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Abdessamad Derraz
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Five tabs from Start here to Contribute, a level on every page, a device picker on Get your files that lists every registered platform, and platform pages that open on where the files go, the command, the pack and how to check. FAQ and troubleshooting keep the questions asked before installing, the technical ones move to their own page, and getting started points to the pages that took its content.
77 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
77 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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level: start
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---
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# What BIOS files are
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Many consoles have a small program built into them. It runs when the console
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is switched on, sets up the hardware and then starts the game. That program is
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called the BIOS, or the firmware.
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An emulator recreates a console in software. To start the games of many
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consoles, it needs a copy of that built-in program. The copy is a file, and
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that file is what people call a BIOS file.
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<!-- image: bios-chain -->
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## How the pieces fit together
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1. You pick a game in the **frontend**, the menu you play from (EmulationStation,
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the RetroArch menu, MinUI and others).
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2. The frontend starts an **emulator** for that console.
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3. The emulator reads the **BIOS file** from the **BIOS folder** of your setup.
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4. The game starts.
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When the file is not in the folder, or is not the version the emulator expects,
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step 3 fails. The emulator then says that a BIOS is missing, or the game stays
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on a black screen.
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## Do I need them?
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It depends on the console.
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- **Usually yes** for consoles that start every game through their own
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program: PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Saturn, Mega-CD, PC Engine CD, Neo Geo,
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Dreamcast, and many home computers.
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- **Usually not** for cartridge consoles such as the NES, the Super Nintendo,
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the Mega Drive, the Game Boy and the Game Boy Advance. Their emulators start
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the games without one. Some can use one to show the original start-up screen.
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- **Add-ons need their own**, even on those consoles: the Famicom Disk System
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and the Mega-CD each have a BIOS.
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Some emulators can stand in for the BIOS with code of their own. This is called
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HLE, for high-level emulation. It works for many games, but some glitch or do
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not start. The real file gives the best results, so the packs include it.
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Details: [the files each console needs](../systems/index.md), with the
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emulators that read them.
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## Where they go
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Each setup keeps its BIOS files in a folder of its own: `system` for RetroArch,
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`/userdata/bios` on Batocera, `Emulation/bios` with EmuDeck. The page of your
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setup gives the exact folder.
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The name matters. An emulator looks for an exact name, such as `scph5501.bin`
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for a PlayStation, and a file with another name is not found.
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## Why the right version matters
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Two files with the same name can hold different versions: one per region, or
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a newer revision of the same chip. Some setups, among them Batocera, Recalbox
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and EmuDeck, compare a fingerprint of the file's contents, called a hash, and
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refuse a version they do not list. RetroBIOS gives each setup the versions it
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expects.
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## Is it legal?
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Laws on copying console firmware differ by country, and the question is not
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settled. The [project's position](faq.md#is-this-legal) explains where it
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stands, where its arguments are weakest, and how to ask for a file to be
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removed.
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!!! tip "Next"
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- [Get your files](../which-pack.md), for the setup you play on
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- [Glossary](glossary.md), every word these pages use
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