Homebrew Retroarch MAME performance

arcanine

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I am trying to play Rampage on my New 3DS. I downloaded the Retroarch CIA pack and installed the libretro MAME 2003 core, and used it to open the zip archive containing the arcade ROMs. It suggested the MAME 2003 0.78 core. The game’s title screen comes up fairly quickly and I can use SELECT to add credits and START to begin the game, but the frame rate is only around 20 FPS, very slow and jerky, and the audio is slowed down, time stretched and stutters. Is there a setting I can change which could improve performance? Or a different core I could use?
 

Shadow#1

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I am trying to play Rampage on my New 3DS. I downloaded the Retroarch CIA pack and installed the libretro MAME 2003 core, and used it to open the zip archive containing the arcade ROMs. It suggested the MAME 2003 0.78 core. The game’s title screen comes up fairly quickly and I can use SELECT to add credits and START to begin the game, but the frame rate is only around 20 FPS, very slow and jerky, and the audio is slowed down, time stretched and stutters. Is there a setting I can change which could improve performance? Or a different core I could use?
3ds isn't really up to par for MAME emulation tbh
 

arcanine

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3ds isn't really up to par for MAME emulation tbh
Ahh ok, well at least I know thanks. I disabled sound and it worked a bit better, but still not much fun to play. I’ll look at other versions I might be able to emulate, thanks!
 

Elwyndas

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Ahh ok, well at least I know thanks. I disabled sound and it worked a bit better, but still not much fun to play. I’ll look at other versions I might be able to emulate, thanks!
Old 3DS or new? I remember Rampage on my N3DS with Mame, it was flawless.
 

Elwyndas

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I just played it on MAME 2000, Ver 1.8.5, March 19th 2020 release. 29 fps, which I believe is what it's supposed to be.
I was also able to play it without flaws on MAME 2003 PLUS. The regular MAME 2003 crashed, but that could be just me.
It's not true what the other poster said, that 3DS has problems with MAME. The retroarch cores are just not super adjusted to the 3DS. When programmers take over and truly adapt it to 3DS, they are achieving miracles.
All the old school arcade games can definitely be played.
It looks like MAME 2003 PLUS has made progress, so I will look into playing some of the more modern arcade games. It used to be that those cores wouldn't work at all, or the screen orientation was off and unfixable.
The PS1 emulator has also made great progress.
 

arcanine

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@Elwyndas
Hmm ok, well I tried on MAME 2003 Plus and it was just as bad, if not worse. I just installed the CIA for that core and ran it from the home menu. Am I supposed to do it a different way, like is there something else I am supposed to install to optimise it?
 

Elwyndas

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@Elwyndas
Hmm ok, well I tried on MAME 2003 Plus and it was just as bad, if not worse. I just installed the CIA for that core and ran it from the home menu. Am I supposed to do it a different way, like is there something else I am supposed to install to optimise it?
There is something not right on your end. Rampage should not pose a challenge.
If you haven't done that already, uninstall any old Retroarch titles with FBA, and delete the Retroarch folder on the SD card. Then reinstall the March 19 release 1.8.5
After launching the game, press Shoulder Left, D-Pad down, and Select, to get into Rosalina. First menu entry is New 3DS Menu. In there, normally you should see "Disable L2 Cache" and "Set Clock Rate to 268Hz". These options force the N3DS to act like a slower O3DS. When you see these options, it means you are in the faster N3DS mode, which is default, and it shouldn't actually be any different. There are very few cases where you need to pretend to be O3DS.

Another possibility is that you have a bad ROM set, or a set that is not customized for Retroarch Mame 2003 Plus. Try looking for MAME 2003-Plus Reference: Full Non-Merged Romsets 2018.
 
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arcanine

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There is something not right on your end. Rampage should not pose a challenge.
If you haven't done that already, uninstall any old Retroarch titles with FBA, and delete the Retroarch folder on the SD card. Then reinstall the March 19 release 1.8.5
After launching the game, press Shoulder Left, D-Pad down, and Select, to get into Rosalina. First menu entry is New 3DS Menu. In there, normally you should see "Disable L2 Cache" and "Set Clock Rate to 268Hz". These options force the N3DS to act like a slower O3DS. When you see these options, it means you are in the faster N3DS mode, which is default, and it shouldn't actually be any different. There are very few cases where you need to pretend to be O3DS.

Another possibility is that you have a bad ROM set, or a set that is not customized for Retroarch Mame 2003 Plus. Try looking for MAME 2003-Plus Reference: Full Non-Merged Romsets 2018.
Thanks man, i will try this. should I install the retroarch_3ds.cia and/or the MAME core? Or all of the CIAs?
 

arcanine

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Ok thanks dude, I tried removing all trace of Retroarch, reinstalling the version you suggested, and using a rom from that archive but it was just as bad, what i should have said but totally forgot was this is rampage world tour , the original rampage was fine but world tour was just as bad as before
 

Elwyndas

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what i should have said but totally forgot was this is rampage world tour , the original rampage was fine but world tour was just as bad as before

Duhhh... LOL. No problem. It made me actually play that game for the first time. It looks promising. A little too comical perhaps.
I have the same issues with that game. There is definitely no reason for it to not work 100%. It's just a code problem, somewhere. I noticed that when the game starts, it reports an error, about the CMOS not working. That could be a hint, or it means nothing. I also noticed that the audio is too low.
I messed around with a bunch of settings. No improvements, sadly.
It could very well be that the ROM rip everybody is using is faulty.
However, I just don't really invest a lot of trust into Retroarch on the 3DS. It's time for a renewed effort to bring MAME to the 3DS, independently from Retroarch.
 

arcanine

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Duhhh... LOL. No problem. It made me actually play that game for the first time. It looks promising. A little too comical perhaps.
I have the same issues with that game. There is definitely no reason for it to not work 100%. It's just a code problem, somewhere. I noticed that when the game starts, it reports an error, about the CMOS not working. That could be a hint, or it means nothing. I also noticed that the audio is too low.
I messed around with a bunch of settings. No improvements, sadly.
It could very well be that the ROM rip everybody is using is faulty.
However, I just don't really invest a lot of trust into Retroarch on the 3DS. It's time for a renewed effort to bring MAME to the 3DS, independently from Retroarch.
thanks man, is it possible it’s just too tough for a 3DS to emulate? What i have seen of it it looks pretty close to the N64 version and there’s no way that would run
 

d_bizzzz

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Hi,
Were you able to fix this issue ?
Are you using CFW. I wonder if you are set on clock rate 268MHz instead of 804MHz ?
Rosalina menu enables switching of speeds, but I don't fully know how that works, just that possibly it could be the reason.
I too was a doubter in RetroArch, buggy, crashing, nothing seemed to work ... I only wanted to use FBA. After using CLR-MAMEPRO to ensure my romset exactly matches the FBA version AND installing the latest nightly RetroArch app & cores (not the standard downloadable version from the default 3DS link on retroarch's website) I found everything works really fast, stable and well. Mame handles vertical game displays much better than FBA, so for those games I'm presently managing and building out a vertical/mame only romset.

Best of luck, stick with it !!
 

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