N64 cores performance on Rpi4

rgabbo

I’m using Batocera v 5.26 20200527 on my Rpi4 B 2GB and I noticed that playing N64 games is almost impossible. I tested several games on all cores and this was the result:
mupen64plus/glide64mk2, mupen64plus/gliden64 and mupen64plus/n64 don’t start
libretro/mupen64plus-next and libretro/parallel_n64 present very poor performance with heavy stuttering and textures with black lines.

jul059

rgabbo Were you able to find a solution? I’m having the same issue, n64 is very stuttery even with an overclock of 2100/850. Most games are completely fluid in Recalbox, so I thought it would work fine in Batocera. The mupen64 cores also don’t work for me.

I’m running Batocera 5.27.2.

gadarf

rgabbo

Try change the core configuration to native resolution.

Taconomics

I am having the same issue, and I’m on the Rpi4 8GB. I’ve seen video of people testing out some games, and they seem to work way better for some other people. smash brothers is unplayable for me, but ETA Prime on youtube seemed to be playing no problem. I’m thinking of trying out lakka.

Jules0314

Taconomics slt, je sais pas si ça peut aider mais l écran fait beaucoup. J ai une télé 4k et les jeux N64 sont très lent. J ai testé sur une autre télé HD et les jeux sont beaucoup plus rapide. Si vous n avez pas d autre ecran, essayez de changer la résolution dans le système batocera jusqu a trouver la bonne.

DanielCuadra

I had the same problem when using the RPI4 plugged to a 4K TV since the system automatically upscales to the maximum resolution. To solve this I manually changed the conf.txt file to force 1080p resolution, setting HDMI_GROUP = 1 and HDMI_MODE = 16

paparansen

batocera sucks on the rpi4… even on 3b+ most stuff is better working.

Tomstrug

Sorry, but all my n64 games works very fine. Even Conker’s! I have à raspberry pi4 4gb.

jul059

Tomstrug A detailed description of your setup would be appreciated, as many people seem to experience issues. Which core? Which settings have you changed? mupen64plus glide64mk2 works full speed, but has severe graphical glitches.

dwoinoi

Try Banjo Tooie, it has been unplayable since 5.27. Very bad graphic errors.

rgabbo

Just did a retest with v29 and found that situation is quite similar, although less severe regarding mupen64plus-next. I made a simple table to show exactly what I tested:

Where X=doesn’t boot V=works fine O=boot with audio and/or video glitches

I modified only the emulator used. All other settings are default. I can provide individual logs if useful for somebody.

jul059

rgabbo
Are you using zipped roms? Most of those emulators don’t support zip files. mupen64plus-next is part of libretro so it automatically unzips files.

mupen64plus-next gles2 is in my opinion the best core for N64 on the pi, but for some unknown reason the devs don’t want to include it, which is why I’m not using batocera.

p0cth

Ocarina of Time with core Glide64mk2 good with minor glitches some times

Mario Kart 64 with core Glide64mk2 good with minor glitches some times

Batocera V29 no overclock

TodorSauCe

I think Pi4 GPU driver support/compatibility with certain plugins is just not there yet. On my Pi4 glide64mk2 is the fastest plugin and will even upscale some games internal resolution depending on what is set in the .ini. This plugin is old and outdated however so glitches are rampant when using this in certain games and compatability is lower also.

On my Pi3b+ I use glideN64 which is the most accurate and updated plugin of all the available options. All games on my Pi3b+ are playable full speed with the resolution set to 640×480. However on the Pi4 this plugin struggles even at the lowered resolution settings. Either due to poor driver support/compatibility or due to some setting that is causing this plugin to upscale to a much higher resolution and the downscale back again. I cant really figure it out even though I’ve dug through loads of the internal config files that should set the resolutions for this plugin on Mupen. Guess we’ll have to wait for bugfixes for good N64 on Pi4 in Batocera.

rgabbo

Unzipping the games solved noboot problem on glide64mk2, gliden64 and n64. Games are still unbootable on parallel_64. Also in n64 I get only audio output and no video. Average performance is better with glide64mk2.

gadarf Sorry I’don’t understand. All core settings are on default. What should I change?

DarrenCarol

Unzip the games. Mupen struggles to read them in zip folders.

skaramag

With batocera v30 resolve the problem with n64 games, at least i can play yoshi story with raspberry 4.
The problem in v29 it not the emulators, the problems its the core. the cpu core in v29 its (dynarec)
and doen’t works ok. but in v30 the cpu core its (Dynamic recompiler) and the same games work perfectly. you can see the cpu core starting a game and press boton of system + x. and open retroarch menu go to option.
When play yoshi story N64 on raspberry pi 4 with previuos version and works ok.
But in this version V29 it’s impossible. I think its for two reason the core its different and the video plugin too.
In the first photo v29 dynarec and glyde works terrible
https://ibb.co/1YWWYhy
and the second photo dynamic recompiler works perfect!!
https://ibb.co/845frqH
Obviously i can’t change the nucle of previous version used in n64 for the version v29.

Margallettha

The same problem remains in v30.
Dynamic recompiler is nowhere to be found, and the performance is still very very low…

skaramag

then they will release a new version where n64 works well and another emulator works badly, they go up two steps and go down 3