Guide to Playing NeoGeo CD games with either Nebula or NEOCD/SDL

I didn't see a Neo Geo CD tutorial or guide anywhere, so I thought I'd write one.

This tutorial is for playing Neo-Geo CD ISO's, not for Neo-Geo arcade roms.

First of all, you only need to burn Neo Geo CD games if you have a Neo Geo console and wish to play it on there. If you don't have a Neo Geo console, or only want to play on an emulator, than you DO NOT NEED TO BURN ANYTHING.

To play on an emulator:
First, check the extension of the archive that contains your NeoGeo CD game. If the extension is .rar or .7z, than you need a utility like WinRar or 7-zip to extract the game from the archive.

Get WinRar here (not freeware, 40-day "try-before-you-buy):
http://www.rarlab.com/

Get 7-zip here (this one is 100% free):
http://www.7-zip.org/

Download and install either one and use it to extract the files from the archive to the same folder. Make sure all the files are extracted to the SAME folder. You should now have in that folder a cue file, an ISO file and probably some mp3's. If you don't have a cue file, than you need to make one. Don't worry, it's easy to do, though a bit time-consuming.

Open Notepad.
Copy and Paste the following to NotePad:

Code:

FILE "(name of the iso file goes here)" BINARY TRACK 01 MODE1/2048 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "(name of the first mp3 file goes here)" MP3 TRACK 02 AUDIO PREGAP 00:03:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "(name of the second mp3 file goes here)" MP3 TRACK 03 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "(name of the third mp3 file goes here)" MP3 TRACK 04 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "(name of the fourth mp3 file goes here)" MP3 TRACK 05 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00

Now, edit and replace where it says (name of the iso file goes here) with the PRECISE name of the ISO file. Then edit and replace where it says (name of the first mp3 file goes here) with the PRECISE name of the first mp3 file. Then do the same for the second mp3 file. Etc...

More than likely, there will be more than 4 mp3's. Some games have more than 50 mp3's (which is why I said earlier that this could be a bit time-consuming). If you have more mp3's, then add more lines to the cue sheet:

Code:

FILE "(name of the fifth mp3 file goes here)" MP3 TRACK 06 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "(name of the sixth mp3 file goes here)" MP3 TRACK 07 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00

And so on...

Notice that for each mp3, where it says TRACK ## AUDIO, the number for ## increases by one. So, the next 3 lines in our example would be:

Code:

FILE "(name of the seventh mp3 file goes here)" MP3 TRACK 08 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00

Once you're done adding all the necessary lines, save your cue sheet to your computer, naming the cue sheet whatever you want--using the name of the game is a good idea though--as long as you use .cue for the file extension.
Example:
Street Hoop.cue

If you forget, and name the file as a text file (.txt) then just rename it so that the extension is .cue. Windows by default hides known file extensions, so to rename it to .cue, you may have to first:
Open any folder, then click: "View" > "Folder Options" > "View" tab > then uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types" > "OK"

If you still have trouble understanding what I mean, then check out this example of a complete cue sheet for Street Slam (a.k.a. Street Hoop)

Code:

FILE "Street Hoop - Track 01.iso" BINARY TRACK 01 MODE1/2048 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 02.mp3" MP3 TRACK 02 AUDIO PREGAP 00:03:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 03.mp3" MP3 TRACK 03 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 04.mp3" MP3 TRACK 04 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 05.mp3" MP3 TRACK 05 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 06.mp3" MP3 TRACK 06 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 07.mp3" MP3 TRACK 07 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 08.mp3" MP3 TRACK 08 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 09.mp3" MP3 TRACK 09 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 10.mp3" MP3 TRACK 10 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 11.mp3" MP3 TRACK 11 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "Street Hoop - Track 12.mp3" MP3 TRACK 12 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00

Once you have a proper cue sheet, you're ready to play the game with either of 2 emulators: Nebula or NeoCD/SDL.
Personally, I recommend that you try both, and pick whichever you like better. Nebula has more features and can play (most) games in the ISO + MP3 format.
NeoCD/SDL is easier to configure, but can only play games that are mounted to a virtual drive in ISO + WAV format, so you have to convert the MP3's to WAV.
So they both have their advantages, and disadvantages.
And they both have about the same level of compatibility, though I've noticed that NeoCD/SDL can play a few games that Nebula can't.

But I prefer Nebula because of the added features and how it can play the games without having to decompress the MP3's to WAV's first, so that's the emulator I will give set-up instructions for first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEBULA GUIDE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To play with Nebula 2.24:
Download Nebula 2.24 (or whatever is the most recent update) from here:
http://nebula.emulatronia.com/
Extract the downloaded zip file to a folder. Then download these 2 BIOS files, from, errm...somewhere (I'm sorry, I can't remember where I found mine now--it was a long time ago. Just search with Yahoo or Google, you'll find them):

neocd.zip
neogeo.zip

If you open neocd.zip with 7zip or WinRar, you should see a file named neocd.bin that has a CRC of DF9DE490. And if you open neogeo.zip you should see the following files:

Code:

000-lo.lo CRC - E09E253C asia-s3.rom CRC - 91B64BE3 sfix.sfx CRC - 354029FC sm1.sm1 CRC - 97CF998B sp-e.sp1 CRC - 2723A5B5 sp-j2.rom CRC - ACEDE59C sp-s.sp1 CRC - C7F2FA45 sp-s2.sp1 CRC - 9036D879 usa_2slt.bin CRC - E72943DE vs-bios.rom CRC - F0E8F27D

Make sure all the files in those 2 zip files, have both the correct names and CRC's. If the CRC(s) of the file(s) don't match with what I've written here, then sorry, you're going to have to search for another copy of that BIOS file. If the name(s) are different, but the CRC(s) match, then just rename the file inside the zip to the correct name.

Once you've done that, you're ready to start the emulator. So start it, then click: "Emulation" > "Load Rom".
Then double-click "Neo Geo CD".

Now--if necessary--configure the game controls to play with either your keyboard or joystick/gamepad or both, by doing the following:
Click: "Game" > "Config Controls" > "Player 1".
Under Main Controls: move the mouse cursor to whatever is next to "Up" and then click it. It should now say "Press a Key or". Now either choose a key on your keyboard or press up on your gamepad/joystick.
Repeat this process until you've assigned all the buttons/functions you want to use with your keyboard or joystick/gamepad. Be sure to remember what keys/gamepad buttons you assigned for "Button 1" and "Button 2".
When you're done, click "Save Layout".
Type in My Default (or whatever you want) and click "OK", then click "Close".

Now to load the NeoGeoCD game you want to play.

First, press the "Tab Key" on your keyboard.
Using either the keyboard or joystick--depending on how you have the game controller(s) configured--Scroll down to "CD Settings" then press "Button 2".
Scroll down to "Select ISO Image"and press "Button 2" again.
Select the cue sheet for the game.
Now press "Button 1" twice.
Using either keyboard or joystick--depending on how you have the game controller(s) configured--move the cursor (it looks like a pointing finger) to "Start" and press "Button 1".
The game should now start.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TROUBLESHOOTING ~ NEBULA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If the game crashes, or has other problems:

First, try moving the game files to a directory that is in your root directory. What that means is this:
Double-click My Computer > double-click (C:) > Make a new folder in here and name it Games (or whatever).
Now you should have something like this:
C:\Games

Now move all the game files--the iso and mp3's to the new folder.

Note: You can choose any drive; it doesn't have to be C:
I have mine set up like this:
E:\TEST

If that doesn't work, then try this:
First, unload the NeoGeo CD rom. Then try changing the emulator's Region or Mode settings.
To change Region:
Cick: "Region" > "Neogeo Options" > "Region" > choose either "Japan", "USA", or "Europe".
"USA" works with most games, but "Japan" is required for a few games to work properly.

To change Mode:
Cick: "Region" > "Neogeo Options" > "Mode" > choose either "Arcade" or "Console".
Again, most games play fine in Console mode, a few need to be in Arcade mode though.

Now try loading the game again.

If the game still doesn't work properly, then try mounting the game to a virtual drive, using either Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120%. You'll have to first extract the mp3's to wav and edit the cue file accordingly. Neither Daemon Tools nor Alcohol 120% will accept mp3's; the audio files have to be wav's. See below for a more detailed explanation of how to use Daemon Tools.

Now to load a NeoGeo CD game that's been mounted to a virtual drive, do the following:

Click: "Emulation" > "Load Rom".
Double-click "Neo Geo CD".
Press the "Tab Key" on your keyboard.
Using either the keyboard or joystick--depending on how you have the game controller(s) configured: Scroll down to "CD Settings" then press "Button 2". Then press left or right to change "<ISO Image>" to "<Real CDROM>". If necessary, press down so that "CD Drive" is highlighted and press right or left to change the drive letter to your virtual drive.
Now press "Button 1" twice.
Using either keyboard or joystick--depending on how you have the game controller(s) configured--move the cursor (it looks like a pointing finger) to "Start" and press "Button 1".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NeoCD/SDL GUIDE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can also play NeoGeo CD games using the emulator NeoCD/SDL which can be found here:
http://pacifi3d.retrogames.com/

The most recent version is NEOCD/SDL v0.3.1

One of the advantages NeoCD/SDL has over Nebula is that because it uses the multiplatform SDL library, it's available for either Windows, Linux or BeOS, and ports also have been made that run on DreamCast, XBOX and PS2.

SDL by the way stands for Simple DirectMedia layer:
http://www.libsdl.org/

NOTE: These instructions are for setting up the emulator for Windows, specifically Windows 98SE. Sorry, but I know nothing about Linux, BEoS, etc.

OK, so what you need to do is download whatever version is for your OS and unzip the files to a folder.
Now extract neocd.bin from neocd.zip to the same folder where you extracted NeoCD/SDL.
DO NOT put the zip file in that folder. You must EXTRACT the bios file from the zip file and put the extracted file into the folder where you put NeoCD/SDL or the EMULATOR WILL NOT WORK.

NOTE: When you open neocd.zip with 7zip or WinRar, you should see a file named neocd.bin that has a CRC of DF9DE490 and once extracted, that file neocd.bin should have a size of 512 Kb exactly. If it has a different CRC or size, than it's not the correct bios. If it has the same CRC and is the correct size, but is not named neocd.bin, then you must rename the bin file (NOT the zip) to its proper name of neocd.bin or the emulator will NOT WORK.

Now you need to get either Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools, if you don't already have them.
Daemon Tools is 100% free, Alcohol 120% is not.
I use Daemon Tools, as I don't have Alcohol 120%. So, I can only explain how to set up and use Daemon Tools.

Download Daemon Tools from here:
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/portal/index.php

Then install it. Afterwards, you'll probably have to restart your computer. Do that, then once your computer finishes rebooting, move your cursor over the little lightning bolt icon in your system tray, which is down on the lower right of your screen unless you moved it, and right-click that icon.
If you want, you can go to Virtual CD/DVD-ROM > Set number of Devices...and choose anywhere between 1 and 4 drives. It's up to you if you want to create more than one virtual drive.
This step isn't necessary for playing NeoGeo CD games, but it is a good idea to leave this on by default for other games, so now right-click on the lightning bolt again, and go to Emulation > All options on.
Finally right-click again on that icon, and go to Options, and make sure there is a check mark next to Analog audio. This is very important, so make sure that's checked.
Alright, you're done setting up Daemon Tools.

WARNING: for these next steps, you may need at least 700 - 800 MB of free space on your hard drive. If you don't have enough free space, then you have to clear enough space on your hard drive before proceeding.

Now, if you haven't already, extract to a folder the rar or zip file that contains the NeoGeo CD game files.
Now look for these 3 files:
xaudio.dll
xaudio.exe
a file with an extension of .bat (which is a batch file)

If you see these 3 files, then double-click the batch file and wait for all the mp3's to decompress to wav.

If you don't see a batch file, then you'll have to use WinLame to decompress them.

Download WinLame from here:
http://winlame.sourceforge.net/index.php

(another kick-ass freeware app that is a must have on anyone's comp ^__^ )

OK, so Install WinLame, then open it.

And then click the folder icon and highlight the first mp3 by clicking it, then click the last mp3 WHILE holding down the SHIFT key.
All the mp3 files should be highlighted now.
Click open. All the mp3 files should now be loaded into WinLame.
Now click Next.
For Output Module: choose Wave Output.
Also put a check mark next to "use input file's folder as output location"

THIS IS OPTIONAL:
If you want you can also put a check mark next to delete after encoding.
This will set WinLame to automatically delete the mp3 files after decompressing them. Which is safe to do because you still have the mp3's in the zip or rar file. Unless you deleted that too. (Why would you do that? *shakes head* )

Anyway, click Next, then click Next again. Now press the Triangle (which is the play button) to begin decompression.
Wait until it's done then click exit.

Now open the cue file with NotePad.
If you see this, for all the audio files listed, then you can close the file:
FILE "Track02.wav" WAVE

But if you see this, for all the audio files listed:
FILE "World Heroes 2 - Track 02.mp3" MP3

then you have to edit all the audio files listed, to this:
FILE "World Heroes 2 - Track 02.wav" WAVE

And yes, it's annoying having to go through and edit all those lines.
If anyone knows of a quicker/easier way to do this, please let me know.

Once you've finished editing the cue file, go to File > Save, then close it.

Now you're ready to mount the darn game to the virtual drive created by Daemon Tools.

So, move your cursor over that little lightning icon again, and this time LEFT-CLICK it.
Now click where it says Device and a number, and then a drive letter in brackets, followed by No Media (the number and letter will vary depending on your configuration)
Now double-click the cue file, not the iso.
The iso should now be successfully mounted to the virtual drive.

If you get any kind of error message, then you probably made a mistake when editing your cue file.
Here are some common errors:
1) Putting or leaving an extra space where one shouldn't be.
Examples:
Incorrect: FILE "Track02 .wav" WAVE (space between 2 and period)
Incorrect: FILE "Track02. wav" WAVE (space between period and wav)
Correct: FILE "Track02.wav" WAVE

2) Putting WAV instead of WAVE.
Examples:
FILE "Track02.wav" WAV (Incorrect)
FILE "Track02.wav" WAVE (Correct)

3) Leaving one of the files still listed as MP3 by mistake.
Examples:
FILE "World Heroes 2 - Track 02.wav" MP3 (Incorrect)
FILE "World Heroes 2 - Track 02.mp3" WAVE (Incorrect)
FILE "World Heroes 2 - Track 02.wav" WAVE (Correct)

4) Not having the file names listed in the cue, match exactly with the names of the actual wav files themselves.
Examples:
FILE "World Heroes 2 - Track 02.wav" WAVE (Correct, but only if World Heroes 2 - Track 02.wav is how the wav file is named)
FILE "World Heroes2 - Track 02.wav" WAVE (Incorrect: should be a space between Heroes and 2)
FILE "World Heroes 2 - Track 02.wav" WAVE (Incorrect: extra space between the dash and Track)
FILE "World Heros 2 - Track 02.wav" WAVE (Incorrect: Heroes is missing an E)
FILE "Track 02.wav" WAVE (Incorrect: this one's obvious, heh ^^ )

So, once you have the game properly mounted to the virtual drive created by Daemon Tools, you can begin configuring NeoCD/SDL.

Heh heh fooled you...there is no need to configure anything.
Just make sure you don't have any CD's (other than blank ones) in any of your CD drives.

OK, ready now?

Then double-click the NeoCD/SDL icon, which looks like two smiling faces under the letters SNK, and is named neocd.exe.

The game should start.

OMG!! Scanlines!! AUGGHHHH!!! Make them go away! Make them go-

Relax.

Just press F2.

See, all better now.

Pressing F2 repeatedly will cycle through all the different video settings available (and there are quite a few) so experiment until you find the video setting you like best.

And to toggle between full-screen and windowed mode, press F1.

Here are the rest of the controls:
Note: This info was taken directly from the readme text file that comes with NeoCD/SDL

Code:

Controls ======== Player 1 may be controlled using either the keyboard or the first joystick attached to the system. Player 2 may be controlled using either the keyboard or the second joystick attached to the system. The joypad buttons have been allocated to suit my MS sidewinder gamepads. The controls roughly follow the default layout for the MAME emulator. As such they are as follows: Player 1 Player 2 Joystick(1 and 2) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Up Cursor-Up R Joy-Up Down Cursor-Down F Joy-Down Left Cursor-Left D Joy-Left Right Cursor-Right G Joy-Right A Left-Ctrl A Button-0 B Left-Alt S Button-1 C Space Q Button-2 D Left-Shift W Button-3 Player Start 1 2 Button-8 Player Select 5 6 Button-9 Toggle Fullscreen F1 Cycle Video Effect F2 Increase Frameskip F3 Toggle Sound F4 Take Screenshot F12 (snapxxxx.bmp) Quit Esc ------------------------------------------------------ The player select buttons can often be used to pause the game. To modify the controls it is necessary to recompile the software.