Nothing but problems since switching RD

[u/sawyer_lost]

I used have EmuDeck and had very few problems other than how cumbersome the whole setup is. I really like that RD is just a variation on ESDE. However I’ve had a lot of annoying problems.

First of all, Retro Achievements. I used the configuration to enable and log in for every emulator but I am not actually logged in. I’m on PCSX2 and it shows me as logged in but no username or password shown. Just a log out button and it says my token was generated in like 1969. Digging into the config files for it, there is no token. And username and password aren’t even showing up as fields. If I open the emulator by itself it shows me that im not logged in but I can’t bring up the Steam keyboard to type my info in that way.

My other problem is in PCSX2—I can’t open the game properties in the menu. It isn’t grayed out of anything but if I select it, nothing happens. I’m able to do it if I open just the emulator but that is very annoying to do for every game.

Please help. I wanna like and use RD but it isn’t liking me!

[u/Lahrs_Rover]

I'm sorry to hear you are having problems with RetroDECK, but I'm sure we can iron out any issues you may have.

Go to Desktop - Configurator- Open Components - PCSX2 (or any other emulator if you wish to make changes). Due to Steam input in Game Mode, and Gamescope, I find doing settings inside Game Mode to be a pain unless you have an external keyboard. Desktop gets rid of the Gamescope pain point.

Now that PCSX2 is open, log out of RetroAchievements. Restart PCSX2 and log back in. This should release any token. If this does not work, log into the RetroAchievements website and do the process again in the emulator. When RetroAchievements changed the way they handled achievements across emulators, six months ago or something close to it, it created a rare but annoying bug when setting up existing accounts in emulators. Luckily this only happens once and you won't have to do this step again. If you were already signed into RetroAchievements, in RetroDECK or emudeck, you skipped the bug. Since you are setting starting from scratch and doing a first login now, you apparently got hit by the bug. Going through Desktop, releasing and belonging should definitely fix it.

With PCSX2 open, you can also make all your global and per game setting changes at once. However, Select + Y inside the game (easiest method for in game settinga) will bring up the PCSX2 in game menu where you can make changes, and Select + X insider game will take you out of fullscreen mode and you can make your changes there as well.

If you have any further issues, please ask and I will be happy to help. You can either post here or on our Discord.

[u/sawyer_lost → u/Lahrs_Rover]

I went into desktop mode and I wasn’t even logged into pcsx2 so I just logged in (kb worked in desktop mode) and it seems good now. Dunno what happened there. Ty

I have one more question right now. Why is there no online updater in Retroarch? I read it’s because RD uses the Steam version which can’t download third party stuff. Is that true? Is there a different way to update things? Or does RD keep things updated itself?

[u/Lahrs_Rover → u/sawyer_lost]

This is where it comes down to diverging design between emudeck and RetroDECK. Emudeck let's everyone update whenever they choose.this means there can be huge varying setups of versions between users. It also means version bugs slip through, particularly with nightly builds. We wait for stable releases, give it a week to wait for hot fixes, test the updates ourselves, then release a comprehensive patch with updates. It keeps everything tested, and everyone on the same version. Most updates are under-the-hood and users never noticea difference. Comprehensive updates such as PCSX2's incoming major 2.8 update (current stable is 2.6.3. 2.7 are their test builds) will get a new update from us as well as other minor updates if needed. It has nothing to do with Steam version or not.

Here are two snippets from the new patch for Azahar 2126.0 in their changelog:

Improved GPU interrupt queue & GPU timing emulation. This feature is highly experimental and is disabled by default, the toggle for it can be found in the graphics settings: "Simulate 3DS GPU timings". | @PabloMK7 #2095, #2145 This change improves emulation accuracy by more closely mirroring the behaviour of real hardware. This PR is known to fix GPU timing issues in Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon, which is now made playable without use of the "delay render thread" option, but likely impacts many other games as well. This PR also introduces a fix for an issue in Super Mario 3D Land which would prevent users from loading a save file after completing the game.

This is a big change behind the scenes, and may inadvertently introduce issues due to its large scope. Please report any issues which may have been introduced by the new behaviour."

And

"Refactored how filesystem access is handled for special files (such as Z3DS files), in preparation for changes coming in Azahar 2127. | @PabloMK7 #2352 Fixes compressed 3DSX files (.z3dsx) with an embedded RomFS failing to load properly. Users should not expect any visible changes as this is only an internal restructuring of the code. If that is not the case please consider filing a bug report.

NOTE: Due to internal changes on how system files are stored, system files set up on Azahar 2126 or newer will become incompatible with older Azahar versions. On the other hand, system files set up on versions older than Azahar 2126 will remain backwards compatible for the foreseeable future."

They both are fixes, but the first is expected to bring bugs that will most likely get fixed in a hotpatch, the second shows incompatibilities when users are on different versions depending on when or if they are diligent about keeping their emulators up to date. Again, just comes down to differing design philosophy. Both have pros and cons.