Screen tearing issue....

FormulaFox

The RetroArch main config file is in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg indeed, if that file is not there, then I suggest re-installing the retroarch package from the RetroPie-Setup menu.

It's there - I know that from looking via the program in Windows. But when I try to access it via the terminal, it just gives me that error.

The alternate method for setting the autologin has also failed - sort of. It is now requiring me to login only if I need to use the terminal, not before it even loads EmulationStation.

I don't quite understand how is sort of working: auto-login will automatically log in to the terminal, after which the autostart.sh script is started, which in turn starts Emulationstation. I presume that the auto-login is not working, so you have to log in, after which Emulationstation starts automatically (through the autostart.sh script). Is that correct ?

No, as I just said, it loads EmulationStation, but if I have to do anything in the terminal it requires me to log in before I can. Before trying the alternate method, I had to log in before it would even load ES.

mitu

@FormulaFox said in Screen tearing issue....:

No, as I just said, it loads EmulationStation, but if I have to do anything in the terminal it requires me to log in before I can. Before trying the alternate method, I had to log in before it would even load ES.

Then it's a different issue - can't say I've heard about it before. It's like you're logged off after exiting Emulationstation.

FormulaFox

Okay, I've FINALLY gotten retroarch.cfg to load in the terminal. I still do not know why it was giving me the error before(I compared the entries so many times in the previous errors and could not find any typo), and just as with when looking in the Windows program, vsync=true is present.

FormulaFox

While waiting for further input I tried changing the vsync entry in the retroarch.cfg from true to false, and also tried switching adaptive_vsync from false to true. Neither made a difference. (I have switched both back to their previous values)

But at least now I'm getting the file to consistently load in the terminal even if I can't figure out where I was typoing the previous attempts. Next step? (if any)

mitu

Looking at the Waveshare configuration instructions, I see it rotates the display using the firmware options in config.txt - which is known to cause a performance drop. Can you try to disable the rotation and set the rotation to be done in RetroArch ? I think the options for rotating 270 CCW are

video_allow_rotate = "true"
video_rotation = "3"

This way you'd see if at the tearing is because of the rotation of the screen. Emulationstation has a similar option (--screenrotate) which you can use.

FormulaFox

Removing Displayrotate causes the display in retroarch to go vertical, and will not allow the game to fill the screen when I rotate it into proper orientation. It squeezes the side into the same space as if it were still in vertical orientation. In this "squished" condition, I cannot evaluate any issues it may still be having. Tweaking zoom and resolution settings don't seem to be changing anything.

mitu

Try teaching RetroArch about your non-standard resolution, add this to your config, in addition to the rotation options:

aspect_ratio_index = 22
custom_viewport_width = 800
custom_viewport_height = 480
custom_viewport_x = 0
custom_viewport_y = 0

FormulaFox

No change. Same squished image.

(off to work now - don't be waiting at they keyboard for next reply)

mitu

Hm, I don't have any more ideas besides modifying the viewport WxH to match the natural size. I think the aspect_radio_index correct version is 23 instead of 22 (23 = custom), so you might want to try to correct that also.
What I noticed though is that the RGUI (RA's menu) doesn't obey the rotation configuration, so entering the RGUI would show it rotated.

FormulaFox

Whelp.... I figured it out. Apparently Retroarch does not understand this screen well enough to manage things when the aspect ratio is set to anything other than the specific one a game demands. (in the case of old 4:3 games, it requires it be set to 3:4 because it understands the screen as being vertical)

I can confirm that, which the aspect ratios set, the issues I was having are cleared up. There is still some odd artifacting on some things here and there, but they're such small details that I only noticed them because I was specifically looking for anything off.

Fortunately, all my games are 4:3(save for a couple of low-stress PSP games that this thing is JUUUUUST able to handle with barely any visible trouble if Frameskip is on), so I'll be able to set Retroarch to 3:4 globally to fix it.

Now... How do I get the ES menu to display the same way? :P

(I hope I don't have this much trouble when I upgrade this device to a Pi 4 once a Retropie build for it comes out)

mitu

EmulationStation has a few command line parameters that need to be set in order to get the screen rotation working

--screenrotate (1 to 3 - see https://github.com/RetroPie/EmulationStation/pull/348).
--screensize H W to set the resolution.

FormulaFox

@mitu Where do I go to change those settings? I can't find them in any of the settings in the UI and I'm not sure where the config file to edit in terminal/ssh is located, and the link you provided doesn't specify(or at least if it does, I keep missing it).

mitu

@FormulaFox You need to add the to the command that starts emulationtation on boot. That's done in the /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh, but you also just exit Emulationstation and experiment from the command line (SSH works also) by running emulationstation <parameter> until you find the right combination to add in the autostart file.

FormulaFox

@mitu

--screenrotate 1 puts everything in the intended orientation, though for some reason it initially did not want to work when I added it to autostart.sh, but it appears to be functioning now - my first reboot generated no change, I sshed in and doublechecked the entry, found no error, rebooted again and it worked.

All I have left to figure out is how to set Retroarch to 9:16/16:9 JUST for those PSP games and not save it as a global setting. I'm sure the answer is somewhere in the Retroarch documentation.

Thanks for your help. And patience in dealing with this noob.

mitu

@FormulaFox Each system with a LIbretro core has a dedicated retroarch.cfg, in /opt/retropie/configs/<system_name> - so in your case /opt/retroarch/configs/psp/retroarch.cfg can be modified with the video resolution you like, just like you modified the global retroarch.cfg file.

FormulaFox

I'd already gotten it worked out - that wasn't really a request for more assistance.

But I thank you nonetheless- knowing the exact path to each individual Retroarch config file will likely be helpful to me in the future knowing my luck. (and skill level)

But with luck, everything is worked out and my GhettoPi Boy shall be fully online and will serve me until a Pi4 version of Retropie released and I get my hands on one. A little beyond that, actually - the first Pi4 we get will likely go into the arcade cabinet rather than my handheld.