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Emulation

Play classic games from retro consoles on your gaming handheld.

EmuDeck: The All-in-One Solution

EmuDeck is the recommended way to set up emulation. It downloads, configures, and optimizes emulators automatically for your device.

Enable EmuDeck

install_emudeck: true
emulation_storage: "sdcard"  # Recommended - save internal space

install_emulation: true

The single install_emulation key gates the EmuDeck install on Windows.

Patreon/Early Access Version

If you have EmuDeck Patreon access, place your installer in:

private/scripts/EmuDeck EA SteamOS.desktop.download  # Steam Deck
private/scripts/EmuDeck EA Windows.bat               # ROG Ally

Bootible will use the EA version automatically.

After Bootible Runs

EmuDeck requires interactive setup:

  1. Switch to Desktop Mode (Steam Deck) or open EmuDeck (Windows)
  2. Run the EmuDeck installer
  3. Choose Easy Mode (recommended) or Custom Mode
  4. Select which emulators to install
  5. Wait for download and configuration

Storage Location

Steam Deck

Option Use When
emulation_storage: "auto" SD card if present, else internal
emulation_storage: "sdcard" Always use SD card
emulation_storage: "internal" Always use internal storage

Recommendation: Use SD card. ROMs and saves can use 100GB+.

ROG Ally

EmuDeck chooses and configures its own storage locations during its interactive setup — Bootible doesn't configure EmuDeck.

Separately, Bootible can pre-create game/ROM directories for you (directory scaffolding only — both default to "", meaning nothing is created):

games_path: "D:\\Games"          # e.g. secondary drive
roms_path: "D:\\Emulation\\ROMs"

See the ROG Ally Configuration Reference for details.

Documentation & Support

For detailed guides on ROM management, BIOS files, hotkeys, and emulator-specific settings:

Decky Plugins for Emulation

Plugin Purpose
PowerTools Per-game TDP and GPU limits
SteamGridDB Fix missing game artwork