PS1 Image Launching · Ember

Ember is the second PS1 core beside POPStarter. The two do not compete for a preference: .VCD uses POPStarter, while Ember's own folder/image layout uses Ember automatically.

External core and BIOS

Ember is not embedded in Launchstation. Set an optional Ember directory under Settings → Launching → Disc & image loaders. The target game's own umbrella still needs the user's PlayStation BIOS as bios.bin (exactly 512 KB). If the target umbrella lacks ember.elf, Launchstation can copy the configured ember.elf into that umbrella once before launch.

Save-safe layout

The umbrella folder can be named anything and live anywhere on the device.

DEVICE:/
└── MY-EMBER/
    ├── ember.elf
    ├── bios.bin
    └── games/
        ├── Spyro 2 (Ripto's Rage)/
        │   ├── game.cue
        │   ├── track01.bin
        │   ├── MC1.vmc          created/used by Ember
        │   └── MC2.vmc          created/used by Ember
        └── Another Game/
            └── game.bin

Select a .CUE, .BIN or PS1 .EXE directly inside the game folder. Launchstation derives the bare folder name and passes that to Ember.

Why loose CUE files are refused

Ember can resolve looser layouts, but its memory-card path is always composed as games/<argument>/MC1.vmc and MC2.vmc. A loose games/Game.cue can boot while silently making the save path impossible. The browser therefore offers only the folder layout that can both launch and save correctly.

Launch contract

Ember derives its working directory from target argv[0], so Launchstation preserves the real live path to ember.elf as target argv[0]. The bare game-folder name is the only game argument. Names containing path separators, a colon, a leading .., or more than 180 characters are refused.

USB reset and final keep-IOP handoff

Ember requires a working game-device stack when control reaches it. For USB/MASS, LAUNCHSTATION first finishes background I/O and audio, prepares a clean IOP without its own PADMAN, re-discovers the USB game and ember.elf even if the drive's logical unit has changed, then executes Ember with no further IOP reset. A mismatched or ambiguous remount is refused rather than silently launching another drive. For non-USB paths the existing mounted stack is retained for handoff. On APA/PFS, the Ember partition is mounted writable with write-through for its save files.

POPStarter and Ember together

Format/layout	Launcher
`POPS/*.VCD`	POPStarter
`MY-EMBER/games/<Game>/*.CUE`	Ember
`MY-EMBER/games/<Game>/*.BIN`	Ember
`MY-EMBER/games/<Game>/*.EXE`	Ember

Troubleshooting

Confirm the selected image is directly under <umbrella>/games/<Game>/.
Confirm <umbrella>/bios.bin exists and is exactly 512 KB.
If <umbrella>/ember.elf is missing, set a valid Ember directory so Launchstation can stage the executable into the target umbrella.
Use the dedicated Ember handoff; its controlled USB-only remount and final keep-IOP execution ignore the normal ELF reset preference.