Broken save states from r17 to r18 in SNES

RetroArch General
#1

Hi there. New here, sorry for bad english (not native speaker) and stuff.

Well after the last update to r18 from Google Play, many of my SNES games were crashing. That is, after selecting the zip with ROM: screen get black the layer that displays the controlpad doesn’t show freezes for 2 or 3 secs RetroArch return to select ROM screen. Looking in ROM path and there is now the .SMC file. Possible that RetroArch crashed after unzip and load the ROM.

Digging further I got that if I removed the save file, specially the auto-created one, the emulation works fine. Anyway, after this, even with the ROM workin I cannot use any of OLD .state files. New ones seems to work fine. I didn’t find any doc about this in r18 (there is a note in r17 “what’s new” section) . So I thought it was good to ask if it is intended behavior, bug, feature, etc…

Anyway, there is any way to recover my old savestates? Uh! Almost forgot, my device is a Galaxy S3 international and every SNES game and/or NES game I’ve tested works GREAT. Congratulations to devs. (:

EDIT:Removed reference to .srm file that I confused with .state file

#2

You mean save states (.state) or saves (.srm)? Please don’t confuse terminology.

#3

OPS. Sorry, got confused. I really mean .state files. The crash happen if there is an .state.auto file from r17 version. When I remove that file I can run the ROM. But, I cannot load any .state file made in r17

#4

The SNES core might have received some updates which made save state format incompatible. That’d be surprising, but possible. Is both snes9x and snes9x-next being shipped atm in the apk?

#5

I can see both cores in my “selec core list” now. But as far as I can remember, just one was there before… not sure which one…

#6

Only Snes9x-Next used to be shipped. If you try to use Snes9x, it’s guaranteed to be incompatible save state-wise.

#7

OK. Did this: Deleted .state.auto file open RetroArch select SNES 9x Next core load ROM works ok. try to load state (position 0) game crashes as explained before

So I tried another thing: looked if there is any .state.auto file or .srm file (there’s none for this ROM) open RetroArch Selected SNES 9x Next Core Load ROM Games Load successful Hit back button Comes to select core screen. Selected SNES 9x Next Core Load ROM Crash as before… Exit RetroArch Open ES File explorer Look at saves folder and There is now:

  1. a ‘romname’.srm file (was not there before)
  2. a ‘romname’.state.auto file (was not there before)

So I guess is not a r17 to r18 update problem. But is specific to r18… How can I help you hunt this down?

#8

Is auto save state enabled by default now or something? Is it enabled in the Java frontend?

#9

Hi Maister, just tried it here, I can’t load states in fba and snes9x Next. FBA just outputs a message that it cant load the saved state. If I save and try to load on the same session it’s ok, to reproduce the bug I need to save, exit retroarch, reopen same game, load state. this happens with custom state directory enabled or not. with snes9x it crashes when I try to load a state. Stella gives a error message when I try to save the state.

genesis plus GX, PCSX rearmed, picodrive, snes9x(non-Next) seems to be ok.

I get some roms to try the other cores and post the results here.

#10

FBA savestates have never worked reliably on FBA to begin with.

Maister - there are public functions in FBA used for save state loading and saving which we could piggyback on. We have never used them before at least.

We need to get rid of the custom ones we made, take a look at those original functions and then just apply file wrapping around it. I think that could do it.

#11

Not by default. I did enabled it in r17. After the update to r18 it remained enabled. Not sure what you meant by “Java frontend”.

As markezine said, in Snes9x save state works. I’m assuming auto save state works fine as the internals should be the same, I guess. Not sure how this is related to FBA as I never tested it in RetroArch.

Anyway, my problem is with Snes9x Next in r18 that was working before. Not Snes9x. So more tests…

got another ROM (SuperMetroid); No .state or .srm files to this rom in SAVES directory neither ROM directory (I had set both to separate the files) open RetroArch Select Snes9x Next in the select Libreto core screen; Load Rom and works fine; In SuperMetroid game title screen, save state to slot 0 - seems ok (successful save message appears) Try to load state without leave - game crashes and RetroArch return to select Libreto core screen; Now there is .state file in SAVES directory. And a .smc file in ROM directory (to me it’s clear that the crash doesn’t let RetroArch delete the file after unzipped it)

As there is no .state.auto file if I go to RetroArch I can open the rom again. But in the instant I try to load the .state, game crashes.

So I’ve learned that I was really wrong at start when I was thinking it was an upgrade problem.

What intricate me is that it was working before… Well, I don’t know what I can do to help anymore. Maybe I can enable a crash dump, dev logs, test another release candidate, etc… Guidance would be appreciated.

#12

I can reproduce the issue in Next now at least.

#13

Also posting here that states created in r18 crash Snes9x Next upon attemptibg to load, not just older states. Good to know that Snes9x states work, but I’m on a low-spec phone and get decent performance out of the Next, not so much with the other.

#14

I will fix it.

#15

Thank you. If you need any test to be made, let me know.

#16

[quote=“EMB”]

Thank you. If you need any test to be made, let me know.[/quote]

It’s already been fixed. Will be in r19.

#17

Thank you. If you need any test to be made, let me know.[/quote]

It’s already been fixed. Will be in r19.[/quote] Wow! You got this one fast. :smiley:

#18

Thanks a lot man! I didn’t mean to badger you with crossposting.

#19

I’m here to report that bug is fixed in r19 as Squarepusher said before. I Got it by Google Play. Thanks for this. Must say that this new version seems to correct some sound issues.

EDIT: Also, in older versions, when I enabled the energy saving mode, Snes9x Next’s sounds start to be instable. Now, even in energy saving mode the sound is clear, and almost perfect. You’re doing a great work. Thank you. :slight_smile: Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 (international)

#20

I am new to all of this and I am not the most tech savvy person, so I apologize in advance if I am not using correct terminology.

ISSUE: I am having issues with SNES in game saves auto deleting (specifically Super Mario RPG - Legend of the Seven Stars). To be quite honest, I am not quite sure why as I do not seem to be having this issue with other SNES games (eg. Lufia Fortress of Doom etc). I am not sure what information is needed for someone to provide feedback to help but I am using 1.9.0msvc2017 - Snes9x.

Similar to old forums that are posted here, I have tried closing out of the game in various ways in an effort to avoid this from taking place (eg. Close, Restart, Loading a different SNES game before closing out of RetroArch completely etc). I have not been able to find a common theme of when this takes place, because in some instances I can save once and load back in and its gone right away. Other times I can save multiple times over the course of several days, only to load back in after a ton of in game progress has been made and the in game save file is gone. I have tried using other SNES Cores and I have also made sure that the in game save function for this specific game isnt broken. It only seems to be when I try to use it via RetroArch.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Kindest Regards