Retropie 4.4.1+ on Mint 19, Ubuntu 16.04 & 18.04, Debian 8 & 9 - Black Screen when Starting Roms (GL->SDL2 Fixes). I think its an issue with Retropie, not Linux.

[PhoenixJedi]

Re: RetroPie 4.4.1 (Linux Mint 19) white or blank screen (freezing) after starting ROMs

I had this same issue on my Ubuntu 16.04 system after updating Retropie to 4.4.1 and then 4.4.2. I tried to fix it by installing 18.04, Debian 8 and Debian 9.. Then Mint 19. None of them fixed it. Even a fresh install on 16.04 doesn't work with the GL driver anymore. Switching retroarch to SDL2 fixes the issue (and I'm running it on Mint 19 now), but considering this is happening on 16.04 (which is the recommended Linux for retropie), I think this issue isn't the Linux version you're using like other forum posts suggest. Why else would it suddenly not work once you updated from 4.4.0 to 4.4.1 or 4.4.2? Something was changed in Retropie itself that makes it no longer compatible with GL.

Anyone out there have any ideas on how to actually fix the problem and not put a bandaid on it by switching to SDL2?

[mitu]

@phoenixjedi Yes, use the Configuration Editor and disable video_threaded in the configuration for all Libretro cores. This should fix the video blanking problem.
See https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/18598/libretro-stopped-working-on-16-04-after-latest-drivers-update for details.

[PhoenixJedi]

Isn't that bad though? Doesnt the threaded driver make things run faster?

[mitu]

@phoenixjedi For a PC, with enough CPU, it won't affect the performance. You're free to use both options and see the difference, if any. Note that RetroArch defaults to not activate this option by default on Pc builld.