Release Final Burn Alpha ported to Pandora (FAQ in first post)

[ekianjo]

I upgraded to the latest version of FBA and unfortunately everything is worse for me:

- performance is worse - all games I tried run slower and less smoothly than before...

- sound is broken in many games (either stuttering or no sound playing at all, while it was flawless before)

I guess I will come back to the previous version, until this version is going to be fixed... 

 

[mamemaniac]

I upgraded to the latest version of FBA and unfortunately everything is worse for me:


- performance is worse - all games I tried run slower and less smoothly than before...


- sound is broken in many games (either stuttering or no sound playing at all, while it was flawless before)


I guess I will come back to the previous version, until this version is going to be fixed... 

I agree, imho there is unnecessary frameskip in games which previously run smoothly.

 

[Dave18]

Yes, frameskip is broken as explained earlier, I am still playing around with various bits of code to produce a solution, I can either get perfect audio or smooth framerate but not both.

I will compile a CAANOO version once I've fixed this issue.

 

[Dave18]

Ok, new version in repo with sound and frameskip from d_smagin's Dingoo port, thanks to Yoshi for making me aware of it.

Seems to give a pretty good balance between sound and framerate.

Feedback please.

Dave

 

[yoshi41dragon]

Here my feedback...

I tested a couple of games and compared them to version 1.0.8.3. Last Resort (or Neo Geo games in general) have smooth graphics again, but sound in version 1.0.8.3 is still better IMO. On the other hand, U.N. Squadron looks and sounds quite equal to me in both versions. In 1.0.8.3 the sound becomes choppy sometimes, in 1.0.9.3 it's more like short interruptions. Something like, either perfect sound or no sound (I hope this understandable).

I think it depends on the game(s), but 1.0.8.3 still works better for me. That's just for what I have tested.

 

[Loonie]

Holy shitsticks, that's just about perfect! Nice job, dave18. I think I heard, like, one very brief dropout in 3 count bout, but had I not been really listening for it, I probably wouldn't have even noticed it.

Very happy with this release, spot-on Neo Geo experience.

 

[Dave18]

The pnd.out is reporting some alsa lib buffer underruns which may be the cause of the drop outs. So far I've just integrated the new code and haven't gone throught it yet to see how it works.

 

[yoshi41dragon]

Holy shitsticks, that's just about perfect! Nice job, dave18. I think I heard, like, one very brief dropout in 3 count bout, but had I not been really listening for it, I probably wouldn't have even noticed it.

Very happy with this release, spot-on Neo Geo experience.

This confuses me. Do we test the same version? Or is my Pandora (configuration) different? 3 Count Bout does not sound good on mine, a lot of dropouts (and the log is full of alsa underruns).

 

[Dave18]

I don't know whether there are any changes that can be made to the ~\.asoundrec file which I think contains the alsa buffer settings. Any linux gurus know how to play around with this?

 

[Loonie]

This confuses me. Do we test the same version? Or is my Pandora (configuration) different? 3 Count Bout does not sound good on mine, a lot of dropouts (and the log is full of alsa underruns).

Try with the sample rate set to 44100. If I use 22050, it's drop-out city. At 44.1k, it's almost faultless.

 

[yoshi41dragon]

This confuses me. Do we test the same version? Or is my Pandora (configuration) different? 3 Count Bout does not sound good on mine, a lot of dropouts (and the log is full of alsa underruns).

 Try with the sample rate set to 44100. If I use 22050, it's drop-out city. At 44.1k, it's almost faultless.

That's it! With 11025 and 22050 it's really bad, with 44100 almost perfect (in Last Resort). Thanks.

 

[Ian J]

I was going to try out quite a few games on this but the .dat file link in the 1st post doesn't work:

Which ROMset do I need?
ROMs for FBAnext (PS3) seem to work well. Grab this and read this.

 

[yoshi41dragon]

I was going to try out quite a few games on this but the .dat file link in the 1st post doesn't work:

Which ROMset do I need?

ROMs for FBAnext (PS3) seem to work well. Grab this and read this.

FBA Pandora is based on FBA 0.2.97.24. All you need is this .dat file...

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/6543-final-burn-alpha-ported-to-pandora-faq-in-first-post/page-28#entry136477

Reesy's Caanoo version is based on an older FBA version.

BTW. I just finished testing the complete FBA set for the OpenDingux (Dingoo) version. I made some screenshots on how to use clrmamepro, see here.

 

[Zero3K]

I set the buffer size in .asoundrec to 44100. It fixed the laggy gameplay of Marvel VS Capcom but buffer underruns are still occurring in FBA's .out.

 

[Dave18]

Version 1.0.9.4 in Repo.  I've reduced the buffer size for 22050 and 11025 sample rates to try and reduce sound drop out, hopefully some improvement.

I've also added the use of analogue controls in non-analogue games.

 

[pmprog]

Cool. Cheers

 

[Zero3K]

Version 1.0.9.4 in Repo.  I've reduced the buffer size for 22050 and 11025 sample rates to try and reduce sound drop out, hopefully some improvement.

I've also added the use of analogue controls in non-analogue games.

I'm still getting "buffer underrun" errors in its .out which is shown as lowered framerate in-game (from 60 fps to 50-55 fps every now and then). Maybe you could try using SDL instead of ALSA.

 

[yoshi41dragon]

Version 1.0.9.4 in Repo.  I've reduced the buffer size for 22050 and 11025 sample rates to try and reduce sound drop out, hopefully some improvement.

It's always a bit difficult to compare. My impression was, that 44100 is a bit worse now and 11025/22050 not really better.

So, I played the same game for the same time (Last Resort until the tank in level 1) with different sample rates, with version 1.0.9.3 and 1.0.9.4.

I saved the pnd.out log after each run and counted the number of "underrun occured" lines. Here's the result...

1.0.9.3 11025 700
1.0.9.3 22050 663
1.0.9.3 44100 82

1.0.9.4 11025 654
1.0.9.4 22050 608
1.0.9.4 44100 104These numbers seem to confirm my impression. I would say the previous version 1.0.9.3 runs better with 44100.
The question is also, is it really necessary to have proper sound at 11025/22050 if 44100 sounds almost perfect? I don't know, there might be a reason. Or maybe even try to get it perfect at 44100 and disable 11025/22050 completely?

 

[Loonie]

I've thrown the usual NG games at it, 3 Count Bout, Last Resort, Alpha Mission 2 etc, and for me the 44100 audio still seems pretty solid. I didn't notice any dropouts. The lower rates were still quite choppy. Not a problem for me personally, as I only use FBA for Neo Geo stuff, and the Pandora has more that enough clout for full speed at this sample rate.

Flawless Neo Geo emulation = happy Loonie.

The question is also, is it really necessary to have proper sound at 11025/22050 if 44100 sounds almost perfect? I don't know, there might be a reason. Or maybe even try to get it perfect at 44100 and disable 11025/22050 completely?

Maybe not for just the Neo Geo stuff, but it may be that some of the more powerful arcade games FBA can run need the extra CPU bandwidth afforded by the lower sample rate.

 

[Dave18]

I didn't change anything relating to 44100 sample rate between the two versions.