Lubuntu 21.10 / N64/ Blank screen

rspeaker

Help! Ive tried different flavors of Ubuntu with Retropie running on top, and all I get is a blank screen when running any N64 game with the default emulator, current version of Retropie.
Hardware is a Skull Canyon NUC. Funny thing: When I installed in a VM running in W10, same hardware, games launch fine! No sound but was only for testing. Ive looked everywhere for the fix and honestly I'm completely stumped!

mitu

Can you post the /dev/shm/runcommand.log file ? It should have some indication why it fails. Enable verbose logging to see more details.

rspeaker

@mitu Hi! Cool. Had some other project come up but will get back to this thread shortly. Appreciate any help! :) Whats the best way to attach the file here for your review? Have not done this yet on this forum, thanks!

mitu

@rspeaker Use pastebin.com for large text files, otherwise post directly in the topic.

rspeaker

@mitu Hey! Ok I got around to generating the log. Its a lot of "Greek" to me so I sure hope you can give me some guidance. Thanks!

https://pastebin.com/2rnttT3R

mitu

Try 2 things:

use lr-mupen64plus-next as emulator
set the video driver as glcore, instead of gl, from the Configuration Editor.

rspeaker

@mitu Regret to report that none of that worked! Posted the latest runcommand.log:
https://pastebin.com/G2QN8VUh

Any other ideas?

mitu

I'll have to give it a try to see what's bothering the N64 core.

Can you press f after starting the game and see if you get any output ?

rspeaker

@mitu ok sure. Pressing F didnt do anything. I even changed screens (should not affect it anyway. same result.)
Please see what you can find out!

mitu

@rspeaker What do you mean you've changed screens ? Do you have multiple video outputs on your system ?

rspeaker

@mitu No. What I mean is that I was using a standard LCD panel for output. Mini-dp to VGA cable. Then as afterthought switched it with another LCD panel, a native HDMI interface only. Still no video on either! So the problem is not the video display device.

mitu

I've tested the N64 core on an Ubuntu 20.04.3 install and didn't notice any issues - the emulator starts and video is displayed. The iGPU is a bit newer, but I don't see any GPU related issues in the log you posted.

Are any other cores exhibiting this issue or is just the Mupen64Plus(-next) ?
Can you add video_shared_context = "true" to /opt/retropie/configs/n64/retroarch.fg and see if it makes a difference ?

rspeaker

@mitu Hey there! Really appreciate you working on this.
I have tried several other cores that come default with Retropie, same problem! Black screen.
Do you think it matters that Im taking the video from a mini-DP output and converting to a VGA input on the display panel? As I said I also tried a direct HDMI to HDMI on another display and no change.

Also added the Video Shared context and no change. Frustration!

Ok, lets regroup and try this: Now that I have access to it, I will duplicate your test above, Ubuntu 20.04.3 Desktop on the actual production NUC that I intended to use permanently for my retro games box. Its a different model NUC and a Gen4. It may work and it may not. I will report back my findings then see if we have any other actions to take or just hit a brick wall and I have to use Windows as the OS, which I don't want to since its much harder to setup Emulation Station with the emulators.

mitu

Do you think it matters that Im taking the video from a mini-DP output and converting to a VGA input on the display panel? As I said I also tried a direct HDMI to HDMI on another display and no change.

If the display works with the regular desktop and EmulationStation works also, then I don't see this as an issue. What might happen is RetroArch detecting multiple displays and starting the video on a - possibly - disconnected output, but I don't see an indication of this behavior in the log file you posted. You can run xrandr --verbose and see how the display is detected.

Just to rule out a window manager issue, try switching XFCE as desktop env and see how that works out.

rspeaker

@mitu Hey man! Happy day! Im totally stoked. NUC i5 Gen4, with Intel HD5000 on-board graphics. Also dual video output ports but using HDMI only. And it now works, out-of-the-box! No tweaking required. I setup your Focal Fossa and Retropie on top running the default core Mupen64Plus. (Cant run a verbose output with this core, but I may try running the other core you recommended to see if we can compare to see why it is working now.) Seems the NUC i7 6Gen Skull Canyon with Iris Pro 580 might be "too much newer" to run the Emulator? Silly that we have to go backwards to make it work but the NUC Im using now is the one I want to end up using anyway.
Anyway thanks again for all the help! I will post the new runcommand.log when I get a chance.

mitu

Glad you got it working.

Seems the NUC i7 6Gen Skull Canyon with Iris Pro 580 might be "too much newer" to run the Emulator?

I don't think so - if your desktop is runing and EmulationStation is also running, then the GPU is clearly supported. Ubuntu 21.10 is quite a recent distribution and the Iris Pro 580 (Skylage generation) is from 2015.

rspeaker

I don't think so - if your desktop is runing and EmulationStation is also running, then the GPU is clearly supported. Ubuntu 21.10 is quite a recent distribution and the Iris Pro 580 (Skylage generation) is from 2015.

Hmmm. Yes, that's a good point. Well I cant understand why I did the very same steps on both NUCs yet no blank screens on my Gen4. Anyway, its not an issue as I'm not using the Skylake anymore.

Anyway. here is the output from a default core, not sure if it can help you decide what the difference is but Im dropping it here for your review if you have time:
https://pastebin.com/rCm2NDf2