Audio scratching and slow on all emulators..... again

Tackskull · 26 Sept 2018, 20:03

I was having this problem in the past, but once I changed operative system on my pc and reinstalle retropie from the beginning I was not having any kind of problem, but now, this issue just appered again. Basically every systm and any kind of emulator I try is having audio issue about scratching audio (very annoing) and a bit slower compared on the gameplay, like the music is difficult to stay in time with the game. Untill yesterday everything was ok, today I don't know why, audio is crappy and annoing, on each game. Today I was trying somesettings with lr-desmume2015 and maybe I did something wrong.

I ask you please guys to help me solving this problem, I don't want to reinstall everything from the beginning.

Thanks

edit: the only emulators that are not having audio problem are ppsspp, reicast and mupen64

mitu · 26 Sept 2018, 20:17

@tackskull said in Audio scratching and slow on all emulators..... again:

edit: the only emulators that are not having audio problem are ppsspp, reicast and mupen64

So the problem seems to manifest for the Libretro (RetroArch) emulators. Did you change any global RetroArch settings ? Did you enable 'Config Save on Exit' at any time ? Try to trace what configuration you've made in RetroArch that might have caused this.

mediamogul · 26 Sept 2018, 20:19

@tackskull said in Audio scratching and slow on all emulators..... again:

edit: the only emulators that are not having audio problem are ppsspp, reicast and mupen64

So, the issue is confined to the libretro cores? Also, we need more general information from you. The required information is detailed at https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

Beldar · 26 Sept 2018, 22:21

This probably is not very helpful, but I started having this same problem last night after an update. Specifically with the lr-mGBA emulator. There is a 3 to 5 fps hit, even when overclocked, with the audio problems you would expect along with it.

There is definitely something going on. If I can provide any sort of data that might help, let me know. However, I'm doing a full wipe and reinstall on my pi, so my logs are toast.

Tackskull · 1 Oct 2018, 03:15

Guys, without find any solution to this and unistalling and raisntalling retropie just keep this strange issue, I have unistalled again my operative system and reistalled a new one. Now I am using linux Mint, I have installed retropie from the beginning and everything was ok untill..... untill I installed lr-desmume and launching a rom the audio become scratching on this emulator.... after quitting this emulator and play anyone else, this issue come again..... So, without know nothing about software and pc, I would say that lr-desmume emulator is bringing this problem. Starting from this, do you guysnow how to solve it? Cause unistall Linux Mint and installing another operative system is so annoing..... And maybe we can find a solution

mitu · 1 Oct 2018, 03:15

@tackskull Re-installing again and again will not solve your issue. If you want to investigate, then try to see what did you change in the settings that might can cause this. Just installing an emulator will not change the default RA settings, so it's strange this step affects all RA cores.
You didn't asked any of the questions about your setup. In addition to that try to get a log file from RetroArch while running the game (/dev/shm/runcommand.log) and upload it to pastebin.com so we can take a look. Make sure you enable verbose logging in the Runcommand launch menu before launching a game.

grant2258 · 1 Oct 2018, 03:21

i would recommend you copy the original retroarcg.cfg files back or at least the main one and the emulator causing the problem your not really supposed to save over the main retroarch.cfg in retropie. Make sure ra is close before you do this.

cd /opt/retropie/configs/all
cp retroarch.cfg.rp-dist retroarch.cfg

then also rename your core options
mv retroarch-core-options.cfg retroarch-core-options.cfg.bak

start ra see how you go

grant2258 · 1 Oct 2018, 03:49

close should be closed sorry about that am blurry eyed

Tackskull · 1 Oct 2018, 21:42

@mitu

Here is the runcommand.log https://pastebin.com/FUSPVcGN

mitu · 2 Oct 2018, 03:19

You RA install seems to be using the PulseAudio driver - try to switch it to alsa and see if you get better results. You can do that from the RGUI after you started a game or by modifying /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg and uncommenting the line with # audio_driverand settting

audio_driver = alsa

BHazard · 2 Oct 2018, 18:45

Are you using the built in 3.5mm audio jack? That thing scratches the audio like crazy and has a FPS hit. Use HDMI audio and the problem goes away.

Tackskull · 2 Oct 2018, 23:03

My laptop is connected to a tv via hdmi, then my tv is connected to a sound bar via jack cable. On linux, my audio is connected on the hdmi output, so what do you mean with "switch to hdmi"? There is an option on retropie to do that?
I try to remove the sound bar and letting the audio to come from the tv, the audio is still scratching

Anyway I went on retropie setup script, then configedit and then to retroarch and all systems. From here I switched the audio driver from "default" to Alsa, the problem is still here

mitu · 3 Oct 2018, 03:44

@tackskull said in Audio scratching and slow on all emulators..... again:

There is an option on retropie to do that?

In the RetroPie system in ES, there's an Audio menu you can use to toggle between different audio outputs. Can you get another log file (with verbose logging) after you switched to ALSA as audio driver ?

Tackskull · 3 Oct 2018, 13:35

@mitu here we are https://pastebin.com/YPHpcYNZ

mitu · 3 Oct 2018, 13:45

@tackskull Sorry, I don't see any obvious errors in it - I have no idea what might be wrong.

dankcushions · 3 Oct 2018, 13:51

@tackskull said in Audio scratching and slow on all emulators..... again:

@mitu here we are https://pastebin.com/YPHpcYNZ

i notice this is running dracula x on the SNES - note that this game is famously slow and laggy on real SNES hardware, so likely any slowdown is normal and correct emulation. audio glitches might also be. can we get a video recording perhaps?

Tackskull · 3 Oct 2018, 15:12

@dankcushions this happen on many emulators and is not about gameplay but only about audio, anyway, I'll reinstall everything from the beginning avoiding the lr-desmumeemulator, I let you guys know

Tackskull · 13 Oct 2018, 23:34

Again, I unistalled retropie and reinstall, the audio still crap, so I tried to reinstall the pc operative system from zer0 (Linux Mint) and reinstalled retropie.... audio still crap... So I am really don't understanding what's the problem. Is that maybe my pc? Installing retropie from zero mean all settings are in default, maybe you guys got some new information about it?

I tryed to high the audio delay, and the audio is getting well but have some frames of muted audio, like the audio gone for a second each three seconds. Maybe can you tell me what to do with audio options?

edit: I got an idea, if one of you guys can send me your own congiguration file I can load it with my retroarch and maybe I can solve my problem

Tackskull · 16 Oct 2018, 12:56

I found the error guys, basically I was having it before but never care about it. After again reinstalling everything audio was good, but at a point I had retropie freeze on a black screen. After forcing it to close and restarting it audio is crappy again. But what I haven't noticed is that each time I quit retropie I get this error on terminal (I was having it before too, but I wasn't care about it). Here is a picture of it loaded on dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/crbydpejnp4k1ya/20181016_144912.jpg?dl=0

Do you know guys what to do?

mitu · 16 Oct 2018, 17:38

@tackskull said in Audio scratching and slow on all emulators..... again:

Do you know guys what to do?

I highly doubt that's the cause of the audio glitches. The error you're showing practically gives you the answer how to fix it - the file in question (gamelist.xml from the arcade folder) is incorrect. Use an online XML validator (like https://www.xmlvalidation.com) to show you which XML tag is mis-matched. Have you manually edited the file in question ?