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rom filename codes, what do they mean?

Discussion in 'Technical Help' started by namlook, Apr 29, 2009.

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  1. namlook

    namlook New Member

    when i downloaded some NES roms i seen a ton of other filenames. some are obvious like (U) and (J) and (E) or even T+Rus/Spa/etc but then after (or before) that i'll see [letternumber]
    example; [a1], [b3], [o2]
    as well as (VS) or (PRG1) (PRG0) and lastly [!]

    what do they all mean?
     
  2. ICE-X

    ICE-X Well-Known Member

    Code:
                   ..................
    ...............: STANDARD CODES ::...............
    :                                               :\
    :   [a] Alternate        [p] Pirate             :\
    :   [b] Bad Dump         [t] Trained            :\
    :   [f] Fixed            [T-] OldTranslation    :\
    :   [o] Overdump         [T+] NewerTranslation  :\
    :   [h] Hack             (-) Unknown Year       :\
    :   [!p] Pending Dump    [!] Verified Good Dump :\
    :  (M#) Multilanguage (# of Languages)          :\
    : (###) Checksum       (??k) ROM Size           :\
    :                      (Unl) Unlicensed		:\
    :...............................................:\
     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
    
                    .................
    ................: SPECIAL CODES ::...............
    :                                               :\
    : .-----Gameboy-----.  .----Super Nintendo----. :\
    : [  [C] Color      ]  [ (BS) BS ROMs         ] :\
    : [  [S] Super      ]  [ (ST) Sufami Turbo    ] :\
    : [ [BF] Bung Fix   ]  [ (NP) Nintendo Power  ] :\
    : `-----------------'  `----------------------' :\
    :                      .--------Atari---------. :\
    : .-----Genesis-----.  [ (PAL) Euro Version   ] :\
    : [ (1) Japan       ]  `----------------------' :\
    : [ (4) USA         ]  .---------GBA----------. :\
    : [ (5) NTSC Only   ]  [ [hI??] Intro hacks   ] :\
    : [ (8) PAL Only    ]  `----------------------' :\
    : [ (B) non USA     ]  .--------Coleco--------. :\
    : [ [c] Checksum    ]  [ (Adam) ADAM Version  ] :\
    : [ [x] Bad Checksum]  `----------------------' :\
    : [ [R-] Countries  ]                           :\
    : `-----------------'                           :\
    :                      .--------NES/FC--------. :\
    : .--NeoGeo Pocket--.  [ (PC10) PlayChoice 10 ] :\
    : [ [M] Mono Only   ]  [   (VS) Versus        ] :\
    : `-----------------'  [ [hFFE] FFE Copier fmt] :\
    :                      `----------------------' :\
    :...............................................:\
     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
    
                    .................
    ................: COUNTRY CODES ::...............
    :                                               :\
    :   (1) Japan & Korea      (4) USA & BrazilNTSC :\
    :   (A) Australia          (J) Japan            :\
    :   (B) non USA (Genesis)  (K) Korea            :\
    :   (C) China             (NL) Netherlands      :\
    :   (E) Europe            (PD) Public Domain    :\
    :   (F) France             (S) Spain            :\
    :   (F) World (Genesis)                         :\
    :  (FC) French Canadian   (SW) Sweden           :\
    :  (FN) Finland            (U) USA              :\
    :   (G) Germany           (UK) England          :\
    :  (GR) Greece           (Unk) Unknown Country  :\
    :  (HK) Hong Kong          (I) Italy		:\
    :  (H)  Holland          (Unl) Unlicensed       :\
    :...............................................:\
     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
    
                 .......................
    .............: STANDARD CODE NOTES ::............
    :                                               :\
    : [a] This is simply an alternate version of a  :\
    :     ROM. Many games have been re-released to  :\
    :     fix bugs or even to eliminate Game Genie  :\
    :     codes (Yes, Nintendo hates that device).  :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    : [b] A bad dump often occurs with an older     :\
    :     game or a faulty dumper (bad connection). :\
    :     Another common source of [b] ROMs is a    :\
    :     corrupted upload to a release FTP.        :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    : [f] A fixed game has been altered in some way :\
    :     so that it will run better on a copier    :\
    :     or emulator.                              :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    : [h] Something in this ROM is not quite as it  :\
    :     should be. Often a hacked ROM simply has  :\
    :     a changed header or has been enabled to   :\
    :     run in different regions. Other times it  :\
    :     could be a release group intro, or just   :\
    :     some kind of cheating or funny hack.      :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    : [o] An overdumped ROM image has more data     :\
    :     than is actually in the cart. The extra   :\
    :     information means nothing and is removed  :\
    :     from the true image.                      :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    : [t] A trainer is special code which executes  :\
    :     before the game is begun. It allows you   :\
    :     to access cheats from a menu.             :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    : [!] Verified good dump. Thank God for these!  :\
    :...............................................:\
     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
    
                 ......................
    .............: SPECIAL CODE NOTES ::.............
    :                                               :\
    : **** SNES ****                                :\
    : (BS) These Japanese ROMs were distributed     :\
    :      through a satellite system in Japan      :\
    :      known as the Broadcast Satellaview.      :\
    :      They were transmitted along with a TV    :\
    :      show which was connected to the game in  :\
    :      some way. These games were only playable :\
    :      during the show, and thus stop after an  :\
    :      hour, and many were timed so that only   :\
    :      certain time periods were playable.      :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    : (ST) The Sufami Turbo device allowed two      :\
    :      GameBoy sized carts to be plugged into   :\
    :      the SNES. Certain carts combined into    :\
    :      new games much like the Sonic & Knuckles :\
    :      lock-on technology by Sega.              :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    : (NP) Nintendo Power has been known to release :\
    :      games only available to its subscribers. :\
    :      Most of these ROMs are Japanese, as this :\
    :      practice occured mainly in Japan.        :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    :                                               :\
    : **** Genesis ****                             :\
    :  (1) Carts with this code will run on both    :\
    :      Japanese and Korean machines.            :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    :  (4) While this code is technically the same  :\
    :      as a (U) code, it is a newer header      :\
    :      format and represents that the cart will :\
    :      run on USA and Brazil NTSC machines.     :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    :  (B) This country code indicates that the     :\
    :      cart will run on any non US machine.     :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    :  [c] This code represents a cart with known   :\
    :      faulty checksum routines.                :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    :                                               :\
    : **** GameBoy ****                             :\
    : [BF] Bung released a programmable cartridge   :\
    :      compatable with the GameBoy which could  :\
    :      hold any data you wished to play.        :\
    :      However, many games do not function on   :\
    :      Bung v1.0 carts and have to be 'fixed.'  :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    :                                               :\
    : **** Nintendo ****                            :\
    : PC10 The PlayChoice 10 was an arcade unit     :\
    :      which played exact copies of NES games   :\
    :      in an arcade cabinet. The machines had a :\
    :      choice of 10 games to choose from and    :\
    :      ran for about 3 minutes on 25 cents.     :\
    :             -------------------               :\
    :                                               :\
    :   VS The Versus system ran on similar hard-   :\
    :      ware to the PC10 machines, but simply    :\
    :      allowed you to play against each other.  :\
    :...............................................:\
     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
    
    Thanks to allgoodthings.us for this list.
     
  3. namlook

    namlook New Member

    hmm, doesn't list PRG0 and PRG1 so i guess its not important
    anyhow, thanks a lot!
     
  4. anandjones

    anandjones Well-Known Member

    They might be specific to the NES, or the dumpers special tag.
     
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