Having weird issues with Turbo CD/PCE-CD Games
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Raspberry Pi 3B
Retropi v4.4 (Prebuilt from site download, updated to latest via system)
Vilros 2.5A PSUEver since I built my PI a few years ago, I've always had trouble with Turbo CD/PC-Engine CD games.
They have odd glitches, don't run correctly, skip or have graphical/data errors.I always wondered what was the cause of these problems, am I using the right emulator, or the right system card, is the CD image corrupted, would the issues be fixed in an future update, were the PI emulators a WIP?
So, I decided to finally sit down and test them out. I tried out both the images I dumped from my own collection, and images available from the internet and had the same issues.
In example, using the RetroPi in one game the cut scenes skip or are too fast. In another game, all monster encounters are invincible..
I ran the same images on my PC, and the games in question ran perfectly. None of the issues found on the RetroPi were found on the PC emulators for either version of the images.
So I am wondering, is there something I am missing or not configuring right with my Retropi?
Which emulator should I be using for PCE-CD and Turbo CD games?I've been using the default emulator with CD-System v2.10 bios card.
Thank You.
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@Jiryn what games specifically are having issues? The ones I have tried haven't had any problems.
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@quicksilver
I didn't think we were supposed to mention games specific games.However here
Exile - Once you get to the first dungeon in the Desert, all the monsters are invincible. When you "Kill" them, their graphic distorts and they become invincible along with a very very distorted sound.Last Alert - Sounds and Cutscenes don't play, stop mid sound/cutscene, or are too fast. I was able to play through the game, but at times sounds and etc wouldn't play, and the cutscenes for the final boss didn't happen at all. After beating the final boss it crashed back to the launcher.
Also, when playing CD games there is a distorted bar of graphics across the bottom of the screen on my TV. (Tried it on two TVs, Vizio 4k, and a Vizio 1080p, I had the Retropi running at it's default resolution. I don't know if this will show up in recordings)
@escobarrr
Just the CD games I tested.The errors I listed above happen on both the readily available on the net copies, and the ones I dumped myself.
I haven't tested any of the other games after this issue. Hucard games seem to work fine with little to no noticeable issue.
I can record the Exile issues since they happen every time as proof. The Last Alert issues on the other hand seem more random.
None of the issues above happen on the PC emulators though, just the Retropie.
So I am wondering if it is a compatibility issue, or if I don't have it properly configured.
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@Jiryn It's all fine and dandy to talk about the games themselves so long it never crosses into the realm of how to acquire them.
In other news, when I have access to my build again I'll see if I can recreate your issue with my build.
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@simpleethat said in Having weird issues with Turbo CD/PCE-CD Games:
@Jiryn It's all fine and dandy to talk about the games themselves so long it never crosses into the realm of how to acquire them.
In other news, when I have access to my build again I'll see if I can recreate your issue with my build.
As I said, I'll record the issue and post a link to the twitch broadcast.
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@simpleethat
Minor correction, on the PC I was using SysCard 2 and 2.10
On the RetroPi I am using Japanese 3.0, any other card crashes when I try to run the CD Games.Here is Exile as an example
Try this
Just remove the space between / and videos.
Notice the distorted graphic bar at the bottom of the screen at all times, and when I get into the dungeon, all monsters (after the first oddly) are invincible, making a weird sound instead of their death animation.
I tried the same image on a PC emulator and it worked perfectly. No issues, but now I am wondering if it is the SYSCARD
I then turned on the Huecard version of Bonk 3, just to show the distorted bar of graphics across the bottom are not there or any issues with Huecard games.
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@Jiryn i cant see your video since you are offline on twitch but i use the us 3.0 I believe and it works no problem at all in exile
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@edmaul69
It's an offline video, but for some reason it doesn't like to be linked on this forum.
Whenever I link it, it just goes to the channel and not the video...Try this
Once again, Notice the distorted graphic bar at the bottom of the screen at all times, and when I get into the dungeon, all monsters (after the first oddly) are invincible, making a weird sound instead of their death animation.
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@Jiryn said in Having weird issues with Turbo CD/PCE-CD Games:
videos/417889944
Well I checked my copy and it seems to be doing the same thing forExile. Weird. I feel like it might be a weird BIOS issue. I'll have to see if I have any other versions and try those out.
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@simpleethat can you test using the lr-beetle-supergrafx emulator to see if you get the same result? From what I understand the two emulators are nearly identical except for the supergrafx emulation but it might be worth a shot.
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@simpleethat
As I said, I even dumped my old copy onto an ISO and same thing happened.
Weirdly though, if I use any of the other syscards (using Select-X) and restarting the emulator (Exit and restart) It won't load any CD game unless I use 3.0@quicksilver I will try beetle-SuperGraphx tonight after work, around 11pm-12am EST.
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@quicksilver
@simpleethat
Alright tested both
#1. I switch to the other syscards other than Japanese 3.0 and it prevents all CD games from working (Exile, Exile 2, and Dungeon Explorer 2 didn't work)#2. After that I switched to SuperGrafx and played to the dungeon, same issues persisted. I then quick the emulator and restarted in SuperGrafx again, same issue.
However, I learned the enemies CAN die if you hit them with a down thrust, normal attacks can't kill them.. which is not how it's supposed to work but... weird.
Here's the testing
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Not sure if anyone maintains these emulators but its probably worth reporting the bugs on their respective GitHub issue trackers
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@quicksilver @Jiryn
I tried both emulators as well and same result with invincible monsters. -
Even though i never had the glitching at the bottom like you, i tried both emulators and same thing in the dungeon.
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@edmaul69 said in Having weird issues with Turbo CD/PCE-CD Games:
Even though i never had the glitching at the bottom like you, i tried both emulators and same thing in the dungeon.
I'm wondering if the emulator is triggering some copy protection.
Has anyone figured a work around? -
I can't believe the ant bug in Exile on pce-fast and supergrafx is still there. It was reported back in 2017. It seems to work fine on the non-fast version but it's on pc only. Not sure if retropie devs would add the non-fast version.
If anyone wants a quick fix now, they can head to libretro's nightly page and get the non-fast version, rename it to fast, and replace it on retropie. I have a pi4 so I'm not sure how much slower it is.
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@Darksavior said in Having weird issues with Turbo CD/PCE-CD Games:
I can't believe the ant bug in Exile on pce-fast and supergrafx is still there. It was reported back in 2017. It seems to work fine on the non-fast version but it's on pc only. Not sure if retropie devs would add the non-fast version.
If anyone wants a quick fix now, they can head to libretro's nightly page and get the non-fast version, rename it to fast, and replace it on retropie. I have a pi4 so I'm not sure how much slower it is.
So it was known?
Also what is FAST? -
@Jiryn The emulator retropie uses is called "beetle-pce-fast". The non-fast (accurate) version exists but it's not available on retropie. That's why I said to get it from libretro's nightly page. It works on my pi4.
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@Darksavior How do I load it into my Pi?
I apologize if this seems like a stupid question.
(Sorry I am quite niave when it comes to loading new modules, not as well versed in linux as I once was)
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