Adding games & ROMs

Leaf reads your library from a set of clearly named folders on the SD card. Drop files into the right folder and they show up in the launcher; there’s no database to manage by hand. You can fill the folders by putting the SD card in your computer, or over Wi-Fi with the Central Scrutinizer app (see Features → Apps).

Bring your own games

Leaf does not include any games. Only add ROMs you are legally entitled to use.

Folder layout

At the root of the SD card you’ll find these user-facing folders:

Roms/<SYSTEM>/      your game files, one folder per system
Images/<SYSTEM>/    box art, matching each game's filename
Saves/              in-game saves
States/             save states
BIOS/               BIOS files some systems need (see BIOS & cores)

• Roms/<SYSTEM>/ - put each game in the folder for its system, e.g. Roms/SNES/Chrono Trigger.sfc or Roms/GBA/Metroid Fusion.gba.
• Images/<SYSTEM>/ - put box art next to the matching system folder, named to match the game. For Roms/SNES/Chrono Trigger.sfc, use Images/SNES/Chrono Trigger.png.
• Saves/ and States/ - created and managed for you as you play.

System folders

Each console has its own Roms/ subfolder, grouped by maker below. Folder names are not case-sensitive, and most systems accept a few aliases (Roms/NES, Roms/FC, and Roms/FAMICOM all land in the same place), so the name shown is just the recommended one.

Nintendo

Folder	System
NES	Nintendo Entertainment System
FDS	Famicom Disk System
SNES	Super Nintendo
SFC_JP	Super Famicom (Japan)
N64	Nintendo 64
GB / GBC / GBA	Game Boy / Color / Advance
NDS	Nintendo DS
VB	Virtual Boy
GW	Game & Watch

Sega

Folder	System
MS	Master System
GG	Game Gear
GENESIS	Genesis / Mega Drive
SEGACD	Sega CD
32X	Sega 32X
SATURN	Saturn
DC	Dreamcast

NEC

Folder	System
TG16	TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine
PCECD	TurboGrafx-CD / PC Engine CD

SNK

Folder	System
NEOGEO	Neo Geo (needs a BIOS; see below)
NGP / NGPC	Neo Geo Pocket / Color

Sony

Folder	System
PSX	PlayStation
PSP	PlayStation Portable

Atari

Folder	System
ATARI2600	Atari 2600
ATARI7800	Atari 7800
LYNX	Atari Lynx

Other

Folder	System
WS / WSC	WonderSwan / Color
COLECO	ColecoVision
VECTREX	Vectrex
PICO8	Pico-8
DOS	MS-DOS
EASYRPG	EasyRPG (RPG Maker 2000/2003)
ARCADE	Arcade (MAME / FBNeo, needs matching ROM sets)
PORTS	Ports (native game ports)

A system appears in the launcher once its emulator core is available on the device. If a folder’s system isn’t showing up, its core may not be installed; see BIOS & cores.

Box art

You can add box art two ways: drop it in yourself, or let Leaf fetch it.

Add it yourself. Name each image to match its game file (same name, image extension) and place it in Images/<SYSTEM>/. For Roms/SNES/Chrono Trigger.sfc, use Images/SNES/Chrono Trigger.png. Leaf pairs them up automatically and shows the art in the game list.

Let Leaf fetch it. Leaf can download box art from ScreenScraper.fr. Sign in once under Settings → Accounts → ScreenScraper.fr, then start a scrape from the Options menu on a game or a whole system. Fetched art lands in Images/<SYSTEM>/ exactly as if you had added it by hand, and appears in the list as soon as each download finishes. Which image type and region it picks is set under Settings → Game Art (Artwork Priority and Region Priority).

Options menu

Press X on a game or a system in the launcher to open its Options menu. This is where per-item actions live, so they stay out of the main list:

• Display Name - rename how the game or system shows in the launcher.
• Core - choose which emulator core runs this game or system, when more than one is available.
• Performance - set a per-game or per-system performance profile that overrides the global default.
• Scrape Artwork - on a game, fetch and replace its box art. On a system, you get Scrape Missing Artwork (only games without art) and Re-scrape All Artwork (replace everything). While a scrape is queued the row reads Cancel Scraping.
• Reset Overrides - clear the custom name, core, and performance settings you set above.

Scraping runs in the background, so you can leave the menu, keep browsing, or even play a game while art downloads.

Multi-disc games

For multi-disc games (e.g. PlayStation/Sega CD titles), use an .m3u playlist that lists the disc files, and place it in the system’s Roms/ folder. Leaf shows the .m3u as a single entry so the game appears once, not once per disc.

BIOS-dependent systems

Some systems need a BIOS file you provide yourself (Neo Geo, for example, needs neogeo.zip in BIOS/). Arcade games are also picky about ROM-set versions. See BIOS & cores for the details.