Tales of Xillia [BLES01815] - Sound Crackling
Started by Seyrren




6 posts in this topic
Seyrren
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6 posts 1 threads Joined: Jan 2021
01-01-2021, 11:00 AM -
#1
Hi i started tweaking Tales of Xillia from the basic wiki instructions and after my issues continued i went and used various suggestions i found searching the net and forums and could not completely get rid of crackling... my current settings have managed to mitigate it the most but its not gone, sometimes happening in dialogue, present at the end of fights, randomly as i ran through an area, and present in the sphere grid/skill section of the game. My specs are:

CPU: i7 6700
RAM: 16 GB 2400Mhz
GPU: RTX2060
Audio: Razer Nari Essentials (no Synapse 3 installed)
OS: Windows 7

I'm using the latest build: RPCS3 0.0.14-11506-2b8eb8de Alpha. Tried both Vulkan and OpenGL renders and i have "PPU Threads: 1" in the custom config file for the game. i attached the log and here are my current settings: https://imgur.com/a/jTY5t3D
This post was last modified: 01-02-2021, 07:52 AM by Seyrren.


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Ani
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4,278 posts 105 threads Joined: Aug 2017
01-01-2021, 01:24 PM -
#2
Use SPU LLVM, Vulkan, Reset driver wake-up delay to default, Enable TSX if it doesn't cause freezing
In general, don't change settings you don't know what they do unless the wiki specifies that
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     Laptop: Ryzen 9 5900HX,  Radeon RX 6700M,   2x8G DDR4 3200MHz, Manjaro Linux
Old Desktop: AMD FX-8350,     Radeon R9 280X,    2x4G DDR3 1600MHz, Manjaro Linux
Seyrren
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6 posts 1 threads Joined: Jan 2021
01-01-2021, 04:46 PM -
#3
(01-01-2021, 01:24 PM)Ani Wrote: Use SPU LLVM, Vulkan, Reset driver wake-up delay to default, Enable TSX if it doesn't cause freezing
In general, don't change settings you don't know what they do unless the wiki specifies that

Thank you for your time, but as i said, i started with those settings+the wiki directives for this game (setting frames to 60, v blank 30 and PPU threads to 1), i only ended up with the settings in those screenshots while trying to get rid of the crackling sound myself, it was only after i exhausted most of my ideas that i decided to post on the forums, generally speaking i don't like to bother people unless i can't solve a problem myself.  Anyway back to the issue at hand after hooking up my speakers (this was coincidental i needed them for something else) at some point i started the emulator to mess with things some more and that's when i made a discovery: for some reason RPCS3 doesn't like my wireless headphones (The Razer Nari Essentials)... I tested this headphones with a bunch of things, PCSX2, Dolphin, various PC games and media players, this is the first time this happen. Upon this realization and out of things to do on a whim i decided to switch from 16bit 44100Hz to 16bit 48000Hz and from XAudio to OpenAL, to my surprise this is the best it ever got, right now i'm running the default settings (those listed by you)+the wiki directives for this game (setting frames to 60, v blank 30 and PPU threads to 1) but with OpenAL for audio and so far i had no more audio crackling in dialogue, it now seem to rarely happen when exploring an area and also the frequency of it concurring after a fight has decreased.

I'd really wish though i'd understood why or what RPCS3 doesn't like about my headphones, especially since PCSX2 also uses XAudio.... and its fine there.

Well this is more about feedback then support at this time but i will like to mention the following things:

1. I'm starting to think that this thread might be better called "Tales of Xillia [BLES01815] Razer Nari Essentials - Sound crackling/popping"  and making a note that for the Razer Nari Essentials at least (though i wouldn't be surprised if this was applicable to the whole Razer Nari Wireless headphones line, maybe even other Razer Wireless headsets) you need to use OpenAL rather then XAudio. While not completely fixing the issue, it is mostly gone, in a ~6 hours session of Tales of Xillia i only had one or max two small crackles while exploring some fields, and other then that it was only present at the end of fights (right when it switches from the fighting phase back to the world map/dungeon area).

2. I plan on testing more games once i'm done with Tales of Xillia to see if this is  a widespread issue or just applicable to Xillia.

3. I can't say if this is only applicable for me or all windows 7 running intel cpu's installs, since my windows 7 install is a bit special (its a personal modified and optimized build), but RPCS3 seems a tad smoother with "Enable thread scheduler" set to off. I'll get back to this as i test more games.
This post was last modified: 01-02-2021, 08:35 AM by Seyrren.
Ani
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01-02-2021, 10:38 AM -
#4
Thread scheduler setting only ever does anything on AMD Ryzen CPUs, on Intel it does nothing

Very weird that you'd get audio bugs only on a specific wireless device
Quick search for those headphones shows potential driver issues
https://www.reddit.com/r/razer/comments/...dio_issue/
    Desktop: Ryzen 7 5800X,   Radeon RX 6800 XT, 2x8G DDR4 3600MHz, Manjaro Linux
     Laptop: Ryzen 9 5900HX,  Radeon RX 6700M,   2x8G DDR4 3200MHz, Manjaro Linux
Old Desktop: AMD FX-8350,     Radeon R9 280X,    2x4G DDR3 1600MHz, Manjaro Linux
Seyrren
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6 posts 1 threads Joined: Jan 2021
01-02-2021, 11:34 AM -
#5
(01-02-2021, 10:38 AM)Ani Wrote: Thread scheduler setting only ever does anything on AMD Ryzen CPUs, on Intel it does nothing

In that case it must be either placebo, or i got confused due to trying out to many variations before :p.

(01-02-2021, 10:38 AM)Ani Wrote: Very weird that you'd get audio bugs only on a specific wireless device
Quick search for those headphones shows potential driver issues
https://www.reddit.com/r/razer/comments/...dio_issue/

Oh, that is not the case here, i don't have Synapse 3 installed (the software that includes THX Audio), at least with the Nari Essential it turned out to be just useless bloatware (well its bloatware with anything you might use it with, but for more complex razer products you can only change settings through it, which is why i will definitely stay clear of any of their products that require that abomination). There is actually one more piece of software i had to go through the trouble of configuring with them, foobar, though it wasn't so much about crackle there, it felt more like noise, i had to make some EQ adjustments and set preferences=>Playback =>Replay Gain=>"apply gain and prevent clipping according to peak". But other then Foobar and RPCS3 everything else works fine, PCSX2, Dolphin, whatever media player i tried (SMPlayer, PotPlayer, MPC-HC, WMP etc) and including PC games.
Seyrren
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6 posts 1 threads Joined: Jan 2021
01-13-2021, 03:23 PM -
#6
Here is a small update on the situation, it had nothing to do with the Razer Nari Essentials, as i got back my previous headphones (the HyperX Cloud Core) and plugged them in using my onboard audio the crackling was still there, i think that either it was luck or the volume wasn't loud enough at the time i used my speakers, that's why there was no crackle, i mean i did had some 2 hour+ sessions at times with the Razer Nari Essential headphones without crackle as well, though those where rare.  At this point in time i think its either:

A. An issue that comes and goes as the emulator gets updated, i lean towards this because i noticed TSX was either stable or unstable depending on each update RPCS3 had during me finishing the two games, with some builds TSX being enabled was fine and the crackle was less severe, with other builds TSX was down right an unstable experience and i had to  keep it disabled not to have the emulator crash on me, the latest RPCS3 update that was yesterday down right made the emulator crash regardless of the TSX option when the Anime Opening for either games would play. Good thing i already finished both games Sunday...
B.  As i ran out of ideas the only other thing that i can think of is it has to do with me using windows 7....
This post was last modified: 01-13-2021, 03:27 PM by Seyrren.
Seyrren
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6 posts 1 threads Joined: Jan 2021
01-15-2021, 08:09 PM -
#7
After further testing with older builds, i can safely say that my issues where probably side effects of the continuous work being put into the emulator, and if i'm not wrong there where some major changes not that long ago (as in a month or two ?). This probably why i got the more noticeable crackling, it just what happens with progress, i'm sure that when programmers get used to the changes and iron things out the game will play better then ever before, i only wrote this since there's no reason to bother anyone with this any longer, and truly thank you all for your efforts, while not exactly perfect thanks to your hard work i managed to play Xillia 1 & 2 and finish them an absolutely wonderful experience.


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