Bilinear filtering fails when run via Terminal

[codefenix]

Hello, everyone. First post to this forum.

I've been using ZSNES for many years, and I love it. I recently built an arcade cabinet using an old PC running Xubuntu 9.10, and decided to include this emulator. I used apt-get to install it.

The problem I'm having is with the bilinear filtering. It works just fine when I run the emulator from the Applications menu and then open a rom, but it does not (always) work when I run it from the terminal window with a rom name parameter. This also occasionally causes the program to crash entirely, and I cannot relaunch the emulator without restarting the system.

As a workaround, I have bilinear filtering turned off and I am using the 2xSaI filter instead. This allows successful operation, but does not look as nice as bilinear in my honest opinion.

Xubuntu 9.10
AthlonXP 1500
320MB RAM
nVidia GeForce fx5200

Yes, the system is quite dated I'm economizing here!

Thanks.

[paulguy]

Weird.

I'd make sure you have the proper video driver installed. You want "nvidia" and not just "nv", which might be difficult on a modern system since the FX series needs a really old driver which only works on similarly old kernels. I'm pretty familiar with the whole thing because I have a similar problem with my old computer. Check /var/log/Xorg.0.log and it'll tell you what video driver was loaded.

If they did patch the old drivers to work with newer kernels then, well, that may also be the root of the problem.

Try turning off any compositing (compiz, xfwm compositor (xfce menu -> settings -> window manager tweaks -> compositor)).

It'd also help to get zsnes's terminal output when it crashes, this is what you should probably do first.

[codefenix]

Thanks for the response, paulguy.

Here's the "Device" section of my xorg.conf file:

Code: Select all

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce FX 5200"
EndSection

My driver is indeed "nvidia", as you say it ought to be. And from my Xorg.o.log:

Code: Select all

(II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//nvidia_drv.so
(II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
	compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
(II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  173.14.20  Thu Jun 25 19:28:52 PDT 2009
(II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01@00:00:0
(II) Loading sub module "fb"

That seems to indicate the same, provided I understand correctly.

I am not using desktop effects of any kind. So compiz isn't the issue.

I'll try to capture the output next time I get a crash.

Thanks.

[Deathlike2]

IIRC, there was a bug with it. It was fixed at some point after the release of 1.51... but unfortunately nothing can be done at this time...

[codefenix]

I think I may have fixed it myself. I noticed many ALSA underrun errors in the terminal. So I opened zsnesl.cfg and set libAoDriver to "auto". Then I followed that up with "sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2debian-all". Does any of this make sense? Could there be a conflict between ALSA and, I don't know, OpenGL or something?

Anyway, I tested many times and so far haven't been able to reproduce the problem. Bilinear filtering is working just fine from the terminal. I'll report back if the issue resurfaces,

Thanks Deathlike2, paulguy, for your help today!

[codefenix]

Well, the problem is back today. And I have terminal output from the crash:

Code: Select all

ZSNES v1.51, (c) 1997-2007, ZSNES Team
Be sure to check http://www.zsnes.com/ for the latest version.

ZSNES is written by the ZSNES Team (See AUTHORS.TXT)
ZSNES comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.  This is free software,
and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions;
please read 'LICENSE.TXT' thoroughly before doing so.

Use ZSNES -? for command line definitions.

Starting Mouse detection.
Unable to poll /dev/input/event5. Make sure you have read permissions to it.
Unable to poll /dev/input/event4. Make sure you have read permissions to it.
Unable to poll /dev/input/event2. Make sure you have read permissions to it.
Unable to poll /dev/input/event3. Make sure you have read permissions to it.
Unable to poll /dev/input/event1. Make sure you have read permissions to it.
Unable to poll /dev/input/event0. Make sure you have read permissions to it.
ManyMouse: 0 mice detected.
File opened successfully !

Audio Opened.
Driver: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) output
Channels: 2
Rate: 48000

ZSNES could not find any joysticks.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
ALSA: underrun, at least 0ms.
Aborted

Note all of the underrun messages I mentioned previously. What does that mean?

[codefenix]

Well, I set libAoDriver to "sdl". Over the last couple of days, and after many executions, I have not seen the problem reappear. I strongly suspect some conflict between OpenGL and ALSA, but to be honest I lack knowledge in that area, so I really cannot base said suspicion on anything. Can anyone confirm or deny?

[grinvader]

That's just ALSA sucking. Don't give it too much thought, it happens on many people's computer(s).