Game add-ons: Difference between revisions

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If something in the core matrix needs to be changed, leave a message in the forum.
If something in the core matrix needs to be changed, leave a message in the forum.


==BIOS requirements==
== BIOS requirements ==
Some libretro cores require BIOS files to work, and those BIOSes must be placed in the system folder (with each BIOS being a binary file). For now you will need to find those BIOS files by yourself and and copy them to your system yourself as it may not be fully legal for Team-Kodi to provide them bundled with each libretro core that needs them. The reason for this is that these BIOSes are usually considered to be in an legal gray-zone and can be a little difficult to aquire, at least legally. For example, since all PlayStation emulators, like Beetle PSX & PCSX ReARMed, require a closed source BIOS file to work, and its BIOS file must be placed in the system folder on your emulator software (libretro cores in this case).  
Some libretro cores require BIOS files to work, and those BIOSes must be placed in the system folder (with each BIOS being a binary file). For now you will need to find those BIOS files by yourself and and copy them to your system yourself as it may not be fully legal for Team-Kodi to provide them bundled with each libretro core that needs them. The reason for this is that these BIOSes are usually considered to be in an legal gray-zone and can be a little difficult to aquire, at least legally. For example, since all PlayStation emulators, like Beetle PSX & PCSX ReARMed, require a closed source BIOS file to work, and its BIOS file must be placed in the system folder on your emulator software (libretro cores in this case).  


* See: http://www.lakka.tv/doc/ROMs-and-BIOSes/ and and http://www.lakka.tv/doc/Accessing-Lakka-filesystem/ (or see: http://github.com/libretro/Lakka/wiki/ROMs-and-BIOSes )
* See: https://github.com/libretro/Lakka/wiki/BIOSes and and http://www.lakka.tv/doc/Accessing-Lakka-filesystem/ (or see: http://github.com/libretro/Lakka/wiki/ROMs-and-BIOSes ). You should find the most up-to-date information here https://github.com/libretro/libretro-super/tree/master/dist/info and here https://github.com/libretro/libretro-database/blob/master/dat/BIOS%20-%20Merged.dat


The above linked table lists all the required BIOSes which some emulators requires, so if a systems BIOS is not listed here then it means that it does not require a BIOS file.
=== BIOS requirement table ===
The table below lists all the required BIOSes which some emulators requires for each each emulated system, so if a systems BIOS is not listed here then it means that it should not require a BIOS file.
 
{|
| Warning! Linux is a case sensitive system. Please name BIOS files exactly according to this table.
|}
{| width="100%" class="datatable"
|-
! rowspan="2" | System !! rowspan="2" | BIOS file !! rowspan="2" | MD5 !! rowspan="2" | Comment
|-
!
|-
| 3DO - 3DO || panafz10.bin || 51f2f43ae2f3508a14d9f56597e2d3ce  ||  ||
|-
| Atari - 7800 || 7800 BIOS (U).rom || 0763f1ffb006ddbe32e52d497ee848ae ||  ||
|-
| Atari - Lynx || lynxboot.img || FCD403DB69F54290B51035D82F835E7B ||  ||
|-
| Final Burn Alpha ||  ||  || BIOS goes next to the ROMs ||
|}


:Note that most of these BIOSes are not revered engineered releases but binary ROMs ripped from the EEPROM inside of an actual game console system hardware, so it is proprietary binary blobs (precompiled software binaries) which might still be under copyright depending on the console age and origins. It may be that some of those BIOSes are can be seen as Fair use since these game consoles are no longer sold and there is probabably no commercial value of them, but that is something that the XBMC Foundation need to talk about with attorneys about before being able to distributing such BIOS files as resource add-ons or bundled with each libretro core in an official repository.
:Note that most of these BIOSes are not revered engineered releases but binary ROMs ripped from the EEPROM inside of an actual game console system hardware, so it is proprietary binary blobs (precompiled software binaries) which might still be under copyright depending on the console age and origins. It may be that some of those BIOSes are can be seen as Fair use since these game consoles are no longer sold and there is probabably no commercial value of them, but that is something that the XBMC Foundation need to talk about with attorneys about before being able to distributing such BIOS files as resource add-ons or bundled with each libretro core in an official repository.

Revision as of 15:20, 5 April 2017

Home icon grey.png   ▶ Kodi Game ▶ Game add-ons

Status on ported currently existing game client addons for the new Game API made available in Kodi Game branch.

Stop hand.png These pages are maintained by the community, it only goes as far as fair use, and this should not be considered as an endorsement for copyright infringement. The information on this page might also contain errors or be outdated. It might also contain ants, and their antsy antics. *


Stand-alone game add-ons

Stand-alone games or emulators that does not use the Libretro API.

Here will be a list of existing/ongoing and future/upcoming project for making new stand-alone game add-ons for Kodi:

Libretro cores

The Game API in the Kodi Game branch has a Libretro wrapper which is 1:1 compatibility with the libretro API, so all libretro cores are valid game add-ons. Libretro itself is a well defined interface to handle the communication between a frontend (Kodi with RetroPlayer) and an Emulator Core (e.g. nestopia).

Here is a list of Libretro cores, of which most already have been ported into game add-ons for Kodi, at least as an initial port, (you can see the status of each libretro core in the table below):


* License is GPLv2 compatible

If something in the core matrix needs to be changed, leave a message in the forum.

BIOS requirements

Some libretro cores require BIOS files to work, and those BIOSes must be placed in the system folder (with each BIOS being a binary file). For now you will need to find those BIOS files by yourself and and copy them to your system yourself as it may not be fully legal for Team-Kodi to provide them bundled with each libretro core that needs them. The reason for this is that these BIOSes are usually considered to be in an legal gray-zone and can be a little difficult to aquire, at least legally. For example, since all PlayStation emulators, like Beetle PSX & PCSX ReARMed, require a closed source BIOS file to work, and its BIOS file must be placed in the system folder on your emulator software (libretro cores in this case).

BIOS requirement table

The table below lists all the required BIOSes which some emulators requires for each each emulated system, so if a systems BIOS is not listed here then it means that it should not require a BIOS file.

Warning! Linux is a case sensitive system. Please name BIOS files exactly according to this table.
System BIOS file MD5 Comment
3DO - 3DO panafz10.bin 51f2f43ae2f3508a14d9f56597e2d3ce
Atari - 7800 7800 BIOS (U).rom 0763f1ffb006ddbe32e52d497ee848ae
Atari - Lynx lynxboot.img FCD403DB69F54290B51035D82F835E7B
Final Burn Alpha BIOS goes next to the ROMs
Note that most of these BIOSes are not revered engineered releases but binary ROMs ripped from the EEPROM inside of an actual game console system hardware, so it is proprietary binary blobs (precompiled software binaries) which might still be under copyright depending on the console age and origins. It may be that some of those BIOSes are can be seen as Fair use since these game consoles are no longer sold and there is probabably no commercial value of them, but that is something that the XBMC Foundation need to talk about with attorneys about before being able to distributing such BIOS files as resource add-ons or bundled with each libretro core in an official repository.

What is a BIOS?

A BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is the startup code of a system and is required for certain emulators to work.

Where do I place the BIOS files?

You will need to place them into the System Directory (linux example for pcsx bios files: ~/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/game.libretro.pcsx-rearmed/system/ ).

Alternatively, you can place the into your Content Directory next to the game you are going to play.

Remember, since Linux is a case sensitive system, you have to rename the BIOS files according to this table so that the libretro cores will be able to find the BIOS files.

Why isn’t my BIOS working?

  1. Make sure the BIOS files are placed into the correct directory (see above).
  2. Make sure they are named correctly so the core can identify them.
  3. Make sure it’s the correct version/region of a BIOS.
  4. Make sure your files are not corrupted (bad source, broken download, etc.).
  5. Make sure to check the log for any errors.

See also