Lag?

Trouble with Synthesia, your keyboard, or adapter? Think you found a bug?
When describing problems, always mention your OS and game version (shown at the bottom of the title screen).

If your keyboard has USB or MIDI ports, there is a tremendously high chance (>99%) it will work with Synthesia. See what you'll need on the keyboards page.
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simcon
Posts: 8

Post by simcon »

Hi, i recently downloaded the latest version of synthesia. I have yet to buy a keyboard but may get one in the very near future. My problem at the moment is i'm having a bit of a lag on the mouse and even if i try and play notes on my computer keyboard. Is this normal and will it be solved when i buy a keyboard?

Thanks
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

No, that lag isn't supposed to be happening -- free version or not.

Try to use the configuration tool and see if you can't find some video settings that make the problem go away. If you switch between DirectX and OpenGL, sometimes there will be an improvement.

Trying running it as a small window (1024x600) or using one of the smaller full-screen custom resolutions listed there.

If nothing seems to help, you might want to see if there are any driver updates available for your video card. Often, if they're very old, simply updating them can provide a nice performance boost.

You'll be able to tell the effect of any one of those steps by checking the frame-rate in the game. You can press F6 any time Synthesia is running and a little number will appear in the top-left corner of the screen. Ideally, that number should be around 60 for things to be running smoothly. Any lower and it'll look like there is lag.
simcon
Posts: 8

Post by simcon »

I have seemed to be able to get rid of the mouse lag by disabling v-sync but i still seem to have a bit of trouble with a slight delay between me hitting a key on my computer keyboard and hearing a sound and have same problem if i use the mouse to play a key. It is not a very long delay but enough for me to miss quite a few notes as i play along. Any help would be much appreciated
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cairnz
Posts: 182

Post by cairnz »

The sound lag is the way your computer works. Your soundcard if using Directsound has a buffer that lasts for typically 20-50ms by default.

If you have any options in output device to either route it back to your keyboard (if it produces souund), or use a built-in synth for your soundcard (for example creative audigy ones has very low latency synths, and works with ASIO as well), or use ASIO4ALL or similar solutions it would take care of the sound latency problem.

mac users don't have this problem at all, the sound part of the kernel there is more or less zero latency
simcon
Posts: 8

Post by simcon »

So i am guessing the note isn't accepted as hit until the sound is played? As when i press the key it takes a while to register it as being hit and therefore i miss the notes.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

simcon wrote:So i am guessing the note isn't accepted as hit until the sound is played?
Input lag is usually very low. You should be seeing about the same timing from your mouse-clicking keys as you are computer keyboard pressing keys.

When you press F6, what sort of numbers do you see in the top corner of the screen? Are they very low?
simcon
Posts: 8

Post by simcon »

Thanks for your help. It seems that once vsync is turned off it get around 500fps during a song. The fact vsync was turned on semes to have been the main problem with the lag. I tested the mouse clicking vs the keyboard and it is the same :D
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