PS1 games that have bugs in retropie

[DD-Indeed]

@bobharris

I don't use eboot, I use just the regular BIN-images. Compressing BIN-images to EBOOT doesn't make the quality of the sound better. It's something else I'm having issue with. The overall audio is a bit muffled, no matter what Interpolation options I used.

I didn't also have any popup, but I noticed couple small artifacts with the screen trasitions on multiple games, such as fade outs, etc, when loading another map, etc.

[BobHarris]

@dd-indeed I haven't changed anything in the settings..Warped worked great straight away. Maybe try a different image?

[DD-Indeed]

@bobharris

I could yea.

Now I figured out something: VSync is messing up the audio in some games, causing them to stutter all the time. I now disabled it problem was solved, C-12 at least runs smoothly now.

Edit: It helps, but apparrently doesn't fix it completely.

[Aengeon]

@dd-indeed RPi3, using the stock lr-pcsx-rearmed.

[DD-Indeed]

@aengeon

Allright, I included your notes there.

[DD-Indeed]

@bobharris

Btw, since you have zero issues with most games we both have been testing, could you write down the information about the system you use, possible overclocking values, VRAM value, emulation settings and the memory devices you use. I could then make some comparison and start to search why such issues happen on me, but not you.

Edit: I think that we could open up Discord channel for these tests, where we could share information, so we don't need to spam this whole topic with other troubleshooting and information.

[dankcushions]

@dd-indeed said in PS1 games that have bugs in retropie:

GT2 = Various graphical glitches when having fade out transition (Disabling interlacing from config helped a bit)

Die Hard Trilogy 2 = Slow menu, music plays at half speed, sluggish gameplay and sound issues. (edit: putting Sound Interpolation to Simple helps a bit)

both these settings (interlacing off and interpolation = simple) are the default in retropie (indeed, just with lr-pcsx_rearmed in general). i suspect your config is messed up, or at least non-default.

you can see the default settings here: https://github.com/libretro/pcsx_rearmed/blob/master/frontend/libretro.c#L437 - the first option in the pipe-delimited list is the default. eg:

{ "pcsx_rearmed_spu_interpolation", "Sound: Interpolation; simple|gaussian|cubic|off" },

default = simple

[DD-Indeed]

@dankcushions

Well could I just delete the config and will the Retroarch just create new one automatically after that ?

If that is not helping, then the issue lies within the data loading stream, that causes these sort of issues, where the game is unstable and the audio has all sorts of cuts and lag.

[dankcushions]

@dd-indeed said in PS1 games that have bugs in retropie:

@dankcushions

Well could I just delete the config and will the Retroarch just create new one automatically after that ?

delete which config? there's several relevant ones.

/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg
/opt/retropie/configs/psx/retroarch.cfg
DO NOT delete these, as retroarch's defaults are not good for retropie. instead, reinstall retroarch AND lr-pcsx_rearmed via retropie-setup, and then look in those folders for retroarch.cfg.rp-dist files, and delete the above, and rename EACHretroarch.cfg.rp-dist to retroarch.cfg

/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-core-options.cfg
you could delete this, but maybe you want to keep your emulator settings in other emulators. if you open this file and remove all pcsx lines, then that will reset pcsx back to the defaults, at least.

now, if you've (knowingly? unknowingly?) created per-game configs or anything like that... all bets are off.

i would be tempted to just start again from a brand new image.

If that is not helping, then the issue lies within the data loading stream, that causes these sort of issues, where the game is unstable and the audio has all sorts of cuts and lag.

can you post your /boot/config.txt ?

[DD-Indeed]

@dankcushions

Here's the config:

Pastebin - config.txt

I can do some minor tweak to some stuff, but I won't start to go through the entire system again, as it otherwise works well.

[dankcushions]

@dd-indeed

arm_freq=1350
gpu_freq=525
core_freq=525
sdram_freq=500
over_voltage=6
v3d_freq=525
force_turbo=1
avoid_pwm_pll=1

this is a fairly aggressive overclock (and mostly pointless, IMO). one possible symptom of too much overclocking can be memory corruption which could lead to failed memory reads (stuttering, etc). the system will also downclock (perform worse) when temperature is too high.

whenever you're debugging anything, always remove all overclocking.

gpu_mem=400

this is either redundant or pointless. either way i would get rid of it. see https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Memory-Split/

I can do some minor tweak to some stuff, but I won't start to go through the entire system again, as it otherwise works well.

i can understand that, but that's one of the things that makes issues very difficult to debug or pointless to compare, when people have made such drastic changes to their systems.

[DD-Indeed]

@dankcushions

It is, but the page where I found those had the whole overclocking feature explained properly, so I could get it working as well, since it was written clearly. I could reduce those slightly, as I've already having overheat issues.

Edit: Okay, I went with these values now, gotta play with the machine for a bit longer to see does it heat as much anymore.

arm_freq=1250
gpu_freq=500
core_freq=500
sdram_freq=450
over_voltage=5
v3d_freq=500
force_turbo=1
avoid_pwm_pll=1
disable_splash=1

Briefly tested couple games, performance was good overall, maybe slight hiccups here and there compared to the previous overclock settings, but was good overall.

[BobHarris]

@dd-indeed I have little knowledge about the inner workings of emulators so I keep things by their default values. The only settings I change are the ones that improve the graphics to me (smoothing, scanlines), but those can only harm and not improve the experience.
Also I only play PS1 and older consoles so I don't bother with overclocking.

I use a Pi 3B , Retropie 4.2, stock PS1 emulator, and I load the games from a Sandisk Fit Ultra 32 gb usb-stick. The micro sd card is also a Sandisk , 16 gb I don't remember which class but it's old and was cheap ..definitely <10.

[DD-Indeed]

@bobharris

So you are running them with stock resolution as well ? I use double resolution/enhanced graphics option to make them more crispy to eyes, so of course I might have some issues with certain games. About the SD card, I remember it being cheaper one, but I used it on a phone previosly and it didn't have any issues with it.

[dankcushions]

@dd-indeed said in PS1 games that have bugs in retropie:

@bobharris

So you are running them with stock resolution as well ? I use double resolution/enhanced graphics option to make them more crispy to eyes, so of course I might have some issues with certain games. About the SD card, I remember it being cheaper one, but I used it on a phone previosly and it didn't have any issues with it.

the enhance graphics option and the necessary speed hack option (presumably you have that enabled??) cause many (mostly) minor graphical corruptions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Playstation-1/#enhanced-graphics

[BobHarris]

@dd-indeed Yes, the default setting fills the screen up to a full 4:3 ratio right? Otherwise I have expanded the screen size.

[dankcushions]

@bobharris said in PS1 games that have bugs in retropie:

@dd-indeed Yes, the default setting fills the screen up to a full 4:3 ratio right? Otherwise I have expanded the screen size.

no that's different. we're talking about https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Playstation-1/#enhanced-graphics

[DD-Indeed]

@dankcushions said in PS1 games that have bugs in retropie:

the enhance graphics option and the necessary speed hack option (presumably you have that enabled??) cause many (mostly) minor graphical corruptions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Playstation-1/#enhanced-graphics

Yea I use that.

Okay, gotta update the sheet again to include the double resolution note.

So, for sheet users, remember to use this to indicate the double resolution, if you use it:

Double Resolution = DR

[DD-Indeed]

One thing I started to think about with PS1 games on RetroPie software is that what other video driver plugins are there available right now and what are the ones that are supported ? I read something about Vulcan, that it has more advanced features over the standard GL.

[dankcushions]

@dd-indeed said in PS1 games that have bugs in retropie:

One thing I started to think about with PS1 games on RetroPie software is that what other video driver plugins are there available right now and what are the ones that are supported ? I read something about Vulcan, that it has more advanced features over the standard GL.

pi doesn't support vulcan. you can try dispmanx which has allegedly better input lag, but doesn't support OSD messages, shaders, or rotation.

vulcan wouldn't give any advantage in pcsx_rearmed, but it is better in beetle-psx (which would also need a much better CPU).