Total Noob with lots of questions

[Lordmonkus]

Well if turning off v-sync fixes your speed issues and there is no screen tearing problems then that is a good thing, v-sync can cause input lag.

Are you using the stable 1.3.6 build or one of the nightly builds ?

[ABeezy13]

9 minutes ago, lordmonkus said:

Well if turning off v-sync fixes your speed issues and there is no screen tearing problems then that is a good thing, v-sync can cause input lag.

Are you using the stable 1.3.6 build or one of the nightly builds ?

Yes I think that was part of my issue. Launching anything out of RetroArch directly works great... looks and sounds awesome! Its from within Launchbox where my issues seem to keep happening. I think somehow the saved config may not be loading when opening up a gam from LB. I deleted RA and am going to re-do it. Now that I kind of know what I am doing. 

 

As far as the build I think I got the nightly... should I just go with the stable build to be safe? Also to make sure I understand these configs since I am restarting... Can I modify the default config (so change settings I want to use across the board such as full screen, no v-sync obviously, my controllers, etc.and save it) and then when a core is loaded I mod the config and save it off as its own? Is that how these work? I will need to watch the part in the SNES video again though that shows how to make sure the config file is loaded when you start a game.

[Lordmonkus]

In the 1.36 stable there is an option in the configuration menu to save per-core settings but in the nightlies and presumably in 1.4.0 release this has been changed so that with a core and a game loaded you can save out a config for that core in the core settings found in the quick menu.

[ABeezy13]

25 minutes ago, lordmonkus said:

In the 1.36 stable there is an option in the configuration menu to save per-core settings but in the nightlies and presumably in 1.4.0 release this has been changed so that with a core and a game loaded you can save out a config for that core in the core settings found in the quick menu.

I re-downloaded and went with the stable... so I found under settings and then configuration "configuration per-core"... is this something you suggest I turn on and use or leave off and do a "one shoe fits all"? And YES silly me... I figured out my issue. So when you go to manage emulators and associated platforms I folllowed Brad's guide on how to enter command line parameters...will silly me typed the path in wrong I did not put a space after the -c before the quotes so it would keep loading the default cfg file. We have progress!  With that said I THINK I got the foundation of this going with SNES... just need to figure out the cfg per core or not...

[Lordmonkus]

Ahh you were using custom configs. While they can have their use and Brad likes them I personally never bother with them, I have just never had any use for them but that is just me and my setup.

Yes, turn on per core settings and save configuration on exit. The pic below is how mine is setup in my stable install which I use for the bulk of my Retroarch emulation. I do have 2 other installs for specialty configs like Vulkan cores and testing..

[ABeezy13]

Looks like I was, I figured out how to do that now and get them to work! I may use different oneness for the different systems... where I can make certain controllers will only work with certain configs/emulators now that I seem to have a grasp on that! The learning curve for the basics of this aren't so bad  

[ABeezy13]

Question with the controllers... say when I have the SNES config opened in RA for BSNES... If i want only my two 8bitdo SNES pads to work would I change the Max Users to two, making sure both of these pads are set for bind 1 and 2? 

[SentaiBrad]

You shouldn't have to change the max players per-se, just make sure the proper controllers are selected via player 1 and player 2.

Otherwise, I am glad you got it figured out. So a combination of a 4k TV and the custom config command line being slightly off? It seems like they have some 4k TV stuff to figure out over there, hope it's not too hard to deal with. So essentially, if there is a 4k TV being used, turn off v-sync? Good to know. Also, did you end up going back to 1.3.6 or did you stick with a nightly? (I skimmed through, so I may have missed that)

[SentaiBrad]

Oh, and Monkus is totally right, I do very much prefer Custom Configs. I think they're the most powerful version of using game specific or system specific settings, and it doesn't cause any other issues. Monkus has had a good track record of per-core configs, but I've had a lot of reports in the past of users who had issues with it. I had one user go back to a default RetroArch config for testing like I instructed you, and his install started working flawlessly again. He did some digging, and found that the only settings that were changed were config per core stuff. So, I can't explain it, but that seems to be par for the course around here. Only a handful of people have an issue, we can usually narrow it down or figure it out (if the other user is willing to help us out back), but a lot of the time we can't explain why it's breaking, or certain settings do certain things on some machines. Welcome to computers I guess. Conversely, I've never heard any reports of issues with custom configs. Well, I have, but it's generally user error (like missing a space or putting in the wrong config name). It it's self works though, so that's what I decided to go with when teaching users. It seems more daunting than using the UI, but if you can wrap your head around the -L command, then the -C command is the same thing but swap cores/ with config/.

[Lordmonkus]

Generally custom configs really are not necessary but it certainly is the most powerful and offers a ton of extra customization. One good example of where it comes in handy is in a core that emulates multiple systems with different needs such as the Genesis GX core. It does the Genesis, Master System, SG-1000 and GameGear and you may not want the exact same config and shader for all of them. So in this case you can have different custom configs for each of the emulated systems.

But for cores that only do a single system like Nestopia or Snes9x I find there is very little need unless you want to have different shaders for different games, again something that I personally do not need so I just don't bother with.

[ABeezy13]

29 minutes ago, SentaiBrad said:

You shouldn't have to change the max players per-se, just make sure the proper controllers are selected via player 1 and player 2.

Otherwise, I am glad you got it figured out. So a combination of a 4k TV and the custom config command line being slightly off? It seems like they have some 4k TV stuff to figure out over there, hope it's not too hard to deal with. So essentially, if there is a 4k TV being used, turn off v-sync? Good to know. Also, did you end up going back to 1.3.6 or did you stick with a nightly? (I skimmed through, so I may have missed that)

Awesome, that is easy enough. I can do that and leave the max players alone. Now that I am understanding some its not as intimidating as it looks, especially following your awesome guides!  

As far as the TV... yeah looks like that for me caused an issue being 4K and having the V-Sync option on. Once that was off I had no issues. If I opened the emulator outside of RetroArch it was fine, just opening from RetroArch and not toggling V-Sync off caused the issues. I decided to play it safe and go to the 1.3.6 build for now!

20 minutes ago, SentaiBrad said:

Oh, and Monkus is totally right, I do very much prefer Custom Configs. I think they're the most powerful version of using game specific or system specific settings, and it doesn't cause any other issues. Monkus has had a good track record of per-core configs, but I've had a lot of reports in the past of users who had issues with it. I had one user go back to a default RetroArch config for testing like I instructed you, and his install started working flawlessly again. He did some digging, and found that the only settings that were changed were config per core stuff. So, I can't explain it, but that seems to be par for the course around here. Only a handful of people have an issue, we can usually narrow it down or figure it out (if the other user is willing to help us out back), but a lot of the time we can't explain why it's breaking, or certain settings do certain things on some machines. Welcome to computers I guess. Conversely, I've never heard any reports of issues with custom configs. Well, I have, but it's generally user error (like missing a space or putting in the wrong config name). It it's self works though, so that's what I decided to go with when teaching users. It seems more daunting than using the UI, but if you can wrap your head around the -L command, then the -C command is the same thing but swap cores/ with config/.

After watching your videos doing the per core custom configs doesn't seem to bad/hard. I personally like this so if I want to set different aspect ratio settings, configure certain controllers, or apply certain shaders or other things to specific cores I can do so!!!!

 

Few more questions as I am rolling along here:

1. I just finished up on the N64 tutorial you made, everything works great - expect the controller configuration for the Retrolink N64 controller in Mupen64/RetroArch... your video is from last March do you have any updates on how to easily configure this USB controller in RA with Mupen? I'd much rather use Mupen and my Retrolink controller!

2. Have you made tutorials for PS1 and PS2? I don't see that on the link you shared with me, I am sure I can google it but your tutorials have been amazing this far!

[SentaiBrad]

Nothing has really changed since last March, which is usually the case with most tutorials. RetroArch is a little obtuse with remapping controls. I had issues with my RetroLink controller as well. Doing some trial and error should help. If I recall @lordmonkus knows what a lot of those settings mean. They're not exactly straight forward in what the they mean.

Also, I have covered almost every major system https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6pTDaHeAz-WMcNURVPU-1xLN_TVpT3FB

Use Ctrl + F and type in PS1, and PS2.

 

[ABeezy13]

Yeah I am having the biggest issues with setting up controllers. That seems to be the hardest thing for me. I also don't like that I can't go into my bluetooth settings and rename all these peripherals. I for example have a blue tooth keyboard, two bluetooth SNES 8bitdo pads, the N64 Retrolink USB controller (which I am about to purchase this!), a bluetooth/wireless PS4 controller. Most of these having generic names and makes sorting a little confusing.

 

I found your video for setting up PS1 which I am in the process of almost completing but the issue I am having now is with RA again and recognizing my PS4 controller. Do I need to do anything special? I bluetooth paired it to my PC and the controller is on. I believe RA calls it "wireless controller 1" and nothing auto configs or button maps... do we have to manually set up PS4 controllers?  

[Lordmonkus]

In all my experiences with Retroarch and controllers it automatically sets bindings without issues other than maybe some oddball layouts. Version 1.3.6 and earlier are the most confusing but I have noticed in the nightly builds (and presumably in the 1.4.0 release) the naming of the buttons in the RA setup are much more logically named.

As far as the PS4 controller is concerned I did hook mine up a few nights ago to try it out with Retroarch and it detected it just fine. I did hook it up with the USB cable though and not wirelessly but it did detect and name it "wireless controller 1" (this was using the 1.3.6 stable install).

The best information I can tell you for version 1.3.6 stable is that in the controller remapping if you look on the left hand side that refers to the core controller and they are named the same way that systems controller was named. So for example a Genesis 6 button controller would have A B C X Y Z Mode and Start. The button labels on the right hand column is named after an SNES pad layout but with the addition of analog sticks, 2 extra shoulder buttons and analog stick buttons.

The buttons on the SNES pad would use the layout of:
YX
BA

I did notice in the nightly and again presumably will be in the 1.4.0 stable that the naming on the right match up with the controller detected. I noticed this when trying out a nightly build and my Hori FC pad which is a Playstation controller and the buttons are labeled as such X,O Square and Triangle.

I hope this makes some sort of sense

[SentaiBrad]

For PS4 controllers I installed Input Mapper, and it uses xinput drivers, or at least the PC thinks it is. Some PC games when it's plugged in will automatically see the controller too because of that. Otherwise, yea it should automatically bind the controls.

[ABeezy13]

Thanks Munkus and Brad. I'm away from my pc until Monday night but I'll fiddle around then to see... before I restarted the nightly build seemed to recognize the PS4 controller wirelessly and auto bind it just find. Now being on the latest stable release it doesn't seem to. I seem to be having issues setting up multiple controllers to each different bind. When I set my SNES pad to bind one and then try adding a second to bind 2 the AB XY seem to stop working on the bind one. So not sure what's exactly going on there...

 

I can try getting input mapper too if that'll help streamline the process making it easier. Like I said I feel everything seems to be going smooth sailing so far adding emulators, Roms, custom configs and settings outside the dang controllers. 

 

After i I get all my controllers working and all the emulators and roms added I plan to purchase Big Box and start configuring all of that!

[ABeezy13]

Also, I hope you guys don't mind - I am just kind of using this thread as my ask everything type thread please let me know if I am asking to much or should be looking around the forums more for answers. But two things that I have been thinking about as I am away from my computer... if Launch Box and/or RetroArch update... more specifically RetroArch say to the 1.4.0 you mentioned is coming... does it notify me there is an update? Does it update automatically? If I do update does it ever cause any configs or settings to go astray or cause issues? Same can be said for Launchbox but as a front end I don't see that having as many potential issues.

[CTRL-ALT-DEFEAT]

7 minutes ago, ABeezy13 said:

Also, I hope you guys don't mind - I am just kind of using this thread as my ask everything type thread please let me know if I am asking to much or should be looking around the forums more for answers. But two things that I have been thinking about as I am away from my computer... if Launch Box and/or RetroArch update... more specifically RetroArch say to the 1.4.0 you mentioned is coming... does it notify me there is an update? Does it update automatically? If I do update does it ever cause any configs or settings to go astray or cause issues? Same can be said for Launchbox but as a front end I don't see that having as many potential issues.

Retroarch will not notify you about any new updates; you'll have to check periodically on the site for new versions. If you do download a new version to update to, you will want to back-up, at the very least, the config folder and system folder (if you have BIOS files here) from your previous version of Retroarch to copy into the new version. Brad actually made a tutorial covering how to update Retroarch without losing all of your configs/settings from previous versions on the YouTube channel:

As far as, LB goes, it will let you know when a new update is available when you launch either it or Big Box, but it is entirely up to you to accept the update; it's not forced on you. Updating it will not overwrite any of your previous settings, but its always a good idea to keep backups for anything software related, as a "just in case".

Edited January 8, 2017 by CTRL-ALT-DEFEAT

[ABeezy13]

12 minutes ago, CTRL-ALT-DEFEAT said:

Retroarch will not notify you about any new updates; you'll have to check periodically on the site for new versions. If you do download a new version to update to, you will want to back-up, at the very least, the config folder and system folder (if you have BIOS files here) from your previous version of Retroarch to copy into the new version. Brad actually made a tutorial covering how to update Retroarch without losing all of your configs/settings from previous versions on the YouTube channel:

As far as, LB goes, it will let you know when a new update is available when you launch either it or Big Box, but it is entirely up to you to accept the update; it's not forced on you. Updating it will not overwrite any of your previous settings, but its always a good idea to keep backups for anything software related, as a "just in case".

D'oh. I really need to look over those more before posting some of my questions, so my apologies. Being away from my computer I am just thinking of everything I still need to do and posting all my questions and thoughts from my phone  I appreciate you taking the time to respond though so thank you! That is certainly good advice! I will totally make sure to back everything up prior whenever that time comes! 

[CTRL-ALT-DEFEAT]

No worries!