[Pi 4] Cave CV1000 Performance Thread

dodonpachi

So I'm finally back from trip, updated lr-fbneo, and gave it a whirl. I just cleared DDP SDOJ with el rika's settings (mine turned out to have much more slowdown than mame 2016 somehow), and am thoroughly impressed. There were only a few sound stutters from Stage 4 onwards, but I quite frankly couldn't believe it was otherwise playing so well on a Pi 4.

I'll report back on the other games as I test them.

Here's hoping dink manages to somehow squeeze out another speed boost, like he did a few days ago!

Addison

How does one create a Cave folder in Emulation Station?

I'd prefer that rather than searching through a bulk folder to find something from Cave.

And does anyone have a good graphic thumbnail to use?

dodonpachi

@Addison open up es_systems.cfg, copy the block of code for arcade, rename the system and folder name to cave, make a "cave" folder in the roms folder, dump the roms in there.

As for the logo, check this: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3226/es-custom-svg-logo-pack-includes-specific-mame-logos

Addison

Copy everything in the folder /opt/retropie/configs/arcade
to /opt/retropie/configs/cave
?

And copy this block of code?

lr-fbneo = "/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-fbneo/fbneo_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/arcade/retroarch.cfg %ROM%"
lr-fbneo-neocd = "/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-fbneo/fbneo_libretro.so --subsystem neocd --config /opt/retropie/configs/arcade/retroarch.cfg %ROM%"
lr-mame2003 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mame2003/mame2003_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/arcade/retroarch.cfg %ROM%"
default = "lr-fbneo"

And change what exactly?

In my defense, I wasn't always this stupid. :D

dodonpachi

@Addison my bad, I mentioned the wrong cfg file (it's been a while since I did it). I edited the post with the correct one.

G30FF

@Addison Since it's just for Cave games, instead of copying everything from /opt/retropie/configs/arcade, you could copy everything from /opt/retropie/configs/fbneo to /opt/retropie/configs/cave. Then fbneo would be your only option, and you wouldn't have to mess with config files. I did this to create folders for CPS1-3 and it worked.

Addison

@dodonpachi said in [Pi 4] Cave CV1000 Performance Thread:

@Addison open up es_systems.cfg, copy the block of code for arcade, rename the system and folder name to cave, make a "cave" folder in the roms folder, dump the roms in there.

As for the logo, check this: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3226/es-custom-svg-logo-pack-includes-specific-mame-logos

I tried editing that es_systems.cfg file last night but it gave me a permission denied error.

I'm using WinSCP by the way.

Think I'll try G30FF's suggestion later tonight.

Darksavior

@Addison Read the official guide: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Add-a-New-System-in-EmulationStation/

Addison

@Darksavior

"Before you make any changes, you should exit EmulationStation first by pressing F4 on a keyboard or using the Quit EmulationStation option in the start menu."

Think I overlooked that part.

Will give it another try.

Thanks.

IanDaemon

@Addison
You can also just create a "custom collection" in ES. That's all done from within the GUI and no command-line stuff is needed.

I have one for Shmups and I put CAVE and Psikyo in there and random others that I like. ES custom collections are cross platform too so you can put any available ROM in those lists.

Addison

@IanDaemon

There's a custom option in Emulation Station?

Like hit Start to bring up the menu on this?

Going to check that now!

IanDaemon

@Addison There's a default button to "Favorite" a game. That's just a custom collection in essence called "Favorites".

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/EmulationStation/#custom-collections

If you wanted to NOT use custom collections you can go this route:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/EmulationStation/#es_systemscfg-edits

I'm not sure what your setup is or what you're more familiar with.

YFZdude

I'm not sure if this option gets much popular use, but I found out you can just create sub-folders inside a system's rom folder and they show up as an entry in the rom list for that system.

So if you make a folder under arcade or fba called 'cave' you can put all your cave games in it. Then all cave games will be inside an entry called 'cave' in the rom list. Then you can add symbols in front of the name if you want to make it appear at the top.

I am considering trying this as a way to categorize all the arcade roms on my setup.

IanDaemon

@YFZdude Sure, you can do this if you want to physically move the ROMs. Scraping may not necessarily follow this "unknown" directory structure without manual edits to files. It depends on your situation I guess.

Addison

Think I'll just follow YFZdude's suggestion and simply use a subfolder.

I do that with most of the systems anyway since I don't scrape any of the contents in them.

My folders on each are usually something like:
Licensed
Translated
Unlicensed (with even more subfolders in there) - for romhacks

It's nice to have a tree structure. :)

dodonpachi

Dink updated fbneo a few days ago with more speed hacks for CV1000. Testing SDOJ doesn't reveal much of a difference for me so far, but it's always appreciated nonetheless! Figured you gents would like the update.

roslof

@dodonpachi said in [Pi 4] Cave CV1000 Performance Thread:

Dink updated fbneo a few days ago with more speed hacks for CV1000. Testing SDOJ doesn't reveal much of a difference for me so far, but it's always appreciated nonetheless! Figured you gents would like the update.

For SDOJ (and the Knuckles hack) the sweet spot for me on an overclocked Pi4B is to set the CPU clock to around 50%. The red character's bomb is otherwise always going to be a problem with framerate. Was able to use a different character and play through the entire first level without any significant framerate hit.

I think it's a small miracle these Cave games are running so well -- a testament to the hard work of the fbneo crew.

dodonpachi

While I previously mentioned that I didn't notice a difference with the speed hacks, it must have been because the binary wasn't updated to match that version or something. I just updated lr-fbneo now, and played through SDOJ with incredible performance. Using el rikas latest suggested CPU and blitter settings (43.2 and 57), I encountered only two instances of sound drops, at the heaviest part of the final stage. Even then, it was only for a split second.

I'm floored at what a difference lr-fbneo has made so far. When I first made this thread back in April, I was lucky if I heard the entire stage 1 theme without drops, using lr-mame2016. Now I just played through the whole game at nearly full speed.

bbilford83

Hi all. Thanks to everyone who got this working so well, and it's been wonderful being able to play all these cave shooters on a pi. I know I should probably join the FBN forum and ask there, but as I'm new to all of this and have an account here I thought I'd ask: has anyone figured out good numbers to get Pink Sweets running well? On the linked thread that was still discussed as a work in progress, but I haven't seen any follow-up. I may end up testing around myself if nobody else has.

Cheers!

dodonpachi

@bbilford83 Try 37% CPU, with no blitter delay. That's the recommended value in MAME (on a good PC)