En: 02. Content installation

The board we have prepared during the installation process is empty of contents. It only contains the SimpleMenu frontend, the RetroArch cores, a few utilities as well as libraries for proper execution. The configuration of the emulators has been made so that most of what could be considered user content, is located in the root of the microSD card. Specifically the following directories which will be described in more detail in the following:

• Roms: ROMs and game datafiles.
• BIOS: BIOS needed by some systems.
• Saves: Scores, savestates.
• Cheats: Tweaks for games.

For this reason, these four directories will be the ones to back up from time to time (especially Saves) as well as to keep in case we proceed to do a fresh installation.

Before continuing, we will make a brief comment on the legal considerations of installing such contents. The matter is complex. If you are interested, a good article is this Retro Game Corps post. Although there are few legal precedents on the subject, the problem primarily affects BIOS and ROMs. In a simplified way, it is usually considered that we can handle the ROMs of the games and the BIOS of the machines that we own. Actually it is more of a rule based on common sense, since as we say, there are few legal sentences on the subject and of course the opinion of the different participants in the industry is not consistent.

ROMs

The SimpleMenu frontend has been configured with a series of predefined paths where it will try to locate ROMs and graphical previews. These paths will be created when we install the system for the first time. If you don't want to modify the SimpleMenu configuration, you will have to stick to these paths. In the table below, the second column shows the name of the directory that will have to exist on the microSD card as it will look when mounted on the PC. For example, the screenshot below shows the Game Boy system ROMs directory, which as you can see is located together with all the others in the Roms folder in the root of the card.

The above path on the PC will correspond to /mnt/SDCARD/Roms on the console system, once the card is in the console and the system is booted. In case you modify the SimpleMenu configuration, this is the type of path you will use (e.g. /mnt/SDCARD/Roms/GB for Game Boy).

Below is the table of the systems configured in SimpleMenu with the paths where the ROMs must be placed, the extensions they must have and the emulators or cores configured in each one of them (which can be selected at ROM level by pressing SELECT in the ROM lists):

System	Paths	Supported extensions	Supported emulators
MAME	Roms/ARCADE	zip	mame2003_plus_libretro, fbneo_libretro, fbalpha2012_libretro, km_mame2003_xtreme_libretro, mame2000_libretro, mame2010_libretro
CPS1	Roms/CPS1	zip	fbalpha2012_cps1_libretro, fbneo_libretro
CPS2	Roms/CPS2	zip	fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro, fbneo_libretro
CPS3	Roms/CPS3	zip	fbalpha2012_cps3_libretro, fbneo_libretro
SNK Neo Geo	Roms/NEOGEO	zip, 7z	fbalpha2012_neogeo_libretro
Final Burn Alpha	Roms/FBA	zip	fbalpha2012_libretro, fbalpha_libretro
Final Burn Neo	Roms/FBN	zip	fbneo_libretro
Daphne	Roms/DAPHNE	zip	daphne_libretro
Nintendo NES	Roms/FC	nes, zip, 7z	fceumm_libretro, nestopia_libretro
Nintendo Famicom Disk System	Roms/FDS	fds, zip, 7z	fceumm_libretro, nestopia_libretro
Nintendo SNES	Roms/SFC	smc, sfc, zip, 7z	mednafen_supafaust_libretro, snes9x2005_libretro, snes9x2005_plus_libretro, snes9x2002_libretro, snes9x2010_libretro, snes9x_libretro, snes9x_next_libretro, quicknes_libretro
Nintendo SNES MSU-1	Roms/MSU1	smc, sfc, zip, 7z	snes9x_libretro
Nintendo Super Game Boy	Roms/SGB	gb, gbc, zip, 7z	mgba_libretro
Nintendo Virtual Boy	Roms/VB	vb, vboy, bin, zip, 7z	mednafen_vb_libretro
SEGA SG-1000	Roms/SEGASGONE	zip, sg, 7z	gearsystem_libretro, genesis_plus_gx_libretro
SEGA Master System	Roms/MS	zip, sms, 7z	picodrive_libretro, genesis_plus_gx_libretro, gearsystem_libretro
SEGA Megadrive	Roms/MD	zip, bin, smd, md, mdx, gen, 7z	picodrive_libretro, genesis_plus_gx_libretro
SEGA CD	Roms/SEGACD	bin, chd, cue	picodrive_libretro, genesis_plus_gx_libretro
SEGA 32X	Roms/THIRTYTWOX	zip, 32x, 7z	picodrive_libretro
Atari 2600	Roms/ATARI	bin, a26, zip, 7z	stella2014_libretro
Atari 5200	Roms/FIFTYTWOHUNDRED	bin, a52, zip, 7z	a5200_libretro, atari800_libretro
Atari 7800	Roms/SEVENTYEIGHTHUNDRED	bin, a78, zip, 7z	prosystem_libretro
Intellivision	Roms/INTELLI	int, bin	freeintv_libretro
SNK Neo Geo CD	Roms/NEOCD	zip, chd	neocd_libretro
NEC PC Engine	Roms/PCE	pce, tg16, cue, zip, 7z	mednafen_pce_fast_libretro, mednafen_supergrafx_libretro
NEC PC Engine CD	Roms/PCECD	pce, tg16, cue, chd, zip, 7z	mednafen_pce_fast_libretro, mednafen_supergrafx_libretro
Sony PlayStation	Roms/PS	bin, pbp, chd, zip, cue, img, iso, m3u	pcsx_rearmed_libretro, pcsx_rearmed_libretro_old, pcsx_rearmed_libretro_shaun
Nintendo Game Boy	Roms/GB	gb, gz, zip, 7z	gambatte_libretro, gearboy_libretro
Nintendo Game Boy Color	Roms/GBC	gbc, zip, 7z	gambatte_libretro, gearboy_libretro
Nintendo Game Boy Advance	Roms/GBA	gba, zip, 7z	gpsp_libretro, mgba_libretro, mednafen_gba_libretro, meteor_libretro, vbam_libretro, vba_next_libretro
Nintendo Game&Watch	Roms/GW	mgw, zip, 7z	gw_libretro
SEGA Game Gear	Roms/GG	zip, gg, 7z	picodrive_libretro, genesis_plus_gx_libretro, gearsystem_libretro
Atari Lynx	Roms/LYNX	zip, lnx, 7z	handy_libretro, mednafen_lynx_libretro
SNK Neo Geo Pocket	Roms/NGP	ngp, ngc, ngpc, npc, zip, 7z	mednafen_ngp_libretro
WonderSwan	Roms/WS	ws, wsc, pc2, zip, 7z	mednafen_wswan_libretro
Pokemon Mini	Roms/POKE	min, zip, 7z	pokemini_libretro
Watara Supervision	Roms/SUPERVISION	sv, bin, 7z, zip	potator_libretro
Sinclair ZX Spectrum	Roms/ZXS	tzx, tap, z80, rzx, scl, trd, dsk, zip, 7z	fuse_libretro
Amstrad CPC	Roms/CPC	dsk, sna, tap, cdt, voc, cpr, m3u, zip, 7z	crocods_libretro
Commodore 64	Roms/C64	crt, d64, t64, bin, g64, 7z, zip	vice_x64_libretro
MSX	Roms/MSX	rom, ri, mx1, mx2, col, dsk, cas, sg, sc, m3u, zip, 7z	bluemsx_libretro, fmsx_libretro
Atari ST	Roms/ATARIST	a78, rom	hatari_libretro
Commodore Amiga	Roms/AMIGA	adf, adz, dms, fdi, ipf, hdf, hdz, lha, slave, info, cue, ccd, nrg, mds, iso, chd, uae, m3u, zip, 7z, rp9	puae_libretro, uae4arm_libretro, puae2021_libretro
Wolfenstein 3D	Roms/WOLF3D	ecwolf	ecwolf_libretro
Doom	Roms/DOOM/DOOM, Roms/DOOM/DOOM2	wad, zip, 7z	prboom_libretro
Quake	Roms/QUAKE/id1, Roms/QUAKE/hipnotic, Roms/QUAKE/rogue, Roms/QUAKE/dopa	fbl	tyrquake_libretro
MS-DOS	Roms/DOS	zip, dosz, exe, com, bat, iso, cue, vhd, m3u, 7z	dosbox_pure_libretro
Nec PC98	Roms/PC98	hdi, fdi	nekop2_libretro, np2kai_libretro
OpenBOR	Roms/OPENBOR	pak	openbor_standalone
Pico8	Roms/PICO	png, p8	fake08_libretro, retro8_libretro
TIC80	Roms/TIC	tic, 7z	tic80_libretro
ScummVM	Roms/SCUMMVM	scummvm	scummvm_libretro
Sharp X68000	Roms/X68000	dim, zip, img, d88, 88d, hdm, dup, 2hd, xdf, hdf, cmd, m3u, 7z	px68k_libretro

Almost all systems in the Home Computers category related to the PC architecture, have the problem that the game data files are multiple, not a single file or ROM as on consoles or 8-bit microcomputers. On these systems, it is convenient to use some technique so that the SimpleMenu listings show a single entry per game, and not a set of oddly named files with only one file to select to start the game. Clarifications on some of these cases are given below.

Wolfenstein 3D

Although the core used to emulate the games on this system (ecwolf_libretro) supports wl6, n3d, sod, sdm, wl1, pk3 and exe extensions, only a special ecwolf extension has been configured. This extension has proven to work well for encapsulating all the files of a game in the way we are going to see using as an example the game Spear of Destiny. The data files for this game are as follows:

AUDIOHED.SOD
AUDIOT.SOD
GAMEMAPS.SOD
MAPHEAD.SOD
VGADICT.SOD
VGAGRAPH.SOD
VGAHEAD.SOD
VSWAP.SOD

As we can see, if we allowed the sod extension in this system, all these files would appear in the list and it would be difficult to identify the game in question and the main file to open. The solution is to create a text file in the same directory with the following content:

DATA=SOD
-- end --

The name of the file will be whatever we want it to appear in the listing, i.e. the name of the game, and the extension will be the aforementioned .ecwolf. For example in this case we could call it Spear of Destiny.ecwolf.

You will have to adapt the value of the DATA parameter to the extension of the game files. For example in the original Wolfenstein 3D game, the data files have the extension WL6, so the file we can call Wolfenstein 3D.ecwolf in this case will contain the following:

DATA=WL6
-- end --

Doom

In this system, two directories have been set up, one for installing mods based on the original Doom engine (we will call it Doom 1 from now on) and one for the Doom 2 engine. All files, both engine and mod files, use the .wad extension, but unlike in Quake, the files can be renamed. The only condition is that in the same directory where the mod exists, there is the wad of the corresponding engine. This way, Doom 1 and 2 mod wads can coexist in their corresponding directories with the engine wad. By renaming the mod wads, we can easily distinguish them from the engine.

Quake

The four directories set up in this system respect the structure needed for the different Expansion Paks described here. The names of the files (pak0.pak, pak1.pak, ...) inside the different directories cannot be changed, so they get confused between the different games and appear several per game when only pak0.pak needs to be launched. A trick discussed by @neilswann80 in this discussion from another repository has been used, which consists of creating a link to the file to be launched that we can rename. The links have an fbl extension and is therefore the extension configured in SimpleMenu. If the Quake directories contain their corresponding pak files, the links for the 4 supported games are generated automatically when the console is booted with the Koriki card installed.

ScummVM

ScummVM games are composed of several files, so you will have to keep them in directories. The scummvm extension indicated in the list above corresponds to a file containing the game ID that we will extract from this list and place it in the directory where we have the rest of the game files. For example for the game "The Secret of Monkey Island" we will need the files that we can consult in the ScummVM wiki. Specifically for this game we can see that we will need the files MONKEY.000 and MONKEY.001 that we will place in a directory of any name inside the directory configured in SimpleMenu (Roms/SCUMMVM). It will be in this same directory where we will have to place the previous file with the extension scummvm. According to the ScummVM compatibility list, the ID of "The Secret of Monkey Island" is monkey, so the content of the file we will place inside the game directory will be that (monkey). The name of the file will be the one that will appear in the SimpleMenu listings, so we can call it The Secret of Monkey Island.scummvm, for example.

MAME

In this system there are 6 different cores, each supporting different romsets. The list of supported romsets in each combination is given below. We link to the datafile used in each case which can be used to check the compatibility of the ROMs:

Core	Name	Romset
mame2003_plus_libretro	Arcade (MAME 2003-Plus)	v0.78
fbneo_libretro	FinalBurn Neo	FBNeo dat
fbalpha2012_libretro	FB Alpha 2012	0.2.97.44
km_mame2003_xtreme_libretro	MAME 2003 Xtreme (2K21)	v0.78
mame2000_libretro	MAME 2000 (0.37b5)	v0.37b5
mame2010_libretro	MAME 2010 (0.139)	v0.139

Previews

The previews should be placed in a directory named Imgs within each of the ROM directories listed in the ROMs section. For example GB ROM previews should be placed in Roms/GB/Imgs being the path from the root of the microSD card when mounted on the PC. The preview files have to be PNGs with the same name as the game (except for the extension).

If we have respected the paths indicated above, later in SimpleMenu the game will be represented as follows:

BIOS

All emulators installed in the distribution have redirected the paths where the BIOS should be to the BIOS directory in the root of the microSD card. Similar to the case of ROMs, the BIOS directory in the root of the card will correspond to the /mnt/SDCARD/BIOS path in the console system. Although it won't be frequent, in case you have to locate a BIOS by scanning files from an emulator or core, this will be the path to follow.

Not all emulators need BIOS. This is the case of the machines that did not have it or whose function has been emulated. The BIOS file to be located and the place where it should be, are indicated below. To help identify the correct files, if known, its size in bytes and an MD5 hash are indicated. The cases in which the BIOS is essential for the emulator to work are also marked. If 'NO' is indicated, the emulator will work, but it is recommended to install it in order to get the best compatibility of the games. To check MD5 hashes, the cross-platform utility Quickhash is recommended.

The sizes and hashes given are of BIOSes that have been tested to be functional, but not necessarily the only ones possible. That is, on some machines there are several possible BIOS versions, usually because there have been several models of the machines (the PlayStation being one of the most typical cases), or because someone has developed a BIOS with improved capabilities (here the typical case is the Neo Geo and its UNIBIOS).

System	Path	Size	MD5 hash	Needed?
SNK Neo Geo	Roms/NEOGEO/neogeo.zip			Yes
Nintendo Famicom Disk System	BIOS/disksys.rom	8192	ca30b50f880eb660a320674ed365ef7a	Yes
SEGACD	BIOS/bios_CD_E.bin	131072	e66fa1dc5820d254611fdcdba0662372	Yes
SEGACD	BIOS/bios_CD_J.bin	131072	278a9397d192149e84e820ac621a8edd	Yes
SEGACD	BIOS/bios_CD_U.bin	131072	854b9150240a198070150e4566ae1290	Yes
Atari 5200	BIOS/5200.rom	2048	281f20ea4320404ec820fb7ec0693b38	Yes
Atari 7800	BIOS/7800 BIOS (U).rom		0763f1ffb006ddbe32e52d497ee848ae	No
Intellivision	BIOS/exec.bin	8192	62e761035cb657903761800f4437b8af	Yes
Intellivision	BIOS/grom.bin	2048	0cd5946c6473e42e8e4c2137785e427f	Yes
PC Engine CD	BIOS/syscard3.pce	262144	38179df8f4ac870017db21ebcbf53114	Yes
PlayStation	BIOS/SCPH1001.BIN	524288	924e392ed05558ffdb115408c263dccf	Yes
Nintendo GB	BIOS/gb_bios.bin	256	32fbbd84168d3482956eb3c5051637f5	No
Nintendo GBC	BIOS/gbc_bios.bin	2304	dbfce9db9deaa2567f6a84fde55f9680	No
Nintendo GBA	BIOS/gba_bios.bin	16384	a860e8c0b6d573d191e4ec7db1b1e4f6	No, although recommended
Atari Lynx	BIOS/lynxboot.img	512	fcd403db69f54290b51035d82f835e7b	Yes
Pokemon Mini	BIOS/bios.min	4096	1e4fb124a3a886865acb574f388c803d	Yes
MSX (BlueMSX)	BIOS/Machines/			Yes
MSX (fMSX)	BIOS/MSX.ROM	32768	364a1a579fe5cb8dba54519bcfcdac0d	Yes for MSX
MSX (fMSX)	BIOS/MSX2.ROM		ec3a01c91f24fbddcbcab0ad301bc9ef	Yes for MSX2
MSX (fMSX)	BIOS/MSX2EXT.ROM		2183c2aff17cf4297bdb496de78c2e8a	Yes for MSX2
MSX (fMSX)	BIOS/MSX2P.ROM	32768	847cc025ffae665487940ff2639540e5	Yes for MSX2+
MSX (fMSX)	BIOS/MSX2PEXT.ROM	16384	7c8243c71d8f143b2531f01afa6a05dc	Yes for MSX2+
Commodore Amiga	BIOS/kick34005.A500	262144	82a21c1890cae844b3df741f2762d48d	Yes for Amiga 500
Commodore Amiga	BIOS/kick37175.A500	524288	dc10d7bdd1b6f450773dfb558477c230	Yes for Amiga 500+
Commodore Amiga	BIOS/kick40063.A600	524288	e40a5dfb3d017ba8779faba30cbd1c8e	Yes for Amiga 600
Commodore Amiga	BIOS/kick40068.A1200	524288	646773759326fbac3b2311fd8c8793ee	Yes for Amiga 1200
Commodore Amiga	BIOS/kick40060.CD32	524288	5f8924d013dd57a89cf349f4cdedc6b1	No
Commodore Amiga	BIOS/kick40060.CD32.ext	524288	bb72565701b1b6faece07d68ea5da639	No
Wolfenstein 3D	BIOS/ecwolf.pk3		d68107770b3ba230d10aa27472a7617b	Yes

Ports

Ports can be installed in any directory. For example we could do it in the Apps directory or create a Ports directory in the root of the card dedicated for them. Then you will need to create a launcher for SimpleMenu in the style of the ones for the pre-installed applications in Koriki. The launchers for the SimpleMenu Apps section are in the .simplemenu/apps directory and the ones we need to create for the ports should be in .simplemenu/games. The usual way is to create a sh script (we can look for example at how the Commander launcher is made). In case you want to put spaces in the names of the games/ports, you will have to create an alias fgl instead of an sh script (in this case we will look at the launcher of the Bootscreen Selector application).

Game/port previews will go in the .simplemenu/games/Imgs directory. Similar to the ROM previews, the name of the PNGs in that directory should match the name of the sh script in the .simplemenu/games directory. In case an fgl alias is used, the PNG name must be the name of the executable indicated by the exec parameter inside it.

Cheats

RetroArch has a built-in cheat system based on a series of files that can be obtained from this repository. In Koriki, the directory where we have to place the files, has been redirected to the root of the microSD card to facilitate its installation, as with the ROMs, BIOS and Saves. Specifically to the cheats directory.

We are going to detail the process using the Game Boy game Adventure Island as an example:

1. We will look for the corresponding file in the repository. Specifically for this game the file is this.

2. We will copy it to the Cheats directory at the root of the microSD card. Actually, the most logical thing is to copy complete collections of systems, keeping the directory structure that we see in the repository.

3. Once the console is booted with the microSD card in place, we will open the game with RetroArch.

4. We access the RetroArch menu (Menu + X).

5. We follow the route: Quick Menu > Cheats > Load Cheat File (Replace).

6. A file browser will appear showing the contents of the Cheats folder on the card. We locate the file corresponding to the game and select it.

   

7. We will return to the Cheats screen where we will see that the bottom part has been loaded with the cheats. There we can adjust the ones we want (quick adjustment is done with the left/right keys).

8. Finally we select Apply Changes.

   

9. If we want the cheat settings we have made to apply between different game sessions, we will have to make an override to the game.

More details on this guide by Retro Game Corps.