RustyNES — User Guide¶
End-user documentation for running NES games with the rustynes binary.
If you've used Mesen, Nestopia, or FCEUX before, the model here will be
familiar: one ROM per window, cycle-accurate emulation, a menu bar and
status bar framing the picture, F-key save states, hold-to-rewind, and a
~ debugger overlay. Settings live in a TOML file under your OS's standard
config directory (and most of them are also reachable from View → Settings…).
If you're a developer or contributor looking for implementation specs (CPU,
PPU, APU, scheduler, testing strategy, etc.), see the rest of ../
instead. This subdirectory only covers running the emulator.
Table of contents¶
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Getting started | Install, system requirements, first launch, loading a ROM |
| Controls | Default keyboard layout + how to rebind keys |
| Menu reference | What every menu-bar / status-bar / Settings entry does |
| Configuration | The config.toml schema, every key documented with defaults |
| Save states and rewind | F1 / F4 / F5, the 10 slots per ROM, where files live |
| Debugger | The ~ overlay tour: CPU, PPU, OAM, APU, memory, mapper, input panels, fps counter |
| Display and audio | NTSC filter, aspect ratio, audio sample rate, region detection |
| Compatibility | Supported mappers, known accuracy gaps, ROM-format support |
| Troubleshooting | FAQ: no audio, wrong fps, black screen, save state errors |
| File locations | Per-OS paths for config, saves, rewind state |
Quick reference (cheatsheet)¶
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys | D-pad |
| Z / X | A / B |
| Enter | Start |
| Right Shift | Select |
| Space | Pause / Resume |
| F1 / F4 | Save state / Load state (active slot) |
| F2 / F3 | Reset / Power cycle |
| = / - / 0 | Speed up / down / reset (emulation-speed presets) |
| F5 (hold) | Rewind |
| F6 / F7 / F8 | TAS movie record / play / branch |
| F9 / F10 | Swap FDS disk side / Insert Vs. coin |
| F11 | Fullscreen |
| F12 | Open ROM |
| M | Toggle the menu bar |
~ (Backquote) |
Toggle the debugger overlay |
| Esc | Quit (or exit fullscreen) |
All keys are rebindable. See Controls and the Menu reference.
A note on ROM legality¶
RustyNES does not ship commercial Nintendo ROMs and will not. Use only ROMs you have legally obtained — your own cartridge dumps, or homebrew / public-domain ROMs from sources such as the NESdev wiki test ROM collection.
If you don't have a way to dump your own cartridges, the homebrew scene has produced a sizeable library of free, original games.