How to run Neo Geo AES with the latest mame core?

AES - the home version (game options, no buggy green screen, no coins insert). I got the neogeo full romset folder from mame software list 0.234 (merged) (including neogeo.zip (bios) ), 0.234 mame core, Launchbox as frontend. What are the RA configuration needed to make sure it runs properly without issues? Also, i want mame core to favor asia/europe games. Currently i use fbneo core, its nice, but i does not support one game and i count on mame core to give more accurate emulation.

  • MAME’s neogeo.zip doesn’t contain any AES bios, i don’t know how you enable AES mode in MAME, aside from using unibios.
  • What’s the neogeo game FBNeo doesn’t support ?
  • There might be systems where MAME is more accurate than FBNeo, but i doubt neogeo is on that list, quite the opposite actually when i look at MAME’s neogeo changelog : it keeps mentioning fixes for issues FBNeo never had.
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AFAIK AES mode is only possible with the unibios.
In FBNeo this works “out of the box” if you select AES in “Quick Menu - Options”
For mame you have to create/edit the appropriate *.ini file.
I wrote a while ago how to make BIOS-settings in mame persistent:

[EDIT] the list i provided is now outdated since there where added more bios files.
Use the BIOS name instead:

#
# CORE MISC OPTIONS
#
bios                      uni-bios_4_0
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From what i found out, Super Bubble Pop (sbp.zip), fbneo says “rom is unknown” and gives site address to rebuild, and a version (bootleg? different region?) of Robo Army (roboarmya.zip). I know, not a huge loss by any mean but still, would be nice to have a more complete set. Nice to know in case my attempt to make mame core actually work fails.

Where do i find this “enable Read Configuration” in the core settings? In RA/system /mame/ini/ i create .ini file and call it mame.ini and copy the following to it? #

CORE MISC OPTIONS

bios uni-bios_4_0

Anything else is needed to make mame core work with aes?

According the libretro docs merged sets are not supported:

I would suggest rebuilding your romset and use split (saves most space) or full non-merged.

TL;DR:
Enable Read Configuration in the core settings (run game, press F1 to open quick menu and go to Options)
The mame.ini (simple textfile with .ini instead of .txt) has to be in your /system /mame/ini/ folder with the following settings:

#
# CORE MISC OPTIONS
#
bios                      0

You can find more infos on mame configuration in RetroArch here:

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It’s not included in FBNeo public builds because the game is broken (something unknown about its decryption mecanism). MAME has the same issue and flags the game as not working.

It’s a brand new dump from the past month, i guess it will be added soon (i’m not the one in charge of FBNeo romset updates), the MAME libretro core (which is still 0.232) doesn’t support it yet either.

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I got the 0.234 split full set as well, no prob. I read your guide. Some questions arise:

  1. How to download the plugins, history.dat, command.dat, gameini.dat from github? I don’t see any download buttons there.
  2. How to create init.lua file to put in hiscores folder?
  3. How to tell mame core to search for neogeo.zip bios outside of the romset folder?

AES has a separate BIOS (AES.zip).

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  • you have to download the whole repository (Code - Download ZIP)
    Extract ONLY the plugin folder to “/system/mame/”
    git
    The history/gameinit/command are not on github. There are links to the appropriate sites

  • The init.lua is in the “/system/mame/plugins/hiscore/” folder

  • Never. The neogeo.zip has to be in the same folder.

@Jamirus the aes.zip is meant for software list emulation, but i have no experience on how to make this work. The arcade rom requires the neogeo.zip and will not work with the aes.zip (at least what i know)

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But AES IS Software List emulation, My AES neogeo folder is from Mame SL… Mame core cannot run in AES mode (game options, no green screen, no coins insert)?

It works for me following the MESS guide (I’m still using MAME 0.222 though). For this, you need to put a folder titled “aes” with the bios in RA system, and the neogeo xml in in the MAME hash folder of RA. I also put my neo geo roms in the aes folder, don’t remember if this is necessary. But anyway, it’s possible to simply load the roms then (from the RA gui at least, I don’t use any specific frontends).

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4 The games won’t run, what is next? EDIT: I added “Emulators” to the addresses but still, the games wont’ run.

Quote from neogeo.xml

The list contains both MVS and AES cartridges. For the majority of official titles the actual ROM data contained in the cartridges is compatible across systems, the actual codepath taken depends upon the bios used. The only real difference with the cartridges is the physical form of the cartridges which allowed a delayed release of the game for AES systems at a higher cost…

This means that the AES rom and the MVS rom contains the same files.

To emulate Neo Geo AES in RetroArch you have 3 options:

  1. Use FBNeo. The least work. Has AES bioses in neogeo.zip. Put your rom + bios in the same folder, start game, in the quick menu/options select the bios you want to use, done.

  2. Use mame arcade romset with unibios. Works only with neogeo.zip. Rom + bios in the same folder, /system/mame/ini/mame.ini with the entries: readconfig 1 and bios uni-bios_4_0 (or the bios you want), start game and enable read config in quick menu/options as well, restart game and press the buttons for the unibios menu to change mode/language/region: http://unibios.free.fr/howitworks.html

  3. Use mame softlist with aes.zip. Create a “hash” folder: /system/mame/hash/. Download the neogeo.xml from the libretro/mame github page (located in /hash) and place it in this folder. Create a folder named “aes” where you want and put your game.zip and the aes.zip into it. Load the game and mame will check if your game is listed in the neogeo.xml. If all checks are ok, your game starts in AES mode.

        aes/
            â”” game.zip
            â”” aes.zip
  1. Use FBNeo.
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RUM NEOGEO IN AES MODE IN MAME CURRENT (USE GOOGLE TRANSLATOR): https://mundowiihack.wordpress.com/2020/10/03/wii-neogeo-mod-v1-0/comment-page-2/

01 - Run NEOGEO game in AES mode in FBNEO.

02 - When starting the game, and at any time within the game, press the F1 key on the keyboard (if you are using a joystic, press the correct botton to enter into retroarch menu).

03 - Look for: Options > Neo-Geo mode. Select one of the options you want (Use MVS bios, Use AES bios, or Use UNIBIOS).

04 - In [Dipswitch} BIOS, select the one you want (AES Japan or AES Asia).

Ready!

Quit the game and run it again.

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I’m interested to try the 3. option as fbneo core runs fine in aes mode settings (with a special neogeo.zip). Renamed the neogeo folder split set to “aes”, renamed neogeo.zip (taken from MAME 0.234 ROMs (bios-devices) torrent) that is inside the “aes” split rom folder to “aes”. updated the the rompath in mame.ini, compared neogeo.xml games names with my game.zip names, for example, in neogeo.xml it says software name=“maglord” and my rom is maglord.zip, run RA, load mame core, load content, choose that .zip, it won’t run, RA just closes… :confused:

@cesar if you don’t set “Neo-Geo mode” to “Use bios specified in BIOS dipswitch below”, “[DIPSWITCH] BIOS” will be ignored.

What do you mean by special neogeo.zip ?

For fbn core i use merged set with the following neogeo.zip, which i found from searching in google, that works in fbn aes mode settings:

This neogeo.zip from “mame 0.234 bios-devices” kept staying in mvs mode after changing to aes mode in fbneo core settings:

With FBNeo, you are supposed to use FBNeo romsets, not MAME romsets. I already mentioned it : MAME’s neogeo.zip doesn’t contain any AES bios.

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Yeah, i know, this is why i searched for fbn core specific bios :slight_smile: fbn specific games romset is required? Then how come mame merged romset works for me in fbn core?