lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4

mitu

Replace the contents of the retroarch.cfg (in the nes folder) with

# Settings made here will only override settings in the global retroarch.cfg if placed above the #include line

input_remapping_directory = "/opt/retropie/configs/nes/"
#include "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg"

This should get you the stock settings.

Used2BeRX

@mitu said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

Replace the contents of the retroarch.cfg (in the nes folder) with
# Settings made here will only override settings in the global retroarch.cfg if placed above the #include line

input_remapping_directory = "/opt/retropie/configs/nes/"
#include "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg"
This should get you the stock settings.

Yeah. I actually did that by renaming retroarch.cfg to retroarchBAK.cfg then copying retroarch.cfg.rp-dist to retroarch.cfg. There actually did seem to be a bit of improvement, but not enough. It's still laggy and has audio stutter.

Now that we're updated to the same RetroArch and emulator, we've got the same RetroArch Green Screen, and we're using the default retroarch.cfg options, if there is nothing more you can think of to try tweaking (or un-tweaking) at this point, maybe I should just run another runcommand.log and show you the new results?

Used2BeRX

@mitu

I went ahead and re-tested. Here's the results: https://pastebin.com/Ptgmb9cj

~~It occurs to me again that the 4.4 is the only version I've tested out of the 3 that comes up with those alsa_thread errors.~~ (This is not true. It happened with 4.3 as well after the update. But on 4.3 I still didn't have any problem with Super Mario All-Stars, so I doubt anything I try below is going to fix this. I'm still going to try it though.)...

I'm going to see if I can somehow fix that and force alsathread and see if this at least fix the NES portion of our issues here.

EDIT: Hmmmmmm.... I might be onto something here. I just tested 7th Saga with verbose logging to get the runncomand.log and the log for 7th Saga is showing the following errors as well:

[ERROR] Couldn't find any audio driver named "alsa_thread"
[INFO] Available audio drivers are:
[INFO] alsa
[INFO] alsathread
[INFO] tinyalsa
[INFO] sdl2
[INFO] null
[WARN] Going to default to first audio driver...

This would mean that in both instances (NES and SNES) and likely every other system on the Pi Zero using this 4.4 image, it is defaulting to the first option alsa instead of alsathread. I don't know how much impact this does or does not have on the speed of the emulation on the Pi Zero, but to the article here (https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Speed-Issues), you are supposed to put # Audio driver backend. audio_driver = alsathread for better speed.

I'll let you know if I can fix this or not and if it has any effect.

EDIT: Options for 6 audio_driver () when in the RetroPie Setup and inside the retroarch.cfg for "All" are as follows:

U unset / 0 alsa / 1 alsa_thread / 2 sdl2

Even if this doesn't solve my speed issues here, you guys may want to look into this? It seems that selecting this setting in the RetroPie setup makes the cfg file read alsa_thread when it's looking for alsathread. I'm going to manually change it and do another runcommand.log.

Used2BeRX

@mitu @dankcushions

Okay. I had to manually change the following entry in the /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg file:

audio_driver = "alsa_thread"

Changed it to...

audio_driver = "alsathread"

Re-ran SMAS on lr-nestopia with logging. Now all the alsathread errors are gone. (Please somebody else try this and tell me if there is a problem with the alsathread option after doing an update to the latest.

Unfortunately, this does not fix the lag and audio stutter in All-Stars either.

I'm going to try running 7th Saga with logging and see if it's any better. Not very hopeful though since All-Stars is still a problem.

EDIT: I had to also change the alsa_thread to alsathread in the SNES specific retroarch.cfg file since I also had it there. After changing it in both places I re-ran the game and now all of the alsathread errors are gone there as well.

Still does not improve the quality or speed of the gameplay in lr-snes9x2002 though. :(

Used2BeRX

Alright.... keeping it EXTREMELY SIMPLE from here on out. (at least that's the plan).

In RetroPie 4.3 (after updating all packages except for the OS/Kernel and overclocking the CPU), I have zero issues running Super Mario All-Stars NES in lr-nestopia. I also have zero issues running The 7th Saga in lr-snes9x2002. There are ZERO changes in the SNES runcommand menu options, and the default emulator is lr-snes9x2002.

Here are the ONLY things that I changed in the global configuration file before I began any testing in 4.3:

Video Smoothing (true)
Render Resolution (320x240)
~~audio_driver (alsa_thread)~~ *

"alsa_thread" doesn't even matter apparently since I get audio errors (in the runcommand.log) because choosing alsa_thread as an option in RetroPie Setup throws errors on every game launch since it is expecting alsathreadwithout the underscore instead. So it is defaulting to the first choice alsa anyhow. I'm not sure when this broke, but it happens on 4.4 and it happened on my 4.3 build after updating everything. So for testing the 4.4 I will NOT be changing the default audio_driver either. You could manually go into the retroarch.cfg and remove that underscore and it will stop the errors, but I didn't do that on my 4.3 build, so I won't be changing that option for the 4.4 build either.

These are the ONLY options I changed in my brand spakin' new 4.3 build. I did not change a single thing in either the NES or SNES retroarch.cfg files this time.

Currently, I'm in the process of making a 4th SD card. It is a fresh image of RP 4.4 for the Pi 1 and Pi 0. I will run both of these games with that new image after updating everything, including the OS/Kernel and ONLY making the changes above and I will post my results here.

The only other necessary change I am making that was also made to the 4.3 image that has no problem is overclocking the CPU. This is done by adding the following lines to /boot/cfg.txt:

arm_freq=1000
gpu_freq=500
core_freq=500
sdram_freq=500
sdram_schmoo=0x02000020
over_voltage=2
sdram_over_voltage=2

All testing is done using different SD cars on the exact same physical Pi Zero. They are all identical SanDisk Ultra 32GB cards.

Used2BeRX

@mitu @dankcushions @BuZz

Houston, we have a problem.

You can see what I did on my last post. I have fresh 4.3 and 4.4 installs of RetroPie for the Pi Zero that I'm running on the same physical Pi Zero.

"Super Mario All-Stars NES" in lr-nestopia runs slow and massive audio stutter in 4.4 (1.7.3 - Nestopia 1.49-WIP 5ecea44) but works fine in 4.3.

"The 7th Saga" in lr-snes9x2002 runs slow with massive audio stutter in 4.4 (1.7.3 - Snes9x2002 7.2.0) but works fine in 4.3.

This problem is very real and is now verified on my end. The only changes I made to either build are listed in the previous post. RetroPie 4.4 greatly reduces performance in both NES and SNES emulators.

However, I did test quite a few arcade/neo geo games and got them to work at what seems to be full speed on the 4.4. Doom/Doom II and the expansions work good as well. Quake runs like crap, even with a very small screen. I'm going to have to re-test that one now on the 4.3 build to see if it plays better there.

So.... thanks for all the help so far @mitu

What do I have to do at this point for you guys to take me seriously on this issue now? Just name it.

Used2BeRX

@mitu @dankcushions @BuZz

I took it upon myself to re-test both games in both the brand new 4.3 and brand new 4.4 builds. Here's the pertinent info, as well as pastebin links to the full logs...

4.3 SuperMarioAll-StarsNES lr-nestopia - 5 minutes (8:25:49-8:30:49)
1.7.3 - Nestopia 1.49-WIP 5ecea44
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 18029, Frames dropped: 1.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/cb5whqcw

4.4 SuperMarioAll-StarsNES lr-nestopia - 5 minutes (7:59:49-8:04:49)
1.7.3 - Nestopia 1.49-WIP 5ecea44
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 14526, Frames dropped: 3.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/mQvAB0AW

4.3 7thSaga lr-snes9x2002 - 5 minutes (8:18:46-8:23:46)
1.7.3 - Snes9x 2002 7.2.0
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 18042, Frames dropped: 0.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/6yJpR62T

4.4 7thSaga lr-snes9x2002 - 5 minutes (8:05:54-8:10:54)
1.7.3 - Snes9x2002 7.2.0
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 14240, Frames dropped: 1.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/um1KiuZK

Huge differences here. Pretty consistent loss of performance between the two examples too. If I'm reading that right, the 4.4 build is running both of those at about 4/5ths the speed of the 4.3 build?

Let me know if you need anything more from me. I checked the changelog for 4.4 and I can't imagine I'm going to be missing much using a Pi Zero. Most of my desired changes were in the 4.3 build that works great for me, but I will miss Kiosk Mode. I just did all of this for the community and to shed some light on a problem. It's in your hands now. :)

I'll be working on my 4.3 image. ;)

mitu

@used2berx said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

Most of my desired changes were in the 4.3 build that works great for me, but I will miss Kiosk Mode

When you started with a 4.3 image and updated all packages, you've updated to the latest version or Retropie (4.4.2 now). You're basically running the latest versions of the RetroPie distributed software on Raspbian Jessie, whereas starting with a 4.4 image you're running the same software, but on Raspbian Stretch.

So the only difference is the OS. Upgrade the OS on the 4.4 image to the latest (as you already intend to do) and check that your overclock settings are applied, by using the vcgencmd get_config int command after the system is started.

Used2BeRX

@mitu said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

@used2berx said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

Most of my desired changes were in the 4.3 build that works great for me, but I will miss Kiosk Mode

When you started with a 4.3 image and updated all packages, you've updated to the latest version or Retropie (4.4.2 now). You're basically running the latest versions of the RetroPie distributed software on Raspbian Jessie, whereas starting with a 4.4 image you're running the same software, but on Raspbian Stretch.

Oh cool. So you mean that I will have Kiosk mode on my 4.3 build then?

So the only difference is the OS. Upgrade the OS on the 4.4 image to the latest (as you already intend to do) and check that your overclock settings are applied, by using the vcgencmd get_config int command after the system is started.

I already completely upgraded everything available to upgrade before running those tests.

Overclock settings are applied. Ran cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq after applying them and the output was 1000000

Those are the final results, with an overclocked Pi Zero with RP4.4 vs RP4.3. All testing was done on the same physical Pi, and the two images were applied to brand new SanDisk Ultra 32GB SD cards. The only configuration changes were what were stated above, and were the same on both rigs.

4.4 does not play NES or SNES at an acceptable level on a Pi Zero compared to how it performed on 4.3.

mitu

@used2berx said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

Overclock settings are applied. Ran cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq after applying them and the output was 1000000

That may be so, but you should run the vgencmd command and compare the 2 systems. Your problem looks like it's related to the overclock, it looks like it's not applied on the Stretch image in the same way it's applied on the Raspbian image.

What happens if you remove the overclock on the 4.3 start image ? Do you get the same slowdown as in the 4.4 one ?

Used2BeRX

@mitu said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

@used2berx said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

Overclock settings are applied. Ran cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq after applying them and the output was 1000000

That may be so, but you should run the vgencmd command and compare the 2 systems. Your problem looks like it's related to the overclock, it looks like it's not applied on the Stretch image in the same way it's applied on the Raspbian image.

4.3 Image vcgencmd get_config int

arm_freq=1000
audio_pwm_mode=1
config_hdmi_boost=5
core_freq=500
disable_auto_turbo=1
disable_commandline_tags=2
enable_uart=1
force_eeprom_read=1
force_pwm_open=1
framebuffer_ignore_alpha=1
framebuffer_swap=1
gpu_freq=500
hdmi_force_cec_address=65535
ignore_lcd=1
init_uart_clock=0x2dc6c00
over_voltage=2
over_voltage_avs=0x249f0
over_voltage_avs_boost=0x2191c
overscan_bottom=48
overscan_left=48
overscan_right=48
overscan_scale=1
overscan_top=48
pause_burst_frames=1
program_serial_random=1
sdram_freq=500
sdram_schmoo=0x2000020
temp_limit=85

4.4 Image vcgencmd get_config int

aphy_params_current=547
arm_freq=1000
audio_pwm_mode=514
config_hdmi_boost=5
core_freq=500
disable_auto_turbo=1
disable_commandline_tags=2
display_hdmi_rotate=-1
display_lcd_rotate=-1
dphy_params_current=1091
enable_uart=1
force_eeprom_read=1
force_pwm_open=1
framebuffer_ignore_alpha=1
framebuffer_swap=1
gpu_freq=500
hdmi_force_cec_address=65535
ignore_lcd=1
init_uart_clock=0x2dc6c00
over_voltage=2
over_voltage_avs=0x249f0
overscan_bottom=48
overscan_left=48
overscan_right=48
overscan_scale=1
overscan_top=48
pause_burst_frames=1
program_serial_random=1
sdram_freq=500
sdram_schmoo=0x2000020

I'll let you guys try to translate that. Way over my head.

What happens if you remove the overclock on the 4.3 start image ? Do you get the same slowdown as in the 4.4 one ?

Strange.... I commented out all of those lines for overclock that I mentioned above. Still at 1ghz, but a lot of the other stuff is lower than I manually clocked it. I'm not sure why it won't go back down even though I commented all of them out.

7th Saga plays almost just as bad as it did on the 4.4 now. Super Mario All-Stars NES is slower, but is still much more playable than it was on 4.4.

Here's the new output when I comment out all the overclock lines with a # character:

After commenting out overclock lines in 4.3

arm_freq=1000
audio_pwm_mode=1
config_hdmi_boost=5
core_freq=400
disable_auto_turbo=1
disable_commandline_tags=2
enable_uart=1
force_eeprom_read=1
force_pwm_open=1
framebuffer_ignore_alpha=1
framebuffer_swap=1
gpu_freq=300
hdmi_force_cec_address=65535
ignore_lcd=1
init_uart_clock=0x2dc6c00
over_voltage_avs=0x249f0
over_voltage_avs_boost=0x27ac4
overscan_bottom=48
overscan_left=48
overscan_right=48
overscan_scale=1
overscan_top=48
pause_burst_frames=1
program_serial_random=1
sdram_freq=450
temp_limit=85

EDIT: I manually brought the Pi Zero 4.3 back down to 700mhz, which is what the /boot/config.txt file says is the default. I made the line read as follows: arm_freq=700. After a reboot, now it shows the same output as above, but the arm_freq is 700.

Re-ran both games and now they seem to play a bit worse than they do on the 4.4 Pi image. Probably not by much, but it seems more pronounced to me.

Used2BeRX

@mitu said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

@used2berx said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

Overclock settings are applied. Ran cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq after applying them and the output was 1000000

That may be so, but you should run the vgencmd command and compare the 2 systems. Your problem looks like it's related to the overclock, it looks like it's not applied on the Stretch image in the same way it's applied on the Raspbian image.

Well. It's not "my" problem. I already solved my problem by reverting to 4.3.

Just woke up from a long nap and figured there'd be a reply from somebody by now. Even if just to acknowledge this. :(

So.... Is anybody looking into this mitu? If I have this issue than any Pi Zero user that installed 4.4 is running into this as well, whether they know it or not. It's extremely hard trying to figure out how to configure anything to work right with the Zero. Not all that cool to be keeping them hanging with a 20-30% reduction in CPU speed because the overclock isn't working right.

I mean... we didn't know about that until 9 hours ago, but now we do.

mitu

@used2berx I don't have a Pi Zero, so I cannot test and reproduce this slowdown or find a solution. Your tests seem to hint that there isn't a regression on the emulation side, but on the OS side. If you can find a simple test to reproduce this outside RetroPi and show this, then the issue might be transferred upstream (Raspbian).

Used2BeRX

@mitu @dankcushions @BuZz

@mitu said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

@used2berx I don't have a Pi Zero, so I cannot test and reproduce this slowdown or find a solution. Your tests seem to hint that there isn't a regression on the emulation side, but on the OS side. If you can find a simple test to reproduce this outside RetroPi and show this, then the issue might be transferred upstream (Raspbian).

Well... I know nothing about Linux besides what I've learned while working on a Pi, so I'm not going to find anything to test this on.

I assumed that nobody was really interested in this because it's just a Pi Zero. Risking getting down-voted to oblivion again, I'm going to HIGHLY suggest that no further updates be made for a Pi Zero if nobody is going to look into this issue and/or this issue is something that just can't be solved.

The results I've shown are very real, and very easy to reproduce by anybody who has a Pi Zero and two SD cards to do a fresh install of 4.4 and 4.3 with the minor tweaks I listed above.

At the very least, if the RP team is going to continue to put out RP releases for the PI 0/1, then they should come with a warning that system performance may be greatly diminished if you install any RP release beyond 4.3 (Last pre-Stretch release). Which is exactly what I said yesterday before we did any of this testing.

As I said, I've reverted to 4.3 and this solves all of my problems. Especially since the upgrade added Kiosk Mode. There is absolutely nothing that I need that was offered in 4.4 otherwise, and I can't really imagine that 4.4 and beyond will really be all that important to any Pi Zero user. I've done all I'm going to do on this issue. I've presented the facts. It's up to the RP Team what they're going to do with them.

Respectfully, I officially wash my hands of the issue.

pjft

@used2berx said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

4.3 SuperMarioAll-StarsNES lr-nestopia - 5 minutes (8:25:49-8:30:49)
1.7.3 - Nestopia 1.49-WIP 5ecea44
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 18029, Frames dropped: 1.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/cb5whqcw
4.4 SuperMarioAll-StarsNES lr-nestopia - 5 minutes (7:59:49-8:04:49)
1.7.3 - Nestopia 1.49-WIP 5ecea44
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 14526, Frames dropped: 3.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/mQvAB0AW
4.3 7thSaga lr-snes9x2002 - 5 minutes (8:18:46-8:23:46)
1.7.3 - Snes9x 2002 7.2.0
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 18042, Frames dropped: 0.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/6yJpR62T
4.4 7thSaga lr-snes9x2002 - 5 minutes (8:05:54-8:10:54)
1.7.3 - Snes9x2002 7.2.0
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 14240, Frames dropped: 1.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/um1KiuZK

I'm not sure I followed it all, but I take it these tests were run with overclocking on both.

I'm wondering if you'd be able to run one last test without overclocking any and reporting back.

Also, the only difference I spot is on the audio end:

[INFO] ALSA: Period size: 384 frames
[INFO] ALSA: Buffer size: 1536 frames

That being said, I don't know much about retroarch.

if you'd want to send over the retroarch.cfg files for "all" and "nes", for both those clean test setups, they might have more information.

Used2BeRX

@pjft said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

@used2berx said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

4.3 SuperMarioAll-StarsNES lr-nestopia - 5 minutes (8:25:49-8:30:49)
1.7.3 - Nestopia 1.49-WIP 5ecea44
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 18029, Frames dropped: 1.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/cb5whqcw
4.4 SuperMarioAll-StarsNES lr-nestopia - 5 minutes (7:59:49-8:04:49)
1.7.3 - Nestopia 1.49-WIP 5ecea44
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 14526, Frames dropped: 3.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/mQvAB0AW
4.3 7thSaga lr-snes9x2002 - 5 minutes (8:18:46-8:23:46)
1.7.3 - Snes9x 2002 7.2.0
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 18042, Frames dropped: 0.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/6yJpR62T
4.4 7thSaga lr-snes9x2002 - 5 minutes (8:05:54-8:10:54)
1.7.3 - Snes9x2002 7.2.0
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 14240, Frames dropped: 1.
Full Log: https://pastebin.com/um1KiuZK

I'm not sure I followed it all, but I take it these tests were run with overclocking on both.

I'm wondering if you'd be able to run one last test without overclocking any and reporting back.

Yes. There was overclocking done on both. Two posts above the one you just quoted, you will be able to see exactly what was done to both Pi setups before getting those results.

I'm probably not going to do any more tests and distance myself from this issue since some clown keeps popping in here and downvoting me. Plus, it doesn't look as though anybody in charge has any interest in this, so after I've already wasted a day on this and reverting to 4.3 solves all of my issues I'm pretty much done at this point.

Also, the only difference I spot is on the audio end:

[INFO] ALSA: Period size: 384 frames
[INFO] ALSA: Buffer size: 1536 frames

It wouldn't surprise me if there was an alsa problem, but I'm not sure that's the culprit. The function for picking alsathread broke somewhere along the line. When you choose it in Raspi Config, it puts alsa_thread in your config file. If you look at the 4.3 test results, you'll see that it is expecting alsathread without the _ character in between and throws an error and says that is defaulting to the first choice, which I'm assuming is just alsa. In the 4.4 tests I didn't choose alsa_thread at all and there are no errors. ~~I'm assuming that it is using the same default choice when it errors out in this way as it would if you didn't make a change at all.~~

... that last sentence is possibly incorrect. RetroPie Setup says that alsa_thread is the default choice. So my 4.4 testing was using alsa_thread by default. I just manually changed that to alsa on my 4.4 and it was even worse than it was when I just used the default.

Who knows which one it defaults to after it is erroring out on my RetroPie 4.3 setup. The runcommand.log says it's using the "first" choice, which would probably be either alsa or alsa_thread, but it doesn't really matter since it works fine on 4.3 either way.

That being said, I don't know much about retroarch.

if you'd want to send over the retroarch.cfg files for "all" and "nes", for both those clean test setups, they might have more information.

I'll get the retroarch.cfg files for both test setups shortly.

Used2BeRX

@pjft

Both nes cfg files are identical:

# Settings made here will only override settings in the global retroarch.cfg if placed above the #include line

input_remapping_directory = "/opt/retropie/configs/nes/"

#include "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg"

Here's the pastebin links for the /all/retroarch.cfg files:

4.3 /all/retroarch.cfg: https://pastebin.com/1GL3ePD3

4.4 /all/retroarch.cfg: https://pastebin.com/vrfkQDrQ

I ran a diffcheck on these files and I don't see anything that should be causing an issue here. There are quite a few more lines in the 4.4 document, but they're all commented out with #'s. The only thing that is "different" is the alsa_thread thing I mentioned in my 4.3 (line 298), but since it's been established that 4.3 works fine and changing 4.4 from the default alsa_thread to alsa only makes things worse, this wouldn't be the issue.

EDIT: Actually, the new lines aren't all commented out in 4.4. Probably doesn't make a difference or not, but look at lines 271-276 in the 4.4 file here:

# Background color for OSD messages. Red/Green/Blue values are from 0 to 255 and opacity is 0.0 to 1.0.
video_message_bgcolor_enable = false
video_message_bgcolor_red = 0
video_message_bgcolor_green = 0
video_message_bgcolor_blue = 0
video_message_bgcolor_opacity = 1.0

EDIT 2: Okay. I'm done. You can all thank whoever keeps downvoting me.

Good luck with your 4.4 if you're using a Pi Zero. Not my problem anymore.

dankcushions

@used2berx said in lr-armsnes and Retropie 4.4:

Plus, it doesn't look as though anybody in charge has any interest in this,

no-one is 'in charge' as such. you have the same responsibility as anyone else into investigating and solving retropie issues. try and remember this is all voluntary and support comes from the community, just like everything else. everything is everyone's "problem".

i'm not downvoting you but i was turned off helping as soon as you started moaning about the time scales on support, on a sunday as well! this stuff reads badly.

Used2BeRX

@dankcushions

This issue doesn't effect me at all anymore since reverting to 4.3 fixes all the problems that any Pi Zero user would have, but I continued to test this for the community, mostly because mitu was being so helpful and interested in this. I don't need to be doing this, but I continued to help out. From the beginning, I've been doubted. Been told like "oh, we've heard that a lot before when there's an update", "It's just on your end", etc. Now I've provided evidence that there is a serious problem, and I'm getting trashed for it. I've put a whole day of testing into this, as well as building two different SD cards from the ground up. I've provided results.

All anybody has to do is say, "Thanks man. We'll look into it." Not so hard to do.

RP was already seriously pushing the boundaries of the Pi Zero hardware and Zero users likely won't need any of the upgrades from 4.4 and beyond anyhow. If this stuff isn't fixable, no big deal. Don't update beyond 4.3 if you're using a Pi 1 or PI 0. Easy.

Used2BeRX

I've tested the first 100 US Licensed games in alphabetical order on a 4.3 Pi Zero, up to "Castlevania X". lr-snes9x2002 works "near perfect" for a vast majority of them so far. 5 of the games have speed and/or sound issues or other glitches that cannot be fixed by any of the emulators that would play them at an acceptable speed on a Zero.

The game "Big Sky Trooper" is the only one that isn't playable at all so far because in all of the emulators that I've tried there are missing sprites that seem to be necessary in order to progress very early on. Some emulators show more on this game than others.

All roms being tested are No-Intro as well as matches to the latest GoodSNES set.

Emulators I'm using for testing are lr-snes9x2002, lr-armsnes, lr-snes9x2005, lr-snes9x2010, pisnes. lr-snes9x2002 is default. (It should be noted that in my testing so far that any problem I had in any game running in lr-snes9x2002 is also exactly the same when trying lr-armsnes. After this point I will stop re-testing any problem roms with lr-armsnes).

Settings I'm using:

Pi Zero with RetroPie 4.3, with all packages upgraded except for the OS/Kernel.
RetroArch version after uptates is 1.7.3, and Snes9x2002 version is 7.2.0.
Overclocked CPU to 1GHz
Global Options Changed: Video Smooth: True / Video Resolution: 320x240
Default Emulator: lr-snes9x2002
"Set ""4 Select default video mode for [x emulator] (CEA-2)"" ............... For whatever reason, setting this to CEA-2 seems to slightly improve emulation speed and gets some games over the hump. For instance, The 7th Saga seems to play perfect with
this as well as the other above settings, where if you didn't chose CEA-2 here then there would be a very slight audio stutter in certain situations."

It should be noted that when I say "nearly perfect" that's a subjective view. First big thing I'm looking for is zero audio stutter. After that, it's "would I play this"? Not as in, is it a good game, but does it play smoothly enough to be enjoyable. Personally, I'm going to end up using a Pi 3 for all of my non-Xbox emulation, but my brother got me started on this with his idea to make some Pi Zeros for his nephews, so that's what I'm working with now. I'm not interested in getting all crazy and monitoring FPS here.

I'm mostly a fan of the RPG & Puzzle games on the SNES, but I'm also a fan of quite a few of the platforms as well. I've never been a huge fan of sports games, so beyond those two things the sports games in general are not going to get much attention from me here.

All games are tested at least up to the point where you have control of your avatar and I have at least around 10-15 seconds of physical play time.

Pretty impressive that out of the first 100 games that 94 of them play so well.

I'm going to be releasing my spreadsheet documenting this all eventually, as well as my as-of-now much more in-depth NES/FDS spreadsheet I've been teasing for a long time. I'll probably release this SNES very soon since it's so much more basic at this point. It was copied from my NES one first though, so I need to make sure that there aren't any links to things that are not allowed here before I do.