Configurable "System boot" and "Lock-On" ROM files

[Former user]

Original issue 242 created by superballena on 2012-07-07T01:21:29.000Z:

I was thinking that it might be useful to have the current "System boot" option from the system settings to show a new menu where you can select the BIOS/TMSS you want each system and region to load (if any), instead of having to save them on the SD card with a specific name.

I personally think this could be specially helpful when testing Mega-CD games, as trying all different BIOSes with each game would be a breeze.

Same could be done with the current "Lock-On" option, to allow for directly selecting any available versions of the Game Genie and Action Replay (or Sonic & Knuckles).

Then, and for completeness sake since there's official hardware that does it, there could be a new "Extra ROM" menu, which would be appended after the game's ROM (something that's needed for properly emulating Sonic 2 & Knuckles).

Do you think these could be worth implementing?

[Former user]

Comment # 1 originally posted by superballena on 2012-07-07T03:05:46.000Z:

Or perhaps the menu shortcuts for the BIOS, Lock-On and Extra menus could just appear as small buttons to the right of the usual ROM list, for an even faster access.

[Former user]

Comment # 2 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-07T08:56:57.000Z:

Yes, i already thought it was a good idea, only need to find the easiest and most suitable solution.

About CD bios, here is a little trick: if you load them (even zipped) like any other ROM, they will be auto-detected as CD bios (so they run with CD hardware being emulated) and remain loaded until you load another ROM file. This means that you can "load" any CD image file afterward and it will make use of the previously loaded BIOS, providing they are region compatible, which is an easy way to test different bios versions.

Note that if you load another ROM file in between or loaded BIOS region does not match emulated region, default BIOS (/genplus/bios/bios\_CD\_X.bin) will be reloaded instead.

[Former user]

Comment # 3 originally posted by swsparklewind611 on 2012-07-10T22:53:33.000Z:

Regarding lock-on I think it would be practical to have the option of having a very simple confirmation window show up when you try to load a ROM. It could just contain the following two options:

\*OK \*Load second ROM

If you want to cancel, you press B. This would also be useful if, say, the complete Pier Solar game gets dumped someday, because the game itself is on a cartridge, but you can get much-improved in-game music by keeping the game's "music disc" in the CD-drive and the game cartridge in the cartridge slot at the same time while playing.

[Former user]

Comment # 5 originally posted by superballena on 2012-07-11T08:20:08.000Z:

But that would be more annoying the other 99% times you'll be loading games...

Having the Game lists feature "BIOS", "Lock-On" and "Extra" (and maybe "current hardware") buttons as shortcuts to their respective selection menus would be much more convenient, I think.

[Former user]

Comment # 6 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-11T09:09:02.000Z:

I agree this would be too annoying, and 99.9% of people do not use this feature anyway.

[Former user]

Comment # 7 originally posted by swsparklewind611 on 2012-07-11T14:16:52.000Z:

What about having for example X (If you're using a GC controller) trigger this option? If you don't need it you just load a ROM by pressing A as usual instead.

[Former user]

Comment # 8 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-10-09T23:30:27.000Z:

[Former user]

Comment # 10 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2014-08-24T22:23:28.000Z:

Added in r893