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nickybmon edited this page Apr 30, 2026 · 1 revision

Transfer Save Files

This page covers in-game battery saves (SRAM) — the files a game writes when it uses its own save system. These are separate from Save States.

Battery saves and save states are different things. Save states are snapshots created by OpenEmu. Battery saves are files written by the game itself, just like a real cartridge's internal battery-backed RAM. This page covers battery saves only.

Where Save Files Are Stored

OpenEmu keeps battery saves alongside the ROM in your Game Library:

~/Library/Application Support/OpenEmu/Game Library/<System>/<Game Title>.<ext>

For example, a GBA game called Pokémon FireRed would have its save at:

~/Library/Application Support/OpenEmu/Game Library/Game Boy Advance/Pokemon Fire Red.sav

To open the folder directly in Finder, hold Option and choose File → Show Library Folder in OpenEmu.

When Do You Need to Transfer a Save?

The most common situation is switching cores. OpenEmu-Silicon changed the default core for several systems:

System Old Core New Core
Game Boy Advance VisualBoyAdvance mGBA
Master System / Game Gear CrabEmu Genesis Plus GX
NES FCEU Nestopia

If you have existing saves from the old core, they may still work — the save format is often the same. But if a game won't load your save after a core switch, the steps below will help.

How to Transfer a Save

Step 1 — Quit OpenEmu

Always quit OpenEmu before moving save files. The helper process holds files open while a game is running.

Step 2 — Find the save file

Open Finder and navigate to:

~/Library/Application Support/OpenEmu/Game Library/<System>/

The save file will have the same name as your ROM, with a .sav or .srm extension depending on the core.

Step 3 — Check the target core's expected extension

Different cores use different extensions for the same system:

System Core Extension
GBA mGBA .sav
GBA VisualBoyAdvance .sav
SNES BSNES .srm
SNES Snes9x .srm
Genesis / Mega Drive Genesis Plus GX .srm
Master System Genesis Plus GX .srm
Game Gear Genesis Plus GX .srm
NES Nestopia .sav
NES FCEU .sav

Most extensions within the same system family match, so a simple rename is usually enough.

Step 4 — Rename and copy

Duplicate the file and rename it to match what the new core expects. Keep the original as a backup until you've confirmed the transfer worked.

# Example: copy a GBA save before switching from VisualBoyAdvance to mGBA
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/OpenEmu/Game\ Library/Game\ Boy\ Advance/Pokemon\ Fire\ Red.sav \
   ~/Desktop/Pokemon-Fire-Red-backup.sav

Step 5 — Launch the game and verify

Open OpenEmu, launch the game, and load your save from within the game's own save screen (not from OpenEmu's save state list). If the save loads correctly, you're done.

PSP Saves

PSP is not currently supported by OpenEmu-Silicon. There is no PPSSPP core in the workspace.

If the Save Won't Load

Save file formats occasionally differ between cores even when the extension matches. In that case:

  1. Check if the cores use the same internal format (search the core's documentation).
  2. Use a standalone save converter tool for that system — these are available for common pairings like VBA→mGBA.
  3. If you're stuck, open an issue at nickybmon/OpenEmu-Silicon with the system, ROM name, and both core names.

Notes

  • Battery saves are never affected by the incompatible save state cleanup that runs on launch. Only save states are at risk.
  • If a game has both a battery save and a save state, OpenEmu will prefer whichever you select — they are independent.
  • Some games (e.g. Pokémon) store save data in a specific offset within the .sav file. A raw file copy between cores of the same system almost always works for these.

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