△◯✕□ launcHER DOCS
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Getting Started

launcHER is lightweight, portable, and requires only two files to operate: launcHER.elf and launcHER.CNF. Follow this guide to set up your directory layout and launch your first game.

Step 1: The Ember Folder Structure

Wherever you decide to keep Ember, its internal directory structure remains constant. Do not change Ember's internal directory names: 

EMBER/
├── ember.elf        # The Ember executable
├── bios.bin         # PS1 BIOS image (e.g. SCPH-1001, SCPH-7001)
└── games/
    └── <GAME_FOLDER>/
        ├── <game>.cue
        └── <game>.bin

Examples across different storage types:

Step 2: The Game Argument Rule

Critical: Pass the Bare Folder Name Only
Ember resolves games relative to its own games/ subfolder.

If your game is at: 
EMBER/games/Soul Blade/
Your arg= line in launcHER.CNF MUST be: 
arg=Soul Blade
DO NOT pass:
  • games/Soul Blade (Ember will look for games/games/Soul Blade)
  • Soul Blade/Soul Blade.cue (Ember expects a directory, not a cue filename)
  • mass0:/EMBER/games/Soul Blade/ (Absolute paths will fail)

Step 3: Place launcHER and Configure CNF

Download the latest launcHER.zip from GitHub Releases. Extract the two files: 

launcHER.elf
launcHER.CNF

Place both files in the folder from which you want to launch. Open launcHER.CNF in a plain text editor (Notepad, VS Code, etc.) and configure the profile that matches your storage.

Example A: Ember on USB Storage

path=mass?:/EMBER/ember.elf
arg=Soul Blade

Example B: Ember on Internal exFAT HDD

path=ata:/EMBER/ember.elf
arg=Soul Blade
arg=-dev9=NICHDD

Example C: Ember in an APA Partition (e.g. __.EMBER)

path=hdd0:__.EMBER:pfs:/EMBER/ember.elf
arg=pfs0:/EMBER/ember.elf
arg=Soul Blade
arg=-skip_argv0
arg=-dev9=NICHDD

Step 4: Renaming the ELF (Optional)

You do not need to keep the filename as launcHER.elf. You can rename the ELF to match your game title, especially for Open PS2 Loader APPS integration: 

Soul Blade/
├── Soul Blade.ELF    # Renamed copy of launcHER.elf
└── launcHER.CNF      # Quickboot configuration

When Soul Blade.ELF launches without explicit target arguments, it automatically detects its launch path, discovers launcHER.CNF in the same folder, and executes the specified game!

Step 5: Launch!

Execute your ELF from any supported PS2 browser or launcher: