Retroarch issues after 18.04 upgrade or fresh install

RetroArch Linux devices
#1

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone had similar issues or insight on how to troubleshoot what appears to be a gl video driver issue between retroarch and the 18.04 LTS release of various ubuntu flavors.

I have 3 systems running the exact same software setup. An intel NUC, a surface pro 3 and a Dell optiplex 3020. All WERE running Lubuntu 17.10 fully up to date with retropie installed. These machines had no software installed besides this - they were dedicated to retro-gaming only. Everything worked fine on these systems for months of use before they were all updated to Lubuntu 18.04 and now they all have the same issue.

When I launch any game for any system, retroarch starts emulation just fine, but in anywhere from 5-30 seconds after that the video freezes, even tho the game seems to still be fully functional otherwise. What I mean by that is if I pick a console game I can start running fast enough to beat the freeze and I continue to attempt to play blind, the game sounds appear to confirm the game is still running. If it’s an arcade game I try with it may freeze at the title if I let it sit there but pressing the coin button will still play the coin-in-sound.

I tried taking one of the three systems and doing a HD wipe and clean install of Lubuntu 18.04 and the issue is still there. I spoke to someone else on Reddit that went thru the same issues and troubleshooting that I did with the same results. He then found a workaround on his end that also works for me too on all of my systems - change the video driver to SDL2 instead of the default setting of GL. The big downside to this is no shader support.

Does anyone know what the issue could be or have any troubleshooting suggestions I could try for this - seemingly opengl issue between retroarch and ubuntu 18.04 LTS flavors?

Thank you in advance for any ideas and/or help!

#2

So far over at RetroPie we’ve figured out that switching away from Xorg to Wayland will workaround the problems. Just use the cog on the login screen to select Wayland.

We’re just waiting for someone to test if changing the video driver within RA over to “opengl” or “vulkan” will offer a solution under Xorg… or at least a better clue as to what’s going on exactly.

#3

I haven’t had this problem with RetroArch, but I have had it with VLC. I’m using wayland already, though, AFAIK.

#4

Wayland is not available nor supported in Lubuntu. That isn’t an option for me.

#5

You might have to switch to ubuntu then

#6

From what I know, GNOME currently has the highest level of Wayland support - you’ll find in the “standard” flavor of Ubuntu, as Neo-Rio mentioned. Eventually there is also Kubuntu, which runs on KDE, which in turn supports Wayland.

If you don’t want to reinstall, you can still install KDE or GNOME on Lubuntu. apt-get install kubuntu-desktop might be enough. I’d be cautious though, from my fairly old experience, juggling between DEs on Ubuntu ends up breaking several things, which may take time getting fixed. This might have been changed/improved, however.

#7

I’m also having issues under Ubuntu 18.04, to put concisely - there is about 80% chance that booting the game will result with a black/gray screen, although the game seems to run and react to input, I just cannot see anything.

I have been recommended changing video drivers as well. Tried switching from OpenGL to Vulkan, it may have made matters slightly better but the issue still persists. Problems are gone if I switch the driver to sdl2 though, albeit I am not sure if using this driver is the cause of performance issues, since even NES games tend to stutter.

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#8

Here’s the thread from the retropie forums:

wertz suggested that switching to DRI 3 may resolve the issue.

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#9

Hi, I experienced the same issue, I had the same issue, everything worked until I upgraded my Lubuntu to 18.04, in Lubuntu there there is no no wayland setting (no /etc/gdm3), however I found the solution in a retropie forum:

  • put back gl as video driver
  • disable the threaded_video setting. After the configuration is modified, you can test again any libretro ROMs/Games - no restart/reboot required.

the source of this solution is here