A thread for information to try and figure out what the most STABLE version of CPI is running right now.
I’ve been running 0.21 with RetroArch 1.7.8 for a while now. Basically, I wanna find out when I should upgrade to a new OS without losing performance because things are running fantastic on 0.21
I’m on v0.3 and it’s been pretty stable for me. I wonder, do you have tearing on v0.21? That’s the one thing I wish v0.3 didn’t have. ^^
From what I’ve experienced, stability wise: 0.21>0.4>0.3.
Obviously as the version numbers go up, so do added features. Eg, USB Ethernet enabled by default, Lima driver support, midi support, core management interface, skin select interface, adb push update, improved battery life, less over heating, unified updated directory structure, newer retroarch build, more standalone emulators per installed etc.
However for some people, 0.4 breaks a few compatibility issues. I haven’t experienced this personally. I do get less hangs, and far less of a need go hold down the power button to reset the device when it black screens; compared to 0.3. That was far too unstable for me.
I keep a 0.21 card separate for when I want to do specific things. They’re cheap as chips nowadays. Half of my bike cameras etc come with a 16GB card, that I inevitably update ASAP. You can probably find them second hand in your locals classified for free, or for the price of 2 coffees brand new at a store.
Basically, try if for yourself as opposed to going for what other people say. Chances are, most peoples opinions are going to be parroting what they read from someone else; fearing that someone will call them out for something that isn’t common agreed upon knowledge.
Again relating back to bikes, this is what happens with people all “agreeing” one brand is the superior tire maker. Everyone just assumes they’re going faster, simply because everyone told them they were; purely a placebo effect. (Continental GP4000 II fwiw - which from racing on, feel like absolute trash!) Anecdotal opinions are great, but treat them just as that; personal opinions.
Good answer man. Makes sense. They are cheap now too it’s crazy. Two 32g cards for like 11$ on Amazon.
0.21 has always run as I would expect it to if I bought it off a shelf. I mean I have a bit of screen tearing… nothing too serious or gameplay inhibiting. Everything just works cohesively (for me, anyway. I’ve had hiccups)
Thnx for the replies.
Another thing you’ve done that most people wouldn’t have is recompiling your retroarch from scratch to 1.7.8. I just did so myself, and I’ve got to say, I’m surprised at how well it works, and even more surprised it works on both your 0.21 and my 0.4. I’ll have to read up on the notes, but even the XMB menu runs smoother than before. Not sure if it’s GL driver related, or just general optimisation. Either way, I’m hoping the benefits are passed on to the emulators too.
I guess it comes down to what you use it for. If it’s just for retroarch, from what I’ve seen 0.3 seems to have random hangs starting and exiting games. Basically a flip of a coin. 0.21 and 0.4 are about on par. 0.4 actually has the OS menus respond the way they should more often than not. Eg. Airplane mode, and Lima driver support.
I’d say give 0.4 a go on a spare card, if just for testing out Lima, experiencing a better battery life and less heat/crashing. If retroarch has GL optimisations, that’s definitely heading in the worthwhile direction.
Hi, just started usage of my gameshell couple days ago. Upgrdaded to V0.5 and experiencing freezes very often! Don’t know how to do a reset so press on/off button ~10 secs to completely turn off the system and then back on. Not sure if it’s safe and definitely not convenient at all. So the question is - what would be the most stable version and where can I download it? Thanks!
Hello there and welcome to the forums!
By upgrade, do you mean flash a fresh image, or performed the 0.4 -> 0.5 upgrade script?
If you have a spare card, try the fresh 0.5 image.
As for the most stable, 0.5 should be; especially with regards to Lima driver usage.
Oh, thanks… Yes I’ve taken a fresh 8GB microsd provided with the gameshell original package and wrote it using balenaEtcher (that’s what I have discovered as a proper way to do it). So it looks pretty unstable to me since it crushes all the time 
Also, when I’m trying to run .md files for MEGA DRIVE they aren’t found neither by gameshell, not by retroarch… only .SMD
While on my retropie (on another machine) both .md and .SMD are identified as mega drive roms… Don’t know if it’s due to the V0.5 but, obviously, there’s smth wrong.
Oh hmm. 8GB might be a bit small. When you fill up the card, it runs into all sorts of problems.
Usually the consoles come with 16GB. Strange.
Try perhaps putting less games on it, or using a smaller card. Also, try some of the custom images.
I’ll provide a link later, but for now look up “Minimal Retroarch”, “ARCH Linux” or “DEOT” - those are the three main custom images out at the moment, maintained by forum community members.
Re: identifying sega files, you can update the action.config files to include more formats. There’s some posts that go through it. I’ll link to it later. (If I remember)
Thank you javelinface!
I have updated after my image got frozen right after assembly out-of-the-box (in fact it happened that I have only tried to update the interface but not the image version [sorry if I am mixing terms…]), so I googled the problem and came here:
Here’s the guy (hpcodecraft) is saying that " If you use an SD card bigger than 8GB, you can use a script I made to expand the filesystem to the whole SD card. Infos on that can be found here: Expand File System (I made it as easy as possible"
So now I don’t get if I should use a 16GB vs 8GB MicroSD.
What do you think? Thank you!
It totally depends on how much stuff you’re planning to put on your gameshell 
I personally used a 256GB card…
They make ones that big!!! 
Welcome to the future
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HLWLD16 (no recommendation, just the first I found)
Thanks. Yes, but in this case I have to use some fancy procedure (expand the filesystem…) so I can use the card? Or it’s exactly as the 8GB one - plug & play…?
OMG … however that price domain usually corresponds to some “Wish”-fake cards. Would wait a year or so 
when you flash the stock image, the filesystem will be 8GB. however, you can expand it to use the full size afterwards. one possibility to do so is my script mentioned before, which worked great for me and seems to work for others too 
there are other ways to do so mentioned in the forums if you search for something like “expand SD card” or similar, though.
256GB SanDisk are safely buyable right now - I just saw the brand of what I posted is “Genericee”. Love this hahaha
I really had no idea. I thought they only made ones as big as 64 gigs
Some images automatically expand to fill the entire SD card’s space on the first boot, including my own DEOT+ V2 custom OS.
By default it should come with 16GB, so I would say that is the minimum for using the stock image. There are custom images that use far less space than the stock one, such as the arch Linux image, or the minimal Retroarch image. Search them up to find out more.
The update function in the menu just updates the launcher. This doesn’t change the OS version, however it may possibly explain the problems you’re facing, ie if something within the launcher gets updated on the wrong target OS version.
What I thought you meant was the full upgrade from OS0.4 to 0.5. That’s a much more involved process, and unless you have a lot of customisation and games etc, probably isn’t worth doing, especially if you’re just starting out.