Emulators with G-sync

Talk about NVIDIA G-SYNC, a variable refresh rate (VRR) technology. G-SYNC eliminates stutters, tearing, and reduces input lag. List of G-SYNC Monitors.
Blue_Ninja0
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by Blue_Ninja0 » 29 Apr 2015, 08:53

fenderjaguar wrote:Yeah, not sure what I'm doing wrong here:

http://i.imgur.com/H5bhxhp.jpg
Oh, I think we're using different versions. I'm using version 1.1, from the latest nightlies.
Now I'm not sure if the option is not displayed on your version because it didn't exist, or if you have advanced options disabled.
To enable advanced options you need the line:
menu_show_advanced_settings = "true", on your retroarch.cfg file. (on my version at least)

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fenderjaguar
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by fenderjaguar » 29 Apr 2015, 09:34

ok, thanks man, I'm getting it now

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fenderjaguar
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by fenderjaguar » 29 Apr 2015, 10:06

Still stuttery compared with mess. better than it was, but a bit like capping at 59.5 fps with vsync on 60hz, if you know what I mean? Also, still flickering with black frame insertion, I mean bad intermittent flicking, not like a real 60hz CRT

Blue_Ninja0
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by Blue_Ninja0 » 29 Apr 2015, 11:44

fenderjaguar wrote:Still stuttery compared with mess. better than it was, but a bit like capping at 59.5 fps with vsync on 60hz, if you know what I mean? Also, still flickering with black frame insertion, I mean bad intermittent flicking, not like a real 60hz CRT
That's weird. Are you using my configuration as I posted?
Disable V-Sync on the Video settings
Enable Hard GPU Sync on the Video settings
Enable "Limit Maximum Run Speed" on the General settings
Disable "Audio Sync" on the Audio settings

Make sure you're running in true exclusive fullscreen mode or G-Sync will not function correctly. Running in windowed fullscreen will not work with G-Sync.
And don't forget RetroArch runs in windowed fullscreen by default. There's an option to activate dedicated fullscreen in the video settings.

I'm curious about MESS. Gonna give it a try. Any special setting I need to take into consideration to properly use G-Sync with it?

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fenderjaguar
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by fenderjaguar » 29 Apr 2015, 11:52

Yup, all done to the letter. It's definitely running true full screen as well.

If you want help with mess, just post back. Think this pretty much covers it all really:

http://i.imgur.com/uUKtyl8.jpg

Oh yeah, you might need a system bios in here as well (some systems you don't)

http://i.imgur.com/gdLxFtp.jpg

Hope chief doesn't mind us talking about this kind of stuff here? If so, I apologise...

Oh and no, there shouldn't be any settings needed I don't think...force highest refresh from driver level, that's about it, should run at your desktop frequency even without forcing highest refresh (I run desktop in 120hz, but wanted 144hz for theoretical less input lag)

Blue_Ninja0
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by Blue_Ninja0 » 29 Apr 2015, 13:18

Thanks for the help. I got it working and indeed it is even smoother somehow. Even 50Hz games, which I didn't manage to get working smoothly on RetroArch run perfectly smooth on MESS. I wonder what's missing on RetroArch.
It's a shame, because I wanted to use bsnes core and I don't think MESS can accept it, or am I wrong?

Anyway, this is directly related with variable refresh rate technology and emulators are applications that particularly benefit a lot from this technology, so I hope Chief doesn't mind : P

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fenderjaguar
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by fenderjaguar » 29 Apr 2015, 14:55

Blue_Ninja0 wrote:I wanted to use bsnes core and I don't think MESS can accept it, or am I wrong?
Well MESS is an emulator in its own right. It's not just a wrapper for other emulators like retroarch is. I know bsnes is technically more accurate etc, and also that mess is even a little glitchy. I still think that mess and mame in general, for what they can do, are more precisely timed in terms of....would I call it 'frame pacing'? I can't really get bsnes to be as good as mess, in those terms anyway.

mednafen is another wrapper, which imo seems to do better at gsync than retroarch. You'll be pleased to know it also uses bsnes core. If you want, I can show you how to use that. But you will definitely want to be using a front end for mednafen, called mednaffe (or there may be other more popular ones now, mednaffe is the one I use anyway). Also, I think you will want GTK2 runtime installed, but I can't remember if it's for mednafen itself, or for the frontend...

Or if you are brave, you can try mednafen from commandline. haha, good luck *cackle*

Blue_Ninja0
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by Blue_Ninja0 » 29 Apr 2015, 15:28

fenderjaguar wrote:
Blue_Ninja0 wrote:I wanted to use bsnes core and I don't think MESS can accept it, or am I wrong?
Well MESS is an emulator in its own right. It's not just a wrapper for other emulators like retroarch is. I know bsnes is technically more accurate etc, and also that mess is even a little glitchy. I still think that mess and mame in general, for what they can do, are more precisely timed in terms of....would I call it 'frame pacing'? I can't really get bsnes to be as good as mess, in those terms anyway.

mednafen is another wrapper, which imo seems to do better at gsync than retroarch. You'll be pleased to know it also uses bsnes core. If you want, I can show you how to use that. But you will definitely want to be using a front end for mednafen, called mednaffe (or there may be other more popular ones now, mednaffe is the one I use anyway). Also, I think you will want GTK2 runtime installed, but I can't remember if it's for mednafen itself, or for the frontend...

Or if you are brave, you can try mednafen from commandline. haha, good luck *cackle*
Yeah, from my tests, MESS seems to be extremely well behaved in terms of frame pacing. When using G-Sync on RetroArch there always seems to be a very small, but noticeable change in frame speeds when using the "Limit Maximum Run Speed" option, which I assume is the correct one to use to limit the game speed for G-Sync use.

And yes, bsnes's original emulator itself (Higan) is unusable on Windows for G-Sync. I don't think it even has a dedicated fullscreen mode and that's why I was looking for alternatives like RetroArch.
Now, if you say Mednafen is well behaved for G-Sync and supports the bsnes core you can bet I'm going to give it a try right now!
I'll PM you if I need some help. Thanks!

Blue_Ninja0
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by Blue_Ninja0 » 29 Apr 2015, 15:58

I've tried Mednaffen with the bsnes core and the same problem from RetroArch arises. There's a very small stutter. Maybe it's something related with the bsnes core?

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fenderjaguar
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Re: Emulators with G-sync

Post by fenderjaguar » 29 Apr 2015, 16:28

Blue_Ninja0 wrote:I've tried Mednaffen with the bsnes core and the same problem from RetroArch arises. There's a very small stutter. Maybe it's something related with the bsnes core?
Yeah, it could be. Try these settings, if you haven't already. I don't know if they are different to the default:

http://i.imgur.com/045in9f.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZAUvrUC.jpg

But yeah, I've just had a play around with bsnes on mednafen, and it's a little rough, compared with mess. Thing is with mess and mame, if you disable gsync and vsync entirely, you can see a clean tear rolling up the screen in an orderly fashion. If you take the trouble of creating custom resolution locked into a particular frequency, that's within 3 decimal places (like the 60.098hz), then run mess in that resolution, you can see the tear actually staying exactly where it is. When the mess guys say 60.098hz, they really mean it :lol:

It was even better when you created 120.196hz custom frequency, there barely any need for gysnc at all, you have to look really hard for that tear sometimes, given the faster scan. Although I have to say gsync is so convenient

Now, if I look at that tear with bsnes, it's just all over the place. It's like bands of multiple tears onscreen at the same time. This is why I was talking about 'timing', it seems to be wild with most emulators

It's almost like we could do with removing all throttling and capping with something better. Seems strange, but try this:

http://i.imgur.com/FyysjEQ.jpg

I thought that nvidia driver level capping was thoroughly broken, it seems to be quite effective for this?

http://i.imgur.com/XEEqN9s.jpg

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/rts ... nload.html
Last edited by fenderjaguar on 29 Apr 2015, 17:21, edited 1 time in total.

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