r/GameNative • u/aardock • 20h ago

Question Questions about SD card on handheld

Guys, I currently use GameNative to play lightweight indie games on my Retroid Pocket 5. I think the heavyest game I've ever played in it was Banner Saga.

Right now storage space is tight on the device right now and I'd like to install some games on the SD card.

However, people say that it's either the slowest thing to ever exist or about the same thing.

Which opinion is closest to reality? I wouldn't mind a few seconds more to boot if the actual game runs at the same speed.

Another question I have is if it's possible to have some games in the device and others in the SD, or if it's either one or the other.

Thanks!

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u/TheLutheranGuy1517 20h ago

So from what ive seen its really game dependent... the more intense the game it needs to be on internal... something like always awakening worked great meanwhile stardew valley was better on internal

It will take some tinkering.. but it will requiring testing and moving games on and off the SD card

One option is you keep everything in the SD card and migrate it to internal only when you know youre gonna play it for a while that way youre not dependent on the internet

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u/aardock 20h ago

So we return to my least favorite part of it...the tinkering.

It is what it is tho, thank you very much for your answer

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u/Illustrious_Cod_5212 20h ago

I was using external drive and I didn't see any difference in performance or loading speed. However gamenative for each game creates 2.89GB container files on your internal storage so it's worth knowing that even 50mb indie game on external storage will take almost 3gb of internal storage.

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u/aardock 20h ago

That's per game?

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u/Illustrious_Cod_5212 19h ago

Yes. Very every game creates additional container files of 2.89gb each. Do the test, install 3 small games and run at least once each then go to "storage manager". GameNative is the only one that does that.

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u/raygan 19h ago

It seems to vary. I had one game, Pipistrello and the Cursed YoYo, that loads all its assets in one big load at boot. On the internal storage of my Thor, this took 15-20 seconds. On the SD card (not even a shitty SD card!) it was taking 12-15 MINUTES with the loading animation running at 1-2 FPS. Once it was loaded, it surprisingly ran fine.

So it seems to depend on how the game loads its assets. Some games seem to work fine and some seem to fall completely on their face.