[RPi3] PSX emulation issue => solved + potential bug?

lostless

Im also recently having issues with lr-pcsx recently myself. Lots of stutters. freezes that last a few seconds, and out right crashes. something has happened recently. either its in a os update or the emulator itself.

Sashby

lostless

I understand the compression issue as it does seem to have less issues with less or no compression. but the issues are still happening randomly even on bin cue files. Basically I was having no issues up to a couple weeks ago.

Darksavior

I tried latest binary and also tried to build from source. No issues here using both. I tested Tekken3 intro and 3 fights.

nemo93

For the sake of completeness let me add that I'm using the exact same Tekken3 eboot "image" as on my pi2. I made it months ago using Psx2PSP with all default settings (hence with ratio set to 9). I have to emphasize that I didn't have such issues on the pi2 (o/c'd).

Then I told myself the SD card would be the one at fault here so I've tested it and I got a pretty solid 85 up to 90MB/s at reading speed using different tools (+ doing a backup with win32diskimager). I've also checked the underlying GNu/Linux system on which Retropie is running and everything is up to date (still Jessie, all packages to date) and working as far as I can tell, no conflicts whatsoever.

UPDATE: it happens that only some stages run very slow in Tekken3. For instance, when I pick Hwoarang in arcade mode, usually the first stage is against King (the wrestling tiger) his stage runs smooth at full speed. Then if I have to fight against Yoshimitsu, Eddy or Law then their stages make the game go below the 15fps. I really didn't have such slowdowns on my pi2 (few months ago) nor any sound issues.

Sashby

Are your games from PAL (Europe) or NTSC-U (USA)?

(http://psxdatacenter.com/downloads.html) If PAL, you need the SBI file for that game to beat LibCrypt protection.

Do not use any rom cracks (Paradox, etc).

nemo93

For Tekken3 at least, the backup I'm using is US/NTSC. As far as I know there's no crack for that game and I've not patched it whatsoever.

Your point is interesting as it's first time since I've been told about those SBI files. Based on the link you posted I should:

2 - Extract them in the patches folder of epsxe.

=> not sure how to do that. Btw there's no such sbi for Tekken3.

Darksavior

@nemo93 I used hwoarang against eddy...again..fullspeed (60fps) here. It's definitely not the emulator's fault. You never answered if you got a voltage or temp icon. That can cause slowdowns. Try a fresh image to verify it's not a configuration problem on your end.

nemo93

Apologies I've missed your volt/temp question. Using the above parameters (post) I can only see 4 lovely raspberries at boot. No other icon whatsoever.

By the way below my /boot/cmdline.txt:

dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty3 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline rootwait quiet loglevel=3 plymouth.enable=0 consoleblank=0

Also I can read on the bashwelcome the following temp. Not sure whether or not it's a decent value but let's mention that I also have heatsink+fan installed in my pi case.

 Temperature........: CPU: 53°C/127°F GPU: 53°C/127°F

UPDATE: by switching on the "display framerate" option in rgui it tells FPS: 60 (still w Tekken3). However the game is clearly slow not full speed, for sure I don't have 60FPS.

nemo93

I've found out where the issue is. Let me share the workaround with you.

You must disable the Inuyasha fix in RetroArch Quick Menu or in your retroarch-core-options.cfg file. Once done everything will be back to normal (happy!). If you do enable this option then stutters, slowdowns etc will immediately occur as described in my initial post. The other fix (PE2/Vandal Hears) is fine, as far as I can tell.

I don't know if the below is the default value with Retropie images and setup but if it's not then it should be to prevent any issues.

Let me share the exact content of my retroarch-core-options.cfg file for psx (located under configs/psx/):

pcsx_rearmed_frameskip = "0"
pcsx_rearmed_region = "Auto"
pcsx_rearmed_pad1type = "standard"
pcsx_rearmed_pad2type = "standard"
pcsx_rearmed_drc = "enabled"
pcsx_rearmed_neon_interlace_enable = "disabled"
pcsx_rearmed_neon_enhancement_enable = "enabled"
pcsx_rearmed_neon_enhancement_no_main = "enabled"
pcsx_rearmed_duping_enable = "enabled"
pcsx_rearmed_spu_reverb = "enabled"
pcsx_rearmed_spu_interpolation = "cubic"
pcsx_rearmed_pe2_fix = "enabled"
pcsx_rearmed_inuyasha_fix = "disabled"
pcsx_rearmed_pad3type = "standard"
pcsx_rearmed_pad4type = "standard"
pcsx_rearmed_pad5type = "standard"
pcsx_rearmed_pad6type = "standard"
pcsx_rearmed_pad7type = "standard"
pcsx_rearmed_pad8type = "standard"
pcsx_rearmed_multitap1 = "disabled"
pcsx_rearmed_multitap2 = "disabled"
pcsx_rearmed_vibration = "enabled"
pcsx_rearmed_dithering = "enabled"
pcsx_rearmed_show_bios_bootlogo = "disabled"

Darksavior

@nemo93 That's good. Be aware that the inuyasha fix is not enabled by default and that's why none of us could reproduce the problem.

lostless

Im beginning to think its an issue with either retroarch or raspian itself on how its reading streamed data from a disk. It seems to happen when trying to read music or a video. Not only am i getting pauses and stops in pix games, but also sega cd games. hmmm