Homebrew How to check if i am on Latest PCSX version ?

[Chopsuey]

Hi Guys,

i had an old version of RetroArch for PSX Emulation just for playing THPS2 but it was a lil bit to slow for actual playing it. Now that there is a faster Version with Unai support i tried to update, so ist just deletet und deinstalled all RetroArch Stuff und Installed the New Build.
But alle Games i've testet were like exactly the same speed as befor so is there a way to check if i have the latest/fastes version ? or do i have to activate the Unai rendering at some point ?

Or is there a tutorial how to setup best speed ? I followed this Tutorial for setting up everything:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-how-to-play-ps1-games-on-new-3ds-50-60fps.530785/

Edit:
I Installed this CIA version (hopefully):
http://buildbot.libretro.com/stable/1.8.5/nintendo/3ds/

 

[MrHuu]

The current version you're on is displayed in the retroarch menu, bottom left.

To update the .cia build, you have to either install the core's (found in retroarch/cores) manually with FBI overwriting existing cores or manually uninstall previous cores and let retroarch install the new core on launch.

It's not really an automated process, unfortunately.

Also, the tutorial mentioned isn't really up-to-date with the latest PSCX-ReARMed.

 

[Chopsuey]

The current version you're on is displayed in the retroarch menu, bottom left.

To update the .cia build, you have to either install the core's (found in retroarch/cores) manually with FBI overwriting existing cores or manually uninstall previous cores and let retroarch install the new core on launch.

It's not really an automated process, unfortunately.

Also, the tutorial mentioned isn't really up-to-date with the latest PSCX-ReARMed.

Thanks,
But there is no version information displayed anywhere. Just the Systemtime Bottom right.

I can only try out the Games i have here so maby they are all still a little bit over the Top, and it is hard to say if i installed everything right if i dont know if i am on top performence if i dont know what the top performence is.
Did anyone tried THPS2 (Tony HAwks Pro Skater 2) and got more than about 26-28 FPS ingame ?

 

[MrHuu]

Thanks,
But there is no version information displayed anywhere. Just the Systemtime Bottom right.

I can only try out the Games i have here so maby they are all still a little bit over the Top, and it is hard to say if i installed everything right if i dont know if i am on top performence if i dont know what the top performence is.
Did anyone tried THPS2 (Tony HAwks Pro Skater 2) and got more than about 26-28 FPS ingame ?

ow sorry, you're using rgui as a menu driver. In that case select the 'Help' menu, and it will display at the bottom.

Make sure you delete old configuration files if you haven't done already. And have your games converted to either .PBP or .CHD format.

You should definitely see a difference in performance if you updated from a.. pre-unai? build.

 

[Chopsuey]

ow sorry, you're using rgui as a menu driver. In that case select the 'Help' menu, and it will display at the bottom.

Make sure you delete old configuration files if you haven't done already. And have your games converted to either .PBP or .CHD format.

You should definitely see a difference in performance if you updated from a.. pre-unai? build.

Ah found it. i am on 1.8.5 so this should be fine.

but i cant boot eboot.pbp file. the Emulator just crashes/closes. I used PSX2PSP converter to create the file.
I read at Retroarch page that CHD is the way to go, but i cant create CHD files. i tried CHDMAN but it seems this tool works only in 64bit systems. I am on Win7 x36

So far i just used .bin files. the only ones wich actually start.

 

[MrHuu]

I had all my games converted to .pbp using PSX2PSP 1.4.2 a while back, never ran into any issues with them.
There really isn't any performance difference between the two formats.

Some seem to prefer the .chd format. The latest 32bit release was build with v0.217.
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/releases/tag/mame0217

- Download: mame0217b_32bit.exe
- Extract the .exe, and take chdman from there.

It is strongly advised to have your .BIN/.CUE files converted, this allows a significant performance increase.

 

[Isegrim]

BIN files usually tank the fps performance as a whole due to sound stuttering in audio and video. There are exceptions to this 'rule' (look up PSCX-ReARMed compability list for more information). However pbp and chd does not have this problem so that's why it is the way to go right now.

There is 32 bit version of chdman and there are solutions out there.
chd does not out perform pbp to my knowledge after I tested 30+ various games. It's helpful to have both to get a game running if one format can't boot. You can always try another clean dump of your disk, tinker around with settings in PSX2PSP or try a different source all together for your image.

 

[Chopsuey]

okay i dont understand CHDMAN in any way. in see there are some tutorials but still a lot of question. the first is,
do i need a .BIN file AND a .CUE file ?
some tutorial use Batch files, some dont. everytime a run CHDMAN it just pops up for a second und closes.

 

[MrHuu]

CHDMAN is a commandline utility. Just running it will display help info and close immediately.

To convert a single image:

chdman createcd -i "image.cue" -o "output.chd"

or when no .cue is present,

chdman createcd -i "image.bin" -o "output.chd"

To convert all .cue in the current folder:

for /r %%i in (*.cue) do chdman createcd -i "%%i" -o "%%~ni.chd"

You can either copy these lines to a .bat file or run them straight from CMD (browse to the working folder first)

 

[Chopsuey]

CHDMAN is a commandline utility. Just running it will display help info and close immediately.

To convert a single image:

chdman createcd -i "image.cue" -o "output.chd"

or when no .cue is present,

chdman createcd -i "image.bin" -o "output.chd"

To convert all .cue in the current folder:

for /r %%i in (*.cue) do chdman createcd -i "%%i" -o "%%~ni.chd"

You can either copy these lines to a .bat file or run them straight from CMD (browse to the working folder first)

Ah Thanks man, now i have a CHD file. but same problem as with PBP.
I cant read fast enough but befor quitting, the bottom display of 3ds says something from missing plugins if i use PBP oder CHD.
I also tried diffrent roms, from E and USA. but none of them working.

 

[MrHuu]

Have you tried multiple games? or just THPS2? I personally haven't tried that game.

If i remember correctly, adding:

log_verbosity = “true”

to your 'retroarch.cfg' file enables a logfile being written to your sd.

Maybe try that to see what messages are being logged.

 

[justinweiss]

I just gave THPS2 as CHD a try, and it worked OK -- first level was 50-60fps, with some drops to 40 here and there. It was full-speed with frameskip 1, but with frameskip the framerate was too low to enjoy.

 

[Chopsuey]

Have you tried multiple games? or just THPS2? I personally haven't tried that game.

If i remember correctly, adding:

log_verbosity = “true”

to your 'retroarch.cfg' file enables a logfile being written to your sd.

Maybe try that to see what messages are being logged.

i tried GTA2, the only other game around here. This one was an ECM file, but same error.
but, even i know CHD files are compressed, is it right that they have a size of 1KB ?

 

[justinweiss]

i tried GTA2, the only other game around here. This one was an ECM file, but same error.
but, even i know CHD files are compressed, is it right that they have a size of 1KB ?

No, they should usually be more in the hundreds of MB.

 

[Chopsuey]

No, they should usually be more in the hundreds of MB.

In that case this could be a problem.

but 50-60 FPS sound playable, to be fair i played the 27FPS like the half game. So defenitly worth to testing this.

 

[justinweiss]

In that case this could be a problem.

but 50-60 FPS sound playable, to be fair i played the 27FPS like the half game. So defenitly worth to testing this.

Yeah, it was playable enough that it took an hour to reply

 

[Chopsuey]

Yeah, it was playable enough that it took an hour to reply

Nice, would be nice if i knew how to convert iso's so that there are working, i could bet this might be the problem. But then i wonder why .PBP files dont work...
edit:
i just tried the .PBP files with another emulatur on my PC and there they work. maybe its not just an error with converting.

edit 2 : if i rund CHDMAN through the Batchfile, afte like 3 secs i get always this screen, i assumed it is finished. is this true, or is it still compressing ?

https://pasteboard.co/J4Rnq13.png

 

[justinweiss]

That definitely doesn’t look right. Is the .bin file the right size? Can you run it on the .cue instead?

 

[Chopsuey]

That definitely doesn’t look right. Is the .bin file the right size? Can you run it on the .cue instead?

It doesent matter if its a .bin or a .cue. I tried both, with different games. Its is always the same screen.

 

[MrHuu]

Nice, would be nice if i knew how to convert iso's so that there are working, i could bet this might be the problem. But then i wonder why .PBP files dont work...
edit:
i just tried the .PBP files with another emulatur on my PC and there they work. maybe its not just an error with converting.

edit 2 : if i rund CHDMAN through the Batchfile, afte like 3 secs i get always this screen, i assumed it is finished. is this true, or is it still compressing ?

https://pasteboard.co/J4Rnq13.png

The image should have at least one 'input track'.
Looks like running the command targeted at the .bin file, results in the issue your experiencing.

You could try to create your own .cue file.

- Create a text file and copy this:

FILE "THPS2.bin" BINARY
  TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

- save and rename to THPS2.cue
- run chdman on the .cue file.