Managing Your LibraryManaging Your Library

Organize your ROMs, playlists, and game collection in RetroVoid.

Your library is the heart of RetroVoid. This guide covers everything from adding games to organizing them into playlists.

Adding ROM Directories#

RetroVoid builds your library by scanning directories you specify. To add a new ROM directory:

1. Open Settings (press F1 twice) and select the Library tab.
2. Click Add Folder and pick a directory.
3. Click Scan Library to scan every configured folder, or the folder's own Scan button to scan just that one.

Scanning is recursive by default. All subfolders are included, and symlinks are followed.

Recommended: Set each folder's platform with its dropdown instead of leaving it on Auto-detect platform. Consoles like PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Saturn, Sega CD, and others share file types such as .iso and .cue/.bin, so an explicit assignment removes the guesswork and categorizes every game correctly from the start.

You can repoint a folder at a new location later with its pencil button (Change folder location) without losing its platform assignment, and removing a folder from the list does not remove the games already imported from it.

Supported File Types#

RetroVoid recognizes a wide range of ROM and disc image formats. Platform detection is based on file extension, with folder name hints as a fallback.

Nintendo#

Sony#

Sega#

Atari#

Other Platforms#

Shared extensions: When a file extension is shared across platforms (e.g., .iso, .chd), a folder's own platform assignment always wins. Without one, RetroVoid looks for a platform name in the folder path, then falls back to a priority order: PS2 > PS1 > GameCube > Wii > Xbox > Xbox 360 > Dreamcast > Saturn > 3DO.

How Library Scanning Works#

RetroVoid uses a multi-phase scanning process:

Phase 1: Folder-Based Game Detection#

Before looking at individual files, RetroVoid looks for games that are folders rather than single files, and excludes their contents from the rest of the scan:

• PS Vita: a sce_sys/param.sfo inside a folder named like a Vita title ID. Point a library folder at Vita3K's ux0/app directory to import your installed Vita games, with real titles read from the game's own metadata instead of raw IDs. Sibling system, savedata, and update folders are excluded automatically.
• PS3: a PS3_DISC.SFB in the game directory.
• PS4: an eboot.bin directly in the game folder.
• Wii U (Loadiine): a meta/meta.xml with a code/ folder alongside it.

Phase 2: ROM File Collection#

Recursively walks all configured library folders. Files are matched to platforms by extension. Certain files are filtered out:

• macOS AppleDouble files (._*)
• neogeo.zip (BIOS file)
• .bin files that sit next to a .cue or .gdi file (they are tracks of a disc image, not games)

Phase 3: Multi-Disc Detection#

RetroVoid automatically detects multi-disc games by recognizing patterns like (Disc 1), (Disk 1), (CD1), - Disc 1, _disc1, and similar. This works whether the discs sit side by side in one folder or each disc has its own folder. When a multi-disc set is detected (2 or more discs), RetroVoid generates an .m3u playlist file so you can launch the game as a single entry.

Phase 4: Game Import#

Each discovered game gets a cleaned title derived from the filename, with bracketed region and revision tags removed and secondary extensions such as .nkit stripped, and is added to the database. Duplicate ROM paths are rejected, so re-scanning never creates duplicates.

Scanning does not fetch metadata. See Metadata below.

Manual Import#

Some platforms can't be detected by file extension alone. For these, open Settings > Manual Import:

1. Select a platform from the dropdown. RetroVoid then shows which file types that platform accepts.
2. Click Browse and pick the game file.
3. Edit the game title (auto-filled from the filename).
4. Click Add Game.

Platforms that declare no extensions, such as PlayStation 3 and Windows, accept any file type here. For all others the file's extension must match the platform's list.

PS3 note: PKG files must be installed into RPCS3 first. In RPCS3, right-click the installed game, choose Open Folder > Open HDD Game Folder, navigate to USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN, and use that path here.

Switch note: Unlike PS3 PKGs, .nsp and .xci files launch directly, so no installation is needed. Make sure you pick the actual game file and not a DLC or update file, which use the same extensions.

Wii U note: Direct ROM files and Loadiine folders are picked up by a normal scan. For a game you installed into Cemu, right-click it in Cemu, choose Game Directory, go into the code folder, and use the .rpx file here.

ScummVM Import#

ScummVM games use Game IDs instead of file paths. Open Settings > ScummVM Import:

1. Enter the Game ID (e.g., monkey, tentacle, samnmax). IDs are lowercase with no spaces.
2. Enter the display title.
3. Click Add ScummVM Game.

The tab lists common Game IDs and three ways to find others: the Edit Game dialog in ScummVM's own interface, scummvm --detect "/path/to/game/folder" on the command line, or the compatibility list at scummvm.org. Add the game to ScummVM first, because RetroVoid launches it by ID.

Metadata#

RetroVoid fetches game metadata from IGDB (Internet Game Database via Twitch OAuth2). Fetching is always something you trigger, per game or in bulk, and it needs your own free IGDB credentials. See Configuration for the setup walkthrough.

For each game it retrieves:

• Name and summary
• Cover art, at the image quality tier you choose
• Screenshots: up to 5 per game
• Release date, genres, developer, and publisher

Search Strategy#

IGDB matching uses a multi-step approach:

1. Case-insensitive name search
2. Fuzzy matching for alternate spellings
3. Results ranked by: exact match, then starts with, then contains, then shorter names, then earlier releases

If auto-matching returns the wrong game, open the game's detail view and use Search IGDB (pick manually) to choose from the results, or Search Different Name to search with a different title. A custom search ignores the platform filter, which helps with region-exclusive titles listed under a different system.

Views#

RetroVoid offers three views for browsing your library. Switch with the view buttons in the top bar, or press Y on a controller to cycle through them.

Grid View#

The default view. Games are displayed as a responsive grid of cover art tiles with a 3:4 aspect ratio. Features include:

• Configurable card size (120px to 280px) via the slider at the top right
• Platform logo overlay on each card
• Hover effects
• Bulk selection with Shift+Click

List View#

A compact row layout with columns for title, platform, play time, and last played. Change the ordering with the sort control in the top bar.

Holographic Shelf View#

A 3D shelving display with one shelf per platform and games arranged on neon-lit platforms. Features include:

• Horizontal scrolling per shelf
• Floating platform logos
• Parallax tilt effect
• Drag and rubberband physics
• Virtualization for large libraries, so off-screen shelves and cards cost nothing
• A second sort control labelled Shelves: that orders the shelves themselves by Name, Release Year, Manufacturer, or Game Count

Sorting and Search#

The top bar's sort control offers Title, Play Time, Last Played, Release Date, and Date Added, plus Platform when a manufacturer group is selected in the sidebar. A separate button toggles ascending and descending.

For Play Time, Last Played, and Date Added, ascending means "most first": most played, most recent, newest. Games with no value (never played, no release date) sort to the end.

Your choice is remembered per sidebar selection, so All Games, each platform, and each playlist can each keep their own ordering.

The search field matches a game's title, developer, and publisher.

Sidebar Navigation#

The sidebar lists, top to bottom:

• All Games, Favorites, Recently Added, and Recently Played. The two "recently" lists show the 25 newest entries; Recently Played only counts games with at least a minute of play time.
• Playlists, collapsible and with its own scrollbar.
• Every platform you own games for, grouped by manufacturer and ordered by console release year within each group. Clicking a manufacturer heading selects that whole group.

A footer shows how many games are in your library. Labels too long for the sidebar scroll sideways on their own so you can read the whole name.

Hide and show the sidebar with the toggle at the far left of the top bar, Ctrl+B (Cmd+B on Mac), or the View / Back / Select button on a controller.

Playlists#

Playlists let you group games however you like. Games can belong to multiple playlists.

Creating a Playlist#

1. Click the + button in the sidebar's Playlists header.
2. Type a name inline and press Enter.
3. Add games with Add to Playlist in a game's right-click menu or from its detail view.

Managing Playlists#

• Reorder playlists by dragging a row up or down. Playlists stay in the order you set; they are not sorted alphabetically. Right-clicking gives you Move to Top, Move Up, and Move Down as well, and the options that don't apply are hidden.
• Rename or Delete from the same right-click menu. Rename edits the name inline; Enter saves and Escape cancels.
• Add or remove games through the playlist picker, reachable from a game's context menu or its detail view. Checkboxes show current membership.

Warning: Deleting a playlist happens immediately, with no confirmation. The games in it are not affected.

With a controller, press X on a focused playlist to pick it up, D-pad up and down to move it, A to save, and B to cancel. An on-screen hint shows these while the sidebar has focus.

Playtime Tracking#

RetroVoid automatically tracks your play sessions:

• A session starts when you launch a game and ends when the emulator process exits.
• Sessions shorter than 5 seconds don't count toward playtime (quick closes or errors).
• Each game's total playtime accumulates across all sessions.
• Last played is stamped when you launch. If the game still has under a minute of total playtime when the session ends, that stamp is rolled back, so a quick test launch doesn't push the game to the top of a Last Played sort.
• Games with under a minute of total playtime display as Never played.
• Playtime is visible in List View and in game details.

Note: Playtime tracking is not persisted if the app is force-closed shortly after starting an active session.

Steam Playtime#

Steam games launch through the steam:// protocol, so RetroVoid cannot see when the game closes and its own session tracking does not apply. Instead, play time comes from the Steam Web API once you have entered your credentials, and last played is taken from whichever is newer: your Steam account's record or your local Steam client's own record. RetroVoid only ever moves last played forward, so an already-accurate timestamp is never replaced by a stale one.

Play data refreshes when RetroVoid regains focus after a session and whenever you click Update Steam Data in Settings > Steam Import. Steam usually publishes a session's play time a minute or two after the game closes, so a freshly finished session may take a moment to appear.

Game Context Menu#

Right-click any game to access:

• Play: launch the game
• Add to Favorites / Remove from Favorites
• Add to Playlist: open the playlist picker
• View Details: open the game's detail view
• Set Custom Cover Art...: pick your own image (jpg, jpeg, png, webp, gif)
• Remove Cover Art: shown only when the game has cover art; the game falls back to a placeholder until new art is set or fetched
• Edit Metadata...: edit title, description, release date, developer, publisher, and genre tags
• Change Platform: reassign the game's platform
• Delete from Library: remove the game

Deleting a game removes its cover art, screenshots, user media, playlist entries, play sessions, and database record. Your ROM file is not affected.

Bulk Actions#

Shift+Click in Grid View selects a range of games. A header shows how many are selected and offers Clear selection. Right-clicking with more than one game selected opens the bulk menu, which has two actions: Fetch Metadata for the whole selection and Delete, which asks for confirmation first.

Game Details#

Opening a game shows two tabs.

Details holds the description, stat cards for play time, last played, release date, and developer, and the game's File Location. If a ROM moves, click Change... next to the path and pick the new file. For ScummVM entries this block shows the Game ID instead, and Steam games don't have one.

Along the bottom are actions for favorite, custom cover art upload, edit metadata, add to playlist, Auto-fetch Metadata from IGDB, Search IGDB (pick manually), remove from library, and LAUNCH GAME.

Media shows videos, your own uploads, and IGDB screenshots, in that order, with a thumbnail strip, arrow-key navigation, and a fullscreen viewer. Upload adds your own files (images: jpg, jpeg, png, webp, gif; videos: mp4, webm, mkv, avi, mov). Every item can be deleted, your own uploads and IGDB screenshots alike; deleting a screenshot notes that re-fetching metadata will restore it.

Animated cover art in GIF, APNG, or animated WebP form freezes whenever 3D rendering is paused, which includes minimizing the window and, with Pause 3D When in Background on, leaving RetroVoid for another app.