SNES Lag with 4.1 vs 4.0

Brunnis

What games have you tried? Also, with "lag" do you mean that the game speed slows down and audio stutters/crackles?

I believe I have noticed something similar... There appears to have been a regression in performance since the release of RetroPie 4.0.2. I noticed this when I updated my Pi 3 installation's RetroArch and Snes9x2010. I believe it's the same issue whether they're updated from source or binary.

The issue is very visible/audible when running Star Fox on SNES. With my 4.0.2 installation with video_threading=false, I had no performance issues. With an updated installation I get horrible audio crackling already during the intro cinematic (when the big ship starts firing). There's also video slowdown in the star map before entering the first level and audio crackling during actual gameplay.

The likely reason for this is simply that something has made the emulation run slower, to the point where the Pi 3 can no longer sustain 60 FPS. Whether the issue is in the RetroArch/Snes9x2010 sources or in compilation I can't say right now, but perhaps someone else knows more?

I will try to test this on a default 4.1 installation to see if it's reproducible (or if someone else feels inclined, please go ahead and test).

obsidianspider

@Cronck What emulator are you using? If you're not sure, press Select+X during a game and you'll see it at the bottom of the RGUI screen.

dankcushions

@Brunnis said in SNES Lag with 4.1 vs 4.0:

What games have you tried? Also, with "lag" do you mean that the game speed slows down and audio stutters/crackles?

I believe I have noticed something similar... There appears to have been a regression in performance since the release of RetroPie 4.0.2. I noticed this when I updated my Pi 3 installation's RetroArch and Snes9x2010. I believe it's the same issue whether they're updated from source or binary.

The issue is very visible/audible when running Star Fox on SNES. With my 4.0.2 installation with video_threading=false, I had no performance issues. With an updated installation I get horrible audio crackling already during the intro cinematic (when the big ship starts firing). There's also video slowdown in the star map before entering the first level and audio crackling during actual gameplay.

The likely reason for this is simply that something has made the emulation run slower, to the point where the Pi 3 can no longer sustain 60 FPS. Whether the issue is in the RetroArch/Snes9x2010 sources or in compilation I can't say right now, but perhaps someone else knows more?

I will try to test this on a default 4.1 installation to see if it's reproducible (or if someone else feels inclined, please go ahead and test).

is it this change? https://github.com/libretro/snes9x2010/commit/091e2a1679a0c8e9643ce2e914fe4ec6e0438643#commitcomment-19505694 - i know you commented here but not sure if you got as far as bisecting

lostless

@Brunnis I get crackling now too, but Star fox is running too fast for me and not lagging. May have always been like that that because i remember this bug from snes9x back in the day before the 1.53 update which fixed some superFX from running too fast. SNES9x2010 on retroarch based on 1.52. All the other snes9x cores run star fox too fast as well.

Cronck

@obsidianspider - this is while using SNES9x Next (for 4.0 to work, checking 4.1 now) , and trying just Super Mario World.

WOW nice catch -

4.1 is using SNES9x 2010 ... thought they where the same - trying to switch to Next now in 4.1

Cronck

@Brunnis found that the SNES emulator SNES9x Next works with 4.0 - im trying to switch this is 4.1 and ill get back to u.

Cronck

@dankcushions after looking into the download emulator packages I find you can jsut pick "SNES9x Next" , maybe in the new build it got lost some how, but i think this is what we need to fix the problem.

BuZz

read the changelog - https://retropie.org.uk/2016/11/retropie-4-1-released/ lr-snes9x-next is renamed to lr-snes9x2010 - same emulator.

any performance changes will be due to upstream code changes, and possibly compilation flag changes (which I will check, but I did change them due to some issues). I will verify this though.

you can also try lr-snes9x2005 / lr-snes9x2002

Cronck

@BuZz Thanks Buzz, just found that on the SNES9x site, im sitting here like huh... well crap. ill try a diff emulator see if that fixes it as well.

Cronck

@Cronck ok so update - SNES9x 2005 and 2010 have lag/sound issues... SNES9x 2002 works great! i would call this a fix for now. but would be nice to see whats causing this issue in the newer version. Hope this helps someone.

Brunnis

@dankcushions meepingsnesroms actually removed those changes after my comment (but never answered me). Here's the commit: https://github.com/libretro/snes9x2010/commit/ac2c080d2107af1dbd55c60438b983fc4f23d224

So this has to be something else. I'm sorry to say that I won't have time to look into this right now, since I'll be spending most of the week travelling. One easy first test would be:

Install 4.0.2 and test with Star Fox. Does the audio sound really bad during the intro cinematic? Also try with video_threaded set to false.
Update RetroPie-Setup script and then update RetroArch from binary and re-test Star Fox both with and without threaded video.
If no issues were found in step 2, update snes9x2010 from binary and re-test Star Fox both with and without threaded video.

When I tested last week, I made a mistake and therefore I didn't find out whether it was RetroArch or snes9x2010 that caused the issue. I have a fork of RetroArch at https://github.com/Brunnis/RetroArch which I know for sure doesn't have the issue, since I have used that repo to build the current binary on my Pi. So, if it turns out to be RetroArch that's causing this, we at least know of a somewhat recent commit where the regression had not been introduced yet.

@Cronck Interesting that snes9x2005 has the issue as well. Both snes9x2005 and snes9x2002 are older and less accurate (and less demanding) versions of snes9x. One thing that might be interesting to look into is the following commit:

https://github.com/libretro/snes9x2010/commit/e9c6d88d1fd281fa35409d62ec8ea3734598b85e

There's an identical one for snes9x2005.

Brunnis

I haven't had time to test yet, but I'm guessing the issue discussed here is what caused my Star Fox problems: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/5078/any-reason-snes9x-1-53-is-not-included-in-retropie/15

It's further discussed here: https://github.com/libretro/snes9x2010/issues/86

The fix is in place now, so I'll try to test as soon as possible.

Cronck

@Brunnis Fix in place as in i should try to update my system? or fix in place as in some crazy line of code needs to be added?

Brunnis

@Cronck Just rebuild snes9x2010 from source and you will have the fix.

Danorak1981

Just for reference, I have a Pi 3b running Retropie 4.1 and had speed issues with snes9x2010 running Starwing way too fast: I can confirm that the rebuild from source fixes the issue. I have however stumbled across another issue, but it's so minor. I've just completed the game and let the credits run to the end whereupon I noticed that the music finished finished about 30-40 seconds before the credits: I didn't notice anything untoward during gameplay however, and the intro seems to be in sync, as does the game-other than that (like I say, minor) issue, everything seems a-ok and you don't need superhero reflexes to be able to play it!

ayeye

I have a Pi 3b running Retropie 4.1 and had speed issues with snes9x2010 with almost all roms. Audio is choppy and gamplay is slower than normal. I have tried to rebuild from source but still the same issue. The issue is not present with other emulator like snes9x2002 or armsnes. The easiest way to check if loading chrono trigger ( which is a cartridge that doesn't use any extra chip ) and listen on how choppy the audio is on the intro.

BuZz

@ayeye Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

(note PSU section - and start a new topic please with full info).

ayeye

Hello @BuZz and thanks for the quick reply.
I posted here because I believe is the same issue of the OP.
To me, this looks like more a regression in snes9x2010 repo because my pi is totally capable of emulating meatier cpu (neo geo games runs fine).

as for the psu i both tried with my tv and a separate phone charger with the same result.
I used the prebuild image on the website + update all after installation.

BuZz

@ayeye try updating the emulator from source.

I understand the symptoms may be the same but often there are multiple reasons for an issue, so a new topic with full information about your set-up helps. Also the problem in this topic was solved. Please follow the guidance in the link I provided.