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OpenBOR - General Guide

Openbor logo

Open Beats of Rage (OpenBOR) is a beat 'em up game engine.

Information:

  • .bor / .openbor are uncompressed game folders.
  • Each game is self-contained; there is no global settings file.

Resource Link
Chronocrash - Community Link
Chronocrash - Forum Link
Chronocrash - Wiki Link
OpenBOR - Github Link
OpenBOR - Wiki Link

Where to put the games

OpenBOR games should be put under the retrodeck/roms/openbor/ directory.

Does OpenBOR require BIOS or Firmware?

No, OpenBOR games are self-contained.

What file formats are supported?

File Format Description
.openbor OpenBOR folder format
.bor OpenBOR folder format

Note: .openbor and .bor are functionally identical.

Some handhelds, retro platforms, and emulation solutions use .bor, while others use .openbor.

To simplify file transfers and ensure compatibility with RetroDECK, both file extensions are supported.

Directory structure

Type Directory Comment
ROMs retrodeck/roms/openbor/

Example folder structure for a game

Important: .bor / .openbor require a text file inside the game folder named exactly like the folder:

  • Heroes of Phandalin.bor → Heroes of Phandalin.bor (text file).
  • Heroes of Phandalin.openbor → Heroes of Phandalin.openbor (text file).
~/retrodeck/roms/openbor/Heroes of Phandalin.bor/ <-- Folder has the same name as the file
~/retrodeck/roms/openbor/Heroes of Phandalin.bor/Logs/
~/retrodeck/roms/openbor/Heroes of Phandalin.bor/Paks/
~/retrodeck/roms/openbor/Heroes of Phandalin.bor/Saves/
~/retrodeck/roms/openbor/Heroes of Phandalin.bor/ScreenShots/
~/retrodeck/roms/openbor/Heroes of Phandalin.bor/Heroes of Phandalin.bor <-- Textfile

Adding OpenBOR Games to RetroDECK

Extract the game into a new folder under retrodeck/roms/openbor/ if it is compressed.

Rename the game folder according to its format:

  • .bor → <GameName>.bor / .openbor → <GameName>.openbor.
  • Ensure a text file with the same name as the folder exists inside the folder.
  • The textfile does not need to contain any data.
  • End result should be: <GameName>.bor/<GameName>.bor / <GameName>.openbor/<GameName>.openbor.

The game should now be detected by RetroDECK.

Example on Renaming

Folder: Heroes of Phandalin.bor / Heroes of Phandalin.openbor

Text file inside folder: Heroes of Phandalin.bor / Heroes of Phandalin.openbor

End result:

  • ~/retrodeck/roms/openbor/Heroes of Phandalin.bor/Heroes of Phandalin.bor
  • ~/retrodeck/roms/openbor/Heroes of Phandalin.openbor/Heroes of Phandalin.openbor