RetroPie forum home
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Home
    • Docs
    • Register
    • Login
    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Emulationstation CPU usage

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Help and Support
    cpuemulationstatio
    24 Posts 7 Posters 6.6k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • SanoS
      Sano
      last edited by Sano

      Nevermind, it seems I just didn't wait long enough :)
      When launching ES (boot or after quitting a game), the CPU usage ranges from 30 to 40 percent during maybe 15-20 min. Then it falls back to the usual ~6%.
      I don't remember this behaviour with previous versions, but since it's limited in time, this surely can be disregarded.
      Sorry for the useless post...

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • pjftP
        pjft
        last edited by pjft

        Well, I wouldn't call it a useless post per se - 15-20 mins seems like an awfully long - and random - period to stay at such high utilization.

        Would love to see if others experience it as well, and/or whether you consistently replicate it on your end as well. I'll see what happens on my end as well, but I struggle to imagine what may be happening on ES that would make that happen - or at least, what would have changed.

        The only thing that comes to mind is the Pi after a while deciding to throttle down the CPU usage to 600Mhz given low utilization, but... shouldn't we expect to observe the opposite, then?

        I'm not sure. I'll see if on my end I experience that.

        One thing you may try to observe is, when the CPU is being highly utilized, what's the CPU speed, and when it goes to 6%, what's the CPU speed as well.

        You can get it in Mhz by dividing this by 1000:

         cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
        

        If you see there's a specific core that's taking the load (maybe htop can be your friend here, but you need to install it), you can change cpu0by 1, 2 or 3.

        Let me know.

        SanoS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • SanoS
          Sano @pjft
          last edited by

          @pjft
          No need for htop, top can display CPU usage per core by pressing 1 ;)
          And as far as I remember a single core is more used, yes.

          I'm at work now, but installing sar (sysstat package) may also help to diagnose...

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • SanoS
            Sano
            last edited by Sano

            Ok I just did some testing using pidstat.

            First, I was wrong, the CPU at 30-40% only last 5 minutes, but is triggered everytime I press a button (scroll carousel, selact a system, ...).
            So with idle system, ES is around 6% CPU.
            Do anything, it rise to 30-40 percent, and after 5 minutes go in screensaver mode and CPU usage fall to ~6% again.
            If I continue doing "things" (browsing games/systems) the CPU stay at 30-40% and only goes down after 5 minutes not touching anything.

            Note than manually launching screensaver with select does not work, CPU usage stay high again for 5 minutes.

            pjftP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • pjftP
              pjft @Sano
              last edited by

              @Sano Hm. I see.

              And are you confident that this was not the case in the previous ES versions? Would you feel comfortable installing an older version to test it out?

              It seems it only drops when it goes to screensaver mode, is that correct?

              Also, what do you mean by launching screensaver with select not working - do you mean it doesn't go to the screensaver, or does it go into screensaver mode but it doesn't lower the CPU? I assume it's the latter, which makes some sense knowing the code, but I'm worried about the suggestion that this may be a new thing, because that would warrant some further investigation. :/

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • SanoS
                Sano
                last edited by

                I'm not 100% confident it wasn't the case with previous versions, but I can't remember seeing this behaviour.
                My memories only contain an average of around 6% CPU used, as seen in some forums : see here https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comments/4fz878/what_is_emulationstation_doing_when_its_doing/

                Yes, the CPU drops when going in screensaver mode, but (yes again) only after the timeout. Forcing screensaver with select key on the carousel doesn't lower the CPU consumption.

                Is there an ES package archive repository for me to try an old version ?

                pjftP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • pjftP
                  pjft @Sano
                  last edited by

                  @Sano Are you comfortable compiling things on your Pi?

                  There seems to be an old 2.1.4 version here:

                  https://github.com/RetroPie/EmulationStation/releases

                  But it's the source code, not a binary.

                  If you're comfortable compiling things, though, we could even go for a git bisect, to track the change down, but first I'd try this version from February - which is sufficiently (I'd even say "scarily") old enough to test if it's a new thing or not.

                  We can then try to narrow things down further if needed.

                  Let me know, and thanks for helping with this!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • SanoS
                    Sano
                    last edited by

                    Don't you want to have some confirmation of other users before enabling panic mode ? :)

                    I used to compile my linux kernel/drivers by myself, but it was nearly 20 years ago. apt killed my compilation skills... That said, I could give a try if needed, but on my "production" unit (don't have another Pi/SD to test).

                    Moreover, I try to make a full update at least once a month, so IMHO, and if the problem is not only in my head (or on my setup), the origin won't be more than a few weeks old.

                    pjftP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • cyperghostC
                      cyperghost
                      last edited by

                      There might be an issue.

                      I use top for monitoring cpu usage
                      I use IO theme

                      You start ES 99% CPU usage - that's okay
                      ES is started and connected with BT controller - CPU usage is 6-8%
                      You scroll around the carousel: 9-10% usage and it does not drop down
                      You open Emulation System (Amiga for ex) it stays to 14-15%
                      The Screensaver is activated by timer CPU usage drops down to 3% (does not work if you activate screen saver via select)

                      I restart ES:
                      CPU usage is 6-8%
                      I scroll around... it raises 10% drops to 12%
                      I open Emulation System ... CPU usage 15%
                      It depends heavily on roms in folder 4000 roms CPU usage 20%, 10 roms in folder 10%

                      Do you use interrupts for button managment or trigger timer?

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • pjftP
                        pjft @Sano
                        last edited by

                        @Sano Yeah, you're right :)

                        Let's leave it at that for now, but I'll keep it on the backburner.

                        I know @Hex has forked ES to build a less-CPU-consuming version of it, so maybe this has been going on for a while.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • HexH
                          Hex
                          last edited by Hex

                          Thanks @pjft for bringing me into the loop. My build was mostly for Pi zero /1 which would suffer heavily due to constant rendering of the screen. This doesn't mean there are any disadvantages on using it on Pi2/3. I would be glad to create a production ready branch that can then be installed by users using meleu's script.

                          @Sano , @cyperghost would you guys be interested in testing this feature for me? I am interested in submitting this as a feature. It is quite stable for now but not ready for merge. As such testers would be most welcome.

                          @meleu Based on this and many other experiences would you think it would be better if there are some repositories already included in the script. This will create awareness and testers can test branches out without having to hunt for which branches need testing.

                          Sent from 20,000 leagues under the sea.

                          Powersaver Emulation station : https://github.com/hex007/EmulationStation
                          ES dev script : https://github.com/hex007/es-dev/blob/master/es-tests.sh

                          meleuM cyperghostC 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • meleuM
                            meleu @Hex
                            last edited by

                            @Hex I'm not sure... Once the branch is merged there's no need to keep it in the list IMHO.

                            I'm planning to work out my git-fu and try to find a way to get the branches from the open Pull Requests list in the EmulationStation repo and build a list based on that info. It would pretty cool, huh? :-)

                            It seems that you're more experienced with git, do you know how to do that (get a list of open PRs and their respective repo/branch)?

                            I've found some documentation here but didn't find enough free time to dive into it. I am planning to use curl to get the needed info...

                            • Useful topics
                            • joystick-selection tool
                            • rpie-art tool
                            • achievements I made
                            meleuM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • meleuM
                              meleu @meleu
                              last edited by

                              do you know how to do that (get a list of open PRs and their respective repo/branch)?

                              Getting the info in a JSON format:
                              https://api.github.com/repos/RetroPie/EmulationStation/pulls?status=open

                              Now I need some time to learn how to use jq:
                              https://stedolan.github.io/jq/

                              Looks promising! I'll try to release something next weekend! ;-)

                              • Useful topics
                              • joystick-selection tool
                              • rpie-art tool
                              • achievements I made
                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • HexH
                                Hex
                                last edited by

                                Json makes it very easy. I was already starting with curl (mobile page)+regex. I will let you know if i finish .

                                Sent from 20,000 leagues under the sea.

                                Powersaver Emulation station : https://github.com/hex007/EmulationStation
                                ES dev script : https://github.com/hex007/es-dev/blob/master/es-tests.sh

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • HexH
                                  Hex
                                  last edited by Hex

                                  @meleu How about this

                                  Get page from github

                                  curl https://api.github.com/repos/RetroPie/EmulationStation/pulls?status=open > page
                                  

                                  Loop over all PRs

                                  n_pr=$(($(cat page | ./jq-linux64 'keys | length')-1))
                                  for i in `seq 0 "$n_pr"`; do
                                       cat page | ./jq-linux64 ".[$i] | {name: .user.login, title: .title, branch: .head.ref}"
                                       # Do individual processing here eg. add each item to list
                                      echo "Yolo \m/"
                                  done
                                  
                                  # Or get all PRs in single operation
                                  cat page | ./jq-linux64 ".[] |  {name: .user.login, title: .title, branch: .head.ref}"
                                  
                                  

                                  Output

                                  {
                                    "name": "pjft",
                                    "title": "Adding support for \"All\", \"Favorites\" and \"Last Played\" systems",
                                    "branch": "RetroPie-Virtual-Systems-PR"
                                  }
                                  {
                                    "name": "nschloe",
                                    "title": "various code fixes",
                                    "branch": "coverity-retropie"
                                  }
                                  {
                                    "name": "PronkMedia",
                                    "title": "Added a new (missing) transition style, 'carousel slide'.",
                                    "branch": "master"
                                  }
                                  {
                                    "name": "sokie",
                                    "title": "Implemented favourites system",
                                    "branch": "favourites"
                                  }
                                  {
                                    "name": "seriema",
                                    "title": "OSX compilation fixes",
                                    "branch": "osx-compilation-fixes"
                                  }
                                  
                                  

                                  Sent from 20,000 leagues under the sea.

                                  Powersaver Emulation station : https://github.com/hex007/EmulationStation
                                  ES dev script : https://github.com/hex007/es-dev/blob/master/es-tests.sh

                                  meleuM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • meleuM
                                    meleu @Hex
                                    last edited by

                                    @Hex by the way, I have a raspi1 and I'm interested in test your branch. What's its name?

                                    • Useful topics
                                    • joystick-selection tool
                                    • rpie-art tool
                                    • achievements I made
                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • HexH
                                      Hex
                                      last edited by Hex

                                      @meleu Its my master branch. It has all tweaks and works. I was thinking of separating the feature so that a pull request can be optionally submitted. The only downside is Screensaver is not triggered as the Pi waits for user input and stops rendering new frames as there is literally nothing to do. Although it can be manually triggered by pressing "select" in systems menu

                                      Sent from 20,000 leagues under the sea.

                                      Powersaver Emulation station : https://github.com/hex007/EmulationStation
                                      ES dev script : https://github.com/hex007/es-dev/blob/master/es-tests.sh

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                      • cyperghostC
                                        cyperghost @Hex
                                        last edited by cyperghost

                                        @Hex said in Emulationstation CPU usage:

                                        @Sano , @cyperghost would you guys be interested in testing this feature for me? I am interested in submitting this as a feature. It is quite stable for now but not ready for merge. As such testers would be most welcome.

                                        Sure! I can test this on a RPi 2 - would you offer ready compiled binaries?
                                        Is it enough to just exchange the binary from /opt/emulationstation?
                                        Why do you use OMXPlayer as background player? I think mpg123 is less resource hungry and it's simple command structure is excellent in saving memory space.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • meleuM
                                          meleu @Hex
                                          last edited by

                                          @Hex Yeah! That feature was added. Posted about it here: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/post/88716

                                          Now I have to find some time to merge those improvements you made on your version of script...

                                          Cheers!

                                          • Useful topics
                                          • joystick-selection tool
                                          • rpie-art tool
                                          • achievements I made
                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • F
                                            finh @Sano
                                            last edited by

                                            Anyone experiencing this, using the "power saver modes" option solved the problem for me. The menu option is at start -> other settings -> power saver modes. Enhanced and instant worked well.

                                            I'm using V2.6.3RP, on a Raspberry Pi 3 B. Idle, even with the screensaver set to a black screen, the emulationstation parent process would be at 30% cpu usage or more. On "instant," it ranges between 5% and 10%.

                                            I realize this is an old post, but it's the only thing that came up in my search on this particular issue.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                            • First post
                                              Last post

                                            Contributions to the project are always appreciated, so if you would like to support us with a donation you can do so here.

                                            Hosting provided by Mythic-Beasts. See the Hosting Information page for more information.