NEO GEO for MiSTer
This is an FPGA implementation of the NEO GEO/MVS system by Furrtek
- Supports memory card saving
- MVS and AES system support
- Compatible with Darksoft ROM sets using provided XML
- Compatible with decrypted MAME ROM sets using your own XML
- Support for Universe BIOS
Note: Core doesn't support encrypted ROMs. Make sure the ROM has no encrypted parts before use it. MAME ROM pack includes many encrypted ROMs so it's not recommended for inexperienced users.
Copy the NeoGeo_*.rbf file to the folder of your choice on the SD card. Create a NEOGEO folder on the root of the card, and place the unzipped ROM sets inside this folder. For ease of setup of use, it is strongly suggested that people use the Darksoft ROM pack. Several things must be observed:
- Each set of ROMs must be in its own folder
- The folders containing the ROM sets must be named to match the XML (MAME standard names)
- The ROMs must not be zipped
- ROM set folders can be placed inside sub-folders for organization
In addition, several bios files must be placed in the NEOGEO folder for the core to function properly:
- 000-lo.lo
- sfix.sfix
- sp-s2.sp1 (MVS)
- neo-epo.sp1 (AES)
- uni-bios.rom
Sometimes these files may be named slightly differently depending on where they are obtained, but they must be renamed to match the filenames above to work with MiSTer. You may choose between using original system BIOS (sp-s2.sp1/neo-epo.sp1) and uni-bios.rom. Using uni-bios is recommended, and can be obtained here.
Lastly, romsets.xml from the release folder must also be placed in the directory. The provided XML is for Darksoft ROMs only, you must make your own for MAME ROMs. This file describes to the core where the ROM sets are located and how to load them.
In AES mode, all saves are to the memory card only. In MVS mode, some games and uni-bios save their settings to a special area of battery backed ram built into the system, while game data can be still be saved to a memory card. To simplify things, it is suggested to stick to one system type on the OSD and use uni-bios to change the system type, so that game information is saved consistently.
Neo Geo uses very large ROMs. About 84% of the library will fit onto a 32 megabyte SDRAM module. Another 12% will fit onto a 64 megabyte SDRAM module. The remaining 8 games require a 128 megabyte module. For more information about which games can be loaded with which sized RAM, open romsets.xml in your favorite text editor or github. The games are organized by size.