RetroPie: Games need a long time to start

Lilian3004

Device: Pi 4B with 4gb ram
Power supply: original power supply
OS: Retropie 4.7.3
Build from: Raspberry Pi building tool
USB devices connected: 2,4ghz receiver for Logitech keyboard
Error messages: none

I recently installed Retropie and put the roms on the same micro sd card (read speed is 90mb/s) and every time I start a game in Emulatiostation, it takes about 25 to 30 seconds to actually start the game, meaning i get to see the graphics. During those 25 to 30 seconds the screen is black.
This behaviour appears on all emulators.

The games are not zipped.
Im using an 8bitdo Sn30pro+ and a Logitech K400 keyboard for playing. No matter which device i use, the roms start after 30 seconds of waiting. The 8bitdo has the latest firmware (1.7 or so).
The 8bitdo is paired with the Start-button, no specific combination.

Why is it so slow? How can I speed up things?

dankcushions

@lilian3004 please provide full info and a verbose log as per https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

are your roms zipped?

Lilian3004

@dankcushions no

hawkes_84

@lilian3004 I remember having a similar issue where the roms would take about 10-15 seconds to start. Turns out it was how I synced my controller in the wrong mode. Think I paired it in android mode when it should have been windows or the other way around. Give this a try

Lilian3004

@hawkes_84 im using an 8bitdo sn30 pro+. How do i change the pairing mode? I simply tapped the start-button, no special button combi

rmbell34

@lilian3004 Hi there! I have the same controllers. What I do is pair them in Switch mode because then I can use the 2 extra buttons (the home and star button I believe).

To put the controller in switch mode hold the Y button then press start. You should see the 4 dots on the bottom of the controller move back and forth to indicate you are in switch mode. Then hold down the pair button for several seconds and you should be able to pair the controller in switch mode.

Please keep in mind when you use the controller that there are 4 different modes depending on which button (a, b, x, y) is held before pressing start. You want to make sure that you have it in the same mode you paired.

hawkes_84

@lilian3004 What this guy said below :) once you've paired in a certain mode you don't have to keep turning on your controller in that way. You can just press start once it's paired

gginelli

@rmbell34 I also use the 8BitDo SN30 Pro+. The problem with the Switch mode is, rumble/vibration/haptic feedback doesn’t work (for games that support this feature). This only works in Windows (X-Input) mode. For this mode to function properly, you need to install/update the xpadneo driver. This should fix the long loading times and can be done through the RetroPie-Setup script. However, in Windows mode the star and home buttons are not supported.