Post by seiryu on Oct 26, 2003 5:34:12 GMT -5
Heya all, welcome to the emulation section.
Before going around asking help on your emulation problem, i sugest you read this thread first.
It might have the answer to your problem or the item you're looking for on your emulation matter.
Seeing there are so many questions on the same matter every time, it's better to set up a thread that has the general tips in them for everyone to find.
GENERAL POINTS:
-All emulators must have the neogeo bios zip in the same directory as where you place your games/roms.Or else the emulators will never play neogeo games....never!!!
the bios zip for NEBULA/WINKAWAKS contains the following files, plus notice the file sizes for cross checking.
Same goes for the NEORAGEX version of the bios file.
-All games and the neogeo bios zip MUST be left zipped in the directory.Do not unzip them als do not add the bios file into the zip of the game.Just leave them as their own zip in the same folder all together....games and bios zip.
-Make sure your rompath leads to your folder with roms, so that the emulator knows where to look for your games.
NEORAGEX SCREEN
NEBULA SCREEN(this should open up a window in which you can insert the paths.
WINKAWAKS(this alo opens a window for path insertion.
-Check if your zip has the same name as the ones in the list of the emulator.You can check them in the list where you can pick a game to play.This is also helpfull to see what gamezip you need to get when you want to get/play a specific game you want.
NEBULA EXAMPLE.
Emulators:
There are different types of emulators, depending on your pc power you should make a choice to suit it best for optimal performence.
-NEORAGE X:
This is the oldest emulator you can get for playing the games.Still a fav with many players because it is the most userfriendly and it runs very fast on any pc, plus it doesn't need a loader or anything to play the newer games, just be sure to have the correct romsets (NEORAGEX romsets are different than the sets used to play on NEBULA/WINKAWAKS most of the time, emulator sites usually have different sections for NEORAGEX and NBULA/WINKAWAKS games) and the bios files zip also in the same roms folder you have your games in..It's DOS based so the image options are limited compared to the other window based emulators.
gettable here:
-www.geoshock.com/downloads/emulators/neorage.phtml
-www.neoragex.com/ (NOTE;you can also get the neogeo bios zip here)
-NEBULA:
This emulator is windows based and needs a pretty fast PC to be able to make it run on full speed.
But if you have a new PC it's recomendable to get either this or WINKAWAKS.
It uses a different bios file than the NEORAGE, and the gameroms are different than the ones you use in NEORAGE X.
Make sure you download the correct gamerom, this is a most common problem beginners bump into that can't get a game to work.
You also need DAT files that you can download from most emulation sites for playing the games.
DAT's basicly tell the emulator what roms are in the zip,what size they are and the name of them so that the emulator recognices the game and gets the right roms to run it.
It is helpfull to get the DAT file first, this way you can see what roms you need to play the game (romnames are shown in the DAT file text, so you know what files to get)
You can open up a DAT with a word program such as notepad.Most times when a new game comes out, people on a forum post the text of the DAT for the new game on the forum.You can copy that text and past it in a new notepad file and then save it as *gamezip name*.DAT.That also works to make a DAT to be able to make your new game run.
EXAMPLE OF A DAT. file
The official NEBULA homepage is right here:
nebula.emulatronia.com/
-WINKAWAKS
This emulator works almost identical to NEBULA but is a bit user friendly, making it more popular with new players.It also needs a pretty fast pc to make it run at full speed.
But it shows in the end, just like the NEBULA it's windows based thus having a lot of grafics options to mess around with to play the game the way you want to see it on your screen.
Test out the different video modes and raster types to see what works best on your PC.This is also a comon question when trying out a emulator for the first time.
WINKAWAKS uses the same bios as NEBULA and the same game zips/roms.
Altough the emulator is not being updated anymore by the author, it's still one of the newest an up to date emulators around.
Go here for the official site of WINKAWAKS.
kawaks.retrogames.com/
-MAME
Mame stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and basically it emulates just as it saids Multiple Arcade Machines. Mame the emulator itself is Dos based (they also offer a Mac version I believe) and basically everyone I have talked to uses the Mame32 GUI which can be used over the dos version to add a very easy to use interface. Mame32 doesn't need the fastest computer in the world to run certain older games however if you want to play certain newer games such as King of Fighter 2000, Killer Instinct 1-2, Cruisin World and Mortal Kombat III you are going to need a power computer.
www.mame.net/ - The Emulators Homepage.
www.classicgaming.com/mame32qa/ - The Win32 Gui for Emulator.
www.mameworld.net - The best resource for Mame.
Other great sites:
www.romshare.net - Download roms here.
www.filemirrors.com - You can get the neogeo.zip (Mame Version) amoung other things here.
alt.binaries.emulators.mame - Newgroups
www.freemameroms.com - This is a free service which you pay for the cds cost and shipping and they mail you the complete set of 4000+ Mame Roms plus extras. I recently did this and got 5 DVD's full!
Neo Geo Bios for Mame
Changing/Adding Rom Directories
Default is the Rom folder within the Mame folder but you can add multiple folders here by clicking Insert
Naming Sturcture of the Roms
Image of Game loading
Image of Game loading 2
There are some games also which require CHD files. A CHD file is compressed image of the hard drive used in an arcade cabinet. Hard drives are used in arcade games because of the huge storage available on them (gigabytes!). At the moment there are 21 games that use CHD files. These are some of them Area 51, Killer Instinct, Killer Instinct 2, Maximum Force, Vicious Circle, Wargods and certain others. Files sizes vary from 63MB - 1.1GB so make sure you have plenty of hard disk space as a full set of Mame roms will now use over 20GBs!!! CHD files need to be put in their own folders within your main Roms folder. For example Killer Instinct uses a romfile called kinst.zip and a hard disk file called kinst.chd. First the rom file need to be put (Still zipped!) into the main Mame roms folder (Normally C:\Mame\Roms). You then need to create a new folder within your roms folder called kinst and copy the kinst.chd (Not zipped!) file into it (C:\Mame\Roms\kinst).
Here is a image of the CHD file structure.
Remember to always read all the read me files that come with the emulator when you want to figure out something.
Most of the times the answere to many questions is explained by the author in a read me file.
Also helpfull for knowing the different options the emulator can do.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A couple of very good emulation sites that have very good info or have knowledgeable members that can help out with tough questions are:
English sites
-www.romshare.net
-bbs.romshare.net/
Spanish sites
-speksnk.metropoliglobal.com/phpbb/index.php
Good luck,
The NeoGeo For life staff.
(With thanks to Mysterizone for the up to date MAME info)
Before going around asking help on your emulation problem, i sugest you read this thread first.
It might have the answer to your problem or the item you're looking for on your emulation matter.
Seeing there are so many questions on the same matter every time, it's better to set up a thread that has the general tips in them for everyone to find.
GENERAL POINTS:
-All emulators must have the neogeo bios zip in the same directory as where you place your games/roms.Or else the emulators will never play neogeo games....never!!!
the bios zip for NEBULA/WINKAWAKS contains the following files, plus notice the file sizes for cross checking.
Same goes for the NEORAGEX version of the bios file.
-All games and the neogeo bios zip MUST be left zipped in the directory.Do not unzip them als do not add the bios file into the zip of the game.Just leave them as their own zip in the same folder all together....games and bios zip.
-Make sure your rompath leads to your folder with roms, so that the emulator knows where to look for your games.
NEORAGEX SCREEN
NEBULA SCREEN(this should open up a window in which you can insert the paths.
WINKAWAKS(this alo opens a window for path insertion.
-Check if your zip has the same name as the ones in the list of the emulator.You can check them in the list where you can pick a game to play.This is also helpfull to see what gamezip you need to get when you want to get/play a specific game you want.
NEBULA EXAMPLE.
Emulators:
There are different types of emulators, depending on your pc power you should make a choice to suit it best for optimal performence.
-NEORAGE X:
This is the oldest emulator you can get for playing the games.Still a fav with many players because it is the most userfriendly and it runs very fast on any pc, plus it doesn't need a loader or anything to play the newer games, just be sure to have the correct romsets (NEORAGEX romsets are different than the sets used to play on NEBULA/WINKAWAKS most of the time, emulator sites usually have different sections for NEORAGEX and NBULA/WINKAWAKS games) and the bios files zip also in the same roms folder you have your games in..It's DOS based so the image options are limited compared to the other window based emulators.
gettable here:
-www.geoshock.com/downloads/emulators/neorage.phtml
-www.neoragex.com/ (NOTE;you can also get the neogeo bios zip here)
-NEBULA:
This emulator is windows based and needs a pretty fast PC to be able to make it run on full speed.
But if you have a new PC it's recomendable to get either this or WINKAWAKS.
It uses a different bios file than the NEORAGE, and the gameroms are different than the ones you use in NEORAGE X.
Make sure you download the correct gamerom, this is a most common problem beginners bump into that can't get a game to work.
You also need DAT files that you can download from most emulation sites for playing the games.
DAT's basicly tell the emulator what roms are in the zip,what size they are and the name of them so that the emulator recognices the game and gets the right roms to run it.
It is helpfull to get the DAT file first, this way you can see what roms you need to play the game (romnames are shown in the DAT file text, so you know what files to get)
You can open up a DAT with a word program such as notepad.Most times when a new game comes out, people on a forum post the text of the DAT for the new game on the forum.You can copy that text and past it in a new notepad file and then save it as *gamezip name*.DAT.That also works to make a DAT to be able to make your new game run.
EXAMPLE OF A DAT. file
The official NEBULA homepage is right here:
nebula.emulatronia.com/
-WINKAWAKS
This emulator works almost identical to NEBULA but is a bit user friendly, making it more popular with new players.It also needs a pretty fast pc to make it run at full speed.
But it shows in the end, just like the NEBULA it's windows based thus having a lot of grafics options to mess around with to play the game the way you want to see it on your screen.
Test out the different video modes and raster types to see what works best on your PC.This is also a comon question when trying out a emulator for the first time.
WINKAWAKS uses the same bios as NEBULA and the same game zips/roms.
Altough the emulator is not being updated anymore by the author, it's still one of the newest an up to date emulators around.
Go here for the official site of WINKAWAKS.
kawaks.retrogames.com/
-MAME
Mame stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and basically it emulates just as it saids Multiple Arcade Machines. Mame the emulator itself is Dos based (they also offer a Mac version I believe) and basically everyone I have talked to uses the Mame32 GUI which can be used over the dos version to add a very easy to use interface. Mame32 doesn't need the fastest computer in the world to run certain older games however if you want to play certain newer games such as King of Fighter 2000, Killer Instinct 1-2, Cruisin World and Mortal Kombat III you are going to need a power computer.
www.mame.net/ - The Emulators Homepage.
www.classicgaming.com/mame32qa/ - The Win32 Gui for Emulator.
www.mameworld.net - The best resource for Mame.
Other great sites:
www.romshare.net - Download roms here.
www.filemirrors.com - You can get the neogeo.zip (Mame Version) amoung other things here.
alt.binaries.emulators.mame - Newgroups
www.freemameroms.com - This is a free service which you pay for the cds cost and shipping and they mail you the complete set of 4000+ Mame Roms plus extras. I recently did this and got 5 DVD's full!
Neo Geo Bios for Mame
Changing/Adding Rom Directories
Default is the Rom folder within the Mame folder but you can add multiple folders here by clicking Insert
Naming Sturcture of the Roms
Image of Game loading
Image of Game loading 2
There are some games also which require CHD files. A CHD file is compressed image of the hard drive used in an arcade cabinet. Hard drives are used in arcade games because of the huge storage available on them (gigabytes!). At the moment there are 21 games that use CHD files. These are some of them Area 51, Killer Instinct, Killer Instinct 2, Maximum Force, Vicious Circle, Wargods and certain others. Files sizes vary from 63MB - 1.1GB so make sure you have plenty of hard disk space as a full set of Mame roms will now use over 20GBs!!! CHD files need to be put in their own folders within your main Roms folder. For example Killer Instinct uses a romfile called kinst.zip and a hard disk file called kinst.chd. First the rom file need to be put (Still zipped!) into the main Mame roms folder (Normally C:\Mame\Roms). You then need to create a new folder within your roms folder called kinst and copy the kinst.chd (Not zipped!) file into it (C:\Mame\Roms\kinst).
Here is a image of the CHD file structure.
Remember to always read all the read me files that come with the emulator when you want to figure out something.
Most of the times the answere to many questions is explained by the author in a read me file.
Also helpfull for knowing the different options the emulator can do.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A couple of very good emulation sites that have very good info or have knowledgeable members that can help out with tough questions are:
English sites
-www.romshare.net
-bbs.romshare.net/
Spanish sites
-speksnk.metropoliglobal.com/phpbb/index.php
Good luck,
The NeoGeo For life staff.
(With thanks to Mysterizone for the up to date MAME info)
;D
