BIOS files

Some systems cannot boot without a copy of their original BIOS — the small program that was burned into the console itself. The PlayStation is the best-known example; Saturn, Dreamcast, 3DO, CD-i, Amiga and several others are the same.

RetroXR does not and cannot ship these files. They are copyrighted, and they belong to the hardware you own.

Seeing what a system needs

Open CORES and go to the BIOS / Extras view. Every system is listed with its status at a glance — complete, a count of optional files, or required files missing.

Open one and you get the files themselves, each marked required or optional, with its exact expected filename. The PlayStation entry, for instance, lists scph5500.bin, scph5501.bin, scph5502.bin and psxonpsp660.bin.

This is worth checking before you wonder why a game will not start. A missing BIOS usually shows up as a console that powers on and does nothing, not as an error.

Getting the files in

The filename has to match exactly — cores look for a specific name, and a file that is right in every way except its name will not be found.

Copy them in the same way as anything else, via the web file manager or straight onto disk. See adding your games for both routes.

If you run a RomM server that holds your firmware, RetroXR can pull the files down from it directly — see connecting RomM.

Optional files

“Optional” means the core runs without it but something is reduced — a region that will not boot, a peripheral that will not work, or a slower fallback. If a specific game misbehaves and the system has an optional BIOS file you have not supplied, that is a reasonable thing to try.