Sound bug in Zombies Ate My Neighbors

ICEknight · Post by **ICEknight** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:51 am

I've noticed that ZSNES is still carrying an old sound bug that prevents certain sounds stop when they should, in all versions of "Zombies".

You can notice it at the Konami screen, after choosing your character, when the "evil dolls" laugh after being released, and other places. The last part of the sound gets repeated over and over for a couple of seconds after it should have stopped.

I can't believe nobody has noticed it before, any chances of getting it fixed?

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:54 am

Any chances of using the bug report format, which is located in the stickies in this forum? Please post your NSRT info.

ICEknight · Post by **ICEknight** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:03 am

I was getting that info right now. You beat me to it. =P

---------------------Internal ROM Info----------------------
File: zombies.smc
Name: ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHB Company: Konami
Header: SWC Bank: LoROM
Interleaved: No SRAM: 0 Kb
Type: Normal ROM: 8 Mb
Country: USA Video: NTSC
ROM Speed: 200ns (SlowROM) Revision: 1.0
Checksum: Good 0xF50C CRC32: 7CFC0C7C
--------------------------Database--------------------------
Name: Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Country: USA Revision: 1.0
Port 1: Gamepad Port 2: Gamepad
Genre 1: Shooter Genre 2: 360

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:22 am

I think the likeliness of something like this being reported is related to the popularity of said game on the actual console.

ICEknight · Post by **ICEknight** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:28 am

I thought it was a quite well-known 2 player game...

But even if it wasn't, it deserves a second chance.

FitzRoy · Post by **FitzRoy** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:17 am

I also think it's difficult to notice something like this when.

a. laughter isn't a word, it's a repeating of "ha," and since this is a repeating bug... derrr.

b. it doesn't affect gameplay.

So, yeah, let's not skip the obvious stuff and be like "omg, i can't believe no one reports it!" or "it's obscure."

ICEknight · Post by **ICEknight** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:25 am

Well, now you know.

zidanax · Post by **zidanax** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:47 am

I have tested this on my SNES, and I don't think there is any difference. The sound effect sounds like "mua-ha-ha-ha" on both ZSNES and my SNES. I did, however, notice another bug in the process (sorry if this is already known):

When the Konami music in the intro plays, the last note is supposed to fade out. However, when you play the game with ZSNES, the note "sustains" the same volume, then suddenly drops out. This happens with both the March 29 WIP and ZSNES 1.42. Unless I've missed something, you can't get rid of the bug by changing any sound settings. I have made a recording through my E-MU 0404 of what it's supposed to sound like. bsnes has the correct behavior, if that helps any.

ROM INFO:

Code: Select all

---------------------Internal ROM Info----------------------
       File: Zombies Ate My Neighbors (U).SFC
       Name: ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHB  Company: Konami
     Header: None                      Bank: LoROM
Interleaved: No                        SRAM: 0 Kb
       Type: Normal                     ROM: 8 Mb
    Country: USA                      Video: NTSC
  ROM Speed: 200ns (SlowROM)       Revision: 1.0
   Checksum: Good 0xF50C              CRC32: 7CFC0C7C
--------------------------Database--------------------------
   Name: Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Country: USA                    Revision: 1.0
 Port 1: Gamepad                  Port 2: Gamepad
Genre 1: Shooter                 Genre 2: 360

FitzRoy · Post by **FitzRoy** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:33 am

Thank you, zidanax.

As for the konami logo fade bug, that is indeed genuine. I personally was aware of it, and anyone who reads the bsnes thread should be, as we recently compared wavs from most major emus using the first 3:30 of castlevania iv as reference.

FitzRoy wrote: I used a digital loopback for both recordings. ZSNES is with latest wip and default sound settings. Snes9x 1.43 needed to be set from 22khz (default) to 32khz.

I'm not sure if you were hoping for zsnes or snes9x to show you something, but prepare to be disappointed. Things to look for:

-konami logo fade gets cut off
-bats and lightning very wrong (should we call this "konami rape" now?)
-some sfx from "game demo" part are affected.

Post by **pagefault** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:03 am

Confirmed bug, I am looking into it. Is it present in other games?

Post by **pagefault** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:12 pm

This is now fixed along with a dozen S-DSP improvements including an ADSR overhaul, improved noise generation code and other bug fixes. I'm still testing out the changes but so far I haven't run into any problems.

ICEknight · Post by **ICEknight** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:49 pm

Amazing, thanks!

ShadowFX · Post by **ShadowFX** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:13 pm

I reported that Konami sound bug long ago, seems it was never noted though. Other games affected are the Mortal Kombat games, if I remember correctly. Glad to see this is now fixed

Post by **pagefault** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:00 am

Yeah Metal Warriors was another one, it uses the same exact code for the Konami logo!

Post by **pagefault** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:29 am

http://zsnes.game-host.org/~pagefault/zsnesw.zip

Extremely alpha test of what I have been working on since CVS has been down.

NMI timing improvements (music sync issues in some games)
ADSR improvements (fixes for Konami sound and improvments in overall sound quality)
Noise emulation improvements for games that do not use pitch modulation.
DMA ruleset updates (fixes for Krusty)
Other minor bugs

Anything else not listed here has not been changed so please don't complain if <insert something> has not been fixed yet.

ICEknight · Post by **ICEknight** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:46 pm

Wow, even the music sounds much better with that fadeout fix. Thanks a million.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 6:07 am

This binary appears to have changed the sound for saving in FF2/4... and not in a good way. I probably should record the sound ZSNES produces between the latest WIP and this current build.

This also changes the save spot sound in FF5 as well...

FitzRoy · Post by **FitzRoy** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:52 pm

I should also mention that while this build does indeed fix the konami logo fade for "Zombies," the Castlevania IV konami fade still gets cut off too early.

Post by **pagefault** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:54 pm

FitzRoy wrote:I should also mention that while this build does indeed fix the konami logo fade for "Zombies," the Castlevania IV konami fade still gets cut off too early.

This is already fixed. Along with the concerns about FF4/5. I may post an updated binary later on.