Soul Reaver 2 Cutscene Issue

[Profane]

PLACEHOLDER EDIT: Reducing the Blending Unit Accuracy to "None - fastest" seems to have fixed the issue.
False alarm, encountered same issue an hour later.


Hi all,

I recently made a .iso virtual copy of Soul Reaver 2 and having downloading the v1.5.0-dev-1774-g3fab287 build was relieved to discover that the hardware mipmapping issue had been resolved.
However, after the confrontation with Kain at the pillars of Nosgoth (about half an hour into the game including cutscenes) there is a short walk in the spectral realm to yet another cutscene.
Upon this cutscene triggering unusual sounds start playing in the places I'm assuming the game is attempting to play Raziel's voice clips; this does not last long however as when the camera cuts to a close up of Raziel the game soft locks. I am able to pause and return to the title screen (upon which an unusual SFX plays instead of the main menu music) but that's as far as I can get.

A quick search revealed other users have had similar problems in various places within the early parts of the game, but one user I noticed is having the same issue in exactly the same place. I don't particularly want to bring any attention to that specific user for reasons found within their two threads on the very same topic, but I'm out of ideas regarding how to solve my problem.

Specs are as follows:

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti Matrix;
CPU: i5-4670k @ 3.40 GHz;
OS: Windows 10 Home;
RAM: 16GB;

Iso being used: SLES_50196.iso (clean rip using Daemon Tools Lite)
I'm currently using the "1 - safest" preset in the emulation settings.

I have widescreen patches enabled.

Here is an image of my GSdx settings:
http://imgur.com/a/X4oSh
(I also have FXAA enabled)

Here is an image of my SPU2-X settings:
http://imgur.com/a/IVEiU

No save states were used.
 
If there is anything I've missed, please let me know and I'll amend as soon as possible.

Thanks in advance.

[Ulblast]

I had sound issues with Soul Reaver too. Gonna see if that blending unit accuracy thing changes anything for me.

[Profane]

Not sure if changing the Blending Unit Accuracy did the trick or whether it was just coincidence that the cutscene didn't crash. Regardless I ran into practically the same issue an hour later in a different cutscene.

[prafull]

Open SPU2-X.ini file and change delaycycles value to 0. Check if it makes any difference.

[Ulblast]

Okay I tested it again first with no Blending Unit Accuracy and then with delaycycles set to 0. Didn't make any difference.
The game loses audio after the area where you see Vorador for the first time and have to switch to spectral realm to gain entry to the area. The music is replaced by random crackling instruments and when you encounter the mural where Raziel is supposed to describe with a voice over, its completely silent apart from the crackling audio. This does not happen at the same place every time though. I managed to get past the mural narration and the light chamber without encountering the audio bug but then it hit again.

[Profane]

Open SPU2-X.ini file and change delaycycles value to 0. Check if it makes any difference.

Tried this, crashed in the same place. The issue seems to arise whenever a sound is to be played. In the cutscenes for example, it was Raziel's voice clips that were the first sign of an issue. In my current situation it triggers as I phase through a gate in the spectral realm, instead of the normal sfx that is played upon completing the phase through a sharp high pitched noise is played and from that point onwards there is a crackling sound and no cutscenes will play without some odd or softlocking issue.

Appreciate the help!

EDIT: Changing the Mipmapping (ins) to "Basic(fast)" has gotten me through the cutscene I was previously stuck at. Going to continue playing to see if this has permanently resolved the issue.

DOUBLE EDIT: Nope, issue returned halfway through the dungeon in which you acquire the Dark Reaver. No crash yet but it seems inevitable now that the audio is crapping out.

TRIPLE EDIT: Disabling CRC Hack fixed the issue in the Dark Reaver temple but it soon returned in the Light Reaver Temple. No crash but irritating noises and can only assume a crash will happen.

[ShadedTear]

Could you post your memory card save (before a cutscene that's causing an issue would be best) so I can try and see what's going on and maybe find you a solution?

Also, have you tried switching your Synchronizing mode to Asynch Mix?

[Profane]

Could you post your memory card save (before a cutscene that's causing an issue would be best) so I can try and see what's going on and maybe find you a solution?

Also, have you tried switching your Synchronizing mode to Asynch Mix?

Additional to my previous post: Disabling CRC Hack fixed the issue in the Dark Reaver temple but it soon returned in the Light Reaver Temple. No crash but irritating noises and can only assume a crash will happen.

I've just changed synch settings but am now being whisked away by life so I won't be able to verify or not whether this has fixed the issue for a couple of hours.

I've uploaded my memory card .ps2 at the link below:
http://www.megafileupload.com/p0pp/my_memory_card.ps2

Thanks for the suggestion, fingers crossed it's the final needle in the haystack!

EDIT:

Can confirm game now crashes in early portions of the game again, I just can't find a config that'll run this game start to finish without any serious issues. Completely out of ideas and at the mercy of those of you more experienced with troubleshooting this kind of issue.

[ShadedTear]

Tried grabbing it from there but my FF claims virus. Probably a false positive. But that's okay, since it's the early portion I'll just run through on my own tonight and see if I encounter any issues on my end.

[Profane]

Tried grabbing it from there but my FF claims virus. Probably a false positive. But that's okay, since it's the early portion I'll just run through on my own tonight and see if I encounter any issues on my end.

I assure you there was nothing malicious within the file I uploaded, I can't however speak for the reputation of the file hosting site. I typically see it being used all over the place hence why I opted for it. All the issues I've ran into have been within the first two hours of the game from which I haven't been able to continue so it shouldn't take too long to start seeing the problem areas.

Thanks again for helping with this!