Sound issue in AvP

[captainblack]

Hey guys, today when I was playing AvP I noticed that it worked perfectly when I picked the marine or alien, but when I picked the predator there was no sound, and sometimes there was a graphical issue where the word "pause" when you pause the game is a scrambled mess of pixels. This is strange because this was not happening at all yesterday. I figured maybe if I keep turning it off and back on again it would work, but I did like 10 times and it never fixed it. I am using .j64 format. I originally tried .jag format but I got the red screen. 

 

Anyone else having this issue or know of a fix?

[SainT]

Not a known issue to me, and odd as the cartridge is checked to make sure it’s good on boot (the long pause before the game stats). It’s possible you have one of the few Jaguars which are a bit temperamental with the GameDrive, but that said, if it was working previously that doesn’t make much sense either... ?

[SainT]

I’ve had a thought. Did you upgrade the firmware in-between it working and not?

[captainblack]

I did not. I didnt have to do anything with firmware, it worked right out of the box. Additional info: I tried again after a few hours and the sound worked for about a minute then cut out instead of cutting out as soon as I picked predator. Also I noticed that right before the sound cuts out it will sometimes make a faint high pitch sound as its last dying breath. Not sure if this is relevant but its a PAL Jag and I use an AV cable instead of RF.

[captainblack]

Update on this: the more I played the more the degeneration continued. Eventually there was no sound when selecting the alien either, and the next day there was no sound when selecting the marine and it would even crash sometimes. I reformatted the memory card and that got things back to normal but only for a very brief time. The first time I tried after that sound worked for the predator but cut out after 10 seconds or so, I tried again and from then on it was back to sound not working for the predator.

 

The pattern of degeneration is one I also see when trying to get the CD games to work. Typically if I reformat the card, Blue Lightning will work perfectly long enough for me to complete 1 level, on the next level near the end there will be either an audio glitch or the frame rate slows down significantly, then Ill try and start a third level and it crashes. The next time I try I usually get the issues on the first level and it crashes when I try to play the second. Next time it will crash trying to load the first, that will happen a few times before eventually the sound cuts out as soon as I get to the level select map, and it crashes upon selecting any of the levels. Eventually it gets to the point where it usually doesnt make it past the title screen and if it does sound cuts out as soon as you get to the first menu. I tried the trick suggested in the CD thread of using multiple directories and that seemed to slow down the degeneration process a bit but doesnt stop it. Next Im going to try experimenting with different memory cards. So far I've been using the 32GB card that came with my GD. 

[neo_rg]

This sound like you got your cart from stoneagegamer. He's the only one supplying them I think. Best get a new SD card.

 

[captainblack]

Indeed I did. Its the Sandisk 32gb Edge for reference. Im going to pick up a different one today and test it out.

[captainblack]

I picked up the sandisk ultra a1 16gb, as recommended in the CD thread, and it basically fixed the issue. The sound no longer cuts out at the start of the game, but it does sometimes cut out if I save as the predator or load a save as the predator. Its much more practical to work around this than the previous situation though and the issue is essentially resolved. 

 

It also mostly helped with CD loading. I get more black screens with this card but once the game is up and running it has no issues, with the exceptions of Blue Lightning which will eventually crash but not as often, and BlackIce/WhiteNoise, which for some reason doesnt work at all on this card. 

[Gunstar]

I had a sound issue this evening, but I'm not sure it's for the same reason, but I saw this thread about issues with sound so I figured I'd go ahead and tell my issue here as well.

My issue with the sound, it seems at this point, is with using one of the re-manufactured Pro Controllers with the GD. I purchased the pro controller from Songbird Productions.

 

I was trying it out this evening with the GD and everything was fine to start with. I loaded up Cannon Fodder and was playing and I got to the third mission and suddenly I had no sound at all. I power-cycled the Jaguar and reloaded Cannon Fodder. There was sound at the Jaguar/Atari screen with the roar and the jingle while the Atari letters dropped into place. But as soon as the game started, no sound at all. I power cycled and re-inserted the GD several times and loading several different games with the same result.

 

Sound through the Jaguar start screen and then none when the game starts. So my next thought, though it baffles me as to why, was the new number to the equation, the knock-off pro-controller (which I know nothing about who makes them or if there are different suppliers to the different dealers on-line and on eBay). So I unplugged it and put my standard controller back in and powered the Jaguar on and sound worked fine again when I loaded another game up from the GD.

 

Now I haven't tried this pro-controller with real cartridges or CD games yet, and I do have an original pro-controller I can try with the GD too, that I haven't yet, but it needed an new IC which just arrived in the post today, so I can fix it now. It's been repaired a number of times over the years anyway, so I decided to get a new re-manufacture and retire my original pro-controller to the display case while it does still work.

 

Has anyone else had an issue with sound and original or re-production pro-controllers with the GD, Or with re-production pro-controllers and real cartridges or CD's?

Edited August 6, 2021 by Gunstar

[JagChris]

The zero button sticking?

Edited August 6, 2021 by JagChris

[Gunstar]

I'll check, though I did try the 0 button to see if sound was off, and Pause then Option to get to sound controls as they were all set to high volume. But if I remember correctly, the 0 button only turns music on and off, at least for most games and not all the in-game sound. I tried a handful of different games. My 74HC14N IC arrived to repair my original pro-controller, so I can test it with the GD too. But I'm sure others must be using the GD with original or re-make pro controllers. Have you used a pro-controller with the GD yet @JagChris?

 

[JagChris]

I haven't had a chance to try mine yet. All these reports are making me worried though.

[Gunstar]

@JagChrisWell, so far it seems to have been some kind of fluke or a stuck 0 button as you suggested. I tried the knock-off pro-controller with my Jag CD and regular carts and didn't have a problem and then tried it on the GD again and after playing several games and even trying Cannon Fodder again to try and recreate the issue, I haven't been able too. The sound has been working fine and I'm still playing CF and am a couple levels past where the sound went out. So apparently a false alarm.

 

[JagChris]

Weird. Maybe a flake of whatsit got stuck on one of the controller pins and turned down the volume on everything.

 

There's a lot of stuff going on with repro controllers. I hope next time lessons are learned for tighter quality control.

[Gunstar]

On 8/9/2021 at 10:48 PM, JagChris said:

Weird. Maybe a flake of whatsit got stuck on one of the controller pins and turned down the volume on everything.

 

There's a lot of stuff going on with repro controllers. I hope next time lessons are learned for tighter quality control.

Well, the new IC for my real pro controller arrived, so I'm going to fix it and while I have it apart I'll swap out all my used (but still working) button contacts/bubbles with the ones from the repro. That will give it new life and feel stiff again like new. I'll save the repro for guests and two-player games.