly sounds when it goes "out of sync" or if 
stuttering is actually the real issue.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 13 Oct 2011 at 12:52

• Changed state: Accepted
• Added labels: Type-Defect, Priority-Medium, SoundEmulation

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My video setting are:

original
60hz
gx bilinear filter off
vl trap filter off
vl gamma correction 1.0
ntsc filter off
borders off
aspect 4:3

I've tried with low pass filter off and still had this almost warbling effect 
on the sound after a while, hard to explain i'll try and get a recording of it. 
Specific games its happened in are sonic 1 and 2, shining in the darkness and 
shining force 1. But i just want to rule out that i might have installed the 
emulator improperly. I've tried simply copying the apps folder to the sd card 
and i've tried renaming the gensplus_wii.dol to boot.dol and replacing the one 
in the apps folder but with both ways i still get the sound issues. Do i have 
to copy the apps folder as is in the zip to the sd card and move the 
gensplus_wii.dol into it having it along side the boot.dol aready there? I've 
tried looking through your readme but its a bit vague on this. 

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 14 Oct 2011 at 6:11

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Do as the user manual says, simply copy the /apps folder to your SD and don't 
bother with genplus_wii.dol, it's just there for people who uses other methods 
than HBC to load homebrew.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with your issue, if the emulator is launching 
and run games, it is correcly installed.

Does this also occur when High-Quality FM is turned OFF ?

 Also try with NTSC ROM and TV mode set to 50hz (since you have a PAL Wii just like me, i guess your TV supports it).

Lastly, go there:
http://code.google.com/p/genplus-gx/issues/detail?id=108

and check comment #9. Download the test dol and follow the instructions in the 
comment then upload the timings log here. If you can also try with NTSC roms 
and TV mode set to 50 Hz (or PAL roms and TV mode set to 60hz), this could be 
useful too. This will tell me if the audio/video timings of your Wii are the 
same as the default ones we measured. Slightly different timings could indeed 
result in sound slowly shifting as time passes, then messing up completely.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 15 Oct 2011 at 8:51

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Btw, be aware that the test dol is from an older version, you should backup 
then delete your config.ini file before starting it.

Before I forget, another thing you could try with the current version is to see 
if setting Rendering mode to INTERLACED fixes the issue.

Also, when you say you "first noticed this issue with 1.4.1", does that mean 
that you  have this issue with all versions since 1.4.1 or only in 1.4.1 and 
this one (but not 1.5.0 for example) ? What about 1.4.0 ?

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 15 Oct 2011 at 3:35

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I just tried with hq audio off twice and it froze both times after about 
30mins. Do you think somethings gone wrong with my softmod? I mean if this was 
a problem caused by your emulator surely other people would have reported the 
same problem. About a month ago i had the same freezing problem but it happened 
after about a 30 seconds but that went away when i deleted and then reinstalled 
ios 56. Is modmii the best way to completely reinstall a softmod?  

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 16 Oct 2011 at 3:51

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There is no point in deleting/re-installing anything until we figure the cause 
of this. And I don't think anything you installed on your wii can be the cause 
of program crashing, all homebrew applications only use one IOS, which is the 
one HBC is using if you use HBC to load homebrew. The only other thing that run 
is the emulator.

Now, it must indeed be something with YOUR setup since I left Shining Force 
running for hours and sound was still fine when I came back. Please give me ALL 
the setting (system, video, audio, controllers) you are using so I can make 
sure we at still use the same emulator setup when trying to reproduce your 
issue.

That's said, freezing is very weird and I believe cannot be caused by the 
emulator itself but exceptions occurring in the low-level library (libogc). Try 
to delete <no_ios_reload> line from meta.xml file in /apps/genplus and see if 
it still freezes. Also make sure that there isn't any unsupported devices 
connected and remove anything from USB or Memory Card ports.

Lastly, PLEASE try the test dol as I asked you in my previous message and 
UPLOAD the logtiming file here. I need data to understand what's going on and 
eliminate causes.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 16 Oct 2011 at 4:09

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Thanks, deleting the <no_ios_reload> line got rid of the freezing however the 
audio issues remain. Heres the log timings file from playing shining force with 
hq audio on  and low pass filter on at 20 percent. I could only test interlaced 
and original though as my tv doesn't support progressive. Hope it helps.    

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 17 Oct 2011 at 8:14

Attachments:

• logtiming.txt

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It didn't help, your video timings are the same as any other Wii, so it's 
something else. Could still be your Wii audio timings (exact samplerate) being 
slightly different than the one I measured but I doubt that.

Here are some other stuff that could help figuring what's going on:

1) Give me ALL the default settings you are using when the problem occurs 
(audio, video, system, menu AND controllers), this could give me an indication 
and I could at least try to reproduce your issue with the exact same setup as 
yours. Also please confirm that when you select the "Exit" option, the string 
"Genesis Plus GX 1.6.0 (WII)" is displayed in the message box.

2) Are you using a background music in the emulator menu (by having a 
Bg_music.ogg file in the /genplus directory) ?

3) Does it still happen when High-Quality FM is turned OFF ? Audio timings are 
a little bit different depending of this option.

4) Does it still happen when "TV Mode" is forced to 60hz in Video Options AND 
"Console Region" forced to EUROPE in System Options ? When these two options 
are set like this, the emulator synchronizes itself with audio instead of 
video, which is again a little bit different.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 18 Oct 2011 at 8:30

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This is driving me crazy, i just tried running shining force with hq audio off 
and filters off and it keeps freezing after 20mins or so again. Evidently 
deleting the no_ios_reload line makes no difference :( But i'm actually quite 
surprised the interlaced timings were correct, the audio was becoming garbled 
every five seconds or so. 

1: Would a copy of my config file be ok? I've attached it and yes it does say 
Genesis Plus GX 1.6.0 (WII) in the message box when i press exit. My controller 
is the wiimote controller. I use the official wii scart too but i doubt that 
makes any difference. 

2: no music in the background

As for four, will i have to start the game in usa console mode then change it 
once the game is running to eur to get around the region lockout? Do you think 
its worth seeing if a pal rom of shining force in eur console mode still 
produces this freezing?

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 19 Oct 2011 at 9:14

Attachments:

• config.ini

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Just set the CONSOLE REGION option to EUROPE, TV MODE to 60HZ and reload a game 
that you previously had issues with.

Another question, does the freeze or the sync issues always happen at the same 
location in game or is it more a matter of time (i.e if you just leave the game 
intro running where music is playing, does it still happen ?)

Garbled audio in interlaced mode and freezing when hq is off is definitively 
weird, I'm starting to wonder if the issue is not with your Wii :-/
Do other emulators work fine ?

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 20 Oct 2011 at 7:56

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I haven't really played other emulators as extensively as this one so i can't 
tell for certain but i've never had any freezing occur when i have used them. 
But i tried running shining in the darkness today in eur console mode at 60hz 
and left it running for about two hours and it never froze. Whereas when i 
tried japan and usa console modes it froze after about 20 or 30 minutes. This 
is with hq audio off and filtering off. So i guess if you can't reproduce this 
on your wii which is also pal it must be some weird hardware fault. But in the 
end this isn't a major issue or anything all i'll have to do is press the menu 
button on my wiimote every hour or so to get rid of any garbling audio. In 
every other respect this emulator works flawlessly.       

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 20 Oct 2011 at 6:03

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Ok, can you do the same thing with hq audio on (I don't think filtering option 
makes any difference in your issues) and eur console mode at 60hz ? See if the 
original issue (audio desync and stuttering) is fixed as well ?

In this case, this could indeed be some kind of unusual timings when VSYNC is 
used to synchronize audio/video, I will try to post a new test dol that you 
could run so I can measure accurate output samplerate of your Wii.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 20 Oct 2011 at 6:35

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I'll try that tomorrow. Though i have tested the test dol in interlaced with hq 
audio on and in usa console mode theres constant pops and every five seconds it 
becomes slightly garbled whereas if i change it to europe console mode the 
audio is fine. So i'm guessing when i do test the 1.6.0 version the audio 
problems will probably vanish there too. 

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 20 Oct 2011 at 9:19

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Actually the problem you got in interlaced mode with the test dol is normal, 
this dol was made to test a specific timing issue  in this mode, which was not 
yet fixed at that time. You should have different result in interlaced mode 
with the 1.6.0 version.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 21 Oct 2011 at 6:05

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I've been testing it in Europe 60hz mode and so far i've not had any problems 
with the audio.  

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 22 Oct 2011 at 5:14

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Ok, can you try in EUROPE + 50HZ + INTERLACED ON ? In this configuration, the 
emulator uses the same sync method as USA + 60HZ but same timing as EUROPE + 
60HZ. This will help figuring which one from sync method or timing value is the 
cause of your issue.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 22 Oct 2011 at 5:55

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I played shining force today in eur in 50hz with interlaced on and didn't 
notice any sound problems.

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 27 Oct 2011 at 6:13

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Ok, two last ones to test (with 1.6.1 off course, not the test dol):

1) EUROPE + 50HZ + ORIGINAL

2) USA + 60HZ + INTERLACED

3) USA + 50HZ (ORIGINAL or INTERLACED, should not matter)

This should narrow down the problem even more.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 27 Oct 2011 at 6:34

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Sorry for the late reply but i've tested those modes and i only noticed any 
problems with the sound using USA 60hz interlaced. 

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 2 Nov 2011 at 2:41

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So basically, to resume, you only got sound sync issues with this specific 
setting:

1) emulator region set to USA (or AUTO with a NTSC game), i.e Genesis emulation 
running at 60hz

AND

2) TV mode set to 60hz (or 50/60hz with NTSC game), i.e Wii set to PAL60 and 
emulation (normally) running in sync with Video Interrupt (60hz)

Also:
- ORIGINAL or INTERLACED timings are both affected without differences
- issue happens with HQ FM option ON or OFF, with only some difference to 
desync effect

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 3 Nov 2011 at 1:00

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I'd only add that when i have hq off in usa mode and 60hz it will freeze 
instead of producing sound errors. So is there anything that can be done? 

Original comment by veryape...@googlemail.com on 3 Nov 2011 at 8:52

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No idea, still trying to figure why it doesn't work with your console 
specifically. I'm quite baffled since your video timings in ORIGINAL & 
INTERLACED 60hz modes are as expected, and if audio timings were not right, 
other modes which use VSYNC would be affected as well.

I will try to post some test dol after the next version is released.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 4 Nov 2011 at 9:39

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 4 Nov 2011 at 9:40

• Changed title: Audio sync issues in 60hz modes using VSYNC

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 4 Nov 2011 at 9:41

• Changed title: _Audio sync issues in 60hz modes _

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 4 Nov 2011 at 9:42

• Changed title: Audio sync issues when using NTSC games with PAL60 video mode

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 23 Dec 2011 at 4:27

• Changed state: Standby
• Added labels: Priority-Low
• Removed labels: Priority-Medium

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 23 Dec 2011 at 4:28

• Added labels: SyncEmulation
• Removed labels: SoundEmulation

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 17 Jan 2012 at 9:40

• Changed state: Unverified

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If you got the chance, pleas try this test version and report the logged files 
as explained there:

http://code.google.com/p/genplus-gx/issues/detail?id=196#c20

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 12 Mar 2012 at 10:22

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Btw, seems both issues should be merged as they are similar.

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 12 Mar 2012 at 10:33

• Changed state: Duplicate