How to: Manage BIOS and Firmware

A BIOS or firmware is like the brain of a computer or electronic device. It helps the device start up and makes sure all its parts work together smoothly. In emulation, having the correct BIOS/firmware is important because it allows the software to pretend to be the real device and work properly. That's why some emulators require BIOS and Firmware files to work correctly or at all. Generally the bios files should be put in ~/retrodeck/bios but there could be exceptions to this.

RetroArch (Libretro)

Some cores may need some BIOS files to work or run correctly. Official Libretro BIOS Guide

PPSSPP

PPSSPP
Starting everything should be included.
But if you want the original PSP fonts you can place them in system/PPSSPP/flash0/font

MSX / SVI / ColecoVision / SG-1000

MSX / SVI / ColecoVision / SG-1000
Content of blueMSXv282full.zip.
Not the zip itself, its contents must be extracted in ~/retrodeck/bios folder, more info here. Starting from v0.5.0b this is automatically provided.

Yuzu

Yuzu needs the key files prod.keys, title.keys and the firmware files in the following directories:

Yuzu keys: ~/retrodeck/bios/switch/keys

Yuzu firmware: ~/retrodeck/bios/switch/registered

The directory tree should look like this example:

~/retrodeck/bios/switch
├── keys
│   ├── prod.keys
│   └── title.keys
└── registered
    ├── 02259fd41066eddbc64e0fdd217d9d2f.nca
    ├── 02582a2cd46cc226ce72c8a52504cd97.nca
    ├── 02b1dd519a6df4de1b11871851d328a1.nca
    ├── other 217 files...
    └── fd0d23003ea5602c24ac4e41101c16fd.nca

You can find a complete guide in the Yuzu official wiki on how to extract the BIOS from your Switch.

XEMU (Xbox)

These files must be placed with the correct name in the given folders:

~/retrodeck/bios/mcpx_1.0.bin'
~/retrodeck/bios/Complex.bin'
~/retrodeck/saves/xbox-eeprom.bin'
[OPTIONAL] ~/retrodeck/bios/xbox_hdd.qcow2'

The hard disk is optional as RetroDECK already provides a pre-built 8G Xbox HDD image, free of any copyrighted content, and only containing a dummy dashboard. So if you want to the complete experience you have to provide your own.

Usually those files are dumped/found as:

mcpx_1.0.bin
Complex.bin -> Complex_4627v1.03.bin or Complex_4627.bin
xbox-eeprom.bin -> eeprom.bin
xbox_hdd.qcow2 -> xbox_harddisk-D4920.qcow2

So don't forget to rename them for the RetroDECK standards.

PICO-8

Pico-8 it's not freeware hence it cannot be included with RetroDECK, however it's supported by using these steps:

Download PICO-8 for Linux 64-bit from the official website or where you bought it.
Extract the zipfile somewhere on your desktop
Copy the content of the extracted pico-8 folder into ~/retrodeck/bios/pico-8/

MelonDS (Standalone), (NDS)

MelonDS by default needs those files:

~/retrodeck/bios/bios9.bin
~/retrodeck/bios/bios7.bin
~/retrodeck/bios/firmware.bin

However there is a setting to disable the need of these files by going to: Tools -> Start MelonDS -> Yes -> Config -> Emu settings -> DS-mode and removing the check on Use external BIOS/firmware files. Please be advised that this operation may prevent the games from running correctly.

PCSX2 (PS2)

There a multitude of PS2 bios for a complete list with the hashes check
Gametechwiki

The PS2 bios could be named in the following ways
By bios version: ps2-0200a-20040614.bin
By system name:SCPH-70012.bin

Put the bios inside the bios folder: ~/retrodeck/bios/SCPH-70012.bin

Here is a list of common used bios with bios versions/system names/hashes.

ps2-0200a-20040614 - SCPH-70001/SCPH-70011/SCPH-70012 - d333558cc14561c1fdc334c75d5f37b7 -PS2 US BIOS
ps2-0200e-20040614 - SCPH-70002/SCPH-70003/SCPH-70004/SCPH-70008 - dc752f160044f2ed5fc1f4964db2a095 - PS2 EU BIOS
ps2-0200j-20040614 - SCPH-70000 - 0eee5d1c779aa50e94edd168b4ebf42e - PS2 JP BIOS

RPCS3 (PS3)

Download the latest PlayStation 3 firmware.
Tools -> RetroDECK Configurator -> Change settings -> RPCS3 -> File -> Install Firmware.

For more information on how to load the games check the official quickstart guide.

NeoGeo

neogeo.zip

Should go into the ~/retrodeck/roms/neogeo/ folder and the ~/retrodeck/bios folder. Depending on what emulator you use, the emulator looks for the BIOS in different directories. So the safest way it to just copy the BIOS and put it into both places.

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