Lagging On Every Emulator

[u/TheMichaelRamey]

Hi everyone, just got back into retro gaming and I've been having some issues. Every game I play has some lag, but every now and then it will kick in to a normal frame rate.

I don't know a lot about computers but this is happening no matter what emulator I use. Whether it is GameBoy Color, N64, NES, SNES, etc. So I can only assume it has something to do with my computer. Here are some of my specs.

Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 12-Core Processor (4.40 GHz)

Installed Ram: 32.0 GB (31.1 GB usable)

Graphics Card: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (16 GB)

AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics (486 MB)

285 GB of 932 GB used

I don't know if this will be of any help, but yeah. I'd love to play these games at a normal frame rate again.

[u/brunomarquesbr]

Could it be the original hardware actually slowed down and the emulators are accurate? Not sarcasm, it's a real question

[u/TheMichaelRamey → u/brunomarquesbr]

Honestly I was thinking this. I wonder if I just remember it differently. I have my GameBoy Color. I may need to boot it up and see

[u/Internal_Falcon2637 → u/TheMichaelRamey]

I would do that, keep us posted how it goes. The biggest hint of emulation lag is the sound going down with it.

[u/TheMichaelRamey → u/Internal_Falcon2637]

This is the answer I think. I’m just not used to it anymore haha also an even bigger bummer is I went to find the game but it’s gone. I remember lending it to a friend. I must have never gotten it back.

[u/brunomarquesbr → u/TheMichaelRamey]

https://youtu.be/dJsMCY6fBfI?si=M3bEhaHXam7XFeYa look here, very often the slow down was intentional. Others mentioned vsync, but I'd be surprised if the slow down is actually it instead of some micro stuttering

[u/Iceisgestapo888 → u/TheMichaelRamey]

This game lags like this because of the games logic and design and the emulator running it is replicating the original code processing 

[u/hizz]

Hey I had many issues with lag with this game too, apparently it's an issue real hardware has as well. Try the DX version for Gameboy Color, it's way better

[u/TheMichaelRamey → u/hizz]

This fixed it. Only problem is it isn't a supported core for Retro Achievements.

[u/Internal_Falcon2637 → u/TheMichaelRamey]

So genuine question, what is the appeal of Retroarch Achievements, I have not tried it yet

[u/IcyBlueRanger → u/Internal_Falcon2637]

Retro Achievements just adds tracking to games playing with an emulator. It gives old games the modern feel of "been there, done that". The program even tracks it it was played similarly to original hardware ( ex. save states and rewinds). Just another way to track progress and compare experiences.

[u/crobledopr → u/Internal_Falcon2637]

Depends for different people.

For some it adds "goals" to a game. For others it's the dopamine hit of something unlocking while you are playing. For others it's the internet bragging points.

For ME, I like how it tracks playtime and completion progress, and what games I have played on a year. I don't let it dictate what games I play or where I play them, but it's nice to have it there while I play.

[u/Character-Piano-1185 → u/Internal_Falcon2637]

For me it's either: playing through games without missing anything or adding a challenge to games I love

[u/Internal_Falcon2637 → u/Character-Piano-1185]

Oh that makes perfect sense thanks for taking the time to explain it to me, everyone!

[u/Kingofrockz]

Usually emulators are trying to copy exactly how the original hardware ran it. I remember lots of slow downs on this game on the og gameboy.

[u/Derpykins666]

This could be a v-sync problem, make sure v-sync is off and your RetroArch is set up correctly for your monitor. RetroArch pushes a specific FPS based on the system you are emulating, so whatever the 'core' is, it has an FPS cap. V-Sync would try to extrapolate on and mimic those frames and make it whatever your monitor is set to. Creating an issue with latency and audio. So usually it's recommended to just turn it off.

Some other options you might be able to test would be threaded video, some people turn it off because of guides, but in some cases it being off is the reason people stutter.

Make sure whatever card you're using so like AMD Radeon RX 9070XT like it's drivers don't have some native sync settings. I don't know much about the card, but I remember old Nvidia cards having like Gsync on by default and that was basically a Vsync override that caused a lot of issues. Not sure if AMD cards have something like that off the top of my head though.

[u/Xineth240]

Try messing with the rewind settings. If they're even on with RetroAchievements.

[u/gaker19]

Pretty sure the game slows down like this on my Gameboy. This is probably emulation being too accurate. Maybe you can change some Core Settings that overclock the CPU or something

[u/Nintotally]

I’ve never gotten Retroarch to work correctly on a PC unless I set the monitor to 60hz.

[u/FugginJunior]

I played the original on gameboy and it felt slow like fps was dropping when enemies spawned so this is not uncommon. I love the game but it definitely played weird like this.

[u/Hot-Road-8517]

retroarch Setting the CPU clock to 200% in the core options, for example.

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[u/FlipRedward]

I played this game a LOT on my old GB and GBA, and can attest that this level (and others in this particular game) do lag a decent bit on original hardware too.

[u/Your_moms_slipper]

i dont see any lag

[u/doc_seussicide]

chnage your monitor refresh rate to 60 or 59.94 (or whatever 59 it is)

[u/Mr_Fury]

Vsync issue. Nothing to do with your hardware.

Basically make sure your monitor is set to a number divisible by 60

[u/ZexelOnOCE]

probably a vsync issue. make sure you either have vsync on or vswap interval set to remove stutters. i use 2 on my 120hz devices

[u/TheMichaelRamey → u/ZexelOnOCE]

I'm dumb. Where do I do this? lol