P64 and game speed

[Fizanko]

Just in case it may help some people noticing a game speed slower than it should be.

Since several months i have been unable to have a game running at more than 52fps, it wasn't a problem of my system as if i was pressing F4 to disable the frame limiter it then skyrocketed to the unplayable 200+

But for some reason instead of having it at 60fps (NTSC game/rom) , the frame limiter was limiting it to 52fps no matter what (as if it was a PAL game/rom despite my checks showed that i was using the correct NTSC ones).

And anyone that had the unfortunate bad luck of being stuck in a country that only was only selling PAL nintendo 64 and cartridges, you know how it means that every games were rendered slower than they actually were, and for AKI wrestling game it was sadly noticably slower.

Usually when your framerate isn't correct in P64 when frame limiter is enabled , it's often the Configure Audio Plugin that has "Sync game to audio" and depending on the game, it may lead to odd FPS results.
But again, it wasn't checked so i was puzzled at what was the actual problem, until i noticed.
At the main P64 menu, where you have your rom list, right click on one of your rom -> Edit game setting
And notice there's a line "Sync using audio"

If you are affected by the "the game play at 52 instead of 60 fps", that's the problem, because for me this line was enabled (despite the graphic audio plugin had it disabled) in Project 64 2.1

Disable it , press Apply and enjoy your rom back at its correct 60fps even if the games music may be slightly faster.
You may need to do that for every of your roms.

 

[dafamily]

Nice now VPW2 is running at 60 fps instead of 52 lol, thanks man!!

 

[Fizanko]

Good, so it was doing the 52fps thing for you too ?

I guess that must then have been a default setting in P64 2.1 because i really don't remember turning that on myself, i never needed to touch anything sound related in that emulator.

 

[dafamily]

Yeah it was doing the same thing man!! I was using the same settings for Showdown 64 with VPW2 but that didn't work as it made the game go way too fast lol!!

 

[marillmau5]

thanks, also if you press plus on the keyboard the frames will go a little faster to 70fps which doesnt look to bad simming

 

[Fizanko]

Thank you on this one, i wasn't aware of this possibility to increase the framerate with the + key
Lots of fun to have, and even more challenging when the AI become more relentless still playable at 70fps without going to the unplayable level of framerate limiter turned off

edit : just tested 70fps in a Rock vs Austin in No Mercy and wow, it's just great.
Wish there should have been an option in the game itself, similarly to how 2D fighting games are usually, with a slow (the PAL speed) , the normal (the NTSC speed) and the "turbo" (the 70fps speed) , would have been lots of fun.
Though i'm not sure the n64 had the hardware strong enough to run the kind of speed you have with 70fps, the real No Mercy had very bad slowdown already in tag matches, only thanks to PC emulation we can play it full speed thanks to PC being more powerful.

 

[dafamily]

I agreed I just tried it and it worked lol, and with what Fizanko said it made the AI even more ridiculous lol, thanks Marillmau5 these little tips and tricks should be a sticky lol!!

---

I noticed with the Sync to Audio option disabled it makes the games audio crackling and static especially with VPW2, and with the Sync to Audio option enabled this fixes the problem but the fps drops back to 52 fps!!!

Does anybody know how to fix this??

 

[Fizanko]

I often play without sound (as i like to play a commentary mp3 in the background) but try to right click on the rom name -> edit game setting

Then click on Config : Virtual Pro Wrestling 2

And un-check "Fixed Audio Timing" (that is checked by default) and Apply

See if this change helps.

 

[dafamily]

I often play without sound (as i like to play a commentary mp3 in the background) but try to right click on the rom name -> edit game setting

Then click on Config : Virtual Pro Wrestling 2

And un-check "Fixed Audio Timing" (that is checked by default) and Apply

See if this change helps.

Yeah I'm the same with the commentary track bro, but there isn't my Japanese commentary tracks lol!! Anyways, just tried it and it works bro, thanks

 

[Fizanko]

If you're looking for a japanese commentary file to enhance you P64 simming, here's a mp3 i did that is +/- 27mn long :
http://www.mediafire.com/file/3no5zf2ddsq2d0k/NJPWcom.zip

If someone is interested to know how to create such file, here's a little how to :
you can use converter websites like this one :
http://convert2mp3.net/en/

And find on dailymotion or youtube or any other supported video website a japanese match with a commentary that sounds good enough to your ears to fit your P64 matches and generate the mp3 out of it

By example for the commentary file i build, i found the 2 guys making the commentary of KUSHIDA vs Jushin Thunder Liger from last year for NJPW rather good as they don't mention the wrestlers name too much (and not too obviously when they do) and talk between each other enough to make a good illusion with the crowd being alive in the background too :
<blockquote class='code_blockquote'><dl><dt>Code: </dt><dd> </dd></dl><code>

</code></blockquote>

Then using the excellent open source audio editor Audacity
http://www.audacityteam.org/

or whatever audio editor you prefer, you can cut entrances + speeches and postmatch stuff to keep the commentary, then copy past part of it to get it longer.
It's not hard to do at all once you learn how to use Audacity (that fortunately is easy to learn)

And then you can enjoy playing your commentary mp3 in the background while simming/playing a match, it really enhance the experience.
Works great with any wrestling games that do not have their own commentary.

 

[dafamily]

Nice man, thanks for the commentary as well!!

---

Alright, when I try the uncheck Fixed Audio Timing it works for a bit giving me 60 FPS, but then it drops to about 40-50 FPS or so when the Camera moves around!!

 

[Fizanko]

Maybe try to use a different audio plugin.
What is the video and audio plugin you're using when playing with VPW2 ?

I'm using Jabo DirectSound 1.7.0.7 for the audio and Jabo Direct3D8 1.7.0.57 -ver5 for the video, and i don't encounter the problem of frames dropping that much, everything stay at 60fps for me.

Only thing i could think is that for VPW2 Options, i have BGM set to NONE and BGM Volume set to Low (as i use commentary i don't want the music in-match )

 

[dafamily]

Here is my setting for the emulator:

https://imgur.com/a/kv9DB

I also have BGM volume set to low as well and it still gives me the crackling sound!! Funny thing is that I've tried it on a different computer using Project64 2.3 with the same settings and the rom works fine!!

 

[Fizanko]

Differences i see with my settings that could matter in your problem :

For the video plugin options, at "Advanced" i do not have "Force Alpha Blending" checked

At the config for the game, at "Vi Refresh Rate" i have 2200 while i see you have 1500
I don't have Fixed Audio Timing enabled too while you have.

For the global settings, at Advanced i don't have "Enable Debugger" enabled.

 

[dafamily]

Alright the sound appears to be working but now I'm getting like 48-50 fps now!!

 

[Fizanko]

No more idea, with my settings VPW2 is always at 60fps.

 

[dafamily]

Alright so I just tried this with brother Keson's Project64 1.7:

http://s4.zetaboards.com/Old_Skool_Reunion?topic=10265733/1/#new

And now it works lol:

Here is my settings if you guys are still having an issue:

https://imgur.com/a/hxEX0

Thanks for the help guys!!