Storage and Paths

Storage and Paths

Argosy can download gigabytes of games, saves, and emulator data. This page covers where that data lives and how to reorganize it.

Global ROM path

Settings > Storage > Global ROM Path is the default folder where downloaded ROMs land. It shows the current folder in a friendly format (for example, "Internal" for /storage/emulated/0) and the free space remaining on that volume. Tap to change the folder.

Changing the global path applies to new downloads and to platforms that don't have their own override.

Single-file games download as a flat file in the platform folder. A game gets its own subfolder the first time it gains an extra file (an update, DLC, a manual); extra files inside it mirror their folder layout on the RomM server. See Updates and DLC.

Per-platform ROM path

Any platform can override the global ROM path. Go to Settings > Platforms > [Platform] > Storage & Sync > ROM Path. Tap to pick a folder; tap the reset button to remove the override and fall back to the global path.

Argosy resolves ROMs by checking the override first, then the global path. This means you can keep large platforms (PS1, PS2, Dreamcast) on external storage while leaving small ones (NES, SNES) on internal.

An overridden path displays a "(custom)" suffix.

Save and state paths

The same Storage & Sync page exposes:

• Save Path — where battery saves live.
• State Path — where save states live.

Both have the same override pattern (browse, reset). For RetroArch platforms these are read-only values pulled from retroarch.cfg. See Save Sync for how Argosy uses these paths.

Per-game save path

A single game can override the platform's save path: open the game's details and pick Per-Game Settings > Save Path (file-based emulators only). The per-game path wins over the platform override and the emulator default, and can be reset to inherit again. It is tied to the game's current emulator, so changing the game's emulator resets it.

BIOS directory

Settings > BIOS Files > BIOS Directory controls where downloaded BIOS files live. Details are on the BIOS page.

Music directory

Downloaded soundtracks — tracks fetched from the music browser, and soundtrack files included in multi-file ROM downloads — are stored in the device's public Music folder as Music/RomM/<Platform>/<Game>/NN - Title.ext, where other music apps can see them.

Deleting a game never removes its music by default. To delete downloaded soundtracks, either deselect them in the game's file picker, delete the Soundtrack category from Storage > Games, or choose "Delete game and soundtrack" when removing the whole game.

Scan for files

Settings > Platforms > [Platform] > Scan for Files walks the platform's ROM folder and reconciles the library — picks up ROMs you added manually, and flags ROMs that have been deleted from disk. Useful after moving files around or after changing a platform's ROM path.

Argosy matches existing files against each synced game's RomM-reported filename, so an already-built RomM library (flat folders with Game (USA).rvz-style names, ES-DE-style layouts, etc.) is recognized without re-downloading. This also works when a platform's ROM path points at a custom folder outside Argosy's default tree.

Weekly integrity check

Settings > Storage > Games > Weekly ROM Integrity Check (on by default) runs the same reconcile on app startup, at most once per week. It's background work — you can keep using the app while it runs. The goal is to catch "my game is showing up as downloaded but the file is gone" cases without the user having to trigger a scan manually.

The Storage hub

Settings > Storage is a management hub built around a live usage breakdown.

• Usage meters at the top show each volume (internal, SD card) filled by category — Games, Steam & PC, Apps, Caches & System, Music, and "Other apps & files" — with a legend listing each size. Figures come from a cached snapshot and appear instantly; the Recompute row re-checks them (hold to force a full re-scan of large PC-game folders).
• Games drills into a per-platform, then per-game breakdown. Each game splits its downloaded content into Base game, Updates, DLC, Hacks, and Soundtrack, with sizes. Highlight a category and delete just that — updates, DLC, and soundtracks re-download from your library — while deleting the Base game removes the whole game, with the option to keep or also remove its soundtrack.
• Caches & System lists every cache (cover art, save/state, screenshots, extracted ROMs, shaders, BIOS, cores, Steam staging) with a clear action for each. Clearing the save cache is blocked while you have saves waiting to upload.

Each platform's detail page also shows a downloaded count, and the global ROM path display shows free space on the volume.

Hard Reset

Settings > Storage > Danger Zone > Hard Reset wipes all downloaded games, the library database, and every cache, while keeping your settings and sign-ins. It requires a 5-second hold to confirm and is blocked while saves are pending upload — use it to start fresh without redoing setup. The separate Reset Library clears the database and image cache but leaves your downloaded ROM files on disk.

External SD card and USB OTG

Argosy can target external SD cards and USB OTG drives as ROM or save paths, with two caveats:

• Android's scoped storage limits direct file access on Android 11+. Argosy uses content URIs where possible. If an emulator can't read a scoped-storage path, consider keeping its ROMs on internal storage or in a shared-storage location the emulator can access.
• "Waiting for Storage" during downloads means the destination volume is low on free space. Argosy reserves a 50 MB buffer to avoid filling storage completely. Free up space and press Resume.