Skip to content
RetroBIOS

Stella

Stella emulates Atari 2600. It reads 7 files, none of them required: it starts games without them.

Run on its own, the app reads its files from this folder:

%APPDATA%/Stella/

The -baseinappdir option makes the folder of the executable the root, -basedir a chosen folder.

Source: src/os/windows/OSystemWINDOWS.cxx:28-36, src/os/windows/OSystemWINDOWS.cxx:42-57, src/os/windows/HomeFinder.hxx:46-51
About this profile
Detail Value
Type standalone + libretro
Classification Official port
Source https://github.com/stella-emu/stella
Version 8.0_pre
Revision stella-emu/stella@2c3d7023e913
Profiled 2026-10-21
Profile YAML, JSON
Cores stella, STELLASA
Systems Atari 2600
Data folder (Windows) %APPDATA%/Stella/
Data folder (macOS) ~/Library/Application Support/Stella/
Data folder (Linux) $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/stella/, else ~/.config/stella/
Install this emulator's files

For Stella inside RetroArch, Batocera or another setup. The installer finds your setup and its BIOS folder, then downloads only the files this emulator reads there and checks each one.

Open the Start menu. Type PowerShell and open it. Paste the line. Press Enter.

PowerShell
&([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Abdess/retrobios/main/install.ps1))) --emulator stella
Technical notes

The libretro core is built from stella-emu/stella, the tree of the standalone emulator, with its wrapper in src/os/libretro. The binary reports library_name "Stella" (src/os/libretro/StellaLIBRETRO.hxx:59) and the version of src/common/Version.hxx:35. The stella_libretro.info lists display_version "6.6".

The Atari 2600 has no BIOS ROM: TIA, RIOT and 6507 CPU are emulated in software. The SuperCharger (Starpath) BIOS is replaced by built-in code (ourDummyROMCode in src/emucore/CartAR.cxx:635).

The libretro core reads the system directory (src/os/libretro/libretro.cxx:1716-1724) but nothing reads the path it stores. Its base directory is a stella folder under the save directory, or ./ without one (src/os/libretro/OSystemLIBRETRO.hxx:71-79). The standalone base directory is the configuration directory, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/stella on Linux and the application data folder on Windows (src/os/unix/OSystemUNIX.cxx:79, src/os/windows/OSystemWINDOWS.cxx:32).

KidVid Voice Module tapes: the tape the game selects and KVSHARED.WAV are looked up in KidVidAudio.zip in the base directory, then loose in the base directory, and both must be present (src/emucore/KidVid.cxx:255-268). The archive holds the same seven files listed below. The libretro build compiles with SOUND_SUPPORT and ZIP_SUPPORT (src/os/libretro/Makefile:599) and plays them (src/os/libretro/SoundLIBRETRO.hxx:127-133). Without them the game runs on a timing-based fallback with a beep (src/emucore/KidVid.cxx:343-348).

EEPROM save data for AtariVox and SaveKey peripherals is managed as NVRAM, not user-supplied.

Files

Section titled “Files”

7 files: 0 required, 7 optional.

By kind: 7 game data.

File
stella/KVS1.WAV
stella/KVS2.WAV
stella/KVS3.WAV
stella/KVB1.WAV
stella/KVB2.WAV
stella/KVB3.WAV
stella/KVSHARED.WAV

In this collection: 7 in repo and 0 missing.

Game data

Section titled “Game data”
7 files

KVS1.WAV optional in repo game data

KidVid Voice Module audio tape 1 (Smurfs Save the Day)

  • Path: stella/KVS1.WAV
  • Standalone path: KVS1.WAV, in the data folder
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build), config_dir (standalone build)

KVS2.WAV optional in repo game data

KidVid Voice Module audio tape 2 (Smurfs Save the Day)

  • Path: stella/KVS2.WAV
  • Standalone path: KVS2.WAV, in the data folder
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build), config_dir (standalone build)

KVS3.WAV optional in repo game data

KidVid Voice Module audio tape 3 (Smurfs Save the Day)

  • Path: stella/KVS3.WAV
  • Standalone path: KVS3.WAV, in the data folder
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build), config_dir (standalone build)

KVB1.WAV optional in repo game data

KidVid Voice Module audio tape 1 (Berenstain Bears)

  • Path: stella/KVB1.WAV
  • Standalone path: KVB1.WAV, in the data folder
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build), config_dir (standalone build)

KVB2.WAV optional in repo game data

KidVid Voice Module audio tape 2 (Berenstain Bears)

  • Path: stella/KVB2.WAV
  • Standalone path: KVB2.WAV, in the data folder
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build), config_dir (standalone build)

KVB3.WAV optional in repo game data

KidVid Voice Module audio tape 3 (Berenstain Bears)

  • Path: stella/KVB3.WAV
  • Standalone path: KVB3.WAV, in the data folder
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build), config_dir (standalone build)

KVSHARED.WAV optional in repo game data

KidVid Voice Module shared audio samples

  • Path: stella/KVSHARED.WAV
  • Standalone path: KVSHARED.WAV, in the data folder
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build), config_dir (standalone build)

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
.

Maintained by Abdess on GitHub. Report a problem.

Packs from release v2026.10.10, .

MIT for the tooling and metadata. BIOS and firmware files are third-party system software, preserved for personal backup, archival and interoperability.