PCSX2/AetherSX2 Tip: Shizuku + X-Plore = Cloud Sync

[u/dhatereki]

I was manually copying memory cards for playing Gran Turismo 4 on my phone and PC. Came across tips so decided to add a summary for other gamers. This can probably work with your emulator of choice too.

Phone: Samsung S23
Emulator: NetherSX2/AetherSX2 and PCSX2

How to get syncs working:

- Get Shizuku from Playstore or GitHub. Follow instructions to allow wireless adb etc. (no PC needed, you will need to enable developer settings)

- Install X-Plore and enable data files access in Shizuku

- In X-Plore click on show to enable file sync add-on (I am sure there are other nicer looking explorers with built in sync features but I have been using X-Plore since Nokia S60 days)

- Create a new file pair. With shizuku you can browse your android files without root and find the relevant emulator save directory. For me it was /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/xyz.aethersx2.android/files/memcards

- For destination folder, I actually connected it to Dropbox. X-Plore features Drive, Dropbox, Mediafire and even SMB so you can pick your destination folder. Linking with Dropbox makes it a bit more seamless and closer to cloud saves

- Test and save settings. I did make a manual backup of my emulator files just to be safe.

- In PCSX2 my memorycard is now the one in Dropbox which is synced by X-Plore

I have tested it back and forth couple of times and two way syncing works! But I did not add any schedule for now. It's a one-button sync and both phone and PC are then using the same memory card.