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Running Retroarch switchres crt through Bigbox.......issues


deezdrama

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i5 2500k with amd r9 380 on windows 10, im running crt-emudriver, ran vmmaker to install custon modelines/super resolutions.

Ive installed groovymame and have it running through the crt and it looks amazing.

I had all systems running good through launchbox like in video below...

 

Everything was running great and awesome...... Untill I actually started playing games and noticed they were soft looking and realized they were running in 480i instead of 240p with scanlines.

 

I started troubleshooting retroarch and finally got games launching from retroarch in there native 240p-ish resolutions and looking great.

I ended up deleting retroarch config file and updating retroarch, with a fresh config I changed the following to....

  • menu_driver=”rgui”

  • menu_show_advanced_settings = “true”

  • video_driver = “d3d11”

  • video_frame_delay = “0”

  • video_fullscreen = “true”

  • video_smooth = “false”

  • video_aspect_ratio = “8.000000”

  • crt_switch_resolution = “1”

  • crt_switch_resolution_super = “2560”

  • crt_switch_resolution_use_custom_refresh_rate = “true”

  • custom_viewport_height = “240”

  • custom_viewport_width = “2560”

 

In the attached image you can see things running from retroarch directly but when I launch them from bigbox its scrambled like its just out of sync.

This is happening with every single emulator/core/system ran with retroarch from bigbox. But they run fine in retroarch directly.

 

Ive been racking my brain and spent several days trying to iron out the bugs with this setup.

Any ideas? 

bonkrabb.jpg

Edited by deezdrama
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So I started over with a fresh retroarch config and couldnt get any rom to run right in retroarch directly.

 

playing around with setting in RA for several days has gave me a hunch of whats going on and im able to replicate it but dont know how to resolve the issue.

 

In retroarch when I open it directly the menu is clear like its in progressive mode and no rom from any core will launch right, ill get sound but still just see a darkened squished horizontally desktop.

But if i go into retroarchs settings > video> and turn on "threaded video" it will make my menu flicker like its in interlaced mode and any rom on any core will launch and switchres works and super res works.

 

The problem is.... next time I open retroarch the menu is in progressive again even though "threaded video" is still on. But if I toggle it to off - my menu will flicker like its in interlaced mode again and will lauch any rom fine again.

 

Retroarch is starting up in progressive mode and i need it to start in interlaced for it to work. Or at least this is the symptom im seeing and can replicate a fix if I toggle "threaded video" every single time.

Maybe this will help someone more knowledgeable figure out whats going wrong in my setup.

Edited by deezdrama
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Ive finally figured out what was going wrong. I noticed anytime retroarch would start in progressive 60fps ..... nothing would play, and if I could trick it into interlaced 30fps by toggling "threaded video" then any rom would load fine.

Ive tried changing video_refresh_rate to 30 in cfg file but it was just like toggling "threaded video" and would only work once and next time RA was launched it would revert back to 60fps and whenever RA would start in 60fps mode everything would mess up.

I finally tried turning save_on_exit to false in the config.....

Now retroarch runs fine everytime, and loads all roms/cores without issues.

 

Untill...... Im in bigbox , then I get a scrambled screen. I dont understand what bigbox could be doing to make the screen scrambled when retroarch runs fine now when launched directly.

 

I feel like its something to do with retroarch being able to switch resolutions fine on its own but when ran through bigbox it gets messed up. Do I need to run the crt at a specific resolution since it seems bigbox just takes whatever resolution the monitor its on is ran at? Ive tried 640x480 30hz interlaced, 60hz interlaced, 120hz interlaced and all give me the same out of sync image when a games loaded through bigbox. I think once when I set crt to 60hz interlaced the game would load but it wasnt in 240p super res it was in mushy 480i. Ive tried setting descktop res on crt to 2560x240 but just get a squished image but its there and isnt out of sync.

Ive been sitting at this computer for over a week now in ocd mode, i just need it to work so i can do other stuff in life lol. Im desperate…Is crt switchres really this wizardry noone knows about?

 

 

Edited by deezdrama
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Heres a video of what its doing below.

Retroarch only outputs 240p if i set my desktop res at 640x480 30hz interlaced but then bigbox wont run it.

Now if i set desktop to 640x480 at 60z or 120hz interlaced then everything runs in bigbox but its in 480 and not 240p because its mushy and no scanlines. Arrrrrggggggg.

I feel like something is just out of sync,something simple im overlooking. ?
I thought maybe i needed to make sure RA and my desktop were in sync so switched desktop to 60hz interlaced now im getting the funky 1/3rd screen again ....im sure its something simple and stupid that im overlooking.

https://www.reddit.com/r/launchbox/comments/fv4ac2/runs_fine_in_retroarch_but_not_in_bigbox_but_why/

 

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I get all kinds of different results in retroarch by changing resolutions and refresh rates in these 3 options......
I cant find any info on what these should be set at

options....
desktop: 640x480- 30hz interlaced, 60hz interlaced, 120hz interlaced

retroarch:  crt_video_refresh rate- 30hz, 60hz ,120hz

retroarch:  video_refresh_rate- 30hz, 60hz, 120hz


Ive played around with all different combinations of above settings, some will give me the 1/3rd of screen on left, squished in middle, squished horizontally,

what ive tested tonight

Monitor             retroarch "crt_refresh_rate"        retroarch "video_refresh_rate"           result menu/game
display 60hz,     60hz,                                        60hz                                                retroarch menu=normal     games=squished tiny in bottom left
display 30hz,     60hz,                                        60hz                                                retroarch menu=normal     games=squished tiny in bottom left
display 120hz    60hz                                         60hz                                                menu normal                     games=squished tiny in bottom left
display 30hz      60                                            30                                                    squished vertically             working 240p
display 30         30                                            30                                                    squished vertically             game only on 1/3rd of left side of screen
display 30         30                                            60                                                    normal                              game squished tiny bottom left
30                    30                                            120                                                  squished vert                     working 240p
30                    120                                          120                                                  squished vert                     240p
30                    120                                          30                                                    squished vert                     240p
60hz                 120                                          30                                                    squished vert                     240p
60                    120                                          60                                                    squished vert                      tiny bottom left
60                    60                                            60                                                    normal                               tiny bottom left
60                    60                                           120                                                   squished vert                      1/3rd left
60                    60                                            30                                                    squished vert                     240p
60                    30                                            30                                                    squished vert                     1/3rd left
60                    30                                            60                                                    normal                               tiny bottom left
60                   120                                           60                                                    normal                               tiny bottom left
120                 120                                           60                                                    normal                                tiny bottom left
120                  60                                            60                                                    normal                                tiny bottom left
120                  30                                            60                                                    normal                                tiny bottom left
120                  60                                           120                                                   squished vert                       240p


this is going to make me loose my sanity.  Ive had retroarch menu and games loading right a few times but it doesnt matter. Bigbox loads it in 480i instead of 240p.

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Well ive disabled integrated graphics to rule that out. Ran only the crt. Reinstalled custom modelines, tried 2 older versions of retroarch......

 

Same situation..... I can get retroarch to run in 240p but when launched from launchbox or bigbox its in 480i and dont understand why.

 

Does launchbox run RA from a command prompt? could the command have something added thats forcing 480i? Is there any possible settings in launchbox i should check?

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So I installed another fresh instance of launchbox on my c drive (not my 8tb launchbox drive ive been having the issues with)

Pointed it to retroarch and bam...... 240p first try.

 

The problem is I spent weeks compiling my 8tb drive from roms I had on my arcade cabs hdd, and roms from another computer. I just recently compiled it all a few months back and its updated to latest launchbox. I pointed to the same retroarch folder as the instance of launchbox I just downloaded and the launchbox I just downloaded outputs 240p fine but my compiled hdd dont. What could be the issue? What would be the best way to fix it without having to recompile/reconfigure the 8tb drive AGAIN from scratch?

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I finally- after weeks of troubleshooting- got everything launching in 240p as it should. Through countless guides Ive read, and after posting my issue on a dozen forums, I never seen mentioned that you must go into retroarch/config folder and edit each cores config file to turn on crt switchres......but thats what fixed it.
 
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  • 2 months later...

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