Daphne Periodic Freeze Question

beastrow

First of all, relative newbie to the Raspberry Pi and RetroPie scenes, but I'm absolutely loving both so far. Huge kudos to the Retro team for all their fantastic work on this.

Now to my problem... I'm running a Raspberry Pi 3 (RPi3) Model B, with the latest version of RetroPie, and I have Daphne up and running with three games so far. The challenge I'm having is that, when playing all three games, the video will periodically freeze for maybe 1-2 seconds, while I hear the audio continue. The video will then jump forward to catch up with the audio, usually resulting in my death in the game as a result of not being able to see what is happening. So, in short, video pausing/game continuing. I thought it might be a memory allocation issue, but I've played around with that function and have found no discernible difference. It's about to drive me insane, as these games were such a part of my childhood and I desperately want to play through them, (boy, if I could travel back in time and show this to 12 year old me, he'd never think it was possible).

Thanks, in advance, for any troubleshooting help or suggestions anyone can offer.

Riverstorm

Are you running 3.7? Overclocking? What type of Micro SD card are you using, maybe that's the issue? Anything else running on your Pi? It sounds like you experimented with the video. I leave mine at the default split of 256 for the GPU which I think covers pretty much everything I have tried so far.

I am running a Pi 3 moderately overclocked to 1300 running 3.7. I do see some slight ghosting if you look close but it seems to keep up fine with no audio/video stutter issues.

beastrow

Thanks for the feedback! I'm currently running 3.7 with the video set at 256. SD card is a Patriot LX Series 64GB High Speed Micro SDXC -Class 10 UHS-I. I was actually looking at someone's tutorial on how to overclock the MicroSD reader, but it sounded a little over my head, (although, I may still try to figure it out).

As far as overclocking, when I go into that function from the RetroPie menu, it tells me "This Pi cannot be overclocked" and then "There was an error running option 8 overclock".

Riverstorm

Check this thread. It's mostly about the N64 and overclocking and has some good information. I think someone even comments on SD card overclocking being negligible but it never hurts to try. Further down the thread someone suggests a much shorter command to accomplish the same overclock as toward the top of the thread.

You'll need to modify your /boot/config.txt file and manually add the lines. I don't know about the menu. I saw it shows it can't be overclocked and wondered the same too. I guess they never implemented anything for the Pi 3. You can modify the file with this command from a prompt with sudo nano /boot/config.txt.

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/140/how-to-use-overclock-and-mupen-core-options-to-significantly-increase-64-game-playability-quality-and-stability/

beastrow

Your help has been awesome, thanks! Quick question... I'm able to get to the /boot/config.txt using an FTP program. Will editing it that way and re-saving it essentially be the same as using the sudo nano command?

Riverstorm

You might also set the CPU governor to "performance" which sets the CPU to it's fastest setting while a game is running. When you exit the game it will return to it's previous setting.

If it's at its default (on-demand) it is probably clocking up and down which might cause the stuttering. I think by default on-demand has to get the CPU running at 95% load before it even overclocks to get you that extra speed. I used watch with a N64 game and the speed was bouncing like a yo-yo. With a few seconds of idle running the game it downclocks all the way to 600. Here's the steps if you want to try it.

1) Run RetroPie Setup from the Emulator selection menu or from the retropie_setup.sh script
2) 3 Setup / Configuration (to be used post install)
3) 818 Configure the 'runcommand' - Launch script
4) 4 CPU configuration
5) 6 Force performance

Riverstorm

@beastrow said in Daphne Periodic Freeze Question:

Your help has been awesome, thanks! Quick question... I'm able to get to the /boot/config.txt using an FTP program. Will editing it that way and re-saving it essentially be the same as using the sudo nano command?

Yes it would but I would but their's a permissions issue so it wouldn't save. I would defer to the guru's if there's a better way. I do prefer to use WinSCP but their is issues with permissions on certain files. You won't be able to save it most likely. I hope I don't butcher this to badly but I think the sudo is like running it as root so it can write to the system file sort to speak. Without it it will fail when you try to save. Ctrl-X to save, then press y for yes, then press enter to save the file as the same name. You can add the lines anywhere in the config.txt file but be careful you don't duplicate settings or remember to change them all if you do. :)

Finhead

@Riverstorm You can get around that by loging into WinSCP as root. Just setup a root password first and login with that.

Riverstorm

@Finhead said in Daphne Periodic Freeze Question:

@Riverstorm You can get around that by loging into WinSCP as root. Just setup a root password first and login with that.

You're awesome Fin, I've been dropping out to a command prompt. This will save me a bunch of time!

beastrow

Thanks guys... MOST helpful!

So, using another site, I've overclocked to the following:

arm_freq=1350
over_voltage=5
gpu_freq=550

#sdram overclock
sdram_freq=550
sdram_schmoo=0x02000020
over_voltage_sdram_p=6
over_voltage_sdram_i=4
over_voltage_sdram_c=4

It's definitely running better, (or seems to be - have only tested one game so far), but I did, eventually, have the same issue. Possibly the overclock heating up and it throttling down again? If that's the case, I have heat sinks getting here on Wednesday.

caver01

@beastrow A heat sink should really help a lot. I was running into performance issues on my Pi3 (RetroPie setup from 3.6 image) without any overclock tweaking at all. It didn't take much to notice throttling and stuttering on any number of games. However, I also noticed a yellow, then orange, then RED square appearing on the display which indicates the heat issue.

Once I added a heatsink those problems completely disappeared.

Riverstorm

@caver01 said in Daphne Periodic Freeze Question:

@beastrow A heat sink should really help a lot.

Yeah it seems heat is more of an issue with the Pi 3 than it was with the 2. It's like the 3 was pushed to its limits with little overclock headroom, without going to extremes. For quick testing I use that same case Twitch uses in the video with a fan. I think the fan lowered it additional 18 to 20C, big difference. Inside my case I have a heatsink with a fan mounted on it. It's about 10mm's, just a little tiny thing. I would have snatched up a few more off Amazon but don't see them anymore. I also liked those tall copper heatsinks but don't see them either. It seems there's a lot of aluminum now.

That's a good point you might want to watch the upper right corner for colored squares, the red is overheating and the rainbow is signaling a power issue.

Riverstorm

@beastrow said in Daphne Periodic Freeze Question:

Possibly the overclock heating up and it throttling down again? If that's the case, I have heat sinks getting here on Wednesday.

I think 85C is the threshold for auto downclocking but it's adjustable in the config.txt too.

Here's a script I "borrowed" to watch my speed and temps through SSH while playing. :)

#!/bin/bash
cpuSpeed0=$(cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq)
cpuSpeed1=$(($cpuSpeed0/1000))

cpuTemp0=$(cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp)
cpuTemp1=$(($cpuTemp0/1000))
cpuTemp2=$(($cpuTemp0/100))
cpuTempM=$(($cpuTemp2 % $cpuTemp1))

gpuTemp0=$(/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp)
gpuTemp0=${gpuTemp0//\'/°}
gpuTemp0=${gpuTemp0//temp=/}

echo
echo CPU Speed: $cpuSpeed1" MHz"
echo
echo CPU Temp: $cpuTemp1"."$cpuTempM"°C"
echo GPU Temp: $gpuTemp0

Finhead

@beastrow said in Daphne Periodic Freeze Question:

Thanks guys... MOST helpful!

So, using another site, I've overclocked to the following:

arm_freq=1350
over_voltage=5
gpu_freq=550

#sdram overclock
sdram_freq=550
sdram_schmoo=0x02000020
over_voltage_sdram_p=6
over_voltage_sdram_i=4
over_voltage_sdram_c=4

It's definitely running better, (or seems to be - have only tested one game so far), but I did, eventually, have the same issue. Possibly the overclock heating up and it throttling down again? If that's the case, I have heat sinks getting here on Wednesday.

Not sure why your having the pause issue. I don't have mine overclocked at all and have no issues with the 3 roms I use DL, DL2 and SA. What is the rating on your powersupply? I know from reading the Pi3 is power hungry and needs a full 2.5 amps to run properly.

caver01

@beastrow I haven't had to do any of those temp+performance tweaks. The Pi3 has been fast enough using stock settings in RetroPie 3.6 image without any any slowdown in Daphne at all. Arcade games that were previously choppy on older Pi hardware also run well (games like Golden Tee 2k, Mortal Kombat 2,3 etc.), and many of them are now running the CRT-PI shader with scanlines and curvature.

Regarding the heat sink, @Riverstorm a tiny fan is great, but how are you holding it on? The Pi3 doesn't have a good spot to clamp stuff down. For my sink, I had a big square of aluminum fingers-style from an ancient CPU (maybe an old Pentium?) laying around, so I just cut a piece to size and cleaned it very smooth using 600 grit sandpaper on glass. My sink isn't even very high--maybe a 3/8". Then, a dab of ArcticSilver thermal compound to hold it and get good heat transfer and that's it. I really don't think it takes much. I haven't had a single heat issue since doing this.

Finhead

@caver01 I see you directed that at me? "Regarding the heat sink, @Finhead a tiny fan is great, "

I don't run any kind of heatsink or fan on my RPi3 so I'm not sure why you tagged me, I have zero issues stock no overclock no fan no heatsink.

caver01

@Finhead Sorry. Meant to mention @Riverstorm

Riverstorm

@caver01 said in Daphne Periodic Freeze Question:

Regarding the heat sink, @Finhead a tiny fan is great, but how are you holding it on?

Caver is the AS5 itself creating "suction" to hold it in place?

I tried lapping heatsinks (regular computer) but find the work/gain ratio pretty low. My brother does auto-body work on the side so I can get a hold of some pretty high grit sand paper and the final lap was all wet sanding. Looked almost like a mirror but the temp gain was only a degree or two. I find making sure the spring loaded screws providing "even" pressure turned out to be more important. Push/pull fan config. was the same it's a degree or two but hey each degree counts when you're tweaking. :)

This is what I am using but no longer available. I liked these little guys.

Raspberry Pi copper heatsink with fan

Finhead

@Riverstorm
Google search brings these up, pretty high price for few degs

caver01

Yeah, you use very little thermal paste and it sticks fine, but I'd feel better if I had a way to keep it secure since my PI mounts upside down in my cabinet. So far it hasn't moved, but it could. According to the manufacturer, the compound changes over time, which I seem to recall means that it hardens somewhat, but it's never going to be like glue.

Looks like your little fan/sink is stuck on with a self adhesive tape. Maybe that works better. I think it probably sticks better, but may not transfer heat as well. I'd like to rig up a gizmo to secure it--maybe something with zip ties. I hate to spend more $ on it. The only reason I was sanding was because I was reusing part of an old sink. I had to completely clean it of old , crusty compound. Flatter is better, but the compound helps fill in microscopic gaps.

I really wish my Pi3 wasn't running hot. I have read reports that some do, some don't.