Sound Issues in MAME Games Through BigBox

[JonathanEngr]

Hi, all.  I just purchased and installed BigBox on my MAME cabinet.  During the transition to the new frontend I installed the new 0.251 roms and MAME.  I loaded up my favorite game (Galaga 88) and immediately noticed issues with the sound.  While playing the sound "stutters" or skips every few seconds.  This happened every single time I played the game (20-30 times) yesterday.  I thought it may be due to the new roms and/or MAME, so I ran MAME directly and played Galaga 88.  It ran perfectly with no sound issues.  Does anyone have any idea what may be causing the issue?

[JoeViking245]

In LaunchBox, edit your MAME emulator and look at the default command line parameters and try removing one (or more) of the parameters.

[JonathanEngr]

Will do.  I'm new to BB and LB, so let me see if I can find where to do that.  Also--something that came to mind.  My MAME cab is run by an AMD FX-6100 processor on an ASRock 990FX Extreme 3 MB with integrated sound.  I *think* the system has 4 GB of memory (have to double-check) and I just upgraded to Windows 10.  I'm not sure how memory intensive BB is, but could it be that running it through BB is taking too many system resources for my setup?  

[JonathanEngr]

Found the parameters and everything looks innocuous.  I can copy and paste the contents later today, if needed.  I haven't changed them, so i assume it's the standard parameters.

[JoeViking245]

16 hours ago, JonathanEngr said:

I'm not sure how memory intensive BB is, but could it be that running it through BB is taking too many system resources for my setup?

I personally have never really looked into it.  But you are looking at an over 12-year-old AMD CPU that is pre-Ryzen which "are not recommended at all".  Whether that's it or not, I have no idea.  But my 15-year-old i7-920 CPU (with 6-GB RAM) seemed to run Galaga '88 via BigBox without any audio stuttering.  So again, no idea.

Do you notice the same issue when launching it from LaunchBox?

As for the command line parameters, if you had LB set MAME up for you, we're probably using the same ones.

-artwork_crop -skip_gameinfo -nofilter -keyboardprovider dinput -rompath %romlocation%

 

[DerSchlachter]

How old is your HDD?  Bigbox accesses the hard disk a lot, also had an ancient disk in it and some stuttering at MAME Games. Everything is great with the new hard drive.

[JonathanEngr]

Yup--I built this PC to run an arcade cabinet and emulators, which have very low system requirements.  I was concerned when I moved to Hyperspin, but it ran it incredibly well.  I actually put a door on the back of the huge cabinet and when when you open it you have access to the MB, which is mounted on the door itself.  It may be time for a new MB and cpu. 

As far as my HDD's, they're relatively new.  The OS resides on a SSD, and the emulator files are on a 2 TB drive.  It's not a SSD, but at least it's a 7200 rpm drive and not 5400 rpm.  (All drives are SATA--no drives connected via USB, etc.). I could buy a 2 TB SSD since they're very common and reasonable now, but I think this issue would more likely lie with the cpu/ram.  Once the ROM is loaded I can't imagine drive access being a bottleneck.

I can't recall if I've tried running it from LB.  I did run a game or two in LB before jumping to BB, but I don't think Galaga was one of them.  I'll give it a shot this evening.

[JoeViking245]

35 minutes ago, JonathanEngr said:

I could buy a 2 TB SSD since they're very common and reasonable now, but I think this issue would more likely lie with the cpu/ram.

Exactly.  I wouldn't waste money on an SSD for MAME.

[JonathanEngr]

Just tested Galaga 88 out in LB--same sound issues.  Identical, actually.  I'm currently installing LB on my main PC with much better specs to test it out.  I'm sure it's likely the dated processor.  Since it sounds perfectly fine when running directly through MAME so it's not the rom or the MAME version.  I'll post back my results.

EDIT:  Just ran it on my main PC and it runs/sounds perfect.  I had Windows 7 installed with Hyperspin on MAME PC, and I upgraded to Windows 10 prior to installing LB and BB.  The AMD FX-6100 is fully supported in Windows 10, but I'm sure LB and BB add quite a strain to the system.  I likely have additional memory modules for my MAME PC lying around, so I may try adding some RAM to see if that helps.  I do have a dedicated video card, thank goodness, even though it's old, as well.  It's a GeForce GTX550Ti.

If the memory doesn't do the trick I'll likely just buy a new processor/MB.  I don't want to steal parts from any of my gaming PCs.  Any recommendations?  Do LB and BB have any CPU brand preferences?  I really love the Threadripper CPUs, and have used them in my last few gaming PCs.  I know that's overkill for this, however.  Will a 3 or 5 series CPU from AMD or Intel be adequate?  Those can be found along with a decent mobo for $200'ish, and I have plenty of DDR4/DDR5 memory modules I can use.  I think DDR5 is only required for 7 series processors and above...?

Edited Tuesday at 02:15 PM by JonathanEngr