Portable Mode

You can run the app from a folder you choose, with your profiles, saves and imported files kept in that same folder. Move the folder to another drive, another PC or a USB key and everything comes with it.

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Setting it up

Install the app the normal way, then create a folder named data next to Update.exe in the installation folder. From the next launch, everything of yours is written there instead of in your user profile.

If you want it somewhere you choose, such as a USB key or another drive, pick that location on the installer's first screen and create the data folder there.

Your folder ends up looking like this:

Relic of the Past/
├── Relic of the Past.exe   ← run this
├── Update.exe
├── data/                   ← everything of yours lives here
└── current/

Nothing is written outside that folder, and nothing is left behind on the machine you run it from.

Don't put anything in current/. That folder is replaced completely every time the app updates itself. data sits beside it for exactly that reason.

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Bringing your existing files across

Without a data folder, the app uses %APPDATA%\relic-of-the-past like any other Windows app. The default installation folder is:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\relic-of-the-past\
├── Update.exe
└── data/          ← create this

Your existing profiles and saves aren't deleted, they're just no longer read. They're still in %APPDATA%\relic-of-the-past, so you can copy them into the new data folder to bring them across, or delete the data folder to go back to how it was.

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macOS and Linux

The same rule, in the place each platform expects.

Platform	Where data goes
Windows	Beside Update.exe, in the app's folder
Linux	Beside the AppImage
macOS	Next to the .app bundle, not inside it

On Linux you can also use AppImage's own convention, a folder named <the AppImage's filename>.home, if you already use that for other apps. Either works.

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Updating

A portable copy updates itself in place, exactly like an installed one: the app tells you when a new version is out and applies it when you accept. Your data folder is untouched by an update.

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Things worth knowing

• Two copies on one machine don't collide. Only the copy with a data folder keeps its files beside itself, so the other one carries on using your user profile.
• Running from a slow USB key is slower to start. The app is a few hundred MB and has to be read from the key each launch.
• ROMs and assets live in data too, so a portable copy carries everything it needs to run once you've imported them.