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RetroBIOS

MAME4ALL-Pi

MAME4ALL-Pi emulates Arcade games and SNK Neo Geo MVS. It reads 3 files, 1 of them required: without a required file it does not start games. A required file is needed only by the machines that use it. Each file below cites the line of source code that reads it.

Its BIOS and game sets must come from the MAME 0.37b5 romset. Which version each core reads.

About this profile
Detail Value
Type standalone
Classification Frozen snapshot
Source https://github.com/RetroPie/mame4all-pi
Upstream https://sourceforge.net/projects/mame4allpi/
Version 0.37b5
Revision RetroPie/mame4all-pi@c6bfd2aef331
Profiled 2026-10-20
Profile YAML, JSON
Cores mame4all
Systems Arcade games, SNK Neo Geo MVS
Romset MAME 0.37b5
Install this emulator's files

With RetroPie: the installer finds RetroPie and its BIOS folder, then downloads only the files MAME4ALL-Pi reads there and checks each one.

Open a terminal on the device. Or connect from a computer with SSH, a terminal over the network. Paste the line. Press Enter.

Terminal
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Abdess/retrobios/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --emulator mame4all
Technical notes

Raspberry Pi port by Squid of Franxis' MAME4ALL, itself MAME 0.37b5 (readme.txt:5, src/version.cpp:1). RetroPie builds the tree with make, installs mame, mame.cfg.template, hiscore.dat, cheat.dat, clrmame.dat, folders/ and skins/ to its own directory, and launches mame with the game's base name. Its mame.cfg sets rompath to the mame-mame4all and arcade ROM directories and samplepath to their samples/ folders.

main() moves to the directory holding the binary before anything is opened, so every relative path below is read from there. mame.cfg comes from that directory. ref: src/rpi/rpi.cpp:123-126, src/rpi/config.cpp:93

ROMs and samples are looked up in each rompath or samplepath entry as a <game>/ folder, then <game>.zip. A clone also searches its parent's set, and every Neo Geo game names neogeo as parent so that the BIOS does not have to sit in each archive. rompath defaults to ".;roms", samplepath to ".;samples". ref: src/rpi/fileio.cpp:349-446, src/common.cpp:140-162, src/rpi/config.cpp:273-274, src/drivers/neogeo.cpp:4580-4586

hiscore.dat is opened for every game, history.dat and mameinfo.dat when the game information screen is shown, cheat.dat only with cheat=yes. All four are opened by bare name from the binary's directory: the cheat branch builds a path from the cheat directory option and then opens the bare name instead. ref: src/rpi/fileio.cpp:950-971, src/cpuintrf.cpp:626-628, src/usrintrf.cpp:2546, src/mame.cpp:621-623

Paths below are written under mame4all/, which stands for the binary's directory. clrmame.dat is installed beside them and never opened. The skins/ bitmaps and folders/Favorites.ini belong to the game list front end. ref: src/rpi/gp2x_frontend.cpp:85,107,131

Files

Section titled “Files”

3 files: 1 required, 2 optional. 2 more files come with the app.

By kind: 1 BIOS ZIPs and 4 game data.

In this collection: 3 in repo and 0 missing.

Required

Section titled “Required”

neogeo.zip required for SNK Neo Geo MVS in repo BIOS ZIP

Neo Geo BIOS set, parent of every Neo Geo game

  • Opened from rompath as the parent set. neo-geo.rom, ng-sm1.rom and ng-sfix.rom are declared in every Neo Geo game through the NEO_BIOS_SOUND and NEO_SFIX macros, so a game cannot load without them. The Irritating Maze carries its own im_bios.rom in its set.
  • Contents (3 members):
    • neo-geo.rom: 68K BIOS, 128.0 KB, CRC32 9036d879
    • ng-sm1.rom: Z80 sound BIOS, 128.0 KB, CRC32 97cf998b
    • ng-sfix.rom: fix layer tiles, 128.0 KB, CRC32 354029fc

Game data

Section titled “Game data”

history.dat optional in repo game data

Game history database

  • Read for the game information screen. Not installed.

mameinfo.dat optional in repo game data

Driver information database

  • Read with history.dat for the game information screen. Not installed.

Comes with the app

Section titled “Comes with the app”

hiscore.dat comes with the app game data

High score memory ranges, HISCORE.DAT version 7.0

  • Read with every game. Without it no score is saved. The values are those of the file the repository installs.

cheat.dat comes with the app game data

Pugsy's cheat database of 18 May 2000

  • Read only when the cheat option is on (cheat=no in the installed mame.cfg). The cheatfile option renames it. The values are those of the file the repository installs.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
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Maintained by Abdess on GitHub. Report a problem.

Packs from release v2026.10.10, .

MIT for the tooling and metadata. BIOS and firmware files are third-party system software, preserved for personal backup, archival and interoperability.