MAME Core - D3D or GL render?

Libretro Cores
#1

Hello! The MAME core (not the MAME “year” cores) seems to always use a software renderer. According to MAME’s docs, GL and D3D are valid options, but I don’t see where this can be specified. I’ve looked at retroarch-core-options.cfg and the individual default.cfg / .cfg options in savefiles\mame\cfg but none of them provide what I’m looking for.

I’ve also tried setting the retroarch video driver from vulkan, to gl, and d3dX and it has no effect. Is it just that MAME on libretro is only capable of software rendering?

#2

Yes, it’s always software-rendered. AFAIK, in standalone MAME, there are no hardware-accelerated cores, so choosing GL or D3D is only for drawing it to the screen (i.e., the same as via libretro) and for postprocessing/shader effects, of which RetroArch has its own.

1 Like
#3

That’s helpful. I’m not experiencing any particular issue, rather trying to get the best performance with lowest overhead. If it’s only software, that’s fine. :slight_smile: