JosefNemec/Playnite · error · Exception

Emulator profile format not supported.

Error message

Emulator profile format not supported.

What it means

Thrown as the terminal else-branch when a ScanConfig.EmulatorProfileId matches neither the custom profile prefix (CustomEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix) nor the built-in profile prefix (BuiltInEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix). It signals an unrecognizable profile-id format that the scanner cannot dispatch on. This is effectively an exhaustiveness guard over the two supported profile-id shapes.

Source

Thrown at source/Playnite/Emulators/Scanner.cs:265

                if (builtinProfileDef == null)
                {
                    throw new Exception("Assigned built-in emulator profile definition not found.");
                }

                games = ScanDirectory(
                    dirToScan,
                    emulator,
                    builtinProfile,
                    cancelToken,
                    crcExclusions,
                    scanner.ScanSubfolders,
                    scanner.ScanInsideArchives,
                    scanner.MergeRelatedFiles,
                    fileScanCallback);
            }
            else
            {
                throw new Exception("Emulator profile format not supported.");
            }

            foreach (var game in games)
            {
                game.SourceEmulator = emulator;
                game.SourceConfig = scanner;
                var assignedRegions = new List<EmulatedRegion>();
                var assignedPlatforms = new List<EmulatedPlatform>();
                foreach (var rom in game.Roms)
                {
                    // REGIONS
                    if (rom.DbData?.Region.IsNullOrEmpty() == false)
                    {
                        var region = Emulation.GetRegionByCode(rom.DbData.Region);
                        if (region != null)
                        {
                            assignedRegions.AddMissing(region);
                        }

View on GitHub (pinned to 5911f4e964)

Solutions

1. Validate that scanner.EmulatorProfileId starts with one of the two known prefixes before calling ScanDirectory.
2. Re-save the scan configuration through the UI to regenerate a well-formed profile id.
3. If migrating between Playnite versions, run the config migration so profile ids are normalized to the current prefix scheme.

Example fix

// before
else {
    throw new Exception("Emulator profile format not supported.");
}

// after — explicit prefix dispatch with logging
if (scanner.EmulatorProfileId.IsNullOrEmpty()) {
    logger.Error("ScanConfig has no EmulatorProfileId; cannot scan.");
    return new List<ScannedGame>();
}
if (!scanner.EmulatorProfileId.StartsWith(CustomEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix, StringComparison.Ordinal) &&
    !scanner.EmulatorProfileId.StartsWith(BuiltInEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix, StringComparison.Ordinal)) {
    logger.Error($"Unrecognized profile id format: {scanner.EmulatorProfileId}");
    return new List<ScannedGame>();
}

// Ensure the profile id uses a recognized prefix before dispatching.
if (scanner.EmulatorProfileId.IsNullOrEmpty()
    || (!scanner.EmulatorProfileId.StartsWith(CustomEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix, StringComparison.Ordinal)
        && !scanner.EmulatorProfileId.StartsWith(BuiltInEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix, StringComparison.Ordinal))) {
    logger.Error($"Unrecognized profile id: {scanner.EmulatorProfileId}");
    return;
}

static bool IsValidProfileIdFormat(string id) =>
    !id.IsNullOrEmpty() &&
    (id.StartsWith(CustomEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix, StringComparison.Ordinal) ||
     id.StartsWith(BuiltInEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix, StringComparison.Ordinal));

When it happens

Trigger: ScanDirectory is invoked with a scanner.EmulatorProfileId that does not start with CustomEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix or BuiltInEmulatorProfile.ProfilePrefix — e.g. a null, empty, corrupted, or hand-edited id with an unknown prefix.

Common situations: Database corruption or manual DB edits producing a malformed EmulatorProfileId; an older/newer Playnite version wrote a profile id format the current build doesn't recognize; serialization glitch leaving the id blank.

Related errors

• No emulator profile specified.
• No profile provided.
• Emulator not found.
• Uknown play action configuration.
• Can't find built-in {builtIn.BuiltInProfileName} emulator pr

AI-assisted analysis of JosefNemec/Playnite@5911f4e964 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/73ed363005a6ec80. Report an issue: GitHub.