07 core services

07 — Core Services Catalog

Every service class in SimpleLauncher.Core\Services\, grouped by area. Related: 04 — Architecture · 06 — Systems & Launch

All Core services follow the same conventions: Serilog ILogger injected (global using Serilog), InternalsVisibleTo for app/tests, no WPF dependencies. Interfaces live in SimpleLauncher.Core\Interfaces\ and are the DI registration types; implementations resolve through App.ServiceProvider (see 04 — Architecture).

Settings & configuration

Class	Purpose / key API
SettingsManager\SettingsManagerService	User preferences (settings.dat SQLite; legacy settings.xml): load/save with atomic temp-file move, 3 retries, whitelist validation, DPAPI-encrypted RA credentials. See 05 — Configuration
SettingsDatabase\UnifiedSettingsDatabase	Schema/read/write for the shared settings.dat (app + emulator settings, favorites, play history, systems, play times) used by both apps
SettingsDatabase\WpfLegacyMigrator / SettingsDatabase\AvaloniaLegacyMigrator (each app)	First-launch/merge migration of settings.xml, system.xml, favorites.dat, playhistory.dat into settings.dat with verification and .bak shelving
SettingsManager\EmulatorXmlHelpers	Static typed XML readers (ReadBool/ReadInt/ReadDouble/ReadString) with section → flattened-root → default fallback
SettingsManager\EmulatorSettings\* (21)	XxxSettings classes (Ares…Yumir) backing the inject-config dialogs; stored in settings.dat (EmulatorSettings; legacy settings.xml)
SystemConfiguration\SystemConfigurationWriterService	Read/write/delete/SystemExists on system.xml; alphabetical sort, retry, temp-file+move. See 05
DataFileLocation	Portable vs %LocalAppData%\SimpleLauncher file resolution (portable wins if newer)

Paths, files & cleanup

Class	Purpose
CheckPaths\PathHelper	ResolveRelativeToAppDirectory, TryGetExistingDirectory, path normalization (used everywhere); GetLongPath applies the Windows \\?\ prefix only on Windows (POSIX paths are returned untouched); on Unix both %BASEFOLDER%\... configs and bare relative values like tools\retroarch\retroarch resolve with normalized separators (LB-13)
CheckPaths\CheckPath	Path existence/validity checks incl. extended-length paths (Windows-only prefix); IsValidEmulatorExecutablePath accepts only .exe/.bat/.lnk on Windows and any existing file on Unix (extensionless binaries, AppImages, .sh/.run wrappers)
CheckPaths\ExecutableFileFilter	Platform-aware file-dialog filters for emulator pickers: *.exe;*.bat on Windows, "All Files" on Linux/macOS where binaries are extensionless or .AppImage/.sh
CheckIfDirectoryIsWritable\DirectoryValidationService / CheckIfDirectoryIsWritableService	Writability probe (temp write+delete)
CheckForFileLock\FileLockService / CheckForFileLockService	Detect/retry on locked files
CleanAndDeleteFiles\DeleteFilesService (+ legacy DeleteFiles)	Best-effort file/dir deletion
CleanAndDeleteFiles\CleanTempFolderService (+ legacy CleanTempFolder)	Delete temp extraction dirs; .extraction_in_progress partial cleanup
CleanAndDeleteFiles\CleanSimpleLauncherFolderService	Cleanup of the app folder (trash/temp) at startup
CheckForRequiredFilesService	Startup check that shipped files exist → missing-file dialog
CreateDefaultSystemFoldersService	Creates system/image/additional folders (AdditionalFolders) for a new system

Launch, mount & convert

Class	Purpose
GameLauncher\Strategies\DefaultLaunchStrategy	Fallback strategy (priority 999): bat/lnk/exe/regular emulator launch
GameLauncher\Strategies\XisoMountStrategy	Cxbx + .iso → mount → default.xbe
GameLauncher\Strategies\ZipMountStrategy	RPCS3/ScummVM/XBLA archive mounting (Windows: SimpleZipDrive; Linux/macOS: temp extraction)
GameLauncher\MountFiles\MountChdFiles / MountChdDrive	CHDMounter orchestration (platform check first → Linux/macOS get "not supported" at Information level, then Dokan check, console alias, poll 120 s, kill+20 s unmount; unknown architectures fall back to the x64 tool name instead of throwing)
GameLauncher\MountFiles\MountIsoFiles	PowerShell Mount-DiskImage / Dismount-DiskImage, EBOOT.BIN discovery
GameLauncher\MountFiles\MountXisoFiles / MountXisoDrive	SimpleXisoDrive (Dokan), drive letter Z→D, default.xbe poll; platform check first (Linux/macOS → Information "not supported")
GameLauncher\MountFiles\MountZipFiles	Archive mounting (Windows: zip to virtual drive; Linux/macOS: extract to a temp directory and launch from there)
GameLauncher\MountFiles\Iso9660ImageReader	Lists the files of a cooked ISO9660 image (chdman/CHDSharp extractcd data track, DVD ISO) — primary 8.3 names, used by the DOSBox CHD fallback on Linux/macOS
GameLauncher\MountFiles\FindEbootBin, FindDefaultXbe, FindDefaultXex, FindImageIso, FindBinFile, FindCueFile, FileFinderService	Launch-file discovery inside mounted volumes
GameLauncher\MountFiles\DokanValidation	P/Invoke dokan2.dll version check
GameLauncher\ValidateBatchFile	Pre-execution validation of batch files (missing paths)
ExtractFiles\ExtractionService	Archive extraction: lock retry, disk-space check, path-traversal guard (platform-aware prefix comparison, backslash entry names normalized — Windows-authored archives extract into real folders on Linux, LB-16), 7-Zip fallback (Unix execute bit ensured before launch, LB-15), .extraction_in_progress marker. See 06
Converters\DiscConverter	CHD→ISO/CUE-BIN, PBP→CUE-BIN, RVZ/WBFS/GCZ→ISO via bundled tools (5-min timeouts)
ExternalToolLauncher\ExternalToolLauncherService	Launch bundled tools: arch-aware paths, PE validation, per-tool methods. See 11

Search, scan & data

Class	Purpose
GetListOfFiles\GetListOfFilesService	Enumerate files (filters, recursion)
FindCoverImage\FindCoverImageService	Cover lookup with fuzzy matching (Jaro-Winkler) + annotation stripping
MameManager\MameManagerService	Loads mame.dat (MessagePack), machine descriptions
MameData\MameDataService	App-facing MAME data access (Machines, Lookup)
RomHistory\RomHistoryLoader	Loads ROM history: history.dat (MessagePack) with history.xml fallback
SanitizeInputString\InputSanitizerService / SanitizeInputSystemName	Input/name sanitization
CheckApplicationControlPolicyService	Win32 error classification (elevation 740, AppLocker 5, canceled 1223) and Unix errno mapping for invalid executables (8 ENOEXEC / 13 EACCES — LB-18)
UsageStats\Stats	Anonymous usage-statistics API calls (with timeout)

Download & Easy Mode

Class	Purpose
DownloadService\DownloadManager	HTTP downloads with progress, retry + exponential backoff, disk-space check, cancellation
DownloadService\FormatFileSizeService (+ FormatFileSize)	Human-readable file sizes
EasyMode\EasyModeManager	Easy Mode manifest: systems → emulator/core/image-pack download links (+ cache)

Emulator config injection (InjectEmulatorConfig\)

21 XxxConfigurationService classes — one per emulator (Ares, Azahar, Blastem, Cemu, Daphne, Dolphin, DuckStation, Flycast, MAME, Mednafen, Mesen, PCSX2, Raine, Redream, RetroArch, RPCS3, SegaModel2, Stella, Supermodel, Xenia, Yumir) — plus AzaharPermissionException and Pcsx2PermissionException. Each writes the emulator's own config file from the XxxSettings object; missing files are restored from samples\{Emulator}\*. Details in 06 — Systems & Launch.

RetroAchievements

Class	Purpose
RetroAchievements\RetroAchievementsManager	RA data store (RetroAchievements.dat, MessagePack): game info, achievements, recently played, completion progress
RetroAchievements\RetroAchievementsSystemMatcher	SystemMappings (official name → console ID + aliases), best-match/alias lookups
RetroAchievements\RetroAchievementsFileHasher	Hash logic: standard MD5, header-based (NES/SNES/Atari…), N64 byte-swap, arcade filename, Arduboy line-endings
RetroAchievements\RetroAchievementsEmulatorConfiguratorService	Inject RA credentials into RetroArch, PCSX2, DuckStation (encrypted token), PPSSPP (+ .dat), Dolphin, Flycast, BizHawk (JSON); restore from samples
RetroAchievements\EncryptDuckStationToken	DuckStation token encryption
WpfServices\WindowsCredentialProtector	DPAPI protect/unprotect (ICredentialProtector)

Input, audio & UI helpers

Class	Purpose
GamePad\GamePadController	Windows: XInput + DirectInput (SharpDX) mouse/keyboard simulation, dead zones, reconnect. Linux/macOS: SdlGamepadBackend (Hexa.NET.SDL2, bundled native libSDL2) raises InputChanged snapshots that the Avalonia app's GamepadNavigationService turns into focus/activation/context-menu/scroll actions
PlaySound\PlaySoundEffects	NAudio 3 sound effects — Media Foundation + WaveOut (Windows) / managed MP3 (NLayer) + WAV decoders, libsndfile for other formats, ALSA output (Linux/macOS); missing dependency/device or corrupt file logs Information (never bug-reported); respects settings
AudioInputService	Audio input abstraction
WpfServices\WpfImageLoader	Image loading with default.png fallback
TakeScreenshot\WindowManager	Enumerate top-level windows for screenshots
DebugAndBugReport\GetMicrosoftWindowsVersion / WindowsVersionService	Windows version detection for bug reports

Debug & bug reports

Class	Purpose
DebugAndBugReport\BugReportApiSink	Serilog sink: queues events, POSTs to bug-report API, writes error.log/error_user.log/critical_error.log on failure
Interfaces\NoOpDebugLogger	No-op IDebugLogger fallback

Interfaces (SimpleLauncher.Core\Interfaces\)

Contracts for all of the above plus app-side contracts shared with the WPF layer: IApplicationLifetime, IAudioInputService, ICleanTempFolderService, ICredentialProtector, IDebugLogger, IDeleteFilesService, IDirectoryValidationService, IDiscConverter, IDispatcherService, IEmulator, IEmulatorConfigHandler, IEmulatorSettings, IExternalToolLauncher, IExtractionService, IFileFinderService, IFileLockService, IFilePickerService, IFindCoverImageService, IFormatFileSizeService, IGetListOfFilesService, IIconExtractor, IImageLoader, IInputSanitizerService, ILaunchStrategy, ILauncherService, ILoadingState, IMameDataService, IMessageBoxLibraryService, IMessageDialogService, IMountChdFiles, IMountIsoFiles, IMountXisoFiles, IMountZipFiles, IPaginationHost, IPaginationService, IParameterResolverService, IPlaySoundEffects, IResourceProvider, IRetroAchievementsEmulatorConfiguratorService, IRetroAchievementsFileHasher, IRetroAchievementsHasherTool, IRetroAchievementsSystemMatcher, ISearchOrchestratorService, ISteamVdfParser, ISystemConfigurationWriterService, ISystemManager, IUiResetHost, IUiResetService, IWindowContext, IWindowsVersionService.

Models (SimpleLauncher.Core\Models\)

Data types: LaunchContext, Emulator/IEmulator, SystemManagerConfig, GameButtonTag, GameListViewItem, Favorite, PlayHistoryItem, DosBoxFileItem, HistoryData/EntryData/ItemData/SoftwareData, MameMachineData, Ra* (see 09), ParameterResolverRequest/Result, GameImageApiResponse, GameClassificationItem/Response, store models (EpicInstalledApp, GogGameInfo/GogPlayTask, RockstarGameDef, BNetAppDef, StoreAppInfo, TagOption), SystemPlayTime, SystemStatsData/GlobalStatsData, SystemValidationResult, WindowItem, DownloadButtonState/DownloadProgressEventArgs, GamePlayedEventArgs, EventArgs<T>, BoolConverter (0/1 JSON), MessageBoxButton/Image/Result (WPF-independent enums).

Related docs

• 04 — Architecture
• 05 — Configuration
• 06 — Systems & Launch
• 09 — RetroAchievements
• 12 — Data Formats