Hacking Strange sound issues

[Kaleph]

Ok after much searching i am stumped!
So i did the twilight hack ages ago on my wii and just recently updated to cIOS 38 rev 14 on my NTSC wii. I also installed preloader .29 and updated to systemmenu 4.1U.

Now heres where it gets weird all the games i play via usb loader or gamma have poor sound quality like a lowfi mp3 any idea as to why this is? I dont recall it sounding like this before but eh thanks to work i didnt get to spend enough quality time with my wii so maybe the quality is normal.

Any thoughts?

K

 

[dkelley]

FYI me too. I'm actually starting to notice that with all of my sound from the wii though, even the system menu sound when selecting a channel has that high frequency "low bitrate" sound very slightly (like a very subtle fuzz etc). I'm a recording engineer so maybe I'm being really picky, but I recently updated to 4.1 from 3.3 using all of the correct methods (ultimate 4.1 guide or whatever it's called now), all's good, I don't recall that sound issue with 3.3 though.

with wiiware I kind of expect it I suppose. but with the system menu? it's subtle and might just be me being really picky, maybe I never noticed it before.

But I'd SWEAR that in 4.1 (or maybe 4.x) nintendo has removed some kind of high frequency filtering to remove noise and as a result it sounds less warm than it did before.

I hope that's all it is, we use our wii all the time and take good care of it, it's never in standby mode and it runs through my high end surround system that I setup myself. I'll check my cables etc but I can't imagine a bad cable having that particular result. It could hum, yes (it actually used to for a while), but not add noise of this type.

anyone else notice this? it's subtle on the system menu, it's quite dramatic with wiiware games I've been using recently. I admit to not having played my wiiware for a long time until the new sd loading feature in 4.x so maybe I just never noticed wiiware's low bitrate audio issue. it certainly is possible, wiiware is very small, but these days there are better ways to make small audio files than using what sounds like 8 bit audio output LoL.

Is there digital audio out from the wii? maybe I'll try that connection if there is. I have a feeling it's analog audio out only though...

Cheers

 

[dkelley]

PS - I shouldn't say "all the sound from my wii" actually. I will try my legal originals tonight to see if they have these issues also. If so then it's "all the sound", otherwise it's only... erm... "backups" and as noted possibly some of the system menu stuff.

I know one thing that might be causing system menu audio changes, I used preloader .29 to remove system menu music and noises, but it does leave in certain sounds when launching a channel as noted, maybe that particular hack does something bad to the sound quality? unlikely, but worth noting my setup anyway.

 

[Kaleph]

Yea its noticable in systemmenu, channel BGM/effects, and games. Im stumped on the culprit tho im gonna look up the steps to unsoftmod my wii and gonna start fresh using a clean 4.1U install off the NUS. Im thinking a factory format should do the trick then fire up bannerbomb and rework the system. Ill test my non backups as well to see if its limited to my backups.

Ill be back after some testing.

You hit it dead on tho it sounds like 8 bit sound coming from everything be it VC stuff or actual Wii games.

K

 

[Kaleph]

Hmm interesting ok non backup sounds perfect and after trying the same game with a non backup the backup version plays perfect as well. Very odd going to test more although i dont think ill reformat now. This is all using configurableUSBloader with a 1TB Seagate Freeagent (not go). Anyone have any thoughts this is very odd?

 

[Lexip;]

does your usb drive have a power supply?

 

[Kaleph]

Yes it does although the sound issue was present using a burned disc as well with the usb drive disconnected so i ruled out interference or spiking from the usb drive and the wii itself is connected to a filtered power source.

 

[dkelley]

and I wasn't using a usb drive, just a 2gb sd card for my homebrew etc, sd backups, saves, and rockband 2 game downloads and burned dvdr discs as always (with a setup that was soft modded with the original mods way for wiiware only right on up to the current neogamma R6, cios rev 14, etc.

I'll mess with that tonight (playing real disc first then comparing before/after sound quality of that and of burned games/wiiware/UI) to see if I get the same thing going on that Kaleph experienced where it improved after playing a normal disc.

cheers
D

 

[dkelley]

come to think of it it's slightly possible that I first experienced it with a burn of ghostbusters (which I played first on 3.3 before upgrading to 4.1) but I'm probably wrong. it seems to be around the time I upgraded, but wanted to mention that it might be ghostbusters, not the 4.1 upgrade, that caused this. I'm very likely wrong though as it seems unlikely that running ghostbusters could do this.

sorry for the rambling post, it's probably irrelevant.

 

[Kaleph]

Ok after alot of testing it seems the sound is perfect if there is a non backup disk in the drive and crappy if theres a backup or no disk in the drive. Now i dont recall there being a problem when i was running 3.2 with cIOS rev3 but at that time i was only running burns not USB so between 3.2 and 4.1 something changed on my system. Anyone out there have any similar issues running 4.1? and what about 3.2?

K

 

[dkelley]

for me it's all perfect now that I disabled the .29 system hack to have no sound in the system menu. not sure if that's really the issue, but switching that off and running a real game sounded great, as do all my backups now since too. all fixed. so maybe avoid that systemhack for no sound in system menu?

 

[dkelley]

I'm wrong, it's baaaaaaack! that nasty 8 bit type of high frequency sound quality is here again. I don't know why, but it's REALLY GRATING ON THE EARS.

trying to get rid of it by playing with enabling/disabling various system menu hacks right now, so far no dice.

D

Posts merged

ok, just ENABLED the preloader .29 system menu things (Both of them) to remove/reduce system menu music etc. restarted wii. FIXED the cruddy sound issue!

WTF??

 

[reub303]

I'm not sure if I have the same issue as you guys, I've recently noticed sound from the wiimote is sometimes broken up and distorted a lot, ever since installing preloader, Although I only noticed it a few days after installing preloader so not sure if that was it. I don't have disable music hacks on either, only block updates. Now I haven't been playing anything lately but when i get some time I'll check if the audio sounds more lowfi, and see if uninstalling preloader helps.

 

[dkelley]

that's PROBABLY a different issue, certainly we're talking about the sound from the main audio outputs, not the wiimote, but who knows, it could be the same issue causing it. Certainly I've never heard good sound from my wiimote yet, ever, so in that way I wouldn't really complain LoL.

I'd like to konw why this keeps coming and going all the time on my system. I bet I'm not one of hte only two people, probably lots are having this issue but just haven't noticed yet.

 

[OriginalHamster]

Glad some people notice it

I will list instances when the subtle buzz appear:

-After playing a movie through MPlayer CE.
-After playing GBA games on VBA GX.
-In some HBC apps, it´s random thought.

The buzz will be present after exit HBC, in system menu, AND this will be carried to a Wii/VC/Wiiware game. To prevent this just turn off the console, turn on again and make sure don´t enter to HBC if you plan play some games.

I think it´s a problem with some HBC apps which is carried over system menu, if people notice this problem un USB Loader is easy realise that is an app specific problem, maybe the libs used by an app? I dunno, but some apps seems put this buzz on the Wii. I notice it very quickly, because my sound system and my picky ears

NOTE: I have no preloader no hacks garbage on my system, pretty sure thats what is causing the permanent buzz.

 

[the_lobe]

I noticed this after playing a burned WarioLand: Shake It, and found this post from a google search. Seems Kaleph was right, I popped the disc out, rebooted the console, and all was right with the world. Somehow or another it only occurs when there is a burned game in the drive.

A very strange issue indeed, I'm hoping for a fix but I can live with it for now :/