Play PortMaster games on Anbernic's stock OS with Game Manager

PortMaster brings hundreds of PC games to handhelds: open-source remakes, indie games and classics, ready to play with buttons. On custom systems like muOS it’s built in. Anbernic’s own system, the “stock OS” the handheld comes with, doesn’t officially support it: it ships a PortMaster from 2024 that today’s games can’t use, so they don’t start.

Game Manager now changes that. It installs the latest PortMaster for you, lets you browse and install PortMaster’s games, and starts them, from the stock menu’s PORTS list or from Game Manager itself.

Tested on: Anbernic RG40XXH · Anbernic stock OS V1.1.0.

What you need

• Game Manager for the stock OS (download and install).
• The handheld on Wi-Fi with internet.
• Free space on the system partition, where the games go: about 1 GB is free on the RG40XXH, enough for several games (each game’s page in Game Manager shows its size).

Step 1: install PortMaster

1. Open APPS → Game Manager and choose PortMaster ports.
2. The first time, Game Manager asks: Ports need PortMaster to start. Install the latest PortMaster now? Press A.
3. It downloads the latest PortMaster (about 25 MB) from PortMaster’s own releases on GitHub, checks it and sets it up for the stock OS. This takes about a minute. Then the game list opens.

Anbernic’s old PortMaster isn’t deleted: Game Manager keeps it as /roms/ports/PortMaster-6.55.

Step 2: install a game

1. Browse the list (newest, recently updated, A to Z, or by genre), or use Search on Game Manager’s home screen.
2. Open a game and press A to install it. Some games need an extra part from PortMaster (a runtime, for example Godot or Java); Game Manager downloads it with the game, and the game’s page shows its size first.

The game then appears in the stock OS’s PORTS list, with its cover.

Step 3: play

• From the stock menu: PORTS → the game.
• From Game Manager: press Y right after installing, or My games → PortMaster ports → A. Game Manager also keeps your play time.

To quit a game, hold SELECT + START for 2 seconds (games started from Game Manager).

Some games unpack their data the first time they start and show Extracting game data: give them a minute or two. Big games can also take a few minutes to load.

Games of every kind run: SDL games, Godot games, Java games and more. A few ports may not work on the stock OS, or may be too big for its storage.

Keep PortMaster up to date

START → Settings → PortMaster shows the version you have and checks for a newer one. Updating keeps your games and their runtimes.

Remove a game

My games → PortMaster ports, choose the game and press X. Game Manager removes its PORTS entry, its cover and its files.

What Game Manager does, for the curious

PortMaster’s games are made for systems like muOS. On the stock OS, Game Manager:

• puts the latest PortMaster in /roms/ports/PortMaster, where every game looks for it (only the parts games use, not the PortMaster app itself);
• adds its own version of PortMaster’s control.txt for the stock OS’s folders, buttons and 640×480 screen;
• gives the games the stock OS’s newer SDL and its Mali graphics driver (the stock OS’s older SDL is too old for most games, and its generic graphics libraries can’t open the screen);
• makes Westonpack, the display layer some games run in, work on the stock OS;
• puts each game’s launcher in Roms/PORTS and its files in /roms/ports/<game>.

Nothing in a game is changed, so games update as PortMaster releases them.

Credits

The games and PortMaster come from the PortMaster project, its porters and its community: thank you. Game Manager downloads them from PortMaster’s own releases; nothing is hosted by PocketKode. Westonpack and Crusty are by BinaryCounter, gl4es by ptitSeb.

Questions? Email feedback@pocketkode.com.

PocketKode is not affiliated with PortMaster or Anbernic.