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First, update to the latest version — a lot of scrolling and responsiveness work landed across the 1.1.x releases (Grid, List and Cover Flow all got faster). Use NostalgiApp → Check for Updates.

For very large libraries (10,000+ games), keep Cache thumbnails on local drive turned on in Settings → General, and let the first launch finish building its caches before judging speed.

If one specific action still hangs, turn on Settings → General → Diagnostic Logging, reproduce the freeze, then use Help → Upload Logs for Analysis and send us the Log ID.

This was fixed in recent builds. Update to the latest version and your window size, view mode and layout options will stick.

Open the downloaded .dmg and drag the NostalgiApp icon onto the Applications folder shown next to it, then launch it from Applications (not from inside the disk image).

NostalgiApp updates itself — you'll be prompted when a new version is ready, or check manually with NostalgiApp → Check for Updates. Updating never touches your collection, saves or settings.

Point the app at your collection folder on first launch (Choose Folder… on the welcome screen, or Library → Add Collection…), and it takes care of the rest. No collection yet? Use Quick Start. Step-by-step instructions are in the Getting Started and eXoDOS sections of the User Guide.

Use Quick Start (~40 MB) on the welcome screen (or Library → Getting Started…). In about a minute your library lists all 7,600+ eXoDOS games with covers; each game downloads the first time you press Play. New games the eXo team adds are offered automatically. Details: Quick Start.

Yes. Turn on the packs you want in Settings → General → eXoDOS Language Packs. The translated versions appear as variants of the English game (e.g. DOS · DE) and download on demand; if a translation is a patch, the English game is downloaded for you first. See Language versions.

This is almost always macOS blocking the app from writing to the network volume, silently and without a prompt. The app can read the folder (so it looks like it should work) but can't extract into it.

Fix it by granting access:

1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files and Folders, find NostalgiApp and enable Network Volumes.

2. If NostalgiApp isn't listed there at all, grant Full Disk Access instead: Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → + and add NostalgiApp from your Applications folder.

3. Quit and relaunch the app, then re-select your collection folder. (The same permission gate can affect external drives.)

Lite and Quick Start games download on demand over BitTorrent. “Waiting for peers…” means the torrent is still looking for someone sharing that file — it usually starts within a minute; leave it running and check that a VPN or firewall isn’t blocking BitTorrent. Make sure you have enough free disk space, and give large titles time to finish. If a download stalls or a game still won't install after completing, report it with the game name and a Log ID.

Fixed in current builds — update to the latest version and the collection will be recognised as already set up.

Update first — per-game fixes ship continuously and are shared across all users automatically. When a game misbehaves, choose the “It didn't work” option if prompted so the app can try to self-heal.

If it still fails, tell us the exact game and version (Floppy, CD, etc.) plus a Log ID so we can add a fix.

Right-click the game and choose Verify Game Files. It checks the game's archive and reports whether it's intact, has some damaged files, or is unreadable (for example a zero-byte or truncated download).

For eXoDOS, damaged files can often be repaired in place from your torrent. Files reported as unreadable (zero-byte) usually arrived incomplete and need to be re-downloaded or re-copied by hand — they can't be rebuilt from the app.

This is caused by one specific DOSBox-X build (2026.01.02) that broke booting differencing disks. Install an earlier DOSBox-X release. Full steps are in the Troubleshooting section of the guide.

Effects work out of the box, but MT-32 and General MIDI need one file each that you supply once — and they go in fixed folders with exact filenames (there's no “point to my files” step).

MT-32: click Open Folder in Settings → Emulators → Dependencies → MT-32 Audio and drop your ROMs in loose (not in a sub-folder), named exactly MT32_CONTROL.ROM and MT32_PCM.ROM. General MIDI / Sound Canvas: save a General MIDI SoundFont as SoundCanvas.sf2 in ~/Library/Application Support/DOSBox Staging/soundfonts/ (Sound Canvas ROM files won't work). Then pick the matching option in the version picker that appears at launch. Full steps: guide → MT-32 & General MIDI.

Still silent after installing the ROMs correctly (common on Sierra SCI games like King's Quest)? That was a bug where the app pointed the emulator at the wrong ROM folder — fixed in version 1.2.0.1. Update to the latest version and your MT-32 music will play.

Fixed in current builds. Update, and if you point at a custom DOSBox it will be used correctly — or just rely on the emulator bundled with the app.

The eXo team tested that game with a particular ScummVM build, and it may not work in yours. Download ScummVM <version> fetches that exact official build (signed and notarized, one time) and uses it just for the games that need it; Use Installed ScummVM tries yours anyway. See ScummVM versions.

eXo lists that game for a ScummVM development build; no official ScummVM release supports it yet (Ultima I is one example). Nothing is wrong on your Mac — it will work once ScummVM adds the game.

eXo ships some games in several versions — Amiga, Macintosh, DOS floppy, CD talkie, special music editions. That’s eXo’s version menu; your last choice is remembered and pre-selected next time.

Download NostalgiApp Wine (free, ~340 MB) in Settings → Services → Stores → Windows Games. It runs most games, including DirectX 10/11 through DXVK, and games you add use it automatically. DirectX 12 games need a Game Porting Toolkit runtime (Download built-in Windows runtime in the same place); CrossOver works for anything the free runtimes can’t run. See Choosing a Windows runtime.

Read the note on the game’s page first: NostalgiApp checks each .exe for copy protection (SafeDisc, SecuROM, StarForce… — these don’t work under Wine; a GOG or no-CD version does) and for a runtime that doesn’t fit, often with a one-click fix. Then try another runtime with the game’s … → Run With menu. For old DirectDraw games, a tiny picture means turning off High Resolution Mode in CrossOver; a black screen usually needs a virtual desktop. Wine’s log for each game is in ~/Library/Logs/NostalgiApp/Wine/. More in the guide.

Mac Steam refuses Windows-only games, so NostalgiApp installs them with a Windows copy of Steam — and Windows Steam only runs reliably in CrossOver. With CrossOver installed, press Install again and choose Set Up Windows Steam: NostalgiApp creates a bottle, installs Steam and starts the download. If you already have Windows Steam in CrossOver (even in bottles on another drive), its games appear in your library automatically. See Windows-only Steam games.

NostalgiApp finds games installed with the Windows Ubisoft Connect app in a CrossOver bottle or Wine prefix (there’s no Mac Ubisoft Connect). Make sure Ubisoft Connect is on in Settings → Services → Stores → Show in Library. Play opens Ubisoft Connect in that bottle, which signs you in and starts the game. See Ubisoft Connect.

No. Open Settings → Storage → eXo Media Pack and click Add Magazines, Books & Videos to the Library. NostalgiApp then opens each item straight from the zip in your collection’s Content/ folder, and if you don’t have the Media Pack at all, it streams just that item from the Media Pack torrent. See the reading room.

When the Media Pack isn’t on your disk, each item is streamed from the eXo Media Pack torrent, and the speed depends on how many people are sharing it at that moment — from under a minute to a few minutes for a large magazine. Once opened, it stays on your disk and opens instantly next time. Streamed pieces can be cleared in Settings → Storage.

Use the free Moonlight app on the other device. Settings → Streaming installs and sets up Sunshine on your Mac, adds a NostalgiApp tile to Moonlight, and pairs your device with its PIN. Picking the tile opens NostalgiApp in TV mode. Step by step: Play on your TV.

Sunshine is running without Screen Recording permission. In Settings → Streaming → Permissions, click Open Screen Recording Settings, turn Sunshine on, then click Restart Sunshine. If Moonlight can’t find the Mac at all, check Local Network; if you see the picture but can’t control it, check Accessibility.

On a Mac, Sunshine needs LizardByte’s Virtual HID Broker (a separate, licensed install) to create a virtual gamepad. Without it, keyboard and mouse from Moonlight still work, and a controller connected directly to the Mac always works. The Streaming page tells you when the broker is missing.

Use Library → Import ROMs and pick a folder — or, in recent versions, select individual files. If a file's platform can't be detected automatically, you'll be asked to choose it. See ROM Libraries in the guide.

Fixed in current builds — update and the metadata fields will populate during import.

The videos aren't broken — many console clips from ScreenScraper store their audio in a format macOS can't play, so it gets dropped on playback. From version 1.2.0.1 onward you can fix them in place: open Settings → Services → Fix Silent Videos and click the button to re-encode just the audio across your whole video library (the video is copied untouched — no quality loss, and already-working videos are skipped). To fix a single one, right-click the game and choose Fix Video Audio. Newly downloaded videos are repaired automatically, so you only run this once for videos you already had. More detail: guide → Gameplay Videos.

Open the BIOS Manager to see exactly which files are required vs optional, their expected checksums, and where to place them. If you keep BIOS files in a custom RetroArch folder, set that path in Settings so the app can find them. More detail in Emulators.

The app can install and update cores for you — see the Emulators section of the guide for the walkthrough.

Fixed in current builds. Update, sign in once more under Settings → Services → Achievements, and it will persist. See RetroAchievements.

No. Before an eXo game is removed, NostalgiApp copies every file you created or changed (saves, high scores, settings) into eXo’s !save folder, and puts them back when you reinstall. Settings → Storage shows what uses space and lets you uninstall your largest games. See Storage & saves.

With iCloud Sync on (Settings → General → iCloud Sync) and both Macs signed into the same Apple ID, these cross over: favorites, play counts, play time, last-played dates, notes, ratings, progress (Playing/Beaten/Completed), your custom playlists, ROM metadata edits, and emulator save games.

Game files, box art and per-Mac settings (collection paths, emulator choices) stay local by design — they're large or machine-specific and are re-derived on each Mac.

Sync isn't instant — it runs when the app launches, shortly after a local change, and when you click Sync Now. Open Settings → General → iCloud Sync on the second Mac and click Sync Now. Give iCloud a little time; it's eventual, not push-based.

Expected for now: sync merges data across Macs but doesn't yet propagate deletions, so the cloud copy reappears. To make a removal stick, delete it on every Mac that has the data, then let each sync once.

Check three things: you're signed into iCloud (System Settings → Apple ID), iCloud Sync is actually toggled on in the app (it doesn't auto-enable), and iCloud Drive has had time to upload. Emulator saves land in iCloud Drive → NostalgiApp → Documents/Saves. (Save sync needs version 1.0.8.8 or later.)

NostalgiApp finds save games by matching known save-file names and extensions, and a few older or unusual titles use naming we haven't catalogued yet. If one game's progress never turns up in iCloud Drive → NostalgiApp → Documents/Saves while other games sync fine, that game's save format probably isn't on our list yet — it's not lost, just not recognised for sync. Please tell us the game's name and we'll add its save files to the sync list in a quick update.

Make sure you're signed into iCloud and the app has finished its first sync. If it stays stuck after a relaunch, please don't disable/re-enable sync as a workaround — instead send a Log ID and we'll take a look.

Update to the latest version — an earlier build could wrongly prompt this. If it persists after updating, contact us with your licence key and we'll sort it out.

A Personal licence covers 1 Mac and Family covers 5. On a new machine the app activates a seat automatically. If you replaced a Mac on a Personal licence, deactivate the old machine first (or contact us) before activating the new one.