Neo Geo won't load 1/3rd of my games

RetroArch Windows devices
#1

Hey guys,

So I’ve got RetroArch running just fine for the most part. Honestly it seems pretty simple for the cartridge and CD systems.

However… now I’m trying to get it setup for the Neo Geo.

I’m using the fba_libretro.dll core, and it boots most of my games just fine. It instantly pulls up the unibios 3.1 menu (can’t figure out how to make it load 3.2) and goes right into the game with the settings I’ve chosen.

However, the following games will not load:

Crossed Swords Fatal Fury 2 Fight Fever [LEFT]Flip Shot[/LEFT] Irritating Maze King of Fighters '99 Legend of Success Joe Magician Lord Sengoku 3 Soccer Brawl Street Hoop Super Dodge Ball Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer World Heroes 2 Jet

At first I figured this was a BIOS issue, so I tried several different versions of the neogeo.zip (placed in my roms folder, if I take it out NONE of them load; normally I put BIOS in the C:\RetroArch\system folder) however no matter what version of the neogeo.zip I tried, nothing changed.

I spent 4 hours trying to figure this out last night and about pulled my hair out… I’ve gotten all my other RetroArch systems emulated properly, so I can’t understand what I am doing wrong here and it’s making me feel really stupid lol.

#2

FBA doesn’t run all games that MAME runs, so you may have to use an actual MAME core for some/all of those. Also, make sure your ROMs are from an actual FBA set (google ‘fba roms’ and the first hit should be appropriate).

#3

Well switching to a MAME core doesn’t sound too bad as long as I can set it to run the roms in US-Console mode.

I’m running this all through HyperSpin & RocketLauncher so I think I have to set the whole system to a single-core.

I’ve noticed there are a number of MAME cores listed… do you know which one would be best for emulating the Neo Geo in AES mode?

#4

Sooooo I spoke too soon haha.

I switched to the MAME core and MAN is it giving me problems.

I figured out TAB would pull up some kind of in-emulator menu… which is a forseeable problem as TAB is my reset button.

I can control the menu just fine with the keyboard, but as soon as I use my USB controller it goes whacky as can be. I run my entire system via Xpadder, but this MAME core seems to be taking input from both keyboard and USB controller at the same time.

I figured out how to switch it to the unibios, but I can only make it boot manually. I’m not sure how to make it just boot like that normally.

#5

Yeah, the MAME cores can be a bit funky. I think it’s only the latest MAME that acts like you’re describing, though, I think, so you might try mame2010 (v0139 ROMset) and see if it acts less weird for you.

#6

Ok, I’ll have to give that core a try when I get back home.

I’ve noticed people reference MAME with specific versions of romsets. Does the romset version apply to the Neo Geo roms? I only ask because me end goal is to emulate the AES and not the MVS, and I don’t have any arcade games on my setup. (I’ll be doing that in my next build which is a cabinet, my current build is a console of sorts)

Sorry if some of these questions are noob-ish. I’m just far more familiar with more straight-forward emulation like NES, Genesis, Dreamcast, Playstation, etc.

#7

The ROMsets don’t matter re: AVS/MVS, but you do need exactly the right ROMset for your MAME/FBA version because there’s no way to know which ROMs have or have not changed from version to version.

#8

So if I understand correctly, in order for me to be able to emulate the AES games with the MAME 2010 core, I’ll need Neo Geo roms from a v0139 romset?

#9

Yes, and then you’ll need to do the unibios stuff as usual.

Btw, when you were trying them through FBA, were they actually from an FBA set or were you using random MAME ROMs from the interwebz?

#10

I GOT IT WORKING!!! WOOOOO!!!

So, to both answer your question and highlight what the problem was, I originally got the Neo Geo roms (and bunch of others) from a giant hyperspin torrent on teh interwebz lol.

I wasn’t fully comprehending how certain roms only worked with certain emulators regarding these. I re-read some of the information you gave me after trying some MAME cores and found a lovely spanish site that had exactly what I needed for the Final Burn Alpha core to run them all.

So, they all run perfect now! Well… except Irritating Maze because it apparently needed a special BIOS I don’t have and the MVS version used a trackball and… well it’s not exactly a game that will be missed hahahaha.

Anyway, thank you SO much for your help. You don’t know how nice it feels to have this finished up. I thought it was going to take me 10 minutes to confirm each rom worked and it turned into a whole weekend lol.

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

#11

[QUOTE=SkyHighGam3r;35761] So, to both answer your question and highlight what the problem was, I originally got the Neo Geo roms (and bunch of others) from a giant hyperspin torrent on teh interwebz lol.

I wasn’t fully comprehending how certain roms only worked with certain emulators regarding these. I re-read some of the information you gave me after trying some MAME cores and found a lovely spanish site that had exactly what I needed for the Final Burn Alpha core to run them all. [/QUOTE] But no reference to what the correct rom set is or a link to the Spanish site, for Googlers that have the exact same problem (I cannot run exactly the games you listed, can run the rest, and think I had the correct rom set but I guess not). Sigh.

#12

[QUOTE=Al-Khwarizmi;51633]or a link to the Spanish site[/QUOTE]We don’t allow links to ROM sites or other places hosting copyrighted materials here.

#13

Yeah I couldn’t exactly give out the link as HunterHK stated.

As far as what “set” it wasn’t a whole set, It was individual items under a Final Burn Alpha section. It’s been a while but I remember the site had a white background.

Hope that helps.

#14

[QUOTE=SkyHighGam3r;35679]Hey guys,

So I’ve got RetroArch running just fine for the most part. Honestly it seems pretty simple for the cartridge and CD systems.

However… now I’m trying to get it setup for the Neo Geo.

I’m using the fba_libretro.dll core, and it boots most of my games just fine. It instantly pulls up the unibios 3.1 menu (can’t figure out how to make it load 3.2) and goes right into the game with the settings I’ve chosen.

However, the following games will not load:

Crossed Swords Fatal Fury 2 Fight Fever [LEFT]Flip Shot[/LEFT] Irritating Maze King of Fighters '99 Legend of Success Joe Magician Lord Sengoku 3 Soccer Brawl Street Hoop Super Dodge Ball Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer World Heroes 2 Jet

At first I figured this was a BIOS issue, so I tried several different versions of the neogeo.zip (placed in my roms folder, if I take it out NONE of them load; normally I put BIOS in the C:\RetroArch\system folder) however no matter what version of the neogeo.zip I tried, nothing changed.

I spent 4 hours trying to figure this out last night and about pulled my hair out… I’ve gotten all my other RetroArch systems emulated properly, so I can’t understand what I am doing wrong here and it’s making me feel really stupid lol.[/QUOTE] Your roms are wrong, search “fba romset 0.2.97.39” in your favorite search engine, it will solve your issues within a few minutes, neogeo.zip goes in the roms folder, you don’t need “different versions” of it, just the good one. I answer similar questions every day (literally), people seriously don’t know how to use a search engine in 2016 ?

#15

Yeah… the fact I needed FBA roms was figured out and mentioned as the solution way back in March.

Furthermore, regarding your condescending attitude on ‘using a search engine in 2016’ google only helps you so much if you don’t know what to put into it. At the time, there was no way for me to know the FBA core needed ‘special’ roms. It’s quite a bit different from what most people are used to.

No one is just going to know they need “fba 0.2.97.39” roms if they’ve only been emulating genesis and nes games before.

Furthermore, the whole reason we have forums is to discuss issues we need help with.

#16

Sure, that’s not as if there is thousands (literally) of pages on internet mentioning an arcade set is for a specific emulator/version.

#17

Yep, pops up on MAME all the time.

Doesn’t pop up so much when you are looking to emulate the Neo Geo “console” and aren’t familiar with the fact that their console was basically identical to the arcade system.

But whatever dude, your so much smarter than me, and have super google skills superior to mine. I’m so grateful you took the time from your day to drag up a dead and solved topic to spread your greatness upon us.

#18

This topic appeared as suggestion when i was answering another topic on fba, i clicked and answered. My bad for not reading the whole topic, at some point i stopped reading whole topics when someone ask why their roms aren’t working in fba, takes too much time and the answer is always the same. I prefer spending time reading real fba issue that didn’t get reported on fbalpha’s github.