This is an FPGA implementation of the NEO GEO/MVS system by Furrtek
Note: This core does not support encrypted ROMs. Make sure the ROM has no encrypted parts before using. MAME ROM pack includes many encrypted ROMs so it's not recommended for inexperienced users. Using the .neo conversion tool with a MAME ROM set will result in some ROMs still being encrypted. There is an alternate .neo conversion tool for the Darksoft ROM set that will give you a fully decrypted set.
Darksoft to .neo conversion tool
Copy the NeoGeo_*.rbf file to the 'Console' or 'Arcade' folder (your choice) on the SD card. ROMs should go in the 'games\NeoGeo' folder. For ease of use, it is strongly suggested that people use the Darksoft ROM pack. These can be either zipped or unzipped with minimal loading speed difference. Several things must be observed:
In addition, several bios files must be placed in the 'games\NeoGeo' folder for the core to function properly:
These bios files must be placed in the 'games\NeoGeo-CD' folder:
Sometimes these files may be named slightly different 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 the original system BIOS (sp-s2.sp1/neo-epo.sp1) or UniBios (uni-bios.rom). Using UniBios 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. gog-romsets.xml can be used (renamed to romsets.xml) for games purchased from gog.com (which also include all the needed bios files), see comments in gog-romsets.xml .
In AES mode, all saves are to the memory card only. In MVS mode, some games and UniBios save their settings to a special area of battery backed ram built into the system, while game data can still be saved to a memory card.
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.