Raspberry-pi 2 compatibility

[petrockblog]

Those of you lucky enough to have a rpi2, who want to build from source (either everything or individual emulators to test performance), you can do

sudo MAKEFLAGS="-j4" ./retropie_setup.sh

which will use 4 workers for building – so your additional cores will be utilised.

if you would like to see if building for armv7 gives better performance, you could do something like

sudo CFLAGS="-O2 -mfpu=neon -march=armv7-a -mfloat-abi=hard" MAKEFLAGS="-j4" ./retropie_setup.sh

instead of retropie_setup.sh you can also use retropie_packages.sh to build with the commandline interface.

note that some emulator build scripts/makefiles may override your cflags. some may also not build correctly when using -j4.

I build on an emulated arm chroot, with a cross compiler on a fast pc, using -j8. The emulated chroot does the preprocessing, and the cross compiler does the compiling. With such a set up it is possible to build everything in an hour or so.

[chito]

Tested Advmame. Yeah no visible improvement. Im guessing those guys need to recompile their binaries. mame4all no visible improvement (worked pretty well in the b+)

all other RetroArch ems that i have seem to be good.
tested a few games for master system, megadrive, gba, snes

Just need updated binaries for the mame emulators. Would it be possible to run the current original mame now?

[chito]

Hey Buzz
what build do you make? what optimisations did you compile for?

[petrockblog]

not sure what you are asking sorry. that image has no emulators optimised for the armv7 – you can test compiling yourself though.

[chito]

Sorry when you said updated binaries I thought you meant for the new core

[petrockblog]

no, although I’m building some right now, and you can see if you get any performance difference when they are complete. but if you want to test a single emulator you can build with the instructions given earlier.

[chito]

Well the console ones seemed greate already on the b+ just smoother now.
once the new V7 binaries are done, will it be a simple retropie script then binary update? or will i need to setup a new image?

What can be done about the mame binaries?
im assuming that when u say build ur talking about retroarch emulators only. Not 3rd party ones

[silkworm]

It took most of last night to update the Pi as it kept failing to fetch the packages, I guess their servers were being hammered.

Everything is running a lot slicker on the Pi2. This morning I popped Star Fox on. As has already been reported the difference is night and day, it’s completely playable now. It’s not “perfect”, you get the odd sound glitch here and there, and a bit of slowdown when a lot is going on, but that’s nit-picking (I remember from my childhood that the SNES itself used to do this on Star Fox).

Currently I have done nothing more than run “sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get” on a V2.3 Retropie image. No overclocking, memory changes, recompiling, anything. Just wanted to say that at this point, even without all of the multi-core binaries and other goodies to come, for me the upgrade is already worth it.

If there are any games you want me to test, let me know.

[robertybob]

[quote=86577]
If there are any games you want me to test, let me know.
[/quote]

I’m very interested in the reported improvements to the N64 games. I presume it’s not possible to show on screen the FPS rate, so I wondered whether you could see whether Perfect Dark, Super Smash Bros and Mario Party 2 are playable. If so, does it appear to be slower than it was running on a ‘normal’ PC ?

[david]

I tried RP2 and RetroPi yesterday with various results. Boot was easily fixed. Running emulationstation interface no issues. Starting all doom/quake games from ports worked very good. But one thing i had a major problem with is almost all other emulators. They all seem to run with sound, but screen is black. Megadrive emulator dgen, snes9x etc. even dosbox. Changing the resolution (pressing ‘x’) before emulator started didn’t change anything.

However they did show graphics if i started them from within Xwindow.

I compiled a small SDL example and that gave the exact same results. Black screen.
Any ideas?

[petrockblog]

I believe it’s all related to the new kernel/firmware update – I’m going to test by downgrading the kernel on my pi and see.

Hopefully this will be sorted soon, but I’ll get back when I have further info. enabling dispmanx for those emulators may help (in supplementary config)

[morias]

I have updated my Retropie and run it on a Pi 2. On a quick test, PS1 games are a lot faster, SNES about the same, however Megadrive is very slow with choppy sound. They are all running on Retroarch.

[untakatapuntaka]

[quote=86581]I have updated my Retropie and run it on a Pi 2. On a quick test, PS1 games are a lot faster, SNES about the same, however Megadrive is very slow with choppy sound. They are all running on Retroarch.[/quote]

Nice to hear that =)
Is PSX emulation now smooth or “just” “better” ?

[Roo]

How is Mortal Kombat in MAME4ALL? On a B+ it is playable but the sound glitches out.

[petrockblog]

I have opened a ticket here

https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/issues/354

hopefully something comes of it. Looks like it all broke at the 3.18.4 update – the previous 3.18 kernel was fine. so either something in the kernel, or a configuration change or something else (there are firmware changes too). Impossible to know as there are only binary changes here and no sources to reference.

[petrockblog]

those who don’t have a pi 2 – can run

rpi-update 9ae54e3

to downgrade their system to a point that should work. This won’t work on the pi2 since it is before support was added.

[markyboyuk]

buzz your new image (https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B_knGioK16E6c0d4MDZCRUlqclU&export=download) boots fine on my pi 2. One issue I have noticed since using the pi 2 is that myy joypad/adaptor is no longer detected. If i place the SD card back into my pi 1 the adaptor is detected as “Dual PSX USB Adaptor” and it works fine with the pi 1. Any ideas why my USB game adaptor is not detected by the pi 2 but the same adaptor works fine on the pi 1? (using the same microSD card).

Thanks

[petrockblog]

I don’t sorry. what does dmesg say when you plug it into the pi2 ? (Maybe should start a new thread for this)

[markyboyuk]

[quote=86590]I don’t sorry. what does dmesg say when you plug it into the pi2 ? (Maybe should start a new thread for this)[/quote]

it says

[ 34.683146] usb 1-1.2: USB disconnect, device number 4
[ 38.759163] usb 1-1.3: new low-speed USB device number 6 using dwc_otg
[ 38.871689] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0b43, idProduct=0003
[ 38.871719] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber =0
[ 38.871738] usb 1-1.3: Product: Dual PSX-USB Adaptor
[ 38.871756] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: Dual PSX-USB Adaptor
[ 38.889315] usbhid 1-1.3:1.0: can’t add hid device: -32
[ 38.889402] usbhid: probe of 1-1.3:1.0 failed with error -32
[ 46.204728] usb 1-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 6
[ 48.489179] usb 1-1.2: new low-speed USB device number 7 using dwc_otg
[ 48.602585] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0b43, idProduct=0003
[ 48.602609] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber =0
[ 48.602627] usb 1-1.2: Product: Dual PSX-USB Adaptor
[ 48.602644] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Dual PSX-USB Adaptor
[ 48.619463] usbhid 1-1.2:1.0: can’t add hid device: -32
[ 48.619537] usbhid: probe of 1-1.2:1.0 failed with error -32

[petrockblog]

something isn’t working then. no idea if kernel issue or firmware though or something else. try it with the latest raspbian image perhaps to check.

[morias]

[quote=86583]Nice to hear that =) Is PSX emulation now smooth or “just” “better” ?
[/quote]

I didn’t try it for long, but playing Gran Turismo it felt like it was 20 years ago when I played in on my PS1. So I would say it was “smooth”.

[r3dstar]

I’ve found GoldenEye to be running around 25-50% under what it should be, depending on how many polys are on screen.
Smash Bros was a bit slow in a 1 on 1 with Mario and Link, but against 3 Yoshis it was really, really slow.
Mario Kart 64 is the best so far.

As others have said, StarFox on the SNES is running like a dream.

[brooksyx]

This is awesome!! Just ordered one for a portable project I am working on (using a broken game gear as a shell, adding extra buttons and 4.3″ screen). Will probably upgrade the model b in my snes build in a few months as well. Hopefully it won take to long to get here, currently on back order.

[robertybob]

[quote=86596]I’ve found GoldenEye to be running around 25-50% under what it should be, depending on how many polys are on screen. Smash Bros was a bit slow in a 1 on 1 with Mario and Link, but against 3 Yoshis it was really, really slow. Mario Kart 64 is the best so far.
As others have said, StarFox on the SNES is running like a dream.
[/quote]

Ah that’s disappointing to hear. Hopefully it’s the software that’s the problem and someone somewhere will get it up to a better speed on the Pi.

[brooksyx]

[quote=86600]

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>r3dstar wrote:</div>I’ve found GoldenEye to be running around 25-50% under what it should be, depending on how many polys are on screen. Smash Bros was a bit slow in a 1 on 1 with Mario and Link, but against 3 Yoshis it was really, really slow. Mario Kart 64 is the best so far. As others have said, StarFox on the SNES is running like a dream.

Ah that’s disappointing to hear. Hopefully it’s the software that’s the problem and someone somewhere will get it up to a better speed on the Pi.
[/quote]

I’m sure that this updated raspberry pi will increase interest in working on the N64 emulator and other emulators. I feel like part of the problem is people lost interest due to the lack hardware power. It will also probably help that the new version is based on Arm7, which a lot of android phones use this architecture. Phones with similar specs run a lot of N64 games just fine.

[pmurch]

Out of curiosity, when more things are rebuilt to take advantage of multi core, will we be able to use the update binary option in retropie setup? Or will we have to re-image?

[petrockblog]

you can’t just rebuild something to take advantage of multiple cores automatically – it has to be written in a way to support it. Most emulators are single threaded by design. if they have more than one thread, its likely just maybe sound or having rendering split out, so you don’t get 2x performance exactly. Stuff that benefit from multiple cores are applications / compiling / video decoding (where a decoder can decode future frames on multiple cores – ffmpeg / xbmc supports this)), multitasking/desktop apps etc,

I will provide some binaries compiled for the cortex-a8 for testing – they may offer better performance. Some can be rebuilt out of the box, but some like mame4all need the makefile adjusted since its hardcoded for armv6.

[pmurch]

[quote=86604]you can’t just rebuild something to take advantage of multiple cores automatically – it has to be written in a way to support it. Most emulators are single threaded by design. if they have more than one thread, its likely just maybe sound or having rendering split out, so you don’t get 2x performance exactly. Stuff that benefit from multiple cores are applications / compiling / video decoding (where a decoder can decode future frames on multiple cores – ffmpeg / xbmc supports this)), multitasking/desktop apps etc,
I will provide some binaries compiled for the cortex-a8 for testing – they may offer better performance. Some can be rebuilt out of the box, but some like mame4all need the makefile adjusted since its hardcoded for armv6.
[/quote]

No worries. I get that. I’m a software developer :)
I am just envisioning the end of audio skipping if the emus have been written with the ability to split audio off to its own thread.

Thanks!

[petrockblog]

Sorry about that.

I don’t actually know off hand any that do. if some do have two threads say audio/video, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the audio emulation would be done in the audio thread as you will know – maybe just the sending the buffer to the hardware etc. I read that retropie has some software filters than work with multicore which might be of use.

The biggest speedup is going to just be the fact that each core is quicker – and perhaps something will be gained from building for the armv7, and maybe some speedup if/when we move to gcc 4.8 from 4.7 as our default compiler too.

anything that has armv7 assembler in is going to work nicely too. I believe ffmpeg has plenty of arm optimisations.

[malla]

[quote=86577]If there are any games you want me to test, let me know.
[/quote]

What about Yoshi’s Island and Super Mariokart on SNES? Do they work properly when you don’t overclock your RP2?

[moran1804]

Wow Guys,

So i got my RPI2 yesterday i used the base image freshly compiled by *Buzz* Massive Thanks By the way.

What can i say i built a bartop arcade machine with my Pi B+ and had similar problems to everyone my sound was an issue on some games i also got slow down on games like street fighter and MK but worst of all NBA jam on mame as that game is an absolute classic.

now after using the base image and configuring it with all the personal changes i made to my previous system and copying across all personal files and scripts.

i can report it runs beuitifully, MK, Street Fighter 2 and NBA Jam run in MAME Flawlessly no slowdown and smooth. i also gave configuring N64 a go as i gave up on my B+ as it was just too slow and the fact my B+ struggled with the sound on Tetris+DR Mario there was no way it would run N64 half decent,

well using Mupen64Plus i now have Mario Kart running well there is the odd glicth with things like shells when you first press the fire button they will appear as a black square for a split second but it is ultimately very very playable.

i only have one question for the experts on here for some reason if i play snes and mame games exit them and play a 64 game it changes the resolution and mario kart appears in a small screen in the bottom left hand corner of my screen and for the life of me i cant work out what the other emulators change because if so i could update the .sh to put it back before loading the n64 game.

if you play alot id deffo upgrade to the PI2 im fairly good with linux and shell scripting and took me a few hours to migrate worth every second.

Cheers
Mike

[juicebag]

Hi Mike.

Great to hear, that everything works so well. :) And that’s a really nice machine you built there btw. ;)
Do you have this “bug” with the n64 only if you use the snes or mame emulator or also when using other emulators? And do you have any problems when starting mupen64 first?

Btw I got 3 questions msyself for you guys. :)
1. Does the n64 emulator start right now by itself? I didn’t get on the problem since half a year but I remember that you weren’t able to start any games with it.
2. I use the Retropie on a raspberry B+ which is overclocked to 1000 Mhz. A bis concern for me was that one of my fav games “Mega Man 2” just ran with reduced with the RetroArch emulator. The gameplay and also the sound were a bit slower than in the original which bothered me so much, that I didn’t really want to play it. :(
Did anybody else expirienced this issue? And can you tell me that “Mega Man 2” now runs smoothly in it’s native speed on the pi 2? :)
3. Is the V2.4.2 Image in the download section already compiled for the pi2?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hello Community,

thakns for all the help here. Short question , how do i get my Mame Games to work , i got a Mame Pack with all the games but they wont work on the RPI (Modell B+). I assume i got the wrong files for it , is there any way to extract the files from my original catriges or where do you get the games from and which one is the best Emulator to play the Mame Games on the RPI ( i think im gonna switch to RPI 2 soon :) )
Can anyone say which are the best Emulators on the RPI for the following systems?
Mame
ScummVM
SNES
N64
Mega Drive

Thank you very much and have a nice day :)

[lightthief]

Where are people getting their rpi2s from?
My order at Newark is just sitting there so far.

[tinblue]

[quote=86660]Where are people getting their rpi2s from? My order at Newark is just sitting there so far.[/quote]

http://www.farnell.com/

[Author]

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