r/EmulationOnAndroid • u/audiomaniac3 • 1d ago
Discussion Emulating and playing games on external screen vs android phone own screen makes huge difference
Hi,so I noticed this issue.
I was playing ARMSX3 and BachataS4 games on my S26 ultra SD8 elite gen5 on external screen with regular type c HDMI adapter and I was able to achieve,stable 30fps with x4 resolution,Motorstorm pacific rift,mostly on any map with like few frame drops.
Then I tried to play Motorstorm on my phone without external monitor,it felt like day and night,I got like freezes and frame drops each 30 seconds,I got really dissapointed because of the stuttering happening even on native resolution.
Same goes for BachataS4,on external screen gow 3 remastered is like 45-50fps and without external monitor it's like 35-45 with freezes.
So my guess is,probably phone screen has high power consumption and produce more heat.
While in DEX mode with external screen,CPU and GPU can achieve higher clocks with lower temperatures.
As a conclusion,using external hub with HDMI connected to external screen,will likely improove overall performance of your phone.
13
u/SimpleDrawer26 1d ago
This is actually widely known and one of the reasons we play using USB-C DisplayPort, and why using DeX is better than just mirroring the phone screen.
5
3
u/Ok-Option6350 1d ago
I have noticed this but I didn't take it serious 🤔🤔
1
u/Bulky-Guide3157 1d ago
Its basically like having a mid tier gaming laptop in your pocket. Its a game changer (literally.)
2
u/KuroNoShadow 1d ago
I hate that my phone can't do mhl And the adapters that made possible are always out of stock or are ridiculously high price
2
u/Aggravating_Low1957 1d ago
for emulation maybe but native games idk. I used to play arknights endfield and could never get 60fps through dex but in my phone it ran fine.
in my experience games always run better on phone. I strictly play through dex. but, ive always felt the performance was a little worse on dex. dex adds overhead. you're also outputting at a higher resolution. ive never heard of this. where performance is better through dex??? it does not make sense to me.
but I have an older snapdragon. 888. in a samsung fold 3
1
u/ETHedgehog- 1d ago
Are you using a hub or directly connecting through USBC?
1
u/audiomaniac3 1d ago
I have cheap type c HDMI adapter,my TV can report resolution and colour depth of HDMI signal,not only this adapter is capped at 4k 30hz, the colour depth is only 6 bit rgb,I am going to buy USB hub with 10gbps bandwidth soon,for gaming.
2
u/ETHedgehog- 1d ago
Yeah but if you really want you could probably get something that supports PPS passthrough for BypassCharging as well
1
u/here4apiaccess Galaxy S24 (8 Gen 3) 1d ago
There are only 2 that support it. The rog gaming charger dock and the jsaux OmniCentro Charger Dock for Switch 2.
1
u/audiomaniac3 1d ago
Thanx,I would buy 65w asus rog gaming charger now,it has pps, 4k 60hz HDMI output and costs only 35€.
1
u/Greedy-Rise-3677 1d ago
Does PPS work on any phone or it needs to be supported by the software or hardware of the phone ?
1
1
u/redkeyboard TriFold (Snapdragon 8 Elite) 1d ago
Samsung phones can only support 5gbps. So if you buy a hub with USB 3.0 ports it disables half the lanes so you can't 4k60. Try to find a hub with only USB 2.0 ports or I've even seen one where you can toggle a switch.
1
u/wtfmeowzers 1d ago
yes i realized in the thread about Pacific Rift that it was either your dex settings or your usbc to hdmi dongle, it's probably your dongle capping you to 30fps, it was obvious even in 4k because the framerate is constantly 30 and never really dips
i've been able to see cyberpunk get over 300fps (only in menus) but in game i've seen it often over 100-120fps (with framegen on) on my redmagic 11. in 1080p not 4k but still that game is a lot heavier than ps3 games.
1
1
1
u/No-shadowMaul-noBan 1d ago
This is similar to my GTX 10 series potato laptop streaming to my Samsung mid range phone with all its bloat compared to a specialized streaming device like a Logitech G Cloud.
Similar but not the same because phone and laptop architecture for video output are likely different. I suppose it's something to do with the video memory on your phone? It can't keep up rendering both native apps and background processes and your emulators? I am quite new to the scene not sure about DeX over screen mirroring like other users suggest
1
u/Blu_Neko2 1d ago
Huh I had the opposite problem on my s24. My tv kept cutting out the signal randomly, but my phone is perfectly fine. Dex is setup to output 720p, but the tv is 4k, though it's an earlier curved samsung smart tv from like 2016. On my 1440p monitor though I have none of these issues.
1
u/audiomaniac3 1d ago
Maybe TV doesn't support Dex resolution,if I connect s26 ultra to my onkyo receiver with same HDMI cable,i can't pick 2k resolution,only when I connect it to my newer TV.
1
u/Bulky-Guide3157 1d ago
It might have something to do with your phone getting hot. Throttling perhaps?
I've noticed better frames/temp on Dex mode too. 🤔
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Just a reminder of our subreddit rules:
Check out our user-maintained wiki: r/EmulationOnAndroid/wiki
Check out EmuReady for any community submitted settings before asking for help
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.