G-Sync and RetroArch

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RealNC
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G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by RealNC »

I finally completed a RetroArch setup. I thought it was going to be a wild beast that requires superhuman taming skills, but it turned out to be quite easy once you "get it".

In version 1.7.4, RetroArch introduced a feature called "Sync To Exact Content Frame Rate". It works only with VRR (variable refresh rate) capable monitors. There's two kinds of those: G-sync for NVidia graphics cards, and Freesync for AMD cards.

https://www.libretro.com/index.php/upco ... sync-users

I have a g-sync display, so I enabled that. Holy monkey balls! No input lag whatsoever, no tearing, perfect smooth animation, and 100% accurate game speed. Arcade games run at the same speed as when using an arcade monitor, and speed-dependent graphical effects work correctly just like on an arcade monitor:



The same is true for non-arcade emulation. NES and SNES emulation for example runs at the original 60.1Hz speed, not 60Hz. If you're into emulation, get a g-sync monitor and set up RetroArch! (For AMD graphics cards, a Freesync monitor should in theory work just as well.) Combined with the great CRT shaders that come with RetroArch, you can get a pretty good result:

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Jizaboz
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Jizaboz »

Very nice stuff man. I didn’t start looking into retroarch until Lamestation Classic went on sale for 30$ despite using video game emulators since there was such a thing as emulators like most of us here.

I haven’t used it yet because I’m more into Everdrive carts but I do not own a Super Famicom/SNES or Mega Drive/Genesis at the moment so that may change soon..
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I have a small hand held computer thing that runs Windows 10... I may try to get this loaded on it.
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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I did get it started. I cannot express how awful the UI is for RetroArch. Wow.
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RealNC
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by RealNC »

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Sun Jul 14, 2019 4:34 pm I did get it started. I cannot express how awful the UI is for RetroArch. Wow.
You can either change the UI to "Ozone" by going to Settings->Drivers and set the "Menu" setting to "ozone" and restart RetroArch. Or, you can press F5 and a traditional desktop application. But I find Ozone to be quite OK when using a gamepad.

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

That is OUTSTANDING. While I can see how the default one would be great with a gamepad, in terms of setting it up, the Ozone one is great. Thanks - I have an extra Pi laying around and various other components, and I may make it a dedicated RetroArch computer! It's on my list after sending two gallons of hot sauce to Paul.
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Flack »

For what it's worth, RetroArch will run off a USB stick (with no hardware modification) on the PlayStation Classic (Mini).

The PlayStation Classic is $19.95 right now for Amazon Prime Day.
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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

(Also, this has nothing to do with the RetroArch but I don't want to lose this link - I am tired of there being 20,000 games on my ArPiCade, so - https://www.highscoresaves.com/blog/ins ... on-manual/ )
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Jizaboz »

LOL Gallons of hotsauce

Yeah it's kind of a pain in the butt ICJ. When I added some games that weren't in the initial setup, I took time to delete all the Neo-Geo stuff since I have the real thing and some other crap I know I'll never play.. but I also had to set "scan for games" setting to on in the config to recognize the new ones. At that point, it rebuilt the gamelist I had originally edited or something.. either way now I have my new games AND all the crap I didn't want to play still in the UI. But if you try to play said crap it won't because I deleted the ROM!

Oh well, eventually I'll get around to opening the Double Dragon cabinet drawer, taking the microSD card out, and try to take the time to fix it but honestly I don't know when I'll ever be bothered to actually do it.
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RealNC
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by RealNC »

Been playing some PS1 games lately. If you buy a PlayStation Classic, you can expect games to look something like this, which is completely not what these games looked like on a CRT TV:

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Not with RetroArch. You can get this instead:

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If you zoom in, you can even see the CRT phosphor grid being emulated!

Goddamn I love RetroArch.

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Jizaboz
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Jizaboz »

I actually like the old way of rendering when playing ps1. Then again, I prefer the Saturn version of Biohazard over the ps1 ver.
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Jizaboz »

Also, totally awesome me and you are both playing PE on this console haha. I never finished it and now I’m on disk 2 and looking forward to playing the sequel!
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RealNC
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by RealNC »

Jizaboz wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 10:13 pm Also, totally awesome me and you are both playing PE on this console haha. I never finished it and now I’m on disk 2 and looking forward to playing the sequel!
That's quite the coincidence, lol. Haven't played this game since it first came out.

Not sure about PE 2. Apparently it's not an RPG anymore but rather a somewhat mediocre Resident Evil clone. Or so they say.

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RealNC
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by RealNC »

Tried to play PE 2. It's really bad. About 2 hours of it is all I could muster. It's a bad RE clone with very poor writing. Everything is as cliche as it gets. It's like a Bond villain parody, and not in a good way. Juvenile and predictable.

3/10. Would have been a 2/10 but FBI agents in this game go on the field wearing the shortest mini skirt on the planet, a garter on one leg (to holster the weapon of course) and high heel boots. So at least you get a boner while playing.

In other words, shovelware cash grab with no care or love put into it.

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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by AArdvark »

I want to get Retroarch working on my basement game computer, I really want this to happen.

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RealNC
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by RealNC »

So instead of replaying the classics, I'm now checking out a game I didn't get to play back then: Eternal Darkness on the GameCube.

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Pretty great. It's Resident Evil Code Veronica mixed with Cthulhu instead of zombies and with Amnesia the Dark Descent style of horror but in a haunted mansion with some light puzzles, and there's time travel to the Roman Empire, ancient Egypt and other places and periods, there's guns and swords and magic and runes and spells... Although it's all over the place, it works perfectly. 3 hours in and having a hell of a time. This might actually be the best game Nintendo ever made. (IMO. Zelda and Mario are great and all, they're just not my favorite style of game.)

It supports 16:9 widescreen natively too. No hacks. And in the Dolphin core of Retroarch it runs in HD as well (1440p in my case.)

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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I made this a sticky because I want to do this and don't want to forget about it.
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by RetroRomper »

Mang, don't get me started on RetroArch.
"Don't you DARE get me started on RetroArch!"

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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by pinback »

I second that.
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hapticanimal
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Re: G-Sync and RetroArch

Post by hapticanimal »

Hola dudette, do not nay get me stahrted on RetrchArches

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