[hamster]

I need help. This is driving me crazy. I've gotten FF9 to run very smoothly on my p3-500, 512mb, Voodoo3, Sblive, Win2k system. The only trouble is that I get absolutely no sound or music when I'm watching the movies.

I'm using Null2's driver.
In the ePSXe sound configuration, I only have ADPCM sound enabled. I tried enableing XA sound, but that didn't change anything. When I tried enabling CDDA sound, the get a black screen when trying to run the emulator.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Ham

 

[gerbilcannon]

Well there's your problem right there. Null2's plug-in ("driver"). Make sure you have force 48khz vag checked, and use these exact settings: buffer length of 40 and 5 blocks. Check/uncheck everything else as per taste. Latest version of Iori's spu is also highly recommended.

 

[Arpanet]

gerbilcannon, I can't for the life of me find Iori's SPU 1.471 anywhere, can you send/link it for me? [email protected] if you're gonna send it.

Thanks a ton

 

[gerbilcannon]

http://www.aldostools.com/

Good place to check for plug-in updates, I'll let you get it from there but if you're still having problems I can e-mail it as well.

 

[hamster]

thanks

thanks for the tips. i tried those settings, but they didn't do much. although the sound does sound much better now...

anyway, what does the "enable spu irq" setting do? does FFIX need that setting? generally i'm afraid of mucking around with deeper setting such as these. is it harmful?


also, i have another question. running FFIX off the CDROM seems to slow down the game at certain places (ie, start of battles). I'm trying to use the "Run ISO" option in ePSXe. I've made an image with Easy CD Creator 5, but the emulator hangs everytime i try to run the ISO. Has anyone have any luck using ISOs? What is the best program to use to make ISO images?

 

[gerbilcannon]

Well your problem here is probably that ezcd sucks. Try cdrwin or isobuster though I personally haven't tried isobuster I've just seen it recommended a lot on here. All my isos work fine from cdrwin. Just make sure you tell it to ignore errors and write the raw data. Are you sure your slow down at the start of battles isn't from the swirl effect? As for the enable spu irq option you don't need that if you're using null2's latest or iori's if you have iori's irq option checked in the config. Did you try iori's? You didn't say. Glad your sound sounds much better now at least though!

 

[Arpanet]

The slowdown at the start of battles is caused by the swirly-screen effect, which can be turned off (how you do it depends on your GPU plug-in). I'd definitely recommend using ISOs, as trying to run games off the CD is just asking for trouble in my experience. CDRWin works great for all my ISO-making needs, and you can get a demo of it at download.com. Hamster: this is a really stupid question, but have you tried switching plug-ins? There's probably a way to get Null2's working with MDECs, but it might be so arcane that it's worth it just to switch to Iori's (which I prefer anyway).

Also, a few sound-related questions...

1) What is XA?

2) What does the SPU IRQ option do?

Thanks in advance

 

[hamster]

need some more help

Asfaloth,
I've fixed my sound problems. It was that SPU IRQ setting after all. Graphics and sound work great now (cept for the swirly screen effect at the start of battles).

Anyway, I've got CDRwin, but for the life of me I couldnt figure out how to make an ISO image with this peice of software. Extract disc only allows me to do cue sheet/bin images. Are they the same thing? Please help.

 

[hamster]

heh, seems like i answered my own question again. using the "run iso" command on a cdrwin created bin file works just fine. much faster and much smoother.

well i think i've solved all my emulation problems. thanks everyone..

 

[Adair]

Re: thanks

Originally posted by hamster
generally i'm afraid of mucking around with deeper setting such as these. is it harmful?

There are not any setting that can be harmful. Pretty much any settings that you use can be changed later if it kills the compatibility. After all trial & error is how people figure out the games that no one knows how to play. Of coarse hopefully they have a general understanding of what changes will help or hurt compatibilty. Reading the Readme and FAQ documents on ePSXe and the various plugins is very helpful for this task.

 

[gerbilcannon]

Or generally being completely insane and diabolically trying to kill your system off like me with the add bonus of figuring out how some of these things works does it too!!

 

[Adair]

Well...uh yeah that could work too. The choice is your man. I like my appraoch better.