Retropie on Pinephone

[nas]

Games can be launched from command line but emulationstation crashes on load (x connection broken error) and the virtual keyboard map is pretty random. Anyway, here's a blurrycam video showing it in action.


  quake3a.jpg (Size: 183.37 KB / Downloads: 625)

[Luke]

This is awesome. How about a quick tutorial?

[nas]

Start with the latest debphosh image and follow the below steps. See retropie website for more info.

Code:

sudo apt-get update

Code:

sudo apt-get install -y git dialog unzip xmlstarlet build-essential libpython-stdlib libpython2-stdlib libpython2.7-minimal libpython2.7-stdlib python python-minimal python-six python2 python2-minimal python2.7 python2.7-minimal

Code:

wget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/p/pyudev/python-pyudev_0.21.0-1_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i ./python-pyudev_0.21.0-1_all.deb

Code:

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.git

cd RetroPie-Setup

sudo __platform=generic-x11 ./retropie_setup.sh

You should now see the Retropie-Setup Script menu:

- select Manage Packages
- select Manage core packages
- install retroarch, emulationstation, retropiemenu, runcommand

Then install some emulator cores and game engine ports - I have tried the following:

- from Main packages:  lr-mame2003
- from Optional packages:  lr-snes9x2005, lr-pcsx-rearmed, lr-nxengine, ioquake, tyrquake

You can launch emulationstation from the desktop shortcut or the terminal:

Code:

/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/emulationstation

Alternative is to launch the retroarch menu:

Code:

/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch

You can launch a rom and the relevant emulator core directly from the terminal:

Code:

/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-snes9x2005/snes9x2005_libretro.so /home/debian/RetroPie/roms/snes/yoshi.zip

Or for a port, locate it in the rom directory and launch the relevant script:

Code:

/home/debian/RetroPie/roms/ports/Quake.sh

If the game window is too large then you may need to install scaling support.

[Luke]

Thanks!

[nas]

I've been testing out the playstation emulator and notice that disabling vsync doesn't help as much to improve fps for 3d games as compared to 2d games.

For a like-for-like comparison, I ran streetfighter alpha 3 on both mame and pcsx cores on retroarch. I guess there's more overhead on the pcsx emulator but slower paced games are playable.

sfa3 in mame 
--vsync--on ~35 fps
--vsync-off  ~70 fps

sfa3 n pcsx
--vsync-on ~25 fps
--vsync-off ~35 fps


  sfa3_lr-mame2003.jpg (Size: 49.74 KB / Downloads: 487)

  sfa3_pcsx-rearmed.jpg (Size: 55.71 KB / Downloads: 477)

[Luke]

I've been testing out the playstation emulator and notice that disabling vsync doesn't help as much to improve fps for 3d games as compared to 2d games.

For a like-for-like comparison, I ran streetfighter alpha 3 on both mame and pcsx cores on retroarch. I guess there's more overhead on the pcsx emulator but slower paced games are playable.

sfa3 in mame 
--vsync--on ~35 fps
--vsync-off  ~70 fps

sfa3 n pcsx
--vsync-on ~25 fps
--vsync-off ~35 fps

Have you tried to pair a BT controller with the phone?

[nas]

Have you tried to pair a BT controller with the phone?

Unfortunately, I have no bluetooth joypad or keyboard at the moment.

Just playing with the various audio settings to try to reduce stutter - selecting the tinyalsa audio driver seems to help. I suspect someone more familiar with the retroarch settings could get it running pretty smooth.


  tekken_pcsx.jpg (Size: 65.01 KB / Downloads: 486)

[nas]

As an alternative, I managed to get bluputdroid working on another phone to basically emulate a bluetooth keyboard/joypad - and yes, it connects to the pinephone and inputs are picked up by retroarch/games. Not a real substitute for hardware but it works!


  retroarch_pinephone.jpg (Size: 73.77 KB / Downloads: 509)

  bluputdroid.png (Size: 21.33 KB / Downloads: 484)

[Luke]

As an alternative, I managed to get bluputdroid working on another phone to basically emulate a bluetooth keyboard/joypad - and yes, it connects to the pinephone and inputs are picked up by retroarch/games. Not a real substitute for hardware but it works!

Haha, nice !

[nas]

Here's another low res and poorly synced video recording: revenge of the blurrycam. I should really find a better camera but it gives you some idea of the performance to expect.

Edit: Noticed the menu icons were missing so added the assets directory to the retroarch config file

Edit 2: Cave Story works but N64 and Gamecube cores fail to load (egl_bad_match)