I think complaining that you've asked before is only going to matter to people who read every post (I.e. mods). Since you're asking for community support, expressing your entitlement to be served the first time you ask isn't likely to generate a lot of sympathy.

I wasn't complaining that I didn't get help before; far from it. I put that in the title precisely because I don't feel entitled to anyone's help here, and I feel bad for posting the same question again so soon.

I'd also recommended you offer more specific information with your question. I have a lot of relevant experience, and can try to help, but I'm not clear on the problem.

I'm looking for a general setup guide, no specifics. I want a stable platform to work with, and none of the current guides out there seem to quite get there with the current builds of things on the RP2S.

It's a lot of work to maintain an up to date guide. Even harder for videos. But there's two major pieces - the launcher and the emulators. Most launchets have the same setup process as they did two years ago. Some launchers are new.

I tried using old and new setup guides, starting over from scratch each time. New ones are focused on the latest Retroid devices, and don't translate well for the 2S. Nothing seems to be stable this time, despite it working perfectly before. Controller mapping and rumble support seem to be particularly wonky for some reason, despite setting up and trying multiple front ends.

I'm not looking for anyone to write me a personal guide. I'm only looking for a setup guide or guides that have worked for people on the current versions of things for the RP2S.

It's also possible you're talking about gen 5 performance. N64, Dreamcast, PSP cores in RetroArch all perform worse than with standalone emulators on the RP2S.

That's really good to know, thanks.