Working Dreamcast games

WODAK

@quicksilver said in Working Dreamcast games:

Not the same issue as quake 3. I posted the solution above to fix the multiplayer choppiness.

Thank you so much...I did the following:

Added the option vrr_runloop_enable_=true in /opt/retropie/configs/dreamcast/retroarch.cfg
In the retroarch GUI in options menu:
2.1. The internal resolution in flycast is set to 1280x920...
2.2. Threaded rendering -> OFF

The multiplayer games run a lot better and also all 4 screens gives a better response...now gotta try to run it better (lower resolution, some tweaks ,...)

I'll report if I'll have some luck :)

quicksilver

@WODAK try turning threaded rendering and synchronous rendering back on

WODAK

@quicksilver said in Working Dreamcast games:

@WODAK try turning threaded rendering and synchronous rendering back on

The threaded rendering must be set depending on game. For example in Looney Tunes Space Race if the threaded rendering in set ON the game lags a lot on 3d and 4th player...otherwise in Re-Volt it has to be turned ON.
So the setting depends on the game....

quicksilver

@WODAK said in Working Dreamcast games:

For example in Looney Tunes Space Race if the threaded rendering in set ON the game lags a lot on 3d and 4th player.

I can't get that game to work properly at all. I've had strange audio issues where the menu audio lags and during a race it just repeats the same sound over and over. Does it work well for you?

WODAK

@quicksilver said in Working Dreamcast games:

@WODAK said in Working Dreamcast games:

For example in Looney Tunes Space Race if the threaded rendering in set ON the game lags a lot on 3d and 4th player.

I can't get that game to work properly at all. I've had strange audio issues where the menu audio lags and during a race it just repeats the same sound over and over. Does it work well for you?

The Looney Tunes Space Race runs with 57-59 FPS and a bit choppy sound..
As for the Re Volt the game runs at 30-35 FPS (but is really playalbe). No sound hickups.

My versions and settings:

FIRMWARE VERSION:
Feb  4 2020 12:06:47
Copyright (c) 2012 Broadcom
version 53597a93bd1906c9358277b08bff097299216004 (clean) (release) (start)

-------------------------------------------

OS VERSION:
Linux retropie 4.19.97-v7l+ #1294 SMP Thu Jan 30 13:21:14 GMT 2020 armv7l GNU/Linux

-------------------------------------------
OVERCLOCK:
core => frequency(1)=549993152
v3d:=> frequency(46)=799993664
arm => frequency(48)=2100515584

-------------------------------------------

MESA VERSION:
ii  libgles2-mesa-dev:armhf          19.3.2-1~bpo10+1~rpt1               armhf        transitional dummy package

not to forget: force your games to set the governer to "performance" mode over runcommand.

mitu

@WODAK said in Working Dreamcast games:

not to forget: force your games to run at governer mode over runcommand.

You mean using the performance CPU governor ?

rejesterd

I've been unable to get Looney Tunes Space Race to run well in 2-player splitscreen mode. Player 1 always works fine though. That's using flycast at 640X480 60hz. Reicast won't load the game at all.

@quicksilver, I've had the repeating sound issue with Quake 3 and Looney Tunes (but more so with Looney Tunes).

I haven't tried fiddling with the audio resampling, but that has helped in some n64 games, so I was thinking of trying that on flycast.

WODAK

@mitu said in Working Dreamcast games:

You mean using the performance CPU governor ?

Sorry...a typo ...What I meant was to set the CPU scaling governor to "performance".

@rejesterd

've been unable to get Looney Tunes Space Race to run well in 2-player splitscreen mode. Player 1 always works fine though. That's using flycast at 640X480 60hz. Reicast won't load the game at all.

Chech a few posts back...set the same configuration as I have and try it (don't forget that my RP is overclocked...so I'f you dont have a good cooling system don't overclock it)...The game runs really decent in 4 player split screen.

For singleplayer games I've set some games to run over redream and some over flycast...

Some of multiplayer games don't work on Flycast like Toy Commander...running Redream with the same game gets you to the problem that after setting the characters the screen goes black right after starting the game. But you can hear the sounds in the back.

WODAK

One more question...in flycast when I try to save the state of the game...the save process goes on forever (5 min). Is this a normal procedure? or is there something wrong with the emulator?

barbudreadmon

@WODAK said in Working Dreamcast games:

the save process goes on forever (5 min). Is this a normal procedure? or is there something wrong with the emulator?

It's instant on pc, maybe your sd card is awfully slow ? Those savestates have a size of around 60 MiB.

rejesterd

@WODAK said in Working Dreamcast games:

Chech a few posts back...set the same configuration as I have and try it (don't forget that my RP is overclocked...so I'f you dont have a good cooling system don't overclock it)...The game runs really decent in 4 player split screen.

I have a case that came with a cooling fan and a few heat sinks, so hopefully that will be good enough. It's just really odd to me that some games work ok in 2-player mode for me, and some don't. Seems like it's an issue relating to the way the rom was created or how the emulator handles Looney Tunes vs. Re-Volt, for example.. but just speculating, as I don't know how how to profile running games yet.

Some of multiplayer games don't work on Flycast like Toy Commander...running Redream with the same game gets you to the problem that after setting the characters the screen goes black right after starting the game. But you can hear the sounds in the back.

I just wanted to comment here, because I have Toy Commander running in 2-player mode flawlessly using lr-flycast (on rpi4 with no overclocking). I can share my retroarch settings if you want.. or maybe you're only referring to 3p and 4p screens.

rejesterd

@WODAK - In /boot/config.txt, I set..

over_voltage=4
arm_freq=1900

..and I can now run Looney Tunes Space Race in 2p split-screen mode without a problem. This also got me over the hump of serious crackling sounds when playing NHL 99 on N64. Thanks for the suggestion. CPU temp seems ok.

WODAK

@rejesterd said in Working Dreamcast games:

@WODAK - In /boot/config.txt, I set..
..and I can now run Looney Tunes Space Race in 2p split-screen mode without a problem. This also got me over the hump of serious crackling sounds when playing NHL 99 on N64. Thanks for the suggestion. CPU temp seems ok.

First of all..you were right...I tried a different version of Toy Commander ...and the game runs fine on 4 player split screen...

as I mentioned you just had to set the following options (this does not mean for all games....I use it just for Toy Commander and Lonney Tunes Space Race if you want to play for 4 player split screen) you have to play a little bit around for others):

option vrr_runloop_enable_=true in /opt/retropie/configs/dreamcast/retroarch.cfg
In the retroarch GUI in options menu:
2.1. The internal resolution in flycast is set to 1280x920...
2.2. Threaded rendering -> OFF

i've got this case and fan.

My settings in /boot/config.txt are:

over_voltage=6
hdmi_enable_4kp60=1  #this will enable to overclock gpu to max 550
arm_freq=2100
gpu_freq=800

Now what I would suggest to you is to try to overclock your RP4 to max...If anything goes wrong (not booting) just take out your sc card...put it in a computer and change the /boot/config.txt files. Also try to check when running some games the temperature and measurements with the following script or some of the command lines that will follow.

There are some command lines for those who want to check their current status of Pi or you can put those lines as a script :

echo "$(date) @ $(hostname)"

echo 'FIRMWARE VERSION:'
vcgencmd version
echo -e '\n-------------------------------------------\n'
#OS version
echo 'OS VERSION:'
uname -a
echo -e '\n-------------------------------------------\n'

cpu=$(</sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp)
cpufreq=$(</sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq)
echo "GPU => $(/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp)"
echo "FREQ => $((cpufreq/1000))Mhz"
echo -e '\n-------------------------------------------\n'
#overclock
echo 'OVERCLOCK:'
echo "core => $(/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd  measure_clock core)"
echo "v3d:=> $(/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd  measure_clock v3d)"
echo "arm => $(/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd  measure_clock arm)"
echo -e '\n-------------------------------------------\n'
#current installed mesa version
echo 'MESA VERSION:'
dpkg-query -l '*' | grep libgles2 | grep mesa

Hope this helps anyone on checking their status of Pi :)

Now with this settings of overclocking I could say that 85% of games I've tried run full speed (4 player split screen ).

quicksilver

@WODAK said in Working Dreamcast games:

2.1. The internal resolution in flycast is set to 1280x920...
2.2. Threaded rendering -> OFF

If youve had trouble with performance you should lower the render resolution. Also threaded rendering greatly improved performance, just make sure that you also turn on synchronous rendering (the option doesn't appear in the quick menu until you turn on threaded rendering).

I would also not recommend that everyone overclock their pi to the "max". Without proper stability testing, you won't know what your safe maximum is.

WODAK

@quicksilver said in Working Dreamcast games:

If youve had trouble with performance you should lower the render resolution. Also threaded rendering greatly improved performance, just make sure that you also turn on synchronous rendering (the option doesn't appear in the quick menu until you turn on threaded rendering).

I did try to lower the resolution in some games and it didn't help. About turning on threaded rendering is not always true...there are differences if you play a 3 player or a 4 player game.

For example:
Toy commander with threaded rendering turned on only plays fine when you are playing with 3 players. If u play with four players the 4th screen slutters a lot. If you then turn off threaded rendering, the game becomes playable for all 4 players. I've tried different combinations (for 4 players) and this one suits the best.
So yes...I would agree with you...turn on threaded rendering if you play 1 to 2 player games...otherwise you have to play with settings to find the best solution for that specific game.

I would also not recommend that everyone overclock their pi to the "max". Without proper stability testing, you won't know what your safe maximum is.

Well I was trying the top down method...not the bottom up :) but I would agree with you...use the bottom up method.
And finally a word about stability...I didn't have any problems with stability for now (no freezing, no reseting, ....etc)...for now all I can say is that overclocking made a huge upgrade to playing games (PSP, Dreamcast, not SOmuch by N64) and even better when retropie will get finished to final version :)

George Spiggott

I wasn't able to get anything to run smoothly/sound stutter free at 920p on any of the third party retropie builds I have used on the pi4 even with overclocking (CPU 2000, GPU 600). 1024x768 was the highest I could go without the sound stuttering on most games.

On the current build I have (weekly 4.5.13) I can get 1024x768 without sound stuttering without overclocking. Rayman 2 stutters, especially in 16/9, but adding frameskip 1 fixes the stuttering. I have since overclocked the CPU to 2000. It doesn't seem to affect Dreamcast games any but that doesn't matter since I did it to improve performance on the PS1 for Crash Team Racing.

I also heard that Lr-Flycast just got a mip-mapping fix which may help things.

quicksilver

@quicksilver said in Working Dreamcast games:

Settings>Video>Synchronization>Sync to exact content framerate. Turn that setting on and it will fix the weird tearing/jitter.

So while the above is true, I have noticed that turning this setting on globally harms performance for some emulators. Therefore I would only recommend that you turn it on for cores that specifically need it and have a threaded rendering option.

quicksilver

@rejesterd quake 3 split screen works with redream. It was just added in experimental packages.

rejesterd

@quicksilver It's great! Performance has been fine so far.

WODAK

@quicksilver said in Working Dreamcast games:

@quicksilver said in Working Dreamcast games:

Settings>Video>Synchronization>Sync to exact content framerate. Turn that setting on and it will fix the weird tearing/jitter.

So while the above is true, I have noticed that turning this setting on globally harms performance for some emulators. Therefore I would only recommend that you turn it on for cores that specifically need it and have a threaded rendering option.

Yep....you have got to update the retroarch settings just for the dreamcast emulator in /opt/retropie/configs/dreamcast/retroarch.cfg

well.... that's what I did :)