Regression: MGS 4 installation has issues causing missing audio effects (#10074)

[suyash691]

Please do not ask for help or report compatibility regressions here, use RPCS3 Discord server or forums instead.

Quick summary

There is a bug in builds after 0.0.15-12054 pertaining to installs for MGS4 which causes missing audio issues.

Repro steps->

Expected Working (build 0.0.15-12054)->

1. Set RPCS3 on default settings. Boot the game [BLES00246]
2. When it asks to install data for all acts, select NO. Then it will proceed to install act 1 data
3. Game installs normally and progress bar functions normally
4. Reach main menu. Pressing start produces audio sounds and moving the selection in menu also produces audio

Buggy build repro (build 0.0.15-12057)->

1. Set RPCS3 on default settings. Boot the game [BLES00246]
2. When it asks to install data for all acts, select NO. Then it will proceed to install act 1 data
3. Game installs normally till 60% after that the bar gets stuck and after 20 sec or so jumps to 100% completion
4. Game will now enter infinite loading.
5. Turn off SPU loop detection. Boot game again
6. Game will now say data is corrupt and reinstall pretty fast with no hangs
7. Reach main menu. Pressing start doesn't audio sound and moving the selection in menu also doesn't produces audio

Attached logs (For installation and first time main menu)->

Correct->RPCS3 - 54 install.log
Bugged->RPCS3 - 57 install.log

1. Please provide exact build (or commit) information that introduced the regression you're reporting.

0.0.15-12057 - Installation stalls at 60% then after a couple of seconds jumps to 100%
0.0.15-12054 - Installation happens normally and audio works as intended

2. Please provide your system configuration:

• OS- Windows 10 2H1
• CPU-Ryzen 5900x
• GPU- RTX 3080
• Driver version- 465

Please include.

https://old.reddit.com/r/rpcs3/comments/mqbmpt/metal_gear_solid_4_rpcs3_0015_7820x_4k_rtx3070/
Reddit thread where people are discussing this issue

[AniLeo]

Please provide exact build (or commit) information that introduced the regression you're reporting.

[suyash691]

So i tried finding the exact build where it failed by gradually updating the version of rpcs3 from a known working one to the one where it breaks.
The upgrade path never broke the audio (the cache and the game install was kept independant), while new copy of emulator with just the PPE cache copied (to save on compile time) broke the audio.

So i copied the dev_hdd0 installed files for mgs4 from old rpcs3 version to the fresh copy of newer rpcs3 versions and the audio is fixed. It seems that the newer versions somehow broke the installation flow(?)

Finding out which build broke install would be hard since i would have to install on each build to see which broke the installation code

[suyash691]

@AniLeo I've edited the OP to add the build where i noticed this regression and added repro steps. This should be fine now?

I suspect this #10074 to be the potential cause but i could be wrong

[suyash691]

@AniLeo Is there any other information needed now?

[elad335]

Don't suspect anything, test it. (to the precise build!)

[elad335]

There are 2 builds between the range you have posted.

[suyash691]

@elad335 I went back and checked the build 0.0.15-12056 and found that version being the breaking point for mgs. Attaching the rpcs3.log for install screen from that build
RPCS3.log

[elad335]

Attach log from the build before in addition.

[suyash691]

I already did that in the OP RPCS3 - 54 install.log which is from the 0.0.15-12054 build

Reattaching here
RPCS3.-.54.install.log

[suyash691]

@elad335 Is there any more information needed? Or can we remove the "Need Information" tag?

[AniLeo]

@elad335 can you check?

[Xcedf]

Confirm this issue, on newer revs after full install my game/BLES00246 is 2.46Gb
tried older revs - 8.34 Gb
will try to find which rev

[slumlorddaddy]

Still is an issue as of the latest build. Running on an 1165g7 I had to use the old build to fix the installation and get audio effects working. Funnily enough this build is so old it won't even boot with my igpu so I had to disable video rendering and just navigate the installation blind using sound cues.

[suyash691]

Still not fixed on 0.0.21-13393-3002e592 Alpha. The install is of the correct size but the audio still doesn't play outside of the install screen ( where it streams from the disc and not the installed files)

Also unlike the previous builds where the install worked correctly, in the current build the game frequently freezes in the main menu with the disc symbol on the top right indicating some failure in reading data (MGS4 specific symbol)
Accurate XFloat was on 🤦

[Jonathan44062]

Can we re-open this? The issue is not fully fixed, only applies when you have the old installation of rpcs3, if it is a new one, the fix does not apply

[Pryka]

This issue still persist in MGS4 i have audio only in cut scenes and movies, in game most of them are missing or "not full?" Ending to soon, like gun fire, and bullet sounds.

[elad335]

Can you reinstall the disc game data? There were some changes to VFS.

[Pryka]

I reinstalled whole game like yesterday. The issue is still there.

And the solution from Wikipedia not really work for digital version of the game, because full game is installed into /dev_hdd0/game/ID not only additional game data. And you can't just remove "disc" data content from there by removing whole folder.

I reinstalled whole game like yesterday. The issue is still there.

And the solution from Wikipedia not really work for digital version of the game, because full game is installed into /dev_hdd0/game/ID not only additional game data. And you can't just remove "disc" data content from there by removing whole folder.

Anyway I did this:
To fix this problem, the solution is to downgrade RPCS3 to [this version](https://github.com/RPCS3/rpcs3-binaries-win/releases/download/build-95725bf7fcce4ae46c75c89fb093bc36d6e34f96/rpcs3-v0.0.15-12054-95725bf7_win64.7z) by copy pasting the contents of the archive to your current RPCS3 folder. After downgrading, delete the gamedata folder for the game (/dev_hdd0/game/YOURGAMESERIALHERE), relaunch the game, let it reinstall the gamedata, then finally when that's finished, close the game and update RPCS3 back to the latest version.

Unfortunately like i said earlier removing game folder will remove whole game (digital) not only ACT 1 data. I reinstall it again in old rpcs and lunched it, downgraded rpcs ignored my already build spu cache, and start to compile it from scratch, in that moment i canceled it, because it takes up to 3h in my pc, and i didn't really have time to do this again.

EDIT:
In my free time i will try to make completely separate instance of rpcs3-v0.0.15-12054-95725bf7_win64.7z install there and then upgrade to newest release. Just to minimalize any complications and avoid double precompilation.

Will go back to you as soon as I can.

[Pryka]

Can you reinstall the disc game data? There were some changes to VFS.

It was my PC issue, I read somewhere that this can be a problem of not enough horsepower in the CPU, and it could not sync audio. I did a little OC on it, 3600 to 3800(4 cores/8 threads) and now it's working fine. Music, codec voices are now back.

[AniLeo]

Issue still reported as happening, reopening
https://forums.rpcs3.net/showthread.php?tid=206978

[YoussefElbasha]

I am facing a problem where I can't even preform the fix for this issue that is suggested on the wiki due to another bug #12320. When I downgrade rpcs3 there is no option to disable PPU/SPU LLVM Precompilation in that version that I can see and since I am on version 02.00 I can't launch the game as it gets stuck on the compilation page. So I can't preform the fix suggested here.

Is there a solution for this?

[AniLeo]

There is no fix for this issue, only workarounds, otherwise the ticket would have been closed. No support is given with old builds, and if you need support with latest, this is not the place, ask on Discord or Forums.

[Fritomaster]

Really wished this was fixed.

[MSuih]

Apparently this has been fixed at some point.