Tips on how to not desync while recording inp?

[1up]

Ive been having a problem lately with about all my recordings losing sync? I can't seem to figure out what causes this, so is there any optimal settings for not losing sync? The games where Ive experienced this lately are in Contra, Metal Slug 3, Metal Slug x, Street Fighter 2 CE just to name a few.

using MAMEUI64 0.137 with matching romset. Im running it on vista home premium 64bit. intel core 2 duo 2.19ghz, 4gb ddr3 ram and a nvidia 9400m gfx card.

all settings in MAME are default except 'wait for vsync', 'multi threading' and 'triple buffering'

[mahlemiut]

None of those options should be causing any sync issues. Only possible one could be multithreading, but since that only puts the final video blit onto a separate thread there's no parts of the emulation that cross the threads.

Most likely candidate would be NVRAM. Not all games have NVRAM, but those that do, won't play back correctly if an NVRAM file is present. For this reason, any MARP recording must be done with no NVRAM file present. Delete the relevant .nv file (in the NVRAM folder, by default) before recording, and before playback. An easier way, is to go to the Directories... dialog, and set the folder for NVRAM to NUL, although I am unsure if MAME still likes this or not.

Another possibility are .dif files, found in the DIFF folder, which are created by some drivers that use CHDs. These too, will need to be deleted or moved before recording or playback.

Which games are you having issues with sync? Knowing this may help figure out the problem, there are certainly a few problematic drivers.

Also note that for MARP, you'll need to use WolfMAME, at least if you make any first place scores. If you need a frontend, you may use M+GUI, available at http://mameicons.free.fr/mame32p/ (look under "Experimental Projects")

[Weehawk]

Ive been having a problem lately with about all my recordings losing sync? I can't seem to figure out what causes this, so is there any optimal settings for not losing sync?

Make sure you're using a fixed frameskip.

[1up]

multithreading and frameskip, check.

so anything but autoframeskip?

[mahlemiut]

Automatic frameskipping is much less of an issue now than it was, but it's certainly something worth looking at.

[LN2]

there still are a lot of games even with a fast system will use some frameskip...so yes make sure that is set to fixed.

frameskip 0 if you want to force all frames(no frameskip)

also, no way would I have vsync on....the game should run independently of your vsync.

[Kale]

Most likely candidate would be NVRAM. Not all games have NVRAM, but those that do, won't play back correctly if an NVRAM file is present. For this reason, any MARP recording must be done with no NVRAM file present. Delete the relevant .nv file (in the NVRAM folder, by default) before recording, and before playback. An easier way, is to go to the Directories... dialog, and set the folder for NVRAM to NUL, although I am unsure if MAME still likes this or not.

Or use the good old trick of an empty file named "nvram" in the MAME folder (i.e. a dummy file without the three letter extension). It surely works as per now.

[1up]

frameskip was set to 'draw every frame' so I let that be. removed multithreading and vsync. Seemed to fix my problem. If it happens again I will mess with the nvram. but removing nvram, doens't that screw with high score support?

[mahlemiut]

If the game in question saves scores to NVRAM, yes, but most games will store only game settings. Personally, I use scripts (which are included with the WolfMAME binaries), which rename any .cfg, .nv and .dif file while recording or playing back. For playback to work, you need to run the game from the exact same point as when it was recorded, so having different settings or scores stored in NVRAM will ruin that. Downloading and playing existing scores from MARP will help let you know if you're doing it right.

You still haven't mentioned what game it is you've been having trouble with.

[1up]

If the game in question saves scores to NVRAM, yes, but most games will store only game settings. Personally, I use scripts (which are included with the WolfMAME binaries), which rename any .cfg, .nv and .dif file while recording or playing back. For playback to work, you need to run the game from the exact same point as when it was recorded, so having different settings or scores stored in NVRAM will ruin that. Downloading and playing existing scores from MARP will help let you know if you're doing it right.

You still haven't mentioned what game it is you've been having trouble with.

mentioned a few in the first post.
Metal Slug 3
Metal Slug X
Contra
Street Fighter 2 CE

those are recent occurences. I think I will use MAMEUI for regular play with high score saves and WolfMAME for playback and recording

[mahlemiut]

Metal Slug 3 and X certainly do have NVRAM, as all Neo Geo games do, but I don't think Contra does, and I'm sure sf2ce doesn't have any NVRAM. But they are all stable drivers, and frameskip shouldn't affect them either.

[1up]

got wolfmame141 + mamegui+ installed

still cant figure out how to set the nvram folder to null`? If I write null it just creates a folder called 'null'.

[mahlemiut]

The folder name to use is NUL, which is effectively the MS-DOS/Windows equivalent of a black hole. It works the same as the Unix file /dev/null.

[1up]

The folder name to use is NUL, which is effectively the MS-DOS/Windows equivalent of a black hole. It works the same as the Unix file /dev/null.

success, it doesnt save nvram no more. awesome. thanks for the help