DuckStation Patch

A patch for the DuckStation Android APK that moves user data out of the restricted Android/data path and into /storage/emulated/0/DuckStation, making it accessible to file managers on Android 11 and later.

AI was used for the entire project.

Important licensing and project notice

This is an unofficial, independently maintained patching project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by DuckStation or its developers.

DuckStation is copyright its respective authors, including Connor McLaughlin, and is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence:

https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

The supplied duckstation-android.apk is an unmodified DuckStation APK and remains subject exclusively to DuckStation’s licence and copyright terms.

The duckstation-android-root-storage.xdelta file was created by Joey’s Retro Handhelds. It contains binary differences intended to be applied to the specifically identified DuckStation APK. Applying the patch creates a modified DuckStation APK. The resulting APK is unofficial and is not provided or supported by the DuckStation project.

This repository does not grant permission to use, modify, or redistribute DuckStation beyond the permissions granted by DuckStation’s copyright holders.

This project is provided for noncommercial use only. No fee is charged for access to the APK, patch, instructions, or resulting software.

Do not contact the official DuckStation project for support with this patch or a patched installation.

Required source APK

This patch applies only to the following unmodified DuckStation Android APK:

• Version: 0.1-8969-g611bb8fb4
• SHA-256: 28F1528DFFB87A761AB1997A5D23BB62C5AA191B3A242A79A9BAEB3629B206F5
• Original project: https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation

Do not apply this patch to another DuckStation release. Verify the APK’s SHA-256 checksum before applying the patch.

What this patch does

• Adds the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission
• Prompts for "All files access" on first launch
• Stores all user data in /storage/emulated/0/DuckStation once permission is granted
• Falls back to the default Android/data path if permission is denied

Installation

1. Download duckstation-android.apk and duckstation-android-root-storage.xdelta from the latest release
2. Open UniPatcher, select duckstation-android-root-storage.xdelta as the Patch file and duckstation-android.apk as the ROM file, then select an Output file and tap Save — this creates duckstation-android [patched].apk
3. Uninstall the original DuckStation if installed
4. Install duckstation-android [patched].apk

Migrating existing data

If you have saves, memory cards, BIOS files, or settings from a previous install:

1. Before uninstalling, open DuckStation → Settings → Transfer Data → Zip file → Export, give the ZIP a name and save it somewhere safe
2. Uninstall the original DuckStation
3. Install the patched version and grant "All files access" when prompted
4. Open DuckStation → Settings → Transfer Data → Zip file → Import, choose the ZIP from your export

Your data will be placed into /storage/emulated/0/DuckStation automatically.