So when you play Neo Geo games do you use AES or Unibios?
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I'm asking since while AES has advantages and is a little more easier to use, I also know that since if you use USA region some games will be censored too.
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I'm only using UNIBIOS set to the USA region at the moment. I have it setup so that under Arcade the Neo Geo games run in Arcade Mode, while under Neo Geo the games run in Console Mode. I also have most of the files soft linked from the arcade folder to the neogeo folder (special cases being the two arcade mode only games and the two console mode only games as those are only in their proper folders for my setup), so I have them in both places for proper usage in EmulationStation without taking up extra space.
I also know that since if you use USA region some games will be censored too.
Eh, I enjoy the censorship. It's a part of the experience. And who doesn't want to pretend that all the soldiers in Metal Slug spraying white fluid aren't androids like that one from Alien?
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How did you soft link?
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@redbatman Not very well. I was helped by curiousthedeadcat in the r/SBCGaming Discord.
After being given a command to run (because I'm totally helpless), I went to the "arcade" directory using WinSCP, which only had Neo Geo in it at the time, created a "linkdir", then ran the following.
for i in * ; do ln -s $i linkdir/${i}; doneThat created soft links for all my ROMs in the "linkdir" folder, but didn't include the path. So, I had to copy and paste the path into each and every one, then moved those soft links to my "neogeo" folder. With UNIBIOS, the region and mode settings are independent (I think, though all my Neo Geo ROMs contain a copy of the BIOS in them so that might be affecting things) per game through the .fs file that is generated when a game is run, which are now kept in a seperate folder within the ROM folders if you update lr-fbalpha from source.
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Yeah, i have a similar setup, but with the neogeo roms duplicated instead of linked. like in yours,
My Pi is built into an arcade stick and has arcade controls connected directly through a picade hat However i also have a 8bitdo FC30 pro which i use for console games.
When it comes to Neo Geo, i have a pretty much full set of the Neo Geo roms in my arcade folder set up to use the arcade controls in arcade mode and a 2nd set in the Neo Geo folder set up in 'console' mode with the controller mapped to the Fc30 in the same layout as the original Neo Geo controller.
Just being curious if i set up the file links like you have can i have a separate set of settings for the linked files or will it pull the settings over from the version in the arcade folder?
Andy
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@andrewpk200 I would think it would continue to work correctly. The soft linked games just appear to EmulationStation and RetroArch to be there in the folder. RetroPie is setup to save the control remaps to each system individually in their appropriate system folder, while the UNIBIOS setting is kept in the ".fs" file for each game.
By the way, the latest version of lr-fbalpha from source puts those ".fs" files in a folder instead of having them in the same folder as your ROMs. Of course, that's a source update and may have problems that I'm not aware of due to lack of testing.
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I use the Neo Geo emulator preferably as AES system, because I like it to be a console. I know I could do this with Unibios too, but then I had to define for each rom. Thats only reason why I use AES over Unibios.
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@eckaji said in So when you play Neo Geo games do you use AES or Unibios?:
I have it setup so that under Arcade the Neo Geo games run in Arcade Mode, while under Neo Geo the games run in Console Mode.
Could you outline how you did this, please? I would like to set up my Neo Geo roms likewise.
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@thelostsoul Yeah, that was a pain. I've got some archives containing the ".fs" files set to the correct mode for both if you want. I only did it for the selection that are defined in the sorting batch file included in the archive though.
Arcade Folder Defaults for Neo Geo and CPS-1/2/3
@Clyde Sure, but I must warn you that I'm a noob and have a step here that could probably be corrected by someone who knows how to do things correctly. I'm writing this with the idea you are using WinSCP on Windows, though anything similar should work as well. This was also written with the idea you are using my batch files, which will only work on Windows, but you could skip steps 1 and 2, or convert them to Bash if you are tech savvy.
How to Run Neo Geo Games in Both Console Mode and Arcade Mode with UNIBIOS Without Duplicating the Files
- Step 1: I advise using both of my batch files above on a Non-Merged FBA v0.2.97.42 ROM Set. The ".fs" files will save you the time of starting each game up to set the UNIBIOS's region and mode, while the batch files will give you tidy Neo Geo collections.
Remember to always check batch files with a text editor before running them. Of course, it doesn't take much to realize my batch files are just a single "make directory" command then a bunch of "copy" commands.
- Step 2: Temporarily move "ironclad" and "ridhero" from the "Arcade Collection" to somewhere else. Delete all but "lasthope" and "totc" from the "Console Collection".
"ironclad" and "ridhero" only run in Arcade Mode (actually "ironclad" uses the default arcade BIOS in its own separate driver). "lasthope" and "totc" only have a Console Mode (technically not even that, but they play like a console game from any other system) and are homebrew games, but I felt they were well done enough to keep in my collection.
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Step 3: Now then, if you already have a mix of ROMs in your "arcade" folder, then I advise just making a temporary folder in your "roms" folder and putting the Neo Geo ROMs within the "Arcade Collection" in there. If you don't have anything in "arcade", then I advise putting the Neo Geo ROMs within the "Arcade Collection" in the "arcade" folder".
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Step 4: Navigate to wherever you put your Neo Geo ROMs from the "Arcade Collection", make a folder named "linkdir", then remotely run the following command through the terminal.
It's a little black box in WinSCP and I forget if there might be something else you need to install to to set it up, though I'm pretty sure WinSCP tells you what you need to do.
for i in * ; do ln -s $i linkdir/${i}; doneThis is the step that could be improved for anyone that knows what to add so that directory is appended correctly.
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Step 5: Copy "/home/pi/RetroPie/localroms/arcade/" (without quotation marks) to your clipboard. Edit the link path of each new soft link in the "linkdir" by right clicking them, clicking "Edit Link...", then pasting that path before each ROM archive.
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Step 6: Clear out all the ROMs in your "neogeo" folder, then copy the soft links from wherever the "linkdir" folder is to the the "neogeo" folder. You'll get an error message if you try copying the soft links there while the real files are there.
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Step 7: Copy all the ROMs from the "Arcade Collection" (don't forget "ironclad" and "ridhero" from wherever you put them) to your "arcade" folder, then copy "lasthope" and "totc" to the "neogeo" folder.
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Step 8: Copy the ".fs" files included in my archives above to the appropriate folder. If you update FinalBurn Alpha from source, then the ".fs" files go in a "fba" folder: keep this in mind for the future as this change will eventually become a part of the stable binary build and will cause all your games to no longer load their setting until you fix their location.
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Step 9: Grab the text file I have labeled "Arcade Folder Defaults for Neo Geo and CPS-1/2/3" above, then copy everything in it to "/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulators.cfg". This will save you from needing to set the default emulator of all the Neo Geo ROMs for the "Arcade" system.
I hope others find my guide to be satisfactory, though please reply back if you have any issues or have an improvement (that command in step 4 seriously needs to be improved).
HERE are some (mostly) 1G1R Batch files I made, which is where those two sorting batch files came from. There are also ones for CPS-1/2/3 in there, which pairs nicely with the "Arcade" system's defaults I had you set at the end of the guide above. Might want to delete the backport of Street Fighter Alpha from the CPS-1 collection though: its name is "sfzch".
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@eckaji Thanks! I am a Linux user since the end of 2006, so I will examine your how-to and take what I need … later, when I have the free time. :)
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@clyde I'm sure it will be easy for someone like you. I also welcome you to fix step 4 if you can so that the tedious step 5 can be removed entirely.
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Anybody here know how to enable unbios settings while in AES mode. I have wondered if I can remove the censors while in AES mode.
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@redbatman Unibios and AES are two different bios. To use one of them, you have to copy that bios file to rom directory first. Then you can select it in RetroArch menu of emulator.
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@thelostsoul I know how to do that, I just wanted to use unibios cheats while in ARE mode.
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@eckaji I didn't forget you. I just didn't have the time and leisure. I hope I'll have it next weekend. <:)
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@clyde That's alright.
I do want to do the soft links again for another ROM related project in the future. So I would love to remove that copying and pasting step. The project would be simply to make a separate system for GB and GBC games that have two player game link support between two identical games with, obviously, lr-tgbdual as the emulator. Of course, this being GB and GBC, the identical copies wouldn't be as bad space-wise as Neo Geo was.
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