Noted lr-mame2003 performance issues after RA update to 1.9.5

jamrom2

RPi3b+
Retroarch 1.9.5
Retropie 4.7.11
lr-mame2003
lr-mame2003+

Hello. As I'm going through and correcting my MAME overlyas, I'm testing every game I have and have noted some pretty extreme performance issues on the latest RA update to 1.9.5 from 1.8.8

Aside from the overlay scaling setting changing to portrait and landscape specific... here is what I've noticed.

The samples directory has changed - where is it now? Prior was listed as /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame2003/samples . I have all of my samples there, and was working. New update seems to have changed that, but where do I put them now.
The performance of many games went straight down the tubes. Defender sound pops continuously, Cyberball is unplayable, Blue Print has a constant intermittent pop... and forget any vector games like Asteroids and Battlezone. Unplayable. Prior to the update performance of these and all games I played was solid and smooth, with no audio issues.
lr-mame2003+ I have no control anymore. Berzerk runs in this version only, so I tested with it... I open the MAME menu and try to remap, but it does not recognize my 4 button SNES retropad anymore. Never had an issue prior to this.

Is there any way to fall back to 1.8.8? This update basically killed off my MAME selection. Many of the games other than I listed are simply unplayable due to audio or slide-show level performance.

Thanks in advance. I'm sorry to complain as I can usually sort my own issues... but this appears to be more than I can figure out. Maybe I have a new setting enabled somewhere I am not aware of that is causing all of this?

JamR

dankcushions

@jamrom2
please supply all the info in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first including verbose log, and also the config files:
/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-libretro/retroarch.cfg
(or /opt/retropie/configs/arcade/retroarch.cfg if you use the arcade folder )

jamrom2

@dankcushions

Pi3b+
CanaKit Cana powersupply (2.5a)
Retropipe 4.7.1 Retropie script 4.7.11 (from Retropie setup menu)
Built from SD Image on Retropie (buster)
Rii Mini 8+ BT keyboard/mouse
iBuffalo SNES controller (only 1)

Runcommand logs:
lr-MAME2003
Performance issues with popping sound and FPS hits in new Retroarch 1.9.5: none previously
Defender : https://pastebin.com/qGMTxtcX
Asteroids: https://pastebin.com/PKJiWeKW
Astro Blaster: https://pastebin.com/bLY8hpeW - no sound files detected - worked fine previously in 1.8.8

lr-MAME2003+
does not see samples folder location in RA 1.9.5: worked previously
Berzerk: missing sound files (joystick input works now): https://pastebin.com/zAxV8CkW

all/retroarch.cfg : https://pastebin.com/iRK44N6P
arcade/retroarch.cfg : https://pastebin.com/xGV3itLr

** sound files for lr-mame2003 are located as instructed on https://retropie.org.uk/docs/MAME/#lr-mame2003-mame-2003 and 2003plus folder location per same instructions respectively.

thanks!

mitu

@jamrom2 said in Noted lr-mame2003 performance issues after RA update to 1.9.5:

does not see samples folder location in RA 1.9.5: worked previously

That's because you've reset your RetroArch's configuration file and it doesn't have the RetroPie defaults, including the BIOS folder:

[WARN] [Environ]: SYSTEM DIR is empty, assume CONTENT DIR /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade/defender.zip
[INFO] [Environ]: SYSTEM_DIRECTORY: "".
...
[INFO] [Core Options]: Saved core options file to "/home/pi/.config/retroarch/config/MAME 2003 (0.78)/MAME 2003 (0.78).opt"

The issue is not from the upgrade, it's most likely because you've reset your config and one of the RetroArch's defaults are not suited for the PI3. I'd advise to rename your arcade configuration files (arcade/retroarch.cfg) then reinstall Mame2003 or Mame2003+ and start over.

jamrom2

@mitu excellent! Did that and it cured the popping sound and bad performance... however... still doesn't read where my sound files are, and now it doesn't read the game specific config files I use for the overlays.

Is there somewhere in the retroarch.cfg or somewhere else I can manually put in the sound file location?

Why does it ignore the layout config files?

mitu

... however... still doesn't read where my sound files are, and now it doesn't read the game specific config files I use for the overlays.

Post again a verbose log for a game and give some details on where the overlay config file is located.

Is there somewhere in the retroarch.cfg or somewhere else I can manually put in the sound file location?

Their location is dependant on the 'system_dir' folder, if that is set up correctly and the file is there, it should be enough.

Why does it ignore the layout config files?

See above.

jamrom2

@mitu

No problem...

Here is the runcommand.log for Armor Attack which uses the overlay files as well as sound files. So it covers both.

https://pastebin.com/dY4LzAwx

all of my overlay config files are located in the /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade folder side-by-side with the rom itself

**** The sound is working now. I realized I deleted the mame2003 and mame2003+ folders from the BIOS folder when I removed the emulator in the last request you made. I just forgot to put them back in .

All that is left is the overlay config files... so to be clear on this one.. it reads the file because I see the overlay, but the scaling is all messed up on the overlay as well as the game itself...even though I have specific sizes set in the configs.

dankcushions

@jamrom2

[INFO] [Video]: Video @ 3072x2304

you’re running in a 4k video mode and dropping frames. you should select 1080p60 via raspi-config or manually via /boot/config.txt

you’re also missing many sample files, unless this log is out of date following your edit.

mitu

@dankcushions I think the resolution is 1080p (the PI3 can't do 4k anyway):

[INFO] [GL]: Found GL context: egl_videocore
[INFO] [GL]: Detecting screen resolution 1920x1080.
[INFO] [GL]: Vendor: Broadcom, Renderer: VideoCore IV HW.

@jamrom2 You may have an incorrect resolution in the game's .cfg file - what's in the armora.zip.cfg, where you have the bezel loaded ?

dankcushions

@mitu you’re right it says to 1080p later:

[INFO] [GL]: Using resolution 1920x1080

that said i believe mame2003 has some core options that affect vector games - maybe it’s supersampling these games? not sure. can we see /all/retroarch-core-options.cfg?

mind you, it could also be the shader

[INFO] [GL]: Loaded texture image from: "/home/pi/.config/retroarch/shaders/shaders/zfast_resources/zfast_iqlut.png" ...

note that vector games did not haves scanlines so you technically should turn off any scanline shaders. especially if it’s trying to apply them at this massive super sampled resolution.

jamrom2

@dankcushions

Thanks... here is /all/retroarch-core-options.cfg
https://pastebin.com/RgupePQN

@mitu
Here is the config file for Armor Attack that displays the resolution. It also points to the file that enables the overlay and sets the shader as well.

https://pastebin.com/bCyp1TKD

I can turn off the shader there... but, that's not really an issue now. It's that the settings are not being displayed for the overlay and game.

I do have "save configuration file on exit" off in lr-mame2003. Should that be on? Right now, there is almost nothing listed in the /opt/retropie/configs.hdmi/arcade/retroarch.cfg file...

input_remapping_directory = "/opt/retropie/configs/arcade/"
#include "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg"

jamrom2

@dankcushions

Turning off the shader gave me worse performance in both Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe. Audio popping like crazy.

dankcushions

@jamrom2 said in Noted lr-mame2003 performance issues after RA update to 1.9.5:

@dankcushions

Turning off the shader gave me worse performance in both Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe. Audio popping like crazy.

this is essentially impossible - post processing shaders cannot improve performance, but it sounds like your configs are in a mess.

I do have "save configuration file on exit" off in lr-mame2003. Should that be on?

no. unless you want the config to be saved on exit, which creates these unsupportable large config files. how is it now on? it is not on in https://pastebin.com/iRK44N6P

Right now, there is almost nothing listed in the /opt/retropie/configs.hdmi/arcade/retroarch.cfg file...

input_remapping_directory = "/opt/retropie/configs/arcade/"
#include "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg"

that's good - that's a standard one, but what is configs.hdmi? are you using a standard retropie image? this sounds like the configs in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/25576/new-scriptmodules-lr-vice-xvic-gsplus-proper-lr-mess-integration , maybe.

jamrom2

@dankcushions Yes, this is a standard build. Yes... I loaded that scriptmode build as well to use Apple II, II gs, Arcadia and one other I forget at the moment.

I wondered about the file structure of my build. Somehow I picked up two other folders crt and hdmi and "configs" is really a shortcut to the hdmi labeled folder.

Since I've added 44 systems and had to custom configure a handful of them, I get the feeling things are not as they should be.

As of now, I set up lr-mame2003 as I need it with a few options, saved the retroarch.cfg once and turned off "save on exit". It's now pulling the video parameters of every game I throw at it based on what I have listed in the file I posted to you.

I have no idea how I got to this point... but I am. Starting to think a new build might be needed. Unless you think we can sort some of this out. I'd prefer that if possible, there is a lot to my build, it's not just load emulator and play. Some of the emulators like Atari800/5200, Amiga, JzIntv... etc. Are a real PIA to get set right.

Thanks for all the help.

dankcushions

@jamrom2 said in Noted lr-mame2003 performance issues after RA update to 1.9.5:

As of now, I set up lr-mame2003 as I need it with a few options, saved the retroarch.cfg once and turned off "save on exit". It's now pulling the video parameters of every game I throw at it based on what I have listed in the file I posted to you.

i guess i'm not totally clear on what you want to achieve. retropie at the basic level has a global retroarch.cfg (/all/retroarch.cfg) which has the baseline settings for all libretro (lr-) emulators. then beyond that there's per-directory configs (eg /mame-libretro/retroarch.cfg) which by default point to an input_remapping_directory, and then defer back to the global config, as you've shown above.

then additionally you can have per-game overrides, per-core overrides, and gamename.ext.cfg overrides. to set up any of these you don't need to ever set 'save on exit' on. it's probably safest to manually create them, actually.

so i'm not sure exactly what hierarchy of configs you want to end up with, and what you currently have.

jamrom2

@dankcushions said in Noted lr-mame2003 performance issues after RA update to 1.9.5:

@jamrom2 said in Noted lr-mame2003 performance issues after RA update to 1.9.5:

As of now, I set up lr-mame2003 as I need it with a few options, saved the retroarch.cfg once and turned off "save on exit". It's now pulling the video parameters of every game I throw at it based on what I have listed in the file I posted to you.

i guess i'm not totally clear on what you want to achieve. retropie at the basic level has a global retroarch.cfg (/all/retroarch.cfg) which has the baseline settings for all libretro (lr-) emulators. then beyond that there's per-directory configs (eg /mame-libretro/retroarch.cfg) which by default point to an input_remapping_directory, and then defer back to the global config, as you've shown above.

then additionally you can have per-game overrides, per-core overrides, and gamename.ext.cfg overrides. to set up any of these you don't need to ever set 'save on exit' on. it's probably safest to manually create them, actually.

so i'm not sure exactly what hierarchy of configs you want to end up with, and what you currently have.

Ultimately... to not have this happen the next time I choose to upgrade any core part of the build... LOL. I thought I was doing something good by updating RA from 1.8.8 to 1.9.4 then .5. But my build has apparently become so convoluted that I disrupted areas I wasn't aware of.

I'm going to say by adding in the scriptmodules I added more issues than I was aware of. Just the idea that I turn off a shader and I loose performance means something is crossed somewhere.

I'll keep poking around my config files and hopefully find out what's causing some of this. What you and mitu offered was insightful and helped a lot.. but I think this is something that will ultimately leave me with a "it's working good enough" scenario.