No one else is facing the same problems with emulation on a Raspberry Pi 4.
No one else is facing the same problems with emulation on a Raspberry Pi 4.
It seems like you're facing some challenges setting up an emulator on your Pi 4. I noticed you tried Lakka initially, but the audio setup was tricky. Switching to the Vulkan video driver improved performance, though it caused reboots and loading issues. RetroPie appears to be the most reliable choice, but converting all your files to its format is a hassle. Lakka quickly recognized them, while Recalbox worked well at first but failed when connected with ROMS. I managed to boot after removing the drive, but it wouldn't start until the drive was unplugged. I tried enabling CRT mode in settings, but the system would corrupt itself and stop booting. It looks like you're not alone in these problems—your converter isn’t the only issue. You’d really like a straightforward way to play your old games on your CRT.
welcome to the chaos of Raspberry Pi. I own micro SD cards from all brands and models available in Belgium, and among them, only a few last without frequent crashes when left running for extended periods. regarding speed, you're still stuck in the N64 age—anything before that should work as long as you keep shader usage low. speaking of issues... another complaint about Raspberry Pi is this: my setup had one Pi that handled the 5V rail stably through the USB port, so all my devices are plugged directly into a robust 5V 3A power supply, soldered at the input voltage points. if the red LED stays off, it means base clock is active, which is likely the performance problem. this is why I haven’t bought a Pi5 yet; I was thrilled when they switched to USB-PD only to create a universal protocol even Apple uses. So you’ll need a 5V 5A USB-PD board that meets those standards.
I guess I got the details a bit wrong, which is why I rely on my Pi in my home lab. On the server side, my Pi's perform really well. Everyone on YouTube claims the Pi 4 is amazing for emulation, but it makes you wonder if they faced any problems. If they did, why didn’t they share it? I’d have appreciated knowing this ahead of time.
based on what I've seen, most issues tend to be long-term. Many of them don't seem like the right kind of people to maintain the same system over time. Honestly, from the surface it looks great for mimicking, but using a micro SD card as the main storage is a really poor idea.