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Choosing the Right Folder

sofianeelhor edited this page Sep 28, 2026 · 3 revisions

Choosing the right folder

Most linking problems come from picking the wrong folder in the Android picker. This page shows what the picker looks like and which folder to choose for each emulator. The screenshots come from an AYN Thor.

Open the side menu

The picker opens on the last folder you visited. Tap ☰ at the top left to see every place you can pick from:

The picker side menu More entries further down

  • Your device (here AYN Thor) is the normal internal storage: RetroArch, ROMs, Download…
  • Below it, some emulators add their own entry through Android's Storage Access Framework (a DocumentsProvider) (Eden Nightly, Dolphin Emulator, Cemu, citron…). Such an entry opens the emulator's private folder, which Android otherwise hides. Whether an entry holds your saves depends on the emulator, so check the table below.

Which entry, which folder

Emulator Open Then pick
Eden its Eden Nightly entry (or Eden) the entry's top folder, the one that shows nand, sdmc, config
Dolphin its Dolphin Emulator entry the top folder (it contains GC), or GC itself
RetroArch your device, not the RetroArch entry RetroArch or RetroArch/saves
Citra MMJ its Citra MMJ entry citra-emu
Azahar / Lime3DS your device the user folder chosen in the emulator's setup (it contains sdmc)
melonDS, Pizza Boy, Linkboy your device the folder with the .sav files

Eden: use its entry

Eden Nightly's folder

Open Eden Nightly and press Use this folder right away, at this level: cache, config, nand, sdmc… are all visible. PKForge finds the saves inside nand on its own.

Allow access to Eden Nightly

Eden linked, 3 saves found

Dolphin: use its entry

Dolphin's folder

Open Dolphin Emulator. Press Use this folder here, or open GC first. StateSaves holds save states, which PKForge never uses.

RetroArch: do not use its entry

The RetroArch entry shows internal files, not saves

The RetroArch (AArch64) entry opens RetroArch's internal files (cores, assets, shaders…). Your saves are not in there. Open your device instead, then RetroArch, and pick saves (or RetroArch itself):

The right RetroArch folder

"Can't use this folder"

Can't use this folder

Android does not allow picking the top of your storage or the Download folder itself. Open the folder that holds the saves and pick that one.

Common mistakes

Picked Result Pick instead
The RetroArch entry in the side menu "No saves found" Device, then RetroArch/saves
A save file instead of a folder The picker only accepts folders Its folder, or Single save file
The ROMs folder, for an emulator that saves elsewhere "No saves found" The emulator's save folder (see its page)
states / StateSaves Nothing found: save states are not supported The battery save folder
A single game's folder deep inside nand Works for that game only Eden's top folder, to get every game

Still stuck? Settings > Misc > Scan report shows what PKForge saw in the folder.

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