This page covers configuration of Jabo's DirectSound v1.6.2.

1. "Volume"
2. "Audio Logging"
3. "Sync game to Audio"

Points

1. The audio plugin does not include an audio emulator! It must be used in conjunction with the RSP plugin. The RSP plugin must be configured with "send Audio Lists to Audio Plugin" disabled or the audio plugin will recieve no audio data and hence you will hear no sound!
2. The audio plugin uses a fixed audio buffer, size chosen carefully by the author.

"Volume"

• default setting: 100%
• generally recommended setting: user preference!

This control was added in v1.5 mainly as a way to balance Project64 against other applications. It's function should be fairly obvious. You can use the Up and Down arrows and Page Up and Page Down keys and Mousewheel as shortcuts. Setting all the way down is equivalent to muting the emulator.

This setting is global (applies to all ROMs), takes effect instantly, and is saved in the registry.

"Audio Logging"

This control has two buttons, Start and Stop.

If you want to save all the audio produced by the emulator to your hard drive, press Start. You will be prompted for a path and filename. You can close the dialog. When you want to stop logging, go back to the dialog and press Stop. Don't forget to stop recording, or you may get a corrupt .wav file!

Notes:

• You can record for as long as you have hard drive space available.
• You cannot record particular parts of the audio (background music, sound effects etc.)
• Note that the file written is a simple waveform (datarate similar to a CD), so it uses a large amount of hard drive space.
• You could edit the resulting file in any standard waveform editor, compress it to MP3 format, etc., as you wish.

"Sync game to Audio"

• default setting: disabled
• generally recommended setting: disabled

If disabled, the audio plugin will output the audio stream as it is supplied. There will be some degree of "popping" or clicking" as the core speed fluctuates slightly, but the core (and hence gameplay) is not interrupted. The benefits of this - smoother gameplay - probably outweigh the drawbacks for you.

If enabled, the audio plugin will stall (momentarily stop) the emulator when audio data is being supplied faster than it can output cleanly. This will prevent some artifacts, but will have a slight to severe effect on the peformance of the whole system. There are three degrees of severity to the side effects that enabling Sync can produce, which applies depends entirely on the game:

1. slight (I would think noticeable to most people) loss of smoothness of the whole system* (e.g. Mario64, Zelda, most games)
2. lowering in VI/s (reduction in speed of whole system*) from the normal value (e.g. 60FPS) to a new value (e.g. 45FPS) (e.g. Ridge Racer, Mario Party 2)
3. complete stall of the whole system* (e.g. Turok2)

*"whole system" means the whole emulator, not your PC!

Notes:

• If you enable "Sync game to Audio" you will not be able to use the speed limiter disable (System menu, shortcut F4) as a "fast forward".
• "Sync game to Audio" is very useful in one particular situation: if you want a clean logged audio file (see below).
• In v1.5 the "Sync game to Audio" setting is saved per-ROM in the registry.

Troubleshooting sound problems

The first thing to understand is what to expect. Games marked Compatible should sound generally good with only minimal and barely noticeable (to most people) cracking/popping/clicking. Major stuttering or distorted sound, or missing parts of sound, is not normal. Perfection is not realistic to expect - occasional stuttering at a few points in a game is normal (although not necessarily un-preventable), often as the core slows down. Also a mild general stutter may be noticeable in some background music etc... this sort of problem is usually fixed by sync (but read the warnings carefully!)

Before you ask for help, please take yourself through the following questions:

1. Are you running the game at the correct speed*? If the answer to this question is no, and you are below the correct speed, you have a performance problem, not an audio problem. If the answer to this question is no, and you are above the correct speed, you have almost certainly turned off the speed limiter (system menu, shortcut: F4) and must turn it back on in order to get good audio.
2. Are there known game specific audio issues? Check the ROM browser and read the notes provided.
3. Are you using the audio plugin or the RSP for audio emulation? Read RSP configuration if you don't understand the distinction. We recommend RSP low-level emulation.
4. Are you using Sync game to audio? This option may be exactly what you need or it may be a disaster, please read the information there carefully.
5. Has another application taken control of your sound card? Some cards can only play one stream at once, or another app may be interfering.

*NTSC games should be running at 60VI/s, PAL games at 50VI/s. If they are not running at exactly this speed or within a few VI/s of it (e.g. 57-61 is a reasonable range for an NTSC game) then there is no way you can get good audio (this is just a basic truth, not a flaw in the emulator).