NEO-GEO CD for Dummies

Nakynaw

Hi guys,

Since I joined the Pi club only 2 weeks ago, I think I am way dummer than the dummies this post is targetting.

I have read that the docs have unfortunately not been updated since Neo Geo CD has been integrated in Retropie, but I do not know if this procedure above is still necessary and exact.

Also, the step by step guide is really for dummies with experience. :P

So I probably wont succeed in playing Neo Geo CD, while I just took the time to read about those interesting games. I really need to stop building rom libraries before making sure they are easy to play on Retropie (I did the same mistake with Amiga! :P )

Please, let me know is anyone found an up to date guide (video or text) to set this game in Retropie. I have around 25 games waiting in Zip folders for now (with CUE, CCD, IMG and SUB files) .

Thanks!

mitu

@Nakynaw said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

Please, let me know is anyone found an up to date guide (video or text) to set this game in Retropie. I have around 25 games waiting in Zip folders for now (with CUE, CCD, IMG and SUB files) .

Just copy the disc files in the neogeo folder and restart EmulationStation.When launching the games - use the Runcommand launch menu to choose lr-fbneo-neocd as emulator.

Make sure you have the BIOS files (neocdz.zip) in the BIOS/fbneo folder before launch, otherwise the games will not launch properly.

Nakynaw

Alright... Thanks again @mitu , you gave me a boost of courage to try it. But I'll make a back up first! :P

[EDIT : Well, no success... I found two folders named neocd and neocdz on the web. Downloaded them, unzipped them, transferred the files they contain in the bios/fbneo folder with win-scp. Rebooted.

Selected the lr-fbneo-neocd emulator from the list before launching, but it still did not boot the game (Pulstar for example)] :(

mitu

@Nakynaw You shouldn't unzip the BIOS files - leave them as zip archives.

Nakynaw

I am so sorry to be such a burden... But I tried unzipping the files only because putting the zipped folders the first time did not work either... I tried only moving the folders "neocd.zip" and "neocdz.zip" directly in the fbneo folder of the BIOS. Than tried to move the folders unzipped, than tried moving only the files... Rebooting between each test of course. Each time trying to open the game with lr-fbneo-neocd just kicked me back to the emulationstation.

mitu

This post is deleted!

mitu

@Nakynaw post a verbose log from running the game - make sure you have the .zip BIOS files present.

Note: you don't need to reboot your PI when adding BIOS/ROMs.

Nakynaw

Ok, I will have to test tomorrow (everyone is now sleeping here)...

To be precise and finally get it right : I downloaded a "neocd" folder containing a neocd.bin and ng-lo.rom. Also got a "neocdz" folder containing the exact same neocd.bin, but also a 000-lo.lo . So, now I put all of those 3 different files (leaving them in their original zipped folder matters?), zipped, in the fbneo folder of the BIOS. Right?

Also, I read somewhere else that those BIOS files should also be in the neogeo roms folder. Is that right?

Thanks a thousand times @mitu, hoping to bother for the last time with this.

mitu

@Nakynaw said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

To be precise and finally get it right : I downloaded a "neocd" folder containing a neocd.bin and ng-lo.rom. Also got a "neocdz" folder containing the exact same neocd.bin, but also a 000-lo.lo . So, now I put all of those 3 different files (leaving them in their original zipped folder matters?), zipped, in the fbneo folder of the BIOS. Right?

You need to have 2 files - neogeo.zip and neocd.zip in the BIOS/fbneo folder. The files/folder you have are not correct - the correct BIOS .zip files have more files than the 2 .bin files you have.

Also, I read somewhere else that those BIOS files should also be in the neogeo roms folder. Is that right?

It's an alternative location and it works the same, but it's cleaner to have the BIOS files in the proper location.

Nakynaw

Finally! It works.

Well, I tried many many different combinations of files... I had the requisite per https://github.com/libretro/neocd_libretro 's recommandations, but it was not working. I even checked the SHA1 code for each required files.

Instead of continuing to Google the folders and files names, I directly searched for the SHA1 code and found a full Bios compilation from which I could extract the very recent fbgeo folder (with much more files than what I had and the SHA1 numbers were the right ones) and after pasting it to my bios, it works!

So, if a real newbie like me want to try out Neo Geo CD games on retropie 4.6 in a near future, I guess you can do the same as I.

Thank you very much for your patience @mitu and to @DTEAM for starting this necessary thread!

Have a great day.

Nakynaw

@Clyde said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

You can also batch-create chds out of cue/bin files directly in Retropie or any Linux with the package mame-tools. To quote myself:
@Clyde said in PS1 - Possible to just list game in the menu and not the additional files?:

Thanks for that piece @Clyde !

Though, the newbie tried and failed... Is it because there is not just a bin and cue in Neo Geo CD? (CCD, SUB, CUE, and IMG)

I did this :

pi@retropie:~ $ cd /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/neogeo
pi@retropie:~/RetroPie/roms/neogeo $ for i in .cue; do chdman createcd -i "$i" -o "${i%.}.chd"; done

And it gave this :

chdman - MAME Compressed Hunks of Data (CHD) manager 0.206 (unknown)
Error parsing input file (*.cue: file not found)

Fatal error occurred: 1

Thx for any advice you can give on this!

EDIT : Also tried this :

pi@retropie:~ $ chdman created -i <Metal Slug 2 (Wld).cue> -o <Metal Slug 2.chd>
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('

Darksavior

@Nakynaw There's this old script I've used. I'd replace the chdman.exe included with the latest one https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-ElaPpvBHs5aUd0QUM3c05kY2c/view

Clyde

@Nakynaw said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

Error parsing input file (*.cue: file not found)**

That means there are no files ending with .cue in the directory. Are there?

(You can check that from the console with ls | grep -c .cue – it will output the number of files with .cue in their names. Alternatively, just list all such files with ls *.cue.)

pi@retropie:~ $ chdman created -i <Metal Slug 2 (Wld).cue> -o <Metal Slug 2.chd>
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('

You'll have to put the filenames in quotation marks instead of angle brackets.

zerojay

I'm getting segmentation faults with both lr-fbneo-neocd and lr-neocd as soon as the CD-ROM image shows up during initial bootup.

Darksavior

@zerojay I only use lr-neocd and I've never had an issue. You can try verbose logging to see what the problem is. If it matters, my games are all compressed to chd.

zerojay

@Darksavior Mine are all CHD as well. lr-neocd seems to fail to recognize my BIOS files even with proper matching SHA-1's.

Nakynaw

@Clyde said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

That means there are no files ending with .cue in the directory. Are there?
(You can check that from the console with ls | grep -c .cue – it will output the number of files with .cue in their names. Alternatively, just list all such files with ls *.cue.)

Indeed, it returned "0" for an answer. But I do not get it. I do have ".cue" in neogeo rom folder...

I guess I need to put all the files directly in "neogeo" and not in separate folders per games, right?

cue file.png

And :

@Clyde said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

You'll have to put the filenames in quotation marks instead of angle brackets.

I tried this :

pi@retropie:~ $ chdman created -i "Metal Slug 2 (Wld).cue" -o "Metal Slug 2.chd"

But it said "command not found" and I had just installed mame-tools and rebooted.

I know, I am so far from knowledgeable in the Pi district. :/

mitu

@Nakynaw said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

But it said "command not found" and I had just installed mame-tools and rebooted.

Are you sure it's installed ? You can check by running apt show mame-tools.

Nakynaw

@mitu I was about to delete my last post, cause it works! But since you answered so fast, I'll leave it there. Maybe one day another newbie will need this.

IDK why the command line to create a CHD per file did not work, but the batch chd creation command of @Clyde worked now that I have moved all the game files directly in "neogeo" and not in sub-folder!

Thanks guys. Now, I just have to let the computer do is job and wait.

I was about to start my playstation and dreamcast library (only did Atari, NES, SNES and Sega so far), so I guess now I'll know how to have a neat list of CD games with proper art and info! :)

BTW, should I keep the "CDZ patched" version or the normal version of those games?

Nakynaw

Hahaha, my joy will have been of short duration... I succeeded in creating CHD files, my games are all there and the list is neat... But now they do not load... I think I have the same problem as @zerojay : with lr-neocd it does not boot at all, with lr-fbneo-neocd it shows the CD image of the intro, but crashes right away.

When I compressed the .cue files to .chd I noticed that the PI had created a subfolder "fbneo" with the "neocdz.sf" file in each game's folder... So, I figure I would leave at least one "fbneo" folder there in "neogeo" folder. Was that right?

Here is what the Verbose logging said for lr-fbneo-neocd :

/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh: line 1264: 6464 Segmentation fault /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-fbneo/fbneo_libretro.so --subsystem neocd --config /opt/retropie/configs/neogeo/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/neogeo/Aero Fighters 2 (Wld).chd" --verbose --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

Anyone understands the problem? Would it help if I paste.bin the entire log?