Freezing Issues... Can I force RetroArch to load games into memory?

RetroArch General
#1

Hey guys,

I’m having some freezing issues with games launched off of optical media. The game starts back up again, but it can take several seconds for the drive to get back up to speed and continue reading the game. So, in something like Sonic Adventure, after a launching off a ramp I will be suspended in air for a minute before it kicks back in and I can land to keep running lol

Is there a way to force RetroArch to load the games into memory?

I know some of the cores support this function, I’m hoping it’s just not core specific.

Or if anyone has an idea on how to stop the drive from… well… stopping lol.

#2

It is indeed core-specific. Genplusgx, for example, is written specifically around having direct access to the file.

#3

Dang, that’s what I was afraid of. I don’t suppose you’d have any thoughts on keeping that drive spinning would you?

#4

Maybe not ideal, but you could dump the image of the disc you’re using onto your harddrive which would be a lot faster. Or you know, find a backup image online.

#5

I’m not sure I follow.

The discs I’m using are just the iso/bin-cue/chd etc on the root dir of the disc.

Sure I can load it from my Hard Drive like normal, but then what need would I have for a disc?

#6

Well that is the point, loading from the hard drive going to work a lot better. You can use the optical disks as back ups if you don’t have enough disk space, and just have the game you’re playing on the hd.

#7

Ok, now I get ya.

Yeah it’s not a matter of space. I’ve got over 10TB of space and plenty of room. It’s hard to explain the setup I’m using, but being able to use discs is pinnacle to the experience… Next weekend I’ll be posting a video showing off the whole shebang. I’m not sure what thread I need to post that in though. There’s not really a “projects thread” for that sort of thing… Anyway, it will make sense then.

#8

not all cores supports the cdimage_cache feature for cd-based games. i think only supergrafx has it working. psx can use it using HAVE_CDROM_NEW flag. other medanfen cores needs hardcoding (make something to “true”) to enable cdimage_caching. mind though that i think only the supergrafx works better, the others wont release the memory used when you close core-need to close retroarch to release the memory.

#9

When you say it doesn’t ‘release the memory used’ what do you mean?