R-Type Delta - Music skipping?

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:48 pm

The music skips a bit in my copy of R-Type Delta. Sometimes it's only a tiny glitch, sometimes it skips several seconds...acts like my disc is badly scratched, but it isn't. The skipping doesn't happen in the same places every time, and seems to get worse the longer I play (very often it won't skip at all for the first game I play in a session). I'm playing on a US v9 PS2 that's about a year old. I haven't observed this problem in any other games. Anybody else have this problem? Is it a damaged copy, wanky PS2 or a normal side effect of playing Delta on a PS2?

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:14 pm

In the 5-6 years I've been playing this on both PS1 and 2, I've never had this problem with sound. I assume you've tried cleaning the disk and the usual junk. Is your PS2 positioned upright? Try laying it flat or vice-versa.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:46 pm

Yeah I've cleaned the disc and did an inspection under bright light. It has a few minor scratches, but certainly nothing that should cause this kind of skipping. I thought about putting my PS2 upright, but the problem is so intermittent that I'd have a hard time confirming it as a fix anyway and there's no way I could keep the PS2 upright permanantly due to child hazards. Given the random nature of the skipping, I'm thinking it's probably an issue with my PS2 not liking my Delta disc, rather than actual damage.

A quick search turned this up, which sounds very much like what I'm experiencing:

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1950

FMK wrote:Also, my R-Type Delta (US ver.) has sound glitches on the third stage (as if the CD was severely scratched). It runs fine on PS1.

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:37 pm

I wonder if this is just a US thing? I'm playing the PAL vers.

extrarice · Post by **extrarice** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:45 pm

Unlike most games, the music in Delta is *exactly* the length of the level, and is keyed to particular locations. If the PS2 is having trouble either loading the audio stream or the game data the game music most likely would skip to compensate - load the music at a particular place mid-song at a particular checkpoint (like how the music picks up at a particular spot when you re-spawn). I haven't tried Delta on my PS2 (first-series PS2 with purple-disc loading problems), though.
Have you noticed slow loading times in any other games? Or other strange behavior?

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:57 pm

My PS2 has never acted up before. This is the first time. I haven't noticed any unusually long load times or anything.

About how Delta loads music...I had noticed that with the large skips where it jumps ahead several seconds, it will always be playing the next section of music. I tried switching on fast loading to see if that helped, but I think it actually made the problem worse.

Skips or not, Delta is friggin awesome. Without giving it too much thought, I'd say it's the most enjoyable horizontal I've played in years.

Post by **system11** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:26 pm

Just tested on mine - PS2, JP, works without issue.

BenT · Post by **BenT** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:42 pm

On PS2 I've always seen small graphical glitches during menu transitions. And once I played up to stage 5 and the moving obstacles were invisible, making it unplayable. That's the only time I ever played that far on PS2 but it made me think the game was better played on a real PS1.

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:59 pm

The music on mine skips alot also. I do remember it having no problems playing on my PS1 (which I no longer have to compare to the PS2).

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:12 pm

ive had a whole bunch of deltas over the years (jap, US and PAL) and also a whole bunch of different systems, but never encountered the problem you describe.

id say either you have a poorly printed game or you need to recalibrate your laser.

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:41 am

If the disk is in good condition and you've cleaned the lens of your PS2's laser, it's likely either a problem with your PS2's calibration or voltage. If the game plays just fine on another PS2, then it's definitely a problem with your PS2.

How to fix problems with the console's laser? Sorry, I couldn't say. I sent my PS2 in to Sony when it was having DRE problems with both DVDs and CDs. When they sent it back a few weeks later, it could only play DVDs. A few months later, it stopped playing DVDs again.

I tried to fix the problem myself this time, but the Sony folks had apparently replaced the original drive with another model; none of the FAQs I could find online applied to this newer drive.

I "solved' my problem by buying a new PS2.

FMK · Post by **FMK** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:32 am

Well, I've played at least 100 (PS1 and PS2, DVD and CD, originals and backups) more games without any single problem after R-Type Delta. I would not recommend to stress with the lens just for this problem. There are a lot of PS2 versions, and a lot of modchip combinations that may or may not cause minor glitches here and there.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 10:01 pm

Followup...well, it looks it's my PS2, not the game. I tested some CD and CD-R audio in it, and it's all skipping, especially when switching tracks.

1 year old unit...grr...guess I'll be performing surgery tonight.

Post by **system11** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 12:07 am

Accutron wrote:Followup...well, it looks it's my PS2, not the game. I tested some CD and CD-R audio in it, and it's all skipping, especially when switching tracks.

1 year old unit...grr...guess I'll be performing surgery tonight.

Is a V9 one of those stupid fucking slimlines? As mentioned in other threads, I'm on my third one of those already, and it's noticeably slower at loading things than my old units were. I'm very much thinking of putting it on ebay and getting a 2nd hand older generation again.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 12:27 am

Nope, V9's are the most reliable type of PS2's (along with v10). They're the ones that had the + sign on the box, had more logos on top of the system case, and have a model # of SCPH-50001.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 1:59 am

I bought the v9 right before the slimlines came out. It was during that period where Sony had let the distribution of old units dry up in anticipation of the slimline. I wanted to get an old model before they switched over, and had to look at like 10 stores before I found a K-Mart that still had one in stock, about 50 miles from my house. I haven't had any problems with it before.

I took it out of town with me a couple weeks ago. It's the only time I've moved it since I first hooked it up, and now all of a sudden the laser seems slightly misaligned. Maybe it got bumped or something during the trip and I didn't notice, but I handled and packed it carefully...didn't expect any problems.