Neo SD Loader

Format your SD card to FAT32.

On Windows, this requires using a special program for SDXC cards (64GB and up) as the Windows tool will only allow you to format it to ExFAT, which isn't supported by the loader yet.

There are many video tutorials explaining how to do that on Youtube.
The simplest method is to use this install-free, ad-free and bullshit-free tool: fat32format.

A "quick format" should be enough but doing a full format won't hurt (it can be long for high capacity cards).

Get the latest firmware file and place it in the SD card's root.
The file must be renamed to NSDLZZZZ.WAD (instead of NSDLxxxx.WAD where xxxx is a 4-digit number, as downloaded).

Copy your game files into individual folders, one for each game, at the root of the SD card. The CUE files for each of them are required !

Example structure:

/
  Aero Fighters 2
    Aero Fighters 2 Track 02.wav
    Aero Fighters 2 Track 03.wav
    Aero Fighters 2 Track 04.wav
    Aero Fighters 2.iso
    Aero Fighters 2.cue
  King of Fighters '96
    kof96cd_01.bin
    kof96cd_02.bin
    kof96cd_03.bin
    kof96cd_04.bin
    kof96cd.cue
  Top Hunter
    TH.cue
    Track 01.iso
    Track 02.wav
    Track 03.wav
    ...

The folders and files can be freely named, they don't have to match.
Only the folder name will be used and displayed by the console's menu.

The game files can be freely named but they MUST match those specified in the CUE files.

WAV files must be in 44100Hz 16-bit stereo WAV format, which is the norm for CD audio tracks). No MP3s.

If your rip has MP3 tracks, you can convert them to the appropriate WAV format with software such as Audacity.
Keep in mind that MP3 is a lossy format, so converting them back to WAV won't get you the original quality back.

You can customize the menu's background ("wallpaper") by following the instructions here.

Properly eject your SD card before removing it.

Some cards and operating systems don't like surprise card removals. This can cause data loss in some (rather rare) cases, so better be safe than sorry !

First run

After a fresh installation, the Neo CD SD Loader kit must program itself with the firmware file you copied on the SD card.

The kit isn't provided already programmed because that would involve the distribution of a modified version of the console's BIOS, which is program copyrighted by SNK.
Instead, the kit will read your own console's BIOS, detect its version, and make a modified copy of it to add the new functionalities.

The original BIOS on your console won't be modified (it can't be). The kit has its own memory to store the modified copy of it.

Insert the SD card in your console.
The SD card slot is a "push-in pull-out" type, so don't expect a click, just push it all the way in.

Keep the CD lid open to be able to see the status LED, and power it up.

If everything goes well, you should see the status LED blink blue for several seconds while the programming process is ongoing.

Once the process is done, the LED will blink green 3 times, the console will start and the main menu will come up.

Your kit is now programmed and ready to go :)
Next time you power up your console, it will start right away, even with no SD card inserted.

First start preparation

First run