N64 emulators freezes after 30 seconds of gameplay

Solaris

Hello,

I tried to find a solution for this for many weeks but haven't found the problem yet.

I am running an OC Raspberry Pi 3 and I can get every console up and running up to the Dreamcast but can't play N64 roms at all. When I load a ROM, it begins to play at almost 30 FPS, run great with a few graphical glitches and then freezes after 30 sec of actual gameplay. Weird thing is, the PI is not frozen. I can still ssh on it! I check the temp and the PI runs cool with a Heatsink and fan setup...

I tried with and without OC and it's the same result.

My OC settings are:

#Overclock Settings
arm_freq=1300
gpu_freq=500
sdram_freq=500
over_voltage=6
v3d_freq=525

I used the config from https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Optimization-for-Nintendo-64.

I changed emulators many time and same result. I haven't located the log file though... Anybody have seen this problem? I got no clue what's going on...

dankcushions

which power supply? do you see a lightning bolt symbol?

psyke83

@solaris said in [N64 emulators freezes after 30 seconds of gameplay]

I used the config from https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Optimization-for-Nintendo-64.

I changed emulators many time and same result. I haven't located the log file though... Anybody have seen this problem? I got no clue what's going on...

Remove the overclock and try again. I also experienced freezes with the settings on that page - the specific tolerance for each board is different.

When the Pi appears frozen but SSH works, it's most likely that the VideoCore IV GPU has crashed - due to overclocking, most likely - which doesn't always cause the ARM core to crash.

Solaris

@psyke83 Allright, going to give it another go. I'll be back with the results soon. I'll unclock a few settings. I'm going to try with 1250mhz instead pf 1450mhz to begin.

Hope performances won't take too much of a hit.

Solaris

@psyke83 Well you were right... I downclocked everything and bam no more freeze... wierd it only does that in the N64 emulators. Now most of the game run like crap but I'll play with the settings a bit to hit that sweet spot.

Thanks a lot!

Case closed!

psyke83

@solaris

No problem. I had the same experience in which everything seemed stable except N64 emulation. I guess it pushes the Pi harder than any of the other emulators.

Try to overclock only the GPU, or choose a more conservative overclock value. Also, be sure to try different N64 cores (and experiment with each of the N64's core settings) or the standalone mupen64plus emulator.