Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4

retropieuser555

@george-spiggott Not an answer to the n64 version but have you tried the Dreamcast version of Worms Armageddon or World Party? They're pretty solid versions

George Spiggott

@quicksilver I don't think so, the issue is that the white lines surrounding any on screen text bubbles e.g. worm names, health and power bars are oddly cropped and misaligned on the right and lower sides. It also affects the US flag on the menu screen where the flag's 'bars' are misaligned.

[edit] I have sort of fixed this by setting 'Background Mode' to 'Stripped'. all the graphics are fixed but now the game is very slow, going down to 24fps in places. So I've found the cause I just need to get the speed back up.

This is what it is supposed to look like.

@retropieuser555 They are but they are WinCE games so they don't currently run on the Pi. The PS1 version is also rock solid and supports widescreen (rare for a PS1 game).

Unrelated to this there are still options for fixed screen resolutions and the default is 640x480. Do they do anything any more?

quicksilver

@george-spiggott said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:
Are you using gliden64 or mupen-next for worms? I get very good performance using gliden64 except during parts of the game were the screen shakes.

They are but they are WinCE games so they don't currently run on the Pi.

On a side note WinCE support is coming to redream sometime next week. So get some games ready to test!

George Spiggott

@quicksilver Mupen64plus-next with vanilla settings apart from the one I mentioned (background mode). I'll give Gliden64 a try.

[edit] I got the same choppy performance on Gliden64, especially with the sound. I've always had problem with N64 sound on non libretro N64 cores. I'm running the KMS driver and my setting are hardly optimal, in fact my settings are a bit of a mess for these cores. This is why I've stuck with Mupen64plus-next, It is slower but problems are so much easer to work around.

Also looks like I need to move my Tomb Raider and Worms Dreamcast games over to my Pi in preparation. :)

AdamBeGood

@quicksilver said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:

On a side note WinCE support is coming to redream sometime next week. So get some games ready to test!

Amazing news! So Sega Rally should work at last. I know this isn't N64 related at all, but that is good to hear.

luckyluca

Quick question about the Framebuffer as mentioned here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Rq4shU1RUSdcc7cTVWeORMD-mcO6BwXwQ7TGw8f5_zw/view#gid=1983504515

Where do I find that setting, in order to disable it (using mostly ntsc roms)?

"Core Options & Overrides
NOTE: Framebuffer Emulation is typically ""True/Enabled"" by default. This ensures correct PAL functionality, but causes a significant performance hit. This list is mostly comprised of NTSC ROMs and assumes a ""False/Disabled"" state for the RetroArch emulators, unless otherwise specified."

Many thanks
L

dankcushions

@luckyluca please search our documentation: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/RetroArch-Core-Options/

luckyluca

@dankcushions said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:

@luckyluca please search our documentation: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/RetroArch-Core-Options/

Sorry but I can't find it anywhere, what config does it fall under?

retroarch-core-options.cfg
retroarch.cfg
mupen64plus.cfg

or anywhere else?

I'm looking for any string resembling framebuffer, buffer

dankcushions

@luckyluca the spreadsheet says:

"Core Options & Overrides
NOTE: Framebuffer Emulation is typically ""True/Enabled"" by default. This ensures correct PAL functionality, but causes a significant performance hit. This list is mostly comprised of NTSC ROMs and assumes a ""False/Disabled"" state for the RetroArch emulators, unless otherwise specified."

retroarch emulators use core options, which are explained in my link. if you want to change them, you should change them via the RGUI of the retroarch emulator you are running, as per the link. the appropriate option will be called 'framebuffer emulation' or similar. you don't need to edit any files.

luckyluca

Thanks for your super-fast reply by the way.

Sorry but that specifically was not clear from your link.

After more digging, I assume it refers to EnableFBEmulation and it applies to the mupens lr cores under retroarch-core-options.cfg so it seems.

P.s.
I prefer editing configs directly.

luckyluca

@roslof

Thanks for your fantastic google doc. I was wondering, How up to date is it in regard to the n64?

Asking as I've been told that last year's advancements on mupen64plus-GLideN64 would make it a good candidate for 90% of the roms now?

Also, would it be a bad idea when testing, to assume that if games start, they would work throughout?

thank you again

billymild

Anyone using Vulkan yet?

dankcushions

@billymild said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:

Anyone using Vulkan yet?

even if you manually installed latest mesa (vulkan is not included in the version used by current raspberry pi OS), there is no HLE n64 emulator that uses vulkan (ie, GLideN64 does not support vulkan), and the LLE video plugin that does support it (parallel-rdp) needs more than vulkan 1.0 anyway, and is likely very beyond the pi 4's gpu, vulkan or not.

billymild

@dankcushions there were a few tutorials on installing Vulkan on RPi4's. This is why I asked over on the forum.

billymild

When resolutions are referred to in this thread was that in reference to the resolution for the emulator in the Run Command window?

shavecat

Hey any news about that ?
i saw this video

and maybe we can get it working for the pi4 ? :O
And Merry Christmas

hooperre

@shavecat Merry Christmas. The Parallel core is Vulkan based, so there used to be a hang up there. I'm not sure the status in RetroPie currently, as Vulkan was introduced to the Pi 4 in October, but it may not have the muscle to run it even when it's fully integrated.

Maybe with due time and effort.

shavecat

@hooperre
got u
so guess we have to wait...

retropieuser555

I wonder how it runs in desktop raspberry pi? Is it even possible to run retroarch in there with built version of lr-parallel with vulkan? Or it doesn't support that yet anyway even in normal raspberry pi?

dankcushions

@shavecat said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:

Hey any news about that ?
i saw this video

and maybe we can get it working for the pi4 ? :O
And Merry Christmas

that video is over a year old. lr-parallel is not new and is available in retropie, but it need a vulkan driver (and/or good CPU) for these fancy LLE features. current raspberry pis will just revert to ancient versions of the HLE plugins, of which better versions appear in the default n64 emulators.

as for the vulkan driver for pi4 - a) i don't believe it's featureset is advanced enough for lr-parallel and b) it's a very weak GPU and wouldn't run it in a usable way even if it could.