Where Does the ares Emulator Store Saves?
Where the ares multi-system emulator keeps saves, save states, and settings.bml on each OS.
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ares keeps emulator state near the user: battery saves beside the loaded content and settings.bml plus save states in the user folder per OS. It descends from higan and bsnes, so accuracy-first design shows in file handling.
Version coupling is the catch. Save states break across updates by design, while battery saves stay portable. Back up both, but only promise restores for battery saves when versions drift.
Where ares stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\ares\
Battery saves beside ROMs; settings.bml and state slots in the user folder. States are version-locked; battery saves are portable. Exact subpaths vary by build.
~/Library/Application Support/ares/
Same settings plus states layout. Use Go to Folder in Finder since Library is hidden.
~/.config/ares/
Same layout under the XDG config home. Battery saves stay next to content; only settings and states centralize here.
Frequently asked questions
How do I migrate ares saves?
Keep the game folder intact and copy the whole user folder (saves plus settings.bml) alongside it. Save states only load in the same ares version that wrote them, so note the build number. In-game battery saves travel with the ROM folder.
Can I use alternate settings or state slots?
Pass --settings-file with a path to use an alternate settings.bml, and pick save state slots 1-9 from the UI or --save-state flag. Settings override is per launch; the default file stays untouched.
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