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Reference

SD card layout

Every folder and file rpynx uses on the SD card, and which program writes it.

Source docs/INSTALL.md, docs/IMPORTER.md, runtime/renpy/README.md, runtime/main.c

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text

sdmc:/switch/renpy-loader/
├── renpy-loader.nro            the loader
├── runtimes/
│   └── renpy-runtime.nro       CPython 3.12.8 + Ren'Py 8.5.3
├── games/
│   ├── <id>/
│   │   ├── game/               the game's own game/ folder
│   │   │   ├── rsl-nonascii.rpa    files with non-ASCII names, when there are any
│   │   │   └── saves/          a second copy of the game's saves
│   │   ├── manifest.json       written by the importer
│   │   ├── cover.jpg | cover.bmp
│   │   ├── backdrop.jpg | backdrop.bmp
│   │   └── power-saver         optional flag: 30 fps for this game
│   ├── .uploading-<id>/        an FTP upload in progress (hidden)
│   └── .old-<id>/              left only if an FTP rename failed (hidden)
├── saves/<id>/                 the game's saves
├── config/
│   ├── loader.json             layout, backgrounds, accent, help_seen
│   ├── power-saver             optional flag: 30 fps for every game
│   └── controller/
│       ├── global.json         (+ global.json.bak)
│       └── games/<id>.json     per-game profiles
├── logs/
│   ├── loader.log
│   ├── runtime.log
│   └── <id>/                   log.txt, traceback.txt, python.txt
├── cache/                      python-selftest.txt
└── home/                       HOME for Ren'Py's per-user data

Who writes what

Path	Written by	Notes
`renpy-loader.nro`, `runtimes/`	You, or `scripts/switch-ftp.sh`
`games/<id>/`	The importer	Folder names starting with a dot are skipped by the loader
`games/<id>/cover.bmp`, `backdrop.bmp`	The loader’s Change picture	Also updates `manifest.json`
`saves/<id>/`	Ren’Py, through the runtime	Never touched by the importer
`config/loader.json`	The loader
`config/controller/`	The loader, and the runtime after the emergency combo in a game	Each save keeps the previous file as `.bak`
`logs/`	The loader, the runtime and Ren’Py	Kept when a game is deleted
`cache/`	The Python self-test
`home/`	The runtime sets `HOME` here, so Ren’Py’s per-user data does not land in a folder named `~`

Limits

An id is at most 63 characters; the loader skips folder names of 64 bytes or more.
The loader shows at most 64 games.
Non-ASCII names cannot be listed on the Switch’s SD card; see Non-ASCII file names.
Files of 4 GiB or more cannot exist on FAT32; the importer warns from 2 GiB.