01 overview

01 — Overview

Simple Launcher — an open-source emulator frontend for Windows (x64 & ARM64). Related: 02 — Projects & Solution · 03 — Quickstart · README (docs index)

What it is

Simple Launcher is a WPF desktop application that organizes, browses, and launches a retro (and modern PC) game collection through emulators. It is a frontend: it does not ship ROMs, ISOs, or BIOS files, and you must provide your own emulators.

Two code projects implement it:

Project	Role
SimpleLauncher (WPF app)	The launcher itself: windows, pages, ViewModels, UI services, launch handlers, game scanners, DI composition root
SimpleLauncher.Core (class library)	Platform-independent services, models, interfaces, data persistence, emulator config injection

Key differentiators

• Configuration injection into 21 emulators — Ares, Azahar, Blastem, Cemu, Daphne, Dolphin, DuckStation, Flycast, MAME, Mednafen, Mesen, PCSX2, Raine, Redream, RetroArch, RPCS3, Sega Model 2, Stella, Supermodel, Xenia, Yumir. Settings are written into each emulator's own config file before launch (see 06 — Systems & Launch).
• Universal CHD support — the bundled CHDMounter mounts CHD files as virtual drives for 15+ emulators without native CHD support (Xenia, RPCS3, Xemu, Cxbx-Reloaded, Mednafen, Mesen, Raine, FinalBurn Neo/Alpha, 4DO, Gens, Blastem, Yabause, PCSX-Redux, CD-i Emulator, Tsugaru, Kega Fusion, DOSBox).
• On-the-fly mounting — launch games directly from .zip, .iso, .xiso, .chd without manual extraction (requires Dokan).
• Modern store integration — automatic scanning for games from Steam, Epic, GOG, Microsoft Store, Amazon, Battle.net, EA App, Humble, itch.io, Rockstar, Uplay (see 10 — Game Scanning).
• RetroAchievements integration — login, per-game achievements/rankings, profile, completion progress, hashing for complex systems, and automatic credential injection into supported emulators (see 09 — RetroAchievements).
• Easy Mode wizard — guided download & configuration of emulators, cores, and image packs.
• Expert Mode — full manual control of system.xml: multiple ROM folders, placeholders (%BASEFOLDER%, %SYSTEMFOLDER%, %EMULATORFOLDER%, %ROM%, %NAME%, %ROMSYSTEMFOLDER%), launch parameters.
• Performance — MessagePack binary storage (favorites.dat, playhistory.dat, history.dat, mame.dat, RetroAchievements.dat), async scanning/loading, pagination.
• Platform coverage — native x64 and ARM64 builds; Windows 10+; .NET 10 runtime.

Feature surface (summary)

• Dual Grid / List views, letter filter bar, system selection screen, pagination, zoom, aspect ratios, filename display modes.
• Favorites, Play History (play count, play time, last played), Global Search with AND/OR, Global Statistics.
• Fuzzy cover-image matching with configurable threshold + annotation stripping (Game (USA) → Game).
• Themes (Light, Dark, Adaptive, High Contrast, Midnight) + 27 accent colors; 18 languages (ar, bn, de, en, es, fr, hi, id, it, ja, ko, nl, pt-br, ru, tr, ur, vi, zh-hans).
• Gamepad navigation (Xbox XInput + PlayStation DirectInput), dead-zone configuration, UI sound effects (NAudio).
• Tray icon, minimize-to-tray, F8 global screenshot hotkey, loading overlays, status bar, debug window (-debug).
• Built-in updater (Updater.exe) with GitHub release assets, --restarting restart flow.
• Bundled power tools — conversion (CHD, RVZ, XISO, 7z/zip), batch-file creators, cover tools, ROM validator (see 11 — Bundled Tools).
• 100+ supported systems — Nintendo, Sony, Sega, Atari, NEC, SNK, Commodore, arcade (MAME/FBN/Raine), retro computers, and modern PC storefronts (the authoritative per-system emulator guide is parameters.md; see also 18 — Emulator Parameters).

Localization

18 languages are shipped as WPF resource dictionaries: SimpleLauncher\resources\strings.{code}.xaml. Switching language restarts the app (App.ChangeLanguage). See 08 — UI Layer.

Version & license

• Current version: 5.6.0 (all three projects + app.manifest + SimpleLauncher.Updater\version.txt are kept in sync and covered by VersionConsistencyTests).
• Framework: .NET 10 (net10.0-windows), C# 14, nullable reference types enabled.
• License: GPLv3 (LICENSE.txt).
• Repository: https://github.com/drpetersonfernandes/SimpleLauncher

Release history

See 17 — Release Notes for a condensed changelog (5.6.0 → 1.1); the canonical file is SimpleLauncher\WhatsNew.md.

Related docs

• Docs index
• 02 — Projects & Solution
• 04 — Architecture