DAT files

[antaresprime]

I wish to post some of the problems that I am having with kawaks and Samurai Showdown 5 special, but I am having trouble generating the necessary images (screenshots of the zip archive) and the DAT files that are needed to diagnose my problems.

 

First off, how do I actually post an image that originates from my hard drive? I tried using the IMG tag, but that gave me an error.

 

Second, how do I generate a DAT file of my SS5 rom using RomCenter? What are DAT files anyway? And is there a difference between the a DAT file such as "asr.dat" for the loader and a DAT file that is specific to one rom?

[Agozer]

For the iamge thing, first upload your image(s) to an image hosting site, like htp://www.imageshack.us, and then past the link that you get to your forum post. If you directlink images from other sites, use the tag followed by the full URL of the image.

 

 

ASR.DAT (for Kawaks Loader) and NEOGEO.DAT (for Nebula Loader) contain all the DATs for all supported games. Sure, you can have a single DAT in a single file for just one game (like kof2003.dat that only has a proper DAT kof KOF2003) but that's a bit impractical.

 

A DAT file specifies what files belong to what game, how big are those files, their individual CRCs, the set they originate from, as well as some necessary additional info so that Kawaks/Nebula knows how to start processing the files in question.

 

I'll give you an example: using Samurai Shodown V SPECIAL. This is a Nebula DAT btw, but AFAIK, Kawaks uses the same layout more or less. It's a lot easier to write your DATs by manually yourself with the code below as an example. I personally don't trust tools that generate DATs for you.

 

System: NEO
RomName: Samurai Shodown 5 Special
Game: Samurai Shodown V SPECIAL

[Program]
ssvs_p1.rom,0,800000,EF5CD275,0

[Text]
ssvs_s1.rom,0,20000,6F2601EB,0

[Z80]
ssvs-m1.rom,0,20000,B5ABDA07,0

[Samples]
ssvs_v1.rom,0,400000,32156CFE,0
ssvs_v2.rom,400000,400000,E46D2F8,0
ssvs_v3.rom,800000,400000,9AA45090,0
ssvs_v4.rom,C00000,400000,AD8FABB4,0

[Graphics]
ssvs_c1.rom,0,800000,8548097E,0
ssvs_c2.rom,1,800000,8C1B48D0,0
ssvs_c3.rom,1000000,800000,96DDB28C,0
ssvs_c4.rom,1000001,800000,99EF7A0A,0
ssvs_c5.rom,2000000,800000,772E8B1E,0
ssvs_c6.rom,2000001,800000,5FFF21FC,0
ssvs_c7.rom,3000000,800000,9AC56A0E,0
ssvs_c8.rom,3000001,800000,CFDE7AFF,0

[System]
CartridgeID: 272
GfxCrypt: 0
GfxKey: 0
ButLayout: 9
Fix: 0

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

As you can see, the DAT has been divided into sections. System tells the emulator that this is a Neo-Geo DAT. The second line tell the emulator what is the name of the set you have. (so if your set is named samsho5.zip, the line should read samsho5). The third line specifies the text that should show up in the emulator's Load window.

 

Then there's the actual files and they are divided into correcponding sections. First off, there's the filename. Then there what I like to call the start index index number. The index number are almost alwayts the same for every set (as they are shown above).

 

Following the start index is the file's size in hex. 800000 = 8MB, 400000 = 4MB, 20000 = 128kb, 80000 = 512kB, etc. etc.

 

Next, it's the file's CRC. You can see CRCs of the file's in your archive by simply enabling that column somewhere in the options (e.g. WinZip's options).

 

The last number is the end index, that is in most cases 0.

 

The last System section specifies how the emulator should handle the files. The first line specifies the Cartridge ID of the game in question. each Neo-Geo game has it's own cartridge ID.

 

The following to lines are 0 if the set in qwuestion is not encrypted. If the set is encrypted, you need to find the correct values for the game. There is a thread somewhere around here that lists most of the values used for different games.

 

Butlayout (Buttonlayout) specifies what kind ogf button setup the game uses. 9 for Neo-Geo games. 4 action buttons, 1 Start, 1 Coin, 1 Service, I Test Menu, 1 Reset.

 

The last line is mostly 0, but some games use other values.

[antaresprime]

Thanks CrashDown Champion!

 

It seems that I had a working rom from the beginning. I just didn't have the correct DAT file for the loader to recognize it.

[Agozer]

Thanks CrashDown Champion!

No. That's wrong. Look again.

[Robert]

Need to get something done about that.

Too many people get confused.

[Agozer]

Need to get something done about that.

Too many people get confused.

You don't say.

[antaresprime]

Does Winkawaks 1.56 have something similar to ASR.DAT by default like the Kwawaks loader? I wish to know whether I can edit the kawaks equivalent of ASR.DAT to make it recognize my version of the SS5 rom.

[James]

Does Winkawaks 1.56 have something similar to ASR.DAT by default like the Kwawaks loader? I wish to know whether I can edit the kawaks equivalent of ASR.DAT to make it recognize my version of the SS5 rom.

 

No and I hope not