Sheepshaver audio problems with Power Pete/Mighty Mike

About SheepShaver, a PPC Mac emulator for Windows, MacOS X, and Linux that can run System 7.5.3 to MacOS 9.0.4.

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eastcoastguyz
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Sheepshaver audio problems with Power Pete/Mighty Mike

Post by eastcoastguyz »

I've been using SheepShaver on a Mac Pro running Leopard and also on a Mac Mini running Snow Leopard. I'm also running SheepShaver on a Thinkpad T43 with Ubuntu. I only have audio problems on the Macs, while there is no problem with it running in Ubuntu on the Thinkpad T43.

What happens is the audio sounds like the computer can't keep up with it. The thing is, the Mac Pro and the Mac Mini are more powerful machines than the T43 Thinkpad running Ubuntu. I'm using the same Mac ROM on all three machines for Mac OS 9.0.4.

I'd appreciate some helpful advice on how to correct this audio problem cause the when playing it on the Macs, I have to disable the music cause it's too annoying to listen to it having trouble playing with the game. Thanks!
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Yes, SheepShaver MacOSX sound performance is weak. For best performance:
1. Make sure you use the 25-10-2009 SheepShaver MacOSX build, available here.
2. If present, remove "Apple Audio Extension" and "Sound Manager" from the Extensions folder.
eastcoastguyz
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Weak sound performance with Mac OS X for SheepShaver

Post by eastcoastguyz »

Thanks for the posting, Ronald.

Apple Audio Extension and Sound Manger are part of Mac OS 9.0.4.

I tried those suggestions you were kind enough to offer, however the sound problem remains the same.

Is there anything else to try? Would memory allocations make a difference or Disk Cache setting?

I'm not clear on what the issue is. Is this a sound handling problem with Mac OS X itself? If so, are their options within SheepShaver to better handle audio, such as having it play out an external digital audio interface? Or is that not that issue at all, it's simply the processing of audio? Funny, I don't have this problem with audio on anything else on Leopard on the Mac Pro or Snow Leopard on the Mac Mini.
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Cat_7
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Post by Cat_7 »

Hi,

Audio requires real-time emulation, and perhaps the strain on the system is simply too big.
What version of Quicktime are you running? Version 4.1.2 is known to work best for video/audio.
Perhaps some relief is to be found installing that version.

Best,
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eastcoastguyz
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Post by eastcoastguyz »

Thanks for the suggestion, Cat_7.

I installed Quicktime 4.1.2 and it didn't have any effect with respect to the audio performance of the music in Power Pete/Mighty Mike. Oddly enough, if I play this game on a real Mac G4 running OS 9.2.2 the audio isn't a problem, but on modern hardware of the Mac Pro and the Mac Mini with SheepShaver there is.

I wonder what else can be tried to correct this. Could the Mac version of SheepShaver be changed to help with this problem? The audio performance of the music is slow and choppy at times. It sure sounds like it's being run on hardware which can't handle it. I wonder if there is some performance tweaking that could be done to SheepShaver to correct this? Or is the problem how the audio is passed from SheepShaver on the Mac to the OS X?

The game itself plays at an OK speed. It isn't as responsive as when it's played on a Mac G4 though. Could there be something else to change in the configuration files to SheepShaver that might improve the performance?

Other than this problem, SheepShaver is very cool! It's just surprising that it plays better for this game on non-Mac hardware (which is slower hardware) running a non-Mac OS (Ubuntu).
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Cat_7
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Post by Cat_7 »

Hi,

Please remember that anything SheepShaver does for you is running through a complicated translation of instruction from the old Apple PowerPC processor to your new Intel processor. That is what make emulation slow. Perhaps the audio implementation of SheepShaver, or the audio implementation of OSX are sub-optimal is well, but the major bottleneck will always be the translation of one processor to another.

Best,
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Timtheloon
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Re:

Post by Timtheloon »

Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:2. If present, remove "Apple Audio Extension" and "Sound Manager" from the Extensions folder.
This worked for me with my Quad Core G5 on the Sheepshaver UB 20140201 PPC Build

Thank You

PS yes I'm still rocking the Apple PowerPC world in 2020 :lol:
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adespoton
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Re: Re:

Post by adespoton »

Timtheloon wrote:
Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:2. If present, remove "Apple Audio Extension" and "Sound Manager" from the Extensions folder.
This worked for me with my Quad Core G5 on the Sheepshaver UB 20140201 PPC Build

Thank You

PS yes I'm still rocking the Apple PowerPC world in 2020 :lol:
Is there a reason you're using SheepShaver for those? I'm pretty sure my G4 still runs them under Classic with the same configuration.
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Re: Re:

Post by Timtheloon »

adespoton wrote:
Timtheloon wrote:
Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:Is there a reason you're using SheepShaver for those? I'm pretty sure my G4 still runs them under Classic with the same configuration.
Just because I can :lol: wanted to see if it could handle it

but actually the classic environment is not supported in Leopard, so I do have dual OS installed on my G5 of Leopard and Tiger, Tiger however does allow the classic environment
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