Golden Sun (GBA) Crashing

MJLHThomassen

Hey Guys, first of all, loving RetroPie, its awesome! Thanks for all the hard work you put in it.

I've been playing Golden Sun for the GBA emulator but I'm having some issues with it (incidently, im having the same issues using any of the GBA emulators with RetroArch on Windows). The emulator crashes after a few minutes of play. With crashes I mean the screen freezes and the audio hangs/repeats current buffer. It does not go back to EmulationStation. I can still use the control for saving/loading state but of course when loading a state that has been saved while its bugged, it loads bugged. The problem appears with all of the pre-installed GBA emulators.

Pi Model: 2B
RetroPie Version Used: 4.02
Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: 8Bitdo Retro Receiver for SNES
Controller used: 8Bitdo SFC30 (via Retro Reciever USB, not BT, so its being detected as XInput / xbox 360 controller)
Error messages received: None
File: \RETROPIE\roms\gba\Golden Sun.gba
Emulator: lr-mGBA, lr-gpsp, lr-vba-next
Attachment of config files:
- retroarch all config: http://pastebin.com/x0Jwdkah
- retroarch gba config:

# Settings made here will only override settings in the global retroarch.cfg if placed above the #include line

input_remapping_directory = "/opt/retropie/configs/gba/"

#include "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg"

How to replicate the problem: Start Golden Sun, play for a bit, it crashes at seeming random moments, both in and out of battle (but most of the times in battle). It also happend to me when just running the emulator, standing still with my character in a village and just waiting, after a minute or 5 it crashed. As i mentioned above, i have the same issues with theexe emulators with libretro/RetroArch on Windows with the same ROM. I'm starting to think its a bad ROM file.

I've searched the internet but cant find anyone with the same or similar problems. IF you need any more info please ask.

mediamogul

@MJLHThomassen said in Golden Sun (GBA) Crashing:

I'm starting to think its a bad ROM file.

It's a good idea to eliminate the rom itself as the cause as an early troubleshooting measure. Try locating one from a different source and see how it behaves.

MJLHThomassen

I now tried several different ROM's, but they all have the same problem. Incidently, they also all have the same MD5 hash:

1c dd 7f 33 c9 a2 70 61 20 1e 1d 1c e0 29 a7 00

I now have a lr-mgba .state file which, if you load it, loads up the character in the world map with the "select" menu on. If you press B to exit the menu, then press B again and press down on the D-Pad to start "running down", it crashes immediately (if you dont press B to start running it works). You can download this state file here:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/12xe27558qr1k8w/Golden_Sun.state

I don't really know what else i can do to see whats going wrong here.

dankcushions

@MJLHThomassen said in Golden Sun (GBA) Crashing:

I now tried several different ROM's, but they all have the same problem. Incidently, they also all have the same MD5 hash:

1c dd 7f 33 c9 a2 70 61 20 1e 1d 1c e0 29 a7 00

I now have a lr-mgba .state file which, if you load it, loads up the character in the world map with the "select" menu on. If you press B to exit the menu, then press B again and press down on the D-Pad to start "running down", it crashes immediately (if you dont press B to start running it works). You can download this state file here:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/12xe27558qr1k8w/Golden_Sun.state

I don't really know what else i can do to see whats going wrong here.

i just uploaded this state to my pi3 and couldn't get it to load. it says 'Loaded state from slot 0' but the game just resets... i have the same hash and i just updated lr-mgba to the latest binary. not sure what could be going wrong. if i save another state it loads properly.

(all i was going to do is to run it via gdb to get a backtrace)

MJLHThomassen

@dankcushions

Thats strange. Obviously, it loads for me. I do have the "do not override saveram" option enabled, dont know if that has anything to do with it. I'm also on the latest version of mgba (i updated all the packages via the Retropie Setup tool).

I have another save state for you. For me this one crashes if i just walk around a bit on the world map:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/a08tn5w97w0el8g/Golden_Sun.state1

Also, this is my saveram file:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/fgt8n13r4gu10u1/Golden_Sun.srm

I have both files in the same directory as the rom file and RetroArch configured to load and save to and from the content dir for both saveram and states.

dankcushions

@MJLHThomassen that one loads correctly but no inputs work (appears it's frozen?). i tried the sram option on/off. very strange. might be worth logging it as an issue here: https://github.com/libretro/mgba/issues

MJLHThomassen

I have posted an issue:

https://github.com/libretro/mgba/issues/47

Its still strange that ive seen similar behavior on other emulators aswell. It is hard to reproduce as loading up another emulator and getting to a point in the game where the crashes happen (they dont happen in the intro) takes about an hour because the intro of the game is so long.

MJLHThomassen

This post is deleted!

MJLHThomassen

@dankcushions I have an update on this. As the person in the issue suggested, i tried running this trough gdb, however, no crash occurred.
It only seems to occur if i launch trough EmulationStation. There is a log file (/dev/shm/runcommand.log, it is shown in the screen that is shown after you select the game in EmulationStation but before RetroArch launches, i dont know if this is an EmulationStation feature or a RetroPie only feature).

Anyway, that log file shows the following:

Parameters: 0 _SYS_ gba /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba

Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mgba/mgba_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh: line 854:  1434 Segmentation fault      /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mgba/mgba_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

the appendconfig file only contains: video_refresh_rate = 60

I'm going to investigate further...

dankcushions

@MJLHThomassen said in Golden Sun (GBA) Crashing:

Parameters: 0 SYS gba /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba

Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mgba/mgba_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

interesting! when you ran through GDB, did you run it with the same arguments? ie, in that log file it shows the command line it uses to launch the game:

/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mgba/mgba_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

i think if you want to use this command in the commandline, you will need to replace --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg with --appendconfig /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg

so, if you run via gdb, a direct comparison would be something like:

gdb --args /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mgba/mgba_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba" --appendconfig /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg

with the same arguments i would expect the same results from both, but at least if that happens now you know the issue is caused by a cfg setting.

MJLHThomassen

@dankcushions When I ran trough GDB i did not append the command. I ran with the command listed in the configs/gba/emulators.cfg file which is:

"/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-gpsp/gpsp_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg %ROM%"

Ill try to run it with the appendcommand aswell, see if the crash is reproducable then, thanks for the tip!

MJLHThomassen

@dankcushions

Update, I've tested running the commands several different ways now. All commands below are run from the command line. The /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg file exists and still contains just the one line: video_refresh_rate = 60

/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mgba/mgba_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

RetroArch loads
I Press Select+L on my gamepad to load the (pre-bugged) state
I "walk with my character"
RetroArch crashes with Segmentation Fault (whenver i see those i cringe since they are usually impossible to debug :P)

/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mgba/mgba_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba"

RetroArch loads
I Press Select+L on my gamepad to load the (pre-bugged) state
I "walk with my character"
RetroArch crashes with Segmentation Fault

gdb -ex=run --args /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mgba/mgba_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

RetroArch loads
I Press Select+L on my gamepad to load the (pre-bugged) state
I "walk with my character"
The game just plays, no crashes, everything is fine

gdb -ex=run --args /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mgba/mgba_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/gba/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba/Golden Sun.gba"

RetroArch loads
I Press Select+L on my gamepad to load the (pre-bugged) state
I "walk with my character"
The game just plays, no crashes, everything is fine

Ergo, whatever it is that GDB does, its causing the game to work haha, awesome impossible debug scenario. Also, the --appendconfig does not seem to make a difference.

dankcushions

the worst kind of bug! it could possibly be some sort of race condition http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4628521/segfault-only-when-not-using-debugger has some things to try. might be worth rebuilding retroarch and the gba emulator from source in case anything has been fixed recently.

MJLHThomassen

@dankcushions
I've been able to get a coredump and backtrace. For more information see here: https://github.com/libretro/mgba/issues/47

Thanks for your help so far!

(BTW, my temp fix/hack is to add "gdb -ex=run --args " in front of the emulator line in my emulators.cfg file haha)

ikari

Sorry for breaking into this topic without anything useful to say, but I was wondering if you had found a solution for this yet. I am having the exact same problem on my Pi 3B. I tried your "temp fix" by adding "gdb -ex=run --args " in front of the emulator line and it did prevent the crashes from happening. The only problem it adds is that I can't get back to the RetroPie menu by pressing start+select. It just gives me the 'Launching Golden Sun (lr-mgba) ...' screen again and that's it. Doesn't respond to anything but a ctrl+c.

Thanks in advance...

MJLHThomassen

@ikari

Yes, I've also fixed that, forgot to post it. Thats because by default gdb keeps running when you close the program its debugging.
You need to change -ex=run into --eval-command=run --eval-command=quit

So your config file argument becomes: gdb --eval-command=run --eval-command=quit --args <everything that was there originally here>

(also see post here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8657648/how-to-have-gdb-exit-if-program-succeeds-break-if-program-crashes)

Keep in mind this is still a hack/workaround, the problem should be fixed in the emulator.

ikari

Thanks a lot! You are right, this is indeed a workaround and not a solution. But I am glad that I am able to play it again (hoping there's no more hidden crashes later in the game!)