why does mupen64 run better on my old phone, even though it has same specs as the pi3?

peggytam009

model of pi: pi3B+
retropi pi version: RetroPie is v4.6
emulator used: mupen64plus auto
emulator settings: default values.

my older samsung j2 phone has the exact same CPU as the raspberry pi 3, but with inferior ram and GPU

yet when i run a 2015 version of mupen64 on my phone, i found that games like paper mario RPG, and ogre battle 64 would run at near full speed, meanwhile on the pi3 they are at an unplayable speed, avarging at only around 5fps. (especially in the 3d map portion of Ogre battle 64)

on an unrelated note, i also tried running a saturn game "nights into dreams" on my phone and it also runs at a somewhat playable speed, however when i tried the same emulator in retropi the game is a near-slide show.

again, my phone has the exact same CPU as the raspberry pi3B+, but with inferior GPU and RAM than the pi3, so i've always been curious from a technical standpoint as to why there is such a large gap in performance between the two devices, despite the fact that my phone has other inferior specs compared to the pi3.

so can anyone be kind enough to shed some light on this for me?

thanks for letting me know

dankcushions

@peggytam009 said in why does mupen64 run better on my old phone, even though it has same specs as the pi3?:

yet when i run a 2015 version of mupen64 on my phone, i found that games like paper mario RPG, and ogre battle 64 would run at near full speed, meanwhile on the pi3 they are at an unplayable speed, avarging at only around 5fps. (especially in the 3d map portion of Ogre battle 64)

what RDP (video) plugin is your phone mupen running?

the pi3 not only as a poor GPU, but also the drivers are very bad. you can try the MESA open source GL driver which should perform better. you need to install it via raspi-config, advanced options. then you need to rebuild all your emulators via source.

on an unrelated note, i also tried running a saturn game "nights into dreams" on my phone and it also runs at a somewhat playable speed, however when i tried the same emulator in retropi the game is a near-slide show.

i'm guessing your phone's GPU is GLES 3.x (pi3 is GLES 2.x), so it can run yabasanshiro, which is a good android saturn emulator. we're yet to get it running great on even pi4, but it won't run on pi3 at all, due to GLES version.

peggytam009

@dankcushions said in why does mupen64 run better on my old phone, even though it has same specs as the pi3?:

what RDP (video) plugin is your phone mupen running?

i'm guessing your phone's GPU is GLES 3.x (pi3 is GLES 2.x), so it can run yabasanshiro, which is a good android saturn emulator. we're yet to get it running great on even pi4, but it won't run on pi3 at all, due to GLES version.

i managed to find the driver that mupen64 uses on my phone, its "GLES2N64"

as for the saturn emulation, i think i was running the experimental package one called "yabause"

dankcushions

@peggytam009 said in why does mupen64 run better on my old phone, even though it has same specs as the pi3?:

@dankcushions said in why does mupen64 run better on my old phone, even though it has same specs as the pi3?:

what RDP (video) plugin is your phone mupen running?

i'm guessing your phone's GPU is GLES 3.x (pi3 is GLES 2.x), so it can run yabasanshiro, which is a good android saturn emulator. we're yet to get it running great on even pi4, but it won't run on pi3 at all, due to GLES version.

i managed to find the driver that mupen64 uses on my phone, its "GLES2N64"

mupen64plus-gles2n64 is available on retropie, however it's not very compatible and there's an issue with pi4: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/issues/3118

as for the saturn emulation, i think i was running the experimental package one called "yabause"

yeah, as far as i know this is good for android, but the linux gles versions are lacking. yabasanshiro is a promising fork, but has issues right now, and no-one to lead development on the pi side.