Issue with saves

RetroArch Android devices
#1

Alright, I’ll start right off by saying that I’ve only been messing with Retroarch for a couple of days, but so far I like it. However, having started doing a bit more on my phone I found that I wasn’t able to find my save files (I haven’t played anything but I’ve done some testing. Just to make sure I could move files back and forth, which is where I ran into this). From what I can gather it is because my phone isn’t rooted and I’m at the moment trying to get around having to do that. So the first part of my plan was to set the save directories (Save and Save state) to my SD card, which took some time before I figured it out but eventually got that set. However, when trying to save a state now, I just end up with a “0%: Saving State” on the latest nightly. On the Google play build that I used before, I got a “Failed to save state /storage/734F-549E/Save States” …something along those lines. From what I can see, Retroarch should have the permissions to write to the SD Card, when checking the whole Settings > Apps > Retroarch > Permissions. So it should work, no?

I guess the first question that I would need answered is if this is really all futile. If I do get the app to store the saves on the SD card will I be able to see them or will they still be hidden like they are on the internal storage? Meaning I’d have to go and root the phone either way? Or is that the reason why I can’t save to the SD card in the first place?

Some other info. Sony Xperia Z5 Compact. Android version: 6.0.1 Retroarch build: Nightly, 2016-11-28.

Edit: as a note, saves do work at default settings, saving it to the internal memory.

#2

You shouldn’t need to root. However, at some point (kitkat?), Google decided that apps writing to removeable storage was dangerous and they have to ask for explicit permission through a Java API. RetroArch doesn’t really use the Java bindings the way most other apps do, so that’s not really an option for us. So, you’ll have to write to saves to internal storage (this can be a user-writeable directory outside of the app’s own directory).

#3

Thanks for the answer! Yeah, that’s pretty much what I managed to come up with by reading, though they at some point semi-reverted it so I decided to give this a go.

However, when setting the directory to use a directory outside of the app’s own stuff, it should be something like either “/storage/emulated/0/saves” or “/sdcard/saves” correct? When I set it to that, it seems to work on the phone, saving states as well as saving in the game itself. (Loading works as well). However, the folders remain empty when I check them from my PC.

#4

Hmm, that’s weird. I don’t know why they would be hidden… So they’re there on your phone when you look with a file browser or whatever?

#5

Yep. Went and checked with file commander now. One .srm and two .state files. But when checking it through the PC it’s empty. Properties of the folder says there are no files or folders and the size of the “Saves” folder is 0 byte. In fact, there’s stuff in the folders I created in the RetroArch folders in the “root” of the internal storage. …Not to mention a bunch in the root where the rom is :smiley: This is really strange :smiley:

And now I discovered that File Commander can zip files. So I tried zipping down a bunch of the save files… and that shows up. Hmm, might be some file extension thing or something that is being hidden by windows? Imma have a look in that direction.

#8

Incredibly shameful double post but… …All of a sudden they are starting to show up now. I think I have gotten it down to that the SD Card might be a culprit in some kind of arcane manner. Basically if the files don’t show up, I pull out the SD Card and they magically show up. I have no idea how or why but… Hurray?

#9

Oh well, whatever /shrug