---
title: Import a game
description: The file types Empo accepts, the three ways to import a game, and what happens when the game is already in your library.
sidebar:
  icon: folder-down
---

Empo ships no games. You supply them. Empo copies each game into its own folder in the app
sandbox, so the folder that you import from stays unchanged.

## What you can import

| Input                       | Notes                                                          |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| A folder                    | A game that is already extracted, with `Game.exe` and `Data/`. A PSDK game has `Game.rb` and `Game.yarb` instead. |
| `.zip`, `.7z`, or `.rar`    | An archive with the same content.                              |
| `.jgp`                      | A JoiPlay Game Package. Empo reads its manifest and settings.  |
| A self-extracting `.exe`    | A Windows extractor with the game inside it.                   |
| An Enigma Virtual Box `.exe` | A Windows program with the game files packed inside it. Empo unpacks them. |

## Three ways to import

1. **From the library**

    Open Empo. Tap the import button, and pick the folder or the archive in Files.

2. **From another app**

    Share the file, and pick Empo in the share sheet.

3. **With drag and drop**

    Drag the folder or the archive onto the Empo icon.

Empo then extracts the game, reads the title from its INI file, detects the RPG Maker version,
and picks the Ruby interpreter for it. A PSDK game has no INI file, so Empo uses the name
of the folder or the archive as the title. If the game has a `Game.exe` with an icon, Empo uses that
icon as the artwork on the card. If it has no icon, Empo looks for a title screen in
`Graphics/Titles/`.

:::tip
A large archive takes time to extract. The card shows the progress. You can leave the app open
on the library and let it work, or tap **Stop import** on the card. A stopped
import leaves nothing behind.
:::

## An archive that holds more than one game

Some archives hold several games, or hold a game with extra tools beside it. Empo scans the
archive and lists each valid game that it finds. You then select the games to import.

The list has two steps:

- **Add games** shows the games that are not in your library. No game is selected at first.
- **Already in your library** shows the games that are installed. All of them are selected at first,
  because an import of an installed game updates that install.

## Update a game that is installed

If a game with the same title is in the library, Empo asks before it writes anything. When you
confirm, Empo merges the new files into the installed game:

- Files with the same path get the new version.
- All other files stay, which includes your saves, your settings, and files that the new version
  does not ship.
- If the update contains a file at the path of one of your saves, the newer file keeps the path.
  Empo keeps the other file beside it, with a `.empo-displaced.bak` suffix.

If the update fails at any point before the swap, the installed game stays exactly as it was.

:::warning
Empo cannot update a game that is open. Quit the game first, then import the update.
:::

## Where Empo puts your games

Each game lives in its own folder under `Documents/Games/<title>/`, and Empo keeps one folder
per title. The folder is visible in the Files app under **On My iPhone → Empo**. Saves, game
settings, and artwork live with the game.

Two different games that declare the same title in their INI files cannot both be in the
library. Some games read their data paths from that title, so a second copy would read the
first copy's data.

## When an import fails

Empo shows one alert with the reason. The frequent reasons are:

- The source is not an RPG Maker or PSDK game, or its RGSS version has no support.
- The archive is corrupt.
- The device has no free space left.

If a card stays broken after a failure, go to **Settings → Advanced**, and tap **Clean up broken
imports**.

For the full pipeline, with its stages and its invariants, see
[`import-pipeline.md`](https://github.com/mateo-m/empo-app/blob/main/ios/Empo/docs/import-pipeline.md).