Setup

First-run flow, manual setup, and auto configuration.

This page reorganizes the main onboarding and configuration steps into a shorter flow users can follow without reading the full project README.

Video walkthroughs

Use these when the written steps are not enough.

  • First Run covers the first boot flow and initial setup.
  • Controller Support includes a Dashboard introduction and controller navigation.
  • Manual Config shows the manual configuration flow.
  • Auto Config shows watched folders, detection, and automatic config generation.

Quick start

  1. Open Settings and choose a preset and scale.
  2. Add Watched Folders so the app can discover save or emulator folders.
  3. Start the game once so its save folder or local achievement files exist.
  4. Let the watcher auto-create a config when possible, or create the config manually.
  5. Select the config and choose the language to view achievements, progress, and playtime.
  6. Optionally mute progress notifications for the active config.
Watched folders setup in Settings

First-run onboarding

  • On first run, startup can pause and show a folder selection modal before full auto-scan begins.
  • The app searches for known achievement signals such as achievements.json, achievements.ini, stats.bin, trophy files, and emulator progress files.
  • Start Auto-Config keeps selected folders active and mutes unchecked discovered folders.
  • Skip and mute all continues startup immediately and mutes the discovered or default auto-config roots.
  • Onboarding state is stored in %APPDATA%\Achievements\preferences.json.
  • If startup is still gated but the modal is hidden, use tray action Resume Startup (Mute all).
First boot onboarding flow

Manual configuration

Create a config with the following fields:

  • Name: your preferred identifier.
  • AppID: Steam AppID or folder identifier used for the game.
  • Config Path: folder containing achievements.json and img/, or leave empty to generate it.
  • Save Path: location of progress or save data.
  • Executable and Arguments: optional launch settings.
  • Process Name: optional explicit process name to monitor.

Names are sanitized before saving, and that sanitized value is used on disk and for playtime totals.

Manual config creation flow

Config JSON reference

  • appid – game id.
  • platform – one of steam, uplay, gog, epic, xenia, rpcs3, shadps4, steam-official, gog-official, ubisoft-official, ea-official.
  • config_path – folder that contains achievements.json and image assets.
  • save_path – folder with local progress or save data.
  • process_name – executable name used for process tracking.
  • executable / arguments – optional launch metadata.

If config_path points to a custom location, schema regeneration and cleanup will not overwrite that folder.

Auto configuration

Auto-config works best when the app can scan watched folders regularly.

  1. Add one or more Watched Folders that contain emulator data, save folders, or launcher caches.
  2. The app detects app ids and resolves the platform.
  3. It fetches the game name, schema, achievement data, and images when sources are available.
  4. It generates configs automatically.
Automatic detection and config generation

Default watched folders

  • %PUBLIC%\Documents\Steam\CODEX
  • %PUBLIC%\Documents\Steam\RUNE
  • %PUBLIC%\Documents\OnlineFix
  • %PUBLIC%\Documents\EMPRESS
  • %APPDATA%\Goldberg SteamEmu Saves
  • %APPDATA%\Goldberg UplayEmu Saves
  • %APPDATA%\GSE Saves
  • %APPDATA%\EMPRESS
  • %LOCALAPPDATA%\anadius\LSX emu\achievement_watcher
  • %APPDATA%\Steam\CODEX
  • %APPDATA%\SmartSteamEmu
  • %LOCALAPPDATA%\SKIDROW

Steam API key behavior

Auto-configuration prefers the Steam Web API when a key is stored in Settings.

  • With a key: the app uses Steam Web API for schema and metadata when possible.
  • Without a key: it falls back to SteamDB, SteamHunters, and Exophase for language enrichment when available.
  • Sources used when available include Steam Web API, SteamDB, SteamHunters, Exophase, GOG, and Epic.