Neo Geo setup and installation

melbmatt50

I am trying to net Neo Geo working on my retropie. which is running 4.4.2. From what I have seen I need to get neogeo.zip and place it in both the neogeo roms folder and the bios folder. The version of this file that I have seen is repeatedly said to be 1,454kb in size but I haven't been able to find one of this size. I have found ones of 1,600kb, 1347kb and 900kb but not this one. As a result the majority of my Neo Geo games won't work. I have been told also that it depends upon what romset of Neo Geo you have but I am unsure how I find this out. I know that there are rules about providing links to copyrighted material but am hoping that someone can help me solve these issues to get Neo Geo working. Also when you launch a game from what I have seen you have to change the default launching program to one of the FBA ones. Is this true and if so which version of FBA should I choose as the default launcher?

Darksavior

@melbmatt50 You'll ease your pain by getting the correct romset for FBA. The correct neogeo.zip will be included in that romset. You can place the correct neogeo.zip in the bios folder. No need for it to be in the rom folder if you're using FBA. More info here https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Arcade
If you don't know what romset your games are from, then don't use them. It'll be a lot of trial and errors. Odds are your neogeo games aren't the correct ones as well.

The default FBA emulator is lr-fbalpha and there's no need to change that on a pi3 or higher.
If it's not the default then I'll assume you're using a 3rd party image and there's no support for that here.

melbmatt50

So how do I work out what romset the games are from that I am getting and the romset of the neogeo file that I have so that I don't get thse incompatibility issues? This seems like it shouldn't be a hard problem but I haven't been able to fix it yet.

thelostsoul

Say, you have roms for FBA or Mame (they look the same, but are different) and you don't know the romset version of it. In this case, you can't tell the version. The easiest is to get those correct versions in a "full romset", where you are sure they are correct. I use also lr-fbalpha as default FBA and Neo Geo emulator on my Pi3.

barbudreadmon

@melbmatt50 said in Neo Geo setup and installation:

So how do I work out what romset the games are from that I am getting and the romset of the neogeo file that I have so that I don't get thse incompatibility issues?

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Arcade gives you the general idea and the dat files.
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Validating,-Rebuilding,-and-Filtering-ROM-Collections explains how to use the dat files.

I would recommend searching directly the good roms though.

melbmatt50

@thelostsoul So I went to a site and it had a link for neo geo romset which was about 1gb in size. So does that mean all the roms in that file should work with my neogeo emulator or do I still need to find the right version of neogeo.zip in which case I don't know which version I need and how to find out which roms and which bios file I need. I feel like I am going round in circles.

mediamogul

@melbmatt50

I feel like I am going round in circles.

All you really need to do, if you plan on using lr-fbalpha, is to make sure you have the 0.2.97.43 ROM set. It should have the proper neogeo.zip file included. The specific sets for each emulator are noted on the wiki.

Darksavior

@mediamogul By his reply, he has ignored our same answers and decided to get random romsets instead. I'll set this thread so I don't see any more notifactions since there's nothing more to explain..

melbmatt50

@darksavior I didn't know what romset to get so I went to the site and looked for Neo Geo romset because on my retropie that is the program that they are under when you select it from the main menu with the emulator logos. An earlier comment here said searching directly the good roms. How do I know which ones are going to work and are 'good' as opposed to which ones aren't? I had a similar issue with mame until I found out that mame4all was using the romset I was just looking at the GitHub wiki page and let me see if I have it right If I want to use for example lr-fbalpha for neo geo then I am limited to FB Alpha v0.2.97.43 romset so basically any roms that are contained within that collection? If I then put those in the neo geo roms folder, will retropie automatically recognise that they are to be launched with lr-fbalpha so there shouldn't be further configuration. If there are games however that aren't on that romset but are on other romsets such as PiFBA which has the romsert FB Alpha 0.2.96.71? Do you then copy those games into your neogeo folder along with the neogeo.zip file into the bios folder or just leave it in the neogeo roms folder. I am downloading the romset FB Alpha v0.2.97.43 romset which has roms for several different platforms so do they still just get left in the neo geo roms folder? I apologise for the confusion that I am experience and apparent lack of following directions but this has confused me quite a bit even though I am sure to many it is straight forward.

mediamogul

@melbmatt50 said in Neo Geo setup and installation:

How do I know which ones are going to work and are 'good' as opposed to which ones aren't?

In this case, "good" ROMs refer to those from a numbered set that correlates to the emulator.

If I want to use for example lr-fbalpha for neo geo then I am limited to FB Alpha v0.2.97.43 romset so basically any roms that are contained within that collection?

Yes.

If I then put those in the neo geo roms folder, will retropie automatically recognise that they are to be launched with lr-fbalpha so there shouldn't be further configuration.

lr-fbalpha happens to be the default, so yes. However, RetroPie allows the option to change the default by using the Runcommand menu if you so chose. Of course you would need to change the ROM set accordingly if that were the case. My advice to you is to stick with the default lr-fbalpha and simply use the 0.2.97.43 ROM set.

If there are games however that aren't on that romset but are on other romsets such as PiFBA which has the romsert FB Alpha 0.2.96.71? Do you then copy those games into your neogeo folder along with the neogeo.zip file into the bios folder or just leave it in the neogeo roms folder.

In that scenario, you could specify that they be launched with PiFBA through the Runcommand menu, but that's putting the cart before the horse right now. Start off with the recommendations that have been made, keep it simple and then worry about incompatibilities if you happen to run into any later.

I apologise for the confusion

It can all seem a bit unintuitive at first, but I think you'll find that it's all there in the provided links. Sometimes it just takes a few passes to bring everything into focus. When that scrutiny fails, we're here to help.

melbmatt50

@mediamogul I know most people are here to help but like other areas some people seem to have an expectation the newbies will have more knowledge than they do and when they don't they mock them for it. I have found that in the Facebook groups at times and I think some people need to remember that we were all newbies once.

barbudreadmon

@melbmatt50 lr-fbalpha is the most recent fbalpha version which support the most features and the most games, ofc it supports games from previous fbalpha version (pifba and lr-fbalpha2012) but expect them to be from more recent romsets. The reason why romsets change from time to time is because reverse engineering of arcade cabinets improved over time, so now we are able to properly dump some games we weren't able in the past (that's what older romsets are : attempt at dumping a game which didn't end up perfectly but were playable anyway).

As i said, you should try to get directly the good version of the roms, did you try asking google about "fba 0.2.97.43 romset" ?

Clyde

I just wanted to throw in that my Neo Geo roms from GOG seem to work perfectly with lr-fbalpha. I didn't play through all of them completely, though.

See here for my instructions to extract the bios and roms from the GOG files.

MajorDangerNine

@clyde You should edit that to mention that the Windows offline installers will not work for getting the functional ROMs for some of those GOG Neo Geo games as the Windows versions of those ROMs are altered for the included emulator's additional features that are exclusive to the Windows versions.

Off the top of my head, Metal Slug, Shock Troopers, and their sequels are like that. Can't remember how many others are like that, but I know it is somewhere close to half the Neo Geo games available on GOG if you include those I already mentioned.

Clyde

@eckaji Done, thanks for the tip.

MajorDangerNine

@clyde Good, but I do have to ask if you are sure about some games not having a Linux installer. I don't own them, but helped someone else out with a few of them, and I see the following either list Linux as supported or include a Linux installer as a goody:

Linux Listed as Supported on GOG

Art of Fighting 2
Blazing Star
Fatal Fury Special
Ironclad
King of Fighters 2000
King of Fighters 2002
King of the Monsters
Neo Turf Masters
Pulstar
Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers
Samurai Shodown II
Samurai Shodown V Special
Sengoku 3

Linux Installer in Goodies on GOG

Baseball Stars 2
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Last Blade
Metal Slug
Metal Slug 2
Metal Slug 3
Metal Slug X
Shock Troopers
Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad
Twinkle Star Sprites

Actually, I suspect it might be the entire latter group that you can't extract functional ROMs from the Windows offline installers as the ones I helped someone figure out how to extract were among those.

If I missed any, then please don't hesitate to correct me.

Clyde

@eckaji You're right, I forgot that some of them don't have official supported Linux & Mac versions. All of those have them as goodies, though. I will edit my post once again. :)

crumbs

I'll try and help.
Yes you put the neogeo.zip file in the neogeo folder and the bios folder. (I just put it in both because there was conflicting info)
I have Neo Geo working and my neogeo.zip file is 1569KB.
Reading the documentation, it appears that a rom set can have some 2000 games in it, though I have never found or downloaded one.
I search for the game I want and download the rom set for that game.
Then I put it in the folder I think it should go in (neogeo for neogeo games, mame-libretro for arcade games, fba for arcade titles that don't run elsewhere.

You asked if there was a way to figure out from the rom set which emulator it was for. Someone ansered with a website link with a list of games in a romsets, but I'm not sure how that really answers your question. I believe there is a way, but I haven't been able to do it... to figure out which emulator a rom set, say sf2ce.zip, is meant to use - there was apparently some software, but when I tried it I didn't know how to operate it. Unzipping the rom sets and poking around inside didn't give me much either.

So I download roms that I want, put them in the Roms folder under the subfolder I think they are for.
(It's trial and error, but usually I get things working.)
Then I test them. If they don't run, I launch them again and hit a button to get to the runcommand (blue screen) then I choose a different emulator for that game, perhaps Mame 2010 or advmame. If these don't work, I try coying the game to the fba folder and testing it there with lr-fba and pifba. If that doesn't work you can try going to retropie setup and installing optional packages from binary, then try out the new emulators from run command. If none of that works, you probably have a dud rom set. Try a different site, some sites are full of rubbish.

Hope that helps.

rbaker

@crumbs said in Neo Geo setup and installation:

So I download roms that I want, put them in the Roms folder under the subfolder I think they are for.
(It's trial and error, but usually I get things working.)
Then I test them. If they don't run, I launch them again and hit a button to get to the runcommand (blue screen) then I choose a different emulator for that game, perhaps Mame 2010 or advmame. If these don't work, I try coying the game to the fba folder and testing it there with lr-fba and pifba. If that doesn't work you can try going to retropie setup and installing optional packages from binary, then try out the new emulators from run command. If none of that works, you probably have a dud rom set. Try a different site, some sites are full of rubbish.

This trial and error method is bad for the soul. I've been there. The only way to ensure that the roms you want work on your emulator of choice is to acquire a full set of roms that is designed for the specific emulator that you are using. The correct version of the bios will be present and you can then select individual games or all the games. There isn't really a "dud" romset but an incorrect romset choice. Any attempts to download one rom from a random place and attempt to define its emulator requirements is a pretty ugly and pointless task in my experience. It really is as simple as getting the correct full set and you will never have an issue. That is until you decide to update an emulator without updating your roms :)

thelostsoul

@rbaker I second this.

@melbmatt50
I basically never deal with single rom downloads for arcade machines again. For single roms, the only way to ensure the correct version would be checking its checksum via md5, but you would need to know what the correct checksum is. The trouble and work you get is way too much, compared to what you get with full romsets. Do yourself a favor and get full romset for the specific emulator version, which will (most likely) contain the correct neogeo.zip bios. I am doing this since years and it changed my life.