Random slowdowns on PS Games with Retropie 3 B

stoo

@tiagop That's exactly the version I'm using.

Ok, the slowdown is the game itself. Tried it on my gaming PC which can run lr-psx-beetle without any problems. Native resolution, native everything, there are HUGE framerate drops in the training section.

Game should be called Tomb Raider II - Starring Least Optimized Engine and Least Responsive Controls

tiagop

@stoo Thanks for testing it, then surely the problem is in the ROM? Glad the problem wasn't on my RPi, I will try to test it later but just the Tomb Raider II (no version thingie) @quicksilver is this the ROM you used since you had 0 problems?

BobHarris

@tiagop It's the exact same version as I use. There is some judder when panning around in a new area, but that's it and that is normal. Can't you post a video on youtube showing the slowdown?
Preferably at the worst spot (speedboat venice?).Then we can see if it's normal or not.

tiagop

@bobharris I will try but I can only do that on the weekend :/

BobHarris

@tiagop

That's me playing. I had fun, it's been 20 years since I played this part, which you can see as I got lost at the end. :-)
But the point of the video is: No noticable slowdown at all when riding the speedboat. And I even enabled enhanced resolution (with speedhack), bilinear filtering (smoothing) and a scanlines filter (which combined is often too much for the Pi 3 to handle on many ps1 games without overclocking).

Does the game also gives you the option to play demos of Chicken run and Timesplitters? (Then it's exactly the same version).

tiagop

@bobharris Yes it is the same version, Is that a 1080p TV? My raspberry is rendering at 1920x1080 (defaults), could it be this? In that same zone as the video I notice minor slowdowns on my game yet on your video I don't see them. Thanks for testing it

BobHarris

@tiagop Yes 1080p tv and yes 1080p resolution. I only play N64 games on a lower resolution.

tiagop

@bobharris I'm going to try to make a video later today or tomorrow to show you what happens

quicksilver

@tiagop yes, mine is v1.3 cue/bin format

stoo

@quicksilver @bobharris @tiagop @quicksilver I think maybe I've cracked tiagop's problem:

tiagop are you using the emulated BIOS instead of real PSX BIOS files?

I just deleted my BIOS files to test and the slowdown increased for me like 2x. Put them back and it's fine again.

You need scph5500.bin scph5501.bin and scph5502.bin in /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/

tiagop

@stoo I only placed the SCPH1001.BIN in /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS, I will try to get those 3 files and put it there later today, fingers crossed!

BobHarris

@tiagop I don't think it will make a difference though as I am also using SCPH1001.BIN

stoo

@bobharris It absolutely does. Try it. Play Lara's Home with the 3 BIOS files I mentioned and without. You'll see a huge difference, particularly around the water and trellis climbing areas.

tiagop

@stoo That's exactly where I have problems! I'm gonna delete the SCPH1001.BIN and get scph5500.bin scph5501.bin and scph5502.bin. I will tell you guys how it went, it can't hurt :)

stoo

@tiagop Cool. There are still some framerate drops whenever the mansion is in view (like in the vid below at around 3mins 20secs), but I've tested and that is present in lr-psx-beetle as well, which means it's present on a real PS1.

tiagop

@stoo Yeah at the area at 3min and 20sec I get the same kind of stuttering and I'm OK with it. But the Venice level for example is horrible, I remember playing it on the PSP and having no issues on any level (can't remember if I played Lara's home there).

quicksilver

@bobharris same, I am also only using SCPH1001

BobHarris

@stoo I believe you when you say there is a difference between an emulated bios and a real ps1 bios, but why would there be such a difference between two real bios files? As I said before: I don't notice any of tiagops slowdowns and I share his bios file.
ButI agree it can't hurt for him to try it out.

Shakz

@tiagop Howdy Friend....this thread is huge but....has anyone suggested to you yet that it may be your power supply? I have a video showing the difference between a good power supply and a bad power supply (link to my channel in my sig). If I recall I used Einhander as a test PSX game.

When the Pi is not getting enough juice it will start shutting down cores in the CPU to conserve power. This causes bad performance, choppy audio and video. Do you ever notice any lightning bolts/rainbow squares in the top right of your screen when booting the pi or just randomly? This is a tell that your pi isn't getting enough power. It could also be the cord. I get a TON of questions on youtube ( I try to answer them all ) and either the power supply or the cord is the issue in most cases....

stoo

@bobharris PCSX-rearmed doesn't use scph1001. You're using emulated BIOS.

https://docs.libretro.com/library/pcsx_rearmed/

Lol, I just noticed the RetroPie docs say to use scph1001. I'm going to assume that the guys at Libretro are correct and the RetroPie docs are outdated.