Blackwine's MRA Based NeoGeo Core Updated

[Xbytez]

Blackwine (@blk_yn) has released another update to his modified arcade focused Neo Geo core, if your favourite title didn't make it to the list of supported MRAs, you should be happy now. The issue with a sound program not being initialized properly at boot time which plagued a handful of games in the previous build has been solved.

As a bonus, there are also H/V-sync adjustments that come in handy when you are playing on CRT. Now there is also an option to pause the core when OSD is open in MVS mode.

This special build also includes a fix for @BitmapBureau's Xeno Crisis with sound coming only from a single speaker in this game when played on the MiSTer.

The required files and more details of his modifications to this core are available here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/missing-files-60446967

[fraggore@sky.com]

Thanks for posting.

[jca]

In the symbolic links provided there is a neogeo.zip -> ../NeoGeo/neogeo.zip.
What is it?

[jca]

Am I stupid or what?
I completely forgot that the arcade core needs the BIOS files which have to be zipped into a file named neogeo.zip.

[xFlesk]

hmmmm, i dont know what im doing wrong but i cant get it to work. i see only a black screen upon booting any game.
i have downloaded provided package, copied to respective folders, did update_all to download all the roms.
all roms (including neogeo.zip) are present now in fat/games/mame/ folder, and yet im getting black screen.
any help ?

[jca]

Let's first start with the console version:
I suppose it is working properly and that you have the roms in games/NeoGeo.
I what format are they: zip or subdirectories?
If they are in subdirectories you likely ran into the same problem I had when the arcade core was first released.
Edit: this above sentence is not correct in the sense that in your case you are not using symlinks but I leave it as is as it explains what happened to me and will help you for your case.

You say that you have the roms in games/mame, I did not have them in that directory but instead used symlinks from mame to games/NeoGeo.
When I ran the update script it did the same thing as it did with you and downloaded all these roms to my surprise as I did not remember my console roms where in subdirectories and not zipped. It did not work for me but I do not remember what were the symptoms.
I guess that the roms downloaded by the mame getter are mame roms which do not work on MISTer (likely encrypted).
What I did was to first delete all the "junk zips" downloaded by mame getter and zip the contents of each subdirectory (I noticed that all these subdirectories had a text file named fpga containing a decimal number, this file does not seems to be used anywhere so I did not include it in the zip but leaving it would do no harm). Once my games/NeoGeo contained only zips, besides the BIOS files and xml files everything worked.
In your case you seem not to use symlinks in games/mame but physical copies of the roms.
If your games/NeoGeo contains zips just copy them over to games/mame, if instead it contains subdirectories you will have to make the zips and copy them to games/mame. I would recommend using symlinks for space saving.

This post is a little long and may be confusing but to simplify:
The roms downloaded by mame getter do not work (at least for me) and you have to use the zips from the darksoft set.
I would also make my own neogeo.zip which must contain:
uni-bios.rom
000-lo.lo
sfix.sfix

[jca]

If you do not have the darksoft roms in zipped form start by zipping only one + neogeo.zip to see if it fixes your problem. Zipping all of them is a lot of work.

[jca]

In my long post I said that the roms downloaded by mame getter were likely encrypted, this may not be the case but due to a difference in format:
There have been additions in romset.xml to support some non darksoft roms and their entry look more like a mra.

[xFlesk]

thank you very much for help
you are right, the roms mame-getter downloaded was from 0.127 mame set in zip format. they are not working because they are encrypted.
i'll tried my neosd *.neo zipped roms (which im using with console neogeo) but they are not working as well.
so i zipped my darksoft set and it works, finally

you said to use symlinks for space saving ? dont know what that mean. im guessing its for people who would like to use console and arcade version of neogeo ? to use one rom set with both of the cores ?

[jca]

Glad it helped, I should have posted it way back when I found out but it is done now.
When it happened to me it was relatively easy to find out as I was using the symlinks: when mame getter downloaded the roms I said "What the heck! I have symlinks pointing to my zips in games/NeoGeo" and looking in that directory I saw that my darksoft roms were not zipped and now I had new roms in zipped format.
By using symlinks you can run both the console and the arcade using the same roms in zipped format -> double space saving: no need for subdirectories, only zips, and no duplication.
For creating the symlinks see: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3898.
I am not sure how it works if you already have the zips in games/mame, I guess that the symlinks would overwrite the zips but someone would have to confirm.

[mario64]

So I just spent 90 minutes going through all my games to adjust Unibios region, mode, blood codes, etc only to find that the settings weren’t being saved (yes I clicked save settings each time). Is this a known issue with this core? Unibios settings don’t save?

[RascalUK]

Hey, looking for ideas. Not managed to get any of these running from the arcade folder yet - not gone down the symlink route yet as trying to get it working first.

I'm zipping up a game from my NeoGeo folder and putting it in games/mame alongside a neogeo.zip I have created from
uni-bios.rom
000-lo.lo
sfix.sfix

When I load a rom I can only get to the Cross Hatch Test screen from the MVS - no game. What am I missing?

[jca]

When the original version of the arcade core (with far less mras) came out I had the same problem but I don't remember exactly what it was but I suspect it comes from your zipped file.
I suppose you had all your NeoGeo console games in subdirectories like I did, you zipped one along with the neogeo.zip so it should work Except for one thing:
after you placed your neogeo.zip and zipped game in games/mame and installing the mras did you run the update script with mame getter enabled?
Did the getter download a bunch of zips related to neogeo? If so it likely overwrote you zipped game and these mame roms do not work.

[RascalUK]

Yeah, I actually ran update all before and it downloaded a heap of those non-working roms which was annoying but I have since deleted the one I am trying and replaced it with a zipped version of my working Darksoft one..... Wasn't even getting the cross hatch yesterday so, well progress

[RascalUK]

I get the cross hatch even if I try loading a game that doesn't exist now, so I kinda think my bios/roms are working.

[jca]

Are you sure you zipped the right rom? Some games have several roms so the zip file must have the same name as in the mra you are trying to run.
Try this one as there is no confusion:
<romset name="aodk" pcm="1" altname="Aggressors of Dark Kombat" altnamej="Tsuukai GANGAN Koushinkyoku" publisher="ADK / SNK" year="1994"/>

[jca]

Also double check your neogeo.zip, I think the getter downloads one and I am not sure if it works with the core.

[RascalUK]

Still the cross hatch on the Aggressors rom... what files are in your neogeo.zip? The getter does download a huge one with lots of different unibios versions but I am using my own at the moment

[jca]

I have the same files, I use unibios V4.0 which is free to download at http://unibios.free.fr/

[RascalUK]

Yeah I have v.4 as well.

What files are in your neogeo.zip? Is it just?

uni-bios.rom
000-lo.lo
sfix.sfix

Or do you have more?

[jca]

Exact same files, at least the names. I used the files I had in my games/NeoGeo directory to make neogeo.zip.
Be careful not run the update script while you are not done. If one zip is missing the getter will want to install it and if I remember correctly it uses brute force: it downloads one big zip and unzip it in mame directory, overwriting your zips.

[mario64]

Anyone know if this core is still being worked on? He mentioned adding save support but it seems focus is now on Toaplan shooters. Just wondering. Thanks

[xFlesk]

will this core ever appear in official releases ?

[rogersta]

I had this running on my original Mister setup and had to reflash my sd card so starting over again. I have this set up with blackwine mra s in the Arcade/_NEO GEO directory and the rbf file in the cores directory. I have it set to mount the games from my retronas via cifs. All darksoft roms in the games/mame directory on the retronas. Not able to load the core from the mister menu.

Note I have a seperate Mister cab setup using this setup and it works as it should. What am I missing?

[Minpin]

Hi

Does anyone know what happened to Blackwine? (AKA fly by night)

[FPGA64]

Hi

Does anyone know what happened to Blackwine? (AKA fly by night)

He has seemingly vanished from Mister development. Its unkind to declare him fly by night. All the devs work in their own time and so if they decide to not work on the project thats their decision