GPi Case GBA Emulation with Pi Zero W

Klena

Hi together,

I need some help from you guys.
I got my new Pi Zero W and GPi Case. Everything works fine.

I just have some sound and framedrops when playing gba games like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Team Red and Pokemon Firered (haven't tried other gbas).

The sound is more or less noisy. In Mystery Dungeon the FPS go down from 58 to 50 (not really noticeable) but I don't know what's causing the sound issues. I have put the gba_bios.bin into the BIOS folder (now it boots up with the Gameboy Logo but this one stutters as well).

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

lostless

Everything you are experiencing is completely normal on a pi0. Its not the fastest thing in the world and only has 1 core to its processor. Dropped frames, or even slowdown, is typical on some games. The noise, depending on what you're talking about could be clicks from the game dropping speed/frames, where the audio literally cuts out for a split second for the pi to catch up. Do that over and over and it sounds like static clicks as the audio quickly turns on and off. Or it could be caused by the pis noisy analog output. It's not the best DAC and is not filtered. You might hear a slight hiss or ringing depending on what the pi is doing as it picks up electrical noise. Usually its drowned out by audio playing, but is always present.

quicksilver

@Klena I'm not sure exactly what your audio issue is. But it worth taking a look at: https://sinisterspatula.github.io/RetroflagGpiGuides/StereoDownsampleFix

This fixed some audio issues on my gpi by switching the audio to mono output (which is what is needed since the GPi only has one speaker)

Klena

Hi thanks for the answers @lostless and @quicksilver ,

It is just that noisy when you are ingame the music of the recalbox is normal.
The framedrops are not that noticeable. I am trying that fix nur I think recalbox has that built in... Writing back later.

EDIT:

The fix is already built in. I have recorded an audio for you to hear what I mean:

https://voca.ro/cUbGhVDHMJF

The Menu is fine but when it comes to the introduction Video it is more buzzing.

lostless

@Klena that sound sound like the emulator not being able to keep up. As I said that the pi0 is not very powerful, but impressive for a $10 computer. Any drop in speed will effect the audio and make it sound buzzy.

BillyH

I recently bought a Pi 0 myself (and GPi Case), and I have the same with some SNES games (though not all - Donkey Kong Country runs excellent, for instance). It even managed to happen at the startup of one or two GB(C) games.

It was shared with me on this site in advance though that the Pi 0 would have some issues with GBA/SNES emulation. There are (more expensive) options for Pi 3 handhelds, if you really want to play these games handheld without issues.

Klena

Thanks all for your help. I found a good image for the Pi0 and dont have any problems now :)

Image: Super RetroPie