For Users having sound problems with ZSNES and Hardy

[dfreer]

Hi everyone,

So after a long period of little/no activity, I started looking into the ZSNES Hardy scene. There's been many, many reports in the forums about users not being able to get sound working at all (or scratchy sound), and several solutions have been posted but it seems people still are confused.

So I did some tests of my own, using a default install of Ubuntu x86 Hardy (actually it's the live CD, same thing). I used Chrono Trigger and Tales of Phantasia to test the "scratchiness" of the sound. Let's start with the "official" package provided in the Universe Repository:

sudo apt-get install zsnes

Default Install Settings (-ad auto/alsa, 32,000 Hz): Absolutely no sound.
OSS (-ad oss, 32,000 Hz): Absolutely no sound.
SDL (-ad sdl, 32,000 Hz): Constant Buzzing in the background, but sound.
SDL (-ad sdl, 48,000 Hz): Great sound.
SDL with libsdl1.2debian-oss (-ad sdl, 32,000 Hz): Decent sound, very faint slowdowns/hiccups.
SDL with libsdl1.2debian-oss (-ad sdl, 48,000 Hz): Decent sound, but stutters a lot.
SDL with libsdl1.2debian-all (-ad sdl, 32,000 Hz): Constant buzzing, but sound.
SDL with libsdl1.2debian-all (-ad sdl, 48,000 Hz): Great sound.

Please note: You can change the sound driver two ways, either by passing the argument "-ad <sound driver>" once, or by changing the configuration file located at ~/.zsnes/zsnesl.cfg.

If you pass the argument to the program, say like this:

zsnes -ad sdl

SDL gets written to the ~/.zsnes/zsnesl.cfg. So there's no reason to pass "-ad <sound driver>" EVERY time you run zsnes, just the once to change it!

The default is "-ad auto", which automatically determines which one to use. On my system it always picks "alsa".




Ok, now for further tests. This is using Nach's patched version of ZSNES 1.51 that fixes zsnes's broken sound in Hardy. You can download the source code and pre-compiled binaries for this version 1.51b here:
http://board.zsnes.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=168959

I'm going to use the core2 binary, as I have an Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

Default Install Settings (-ad auto/alsa, 32,000 Hz): Great Sound.
Default Install Settings (-ad auto/alsa, 48,000 Hz): Great Sound.
OSS (-ad oss, 32,000 Hz): Great Sound.
OSS (-ad oss, 48,000 Hz): Great Sound.
SDL (-ad sdl, 32,000 Hz): Constant Buzzing in the background, but sound.
SDL (-ad sdl, 48,000 Hz): Great Sound.
SDL with libsdl1.2debian-oss (-ad sdl, 32,000 Hz): Decent sound, very faint slowdowns/hiccups.
SDL with libsdl1.2debian-oss (-ad sdl, 48,000 Hz): Decent sound, but stutters a lot.
SDL with libsdl1.2debian-all (-ad sdl, 32,000 Hz): Constant buzzing, but sound.
SDL with libsdl1.2debian-all (-ad sdl, 48,000 Hz): Great sound.

Hopefully this helps people with their sound problems, whichever route they choose (use 1.51 or 1.51b). And hopefully it stops some of the confusion people have running commands wildly without really knowing what they are doing.


*Note: All of these test were performed with zsnes in a 512x448 window (whatever the default window size is), running on my Intel Core 2 Duo @2.00 Ghz processor with my Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (snd_hda_intel). Video Card is Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 (restricted drivers NOT installed).
You may experience additional sound stutters/errors simply if you are not running the game at full FPS, or have problems with your sound card not related to ZSNES.