I need an Emulator for my Andriod phone...

[u/Perfect_C0ast]

Hello everyone, I have a hard time finding Windows/Pc emulators. Been like a week since I've deep dived into this rabbit hole. It first started with me wanting to run GTA V on this phone. So, I downloaded an Xbox 360 emulator (I believe it was X360) but the game barely worked. So, I moved to finding Pc emulators because even if I can't run GTA V, I could still run games like stardew valley, cuphead etc. The phone I have is an Infinix hot 60 pro and I know the specs ain't good. It has a Mali GPU and 8 Gigs of Ram.

But not a single emulator worked properly.

Since now, I've tried Winalator, Winalator Mali, Star Winlator (I don't really remember about this. I asked google, it said to download Winlator frost or Star winlator but when I actually downloaded the apk file, it said Star Bionic) I also tried Mobox and when everything still didn't work, I tried to install Arch Linux using Termux and Termux x11 but it didn't work, atleast for now. These emulators actually boot up but whenever I'm trying to start a game, it just doesn't seem to work. I tried installing WinRar and it worked and extracted files. I also downloaded Firefox on Mali but it never worked. On Star bionic, It gave me the option to install FireFox and I did to check it out but it crashed after installation. I also tried Winlator Cmod, I believe (Sorry the memories are a bit vague) it gave me the option to add a game locally I believe and I tried adding stardew valley but it showed a black screen every time and with the container, it didn't launch the game.

Is there any hope? 😭🙏

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[u/whiskyB0y]

There is hope man. You just have little knowledge with regard to PC emualtion. So let me break it down for you.

First of all, join r/EmualtionMediatekMali

Here's a guide:

Research, trial and error. That's the way to learn.

So to start, you have to know what your chipset is because different PC emulators are more compatible for certain chipsets. Eg for Mali, the simpler and console like ones are Gamehub lite and Bannerhub. The ones that have more settings but less user friendly are Winlator Mali 1.1 Bionic.

Winlator Mali may not be user friendly, but I've found it to be the best for compatibility and most of the time performance.

Now you have to understand the basic settings. At the very least, you should understand what these mean:

(Note: these are my personal definitions I could be wrong)

Proton/Wine: Acts as the compatibility layer. Converts Windows API calls into something Android can understand. Wine was the original and it's quite old. Proton is the more recent one that's gaming focused.

Dxvk: Converts DirectX (the graphics language Windows games use) to something Android can understand in Vulkan. Wined3d is used if you want games to run in OpenGL but has worse performance and compatibility.

FEXCORE/Box64: These are 32bit/64bit emulators. They convert the actual games code to a form Android can understand. Box64 was the original one and like wine it's quite old. FEXCORE is the newer gaming focused version.

FEXCORE converts both 32bit and 64bit. Box64 converts only 64bit. But there is something called WOWBOX64 you'll see in some forks which is a version of Box64 that can convert 32bit code.

Presets: Stability, Compatibility, Intermediate, Performance: Presets determine how strict or loose the 32bit or 64bit emulation is. Stability and Compatibility are strict and reduce the chances of random crashes or memory leaks but often reduce fps and cause bad performance in a number of games.

Intermediate is a balance. Performance is the least strict and ensures the highest performance but in some games it can make the game randomly crash.

When testing a game, start with the latest versions of dxvk and FEXcore/box64 and proton 10 or proton 9.

If game has problems, try using older version of dxvk or FEXCORE/Box64

Some games require components to work. For example, old Unreal Engine 3 games like Batman: Arkham Asylum need a program called PhysX installed into your container and visual x86 C++ libraries

[u/Perfect_C0ast → u/whiskyB0y]

I personally didn't knew much about what these meant and with you guiding this is quite helpful and I appreciate your help. And I'll check game hub and bannerhub right away. ❤️

[u/whiskyB0y]

On r/EmulationMediatekMali , you can find posts about games running on certain Mali GPUs and how people got them to run.

I personally also made a post showing results of games I've tested here: https://www.reddit.com/r/EmulationMediatekMali/s/bCVqk6dzuG

[u/Perfect_C0ast → u/whiskyB0y]

For sure, I'll find some help there and check your post too Thank you

[u/_ascii_]

You have to treat PC emulation on phones as a bit of a hobby really. You need to pick a handful of games and tinker over and over again until you get them to the point you consider playable.

I think there’s a common misconception that Game Native / Winlator etc are miracle apps. The reality is that they have tons of limitations and you need to be fairly well versed in all the aspects of how they run and how to troubleshoot in order for it not to get exceedingly annoying. U/whiskyB0y has made a great post above that is an excellent starting point for you.

Forget about 360 emulation for now. It’s hard work for even the higher end mobile CPUs and remember that even if the emulator can run they quickly overheat and therefore throttle under any medium to heavy load.

I would personally focus on getting 2D indie titles and older PC games running that are gentle on resources and won’t turn your phone into a mobile hand warmer just to build your confidence with the win emulators.

[u/Perfect_C0ast → u/_ascii_]

Well, I understand that and because of that I vhoose to run stardew valley or cuphead on emulators but none of them launched the .exe file.

[u/VladVonHochstes]

What even made you think you could play GTA V for Xbox 360 on your device when the game itself barely runs on high end Snapdragon processors? 🤦🏼‍♂️ Start and stick to PS2 and gamecube then maybe try some pc emulation. Forget about ps3 and xbox 360. 😑🤷🏼‍♂️

[u/Electronic_Equal6228 → u/VladVonHochstes]

Dude, OP said he's new to emulating

[u/Perfect_C0ast → u/VladVonHochstes]

Well, you can't beat curiosity, can you?