Troubleshooting - RetroBIOS

Diagnosis guide organized by symptom. Each section describes what to check and how to fix it.

Game won't start / black screen

Most launch failures are caused by a missing or incorrect BIOS file.

Check if the BIOS exists:

python scripts/verify.py --platform retroarch --verbose
python scripts/verify.py --system sony-playstation

Look for MISSING entries in the output. A missing required BIOS means the core cannot start games for that system at all.

Check if the hash matches:

Look for untested entries in the verify output. This means the file exists but its hash does not match the expected value. Common causes:

• Wrong region (a PAL BIOS instead of NTSC, or vice versa)
• Wrong hardware revision (e.g. SCPH-5501 vs SCPH-1001 for PlayStation)
• Corrupted download

Each system page on the site lists the expected hashes. Compare your file's MD5 or SHA1 against those values.

Wrong region BIOS:

Some cores require region-specific BIOS files. A Japanese BIOS won't boot North American games on cores that enforce region matching. Check the emulator profile for your core to see which regions are supported and which files correspond to each.

BIOS not found by emulator

The file exists on disk, but the emulator reports it as missing.

Wrong directory:

Each platform expects BIOS files in a specific base directory:

• RetroArch: system/ inside the RetroArch directory
• Lakka: /storage/system/
• Batocera: /userdata/bios/
• Recalbox: /recalbox/share/bios/
• RetroPie: ~/RetroPie/BIOS/
• ROCKNIX: /storage/roms/bios/
• MiSTer FPGA: /media/fat/games/
• BizHawk: Firmware/ inside the BizHawk directory
• EmuDeck: ~/Emulation/bios/
• RetroDECK: ~/retrodeck/bios/
• RetroBat: bios/ inside the RetroBat directory

Some cores expect files in subdirectories (e.g. dc/ for Dreamcast, pcsx2/bios/ for PlayStation 2). Check the path: field in the emulator profile for the exact expected location relative to the base directory.

Wrong filename:

Cores match BIOS files by exact filename. If a core expects scph5501.bin and your file is named SCPH-5501.BIN, it won't be found on platforms that do exact name matching.

Check the emulator profile for the expected filename and any aliases listed under aliases:. Aliases are alternative names that the core also accepts.

Case sensitivity:

Linux filesystems are case-sensitive. A file named Bios.ROM won't match a lookup for bios.rom. Windows and macOS are case-insensitive by default, so the same file works there but fails on Linux.

Batocera's verification uses casefold() for case-insensitive matching, but the actual emulator may still require exact case. When in doubt, use the exact filename from the emulator profile.

Hash mismatch / UNTESTED

verify.py reports UNTESTED for a file.

The file exists and was hashed, but the computed hash doesn't match any expected value. This means you have a different version of the file than what the platform or emulator expects. The reason field shows the expected vs actual hash prefix.

To find the correct version, check the system page on the site. It lists every known BIOS file with its expected MD5 and SHA1.

Existence-mode platforms never report UNTESTED:

On RetroArch, Lakka and RetroPie, verification only asks whether the file is there, so the only outcomes are OK and MISSING. A wrong-region or corrupt file still shows as OK. To find out whether the content is right on those platforms, run verify.py --verbose: it adds the emulator ground truth from the profiles and flags a DISCREPANCY when the file passes the platform check but fails the emulator's own size or hash validation.

The .variants/ directory:

When multiple versions of the same BIOS exist (different revisions, regions, or dumps), the primary version lives in the main directory and alternatives live in .variants/. verify.py checks the primary file first, then falls back to variants when resolving by hash.

If your file matches a variant hash but not the primary, it's a valid BIOS -- just not the preferred version. Some cores accept multiple versions.

Pack is missing files

A generated pack doesn't contain all the files you expected.

Severity levels:

verify.py assigns a severity to each issue. Not all missing files are equally important:

Severity	Meaning	Action needed
CRITICAL	Required file missing on an MD5 or SHA1 platform	Must fix. Core won't function.
WARNING	Optional file missing on an MD5 or SHA1 platform, hash mismatch (UNTESTED) on any hash platform, or a required file missing on an existence platform	Core works but with reduced functionality, or runs on content nobody verified.
INFO	Optional file missing on an existence-only platform, or a missing file the core covers with an HLE fallback	Core works fine, BIOS improves accuracy.
OK	File present and verified	No action needed.

The full mapping, including how hle_fallback overrides the platform mode, is in verification modes.

Focus on CRITICAL issues first. WARNING files improve the experience but aren't strictly necessary. INFO files are nice to have.

Large files (over 50 MB):

Files like PS3UPDAT.PUP, PSVUPDAT.PUP, and Switch firmware are too large for the git repository. They are stored as GitHub release assets under the large-files release and downloaded at build time.

If a pack build fails to include these, check your network connection. In offline mode (--offline), large files are only included if already cached locally in .cache/large/.

Data directories:

Some cores need entire directory trees rather than individual files (e.g. Dolphin's Sys/ directory, PPSSPP's assets/). These are fetched by refresh_data_dirs.py from upstream repositories.

In offline mode, data directories are only included if already cached in data/. Run python scripts/refresh_data_dirs.py to fetch them.

verify.py reports errors

How to read and interpret verify.py output.

Status codes:

Status	Meaning
ok	File present, hash matches (or existence check passed)
untested	File present, hash not confirmed against expected value
missing	File not found in the repository

Hash and size mismatches are reported as untested with a reason field showing expected vs actual values (e.g., expected abc123… got def456…).

Reading the output:

Each line shows the file path, its status, and severity. In verbose mode, ground truth data from emulator profiles is appended, showing which cores reference the file and what validations they perform.

scph5501.bin        ok       [OK]
dc_boot.bin         missing  [CRITICAL]
gba_bios.bin        untested [WARNING]

Cross-reference section:

After per-file results, verify.py prints a cross-reference report. This lists files that emulator cores need but that the platform YAML doesn't declare. These files are still included in packs automatically, but the report helps identify gaps in platform coverage data.

The cross-reference uses resolve_platform_cores() to determine which emulator profiles are relevant for each platform, then checks whether each profile's files appear in the platform config.

Filtering output:

# By platform
python scripts/verify.py --platform batocera

# By emulator core
python scripts/verify.py --emulator beetle_psx

# By system
python scripts/verify.py --system sony-playstation

# By hardware target
python scripts/verify.py --platform retroarch --target switch

# JSON for scripted processing
python scripts/verify.py --platform retroarch --json

Installation script fails

Problems with install.py, install.sh, or download.sh.

Network issues:

The installer fetches its manifest, then downloads only the repository or large-files release objects it needs. If a download fails:

• Check your internet connection
• Verify that https://github.com is reachable
• If behind a proxy, set HTTPS_PROXY in your environment
• Try again later if GitHub is experiencing issues

Permission denied:

The installer needs write access to the target directory.

• On Linux/macOS: check directory ownership (ls -la) and run with appropriate permissions. Avoid running as root unless the target directory requires it.
• On Windows: run PowerShell as Administrator if installing to a protected directory.

Platform not detected:

install.py auto-detects your platform by checking for known config files. If detection fails, specify the platform manually:

python install.py --platform retroarch --dest ~/RetroArch/system/
python install.py --platform batocera --dest /userdata/bios/

Use python install.py --help to see all available platforms and options.

Manifest or file not found:

The one-line bootstrap verifies the downloaded installer before running it, and the installer reads its manifests from the same revision. A 404 usually means the platform name is wrong; check python install.py --list-platforms. RETROBIOS_REF pins an installation to a published tag when a reproducible file set matters more than the newest one.

Manual pack not found in release:

If the installer reports that no pack exists for your platform, check available releases:

python scripts/download.py --list
# or
bash scripts/download.sh --list

Some platforms share packs (Lakka uses the RetroArch pack). The installer handles this mapping automatically, but if you're downloading manually, check which pack name corresponds to your platform.