How to use Overclock and Mupen Core Options to significantly increase 64 game playability, quality, and stability

Twitch0815

The vast majority of my time contributing I have spent on N64 and getting the Pi3 to play the good games well.
First my efforts were around the standard overclock and I pushed my little 3 as far as he could go and that got me most of the way there.
But recently I have been messing with the CoreOptions inside of Retroarch and I think you guys will really enjoy my findings.
So check out my video here

I am going to share the direct options that I am using if you would like to replicate. Please bear in mind I have a well cooled system and while this overclock works for me you may have to turn down the arm_freq a bit if you do not ave proper cooling and power.

#Overclock Settings
arm_freq=1400
#(Try 1350 if 1400 does not work)
over_voltage=6
temp_limit=80
core_freq=500

#GPU Based
h264_freq=333
avoid_pwm_pll=1
gpu_mem=450
v3d_freq=500
#Ram Overclock
sdram_freq=588
sdram_schmoo=0x02000020
over_voltage_sdram_p=6
over_voltage_sdram_i=4
over_voltage_sdram_c=4

Also in this video games being run are using a few variations of the following settings which need to be set in the /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-core-options.cfg
with your favorite text editor.
The most performance oriented I have found I will post below.

mupen64-gfxplugin = "glide64"
mupen64-gfxplugin-accuracy = "high"
mupen64-screensize = "640x480"
mupen64-virefresh = "2200"
mupen64-framerate = "fullspeed"
mupen64-cpucore = "dynamic_recompiler"
mupen64-astick-deadzone = "15"
mupen64-pak1 = "none"
mupen64-pak2 = "none"
mupen64-pak3 = "none"
mupen64-pak4 = "none"
mupen64-disable_expmem = "enabled"
mupen64-rspplugin = "auto"
mupen64-filtering = "automatic"
mupen64-polyoffset-factor = "-3.0"
mupen64-polyoffset-units = "-3.0"
mupen64-angrylion-vioverlay = "disabled"
mupen64-audio-buffer-size = "2048"
mupen64-bufferswap = "on"
mupen64-vcache-vbo = "off"

When you have made those two changes, the run command menu is pretty easy to set up.
Set your default plugin to Glide
Set your default resolution to Cea-1 or 640X480
Adjust your overscan settings to whatever your tv likes

In the video Majoras mask had a black screen that I fixed by switching the default emulator to Rice (It does not like Glide_
There may be a few games that need rice or gles as its mulator that you can set on a per rom basis.
As a note this vastly improves 64 performance and most of the best games are covered but not all games get fixed with these settings though I am still working on it. Example being nothing i have done has gotten Rogue Squadron to play.

Please add any questions, game testing requests, or settings you find to work better to this thread.

Hope this helps :)

Twitch0815

Stay tuned to separate videos on Dreamcast, NDS, and PSP

Ornitorick

This seems very good!
I'll test on my pi3 tonight!

dankcushions

@Twitch0815 said:

When you have made those two changes, the run command menu is pretty easy to set up.
Set your default plugin to Glide

if you choose mupen64plus-GLideN64 via the runcommand, you're launching the standalone version of mupen64plus so all the retroarch-core-options can't have an effect. you need to launch lr-mupen64plus via the runcommand to use those options. the lr version doesn't have any plugin options in the runcommand. they're set via the mupen64-gfxplugin option in retorarch-core-options.cfg, as you've done above.

(although lr-mupen64plus historically been worse than standalone so you probably just need to ignore it entirely)

Twitch0815

@dankcushions

edit. mistakenly edited out trying to reploy to comment
Something about why am I seeing differences when changing variables

dankcushions

@Twitch0815 said:

@dankcushions Then why am I seeing such noticeable differences upon changing options? and the documentation I read showed mupen64-gfxplugin-accuracy = "high" was directly tied to Glide exclusively.

it is. both standalone and lr can use the GLideN64 plugin, but they're controlled by different config files:

the mupen64plus-GLideN64 (standalone) version of mupen64plus has its GLideN64 settings in opt/retropie/configs/n64/mupen64plus.cfg
the lr- version has it's GLideN64 settings in the retroarch-core-config.cfg file you are editing.

you must be mistaken about what you're running via the runcommand as there's no way that the standalone (ie, none-lr) version cares about what is in retroarch-core-options.cfg. it doesn't read that file and wouldn't understand it if it could :)

Twitch0815

@dankcushions
Sorry edited a comment instead of replying haven't slept.

So Are the same variables from here http://wiki.libretro.com/index.php?title=Mupen64Plus then able to be changed and modified in the opt/retropie/configs/n64/mupen64plus.cfg file and then properly applied?

dankcushions

@Twitch0815 those options are only for the the libretro (lr-) verison of the core, not the standalone. the standalone should have equivalent options but none of them will have the exact same name in mupen64plus.cfg. they'll be something different.

mupen64plus.cfg is auto-populated with all the default options when you run a game on standalone so you can just tweak what's already there.

Dave B

Great post I had already tried overclocking mine but this just gives me a few more things to modify thanks!

Riverstorm

Great post, the play looks great. I will be trying the N64 emulator again with these new tweaks. Have you tried Castlevania? The last time I played around with it the opening screen had some "tiling" problems and the transparent overlay to choose your character was black. Game play had some lag.

Just to verify the options settings above are for the lr version and not the standalone?

karimi

HEy Guys, does this also works wih the Pi 2 B+?!?

Hyell

Hello,

I have test your configuration today.
It's look good for a lot of rom, but I always have a realy bad sound with Wave Race.

Have you do something for this? Or it's just on my Pi?

I'm using a raspberry PI 3, with retropie 3.6 (install with a SD-card image)

If someone has an idea... :)

Twitch0815

@Riverstorm
Did you try the 4 diff emulator plugins via run command
I remember trying ti once did not seem bad at all I can mess around with a bit i am working with hi res texture packs right now releasing another video shortly.

The hardware overclocks are for any raspi 3

The tweaks above in the file apply to libretro version but for the life of me even though it sould seem ti improve performance on mupen64plus
So if you see that same thing let me know something that I am trying to determine if it is a placebo effect or not.

Ill update everyone as I finish my tweaking.

Twitch0815

@karimi
The hardware overclock would not work on a pi2.
If you check https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Overclocking the first top half details settings and steps to modify your pi 2

But if you want results like in the video you are going to need a pi 3.

Overclocking a 2 can get some games to work but not as well or as many as the pi 3.

Twitch0815

@Hyell
Have you tried hitting x and switching to a few different plugins?

What overclock settings are you using?

Hyell

@Twitch0815
Hello,

Yes I have try different plugins. It's a little better with Gles2 but not as good as your video ^^.

I use the same overclocking setting as you. I will testing other setting today and I will see if I can get a good results :)

Riverstorm

@Twitch0815

Where did you get your case? I see you have some standoffs on the bottom plate so you have enough room to add a heatsink. The bottom is the memory chip and the top of the Pi is the GPU?

Twitch0815

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SH6DBY6/ref=s9_simh_gw_g147_i1_r?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1ZWVYP5R6KTSE6GTE017&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2437869742&pf_rd_i=desktop

Just search around on amazon

The 2 chips on the top are the CPU the bigger one and the USB/Nic Controlling chip
Bottom chip is the shared memory GPU
As I understand.

Riverstorm

@Twitch0815

Thanks Twitch, I appreciate the link. I like the looks of that "case". I will get one ordered today. Looking forward to your next video.

Hyell

Hello,

Wave race sound still working bad for me.
Maybe a connectivity problem or just my old TV...

In another style, I test 1080° and it's great.
Just a little overclock setting :
arm_freq=1300
over_voltage=6
temp_limit=80
core_freq=500

and use Glide.
I don't see this game on your video, you can have a lot of fun with it :)