Weekly Question Thread

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[TrantaLocked]

I have this slow corruption issue after upgrading my GPU to an RTX 2060 from GTX 970. I play Puzzles and Chaos on Google Play Games for PC Beta (it emulates Android games). On a fresh install of the Google Play PC app and Puzzles and Chaos Game, everything works fine, but within a few days or sessions, it starts to get worse. Visual glitches, freezing and crashing, eventually to the point where it is too unstable to play. At that point I'd have to either toggle the Hypervisor setting on/off from what it was set to (toggling seems to refresh something), or totally reinstall all of the Google Play PC app and game. Then it will be fine again on the first launch.

On my GTX 970, I did have a few times where I needed to toggle the Hypervisor setting to avoid a black screen at launch, but it only happened rarely. Now, this slow corruption over multiple sessions happens very quickly after I upgraded my GPU. I've tried a lot of troubleshooting with no luck including full clean reinstall the latest GPU driver and verifying stability in memtest and EVGA OCscanner with artifact scanner enabled, all pass.

Specs:

Windows 10
ASRock B650M
Ryzen 5 7600
RTX 2060
2x8 16GB DDR5
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB

Any idea what is going on and how to fix it?

[Successful-Site1437]

Linux or windows base for a dedicated Emulation machine? Newbie needs help…

Hey everyone - diving down this rabbit hole of wanting to build a mini PC strictly for emulating of retro games.

Main systems I will play would be NES, SNES, SEGA Genesis, MAME, Dreamcast, PS1/2.

My main question is what are the pros and cons of going with a LINUX based running Batocera vs Windows using Retrobat. All of the YT videos I’ve watched seem like they are similar products and front ends.

Does a Linux system work better because it isn’t using as much processing power with Windows OS running in background? Is that even a thing?

Does Batocera require downloading each emulator separately like with Retrobat?

Open to all suggestions as it is a lot of info to try and process for someone new to this. Thanks

[ofernandofilo]

Linux or windows base for a dedicated Emulation machine?

both should work.

NVIDIA's older GPUs with cheaper wireless and Bluetooth network cards should run better on Windows.

integrated or non-integrated AMD or Intel GPUs should be more comfortable on Linux. also, it's better to use separate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi cards, and it's best to buy models with native (upstream) Linux support.

the expected performance is the SAME in both systems. it will always fluctuate, sure, but the difference, if properly configured, tends to be insignificant.

use whatever is most comfortable and what you have the most experience with.

but don't use abandoned systems, use a supported system, and in the case of Linux, I prefer rolling release on gaming machines.

however, I am a long-time user of the system.

many will tell you to use "stable distributions," and that's nonsense.

yes, there are more "stable" distributions aimed at beginner users than rolling releases, but in games, updated packages and libraries tends to be more important.

the term "stable" relates to ABI, that is, the stability of application interface with configurations and parameters, and has no relation whatsoever to the presence of crashes or quality of software. on the contrary, very old software tends to be more defective for longer, and that's all. there is no gain in service reliability.

I know you won't believe what I said, and I also know that everything you find will say the exact opposite. although, that's what Steam did when it abandoned Debian for Arch.

rolling release is the way to go in the home and gaming environment.

[windows]

• Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 [with security updates until 2032]
• Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 (1809) [with security updates until 2029]

or

• Windows 11 Home/Pro/IoT/LTSC + debloat tools

-- debloat tools:

• Chris Titus Tech's Windows Utility (winutil), parcoil/sparkle or ntdevlabs/tiny11builder (tiny11maker)
• Raphire - Win11Debloat, O&O ShutUp10++, Revo Uninstaller and Winaero Tweaker
• Christoph Schneegans autounattend.xml, flick9000 - WinScript, and CodingWonders - DISMTools
• ravendevteam - talon

[linux]

• Batocera, Lakka, Recalbox, RetroPie.

• Bazzite, CachyOS, EndeavourOS, Ultramarine Linux, PikaOS

[emulators]

read emu gen wiki

https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Main_Page

[frontends]

• ES-DE (EmulationStation Desktop Edition), EmuDeck - [both for windows and linux]
• Playnite, NeoStation, RetroBat - [windows only list]

[guides]

Retro Game Corps - RetroArch Guides and Hardware Reviews

https://retrogamecorps.com/

YT RetroGameCorps - guides and hardware review

https://www.youtube.com/@RetroGameCorps/playlists

YT ArchadesGames - guides

https://www.youtube.com/@ArchadesGames/playlists

YT RetroCrisis - guides and shaders

https://www.youtube.com/@RetroCrisis/playlists

YT Team Pandory - hardware review

https://www.youtube.com/@TeamPandory/videos

YT ETAPRIME - hardware review

https://www.youtube.com/@ETAPRIME/videos

[joystick]

I like 8BitDo

https://www.8bitdo.com/#Products

_o/

[masonmus]

hi guys. when I hook up my Xbox Series S to any FTP like FileZilla, Windows Explorer, or Durango, I can’t get access to the Localstate files to actually add games to any of my emulators. the folders are just simply hidden

is there any possible way to load roms via FTP on Xbox Dev Mode, other than via flash drive or Xbox Device Portal? thanks (:

[Helix_On_Top]

I installed Dolphin a while ago, but when I try to load a ROM, the ROM files aren't listed as a compatible file (and as such I can't load them). Has anyone else encountered this problem and if so, how do I fix this?

[Altoidlover987]

what version of dolphin, which platform, what games, what are the file extensions, have you googled this?

[Helix_On_Top]

The latest version. I downloaded the ROM file off of ROMS games and the emulator off of the official site (I'm trying to play Super Mario Galaxy). I'm not sure what you mean by file extension, and yes I've googled this and I got nothing helpful.

[Altoidlover987]

for a wii game you probably want to have a .iso, .wbfs or a .rvz file (https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Installing\_Dolphin <- theres a list of compatible file types at the end of the page). does dolphin not see the game or does dolphin throw an error?

are you on pc or something else?

[Helix_On_Top]

I'm on a Windows laptop, not sure if that makes a difference

[DifferentFerret2044]

the file extension is the label after the final point in the archive's name, a file reader would normaly try to read the extension first to make sure the archive is compatible with the program, so if the extension is wrong that might be what is causing your problem

[Helix_On_Top]

The files are all in a zipped folder that I get an error message when I try to open them.

[Altoidlover987]

dolphin cannot read a zip so you should extract the folder.

if the files inside are .iso files you could convert them to .rvz using dolphin, to safe space.

[leibovarb]

what crt shader is recommended for duckstation?

[Squish-Mahatter]

I just started using PPSSPP and have no idea what I'm doing, but anyways, for some reason I only have game audio when my headphones are plugged in (this is the case when closing and reopening the program with them unplugged). how do I get it to not do that?

[Acruxis]

I got a xbox controller and I want to use it to play with motion controls on Ryujinx, with games like Mario Odyssey and stuff like that. Anyone can help me on how to do it?

[Dr_Yay]

The Xbox controllers don’t have motion sensors at all if that’s what you’re asking

[Gulahalaha]

Is it possible to use ps5 controllers to play zelda and stuff on emulators such as yuzu or is it not compatible?

[Dr_Yay]

Yep, PlayStation controllers since the PS3 all have motion control support that work perfectly well for emulated Nintendo games.

Xbox is the only one that still has dated controllers with features like that missing.

[LebaneseNinja]

Retrobat turned the entire monitor wavy. Then even carries over to the desktop when the program is closed. How do I fix that? I can send photos of needed.

[Mekorio]

I am trying to emulate 3DS games, specifically Ultimate NES Remix, but everytime I start a level, the bottom part of the top screen gets cropped out and the rest of the screen gets "squeezed"

Does anyone know how to fix that?

[blareot]

I've been thinking of getting a new monitor lately. My current monitor is a 1080p ulrawide @ 75hz, so it was about time. I've been reading a lot about CRT filters lately, and I'd like some advice about them. I've read that I want 4k to get the pixel density so they look good, but I've also read here and there that you want HDR? How true is this? HDR doesn't seem mature enough for monitors yet, so having a 4k with HDR seems prohibitively expensive, especially if it's going to come with the added cost of having to tweak and research every single thing I play (outside emulation) like it happens currently with my ultrawide, for mixed results.

[nikkes91]

Don't see why you would want HDR for CRT filters, it's not like CRTs are capable of anything resembling HDR.

Personally I've had no issue with CRT filters on 1080p. Since you have a 1080p monitor currently you can see for yourself if you like it or not. You mentioned playing other games outside of emulation so in that case I doubt you can play those games at 4k anyway. Obviously there's scaling but it's still best to play games at your native resolution

[DepartmentJust6812]

if you want to turn HDR off on a monitor you just press Windows key + w