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RetroBIOS

VICE SDL

VICE SDL emulates Commodore C64. It reads 23 files, 3 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/r-type/sdlvice-libretro
Upstream https://sourceforge.net/projects/vice-emu/
Version 3.1, stated in src/version.h
Revision r-type/sdlvice-libretro@baaaeed97ce1
Profiled 2026-03-25
Profile YAML, JSON
Cores x64sdl
Systems Commodore C64
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 x64sdl
Technical notes

Old port of VICE 3.1 using an SDL-to-libretro shim (r-type/sdlvice-libretro). Separate codebase from the newer vice-libretro port. Marked experimental and superseded. Unlike the newer port, this core does NOT embed system ROMs: all ROMs must be on disk in <system_dir>/data/C64/ and <system_dir>/data/DRIVES/. The .info declares firmware_count=0, while the core reads the ROMs this profile lists. No JiffyDOS support. No save states, no netplay, no cheats.

Files

Section titled “Files”

23 files: 3 required, 20 optional.

In this collection: 23 in repo and 0 missing.

Required

Section titled “Required”
FileStatus

kernal

C64 Kernal ROM

  • Path: data/C64/kernal
Source
in repo

basic

C64 BASIC ROM

  • Path: data/C64/basic
Source
in repo

chargen

C64 character generator ROM

  • Path: data/C64/chargen
Source
in repo

Optional

Section titled “Optional”
20 rows
FileStatus

sxkernal

SX-64 Kernal ROM

  • Path: data/C64/sxkernal
  • Loaded when SX64 PAL or SX64 NTSC model selected.
Source
in repo

jpkernal

Japanese C64 Kernal ROM

  • Path: data/C64/jpkernal
  • Loaded when C64 JAP NTSC model selected.
Source
in repo Region: Japan

jpchrgen

Japanese C64 character generator ROM

  • Path: data/C64/jpchrgen
  • Loaded when C64 JAP NTSC model selected.
Source
in repo Region: Japan

gskernal

C64 Games System Kernal ROM

  • Path: data/C64/gskernal
  • Loaded when C64 GS PAL model selected.
Source
in repo

edkernal

PET64/Educator64 Kernal ROM

  • Path: data/C64/edkernal
  • Loaded when PET64 PAL or PET64 NTSC model selected.
Source
in repo

dos1540

1540 floppy drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos1540
  • Hardware-level 1540 drive emulation. Absence disables this drive type.
Source
in repo

dos1541

1541 floppy drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos1541
  • Hardware-level 1541 drive emulation. Most common C64 drive.
Source
in repo

d1541II

1541-II floppy drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/d1541II
Source
in repo

dos1570

1570 floppy drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos1570
Source
in repo

dos1571

1571 floppy drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos1571
Source
in repo

dos1581

1581 floppy drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos1581
Source
in repo

dos2000

CMD FD-2000 drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos2000
  • Not shipped with VICE 3.1 data files.
Source
in repo

dos4000

CMD FD-4000 drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos4000
  • Not shipped with VICE 3.1 data files.
Source
in repo

dos2031

2031 IEEE drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos2031
  • IEEE488 interface drive. Requires parallel IEEE488 extension.
Source
in repo

dos2040

2040 IEEE drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos2040
Source
in repo

dos3040

3040 IEEE drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos3040
Source
in repo

dos4040

4040 IEEE drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos4040
Source
in repo

dos1001

1001/8050/8250 IEEE drive ROM

  • Path: data/DRIVES/dos1001
Source
in repo

mps803

MPS-803 printer character ROM

  • Path: data/PRINTER/mps803
  • Loaded on demand when MPS-803 printer opened.
Source
in repo

nl10-cbm

NL10 printer ROM

  • Path: data/PRINTER/nl10-cbm
  • Loaded on demand when NL10 printer opened.
Source
in repo

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
.

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.