Zipped ROM’s With MiSTer

[johnnym]

Does the MiSTer support ROM’s that are compressed in ZIP format or do these need to be un-zipped? I’ve got a few ROM sets on my PC that I’ve used for various emulators, just want to know before moving them over to the ssd card on the MiSTer. I understand it does support CHD’s but not sure about this.

[ARCADEAGES]

.zip is supported for ROMs. Don't think you can zip CD images though.

[johnnym]

Thanks, that will save me a load of space. For the CHD’s I meant these are already compressed

[fraggore@sky.com]

You can by coverting them to CHD files.

[aberu]

I think almost all cores that use smaller roms (not big CD ISO's) support zips, where you can just go to them like a folder.

[breiztiger]

But some core like amstrad cpc doesn’t like zip for speed reason

Try batman demo zipped and you see what i say

[kathleen]

In addition to this, to my recollection it is not possible to save anything if a ZIP rom is used. For instance, saving high scores with the Minimig or Mistery cores.

[zorrobandito]

The usual caveat regarding write frequency applies though, right? That is, zipped roms are harder on your SD card.

[bazza_12]

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=38152
interesting thread, in response to the question, 'Does unzipping games uses the SD card?' Sorg says no..

[aberu]

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=38152
interesting thread, in response to the question, 'Does unzipping games uses the SD card?' Sorg says no..

It uses it, but it's just reads. Reads won't wear down a MicroSD card, only writes. The unzipped roms I believe are not cached to storage, they are cached to system memory (I think this is why chd/bin for cd games are not supported, since that would require a lot of memory that might not be available).

[bazza_12]

(I think this is why chd/bin for cd games are not supported, since that would require a lot of memory that might not be available).

so how does the a0486/megacd support chd/bin?.. is that dependent on system memory or sdcard available space?

[aberu]

(I think this is why chd/bin for cd games are not supported, since that would require a lot of memory that might not be available).

so how does the a0486/megacd support chd/bin?.. is that dependent on system memory or sdcard available space?

The ao486 core supports CHD/BIN's being zipped?

[bazza_12]

(I think this is why chd/bin for cd games are not supported, since that would require a lot of memory that might not be available).

so how does the a0486/megacd support chd/bin?.. is that dependent on system memory or sdcard available space?

The ao486 core supports CHD/BIN's being zipped?

ahh sorry i misunderstood.. i didn't realise you meant zipped chds.. my mistake.

[pbsk8]

in my no-intro folders, I have .zip. rar and .7z

all of them are supported in cores like nes, snes e genesis?

[Bumtree]

in my no-intro folders, I have .zip. rar and .7z

all of them are supported in cores like nes, snes e genesis?

I haven't confirmed this but I'm sure it's ONLY regular .zip compression which is supported at this time.

[rhester72]

I haven't confirmed this but I'm sure it's ONLY regular .zip compression which is supported at this time.

Correct.

[tturktime]

Zipped ROMs (bin/cue) on the Saturn core make the games work extremely slow with many slowdowns and moments where game freezes (but comes back after a while). Perhaps when CHD is supported that core will handle better compressed images.

[rhester72]

Yeah, you really can't compress random-access media like CD-ROM with traditional linear compression like ZIP. CHD works because each block is compressed separately and distinctly with a LUT for truly random access.