Crackling audio with Swan Station core when I turn on video sharders

RetroArch General
#1

Hey folks. Recently, I’ve been messing with CRT Shaders on Retroarch. They work perfectly fine on SNES games, but when I load them on SwanStation, the audio starts to crackle occasionally. I’ve tried the following things to solve the problem so far:

  • Turning VSync off: did solve the problem, but it also causes screen tearing.
  • Adjusting the Vertical Refresh Rate: apparently solves the problem. It seems it temporarily fixes it if I change it to the Estimated Screen Refresh Rate during game (when I open a game, it goes from 143,85Hz, the refresh rate that my monitor is set up to use, to ~60Hz), but when I close the game and open it again the audio crackles start again.
  • Changing Audio Latency or audio or video drivers: no differences.

I’m currently running Pop!_OS 22.04 on my computer (Ubuntu-based Linux distro). My CPU is a Core i3 12100F, my GPU is a GeForce GTX 1070, and I have 16GB of RAM. My monitor is an Asus TUF Gaming VG247Q1A, which supports FreeSync and can output up to 165Hz.

#2

Shaders are programs that run once for each pixel, so if you increase the internal res, it also increases the performance impact of the shader. For example, a 2x scale in a core increases the number of pixels (and therefore the cost of the shader) by 4x, since it’s 2x on the horizontal axis and 2x on the vertical axis.

#3

Forgot to say that I didn’t upscale the core resolution (unless changing the settings in Settings > Video > Scaling to use Integer scaling also makes the shader heavier).

#4

Integer scaling won’t make it heavier, but PS1 games frequently use a higher resolution mode (especially in menus and in the BIOS animation) that can have the same effect.

#5

The audio stutters in even outside menus or boot screen, so I doubt the higher resolutions are causing this. Changing the Vertical Refresh Rate helped me, thought the problem started again when I restarted the game. Maybe it has something to do with the Refresh Rate?

#6

It shouldn’t act any differently than an SNES core when it comes to refresh rate.

If you hit spacebar, how much faster than 60 fps does it go? (note: you’ll need to go to settings > frame throttle and set ‘Fast-Forward Frameskip’ to OFF first or this won’t really tell us much/anything)

#7

What shader are you using?

Try glcore drivers then:

Settings -> Video -> Syncrhonization

and use this settings

Capture
Capture1026×618 79 KB

#8

119 FPS with Fast-Forward.

#9

CRT-Hyllian.

I’ll try glcore again with this settings, thanks.

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#11

Changing the driver + settings worked! TYSM!

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#12

I’m glad it all worked out! :partying_face:

#13

UPDATE: already solved the problem by doing the following steps:

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