Videomode file ignored if game override cfg file exists?

stevas · 11 Jun 2020, 11:00

Interestingly though, if I remove the thumb drive (which works fine, and I'm using symlinks to it incidentally) I get a different error at the end of the same, truncated log file:
[CDROM] no sg devices found and sg kernel module is not loaded.

What's the easiest way for me to get this all updated to where you are? And please don't say rebuild from that image...

mitu · 11 Jun 2020, 11:04

@stevas said in Videomode file ignored if game override cfg file exists?:

What's the easiest way for me to get this all updated to where you are? And please don't say rebuild from that image...

Just use the normal update from RetroPie-Setup. Maybe install/update RetroArch from source.

stevas · 11 Jun 2020, 11:16

Updated all core packages from binary, all that did was remove the benign error as you said.
Same annoying behaviour. Same truncated log file.
Updating retroarch from source didn't change things at all.

dankcushions · 11 Jun 2020, 11:39

@stevas
megadrive_hacks is a rom folder that comes with a famous third party image. are you telling us porkies?

stevas · 6 Nov 2020, 12:56

Haha, entirely coincidental I assure you!

I've edited es_systems.cfg to include that (apologies, something else I did was copy across that file from the previous build in order to test that particular game, as I wanted to use a game I KNEW was previously causing this issue).

Edit: though that's an interesting point. I'll investigate what happens if I reset that file...
I should add, I did just try Aladdin (which is in the original megadrive folder) and got the same issue. Though that's with my edited es_systems, which may well be a/the problem here (as I can think of nothing else presently).

mitu · 11 Jun 2020, 13:47

Did you modify the default retroarch.cfg configuration file or used the RetroArch menu in RetroPie to change the global options ?

stevas · 11 Jun 2020, 14:01

I changed a couple, yeah. From memory, integer scaling off, and some qol stuff like swap A/B.

I literally just reimaged. Plan was to do as little as possible, get Aladdin on there.

Annnnnnd... now I'm getting even weirder stuff happening. Like, either it won't list SSID's, or it will eventually list them (and they appear to double up), and if I select mine it takes an age to connect before just... not.
Maybe I'll run a check on this SD card.

stevas · 11 Jun 2020, 18:02

Update:
I've re-imaged (again again), and it's working here now. That is: it switches resolution, and I get a full verbose log.
Thanks both for the help - it at least convinced me I needed to start again and do literally the bare minimum to get it working.
Lord knows what I did to break it; as I didn't get too far through the setup process I'll go step by step now to figure that bit out (of course, we all know it'll continue to work fine, and I'll never see that behaviour again...)

stevas · 12 Jun 2020, 00:55

I'm back. It's late. But I just want to get this posted... Mainly so I bloody remember it, tbh.

Should I just plain NOT be creating a full retroarch.cfg with the option to in Retropie (i.e. selecting RETROARCH in the emulation station Retropie menu, then saving a full new configuration)?
Now is the point for someone to step up and say "yeah... You just shouldn't be doing that anyways, dude."

Because if I go in there, and save my config, I get this issue.
As long as I was using the skeleton retroarch.cfg file (the one that's mainly comments), I was fine. Switched resolution no problems.
Soon as saved over that (in the way described above), boom, doesn't switch. Again, it's only when a game override cfg is present, and the log is truncated as before (at the exact point it tries to append said override, I might add).
At the moment I have an override for Aladdin which is just loading and saving a state. That's it. I also have a shader preset for that core. (Because why not.)

I can switch the problem off and on literally by either using the backup skeleton retroarch.cfg I have, or saving a configuration over that through the retroarch menu!

Bed now.

mitu · 12 Jun 2020, 02:44

@stevas said in Videomode file ignored if game override cfg file exists?:

Now is the point for someone to step up and say "yeah... You just shouldn't be doing that anyways, dude."

Well, yes. We usually recommend to save an override (core/game/content dir) instead of saving the full config back. The RA configuration has grown to such a dimension it's getting difficult to pinpoint how seemingly unrelated options affect the overall program's behavior; it's easier to keep the base configuration small and simple to get a good starting configuration and manage game/core settings through overrides.

The preferred (but not the easiest) method would be to add the configuration option to that file by editing, so only the bare essential configuration options are added. Or use the Configuration Editor to edit the most important options (shaders, resolution, video smoothing, etc.).

That being said, can you post the offending .cfg so we can take a look at it ? It's worth a shot to see if we can accommodate the video mode switching with this kind of configurations.

stevas · 12 Jun 2020, 19:53

You don't say.

I can see the problem clearly now, as, yeah - that file is getting ridiculous, isn't it?
Is there a definitive guide/help on this? Because I ended up doing this after a load of Google results pointed me towards it being fine to just let retroarch do this (mainly of the "just delete that file, retroarch will recreate it" with people asking "what do I do to return this to the default?" type).

Anyway, lesson learned, I'll be just building my own simple cfg in future... still, I'd be interested to see exactly what is upsetting res switching in there, as I thought I'd tried commenting out everything that made sense - i.e. settings clearly messing with a resolution, viewport stuff, etc.

https://pastebin.com/raw/w3xJ9rft

Thanks again for the help.

mitu · 13 Jun 2020, 03:35

@stevas said in Videomode file ignored if game override cfg file exists?:

https://pastebin.com/raw/w3xJ9rft

Yes, as suspected, the problem is that the config file contains the video settings and they override the video resolution parameters passed with runcommand (via /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg)

video_fullscreen = "true"
video_fullscreen_x = "0"
video_fullscreen_y = "0"

Unfortunately, the same happens if using an override

if the override is created with default video settings (i.e. no custom video mode selected), then the video is scaled incorrectly
if the override is created with a custom video mode (chosen from the runcommand launch menu), then it's persisted and re-used, regardless of any subsequent video mode choices from the launch menu.

stevas · 13 Jun 2020, 15:09

Good day, mitu.

I'll be brutally honest here, I'm having trouble comprehending what you're saying.

I still don't fully understand why the presence of a game override cfg (one that has nothing in it other than, say, save state autoload) should mean the main retroarch.cfg settings you posted would be used above whatever is selected in the runcommand, while NOT having that game override cfg present means the selected runcommand resolution switch works correctly. Is this a bug, or intended purpose?
Also, I seen no incorrect scaling in either case (screen was filled, correct aspect ratio?)

But maybe I'm just being particularly dense today (understandable, but I won't go into why).

Edit:
Wait... Are you saying if I had those settings in the game cfg (ie. x and y are for the target resolution, say 1280 and 720), then it would work? The presence of an override requires the resolution settings also, otherwise it looks for them in the main retroarch.cfg?

mitu · 13 Jun 2020, 15:30

@stevas said in Videomode file ignored if game override cfg file exists?:

Wait... Are you saying if I had those settings in the game cfg (ie. x and y are for the target resolution, say 1280 and 720), then it would work? The presence of an override requires the resolution settings also, otherwise it looks for them in the main retroarch.cfg?

No, it's the other way around - if those settings are not present in the override/.cfg, it would work. The default configuration has no defaults, so that's why the --appendconfig with the video settings coming from runcommand works.

stevas · 13 Jun 2020, 18:32

But... My game override cfg files DON'T have those settings in them?

mitu · 13 Jun 2020, 18:45

Post a game override file - testing one here shows the video resolution is saved to the override file.

stevas · 13 Jun 2020, 19:13

I'd created my own? Literally with just, say, auto load state in it. Or vsync off. As I said at the start. And with that recent posted main retroarch.cfg (one built by retroarch "save configuration" itself), it won't switch to a selected runcmd resolution?
But if I use the skeleton main retroarch.cfg (the .dist one), it will.
Sorry, I thought we'd established this? Am I even more confused than I thought? (Not a small feat - let me tell you.)
The problem is that the mere presence of that game override is stopping the resolution switching.
Which is why I asked if that game override also NEEDS settings in it to control the resolution, see?
Wait (again)...
Did you mean create it from within retroarch GUI?

I'm not at my pi, but does creating the game override through the GUI add resolution/scaling settings? I thought it was best to create game overrides yourself rather than doing that. I'm... Not sure where I got that idea tbh.

mitu · 13 Jun 2020, 19:23

@stevas said in Videomode file ignored if game override cfg file exists?:

I'm not at my pi, but does creating the game override through the GUI add resolution/scaling settings? I thought it was best to create game overrides yourself rather than doing that. I'm... Not sure where I got that idea tbh.

Yes, this is what I was referring to. The previous situation - just creating a single line .cfg file -, didn't yield the error for me, like I mentioned.

stevas · 13 Jun 2020, 19:40

Sorry, I misread: when you were detailing the problem with the retroarch.cfg I pasted, I thought you were saying also you'd reproduced the issue.

So using said main config, built by my system, and a manually created game override, you're able to switch resolution no problem through runcmd? Interesting.
And by that, I do of course mean: more confusing.

In that case, I got nothing. And I guess I'll just move on, make sure I use a manually created main config from now on, and be very suspicious of what these applications are doing regards resolutions.

Incidentally, and amusingly (to me anyway), I just realised the dude who literally only came in here to ask if I was fibbing was actually indirectly the cause of all this!
(In other words: was trying to get the overrides in this forum topic to work.)
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/4046/crt-pi-shader-users-reduce-scaling-artifacts-with-these-configs-in-lr-mame2003-lr-fbalpha-lr-nestopia-and-more-to-come

Is this not recommended either now? Should I be using the GUI to create game overrides? (Then editing them after the fact.)

mitu · 13 Jun 2020, 20:19

@stevas said in Videomode file ignored if game override cfg file exists?:

Incidentally, and amusingly (to me anyway), I just realised the dude who literally only came in here to ask if I was fibbing was actually indirectly the cause of all this!
(In other words: was trying to get the overrides in this forum topic to work.)
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/4046/crt-pi-shader-users-reduce-scaling-artifacts-with-these-configs-in-lr-mame2003-lr-fbalpha-lr-nestopia-and-more-to-come

Shaders are not part of overrides, they're saved separately, using shader presets. Not sure if it worked back then (quite possibly)

Is this not recommended either now? Should I be using the GUI to create game overrides? (Then editing them after the fact.)

It's still recommended, but it won't play nice with the resolution switching. Why are you using the overrides for ?