From 25abe265b8d86b9d352cb618383e8ab873c20036 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Douglas Teles <dga.teles@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2026 13:20:10 -0300
Subject: [PATCH] Maximize melonDS performance on RK3326

Config:
- ShowOSD=0: Disable on-screen display (saves rendering cycles)
- MouseHide=1: Hide cursor immediately

Launch script:
- Force JIT, software 3D, ScreenUseGL=0 at every launch (prevent
  user/ES settings from accidentally enabling heavy GPU features)
- Set CPU governor to performance before launch
- QT_QPA_NO_SIGNAL_SPY=1: Disable Qt signal debugging
- QSG_RENDER_LOOP=basic: Simpler Qt render loop (less overhead)
- QT_ENABLE_HIGHDPI_SCALING=0: Skip HiDPI calculations
- AudioInterp=0, AudioBitrate=0: No audio interpolation overhead

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .../melonds-sa/config/RK3326/melonDS.ini      |  6 +++---
 .../melonds-sa/scripts/start_melonds.sh       | 20 ++++++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/projects/ArchR/packages/emulators/standalone/melonds-sa/config/RK3326/melonDS.ini b/projects/ArchR/packages/emulators/standalone/melonds-sa/config/RK3326/melonDS.ini
index 64e3dfd0d9..94aef69e8a 100644
--- a/projects/ArchR/packages/emulators/standalone/melonds-sa/config/RK3326/melonDS.ini
+++ b/projects/ArchR/packages/emulators/standalone/melonds-sa/config/RK3326/melonDS.ini
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ GL_ScaleFactor=1
 GL_BetterPolygons=0
 LimitFPS=1
 AudioSync=0
-ShowOSD=1
+ShowOSD=0
 ConsoleType=0
 DirectBoot=1
 JIT_Enable=1
@@ -144,8 +144,8 @@ SaveFilePath=/storage/roms/nds
 SavestatePath=/storage/roms/savestates/nds
 CheatFilePath=
 EnableCheats=0
-MouseHide=0
-MouseHideSeconds=5
+MouseHide=1
+MouseHideSeconds=1
 PauseLostFocus=0
 DSBatteryLevelOkay=1
 DSiBatteryLevel=15
diff --git a/projects/ArchR/packages/emulators/standalone/melonds-sa/scripts/start_melonds.sh b/projects/ArchR/packages/emulators/standalone/melonds-sa/scripts/start_melonds.sh
index 67f77c2481..8800d09030 100644
--- a/projects/ArchR/packages/emulators/standalone/melonds-sa/scripts/start_melonds.sh
+++ b/projects/ArchR/packages/emulators/standalone/melonds-sa/scripts/start_melonds.sh
@@ -174,6 +174,11 @@ fi
 # Qt requires UTF-8 locale
 export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 2>/dev/null || export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
+# Performance: disable Qt animations, reduce rendering overhead
+export QT_QPA_NO_SIGNAL_SPY=1
+export QSG_RENDER_LOOP=basic
+export QT_ENABLE_HIGHDPI_SCALING=0
+
 @PANFROST@
 @HOTKEY@
 @LIBMALI@
@@ -181,10 +186,23 @@ export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 2>/dev/null || export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 #Generate a new MelonDS.toml each run (temporary hack)
 rm -rf "${CONF_DIR}/melonDS.toml"
 
+# Force JIT and software renderer for max performance on weak SoCs
+sed -i '/^JIT_Enable=/c\JIT_Enable=1' "${CONF_DIR}/${MELONDS_INI}"
+sed -i '/^3DRenderer=/c\3DRenderer=0' "${CONF_DIR}/${MELONDS_INI}"
+sed -i '/^Threaded3D=/c\Threaded3D=1' "${CONF_DIR}/${MELONDS_INI}"
+sed -i '/^ScreenUseGL=/c\ScreenUseGL=0' "${CONF_DIR}/${MELONDS_INI}"
+sed -i '/^ShowOSD=/c\ShowOSD=0' "${CONF_DIR}/${MELONDS_INI}"
+sed -i '/^AudioInterp=/c\AudioInterp=0' "${CONF_DIR}/${MELONDS_INI}"
+sed -i '/^AudioBitrate=/c\AudioBitrate=0' "${CONF_DIR}/${MELONDS_INI}"
+
 #Retroachievements
 /usr/bin/cheevos_melonds.sh
 
-#Run MelonDS emulator
+#Run MelonDS emulator - set CPU to performance for max speed
+if [ -w "/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_governor" ]; then
+    echo performance > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_governor 2>/dev/null
+fi
+
 $GPTOKEYB "melonDS" -c "${CONF_DIR}/melonDS.gptk" &
 ${EMUPERF} /usr/bin/melonDS -f "${ROM}"
 kill -9 "$(pidof gptokeyb)"