Games
A game library holds emulator games (Game Boy, N64, PlayStation 1–3, …), PC games and Steam games your administrator uploaded. You browse it like any other library on every device; playing works on the desktop app (Linux and Windows). The game runs on your computer, in an emulator or as itself — the server keeps the files and your save games.
Installing a game
Open a game and press Install. The files are downloaded to the games folder of this computer
(~/Games/Ister on Linux, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Ister\Games on Windows; change it under Settings ›
Games). While it runs the page shows how far it is, the speed and the time left, and offers
Pause and Cancel; both keep what was downloaded, so Resume or a later Install
continues where it stopped. Games install one at a time — a second one waits in line, and the
page says so. Closing the app does not lose an install either: it continues the next time the app
starts (a paused or cancelled one waits for you). Archives (Windows zips, Linux tar files) are
unpacked after the download; that last step cannot be interrupted.
An install that failed says why (no space left, the server unreachable, the game gone from the server) with Try again next to it; Remove downloaded files throws a half-finished install away. Remove from this device deletes an installed game, your saves stay on the server.
Every game installed on this computer is also listed under Settings › Downloads, in a Games section with the same controls, next to the downloaded media.
A Steam game is different: Install into Steam puts the game into one of your Steam library folders (you pick which one when there are several) and Steam takes it from there — it verifies the files on first start and may download an update. Steam games start through Steam, so your Steam account has to own the game.
Updates
When the files of a game changed on the server (a re-upload, a newer build), the game page shows Update available with the size of what changed, and Update fetches only those files. The game stays playable in the meantime. Steam keeps its own games up to date, so a Steam game only says so.
Playing
Press Play. The page walks through the steps as they happen: your newest save is fetched from the server, the game starts, and when it ends the save is uploaded as a new version, achievements are read and your play time is recorded. A card with the outcome — how long you played, which save version went up, new achievements — stays on the page until you dismiss it. If a step towards the server failed (the connection dropped), the card says so and offers Retry sync; the session stays open until that succeeds. What starts depends on the platform:
| Platform | Started with | Install it yourself |
|---|---|---|
| NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy (Color/Advance), DS, PlayStation 1/2, GameCube, Wii | RetroArch, with the core for the system | RetroArch (native or Flatpak), plus the core via Online Updater › Core Downloader |
| PlayStation 3 | RPCS3 | RPCS3 (native, Flatpak or AppImage) with the PS3 firmware installed |
| Windows / Linux games | the game's own executable or start script | nothing |
| Steam | Steam (steam:// link) | Steam, signed in to an account that owns the game |
The app finds the emulators on its own (your PATH, the Flatpaks, the usual Windows folders). When it reports one missing, the message has a button to Settings › Games, where you install or point the app at it. When RetroArch misses the core a game needs, the message names it.
With a Steam game the app cannot see when you stop playing. Press I finished playing on the game page afterwards; that syncs your saves and your achievements. A session the app could not wrap up — you closed it while a game ran — is offered the next time you open the game page: Sync now uploads the save and records the time, Discard forgets it.
Save games
Every play session ends with your save being uploaded as a new version; the server keeps the newest ten. The game page lists them with the device and time each came from. Restore makes an older version the current one (the newer one stays in the list), Delete removes a version.
If you played on another device since this one last synced, and this device's local save changed too, the app asks before starting which one to continue with. The dialog shows both sides — the server's version with the device and time it came from, and when this computer's save last changed — and whichever you pick, the other stays in the server's history. On the server downloads the other device's save, On this computer uploads the local one as the new version.
For PC and Steam games the save locations come from the community Ludusavi manifest; the game page shows them under Save locations. A game it does not know has no sync until an administrator sets the locations. A Steam game that also syncs through Steam Cloud says so — keeping both on is fine, but Steam Cloud may win on a conflict.
Achievements
After a session the app reads the trophies of a PlayStation 3 game from RPCS3 and the achievements of a Steam game from Steam's local files, and reports them to the server. The game page shows how many you unlocked and when; every device sees the same list. Other platforms have no achievement source yet.
Settings
Settings › Games (desktop only) holds the games folder, the detected emulators with a way to pick another executable, and switches for save and achievement sync.
Where to next
- Browsing a library: Browsing
- Uploading games to the server (administrators): Administration