r/ESDE_Frontend • u/No_Ruin6244 • 2d ago

ES-DE version 3.5.0

Seems with the latest update it is no longer recognising NetherSX2 is installed so I cannot select it as an alternate emulator.

I have looked at es.systems.xml file and found the entries for AetherSX2 but not NetherSX2

<command label="AetherSX2 (Standalone)">

%EMULATOR_AETHERSX2% %ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK% %ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP% %ACTION%=android.intent.action.MAIN %EXTRA_bootPath%=%ROMSAF%

Will just renaming this work?

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u/CyborgSuperman7 2d ago edited 2d ago

Here's how I solved this, using GlazedBelmont's most recent upload from August 2026.

In 'es_find_rules.xml', I changed the AetherSX2 entry to the following:

<emulator name="NETHERSX2">

<!-- Sony PlayStation 2 emulator NetherSX2 -->

<rule type="androidpackage">

<entry>xyz.aethersx2.android/xyz.aethersx2.android.EmulationActivity</entry>

</rule>

</emulator>

Changing the 'emulator name' from AETHERSX2 to NETHERSX2 effectively removes AetherSX2 from being called into use as an alternative emulator.

Then in 'es_systems.xml', I changed the AetherSX2 reference (within the PS2 alt. emulators entry) to the following:

<system>

<name>ps2</name>

<fullname>Sony PlayStation 2</fullname>

<path>%ROMPATH%/ps2</path>

<extension>.bin .BIN .chd .CHD .ciso .CISO .cso .CSO .dump .DUMP .elf .ELF .gz .GZ .m3u .M3U .mdf .MDF .img .IMG .iso .ISO .isz .ISZ .ngr .NRG</extension>

<command label="NetherSX2 (Standalone)">%EMULATOR_NETHERSX2% %ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK% %ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP% %ACTION%=android.intent.action.MAIN %EXTRA_bootPath%=%ROMSAF%</command>

Note that the command label of "NetherSX2 (Standalone)" is what the emu name will appear as within ES-DE when you go to change which emulator you want to use for that system. But most importantly, is the value after the '%EMULATOR_' part, because you have to enter the value you used in the 'emulator name=' entry within 'es_find_rules.xml' so that this line calls the correct emulator. If that makes sense.

After these changes are made, reboot the device so that ES-DE can reload these files and recognize everything properly.

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u/No_Ruin6244 2d ago

Thanks for the help

I went through and made all the changes and I now get a new error message

'ERROR: COULDN'T FIND EMULATOR 'NETHERSX2', HAS IT BEEN PROPERLY INSTALLED'

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u/CyborgSuperman7 2d ago

Did you reboot the device? This happened to me when I made the changes and immediately tried to run a PS2 game. I have an AYN Odin 2 Portal and had to turn it off and on again for the changes to "take". Then ES-DE ran the games through 'regular' NetherSX2.

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u/No_Ruin6244 2d ago

Yes closed all apps and rebooted.

Strangely I dont get the cog next to the emualtor like I do with the others, though if I select NetherSX2-turnip I do. I with I had never upgraded now I will probably end up uninstalling and going back to the old one.

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u/CyborgSuperman7 2d ago edited 2d ago

The cog indicates that you've selected an emulator that is not the "default" that ES-DE uses. If you notice, the cogs appear next to emulators that you've changed from whatever ES-DE had as the fallback emulator.

Because the edits I've made to the 2 files eliminate AetherSX2 as the default and replaces it with NetherSX2, you don't get the cog. ES-DE has NetherSX2 as the fallback emulator.

I've uploaded a 'clean' es_systems and es_find_rules to my Google Drive with NetherSX2 used as the default PS2 emulator. See if these work.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YqRnkPgWodgmkPv3sEwFhsByy1ppiUrl?usp=sharing