Hacking Fix DK64 Audio Crash on N64 NSO

[CabinKid]

Do not do this if you don't want your switch banned or play online. My unit is already banned and I don't play any games online so I don't have a worry.

Like many I’ve been working on injecting the Donkey Kong 64: Tag Anywhere (v5) mod into the official N64 Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) app (v4.0.0) using CaVE Database Manager.

And also like many others, I ran into the notorious "Audio Crash" issue. The game would run the tutorial fine, but as soon as I transitioned into the first main world (Jungle Japes), the audio would cut out completely (dead silence), even though the video kept playing.

After some trial and error with modifying the .dtz configuration files, I found the specific CPU timing value that seems to fix the audio crash without breaking the game. (At least on my system)

My System: Original Switch Running 21.0 | AMS 1.10.1


Instructions
1. Unpack the DK64 .dtz provided by CaVE. This can be found on their website.
In CaVE Database Manager, click Tools menu:
Tools > .dtz > Unpack .dtz > Select DK64.dtz
CaVE will unpack the dtz file into a folder titled "metapack"

2. Edit the Config
-Open the unpacked .cfg file from inside the new "metapack" folder, in a text editor (like VS Code or Notepad++).
-Look for the "RomOption" block at the top.
-Change "TickPerInst" to 4 from 8

Note: I kept "CopyDepthAtFullSync": 1 in the Renderer settings, and it works fine.

3. Repack and Inject
-Save the file. Go back to CaVE:
-Tools > .dtz > Pack .dtz > Select the folder with the modified file.
-CaVE will repack and generate a new .dtz file with the changes.
-Re-add the Meta Pack to your game entry by right clicking your game and selecting "Add Meta Pack to Game"

4. Result
I’ve tested this through the first two world so far and it hasn't had any audio failures. The game does seem to run slightly faster in smaller zones but it's almost not noticeable and fully playable for me. I would be curious to know who else has been playing with these files.

This is just what I find works for me, it may be different on your system. But wanted to share

I'm not responsible for any damages or bricking of consoles. Modify at your own risk.

 

[martinlvm]

I was having the same issue early this year but I didn't go through the trouble of troubleshooting it. I will try to test it tonight, thank you !

 

[CabinKid]

I'm a little further in the game now, it has introduced a few very small bugs, mainly to do with the tag barrel. With the tweak I made, a few horizontal transition animations seem to get stuck like the memory is now too quick for the animation to finish.
It's not a huge issue for gameplay especially being I'm playing the TagAnywhere mod so rarely jump into a barrel. I usually pause and unpause and it seems to resolve the animation stick.
Working on trying to find a resolution for this.

 

[martinlvm]

Yes, I found the same issue with the cutscenes with the horizontal transition and some slow down after some cutscenes too but everything is fixed after pausing the game. The game is playable now.

 

[Dartinho]

Thank you so much! I've been waiting for so long to be able to play DK64 on Switch. Before this I tried everything and nothing worked, now I've tried your method and it's working. Sometimes the main character has some "slowdowns" but nothing that keeps from playing it.

Now the only thing that I dream of is Paper Mario TTYD64 mod with the misplaced backgrounds bug fixed. Maybe someday.

 

[aquagon]

Thanks for the fix! Still, I recently finished a full playthrough in vanilla, and I have to report the experience is less than ideal because of how the game tends to hang up for several minutes when there are horizontal screen wipes, sometimes even freezing outright or the audio going mute out of a sudden until the game is reset.

The worst is when this happens in Hideout Helm when you have to use Donkey to grab the lever and then change to Diddy to go through the stars in less than one minute, since the horizontal wipe for the tag barrel can randomly take from a few seconds to several minutes. I barely managed to finish the timed sequence with two minutes to spare, even with the full set of blueprints delivered.