All my GBA roms are slow ? ..

[Mikachu]

Good evening!
First of all, thank you for the work done so far!

First message to ask for help (I'm on Retrostone 2, latest version: RetrOrangePi_v4.3_Armbian_Retrostone2_PRO_bionic_dev_5.3.13_desktop_v3.img) :

All my gameboy advance roms are slow, video and lag sound.  

How can I add an emalator or is there a manipulation or update to do?

Thanks for your answer !

[alexkidd]

try changing default emulator for GBA : after launching a rom, press buttons when runcommand dialog shows up

[Mikachu]

I have already tried and without success.


for the 3 available emulators it gives :

- lr-mgba : works at 75% / there is video and sound lag on a majority of roms

- lr-gpsp: works at 25% / Cannot play games are extremely slow

- lr-vba-next: doesn't even launch and returns to the menu.

- gpSP: no trace of this emulator

Any ideas?

Do I need to install anything else?

I tried to follow this page but being French I may have missed something? :
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Game-Boy-Advance/

[Garysaurus]

I have already tried and without success.


for the 3 available emulators it gives :

- lr-mgba : works at 75% / there is video and sound lag on a majority of roms

- lr-gpsp: works at 25% / Cannot play games are extremely slow

- lr-vba-next: doesn't even launch and returns to the menu.

- gpSP: no trace of this emulator

Any ideas?

Do I need to install anything else?

I tried to follow this page but being French I may have missed something? :
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Game-Boy-Advance/

I have the best luck with ls-gpsp and can run all the games I've tried at full speed now.
If you don't already have it, you'll need to add the gba_bios to the BIOS folder on your device.
If you've done that it might be worth making sure your emulators are up to date through the RetroPie Setup menu. I'm only getting a good speed on gba games now after recently reflashing the os and updating the core, main and optional packages. (You'll need to connect to the internet if you haven't already set that up either)

[psychosteve]

I've tested several thing and i think "Mario Golf: advance tour" is the best rom to test the GBA emulators

> lr-mgba : working but sound is a little choppy and crackeling

> lr-gpsp : works very good (no more problem with sound) BUT some games are simply not working. Mario golf won't let you go further than the player selection then will reboot

> lr-vba-next : very slow, choppy sound

 
----- French translation : 

J'ai testé plusieurs choses et je pense que "Mario Golf: advance tour" est la meilleure rom pour tester les émulateurs GBA

> lr-mgba : marche mais le son est un peu haché et craque

> lr-gpsp : marche très bien (plus de problème de son) MAIS certains jeux ne marchent pas. Mario Golf n'ira pas plus loin que la sélection des personnages puis reboot

> lr-vba-next : très lent, son haché

[Garysaurus]

I've tested several thing and i think "Mario Golf: advance tour" is the best rom to test the GBA emulators

> lr-mgba : working but sound is a little choppy and crackeling

> lr-gpsp : works very good (no more problem with sound) BUT some games are simply not working. Mario golf won't let you go further than the player selection then will reboot

> lr-vba-next : very slow, choppy sound

 
----- French translation : 

J'ai testé plusieurs choses et je pense que "Mario Golf: advance tour" est la meilleure rom pour tester les émulateurs GBA

> lr-mgba : marche mais le son est un peu haché et craque


> lr-gpsp : marche très bien (plus de problème de son) MAIS certains jeux ne marchent pas. Mario Golf n'ira pas plus loin que la sélection des personnages puis reboot


> lr-vba-next : très lent, son haché

I was reading recently on the FunKey (Another device like the RetroStone 2) Discord that Mario Golf among others is currently broken with some emulators and often crashes after a small amount of time. 
I don't know if this would also affect the Retrostone 2 but it might just be a problem with how emulators play that game. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.

[psychosteve]

"Golden Sun" is broken too if i remember my tests. I'm updating Gpsp as we speak and see if that makes a difference

** UPDATE**

After updating the 3 cores i can say : 

> GPSP : same (some games crashing)

> Mgba : a little bit better (still some choppy sound here and there)

> VBA next : same slowdowns and choppy sound

I can't wait to see if the 4.4 update of Retrorangepi will fix those issues.

I have a Retroid pocket 2 and this seams to have a similar issue with GBA system 'cause you have to play with a different version of Retroarch (1.5) for GBA games using and older GPSP core for a better compatibility...if you play with the latest retroarch (1.9) with Mgba or VBA it's the same choppy sound and slowdown problems. So i guess the problem is coming from GBA emulation + core compatibility which is not accurate right now and pretty demanding for this system

[alexkidd]

i'm gonna test myself some of those games when i find some spare time, maybe there is room for improvement in retroarch config

[Mikachu]

I have the best luck with ls-gpsp and can run all the games I've tried at full speed now.
If you don't already have it, you'll need to add the gba_bios to the BIOS folder on your device.
If you've done that it might be worth making sure your emulators are up to date through the RetroPie Setup menu. I'm only getting a good speed on gba games now after recently reflashing the os and updating the core, main and optional packages. (You'll need to connect to the internet if you haven't already set that up either)

Do you have a link to this bios?
I'm going to test with it, I thought I saw some people installing one and it worked.

I had also found a patch that apparently solves some problems not yet had time to test it.
Especially since I don't know what to do with it and where to put it : bugfix2.tar.gz

---

When I do "update retrOrangePi" my retrostone downloads the update but makes a blackscreen at the end and does not restart
.

[Garysaurus]

I have the best luck with ls-gpsp and can run all the games I've tried at full speed now.
If you don't already have it, you'll need to add the gba_bios to the BIOS folder on your device.
If you've done that it might be worth making sure your emulators are up to date through the RetroPie Setup menu. I'm only getting a good speed on gba games now after recently reflashing the os and updating the core, main and optional packages. (You'll need to connect to the internet if you haven't already set that up either)

Do you have a link to this bios?
I'm going to test with it, I thought I saw some people installing one and it worked.

I had also found a patch that apparently solves some problems not yet had time to test it.
Especially since I don't know what to do with it and where to put it : bugfix2.tar.gz

---

When I do "update retrOrangePi" my retrostone downloads the update but makes a blackscreen at the end and does not restart
.

I've sent you a message about the BIOS as most forums don't like ROM or BIOS to be linked. I just placed it in the BIOS folder through the Ambrian Desktop (Without a subfolder). I think the current OS link includes the Bugfix (I could be wrong though). I'm having the same problem with updating retrOrangePi through the menus. I think it is because it updates to a version that's not compatible with the hardware.