LibRetro not yet ready for Ubuntu 18.04

Neo-Rio

I recently updated 18.04 with the latest patches and rebuild retropie from the latest config file. Still having issues under Xorg.
The problem must be gl rendering. I tried all the other video drivers. Only sdl2 displayed anything. The others wouldn't start up. SDL2 looked like a hot mess with a squished image and sides being cut off. In the case of gl, well... that's the default and doesn't work.

If the latest retroarch fixes the display issue then I'm all for upgrading to that from the install script.

pinguy

This is a bit hacky but until the devs find a fix for Ubuntu 18.04 Xorg this will work for now.

Install weston.

sudo apt install weston

Than create a script that will run weston with RetroArch within Xorg.

#!/bin/bash
weston --width=1280 --height=720 --fullscreen & p1=$!
retroarch & p2=$!

wait -n
[ "$?" -gt 1 ] || kill "$p1" "$p2"
wait

Change width and height to your screen resolution than save it somewhere and point /usr/share/applications/RetroArch to the script or create a new launcher.

To stop weston from putting the screen to sleep add this to ~/.config/weston.ini

[core]
idle-time=0

With this script I run emulationstation instead. As emulationstation is running within weston when it launches retroarch it also runs under weston. But it should work with any frontend.

EDIT#
Here is a real fix. No need to run RetroArch within weston.

The issue seems to be due to Ubuntu using DRI3 as default for Xorg. For older graphic cards you may have to use DRI2.

To see what you are using run:

xdpyinfo | grep DRI

If its DRI3 changing it to DRI2 may fix the problem.

For ATI cards pre-vulkan run.

sudo nano /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-radeon.conf

and paste this into it save and exit:

Section "OutputClass"
    Identifier "Radeon"
    MatchDriver "radeon"
    Driver "radeon"
    Option "DRI" "2"
    Option "TearFree" "on"
    Option "AccelMethod" "glamor"
EndSection

F3 will save the file and Ctrl+X will exit nano.

Than kill X or reboot.

Unsure if this will work with newer ATI cards. You may have to change "DRI" "2" to "DRI" "3"

Same deal with intel but instead of 10-radeon.conf its 20-intel.conf.

sudo nano /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

If DRI 2 doesn't work try 3.

Section "Device"
  Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
  Driver      "intel"
  Option      "DRI" "2"
  Option      "TearFree" "true"
  Option      "AccelMethod"  "uxa"
EndSection

Just remember after making changes to the .conf you need to kill X or reboot for the changes to take effect.

If you are unable to boot back into the system. Boot the live ISO and delete /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ 20-intel.conf or 10-radeon.conf.

thelostsoul

I want to report RetroArch from Snap-Store does work in Ubuntu 18.04 with Xorg out of the box. So anybody want test this out, please report back.

BuZz

The latest RetroArch seems to be fine on my system with X. Can someone confirm the issue with RetroArch 1.7.3 ?

thelostsoul

@buzz At least, it didn't work before. So it must be the last update. I also posted this non working issue 2 month or so ago at German Ubuntu forum and it was confirmed that RetroArch didn't work there and it was a problem with LibRetro. Also RetroPie didn't work for me then.

mitu

@thelostsoul Are you referring to the RA included in RetroPie or the snaps package distributed by the RetroArch project ?

thelostsoul

@mitu 2 month ago, both didn't work, RetroPie from retropie.org.uk and RetroArch snap from Ubuntu store. Now 2 month later, I just tested and installed RetroArch snap from Ubuntu store and it did work.

mitu

@thelostsoul How about the RA from the RetroPie setup script, does it work now ? I think that's what @buzz was asking - not about the one from the snaps repo.

thelostsoul

@mitu Ok, so I just tried it. I downloaded the RetroPie script, installed it (took a long time) and now it works. I just added Super Mario World for a quick test. The game starts and I can play with my X-Box 360 gamepad, but RetroArch menu didn't open. In EmulationStation the keyboard don't respond. So clearly there is some work left. If this will work out, I would delete official RetroArch and use RetroPie on my pc for better performance and compatibility with specific emulators.

mitu

I've done some tests recently and it seems the video_threaded = true setting is causing the black video in RetroArch.
If you're willing to give it a try, modify the setting in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg or through the Advanced configuration editor and

put back gl as video driver
disable the threaded_video setting.
After the configuration is modified, you can test again any libretro ROMs/Games - no restart/reboot required.

giochajon

@mitu said in LibRetro not yet ready for Ubuntu 18.04:

I've done some tests recently and it seems the video_threaded = true setting is causing the black video in RetroArch.
If you're willing to give it a try, modify the setting in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg or through the Advanced configuration editor and

put back gl as video driver

disable the threaded_video setting.
After the configuration is modified, you can test again any libretro ROMs/Games - no restart/reboot required.

This Worked for me. Thanks !