not full speed at some psx games on Rb pi4

IGA

Hardware: Pi 4 - 4gb
Power supply: 5V 3A Power Supply
RetroPie V.4.7.1
Built From: Pre made from RetroPie website pi4 image
USB: logitech keyboard
Controller: saitek x-box 360 controller
VideoOut: crt-tv via composite !

Hello
I've tested some psx games on Pi4 and found that not all games got fullspeed.
Is it problem of pi4 (not enough cpu power) or i've got some wrong settings?

As i understand emulator\core in retropie is one - pcsx rearmed. I've used it with native settings...

For example wwf smackdown 2 (SLUS-01234) at 4 man mode ( when all 4 model appears at the screen) the game on pi4 works in 25 fps only. And it's slowly...
At PC emulators or PS3 hardware it's always has 30 fps in any time.

Or colin mcrae rally 2 - internal fps counter jumps from 15 to 60 depending from scene ( when originally game work in 30 fps).
Or another 3d racing games when at the moment of turn 3d backgrounds begans to scroll

There are my default settings:
alt text

dankcushions

verbose log, please: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

and on a pi4, i would use lr-duckstation: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/30743/lr-duckstation-experimental-new-playstation-1-emulator

IGA

@dankcushions verbose log

dankcushions

@iga

[INFO] Version: 1.8.8

This looks like quite an old install. You should update the retropie-setup script, and then update retroarch at least, then you should get the faster default alsathread audio driver.

that said, it looks like it's not dropping frames in your log:

[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 561, Frames dropped: 1.

but i see you only ran it for a few seconds. you should get a log showing an actual slowdown, then we can see if it's an emulation issue (fixed by a better emulator - eg duckstation) or performance issue, which indicate a bad configuration. if it is only some games i expect it's the former.

IGA

@dankcushions

Ok, there is 1 full match in survivor\battle royal mode of smackdown 2 ~ nearly 10 minuts...

And there 1 single race from Colin McRae Rally 2 increase 30 fps could only at the moment when all rival's cars absent from screen

Then I've changed in retroarch settings\drivers\audio from alsa to alsathread, but fps was still the same (25)

IGA

After updating retroarch-setup script, i want to update retroarch own but it's said that i've running latest binary...
Anyway ingame it showed as 1.9.7 -PCSX_Rearmed (r22 b715d67)

IGA

Maybe slowdowns depend from crt connection? (dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d)
Just in case, there is my pi config fragment:

 Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

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

[pi4]
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver on top of the dispmanx display stack
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2

[all]
#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
#overscan_scale=1

enable_tvout=1
sdtv_mode=16
sdtv_aspect=1
audio_pwm_mode=2
overscan_left=55
overscan_right=8

dankcushions

thanks!

[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 35906, Frames dropped: 128.

again, not dropped frames, so it looks like it's an emulation issue. it could be fixed potentially INCREASING the cpu clock, but you'd want to make that a per-rom change. i would just update and try duckstation as per my link, which is a better emulator for pi4.

sleve_mcdichael

@iga said in not full speed at some psx games on Rb pi4:

I wanted update retroarch, but it's said that i've running latest binary

It sounds like you might still be running under Raspbian Stretch instead of the newer Raspbian Buster*. I don't think you can upgrade in-place, I think you need to flash your card with the new image. You can back up your roms, configs, and bios folders first, though, and then copy them back over to the new install.

* You can check, by entering a terminal and using the command cat /etc/os-release. It should look something like:

PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="10"
VERSION="10 (buster)"
VERSION_CODENAME=buster
ID=raspbian
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianForums"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianBugs"

mitu

@iga said in not full speed at some psx games on Rb pi4:

Maybe slowdowns depend from crt connection? (dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d)

You mean from enable_tvout=1 ?

It sounds like you might still be running under Raspbian Stretch instead of the newer Raspbian Buster

Raspbian Stretch would not work on the Pi4, you'd need Buster for it to work. More likely RetroPie-Setup is not updated (still at 4.7.1) - lr-duckstation will not be available at that version.

@IGA update your RetroPie-Setup script first before trying to install lr-duckstation and updating RetroArch.

IGA

@dankcushions Ok, I've install Duckstation, but where in this core options i could find showing external fps?

IGA

@mitu Build date: Sep 3 2021
Git version: 8373ac6
Compiler: GCC (8.3.0) 32-bit

1.9.7

current?

mitu

@iga said in not full speed at some psx games on Rb pi4:

1.9.7

Yes, this is the version of RetroArch that's currently available in RetroPie.

IGA

@mitu said in not full speed at some psx games on Rb pi4:

You mean from enable_tvout=1 ?

Yup, i've read it about there link text

"By default the composite output on the Pi 4 is disabled because it slows the system down. You need to add this to config.txt"

and [there]https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=283639)

enable_tvout limits the core clock to 432 (from default of 500) as the vec hardware needs 108MHz and shares a PLL channel.
Generally that has minimal effect on arm code, but does have some effect on analogue audio (whose sigma-delta resampling runs off the core clock).
You could try replacing sigma-delta resampling with a more basic form with audio_pwm_mode=1
Or you could try overclocking. This isn't something I've tried, so no guarantees (and backing up first is advisable). But this would be my guess.
Code: Select all
core_freq=540
over_voltage=2

or is this nonsense?

mitu

@iga Given the advice comes from an RPT engineer, I don't think it's nonsense. You could try using audio_pwm_mode=1to see if you get any improvements (without any overclocking).

sirhenrythe5th

Is there any chance that the tv-out mode will ever be improved on the Pi4?
Just that i unverstand it: is there no way at all because the hardware not able to support CRT better?

mitu

@sirhenrythe5th As far as the original design regarding the clock frequency downclocking with enable_tvout, I don't think it will/can be changed.

Otherwise, the analog video output is still being worked on - originally it wasn't even working with the new (pure) KMS driver, now it is working.

dankcushions

in this case you can see from the logs that no significant slowdowns are caused, so it’s not relevant. it’s an emulation accuracy issue.

IGA

@mitu said in not full speed at some psx games on Rb pi4:

originally it wasn't even working with the new (pure) KMS driver, now it is working.

aaaaaammmm... What did you mean?
Raspberry4 still boot only with vc4-fkms-v3d parameter to work with analog output, if stay dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d-pi4 it would not work with composite output

or it's different things?

IGA

just for an example....

Same game running from Batocera ( same core) on Rb pi3 by hdmi

So is the deal in a bad hardware or bad software?)