Gaming on the Pi 3
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Hello,
I have been debating for some time about selling my PS1 fully boxed with games as I am scared to play it incase I break it :L.
I have been looking for a while at getting a Pi 3 and using retro pi to play snes,nes,gba,gb,n64 and ps1 games on. What are peoples experience with this in terms of speed / issues ? for me the PS1 is the dealbreaker here as id like to be able to play games smoothly.
Cheers
Gareth -
@gazum123 N64 is going to struggle and some PS1 games are jittery, but most are playable. Usually, the more 3D stuff going on, the more you're going to notice slowdowns.
I'd say keep the PS1, if for no other reason than once it's gone, you can never get it back. A Raspberry Pi is cheap and you can experiment around with it to see if it will work for your gaming needs. If not, there are myriad other cool things you can do with one.
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I'll admit I kept my PS1 just for nostalgia, but here's a pro-tip: PS2 can play like 99.5% of PS1 games AND PS2 is available with component hookups which look TONS better on modern 1080p LCD TV's. PS2's are also like $30 USD (like 24 pounds) with all wires, controllers, and a couple games by me....PS1's are only a little more (~$40, albeit not boxed/mint) so you can always buy it again.
My PS1 gathers dust and is just for display, and I solely use my PS2 when I want to play PS1 games (like actually play for hours on end - not casually with friends which is when I solely use the Raspberry Pi because it's so easy - and because we'll play like 10 other systems' games on it as well ;)
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PS2 can play like 99.5% of PS1 games AND PS2 is available with component hookups which look TONS better on modern 1080p LCD TV'
word of warning - PS1 on PS2 via component tries to send a digital 240p (or whatever) signal to your tv. my ~4 year old 1080p samsung tv doesn't understand that signal, so i had to do it composite, which looked HORRIBLE. not sure about other TVs but samsungs are normally pretty standard/good.
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@Dochartaigh What is the performance like for PS1 games ? I don't want to get my crash games out of their case as they are mint :L have you tried them on the pi ?
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@dankcushions said in Gaming on the Pi 3:
word of warning - PS1 on PS2 via component tries to send a digital 240p (or whatever) signal to your tv. my ~4 year old 1080p samsung tv doesn't understand that signal, so i had to do it composite, which looked HORRIBLE. not sure about other TVs but samsungs are normally pretty standard/good.
Hmm, I will try this when I get home to confirm (I don't want to be giving people bad info!). My last retro gaming binge was maybe 3-4 years ago, and my 60" Vizio 1080p TV is maybe 3 years old...so it could have very well have been on my ancient 42" Toshiba Regza LCD, or maybe even my old 1080i CRT TV (which if anybody wants a free 264!!! pound 36" CRT TV by Philadelphia, PA, USA, message me lol)
And agreed, composite is usually pretty bad and fuzzy. I wish new TV's still had S-Video inputs – I much prefer it over composite and run my SNES and original Xbox over S-Video on my CRT TV still (and am looking into getting my original Genesis/Mega Drive modded for S-Video too). Think in Britain you guys had SCART which even tops S-Video quality by a bit.
@gazum123 said in Gaming on the Pi 3:
@Dochartaigh What is the performance like for PS1 games ? I don't want to get my crash games out of their case as they are mint :L have you tried them on the pi ?
I only casually play PS1 games on the Pi. Have tried (for maybe hour at a time max) Loaded, Armored Core, Destrega, Gran Turismo 2 (arcade disc), N20, and about the first hour of Final Fantasy VII and they seemed really good performance wiset. Others say they have some slowdown which I haven't experienced (small 1/4 second loading times during some videos and such - but if my memory serves from all those years ago, a real PS1 sometimes did that as well).
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@dankcushions said in Gaming on the Pi 3:
PS2 can play like 99.5% of PS1 games AND PS2 is available with component hookups which look TONS better on modern 1080p LCD TV'
word of warning - PS1 on PS2 via component tries to send a digital 240p (or whatever) signal to your tv. my ~4 year old 1080p samsung tv doesn't understand that signal, so i had to do it composite, which looked HORRIBLE. not sure about other TVs but samsungs are normally pretty standard/good.
So I hooked up the old PS2 via component, and ran these PS1 games on my Vizio 60": Loaded, Final Fantasy VII, and Metal Gear Solid - only gave them ~5 minutes each. All ran on the 1080p HDTV just fine. The TV said it was in 480i mode. I did notice Metal Gear Solid couldn't save to the PS2 memory card (which a quick search says I have to use a PS1 memory card on the PS2), but besides that it seemed to work just fine. I believe it worked fine on my 42" Toshiba Regza LCD years ago as well, so it may be your specific model of TV (or are you using official Sony component cables? I'm using some knock-off, albeit with nice braided cables I got for $10 on Amazon).
Some other things to note: I ran Final Fantasy VII (the beginning cut scenes, into the first moody/cool-looking train station town) neck and neck on the PS2 and the Pi (with CRT-Pi shader enabled) switching the 60" TV's inputs back and forth. The Pi with CRT-Pi shader wins HANDS DOWN. It's a little dark (which I may try to mod the CRT-Pi file for that), but tons cleaner. I even ran FFVII on my old PS1 (hooked up to a 32" Sony XBR CRT TV via composite), and again the Pi just wins for video quality although definitely not a fair comparison with a couple years old 60" to a ~25 year old tube TV via crappy composite. I didn't bother hooking up the PS1 to my 60" via composite, FYI.
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@Dochartaigh said in Gaming on the Pi 3:
@dankcushions said in Gaming on the Pi 3:
PS2 can play like 99.5% of PS1 games AND PS2 is available with component hookups which look TONS better on modern 1080p LCD TV'
word of warning - PS1 on PS2 via component tries to send a digital 240p (or whatever) signal to your tv. my ~4 year old 1080p samsung tv doesn't understand that signal, so i had to do it composite, which looked HORRIBLE. not sure about other TVs but samsungs are normally pretty standard/good.
So I hooked up the old PS2 via component, and ran these PS1 games on my Vizio 60": Loaded, Final Fantasy VII, and Metal Gear Solid - only gave them ~5 minutes each. All ran on the 1080p HDTV just fine. The TV said it was in 480i mode.
it sounds like maybe your component cables aren't working properly or your PS2 isn't set up to be in component mode: http://crackerwax.com/2013/01/27/changing-a-playstation-2-to-component-blind/
because if it was working properly it should always be in 240p mode, and then you'll probably get the same issue as me and others: http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?159202-PS1-Games-in-component
so this is one of those things where if you 'fix' the problem it'll stop working :)
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@dankcushions said in Gaming on the Pi 3:
it sounds like maybe your component cables aren't working properly or your PS2 isn't set up to be in component mode: http://crackerwax.com/2013/01/27/changing-a-playstation-2-to-component-blind/
because if it was working properly it should always be in 240p mode, and then you'll probably get the same issue as me and others: http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?159202-PS1-Games-in-component
so this is one of those things where if you 'fix' the problem it'll stop working :)
Nope, my PS2 is definitely setup properly to work with component cables through the system menu. It even lets me do 480p (progressive scan) in games like God of War - which is a HUGE night and day difference between 480i and 480p (some rare few PS2 games even do 1080i!).
If my TV is really getting a 240p signal like you say the PS2 outputs when playing PS1 games on it, when my TV menu still says 480i (which could just be the default menu text my TV has for the default/lowest normal component hookup resolution), I couldn't tell you....all I know is I can play PS1 games on the PS2 via component with my specific TV, AND I can play regular PS2 games in higher resolution than composite is capable of because of the component hookup.
All that being said, I'm sorry to say it may just be your specific TV which won't let you do this. I did a failry extensive web search about this and it seems to be reported as hit or miss for many, many people...I could have just gotten lucky with my 60" TV (and maybe also gotten lucky with my older 42" TV I think I tried this on years ago as well).
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@gazum123 Sorry if I'm answering a question thats already been answered as I haven't read the whole thread. With a stock clocked Raspberry Pi3 you can play almost all PS1 games at full speed with enhanced resolution enabled.
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@drake999 Exactly what I wanted to know. Wanting it for really ps1 / nes and snes but mainly ps1
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@gazum123 Glad I could help. The High-Resolution mode does incur some minor graphical glitches in some games, but the visual improvement is very obvious and I believe it is a necessity for a high-def TV, especially since the default resolution has this grainy effect which I find distasteful. I believe that all graphical calculations (geometry, texture mapping, etc) for PS1 emulation are done exclusively through software with little to no help from the GPU. As a result PS1 emulation carries a high CPU usage compared to most other emulators (especially in high-res mode) and gamers couldn't enjoy the high res mode in a lot of games until the Pi3. The Pi3 seems to be able to handle it without fully utilizing an ARM core however so I highly recommend it.
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