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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Low framerate on main EmulationStation menu - Pi 4

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    pi 4estationperformance
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    • R
      rilight
      last edited by

      (Also, again, I'm definitely new to this so please correct me if I have any misconceptions or if you need more information!)

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      • mituM
        mitu Global Moderator
        last edited by

        Is your TV set to 'Game Mode' ?

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        • R
          rilight
          last edited by

          I'm not sure - this is actually a monitor, not a TV. I can try to enable those settings, but what confuses me is that using this monitor worked fine before on the 3B+. Come to think of it, could it maybe be something to do with my micro-HDMI to HDMI adapter?

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          • R
            rilight
            last edited by

            I just tested changing my /boot/config.txt back to how it was on my 3B+ (not disabling overscan, not changing any HDMI settings, etc) and the problem is still there. I can include a copy of the config if that would help?

            mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • mituM
              mitu Global Moderator @rilight
              last edited by

              @rilight Sure, why not. Use code tags (```) to surround the config.txt contents.

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              • R
                rilight
                last edited by rilight

                The version I've been using up until this point (by which I mean, without the changes to make it more like the 3B+ config):

                [pi4]
max_framebuffers=2

## Overclock settings
# Uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=2147
#arm_freq=2000
#arm_freq_min=500
#v3d_freq=750
#over_voltage=6
# Enable turbo temporarily at boot to speed up times
#initial_turbo=60
# Increase the SD reader clock speed (default 50)
dtparam=sd_overclock=100

[all]
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver on top of the dispmanx display stack
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d

## Base settings
disable_splash=1
boot_delay=0
gpu_mem=256

## Audio settings
# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on

## HDMI Settings
# Remove black borders on display when scaling
disable_overscan=1

# Request "Game Mode"
edid_content_type=4

## Disable the optional hardware interfaces
dtparam=i2c_arm=off
dtparam=i2s=off
dtparam=spi=off

## Disable 4K?
[hdmi:0]
hdmi_max_pixel_freq=200000000

[hdmi:1]
hdmi_max_pixel_freq=200000000
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                • mituM
                  mitu Global Moderator
                  last edited by

                  Configuration seems fine. Do you have WiFi enabled ?

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                  • R
                    rilight
                    last edited by

                    @mitu I have wpa_supplicant enabled, yes. Does that cause performance issues? To be clear, this isn't a problem with laggy inputs. It's what's being displayed on the screen that's the problem.

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                    • mituM
                      mitu Global Moderator @rilight
                      last edited by

                      I have wpa_supplicant enabled, yes. Does that cause performance issues?

                      No, just checking what might cause any interference with the HDMI signal. At this point I'd probably try another mini-HDMI to HDMI cable or switching to a lower resolution (720p ?) and see if the problem still occurs.

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                      • R
                        rilight
                        last edited by

                        Unfortunately I don't have another mini-HDMI adapter... I haven't seen anything from other users of the adapter indicating it could be causing problems like this (the part number for reference is B07K21HSQX). I'll try changing the resolution.

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                        • R
                          rilight
                          last edited by rilight

                          @mitu I changed the resolution to 720p with hdmi_mode=85 and hdmi_group=2, and performance in the main menu of ES is all but normal again. Gambette is no longer showing the same kind of tearing issues, though the framerate does occasionally dip just below 60fps (EDIT: I checked the game I'm running in a benchmarking spreadsheet and I believe this is normal). Why would this be happening? I thought the Pi 4 had more than powerful enough of a graphical processor to drive 1080p.

                          roslofR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • roslofR
                            roslof @rilight
                            last edited by

                            @rilight said in Low framerate on main EmulationStation menu - Pi 4:

                            I thought the Pi 4 had more than powerful enough of a graphical processor to drive 1080p.

                            The 4B can handle it. We haven't figured out your issue quite yet.

                            If it helps, here are some of my config.txt settings:

                            hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=16

hdmi_max_pixel_freq:0=200000000
hdmi_max_pixel_freq:1=200000000

dtparam=i2c_arm=on

dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2

dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d

enable_uart=1
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                            • R
                              rilight
                              last edited by

                              The 4B can handle it. We haven't figured out your issue quite yet.

                              That's reassuring at least 😄

                              It looks like the only difference in config you have listed there related to video is the hdmi_group and hdmi_mode settings, I can try that out.

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                              • R
                                rilight
                                last edited by

                                Looks like that one has the same problems, darn :/

                                roslofR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • roslofR
                                  roslof @rilight
                                  last edited by roslof

                                  @rilight for Gambatte, I'm running 1.88 - Gambatte (v0.5.0-netlink).
                                  Normally, I get a solid 60FPS, and with speed-up enabled, I literally get >1600 FPS (with overclock) and that's with a 5-pass gb shader enabled.

                                  Is your RA Threaded Video set to enabled?

                                  Let's compare our RetroArch video settings. Launching "RetroArch" from the Raspberry Pi settings menu, mine are:

                                  Output:
Video: (gl)
Monitor Index 0 (Auto)
Video Rotation (Normal)
Force-Disable sRGB FBO (Disabled)

Fullscreen Mode:
Start in Fullscreen Mode (Enabled)
Windowed Fullscreen Mode (Enabled)
Fullscreen Width (1920)
Fullscreen Height (1080)

Windowed Mode:
Windowed Scale: (1.0x)
Window Opacity: (100)
Show Window Decorations (Enabled)
Remember Window Position and Size (Disabled)
Window Width: (1280)
Window Height: (720)

Scaling:
Integer Scale (Disabled)
Aspect Ratio (Core provided)
Crop Overscan (Enabled)

Synchronization:
Vertical Sync (Vsync) (Enabled)
Vertical Sync (Vsync) Swap Interval (1)
Frame Delay (0) 
Hard GPU Sync (Disabled)
Max swapchain images (3)
Sync to Exact Content Framerate (Disabled)

Threaded Video (Enabled)
Black Frame Insertion (Disabled)
GPU Screenshot (Disabled)
Bilinear Filtering (Enabled)
Auto-Shader Delay (0)

...and no Video Filter set.
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                                  • R
                                    rilight
                                    last edited by rilight

                                    It looks like I have the same version of Gambatte as you do. Here's my video settings from the RetroArch menu after launching the game:

                                    Output:
  Video: gl
  Monitor Index: 0(Auto)
  Video Rotation: Normal
  Force-Disable sRGB FBO: Off

Fullscreen:
  Start in Fullscreen Mode: On
  Windowed Fullscreen Mode: On
  Fullscreen Width: 1920
  Fullscreen Height: 1080

Windowed Mode:
  Windowed Scale: 3.0x
  Window Opacity: 100
  Show Window Decorations: On
  Remember Window Position and Size: Off
  Window Width: 1280
  Window Height: 720

Scaling:
  Integer Scale: Off
  Aspect Ratio: Core Provided
  Crop Overscan: On

Synchronization:
  Vertical Sync (Vsync): On
  Vertical Sync (Vsync) Swap Interval: 1
  Frame Delay: 0
  Hard GPU Sync: Off
  Max swapchain images: 3
  Sync to Exact Content Framerate: Off

Suspend Screensaver: On
Threaded Video: On
Black Frame Insertion: Off
GPU Screenshot: On
Bilinear Filtering: Off
Auto-Shader Delay: 0

Video Filter: N/A

                                    I'm not sure why I'm missing some of the options you have, maybe you have an advanced settings option enabled? The only difference I see here is that my windowed scale is set to 3x instead of 1x.

                                    roslofR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • roslofR
                                      roslof @rilight
                                      last edited by roslof

                                      @rilight said in Low framerate on main EmulationStation menu - Pi 4:

                                      I'm not sure why I'm missing some of the options you have

                                      Hmmm... Maybe:
                                      RetroArch / User Interface / Views / (enable everything except "Display Start Screen)
                                      RetroArch / User Interface / (enable "Show Advanced Settings")

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                                      • R
                                        rilight
                                        last edited by

                                        Ah, enabling "Show Advanced Settings" did the trick. I'll edit my post to add the missing values.

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                                        • R
                                          rilight
                                          last edited by

                                          The only other differences I notice now are GPU Screenshot being on and Bilinear Filtering being off, I think that's everything.

                                          roslofR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • roslofR
                                            roslof @rilight
                                            last edited by

                                            @rilight Boo. Between config.txt for overall video setting, and RetroArch video settings, seems all good.

                                            I can't argue with @mitu 's logic at this point. The software appears to be correct, and unless I'm missing something, this only leaves hardware between your Pi 4B and your TV.

                                            Silly, terrible questions:

                                            1. You are using physical video port 0, correct?
                                            2. Can test your setup on a different TV?
                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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