Need tips for using sounds

Hello all.

I am developing a shmup which is using a lot of sound effects. Those effects are affecting the performance, dropping the FPS from 60 to ~30. When I remove all the sounds, FPS is locked on 60.

I need some tips on playing sounds on Android, as I need many sound effects playing at the same time.

Thanks!

What type of files are you playing? Are they oggs or wavs? Sometimes using wavs for small sound effects work better because it's harder for Android to play compressed files.

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Originally Posted by Bree

What type of files are you playing? Are they oggs or wavs? Sometimes using wavs for small sound effects work better because it's harder for Android to play compressed files.

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Hello. I am using wav files ranging from 4 to 80 kb.

Do you have any small mfa that can reproduce this lost of FPS fro me to check?

when sounds are preloaded they are play in a separated thread as the play from disk sounds

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fernando

Do you have any small mfa that can reproduce this lost of FPS fro me to check?

when sounds are preloaded they are play in a separated thread as the play from disk sounds

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Here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AouRlI4fmN-D0S-s...ZwE57?e=Mo19nQ

I created a small .mfa that plays some of the sounds I am using in a sort of random way, trying to simulate shooting and hitting enemies and walls.

thanks for the example

I see you have a mix of two worlds, create objects, and play sounds, two of the most expensive actions that require memory and involve the garbage collector so you will have different results.

in middle device you may have from 30-57 and in nougat you may have from 53 - 58, and you may see these values depends on how the memory is used and collide when playing sounds or creation.

may I suggest to create the object before and test, so you can see how it will impact, also notice that if you change the bullet images (just like a 3x3 pixels square) the min in the same device will be higher, so that the sound affect.


I will see if I can get more speed or try to handle soundpool in a faster way, without affecting the runtime.

Hello. I am still struggling with sound playback lag on Android.

I did some stress tests and the runtime runs at 60 FPS creating 1 active per frame (sums to about 800 simultaneous actives on the same level). The moment I activate sounds the framerate falls to 30~50, even when no actives are being created.

On my stress test, samples are selected and played every other frame. Samples are 2-80kb .wav files. In my understanding, that should not be a problem, considering games tend to have multiple samples being called at the same time.

So I would like to know some things:

1. Should I use other file format?
2. I used the "preload" option, does that mean samples are cached into ram and read from there?
3. I was planing on avoid calling samples every time, but instead pausing them at the end and roll them back to be played again. It did not work properly. Should I pursue this idea?
4. What is the best code practice for sample playback?

Thanks.

Thanks to @Dobermann we tested latest beta seems that the lags generated from sounds are almost gone.

we notice that some devices take more time (even if are msecs) than other, so when getting the audiofocus, this is generating a delay in sounds, audiofocus should not affect anymore in regular game unless a call is received, alarm or other notification that may affect a playing sounds.

That is some great news! When is the beta going to be accessible?

Thanks for the reply, Fernando.

There was a major sound issue in the last beta i tried, sound at max volume with no way to mute or reduce it, volume not following the media volume anymore.

can you post an example mfa, my test seems OK here, but i wonder how is made by you. thanks in advance.

I am attaching here the .mfa file and the sound files.

Attachment 28836
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AouRlI4fmN-D50Ep3Yvit53btuFy

Thanks.

Oh, It was with @SoftWarewolf about his report of non working volume.

BUT @DiegoArthur

here is your test.

notice that these two video are recorded with non sound to reduce teh impact of recording in the test, since they are very low specs devices

1.- Samsung Ace 4 min fps goes from 18 - 47 in some test where non Garbage collector is involved get until 51. (notice this device have less than 1GB
2.- Amazon Fire 7 Inches (50$ device) goes from 48- 59.

in teh zip you may find a debug version if your device accept unknown sources and is in dev mode i think you can try there.

Let me know your results.

Thanks for the reply.

So this is all really strange. I have a Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro with a Snapdragon 855 and 6 GB ram and I am getting FPSs as low as 33 and in a frequent basis. Do you have any idea why this may be happening? It is vastly superior to the 1GB phone you used.

Any compiling configuration I should change, maybe?

Attachment 28841

Attachment 28842

Edit: Video attached.

Did you try to install the apk inside teh zip file and run it in this device?

Yes. The video I took was from the apk you sent ME. What did you change?

Is there a way for me to run a log and send you?

mm i see this too here with newer devices, but this is caused by the devices itself it takes 3 msecs to trigger a new sound, but strangely laser is one what take more time to play affecting the fps

@DiegoArthur please test this apk inside the zip and let me know

this is using an experimental sound code.

Fernando,

Great improvement! Min FPS around 51. But for now some random crashes are occurring. The crash report is posted below.

Thanks for the support.

Attachment 28860

yes this version doesn't use the soundpool api instead use a number of audiotrack, is really a difference here too, the random crashes, its about some leaks are still present , but want to share you that problem at the end in the soundpool api. which is really slow in some devices. mostly in latest ones.

I see. Thanks for the clarification, Fernando. But that means that for now there is no workaround for this problem?

No, until all this test ends and the code can safely be used instead of soundpool api