Donkey Kong: Walking Sound Hack?

[thorr]

schendel last logged in on January 4. He was/is doing great work, and hopefully he is still working on this and will reappear when he has something ready to share.

[Robgus]

Now when the DK core is updated with the most recent update, is it possible to get the ”new” and imo better sounds that schendel implemented?

[thorr]

Now when the DK core is updated with the most recent update, is it possible to get the ”new” and imo better sounds that schendel implemented?

I was wondering about this too. Schendel's code is here I think: https://github.com/pvanschendel/Arcade- ... ong_MiSTer Can someone merge this into the main code so we can get the better sound? I haven't checked the new version to see if it was already incorporated, but I am assuming not.

[Yunaiba]

Hi guys! The sound issue has not been solved yet? What a pitty. Such an amazing game and it seems its development has been abandoned.

[dshadoff]

Is that comment supposed to encourage some developer to work on it ?
Because that's not the vibe I'm getting...

[Yunaiba]

Hi! I'm just commenting that the last post was in March and there hasn't been much talk about this core and the sound issue since.
That's all.

[callanabrown]

I prototyped a discrete copy of the sound section for DK as a separate PCB. I haven't had the PCB made yet, but can anyone comment on whether this could work? My idea would be that some I/O would be used to trigger the sounds, but I don't know anything about incorporating that into the core.

[retrodroid]

I prototyped a discrete copy of the sound section for DK as a separate PCB. I haven't had the PCB made yet, but can anyone comment on whether this could work? My idea would be that some I/O would be used to trigger the sounds, but I don't know anything about incorporating that into the core.

That sounds amazing. I have no idea how you might integrate it into the MiSTer but I'll buy one at any price if you get it working.

[thorr]

In case you missed it, Donkey Kong is back and better than ever! The music is greatly improved with the fixes from schendel's previous unreleased work (he previously provided a separate RBF to test), and there is now an option in the menu core to switch between emulated and sampled analog sound for the walking sound. All of these fixes are now included in the latest public release. Now we can all enjoy the better music with either emulated or sampled sound, and work can continue on improving and expanding the analog sound emulation in future updates. Thank you schendel and jopdorp for all of your hard work to make Donkey Kong as great as it can be. I have been playing it nearly every day (with emulated analog sound) and trying to improve my high score, which is currently a modest 65800, but it is a work in progress.

[LamerDeluxe]

In case you missed it, Donkey Kong is back and better than ever! The music is greatly improved with the fixes from schendel's previous unreleased work (he previously provided a separate RBF to test), and there is now an option in the menu core to switch between emulated and sampled analog sound for the walking sound. All of these fixes are now included in the latest public release. Now we can all enjoy the better music with either emulated or sampled sound, and work can continue on improving and expanding the analog sound emulation in future updates. Thank you schendel and jopdorp for all of your hard work to make Donkey Kong as great as it can be. I have been playing it nearly every day (with emulated analog sound) and trying to improve my high score, which is currently a modest 65800, but it is a work in progress.

This version sounds really good. Sadly it has sync problems on my iPad monitor now, even with vsync_adjust=2 it keeps losing sync, with a vertical frequency of 60.6Hz (60.7Hz with vsync 2 for some reason). Vsync_adjust=0 used to work fine.

[thorr]

This version sounds really good. Sadly it has sync problems on my iPad monitor now, even with vsync_adjust=2 it keeps losing sync, with a vertical frequency of 60.6Hz (60.7Hz with vsync 2 for some reason). Vsync_adjust=0 used to work fine.

Strange. Can/did you try a different version also to confirm it is fine? Maybe something else caused it other than the core itself. I noticed recently that the SNES core has an unstable picture on my arcade cabinet CRT, but everything else is rock solid. I don't know if it was always that way but I don't think so.

[LamerDeluxe]

This version sounds really good. Sadly it has sync problems on my iPad monitor now, even with vsync_adjust=2 it keeps losing sync, with a vertical frequency of 60.6Hz (60.7Hz with vsync 2 for some reason). Vsync_adjust=0 used to work fine.

Strange. Can/did you try a different version also to confirm it is fine? Maybe something else caused it other than the core itself. I noticed recently that the SNES core has an unstable picture on my arcade cabinet CRT, but everything else is rock solid. I don't know if it was always that way but I don't think so.

Haven't tried reverting to an earlier version yet. Only tried removing mra, rom and nvram, that didn't do anything. Haven't had problems with it before, it is a core that I use somewhat regularly.

[thorr]

Haven't tried reverting to an earlier version yet. Only tried removing mra, rom and nvram, that didn't do anything. Haven't had problems with it before, it is a core that I use somewhat regularly.

I have an iPad screen I can test with. I will try it when I get a chance. Here are the previous releases. https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Arcade- ... r/releases

[LamerDeluxe]

Tried the previous version of the core, restored the mister core to the stable version, disconnected my analog output, nothing makes a difference. Really odd, the previous dk core is from quite some time ago, so I should have noticed this problem much earlier.

MiSTer SAM is happily running everything else without problems.

[thorr]

Tried the previous version of the core, restored the mister core to the stable version, disconnected my analog output, nothing makes a difference. Really odd, the previous dk core is from quite some time ago, so I should have noticed this problem much earlier.

MiSTer SAM is happily running everything else without problems.

It sounds similar to my SNES core problem. Did you try the SNES core to see if it has sync issues? Also, maybe try a different screen resolution for Donkey Kong in the INI file to see if that helps even though it might not look as nice.

[80sArcadeKid]

The digital sound update is so much better than it was, especially for the digital/sampled music. I take it the samples from MAME were used or new samples captured. Great work.

However, running sound is almost 100% the main (remaining) issue.

With "Samples" it's a very odd non-modulating/repeating sound that changes pitch and is very 'high?' frequency/tone. Like Super Squeaky sneakers.

With "Emulated" it is better, you can hear the modulation but... it's still way too high pitch/tone, that squeaky sneaker is coming through.
I feel that the emulated version needs more 'bass' (like a drum beat is the only way I can describe it), and less high end volume/squeek.

On arcade the walk sounds more like the low end is a singular repeating 'dum dum dum dum dum' and doesn't modulate much at all, with the high end modulating (like it is now) quieter/less squeaky at a lower volume to the drum beat.

I wish I could talk in audiophile terms but I just don't know the lingo.

[edit] - I'll try do new audio captures soon if I can find my old comparison edits and video files.

[thorr]

The digital sound update is so much better than it was, especially for the digital/sampled music. I take it the samples from MAME were used or new samples captured. Great work.

Great feedback. I am pretty sure that the music is NOT sampled. A number of fixes went into getting the digital non-sampled sound corrected. This was described earlier in this thread. Only the analog sound is sampled, which is the walking sound, the jump sound, and probably the Donkey Kong jumping sound during the intro before the game starts.

Also, I had another idea. There are audio filters built-in to the MiSTer, and perhaps playing with those, the walking sound might sound better. I am guessing that the analog and digital sides on the real hardware had different audio filters on them. If you can find one that sounds better when walking (but makes the music sound worse probably), then it might be possible to apply that audio filter to the core code for just the analog side.

[80sArcadeKid]

The music is perfect (I think), has that 'bell' sound of the PCB which is why I thought it was samples. I reckon the walk is just a matter of time until prefect too. Such great progress and a long time coming. Love it.

[HerrBerzerk]

The new version is not in updateall already?

[thorr]

The new version is not in updateall already?

It is in update_all.

[HerrBerzerk]

It is is update_all.

That's strange... I did two times update_all and I can't find this option to change the sound from samples to emulated sound and back....?

Donkey Kong US Set 1

[LamerDeluxe]

It is is update_all.

That's strange... I did two times update_all and I can't find this option to change the sound from samples to emulated sound and back....?

Donkey Kong US Set 1

Make sure you don't have another old donkeykong rbf file in _arcade/cores on your MiSTer. That is what I had (probably an early test version with updated audio).

[LamerDeluxe]

Tried the previous version of the core, restored the mister core to the stable version, disconnected my analog output, nothing makes a difference. Really odd, the previous dk core is from quite some time ago, so I should have noticed this problem much earlier.

MiSTer SAM is happily running everything else without problems.

It sounds similar to my SNES core problem. Did you try the SNES core to see if it has sync issues? Also, maybe try a different screen resolution for Donkey Kong in the INI file to see if that helps even though it might not look as nice.

I tested the SNES core and had no problems with it, it never lost sync.

I was testing a number of older rbf files yesterday (as well as another HDMI cable, which made no difference) and even the first one of 2021 lost sync occasionally. It seems to be noticably worse in the 2023 and 2024 versions, at times every few seconds and then not at all for a couple of minutes.

I suddenly remembered that I found another donkeykong rbf file in my _arcade/cores folder this week, from 2021, which I deleted, don't know the exact version. That could explain why I hadn't noticed the sync problems before.

I'll try another resolution as well. Could very well be that this frequency (60.6 Hz), combined with the resolution is at the limit of what this screen can handle. And maybe the display frequency is slightly less stable in later versions of the core, if that is at all possible.

[thorr]

Make sure you don't have another old donkeykong rbf file in _arcade/cores on your MiSTer. That is what I had (probably an early test version with updated audio).

Yeah, I am not sure the right method but I used to change the date of the RBF to like 2040 of the one from schendel before so when the real updates came through, schendel's would still get used.

That's strange... I did two times update_all and I can't find this option to change the sound from samples to emulated sound and back....?

Donkey Kong US Set 1

Just delete all the Donkey Kong RBF files and run the update again, or manually download the latest and drop it in the folder for now if that doesn't work.
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Arcade- ... r/releases

[thorr]

I tested the SNES core and had no problems with it, it never lost sync.

I was testing a number of older rbf files yesterday (as well as another HDMI cable, which made no difference) and even the first one of 2021 lost sync occasionally. It seems to be noticably worse in the 2023 and 2024 versions, at times every few seconds and then not at all for a couple of minutes.

I suddenly remembered that I found another donkeykong rbf file in my _arcade/cores folder this week, from 2021, which I deleted, don't know the exact version. That could explain why I hadn't noticed the sync problems before.

I'll try another resolution as well. Could very well be that this frequency (60.6 Hz), combined with the resolution is at the limit of what this screen can handle. And maybe the display frequency is slightly less stable in later versions of the core, if that is at all possible.

Thanks for testing the SNES core. My guess is that at some point Donkey Kong got more accurate video timings to match the real arcade timings and that change was not liked by the screen. You could try a really old one and see what happens.

[LamerDeluxe]

I tested the SNES core and had no problems with it, it never lost sync.

I was testing a number of older rbf files yesterday (as well as another HDMI cable, which made no difference) and even the first one of 2021 lost sync occasionally. It seems to be noticably worse in the 2023 and 2024 versions, at times every few seconds and then not at all for a couple of minutes.

I suddenly remembered that I found another donkeykong rbf file in my _arcade/cores folder this week, from 2021, which I deleted, don't know the exact version. That could explain why I hadn't noticed the sync problems before.

I'll try another resolution as well. Could very well be that this frequency (60.6 Hz), combined with the resolution is at the limit of what this screen can handle. And maybe the display frequency is slightly less stable in later versions of the core, if that is at all possible.

Thanks for testing the SNES core. My guess is that at some point Donkey Kong got more accurate video timings to match the real arcade timings and that change was not liked by the screen. You could try a really old one and see what happens.

That could be, the core menu says 60.6Hz and 16Khz for all versions I tried, but from what I remember those numbers are not very accurate. Odd how vsync_adjust=2 doesn't fix it.

[Lightwave]

Odd how vsync_adjust=2 doesn't fix it.

vsync_adjust=2 is the least compatible mode (but fastest); 0 is most compatible (but adds more lag).

[HerrBerzerk]

Make sure you don't have another old donkeykong rbf file in _arcade/cores on your MiSTer. That is what I had (probably an early test version with updated audio).

Hmm... I deleted the rbf file and update_all downloaded the same (old) dkong from 230316 again and installed it. Is it possible, that this is an error because I have the DB9 version from Antonio Villena?

When I manually install the new core, the old one get's still installed when running update_all.

[Yunaiba]

I'm really happy all these improvements are coming along. Especially for such an iconic game.
Something I've noticed and haven't seen anyone commeting about is the palette colours of the game. For example, the red of the platforms / scaffold in the first level is quite different from the red / pinkish tone from the original board. Has any one noticed this as well?

[LamerDeluxe]

Odd how vsync_adjust=2 doesn't fix it.

vsync_adjust=2 is the least compatible mode (but fastest); 0 is most compatible (but adds more lag).

Ah yes, of course, I might have been sleepy enough to actually enter 2 instead of 0, I'll have to try that again.