NEO-GEO CD for Dummies

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?

Nakynaw

@zerojay said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

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

I found what was the cause of the same problem for me, i'll share with you in case it helps : my games were working very well with the NeoGeo Bios in the folder "fbneo" while the games were in CUE with SUB IMG and CCD.

When I compressed the game files in CHD, I also had the segmentation fault.

So I did exactly as @Darksavior : the BIOS files (000_lo.lo and neocd.bin) in a "neocd" folder that I created in the bios, and not in the "fbneo". Now, using the lr-neocd emulator it works well!

THX guys and good luck to the others.

Clyde

Just for the sake of completeness:

@Nakynaw said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

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

No, you had them in subdirectories of the neogeo rom directory. My command line only works with files in the current directory. It could be expanded to "walk" through any subdirs, but since you fixed it another way by now, no need for that.

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.

It's createcd, not created. 🧐

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

Nobody was born with this knowledge. We all learn on the way.

zerojay

@Nakynaw said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

@zerojay said in NEO-GEO CD for Dummies:

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

I found what was the cause of the same problem for me, i'll share with you in case it helps : my games were working very well with the NeoGeo Bios in the folder "fbneo" while the games were in CUE with SUB IMG and CCD.

When I compressed the game files in CHD, I also had the segmentation fault.

So I did exactly as @Darksavior : the BIOS files (000_lo.lo and neocd.bin) in a "neocd" folder that I created in the bios, and not in the "fbneo". Now, using the lr-neocd emulator it works well!

THX guys and good luck to the others.

Still no luck for me. I had those files already in a neocd folder in my bios directory along with some more, so I deleted the extras and tried again, but no luck. lr-neocd still says it cannot find the BIOS files (and it appears to be checking in BIOSDIR/neogeo which has them already) and the two fbneo emulators both segfault after the bios starts up.

Darksavior

@zerojay If you're positive it's not seeing the bios, and you've double checked the hashes, then you can try this:
Uninstall and then reinstall lr-neocd from source and open the rgui to check: "Settings","Directory","System/BIOS" and make sure it points to /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS

zerojay

I ended up using the lr-mess core for this instead. Seems to be working well.

Crush

I found that your naming conventions are not in line with the other systems, also it wont be picked up by most themes because of this.
My es_systems entry is as follows:

 <system>
    <name>neogeocd</name>
    <fullname>Neo Geo CD</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/neogeocd</path>
    <extension>.cue .CUE .chd .CHD</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ neogeocd %ROM%</command>
    <platform>neogeocd</platform>
    <theme>neogeocd</theme>
  </system>

Hope this helps someone.

shavecat

Hey im trying to run it .with
lr-neocd
but its just going back to ES
any ideas ?