Deep Sky Creations

Ultimate Emulator / Setup & help

Your First Game Starts Here

From install to Play.

You do not need to understand emulation to use Ultimate Emulator. Install it, point it at the games you already own, and press Play. This guide walks you through it once, in order, and shows you where to go next.

  • Free, no account
  • Your own game files
  • Play in a few steps

01 / Step one

Install and open Ultimate Emulator.

  1. Download the installer

    Get the free installer for Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit) from the download section of this site. No account or subscription is needed to download, install or play.

  2. Run Setup

    Open the installer. It is digitally signed by Deep Sky Creations LLC. Setup shows the license agreement: read it, and accept it to continue. Then let Setup finish.

  3. Open it

    Ultimate Emulator opens on Home with Welcome home. Until you add games, Home offers Add Games — that is your next step.

02 / The left navigation

Eight places, and you only need three today.

Everything starts from the navigation down the left side of the window. To play your first game you only need Games, Systems and Settings.

Home
Your starting point. Pick up recent games with Jump back in.
Games
Your whole collection. Browse, search and start a game.
Systems
Every included console, and whether it needs firmware you provide.
Favorites
The games you have marked as favorites.
Multiplayer
Online and network sessions with other players, part of Premium. Optional; local play needs none of it.
Profile
Your Deep Sky profile and friends. Optional; no account is needed to play.
Workshop
Projects, patches and research tools, part of Premium. Optional, and not part of setup.
Settings
General, Library, Systems, Graphics, Audio, Controllers, Storage, Updates, Accessibility and About & Support.

03 / Your collection

Point it at the games you already own.

Ultimate Emulator does not include games. Add game files from your own collection; they stay exactly where you keep them.

  1. Choose Add Games

    On Home or in Games, choose Add Games. You can also go to Settings → Library → Game Folders and choose Add Game Folder.

  2. Pick your games folder

    Choose the folder where you keep your games. Its subfolders are searched too, so one top-level folder is often enough.

  3. Let it scan

    Ultimate Emulator finds the games it recognizes and sorts them by system. Folders stay watched, so games you add later appear on their own.

More about adding games, scanning and folders

04 / Only some systems

Check whether a system needs firmware.

Most included systems need nothing extra. Odyssey², Intellivision, ColecoVision, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx, PlayStation and Game Boy Advance need firmware — sometimes called BIOS — that you provide. If you are not playing those systems, you can skip this step.

  1. Open Systems

    The BIOS / Firmware column shows each system's status: Ready, Needs BIOS, Optional or Not required.

  2. Add firmware where it says Needs BIOS

    Choose the system, then Manage BIOS, and choose the file you own. When the page says Ready to play, that system is set.

Firmware & BIOS, explained

05 / Optional

Use a controller, or just the keyboard.

The keyboard always works, so you can play straight away. To use a controller, connect it to Windows by USB or Bluetooth. It appears in Settings → Controllers under Connected Controllers, mapped and ready.

Set up controllers

06 / The good part

Choose a game and press Play.

  1. Open Games

    Choose the Ready filter at the top to see only the games you can play right now.

  2. Open a game

    Select a game to see its details page.

  3. Press Play

    The game starts. While playing, press Esc on the keyboard, or hold Start on your controller for about two seconds, to open the Game Menu. Choose Exit Game there when you are done.

07 / No setup required

Change things only when you want to.

Every system works with sensible defaults. You do not need to configure each system before you play.

Picture

Graphics

Settings → Graphics sets the look for every game. A game's own Game Settings can override it.

Graphics guide
One game

Game Settings

On a game's details page, Game Settings changes that game only — its details, artwork, controls and graphics.

Library guide
Your progress

Saves and states

Games save the way they always did. Save states add snapshots you can return to at any moment.

Save States guide

08 / When you are ready

Where to go next.