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Sam Stuttering?


open6l

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Wasn't sure if I should open a topic or not but this has been bugging me for a while now. I've noticed with the SAM tables (even with the latest posted pinmame) that I get constant stuttering. Doesn't happen in any of the other tables/roms - only the Stern/SAM ones. Tried a few things like decreasing sample rate and uninstalling, reinstalling pinmame to no avail. Not sure what is causing it but it happens on my cab (quad core running GTX460 and Windows 7 64bit with 8gb). Anyone else experience such a thing?

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I Think I know what the issue is. Are you using set affinity program to split CPU cores across different apps?

If so that's what's causing the issue. Make sure pinmame and vp are using all CPU cores.it moly causes issues with Sam tables. It drove me crazy a while back.

Make sure you reboot after assigning affinity to your cores.

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nope - that's not it (unfortunately). Beginning to think it's an AMD optimization issue (seems to run fine on my test machine which is a mac running an intel quad-core) yet my cab running an AMD quad-core is experiencing the issue. Checked affinity and it was set to all cpus.

 

I've also noticed the ball is stuttery. Go figure - my cab running an AMD quad and a GTX460 seems to stutter with S.A.M. yet my mac running iNTEL Quad + ATI 4950 runs smoothly yet is older than my cab.

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I Think I know what the issue is. Are you using set affinity program to split CPU cores across different apps?

If so that's what's causing the issue. Make sure pinmame and vp are using all CPU cores.it moly causes issues with Sam tables. It drove me crazy a while back.

Make sure you reboot after assigning affinity to your cores.

 

bent98, this is not true for me. Even disabling set affinity has no effect. It is the VPinMame.dll which is responsible for duplicated sounds. It can be best observed at LOTR (non Sam table with rom sound). If you use VPinMame from VPForums (the official cabinet version) everything runs fine. If you go to the SAM enabled dll from here, I have the stuttering effects. I tried (almost) everything else, with no effect. Also you tip with set affinity is not working!

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If the problem is confined to whitestar II (so LOTR),  then lack of CPU grunt could be a factor.  according to Destruk whitestar II uses a LOT more resources than SAM emulation. On my AMD phenom II quad at 3.2 ghz,  i currently have LOTR running at 95% (sometimes crackles and stutters), and SAM is running fine, no problems at all.  I am currently using one of the older SAM compiles, so it could be that there is a difference in optimization settings between compiles, resulting in performance differences?    Anyway, if your CPU is too slow, the sound also crackles/repeats/stutters.   If i overclock my CPU, then the sound is  better. Also dont forget that AMD has pretty lousy single core performance, even when compared to older intel systems.

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If anyone else wouldn't mind posting their PC specs? Looks like I might be shopping for an i5/i7 bundle if it in fact is an AMD optimization issue. Trying to keeps the costs down (I see an i5-3570 runs about $300).

 

In the meantime I will check out the other post

 

thanks guys!

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My mac is running an i5 2.66ghz quad with an ATI 4950 while my cab is running an AMD x4 2.4ghz with a GTX460 and while there is no stuttering at all on my mac it is completely unplayable on the cab (with the SAM roms). All other VP tables run fine though. Looks like a switch to intel is the answer here (for me at least).

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I'm sorry but these attitudes and views and one track minds are really ignorant IMO. I'm not making an argument one way or the other but come on.... it is a f`*&$ing CPU not magic. If your programming will not run on one brand or the other it will never succeed. Make the emulation run on all platforms, in all honesty it is just lazy programming. Learn the proper language for the different hardware please. Let me make this analogy. Building a race engine and you want to go as fast as bob, so you copy everything that bob does and guess what you are 2 seconds slower than bob ...wtf you say to bob ... since you don't have the exact setup bob has as your car model and engine are from a different manufacturers bob tells you that it can't be done ... We all know that is BS. So for people with more money than sense it seems that the answer is always go buy what I have cause it works. IMO which doesn't mean shit, the software needs tuned and tweaked to run on all platforms not just the platform it was built on.

End rant

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

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Wow. I agree that it should run on all platforms. But to need different this, that for a "off" brand CPU over the years seems like a pain. You would think amd would fix issue on their end. I run a 12 core Mac Pro and Intel CPUs love it. But I'm just an idiot when it comes to putters...:)

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Sorry randr you are in it neck deep now .. lol ;-)

I was not trying to attack anyone or single anyone out and it was not just this thread or forum for that matter.

I just wanted to say what I needed to say and give another point of view. Something to make people say "you know what, point taken"

Pain or not software companies have had to build multiple versions of their particular software if they wantes to be used by the masses. Been happening for a long time and will be that way as long as there is still a choice to be made. But hey it is just my observations and opinions from a old Commodore 64 programmer and first in line at the idiot window ... uh what's a putter? ... lol

I still love you guys :-)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

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My mac is running an i5 2.66ghz quad with an ATI 4950 while my cab is running an AMD x4 2.4ghz with a GTX460 and while there is no stuttering at all on my mac it is completely unplayable on the cab (with the SAM roms). All other VP tables run fine though. Looks like a switch to intel is the answer here (for me at least).

 

Well, IMO in your case atleast, it is not a problem of AMD vs Intel, but rather a problem of your AMD CPU having only 1/2 of the single core performance when compared to the intel you have. This should not surprise you, because the AMD is older or was at least much, much, much cheaper than the intel.   An AMD Athlon X4 620 @2.6 ghz has the same single core performance as an intel core i7 U640 @ 1.2 Ghz,  this to demonstrate that because of architectural differences, a processor should be judged on actual perfomance, not ghz.

 

You only seeing 40% cpu is not surprising either: VP only uses one core (so that is 25%), and db2s/pinmame/other also do not multithread well. Remember that a 25% load can also mean 1 core maxed out, you cannot tell the difference from the task manager.

 

IMO the 2.4 ghz AMD is too slow for whitestar II and SAM.  

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I have 2 machines running e5800 older processors and windows XP that run everything fine except SAM games.

I have to tweak and struggle to get them to run well, so this is a good test for me.

Pirates was unplayable for me (I had to use the lower res one and still the sound was choppy)

 

I will run some examples and report back on your newest build. Thanks in advance!

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