Freeze background with display mode change

misterxyz83

Hello!

I'm building up a little arcade platform based on RetroPie system. I need to run ES with the default resolution of the display (for me 1600x1200 60Hz) but for certain emulators (like arcade ones) i would like to drop to a lower res (640x480 60Hz). I did it using the runcommand-onstart.sh to and runcommand-onend.sh to switch resolutions. It works but I have an issue; when i exit from a game and come back to ES i see the display with a freezed frame in transparency (the screen when i started the game) blended with the not-freezed real ES screen (responding to my inputs).
I don't know if this is an issue of ES or other component of the system (video driver or others) but if i exit ES the display come back normally (no ghost frame in background).

What can i do?

I'm running RetroPie system from an Ubuntu X64 machine, not a retropie/raspberry setup.

mitu

You can switch resolution using the runcommand launch menu, without extra scripts - any reason you're not using it ?

Post the scripts you're using and your system setup, as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

misterxyz83

@mitu Thanks for your answer!

I can't try now but i will do the video mode switch using directly runcommand....why i didn't do? simply because i didn't know :D

I'll try as soon as possible and then report here the results.
I've started working with start-end scripts because i will drive a self-builded led sequencer for my cabinet with customized light animation for each game/platform, so i write

#!/bin/bash
#runcommand-onstart.sh

xrandr --output DVI-I-0 --mode 640x480 --rate 60.00

#!/bin/bash
#runcommand-onend.sh

xrandr --output DVI-I-0 --mode 1280x1024 --rate 60.00

Sorry for not be compliant with the forum format, now i'm not on the Ubuntu system and i don't remember the RetroPie version. I will update later.

Thanks again

misterxyz83

@mitu
Here is my configuration:
-Retropie: 4.15.14 x86
-Ubuntu: 18.04.4

By the way, i've delete my onend/onstart scripts and used runcommand options to set the video mode but i have the same problem; when i exit back to emulationstation i have the same problem...
On exit i could see that runcommand tried to switch back to original resolution but prompts
"xrandr: could not find mode n/a"

Using runcommand i won't my original resolution but it keeps 640x480 (infact xrandr fails to switch back); using my script instead the resolution is correct but in both cases the display freezes/shutters.

mitu

You haven't mentioned anything about your hardware - what kind/model of GPU do you have ? What's your display (TV/Monitor) ?

Retropie: 4.15.14 x86

That's the Linux kernel version, the RetroPie version is shown when you run the RetroPie-Setup script - can you take a look to see which version you're running ?

Can you run xrandr --verbose and post the output on pastebin.com ? There's might be an issue with runcommand's video mode switching.

misterxyz83

@mitu

4.15.14 x86 is the version i get from retropie_setup script.

That's my linux kernel version (uname -r):

5.4.0-53-generic #59~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 21 12:14:56 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

GPU model: GeForce 8800GT
CPU model: Intel Q6600

That's the xrandr --verbose output for my LCD display:
https://pastebin.com/C5VLyi8F

That's the xrandr --verbose output for the CRT display:
https://pastebin.com/ZS4BRCUm

unfortunately the problem is present in both display.

mitu

@misterxyz83 said in Freeze background with display mode change:

4.15.14 x86 is the version i get from retropie_setup script.

You should update your RetroPie-Setup script - there have been some changes to X11 mode switching since that version, though I don't think it would solve your particular use case.

Can you Alt+Tab after returning back from the emulator and see if the ES window switches in focus ? The issue might be a focus lost problem - the ES starting terminal stays in front, instead of being in the background, under the ES fullscreen window.

misterxyz83

@mitu

Ok, i've tried what you suggested...i think you're right because the popup of ALT-TAB doesn't glitches; the problem is only on ES window.

Runcommand isn't be able to switch back to default resolution, by the way i can solve with on-end/on-start scripts or updating.

misterxyz83

@mitu

What i can do to solve? Thanks for the support

mitu

If the issue is cause by the lost focus, then you might try another window manager/DE.

misterxyz83

@mitu

I've just installed LXDE and try again but nothing changes. I don't know if it helps but if i power off the display and/or detach from VGA it doesn't work; only thing is to close ES. I still think it is an ES issue...i don't know.

I will do other tests.
Thanks