This guide will tell you how to install Neo Geo CD Emulation On Retroarch. You have to follow the step-by-step instructions to install it.
Requirements
First, install the PC version of Retroarch, whether a Standalone or steam version. The Steam version best places the internal files with the standalone version.
Download Bios Files
1- Download the universe bios for Neo GeoCD. For this, click on the following link http://unibios.free.fr/download.html.
2- Once you reach this site, go to the download tab from the left side and download version 3.3 for the CD.
3- Once the download completes, extract the file, and you will get a file named uni-biocd.rom.
4- Add the bios file to your Retroarch system folder to play Neo Geo CD games.
5- Now open the Retroarch folder on your PC. Then go into the system folder.
6- Inside the system folder, you need to make a new folder and name it neo cd. Just drag the universe bios into the Neo CD folder.
7- Now you need to Source some Neo Geo CD games like Metal Slug 2. Neo Geo CD games are in bin cue formats, so rip Metal Slug 2 using the PC version of Retrowork.
8- You can compress the bin cue files into chud format. If you do this, the games will not take 1.1 GBs of space. They will become compressed and will acquire less space.
9- Add the games to the Retroarch demonstration folder and create a games folder. After that, drag all the Neogeo cd games and drop them in this folder.
Retroarch Settings
1- Once your Universe bios and games are placed, open the Retroarch folder and download the Neo CD core.
2- Now boot up Retroarch. Once the main menu is open, go into the online updater and select the core downloader.
3- Then scroll up or down to find the Neo Geo section. Then select SNK Neo Geo CD and click on it to download this.
4- Afterwards, go back to the main menu and select load content to load up the Neo Geo.
5- After selecting this, you must go to the directory location where all your Neo Geo games are installed. Then select the game and the core, and the game will start.
6- To create a game playlist, go to the main menu, click on the show desktop menu, or press F5 on your keyboard.
7- Once the desktop menu is open, you’ll find the content browser on the left side of the screen. Then right-click on it, select the new playlist, and its name should be SNK- Neo Geo CD.
8- Then press Enter and a new playlist will be created on the left side,
9- Now select Add folder on the right side, right-click, and go to the location where your games are installed. Then select the games folder and click on the select folder button on the bottom right side of the screen.
10- Set the core to Neo CD, set the Database to SNK Neo Geo CD, and then click OK. Now all your games will be added to the playlist.
Core Options
1- After that, go back to the Core option. The first option is the bios selection you added during the initial setup, which is what is selected here.
If you don’t have a Neo Geo bios file, there is a built-in high-level emulation bios file, but its compatibility is not as good as the official one. So you must download the BIOS file first.
2- Then go to the system tab, and here, the first option is the region, select this to your default region, and the next option is the language set this according to your native language. The next option is to use the Hle BIOS file if you have an actual bios file to force a high-level emulation bios file.
3- The next option is to boot directly into the Neo Geo bios file, so if you want to boot into the Neo Geo bios, the one inside your Retroarch system folder, you can enable this option.
Video Settings
4- Afterwards, go to the Video tab and select the internal resolution. You have to set this according to your monitor’s native resolution.
5- The next option is cable type, which is set to the normal composite cable by default, which works in most cases. Some games will not work unless you set this to RGB or VGA.
6- Then go to Broadcast standard, and set this between NTSC and pal. Keep the screen orientation Horizontal.
7- The next option is Alpha sorting which is set to per triangle by default, and this will be your most compatible and accurate option if you have a faster CPU. You can set this to per pixel, which will be a lot more accurate as this will solve the layering issues, or if you have a slower computer, you can set it to per strip.
8- The next option is the Accumulation pixel buffer size, which is set to 512 megabytes by default. Set the maximum transparent layers to 32 if you have a powerful computer, you can increase this to get better accuracy.
9- Set the Enable RTT to ON; keep the Mipmapping, fog effects, and Volume modifier ON. Set the anisotropic filtering to 4, but if you want to smooth out your textures more from the different angles, you can increase it up to 16. Keep the Texture filtering option on Default.
The next option is delay frame swapping, so enable this option if you are on a faster computer. It could help with some flickering videos.
10- The next option is to detect frame rate changes, so this could be useful for games with locked frame rates around the 30 or 20 FPS mark but if your game has an unlocked frame rate, then set this to OFF.
11- Go to Power VR 2 post-processing filter and set this to ON, making it a bit more accurate than an actual Neo Geo output. Keep the texture upscaling(xBRZ) on OFF.
12- The last option is native depth interpolation, so turn this option ON if you use an AMD GPU. It could also be useful for Intel-integrated GPUs. If you’re on Nvidia, then turn this OFF.
13- Afterwards, go back and set the Performance to Threaded Rendering. If you are on a low-end CPU, you might want to set this to auto-frame skip.
14- Go back and select Inner frame blending and turn this ON as this is the ghosting effect of old CRTs, which is more suitable for Neo Geo emulation.
15- Select the controller hacks, as this is required for using things like Robotron 2048. If you want to use a single controller for both thumbsticks, you can swap the ports depending on whether your game needs to be on the right or left port for the controllers or turn it off by default.
16- If there are some options you want to set for some specific games but not for others games, then go up to Manage Core Options and save them as a Game options file. That’s the only way to apply to the settings for a specific game.
