Mame Performance with a Pi4 & RetroPie

Lamaman1971

Hi Folks,

I recently came back to the Pi and RetroPie for a quick project and noticed that R-Type Leo (as an example) runs like a bag of knackers. Im running it under Retroarch Mame2003.

I wanted to ask - as its been a while for me - what the preferred approach to MAME emulation is these days and if there have been any performance improvements?

dodonpachi

@lamaman1971 Generally speaking, anything that can be played with fbneo should be, with few exceptions. Whenever I'm trying a game in Mame, I typically start with 2010 and then move to 2016. It depends on the game you're trying to run.

barbudreadmon

@lamaman1971 In the first place, you shouldn't have performance issues with rtypeleo on a pi4, whichever emulator you use, so i can only guess there is something very wrong with your setup, and changing emulator is unlikely to solve that issue. Maybe you are running this on a 4k screen and the refresh rate is stuck at 30Hz ? I've seen this issue a lot.

Otherwise, as @dodonpachi said, it's recommended to use recent emulators whenever you can, because you'll be less likely to encounter glitches (performance issues aren't glitches).

Lamaman1971

@barbudreadmon & @dodonpachi Thanks for the replys. Turns out it was my hooking it up to an enormous TV (Something Ive never done before) that was the cause of the problem! Performance seems to be much better now.

However, I will take a look at fbneo and later versions of MAME too.

johnodon

@lamaman1971 said in Mame Performance with a Pi4 & RetroPie:

@barbudreadmon & @dodonpachi Thanks for the replys. Turns out it was my hooking it up to an enormous TV (Something Ive never done before) that was the cause of the problem! Performance seems to be much better now.

This is usually because it is running at a lower refresh rate (i..e 30hz).

dankcushions

@lamaman1971 said in Mame Performance with a Pi4 & RetroPie:

@barbudreadmon & @dodonpachi Thanks for the replys. Turns out it was my hooking it up to an enormous TV (Something Ive never done before) that was the cause of the problem! Performance seems to be much better now.

i'm not sure if by this you mean you are now using a non-4k tv, but if so, FYI to solve the issue on your 4k tv: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Pi4/#4k-video-display

retrotard

Rtype Leo shouldn’t need anything real special to run in Mame. Most of your games will run in the mame 4 all mame2003. But you’ll want to test some of your games in mame libretro 2003 plus. You have access to more cores like mame 2016. Also try Final Burn Neo. I run my games through retroarch on the pc to test them first then place them on my pi 4.