VisualBoyAdvance-M

In Mario & Luigi (the 1st one), one of the sound channels keeps going in/out during gameplay (eg: the sound of coins collected after battle may go missing). I've tried more or less every combination of sound option, and haven't been able to isolate the issue. Tested with/without BIOS, just to ensure that wasn't a problem.

 

I know a late build of VBA-S had the same issue, so I guess its been around for a while...could just be that game though. I should note, the last time I used VBA-S was on an older PC, so that mostly rules out a hardware issue.

 

As of now, I have not noticed this behavior in any other game...

 

EDIT

 

Forgot to mention, using the latest (Nov 10) SVN. Also should note, my current soundcard is an ASUS Xonar D2 (though my Realtek controler has the same problem in this game...)

It would be great if you could provide a save state where it happens and tell us what sound channel is missing. You can test that by manually enabling/disabling the sound channels in the menu.

Blame the Xonar 2.

 

the Cmedia chipset used has a random issue where channels fail or swap, and recent drivers have still not solved it.

 

apparently a voice overload.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/a1g7b28/n/Mario_And_Luigi_Superstar_Saga_U_2.sgm

 

Looks like its sound channel #3 that's acting up. In this case, text doesn't make any sound when displayed, and a few other sound effects are missing...

@Squall: I think it can't be the hardware because gamerk2 writes that a certain GBA-sound channel is missing. Since VBA mixes all those channels into one single stereo signal for output, there's no way to hardware could leave that exact channel out.

 

EDIT:

I've tried it out and I have the same sound issues, but I noticed that the text display sound is not completely missing but it only consists of some weak low frequency sounds instead of bright sounds.

And, yes it's definitely channel 3. After disabling/reenabling it, I hear a higher text sound together with the low frequency sound that seems broken.

 

blargg?

I also noticed it seems to happen more often in certain areas; I went two hours yesterday before it started to pop up, (all in a new area), but once back in the BeanBean Kingdom (where the savestate is at), it started to act up again...might be coincidence though...

WFM. :\ might be the mixing length.

This sounds like the same issue that affects Telefang 2 as well. I think...

which i also could not reproduce.....

Seems to happen more in certain areas then others; Example: Being in a town (or near one) seems to cause the issue more often.

 

Might just be the game being flaky, as I played for 3 hours today with no issue, and the second I went into a town area, I lost sound channel 3.