Community Guides

EmuDeck Installation

⚠️ Warning

EmuDeck is not officially supported on ChimeraOS. EmuDeck may have assumptions about running on the Steam Deck. ChimeraOS highly recommends using our built-in emulation solution. It is much easier to use and setup, especially since there is no need to use Desktop mode. See the Getting Started guide for more details.

The installation instructions on the EmuDeck website do not work on ChimeraOS.

To install EmuDeck on ChimeraOS:

1. Switch to Desktop Mode.
2. Open a terminal window using the Console application.
3. Paste the following into the Console (this must be done locally, not over SSH) window and hit enter: curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/main/install.sh | bash
4. Follow the instructions in the EmuDeck application/installer

NOTE: Launching Steam ROM Manager from the Desktop menu does not work, launch Steam ROM Manager from the EmuDeck application as a workaround.

EmulationStation-DE and RetroArch

EmuDeck downloads EmulationStation-DE (AppImage) and RetroArch (Flatpak). In order to use EmuDeck's pre-configured RetroArch with its bundled EmulationStation-DE, you will need to create a custom es_find_rules.xml and place it in /home/gamer/.emulationstation/custom_systems.

To create a custom es_find_rules.xml:

1. Create a es_find_rules.xml file
2. Open it in a text editor of your choice
3. Paste the below contents into the file

<ruleList>
    <emulator name="RETROARCH">
        <rule type="systempath">
            <entry>org.libretro.RetroArch</entry>
            <entry>retroarch</entry>
        </rule>
    </emulator>
</ruleList>

4. Save and exit out of the file
5. Place the es_find_rules.xml file in the /home/gamer/.emulationstation/custom_systems folder

RetroArch Controls

Note: This section is specifically referring to the RetroArch Flatpak installed by EmuDeck.

If input is not working in RetroArch, you will need to change the Input driver to SDL.

To change the driver:

1. Open RetroArch (the Flatpak installed by EmuDeck)
   • To open RetroArch: Add RetroArch to Steam through the Emulators parser in Steam ROM Manager. Afterwards, you can open RetroArch directly in Game Mode
2. Click the Settings menu
3. Click Drivers
4. Select Input
5. Select sdl2
6. Back out of the Drivers menu and select the Main Menu
7. Click Configuration File
8. Click Save Current Configuration and exit out of RetroArch
9. Your RetroArch controls will now work in Game Mode