So when you play Neo Geo games do you use AES or Unibios?

Clyde

@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.

MajorDangerNine

@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.

Console Mode

Arcade Mode

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.

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".
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}; done

This is the step that could be improved for anyone that knows what to add so that directory is appended correctly.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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".

Clyde

@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. :)

MajorDangerNine

@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.

RedBatman

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RedBatman

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.

thelostsoul

@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.

RedBatman

@thelostsoul I know how to do that, I just wanted to use unibios cheats while in ARE mode.

RedBatman

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Clyde

@eckaji I didn't forget you. I just didn't have the time and leisure. I hope I'll have it next weekend. <:)

MajorDangerNine

@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.