How to Make .neo Files Using city41's neosdconv Utility

[Neo Alec]

I was just posting this for someone else, and thought it might be helpful to people, especially in the homebrew community. There are readme instructions already included with the utility of course, but it doesn't hurt to have another explanation. Thank you for @city41 for the useful utility!

Download the neosdconv utility:

GitHub - city41/neosdconv: A command line tool to convert Neo Geo roms into the format needed for NeoSD

A command line tool to convert Neo Geo roms into the format needed for NeoSD - GitHub - city41/neosdconv: A command line tool to convert Neo Geo roms into the format needed for NeoSD

github.com

(Click "Code" and choose "Download Zip")

You will also need Node installed: https://nodejs.org/en/download/

You can install neosdconv from a command line with

npm install -g neosdconv

After installing the utility and node, put your set of MAME style rom files in a new folder. Now here's the trick:
The file names need to have the .rom extension with the file type after the dash in the name. So they can't be .bin or .v1, etc. Example:
name-c1.rom
name-c2.rom (etc)
name-m1.rom
name-p1.rom
name-s1.rom
name-v1.rom

Run the Windows command line as an Administrator. Here's an example command:
neosdconv -i horekid -o horekid.neo -n "Booby Kids" -g Action -y 1987 -m Nichibutsu
"horekid" is the name of my directory with the roms in it.
(enclose any names with spaces in double quotes)
The genre must be one of the ones on this list:

neosdconv/src/genres.ts at main · city41/neosdconv

A command line tool to convert Neo Geo roms into the format needed for NeoSD - city41/neosdconv

github.com

If you get your file names wrong, the utility will output a useless .neo file. It's usually pretty easy to tell it failed this way because the resulting file will be obviously too small compared to most others.

 

[city41]

Hmm, you shouldn't have to have a .rom extension, the tool is pretty flexible on finding the files. I convert roms that have .bin, .v1, extensions all the time.

If anyone hits an issue where a rom doesn't seem to convert correctly let me know and I'll see about fixing it.

Also when specifying the genre, you have to capitalize it. "Action" will work, "action" will not. If you get the genre wrong, it will default to "Other", so not a huge deal.

 

[city41]

Alec, are you sure you didn't install neosdconv with npm at some point? From what I can tell, just downloading the zip shouldn't work.

You can install neosdconv from a command line with

npm install -g neosdconv

You will need Node installed: https://nodejs.org/en/download/

If a newer version gets released, the above will also update to the latest version.

 

[Neo Alec]

Hmm, you shouldn't have to have a .rom extension, the tool is pretty flexible on finding the files. I convert roms that have .bin, .v1, extensions all the time.

If anyone hits an issue where a rom doesn't seem to convert correctly let me know and I'll see about fixing it.

Also when specifying the genre, you have to capitalize it. "Action" will work, "action" will not. If you get the genre wrong, it will default to "Other", so not a huge deal.

Okay, that's what worked for me. Something else must have been wrong. Maybe just having the -v1 etc in the file name is the key? If I find something that doesn't work I'll post it. Thanks.

Alec, are you sure you didn't install neosdconv with npm at some point? From what I can tell, just downloading the zip shouldn't work.

You can install neosdconv from a command line with

npm install -g neosdconv

You will need Node installed: https://nodejs.org/en/download/

If a newer version gets released, the above will also update to the latest version.

This is the part I was forgetting. Will update the post. Thanks.

 

[city41]

Nice. One last tweak, you don't need to download the zip. The "npm install" command will download the tool for you.

Maybe just having the -v1 etc in the file name is the key? If I find something that doesn't work I'll post it. Thanks.

Awesome, that would be helpful. Looking at the code, neosdconv should work with names like

202-v1.rom
202-v1.bin
202-v1.v1

These won't work

202-v1-123.v1
202-v1-123.rom
202-v1-123.bin

Basically having something coming after the "v1" (or c1, m1, etc) and before the extension. Are there roms out there like that? I can always expand to let this pattern work too.

 

[city41]

You can now make .neo files using this website:

To NeoSD

Convert a Neo Geo ROM to NeoSD format

toneosd.mattgreer.dev

It is using neosdconv to do the conversion.

So far the website is quite simple, I'll polish it as time permits.

 

[Neo Alec]

That's really slick! Thank you.

Any chance of being able to add title art to the .neo? The ones made without TO's tool are less pretty in the menu, and I'm seeing more of them in my list as time goes on.

 

[city41]

That's really slick! Thank you.

Any chance of being able to add title art to the .neo? The ones made without TO's tool are less pretty in the menu, and I'm seeing more of them in my list as time goes on.

I don't think that is possible, unfortunately. The artwork data is stored on the NeoSD itself, and when you specify a screenshot number you're just picking from the ones TerraOnion provided.

TO might be able to do a firmware update where a screenshot could be embedded into a .neo, but that's just a guess.

 

[Neo Alec]

Oh, interesting. I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.

 

[Tigerskunk]

Just want to say thank your for this tool..
Currently trying to get my homebrew running on a real Neo Geo, and using a Mac.

(btw, WINE doesn't currently work with M1 Macs, so this is still really really helpful)