libretro / libretro/RetroArch

Nintendo Switch - Hight battery issue

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#19,210 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language
C
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Description

Is there an existing issue for this?
  • This is a bug in RetroArch frontend
  • I have searched the existing issues
Description

I noticed high battery consumption in RetroArch compared to standalone emulators, this happens in both stable / unstable release

My config:

Switch 21.2.0
Atmosphere 1.10.2
Original Microsd 256gb

Few examples:

  • mgba core consumes 15-20% more than pgba (mgba fork) emu
  • Snes9x core consumes 10~12% more than psnes (snes9x fork) emu
  • Gen plusx gx consumes 10-20% more than pgnen (Gen plusx gx fork) emu
  • Pcsx rearmed consumes 20-25% more than duckstation port

Anyone else reported this ?

Expected behavior

No response

Steps to reproduce the bug

1

Version/Commit

1.22.2 / Nightly

Bisect Results

No response

Present in the nightly version

Yes, this is reproduced in the nightly build

Platform & operating system

Nintendo Switch

Affected Cores

All

Environment information

No response

Relevant log output

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the battery drain on Nintendo Switch 21.2.0 with RetroArch 1.22.2/nightly, then compare the listed cores with their standalone counterparts under consistent conditions. Measure consumption and collect relevant logs or profiling data. Done means the source of the difference is identified and a reproducible fix or clear diagnosis is documented.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
performance
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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