Black Frame Insertion causing flicker on 120hz screen

RetroArch General
#1

I just started using RetroArch because of the Black Frame Insertion feature, but there is a big issue; my monitor will flicker every couple seconds with it enabled. I have a LG24GM77 running at 120hz, it does have a ULMB-like solution but I am not currently using it. Here are (what I think are, atleast) the relevant settings I am using in RetroArch:

Fullscreen: ON

Windowed fullscreen: OFF

Vertical Refresh Rate: 120.000hz

Vsync: ON

Vsync Swap Interval: 1

Max swapchain images: 3

Hard GPU Sync: ON

Hard GPU Sync Frames:

Frame Delay: 0

Black Frame Insertion: ON

The only games I am playing are GBA ones with mgba, it doesnt flicker on the retroarch menus.

#2

Try disabling audio sync. You may have to also go into frame-throttle and set the maximum run speed to 1x if you get unlocked framerates.

#3

Disabling audio sync seemed to work, sort of. Audio seems to crackle a little bit now, and the flicker still happens but its much rarer now. I think the issue is actually that the GBA runs at 59.7fps, and disabling the audio sync thing now runs it at 60. Is that what audio sync does? On mGBA (without retroarch) it runs at 60 but the audio seems to have no issues.

#4

Ideally, RetroArch should sync 100% to your monitor’s refresh rate and then dynamically resample the audio to keep the audio buffer from emptying (when the audio buffer empties, you get a crackle).

Things to mess with include: max timing skew, dynamic audio rate control, and setting vertical refresh rate to exactly what your detected refresh rate is. Also, make sure windowed fullscreen mode is OFF.

#6

setting vertical refresh rate to exactly what your detected refresh rate is.

By this do you mean the estimated screen framerate? I cant set my monitor to use that, because when Black Frame Insertion is enabled it runs retroarch at 60fps and so the detected refresh rate is something like 59.xxhz, but black frame insertion only works on 120hz displays. Windowed fullscreen is OFF, I will try those other settings.

#7

Hi ! Same issue, same fix. No audio crackling. (nvndia, linux, samsung monitor with motion lag reduction at 120 Hz) What is just annoying is you have to enable / disable it everytime manually on the monitor but that’s ok !

The result is fantastic on games running at 60 FPS but it’s really weird for those that don’t i.e. Metal Slug !

#8

I’ve never had any problems with audio crackling using BFI with the following settings:

NVIDIA control panel -> power settings -> maximum performance

Video Resolution in my control panel is 1920x1080@120Hz

Hard GPU Sync ON

Hard GPU Sync frames: 0

Vertical Refresh Rate: 60Hz

Fullscreen: On

Windowed Fullscreen: Off

The audio crackling could be related to the power setting in the GPU control panel.

I think this could also be related to the vertical refresh rate setting. I’ve noticed some audio crackling when I set this to 120Hz, but it’s fine when set to 60Hz. This doesn’t need to be at 120Hz for BFI to work.

#9

Hey guys, any update regarding this? I’m having almost the same problems as OP, flickering every few seconds, except mine does it in the menu too. Disabling audio sync helps a lot but i get some crackling. Cheers.

#10

Have you tried increasing your audio latency/buffer size?