Frequently Asked Questions

OmniEmu is a cross-platform emulator manager, game launcher, and ROM library. It lets you install emulators with one click, scan your ROM collection, and launch games from a unified interface on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Yes. OmniEmu is completely free and open source under the MIT License. There are no ads, no tracking, and no accounts required.

OmniEmu runs on Windows (x64), macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon), and Linux (x64 & ARM64). The experience is identical across all platforms.

OmniEmu does not include any ROMs or pirated content. It downloads and configures the emulators themselves. You must supply your own legally obtained ROM files.

This is because macOS Gatekeeper blocks unsigned apps. Run sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/OmniEmu.app in Terminal, or right-click the app and choose Open.

Click "More Info" and then "Run Anyway." This is expected for unsigned applications. The portable .zip version is also available if you prefer.

Install libfuse2 (sudo apt install libfuse2 on Ubuntu/Debian) and make sure the file is executable (chmod +x). Some newer distros don't ship libfuse2 by default.

OmniEmu itself supports ARM64 on Linux. However, some of the emulators it manages may not have ARM64 builds available. The app will show which emulators are available for your architecture.

OmniEmu currently supports 20 emulators: Dolphin, RPCS3, Eden, PCSX2, DuckStation, Mednafen, MAME, PPSSPP, melonDS, Flycast, Cemu, xemu, Vita3K, Azahar, Project64, Snes9x, mGBA, Mesen2, RetroArch, and ES-DE. You can install as many or as few as you like.

Currently, OmniEmu manages the 20 emulators listed in the Library. Custom emulator support may come in a future version.

Some emulators are only available on certain platforms. For example, Project64 is Windows-only. OmniEmu shows these as unavailable on unsupported platforms so you can still see the full list of emulators. On macOS and Linux, you can use alternative emulators for the same system (like RetroArch with an N64 core) instead.

No. OmniEmu never downloads, distributes, or provides ROMs. You must supply your own legally obtained ROM files. OmniEmu only manages emulators and organizes your existing ROM library.

OmniEmu recognizes most common ROM formats: .zip, .7z, .iso, .bin, .cue, .n64, .z64, .gba, .nds, .gbc, .nes, .sfc, .smc, .chd, .pbp, and more.

Some emulators require BIOS files to work (e.g., PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, Sega Saturn). OmniEmu's BIOS Manager can scan your system and check which files are present or missing. You must provide these files yourself.

Controller input mapping within individual emulators is handled by each emulator's own settings. OmniEmu provides controller navigation for its own UI. Connect your controller before launching an emulator for automatic detection.

OmniEmu checks for updates on launch. When a new version is available, you'll see a notification. Click Update to download and install it. The app will restart automatically.

The .yml files are metadata used by the built-in auto-updater system. You can safely ignore them if you're downloading releases manually.

OmniEmu itself is small (under 100 MB). The emulators total around 4-6 GB when all 20 are installed. ROMs and BIOS files will take additional space depending on your collection.

Yes! You need Node.js 20+ and npm 10+. Clone the repo, run npm install, then npm run start to develop. Use npm run package:mac, npm run package:win, or npm run package:linux to build for distribution.

Open an issue on GitHub Issues. Include your OS, OmniEmu version, and steps to reproduce the bug.