diff --git a/src/emu/devfind.h b/src/emu/devfind.h
index 3dd84007cdd..b02dc38f7f5 100644
--- a/src/emu/devfind.h
+++ b/src/emu/devfind.h
@@ -258,6 +258,7 @@ public:
 
 	// getter for explicit fetching
 	UINT32 bytes() const { return m_bytes; }
+	UINT32 mask() const { return m_bytes - 1; }
 
 	// setter for setting the object
 	void set_target(_PointerType *target, size_t bytes) { this->m_target = target; m_bytes = bytes; }
diff --git a/src/emu/diimage.c b/src/emu/diimage.c
index bf2dc1512bf..ff1444d66b3 100644
--- a/src/emu/diimage.c
+++ b/src/emu/diimage.c
@@ -434,6 +434,25 @@ const char *device_image_interface::get_feature(const char *feature_name)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+
+//-------------------------------------------------
+//  load_software_region -
+//-------------------------------------------------
+
+bool device_image_interface::load_software_region(const char *tag, optional_shared_ptr<UINT8> &ptr)
+{
+	size_t size = get_software_region_length(tag);
+	
+	if (size)
+	{
+		ptr.allocate(size);
+
+		memcpy(ptr, get_software_region(tag), size);
+	}
+
+	return size > 0;
+}
+
 /****************************************************************************
   Hash info loading
 
diff --git a/src/emu/diimage.h b/src/emu/diimage.h
index e191af7e6b8..0110e6353ad 100644
--- a/src/emu/diimage.h
+++ b/src/emu/diimage.h
@@ -176,6 +176,8 @@ public:
 	bool has_been_created() { return m_created; }
 	void make_readonly() { m_readonly = true; }
 	UINT32 fread(void *buffer, UINT32 length) { check_for_file(); return core_fread(m_file, buffer, length); }
+	UINT32 fread(optional_shared_ptr<UINT8> &ptr, UINT32 length) { ptr.allocate(length); return fread(ptr, length); }
+	UINT32 fread(optional_shared_ptr<UINT8> &ptr, UINT32 length, offs_t offset) { ptr.allocate(length); return fread(ptr + offset, length - offset); }
 	UINT32 fwrite(const void *buffer, UINT32 length) { check_for_file(); return core_fwrite(m_file, buffer, length); }
 	int fseek(INT64 offset, int whence) { check_for_file(); return core_fseek(m_file, offset, whence); }
 	UINT64 ftell() { check_for_file(); return core_ftell(m_file); }
@@ -201,6 +203,7 @@ public:
 	UINT8 *get_software_region(const char *tag);
 	UINT32 get_software_region_length(const char *tag);
 	const char *get_feature(const char *feature_name);
+	bool load_software_region(const char *tag, optional_shared_ptr<UINT8> &ptr);
 
 	UINT32 crc();
 	hash_collection& hash() { return m_hash; }