RetroDECK/wiki-rtd/docs/wiki_development/folders-filepaths.md

What are the various folders and filepaths in RetroDECK?

RetroDECK is a Flatpak a sandboxed bundle of different applications and configurations. One part of the files are none writable while others are.

~/retrodeck

It's the home folder of RetroDECK itself, it contains:

• bios, the bios folder, the actual retroarch/system folder is poiting here ~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/emulationstation/.emulationstation/downloaded_media is pointing here
• .downloaded_media, this is where you scraped data is saved (images, videos, logos..),
• .lock, this file tells RetroDECK that the settings are done and to not reset them, if this file is missing it will trigger a first boot showing the setup. Here is written the software version that is compared to the actual version to check if an update is needed.
• .logs, logs folder
• roms, if internal is chosen the roms folder is here, otherwise it's in <sdcard>/retrodeck/roms
• saves, emulators saves file location
• screenshots, emulators screenshots location
• states, emulators save states location
• gamelists, RetroDECK's gamelist location
• texture_packs, emulators texture packs location
• mods, emulators mods location
• .themes, additional themes folder, ~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/emulationstation/.emulationstation/themes is poiting here

~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck

This folder is the only flatpak folder that is editable user side, it's mapped as /var in the flatpak itself, from now on we will use the flatpak paths unless differently specified.

config/

• config, contains all the various software configs such as RetroDECK, retroarch folder and standalones emulator configs -- retroarch, the retroarch folder (see below) -- emulationstation, emulationstation home folder (see below) -- retrodeck, to not be confued with ~/retrodeck/, this folder contains the retrodeck configs, see below. -- various standalone emulators config folders such as yuzu, pcsx2, melonDS, dolphin-emu and so on.

config/retroarch

• system, retroarch bios (system) folder, this points to ~/retrodeck/bios
• core, retroarch cores folder, this is populated by /app/share/libretro/cores at the first startup (or with --reset, --reset-ra)
• retroarch.cfg, the retroarch config, the original one is located in /app/retrodeck/emu-configs/retroarch.cfg, and similarly to above it's generated at the first startup

config/emulationstation

• ROMs, this is linked to the roms folder in ~/retroeck/romsor <sdcard>/roms
• .emulationstation, ES-DE main folder -- custom_systems, where the customs systems are kept (example the tools file), check the official ES-DE docs for more info. -- downloaded_media, this points to ~/retrodeck/.downloaded_media -- themes, this points to ~/retrodeck/.themes -- es_log.txt, ES-DE log file -- es_settings.xml, ES-DE settings file

config/retrodeck

• tools
• version, this file carries the RetroDECK version number and it ś generated during the flatpak build.

data/

Some emulators, like yuzu, needs this path, here for example is even symlinked the yuzu keys and firmware folder.

/var/lib/flatpak/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/current/active/files

Non-flatpak path: this folders contain file such as the .desktop, icons, etc.

This is mapped as the /app folder in flatpak, this folder is inside the read only file system and so all this tree is immutable (actually can be edited by root for develop purposes).
FYI: you can edit the with KWrite, it justs ask you for the root password when saving.

/var/lib/flatpak/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/current/active/files/share/emulationstation/resources/systems/unix/

This contains es_find_rules.xml and es_systems.xml

/app/bin

All the binary files, like retrodeck.sh, the main program (wrapper). All these programs can be launched in developer mode just invoking them in the terminal.

/app/retrodeck

This folder contains the default configuration that is restored with the various --reset commands.

• emu-configs
• steam
• tools
• es_settings.xml
• tools-gamelist.xml