Neo Geo Cue Files

MrsBison
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Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by MrsBison »

Hi there,

hope this is the right place to come up with my problem. Mabye my last big one :P

Neo Geo Games Module all working
Neo Geo CD Games as CHD all working

But

How to handle Neo Geo CD Games as Cue Bin file folders ?
Where to place the needed hardware files like Bios + Unibios + negeo cdz ...

Maybe someone can please make a screenshot or write just a few words so i can play these games too ?

Thanx alot :)

im afraid your path ends here ... Jago

tcdev
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by tcdev »

cue/bin file are a PITA! Use chdman (comes with MAME):

chdman createcd -i <game>.cue -o <game>.chd

Just be aware that some .cue files don't have the correct paths or names of the .bin file(s). Easy to modify yourself if you get an error.

MrsBison
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by MrsBison »

Thanx for the tip.

I watched two "how to chdman" tut videos and it looks easy.

Ill give a feedback after work when i tried it out.

Kind regards

im afraid your path ends here ... Jago

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Chris23235
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by Chris23235 »

MrsBison wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2023 6:20 am

Hi there,

hope this is the right place to come up with my problem. Mabye my last big one :P

Neo Geo Games Module all working
Neo Geo CD Games as CHD all working

But

How to handle Neo Geo CD Games as Cue Bin file folders ?
Where to place the needed hardware files like Bios + Unibios + negeo cdz ...

Maybe someone can please make a screenshot or write just a few words so i can play these games too ?

Thanx alot :)

The github page of the core has all the information you need:

These bios files must be placed in the 'games\NeoGeo-CD' folder:

  • top-sp1.bin (CD)
  • neocd.bin (CDZ)
  • uni-bioscd.rom (CD and CDZ)

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/NeoGeo_MiSTer

In general first take a look at the official documentation of a core, in 99% of all times these questions will be answered there.

MrsBison
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by MrsBison »

Thanx alot ill give it a try so i understand both....

Making and using CHD and using cue bin

Thanx :)

im afraid your path ends here ... Jago

MrsBison
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by MrsBison »

Samurai Shodown Englisch Version runs.
That was easy. Latest CHDMAN Version dont need CMD input.
Only doubleclick and finish...

Great :)

Thanx again-

im afraid your path ends here ... Jago

rhester72
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by rhester72 »

Make sure you remove the copy protection from affected games...

pac
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by pac »

No need if you're using the Unibios.

rhester72
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by rhester72 »

@pac the obvious CP that prevents boot entirely, agreed - UniBIOS doesn't do anything for the ones with in-game protection.

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TLPD-AVW
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by TLPD-AVW »

rhester72 wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2023 11:46 pm

@pac the obvious CP that prevents boot entirely, agreed - UniBIOS doesn't do anything for the ones with in-game protection.

Are there any examples of obvious in-game copy protections checks? Where game works at first but then suddenly stops.

rhester72
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by rhester72 »

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TLPD-AVW
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by TLPD-AVW »

Literally from your page:

Todo: How does the in-game protection work ?

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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by rhester72 »

Shoot, you're right - sorry, it's a different page that has the patches.

A description of the approach is here:

https://www.neogeocdworld.info/html/aid ... ctions.htm

but the specifics of the protection vary from game to game (anywhere from a lockup to deliberately altering game mechanics). The method of disabling the trigger remains more or less the same.

There's more information in this archive (including patches - yes, it looks shady, but it's legit):

https://disk.yandex.com/d/XJVJmTzh7XnJr

There was a MiSTer discussion on the topic:

viewtopic.php?t=3016

I hand-cracked all of my own (because I wanted very specific revisions and the like), but for the lazy (not mine, but same net effect):

https://archive.org/download/RealBoutFa ... Removed.7z

or

https://archive.org/download/chd_neogeo ... D-Cracked/

If you know a touch of 68K assembly, the documentation above is all you need to do it yourself by hand.

The set I have patched on my own consists of (in CHD format):

Art of Fighting 3
Breakers
Fatal Fury 3
Ironclad
King of Fighters '95, The
King of Fighters '96, The
King of Fighters '97, The
King of Fighters '98, The
King of Fighters '99, The
Last Blade 2, The
Last Blade, The
Magical Drop II
Metal Slug
Metal Slug 2
Neo Drift Out
Neo Turf Masters
Ninja Master's
Pleasure Goal
Ragnagard
Real Bout Fatal Fury
Real Bout Fatal Fury 2
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
Robo Army
Samurai Shodown III
Samurai Shodown IV - Amakusa's Revenge
Savage Reign
Soccer Brawl
Super Sidekicks 3 - The Next Glory
Twinkle Star Sprites

Let me know if you need any of mine or if you encounter any difficulties.

If you want to see a simple example of the copy protection in action, just fire up Robo Army and let it run through the demo for three cycles...you'll then be greeted with this fun message in blue text on a black background:

"WARNING

THIS CD SOFTWARE IS A COPY AND CAN
NOT BE PLAYED FURTHER.
COPIED SNK SOFTWARE INFRINGES
SNK'S COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS.
WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU PURCHASE
ORIGINAL SNK SOFT WARE."

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TLPD-AVW
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by TLPD-AVW »

rhester72 wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2023 2:00 pm

If you want to see a simple example of the copy protection in action, just fire up Robo Army and let it run through the demo for three cycles...you'll then be greeted with this fun message in blue text on a black background:

Thanks, that's just what I asked for in the first place.

However, I've left the attract mode running for some time, yet no issues turned up with a .chd built from an unpatched Redump copy of an original disc. The BIOS is set to Universe BIOS. neogeodev.org wiki also claims that the game should lock up after the third stage, yet I was able to complete the game with above mentioned settings. Perhaps UniBIOS does patch in-game checks automatically after all?

Edit: Just tried the same image with a stock CDZ BIOS and the protection did kick in on an attract mode, so the image does have copy protection indeed. UniBIOS did make a difference.

MrsBison
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by MrsBison »

Neo Geo CD Collection

Samurai Shodown RPG is my only CHD ....
Rest of the games all CUE Bin Files.
Not a single game do hav any issues depending copyright.

Every Game is running great.

im afraid your path ends here ... Jago

rhester72
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by rhester72 »

TLPD-AVW wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2023 4:19 pm

However, I've left the attract mode running for some time, yet no issues turned up with a .chd built from an unpatched Redump copy of an original disc. The BIOS is set to Universe BIOS. neogeodev.org wiki also claims that the game should lock up after the third stage, yet I was able to complete the game with above mentioned settings. Perhaps UniBIOS does patch in-game checks automatically after all?

Edit: Just tried the same image with a stock CDZ BIOS and the protection did kick in on an attract mode, so the image does have copy protection indeed. UniBIOS did make a difference.

Interesting.

The folks at NG Forever didn't seem to think it did, and there's no mention of it in the documentation except one line:

  • Suppress CD sector checks (failing drives work in some cases).

which may be a tongue-in-cheek way of saying they intercept the sector check and give back a 'good' value, but that's a bit surprising tbh.

In any event, if you aren't seeing failures, for whatever reason, that's great! A lot of people seem unawares there even are in-game checks on a number of titles, so I wanted to make sure I got that out there (for you or anyone else that needs it in the future).

pac
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Re: Neo Geo Cue Files

Unread post by pac »

A 100 percent sure that the Unibios does the trick here, no copy protection error triggered on real hardware or the core.

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