lr-duckstation - Experimental new PlayStation 1 emulator

FD

Love that duckstation updates.

Ran into some issues playing Xenogears. If there is a better place to capture these issues, let me know.

GAME: Xenogears
VERSIONS TRIED: SLUS00664 (ISO), US-PBP, Undub 2.0 (PBP)
HARDWARE: PI4 8GB r1.4, VL805
Settings: Defaults, no cheats, no shaders
ISSUES:

Freezing when using fast forward and attempting to open a chest
Freezing/crashing during last dialogue box before leaving the blackmoon forest

NOTES: Tried playing around with video settings to lower the resolution; adjusted read and write speed settings; made sure alsathread settings were selected -- Nothing fixed either of the issues above.

Latest version of pcsx-rearmed doesn't encounter these issues so it doesn't appear to be a problem with the rooms.

windg

@FD

If you can, share the save file/state so i can try it, thanks
Without the fast forward the game crashing?

Genos98

@fd I've played xenogears up to the point of reaching the town of nisan but haven't touched it since then because tales of arise got me hooked. I've never encountered any crashes since I've played it from the start up to the point that I've stopped, so probably the fast forwarding might be causing the crashes. I also have the xenogears 2.0 but in chd.

FD

@windg

I can't remember if duckstation save states are captured in the same .state file that pcsx-rearmed uses or if they are stored in the ldci file. I have linked to both below:

Xenogears (USA).ldci

Xenogears (USA).state

Thanks.

*Also, I have tried playing through the same section in blackmoon forest without fast-forward. No luck. (Not using fast-forward when opening a chest does seem to work though)

FD

@genos98

Are you able to combine discs into a single chd file(ala pbp) or are you selecting a disc at a time?

Also, I want to say that I saw similar PBP crashes at similar times on PSP and it required a specific popstation version. So maybe the issues are tied to using PBP files.

windg

@fd said in lr-duckstation - Experimental new PlayStation 1 emulator:

@genos98

Are you able to combine discs into a single chd file(ala pbp) or are you selecting a disc at a time?

Also, I want to say that I saw similar PBP crashes at similar times on PSP and it required a specific popstation version. So maybe the issues are tied to using PBP files.

Save state didn't work but i find a save file. If i understand correct, the game freezing after you beat the dinosaur and you see the spaceship in the sky and you are ready to leave the forest ? If it is this then it didn't crash on me. I use the cd version of the game not PBP.

FD

@windg

Yup - that's exactly where I am experiencing the freezing/crashing (post dino just before the spaceship/exit to the world map.)

Seems like it might be an issue with PBP files. I'll rip the first disc from the physical copy I own and give a non-pbp version of the game a try.

As awesome as duckstation is, it would be a shame if there wasn't a fix for the PBP versions of these games.

FD

@windg
@Genos98
@dankcushions

I found the source of all of my freezing/crashing issues on Xenogears. It has nothing to do with it being a pbp file.

If a cheat code file has been loaded, even if no cheats have been selected, the game will freeze/crash at certain sections of the game.

Out of curiosity I started playing through Final Fantasy VII with a cheat file loaded and the same thing happened - crashes at random points in the game. Again, no cheats selected, but the cheat file had been loaded.

On a related note, deleting the loaded cheat file from retroarch in duckstation doesn’t stick - even if changes have been applied and game overrides refreshed.

Thanks for all of your help in tracking these issues down. Stay away from loading cheat files - or else… 😅

chronox

im have a lot of audio issues on a stock 3b+.... music crackles pretty noticeably (how much seems to depend on the track, strangely enough), and it sounds pretty distorted when loud enough, it's especially noticeable with headphones connected. im not having any of that on lr-pcsx-rearmed

this is on every game it seems; ive tested AND played a significant chunk of tales of phantasia, suikoden, and chrono cross (the latter of which also crackles a lot on the party menu, figured it'd be at least worth a mention even if it seems to be just an emulation issue)

i have the latest binary available, and im also using a crtpi image if that matters somehow -- im pretty sure its just setting up video scaling options for cores (at least checking core configs seems to be just that) but i might be wrong

dankcushions

@chronox said in lr-duckstation - Experimental new PlayStation 1 emulator:

i have the latest binary available, and im also using a crtpi image if that matters somehow

we don't support third party images, i'm afraid. no exceptions. please try the official image and note the installation notes in the first post here, and the guidelines for seeking support in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

Darksavior

@dankcushions You are very right. I made the mistake of supporting that image on the subreddit and in the end I had to troubleshoot a problem the image maker couldn't figure out at the time. It was a bug with runahead being enabled by default.

dankcushions

@darksavior heh, yeah runahead would do it! what a crazy default.

chronox

@dankcushions my bad T_T i hope that wasnt annoying!

ive flashed the official image from the retropie website and tinkered with the video settings so it works with my crt properly lol, but im still having the same audio issues... ive made sure to update the retropie script and the underlying OS stuff to the latest version before actually testing out the games but no dice

im gonna test a bit more, but yeah for now it doesnt seem like anything got fixed unfortunately :(

edit: something i somehow completely forgot to mention is that my pi is running through a pi2scart.. should i try connecting my pi to an actual hdtv? itd be a bit of a hassle and im still not really sure if itd fix anything, but maybe

dankcushions

@chronox i am not really familiar with CRT setups but I believe the pi4 has to download to run CRT signals: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29999/what-are-the-most-common-problems-with-using-a-crt-with-the-raspberry-pi-4 - this could explain your performance issues. perhaps lr-pcsx_rearmed would be your best solution since it is less demanding.

however that's just a guess since you didn't supply me with the info in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first - verbose log, etc

sirhenrythe5th

@dankcushions i am an absolut CRT Fan and one of those guys that think that for emulation of systems from Atari2600 to Dreamcast a CRT is the best way to go.
It worked perfect with Pi1 to Pi3, but i also gave up with the Pi4.
I would have bought a VGA666 or Pi2Scart, but in the end even that does not work because of the issues with the 3.5" sound output.
A kind of shame, but as everyone has a HD flatscreen in our days it may be the way to go.
Nethertheless a CRT should be supported at 100% for retrogamers IMO.

Crush

@dankcushions said in lr-duckstation - Experimental new PlayStation 1 emulator:

@crush said in lr-duckstation - Experimental new PlayStation 1 emulator:

@dankcushions thanks but i'm refering to rendered resolution, like the enhanced resolution option in lr-psx-rearmed.

so am i :) those options are available in core options, as per my link. in duckstation the option is called 'internal resolution scale'. note that you'll have to switch the renderer option to 'hardware (auto)' (with the caveat in the my first post in this thread), and restart the core for it to appear.

that said, i just tested it and it appears to cause quite a bit of slowdown on my test game (tekken 2) at 2x resolution, but other games might be fine. you may also get better performance disabling all the PGXP enhancements.

@dankcushions this worked at the time of that convo, but recently i have updated, i notice vulcan works, but changing the internal resolution scale no longer does anything, it keeps rendering at 1x.
Is this intentionally disabled or is something else amiss?

ChaosEffect

I have been on a kick recently with trying all of the lightgun games I can get to work.

Two that have been giving me trouble are the arcade versions of Time Crisis and Judge Dredd.

The various MAME cores available on RetroPie are lacking one thing or another with these games. Some cores run Judge Dredd fine but don't have gun support, while others have gun support and don't run Judge Dredd. Time Crisis appears to not work in any of them.

I know that the PlayStation versions work well and that DuckStation is focused on PlayStation games, but I'm curious if DuckStation would be able to handle these and any other arcade games that have architecture similar to the PlayStation's (like how Flycast can handle Naomi and Atomiswave games).

dankcushions

@chaoseffect nope, the author has said on multiple occasions that they have no interest in it and that it's actually not trivial to pivot to an arcade core.

Clyde

I just learned that Duckstation is on indefinite hold. The developer and many others seem to blame it on (parts of) the RetroArch team. See here and here on Reddit.

Does anyone know more about this? And what does it mean for lr-duckstaion?

windg

A big THANK YOU to Stenzek for his amazing job with Duckstation. It's my default emulator on my systems. I hope Duckstation to keep working and be available for download in the future releases of RetroPie.