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RetroBIOS

SAME CDi

SAME CDi emulates Philips CD-i. It reads 4 files, 1 of them required: without a required file it does not start games.

About this profile
Detail Value
Type libretro
Classification Community fork
Source https://github.com/libretro/same_cdi
Upstream https://github.com/mamedev/mame
Version 0.287, stated in gen/version.cpp
Revision libretro/same_cdi@ff9bb99a50d5, mamedev/mame@39eb9e44c394
Profiled 2026-03-25
Profile YAML, JSON
Cores same_cdi
Systems Philips CD-i
Install this emulator's files

The installer finds your setup and its BIOS folder, then downloads only the files this emulator reads there and checks each one.

Open the Start menu. Type PowerShell and open it. Paste the line. Press Enter.

PowerShell
&([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://abdess.github.io/retrobios/i.ps1))) --emulator same_cdi
Platform details
Technical notes

SAME CDi is a Single Arcade Machine Emulator fork of MAME libretro, stripped down to just the Philips CD-i driver. The core hardcodes "cdimono1" as the forced system (src/osd/libretro/libretro-internal/retro_init.cpp:86,463) and searches for MAME ROM ZIPs in: <system_dir>/same_cdi/bios/

The ROM path (-rp) is built at src/osd/libretro/libretro-internal/retro_init.cpp:543 as: <game_path>;<system_dir>/same_cdi/bios/

MAME expects each romset as a ZIP containing the individual ROM files. The ZIP filenames match the MAME driver names. Only cdimono1.zip is required for consumer CD-i games. The other ZIPs are for alternate hardware models (unreachable without boot_from_cli core option).

ROM definitions: src/mame/drivers/cdi.cpp:639-704. The fork carries four sets, cdimono1, cdimono2, cdi910 and cdi490a, declared at src/mame/drivers/cdi.cpp:713-716. The Quizard game ROMs upstream MAME keeps in this driver are not in it. The .info also lists cdibios.zip, a set this driver does not declare.

The Mono-I machine is built with the Digital Video Cartridge, whose driver ROM vmpega.rom is an optional member of cdimono1.zip: without it the region stays zero-filled and the player boots as a bare Mono-I (src/mame/drivers/cdi.cpp:658-659).

System forced: src/osd/libretro/libretro-internal/retro_init.cpp:86,463,534. BIOS path: src/osd/libretro/libretro-internal/retro_init.cpp:543.

Files

Section titled “Files”

4 files: 1 required, 3 optional.

By kind: 4 BIOS ZIPs.

In this collection: 4 in repo and 0 missing.

Required

Section titled “Required”

cdimono1.zip required in repo BIOS ZIP

  • Path: same_cdi/bios/cdimono1.zip
  • System: Philips CD-i
  • Forced system. Main CPU BIOS (3 region variants via MAME BIOS switch) + servo/slave MCU dumps. vmpega.rom is ROM_LOAD_OPTIONAL: full-motion video needs it, the machine starts without it.
Source and 6 members
  • cdi200.rom: Magnavox CD-i 200 BIOS (default, US), 512.0 KB, CRC32 40c4e6b9, SHA1 d961de803c89b3d1902d656ceb9ce7c02dccb40a
  • cdi220b.rom: Philips CD-i 220 F2 BIOS (alternate, PAL), 512.0 KB, CRC32 279683ca, SHA1 53360a1f21ddac952e95306ced64186a3fc0b93e
  • cdi220.rom: Philips CD-i 220 BIOS (non-working, does not boot), 512.0 KB, CRC32 584c0af8, SHA1 5d757ab46b8c8fc36361555d978d7af768342d47
  • zx405037p__cdi_servo_2.1__b43t__llek9215.mc68hc705c8a_withtestrom.7201: Servo MCU 2.1 MC68HC705C8A (BAD_DUMP, from cdi910), 8.0 KB, CRC32 7a3af407, SHA1 fdf8d78d6a0df4a56b5b963d72eabd39fcec163f
  • zx405042p__cdi_slave_2.0__b43t__zzmk9213.mc68hc705c8a_withtestrom.7206: Slave MCU 2.0 MC68HC705C8A (BAD_DUMP, from cdi910), 8.0 KB, CRC32 688cda63, SHA1 56d0acd7caad51c7de703247cd6d842b36173079
  • vmpega.rom: Digital Video Cartridge driver ROM (optional), 256.0 KB, CRC32 db264e8b, SHA1 be407fbc102f1731a0862554855e963e5a47c17b

Optional

Section titled “Optional”

cdimono2.zip optional in repo BIOS ZIP

  • Path: same_cdi/bios/cdimono2.zip
  • System: Philips CD-i
  • CD-i Mono-II (NTSC). MACHINE_NOT_WORKING. Listed in .info as optional.
Source and 3 members
  • philips__cdi-220_ph3_r1.2__mb834200b-15__02f_aa__9402_z04.tc574200-le._1.7211: Mono-II main CPU BIOS, Philips CDI-220 PH3 R1.2, 512.0 KB, CRC32 17d723e7, SHA1 6c317a82e35d60ca5e7a74fc99f665055693169d
  • zc405351p__servo_cdi_4.1__0d67p__lluk9404.mc68hc705c8a.7490: Mono-II servo MCU 4.1, 8.0 KB, CRC32 2bc8e4e9, SHA1 8cd052b532fc052d6b0077261c12f800e8655bb1
  • zc405352p__slave_cdi_4.1__0d67p__lltr9403.mc68hc705c8a.7206: Mono-II slave MCU 4.1, 8.0 KB, CRC32 5b19da07, SHA1 cf02d84977050c71e87a38f1249e83c43a93949b

cdi910.zip optional in repo BIOS ZIP

  • Path: same_cdi/bios/cdi910.zip
  • System: Philips CD-i
  • CD-i 910-17P Mini-MMC (PAL). MACHINE_NOT_WORKING. Not in .info firmware list.
Source and 6 members
  • philips__cd-i_2.1__mb834200b-15__26b_aa__9224_z01.tc574200.7211: CD-i 910-17P Mini-MMC BIOS (default), 512.0 KB, CRC32 4ae3bee3, SHA1 9729b4ee3ce0c17172d062339c47b1ab822b222b
  • cdi910.rom: CD-i 910 alternate BIOS, 512.0 KB, CRC32 2f3048d2, SHA1 11c4c3e602060518b52e77156345fa01f619e793
  • zx405037p__cdi_servo_2.1__b43t__llek9215.mc68hc705c8a_withtestrom.7201: Servo MCU 2.1 (same ROM as cdimono1, not BAD_DUMP here), 8.0 KB, CRC32 7a3af407, SHA1 fdf8d78d6a0df4a56b5b963d72eabd39fcec163f
  • zx405042p__cdi_slave_2.0__b43t__zzmk9213.mc68hc705c8a_withtestrom.7206: Slave MCU 2.0 (same ROM as cdimono1, not BAD_DUMP here), 8.0 KB, CRC32 688cda63, SHA1 56d0acd7caad51c7de703247cd6d842b36173079
  • ti_portugal_206xf__tibpal20l8-15cnt__m7205n.7205.bin: PAL chip dump, 324 B, CRC32 dd167e0d, SHA1 2ba82a4619d7a0f19e62e02a2841afd4d45d56ba
  • ti_portugal_774_206xf__tibpal16l8-10cn_m7204n.7204.bin: PAL chip dump, 260 B, CRC32 04e6bd37, SHA1 153d1a977291bedb7420484a9f889325dbd3628e

cdi490a.zip optional in repo BIOS ZIP

  • Path: same_cdi/bios/cdi490a.zip
  • System: Philips CD-i
  • CD-i 490. MACHINE_NOT_WORKING. Not in .info firmware list.
Source and 3 members
  • cdi490a.rom: CD-i 490 main CPU BIOS, 512.0 KB, CRC32 e2f200f6, SHA1 c9bf3c4c7e4fe5cbec3fe3fc993c77a4522ca547
  • vmpega.rom: Digital video driver ROM, 256.0 KB, CRC32 db264e8b, SHA1 be407fbc102f1731a0862554855e963e5a47c17b
  • impega.rom: IMPEG ROM, loaded into its own region and not read by the emulation, 256.0 KB, CRC32 84d6f6aa, SHA1 02526482a0851ea2a7b582d8afaa8ef14a8bd914

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.