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Problems with Raspberry Pi 3B and MAME-LIBRETRO

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    Problems with Raspberry Pi 3B and MAME-LIBRETRO

    I've only just delved into MAME-LIBRETRO with my Raspberry Pi 3B. Today I was exploring the games and found out that some of them have serious slowdown and sound problems etc... Lots of Taito games - including The New Zealand Story, Darius Gaiden, Bubble Bobble 2 etc... OutRun has audio problems which sounds like the game is struggling to run.

    Is this normal? Is there a way to fix the problems?

    Other emulators for machines such as the SNES, Mega Drive and PC Engine work perfectly.

    #2
    Originally posted by Leon Retro View Post
    I've only just delved into MAME-LIBRETRO with my Raspberry Pi 3B. Today I was exploring the games and found out that some of them have serious slowdown and sound problems etc... Lots of Taito games - including The New Zealand Story, Darius Gaiden, Bubble Bobble 2 etc... OutRun has audio problems which sounds like the game is struggling to run.

    Is this normal? Is there a way to fix the problems?

    Other emulators for machines such as the SNES, Mega Drive and PC Engine work perfectly.
    I don’t think it has the grunt to run taito F3 games (that’s what the Saturn is for ;-)

    overclocking helps, but the pi gets very hot. TNZstory should work and I have a perfect version of outrun (try the .78 mame rom set)

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      #3
      Can I ask what setup you are using? Is it Recallbox or Retropie etc? I have all of those running perfectly, however I am using Recallbox via RGBpi and for Darius Gaiden I use advance MAME.

      I had very similar problems until I got the correct Rom set for my set up.

      Comment


        #4
        The Pi 3 will throttle back quite considerably once it overheats (throttling starts around 80 degrees C). It's well worth looking at the FLIRC case as this brings the temps down below the threshold where throttling occurs (15-20 degrees).

        Also worth bearing in mind that the Pi isn't a powerhouse CPU, more in the Pentium 4 range in terms of compute power (although it's difficult to give a direct x86 equivalency due to chip design). So don't expect the world from it.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by dvdx2 View Post
          I don’t think it has the grunt to run taito F3 games (that’s what the Saturn is for ;-)
          I thought it would easily run games like Darius Gaiden, so it's interesting to know even the Pi 3B can struggle.

          Originally posted by dvdx2 View Post
          TNZstory should work and I have a perfect version of outrun (try the .78 mame rom set)
          I have a feeling I have a bad rom set. I will look into it and try to fix things.


          Originally posted by dyer60 View Post
          Can I ask what setup you are using? Is it Recallbox or Retropie etc? I have all of those running perfectly, however I am using Recallbox via RGBpi and for Darius Gaiden I use advance MAME.

          I had very similar problems until I got the correct Rom set for my set up.
          I'm using Retropie. It says the version of MAME I'm using is 'Libretro'.

          I have a feeling it could be a bad romset.

          Originally posted by MartyG View Post
          The Pi 3 will throttle back quite considerably once it overheats (throttling starts around 80 degrees C). It's well worth looking at the FLIRC case as this brings the temps down below the threshold where throttling occurs (15-20 degrees).
          I'll take a look at that case.


          Originally posted by MartyG View Post
          Also worth bearing in mind that the Pi isn't a powerhouse CPU, more in the Pentium 4 range in terms of compute power (although it's difficult to give a direct x86 equivalency due to chip design). So don't expect the world from it.
          It seems to run most retro consoles perfectly, so the SNES, MD, PCE, NEO GEO are fine. Final Burn Alpha also runs games perfectly. But MAME LIBRETRO is running a lot of games really badly. Maybe it's a case of bad roms, so I will have to try and work out what the problem is.

          I don't expect the Pi 3 to run 3D arcade games, Dreamcast etc...
          Last edited by Leon Retro; 20-07-2018, 05:27.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Leon Retro View Post
            I thought it would easily run games like Darius Gaiden, so it's interesting to know even the Pi 3B can struggle.



            I have a feeling I have a bad rom set. I will look into it and try to fix things.




            I'm using Retropie. It says the version of MAME I'm using is 'Libretro'.

            I have a feeling it could be a bad romset.



            I'll take a look at that case.




            It seems to run most retro consoles perfectly, so the SNES, MD, PCE, NEO GEO are fine. Final Burn Alpha also runs games perfectly. But MAME LIBRETRO is running a lot of games really badly. Maybe it's a case of bad roms, so I will have to try and work out what the problem is.

            I don't expect the Pi 3 to run 3D arcade games, Dreamcast etc...
            You can run F3 games fine on a Pi (regualr, don't know about +) using AdvanceMAME, purely because it's built for speed not accuracy. You can run these at standard clock rate too. I know, I've done it

            Regarding the Libretro core it should give you a version number if you use the standard MAME core it will be version 0.199. I use that and GroovyMAME on my recently built PC box - GM reads dynamic resolutions, Retroarch only static. The other MAME cores of course list the version number/year. It sounds like a core issue not a bad romset. Correct me if I'm wrong but in the 15 odd years I've been using emulation I've never had a romset slowdown because it was incorrect, it just won't boot. The Taito games such as Rainbow Islands require separate bios in the newest versions of MAME they need to be put inside the rom directory - again, this is an accuracy thing, much like how they added the security rom checks for the CPS systems etc.

            On a side note, Pi will run MOST PSX games perfectly, some of the more complex 3D games it struggles with e,g. Tekken 3. I've found PCSX Re-loaded to be the better of the core options for speed. Eventually might be worth chucking a cheap box together like I've done to run Saturn, DC and Gamecube - was playing Resident Evil 4 earlier on a £75 Optiplex...madness! Anyhow, good luck in getting it sorted.
            3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Escape-To-88 View Post
              It sounds like a core issue not a bad romset. Correct me if I'm wrong but in the 15 odd years I've been using emulation I've never had a romset slowdown because it was incorrect, it just won't boot. The Taito games such as Rainbow Islands require separate bios in the newest versions of MAME they need to be put inside the rom directory - again, this is an accuracy thing, much like how they added the security rom checks for the CPS systems etc.
              I was exploring MAME on the Pi yesterday - and games like Mystic Warriors and Sunset Riders are running perfectly. Shoot 'em ups from the late-90s early 2000s also run well. It makes me think that some roms are maybe broken or haven't been set up properly.

              Looking around for info about AdvanceMAME, it looks like that's definitely what I should be using. I'm glad it's not the Pi at fault with games like New Zealand Story, Darius Gaiden, and OutRun.

              Originally posted by Escape-To-88 View Post
              On a side note, Pi will run MOST PSX games perfectly, some of the more complex 3D games it struggles with e,g. Tekken 3. luck in getting it sorted.
              It runs 2D games perfectly, so Harmful Park looks mint. But Ridge Racer 4 runs at probably half the speed it should.

              Anyway, thanks for your thoughts on the matter.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Leon Retro View Post
                I was exploring MAME on the Pi yesterday - and games like Mystic Warriors and Sunset Riders are running perfectly. Shoot 'em ups from the late-90s early 2000s also run well. It makes me think that some roms are maybe broken or haven't been set up properly.

                Looking around for info about AdvanceMAME, it looks like that's definitely what I should be using. I'm glad it's not the Pi at fault with games like New Zealand Story, Darius Gaiden, and OutRun.



                It runs 2D games perfectly, so Harmful Park looks mint. But Ridge Racer 4 runs at probably half the speed it should.

                Anyway, thanks for your thoughts on the matter.
                Yeah, probably worth picking up a SFF PC for doing that stuff. Will cost about the same as a Pi and associated lead(s). Roms can't be 'broken' as such. They'll just be the wrong set. Slowdown won't be caused by the rom as far as I've ever experienced, it will be the core. I'm still not sure which core you are using for MAME? If you just want Outrun and TNZS (both old and new versions) use the FBA core if you're struggling, will run them just as well.
                3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Escape-To-88 View Post
                  Yeah, probably worth picking up a SFF PC for doing that stuff.
                  The PC I was talking about in the other thread is SFF(a bit smaller than a PS4), so I will be using that for all sort retro gaming - but especially Saturn, Dreamcast, GameCube etc... I've added a 1TB little laptop HDD to help with storage.


                  Originally posted by Escape-To-88 View Post
                  Roms can't be 'broken' as such. They'll just be the wrong set. Slowdown won't be caused by the rom as far as I've ever experienced, it will be the core. I'm still not sure which core you are using for MAME? If you just want Outrun and TNZS (both old and new versions) use the FBA core if you're struggling, will run them just as well.
                  Yeah, the roms that aren't working well are probably not how the emulator expects them to be.

                  When using MAME, it says it's 'Libretro'. I can then choose between: lr-MAME2000; lr-MAME2003; lr-MAME2010. The default is MAME2010.

                  I tried changing between versions, but can't get those games to work.
                  Last edited by Leon Retro; 29-07-2018, 19:22.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Have you tried ClrMAME? You just specify what version of MAME you are using and it rebuilds your sets (or splits if you want) to that revision. With MAME you kind of work backwards, get the roms first and then the appropriate emulator revision I find, but ClrMAME should sort you out. MAME_libretro should be the newest build of MAME.
                    3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Escape-To-88 View Post
                      Have you tried ClrMAME?
                      I will take a look at it and see if it can help with the problem. I went through MAME on my Pi this evening, playing all sorts of games, and all the 2D games run fine, except for a few from Taito that run slow with garbled sound, and OutRun which struggles.

                      I might try to grab another RetroPie image that was created by someone who knows what they're doing. I wouldn't usually bother, but I really like Taito and Sega, so having problems with some of their games is annoying.

                      I'll get things sorted, because now I know it's not the Raspberry Pi 3B at fault.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I have a 3B+ and most images are 3B only. Pain in the ass as plus model is faster but incompatible.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Jaz View Post
                          I have a 3B+ and most images are 3B only. Pain in the ass as plus model is faster but incompatible.
                          Yeah, I've noticed people talking about that. It's annoying that 3B+ owners can't just download an image. But I'm sure people will deliver 3B+ images in the near future.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Not sure what differences you think there are between the Pi3b and Pi3b+ but they run the same Broadcom BCM2837 SoC with a minor revision.

                            The main differences are the heat spreader on the SoC, PoE and Gb Ethernet.

                            Any image for the Pi3b will run on the Pi3b+ so long as they're Stretch based.

                            Other nice thing with the 3b+ is that it'll boot from USB sticks without have to mess about updating the OTP memory in the Raspberry Pi SoC, as it's enable at factory and they don't corrupt as easily as running the OS from a microSD seems to if the power gets yanked without a clean shutdown.
                            Last edited by MartyG; 30-07-2018, 22:42.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Ultimate Amiga 2.0 is 3B only and that’s what I got the Pi for. I think the plus has a higher clock speed. Either way I’m just going to get a 3B.

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