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    Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion and Gaming
    performancevsyncpi 4kernel 5.4
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    • B
      bluestang @SeraphisCain
      last edited by

      @SeraphisCain said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

      So I did a normal apt update today and apparently we're officially on 5.4 now? Using the KMS driver and new audio driver and everything seems to be working as intended, save for a "failed to find mixer elements" error with ES that's probably related to the new audio driver, but that's not much of a problem.

      EDIT: Hm, maybe it's not working quite as intended after all. I'm getting audio dropouts on more demanding stuff (Dreamcast with Redream, some games that require MAME 2016) using the new audio driver). Think I'll go back to FKMS/old audio driver until the new stuff has been tested a bit more.

      I just confirmed this as well about the kernel update.

      So in order to use the vc4hdmi audio driver, you need to disable the broadcom2835 one in your config.txt

      Using both is not possible, or at least that is what was mentioned before. It was said that both drivers are fighting for the same resources hence why one of them needs to be disabled.

      The vc4hdmi audio driver is a WIP, so results will vary.

      Also, for the vc4hdmi driver you need to use an updated vc4hdmi.conf in the /usr/share/alsa/cards folder:

      https://github.com/LibreELEC/LibreELEC.tv/blob/master/projects/RPi/filesystem/usr/share/alsa/cards/vc4-hdmi.conf

      I am surprised that this file was not replaced with the new one with the kernel update.

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      • S
        SeraphisCain
        last edited by SeraphisCain

        For the moment I'm using dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio along with dtparam=audio=on to use the new video driver along with the old audio driver until things get ironed out with the new HDMI audio driver.

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          bluestang @SeraphisCain
          last edited by bluestang

          @SeraphisCain said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

          For the moment I'm using dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio along with dtparam=audio=on to use the new video driver along with the old audio driver until things get ironed out with the new HDMI audio driver.

          The correct usage is dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio=on

          You can verify by typing aplay -l in the cmdline and the vc4hdmi devices will not be present.

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          • S
            SeraphisCain @bluestang
            last edited by

            @bluestang

            According to this:

            https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/pull/3640#issuecomment-639053905

            noaudio and noaudio=on should have the same effect, since "on" is assumed if no parameter is given.

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              bluestang @SeraphisCain
              last edited by

              @SeraphisCain said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

              issuecomment

              Good catch. I haven’t used the driver in awhile. For me the lack of a mixer doesn’t make it a suitable driver.

              DarksaviorD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • DarksaviorD
                Darksavior @bluestang
                last edited by Darksavior

                Yep, looks like they officially released 5.4 and the gamecon driver still doesn't work. I have no idea what the problem is but I did post the problem to them months ago in their forum and got ignored.

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                • mituM
                  mitu Global Moderator
                  last edited by

                  @Darksavior said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

                  I have no idea what the problem is but I did post the problem to them months ago in their forum and got ignored.

                  Well, it's not their driver - why would you expect them to fix it ?
                  You should have reported this upstream - https://github.com/marqs85/gamecon_gpio_rpi.

                  DarksaviorD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • DarksaviorD
                    Darksavior @mitu
                    last edited by

                    @mitu Well, I don't know of these things. A simple "not our problem" would've done it.
                    Buzz always tells people to post problems on the forum first, so I'm always hesitant to post problems at the github.

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                    • mituM
                      mitu Global Moderator
                      last edited by

                      @Darksavior said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

                      Buzz always tells people to post problems on the forum first, so I'm always hesitant to post problems at the github.

                      Yes, that's the preferred approach - though in this case it's not a RetroPie issue. It looks like the module uses a call to do_gettimeofday, which was deprecated in the Linux kernel in preparation for the 2038-pocalypse. I'll take a look at what changes might be needed and perhaps submit a patch upstream.

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                      • P
                        PhoenixJedi
                        last edited by

                        Well now that 5.4 is official, is there any way to get kodi working with this KMS driver or no?

                        saccublendaS RascasR 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • saccublendaS
                          saccublenda @PhoenixJedi
                          last edited by

                          @PhoenixJedi I think we just have to wait for Kodi 19 to be released.

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                          • RascasR
                            Rascas @PhoenixJedi
                            last edited by

                            @PhoenixJedi Nope, Kodi will only work with KMS in Kodi 19.

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                            • Beretta9B
                              Beretta9
                              last edited by Beretta9

                              Now that the update is official, is the KMS driver enabled by default, or do you still have to add the line in the boot config? Is the audio fixed with the KMS driver?

                              Retro Gamer Supreme

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                                bluestang @Beretta9
                                last edited by

                                @Beretta9 said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

                                Now that the update is official, is the KMS driver enabled by default, or do you still have to add the line in the boot config? Is the audio fixed with the KMS driver?

                                Not enabled by default, and the KMS driver is very much still a WIP.

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                                  akamming @bluestang
                                  last edited by

                                  @bluestang said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

                                  It is not possible to use the BCM2835 and the vc4hdmi drivers at the same time.

                                  That's why i think i got this tip: dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d-pi4,audio=off (with dtparam=audio=on and old vc4-hdmi.conf). But that indeed did not work

                                  What is your output when you type in aplay -l in the cmd line?

                                  i cannot check, i rolled back to the old kernel. Will try again in the near future

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                                  • B
                                    bluestang @akamming
                                    last edited by

                                    @akamming said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

                                    That's why i think i got this tip: dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d-pi4,audio=off (with dtparam=audio=on and old vc4-hdmi.conf). But that indeed did not work

                                    The usage is dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio combined with dtparam=audio=on

                                    This turns off the vc4hdmi audio driver and keeps the BCM2835 audio driver on.

                                    If you want the vc4hmdi audio driver the usage is dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d and dtparam=audio=off

                                    You also need to replace the old vc4hdmi.conf file with this new one https://github.com/LibreELEC/LibreELEC.tv/blob/master/projects/RPi/filesystem/usr/share/alsa/cards/vc4-hdmi.conf

                                    I wouldn’t recommend this since this driver is very much a WIP and it lacks several features still.

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                                    • A
                                      akamming @bluestang
                                      last edited by

                                      @bluestang said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

                                      The usage is dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio combined with dtparam=audio=on

                                      This turns off the vc4hdmi audio driver and keeps the BCM2835 audio driver on.

                                      Aha... then i think i know here i went wrong. I used audio=off instead of noaudio. Tx! I will try again in a few days...

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                                      • A
                                        akamming @akamming
                                        last edited by

                                        @bluestang said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

                                        The usage is dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio combined with dtparam=audio=on

                                        Just confirmed: This fixes the hdmi audio. Tx a lot!

                                        i saw a video on YouTube with someone claiming to overclock the ARM to 2250 on 5.4. So apparently 5.4 with the new firmware has less restrictions on overclock, but i cannot find anywhere on the internet what the new settings are... does any one know? Cause if we can boost cpu and/or gpu we might even get a better emulation performance on the pi 4....

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                                        • S
                                          SeraphisCain
                                          last edited by SeraphisCain

                                          So I'm still having the "jerky scrolling" issue with the KMS driver that I was having when I tested it prior to official release. Noticed it in Super Mario Bros. and Sonic 2 before official release, and Castlevania Chronicles (PS1) just now. Went back to FKMS and it's fixed. Anyone else notice issues with stuttering/jerky scrolling on KMS?

                                          @akamming You said earlier in the thread you rolled back to the previous kernel. How did you do that? There's something I need to check in Redream on the previous kernel (and if my suspicion is correct, I'll be staying on the previous kernel).

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                                          • A
                                            akamming @SeraphisCain
                                            last edited by

                                            @SeraphisCain said in [Good news regarding tearing and low

                                            @akamming You said earlier in the thread you rolled back to the previous kernel. How did you do that? There's something I need to check in Redream on the previous kernel (and if my suspicion is correct, I'll be staying on the previous kernel).

                                            I did it using these commands:

                                            sudo apt-get update 
                                            sudo apt-get install --reinstall raspberrypi-bootloader raspberrypi-kernel
                                            

                                            (and ofcourse reverting other changes i made myself)

                                            but that won't work anymore, cause the raspberry foundation now moved to 5.4 in the official updates as well i noticed...

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