BSNES audio latency: can't lower it without cracking/dropout

Libretro Cores
#1

Hi there,

This is on GNU/Linux using Vulkan and Alsa or Alsathread audio (NO Pulseaudio/Pipewire, so it’s direct ALSA access). In all other cores I use (Nestopia, GenesisPluxGX, Snes9x(Current), FBNeo…) I can set latency as low as 16ms without problems, however BSNES-libretro (https://github.com/libretro/bsnes-libretro) shows cracking or dropouts (depending on ALSA or ALSATHREAD usage) when I go down from 64ms.

My guess is that this core has problems with small audio buffers for some reasons: I recall @RealNC or @hunterk took a look at some cores to improve their ability to run with small audio buffers: wasn’t the great BSNES one of them?

#2

Also, Runahead seems to be broken on this core? (Black screen)

#3

This core uses its own run-ahead, enabled in the core options.

As for the audio, I think I took a look at the core to see how it outputs audio to the frontend, IIRC, it already does it the correct way, unlike some other cores that needed the improvement.

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#4

It’s possible that BSNES might just be more performance intensive than the other cores you’re comparing it to.