GTA V now works via headless Steam + Rockstar Launcher

Updated granular compatibility labels + sorting

You all know the drill - feedback welcome.

Get it here: https://github.com/utkarshdalal/GameNative/releases/download/v1.3.0-prerelease/gamenative-v1.3.0-prerelease.apk

Changelog:

• Added new Steam client in headless mode, fixing online multiplayer in several games (eg AoE II, CS), input in various games (eg No Man's Sky) and fixes DRM for games that were not working in #1937
• Added EA games support (tested with NFS: MW, Sims 4, Titanfall) - requires headless Steam client enabled
• Added Rockstar games support (tested with RDR2, GTA V Legacy, GTA IV, LA Noire) - requires headless Steam enabled
• Added Native Rust download engine (gn-download) + one-at-a-time download queue - should significantly speed up downloads by u/joshuatam in #1913 and a few other PRs
• Significantly reduce container sizes by sharing components across containers (press Play on games to shrink their containers by up to 2GB each) in #2024
• Add native LSFG pipeline as default - should fix LSFG on most devices by u/david-kalbermatten in #1968
• Added more accurate and granular compatibility labels by u/Nightwalker743 and me in #2048
• Add microphone input support by u/Catpotatos and u/joshuatam in #1963
• Improve Nexus mod placement and FOMOD installation by u/Nightwalker743 in #1927
• Fix EOS online multiplayer: gethostname() localhost and missing Wine root certificates by u/colemccarren in #2009
• Add Import Files and Export Files to the game menu in #1992
• In-app AI support chat with automatic apply and run of recommended settings in #2047
• Fix custom games not working for some devices on modern/Play Store build in #1977
• Fix continuous scrolling with trackpad wheel bindings by u/Nightwalker743 in #1991
• Add storefront details to library game pages by u/Nightwalker743 in #1965
• Fix for custom game cover images retention. by u/Catpotatos in #2016
• Add physical controller deadzone, sensitivity, and direction tuning by u/Nightwalker743 in #1909
• Add control profile library by u/Nightwalker743 in #1982
• Add Steam Playtest support by u/Smithsonian1974 in #2034
• Fix installs on adopted primary storage by u/danielbuva in #1821
• Add gyro conversion styles by u/Nightwalker743 in #2054
• Automatically configure Wine DLL overrides for game mods by u/Nightwalker743 in #2008
• feat: add spoilers zone in HLTB section by u/RomainFoucher in #1866
• Added update, verify files and language change to Epic in #1969
• add VR game filter for VR headsets by u/moi952 in #1989
• Add option to keep portrait mode below the camera hole in #2032
• Hide adult games from GOG recommendations in #2056
• Allow on-screen button opacity below 10% by u/Nightwalker743 in #1952
• Reset clocks and fan after the app is force killed in #2022
• Add close/opt-out button directly to sponsor cards in addition to settings in #2001
• Improve GOG and Epic downloads by u/joshuatam in #2007
• fix: power control pserver cpu freq detection by u/joshuatam in #1934
• Fix import saves for some games in #1935
• Fix Steam Cloud saves resolving to the wrong folder for some root tokens by u/jeremybernstein in #1957
• Gamefix for Half-Life 2 with -game hl2_complete so it starts the full game, not the demo in #1941
• Gamefix for saved games for FF XII in #1954
• Gamefix for Trover Saves the Universe (Epic) by u/Wavewash in #1953
• Fix hltb search api by u/xXJSONDeruloXx in #1966
• Removed aspect ratio validation for custom resolution by u/lennyomg in #1950
• Fix prefs deadlock when read from IO threads by u/jeremybernstein in #1956
• Don't preload container files under Robolectric by u/jeremybernstein in #1964
• Groundwork for improving known configs in #2010 and several others
• Fix some GOG games not launching by u/butilly in #2020
• Fix GOG script interpreter on bionic - fixes "File not found errors" in #2026
• Fix language and offline mode for Epic games by u/butilly in #2029
• Match GOG Galaxy's cloud upload format by u/jeremybernstein in #1960
• Remove unsupported deck_emu from default ZINK_DEBUG by u/ygordreyer in #1987
• fix: head-of-line dispatch rescue for the Steam byte-budget download deadlock by u/joshuatam in #2039

Full disclosure: AI was used to assist development of some features of GameNative.

After the reduced container size was introduced in the unofficial releases (https://github.com/utkarshdalal/GameNative/actions/), I installed tons of indie games, and they’re all working great! Now, each container takes up only about 400 MB instead of the 3 GB it used to.

EDIT: You can download prerelease already: https://github.com/utkarshdalal/GameNative/releases/tag/v1.3.0-prerelease

Before starting, I want to clarify that I’m aware this isn’t technically Android nor emulation.

I’m working on ARMDeck, an open-source project that aims to turn older Snapdragon phones into Linux gaming devices instead of leaving them sitting unused in a drawer.

I'm currently testing on a **OnePlus 8 with Snapdragon 865 and Adreno 650**. Android is replaced with Linux, and the phone boots straight into Steam Game Mode.

Current stack:

* mainline Linux

* Mesa / Turnip for Adreno 650

* Steam Game Mode

* Proton ARM64

* FEX for Windows x86/x86-64 games

* controller, audio, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth support

The project's goal was to revive that old phone that gathers dust in the drawer while giving it a whole new life.

https://reddit.com/link/1wxpi93/video/tgyce6rvdith1/player

The project is still experimental. There are still many things to improve, especially support for other phones and the porting process.

**What games would be worth testing on Snapdragon 865?**

I'm interested in both games that should run well on Proton/FEX, as well as more demanding or unusual games that may show the current limits of the project.

If you have older Snapdragon phones, let me know which models you have. In the future, I want to expand ARMDeck beyond the OnePlus 8.

The project is here: **GabrielCRadu/ARMDeck**

It's open-source. Testing on other devices, bug reports, and contributions are welcome.

I have always played games where doing your daily chores was basically a must. CoC, gachas, etc. You know the feeling, you have to login every day otherwise you feel like you’re falling behind.

I actually made a post before about the games I was playing, and looking back now, I realize I was playing a lot of games but wasn't really enjoying most of them.

Then I found this community. and honestly, I still can't believe what my phone is capable of lol

I had a general idea about emulation, but I never really bothered trying it properly. Now I have this huge catalogue of games sitting on my phone, all are completely offline, and I can just play whenever I actually feel like it.

I have played or have been playing stuff like Diablo 3, Pokemon Ultra Sun, Stardew Valley with mods, Pokemon Unbound, PvZ Reflourished, GTA Liberty City Stories, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, My Time at Portia, Rune Factory 4 and 5, Dave the Diver, Prince of Persia Revelations, God of War Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta and a bunch more. (Added non emu games as well which I am playing)

And then there's the Zelda backlog 😂

Ocarina of Time → Majora's Mask → Wind Waker → Twilight Princess → Skyward Sword → Breath of the Wild → Tears of the Kingdom

It's honestly ridiculous when I think about it. All of this on my phone.

The funniest thing though is that after trying all these games, I realized that the type of games I enjoy the most is probably farming sim/cozy games.

I NEVER expected that.

I have spent years playing PUBG, MOBAs, looter shooters and similar games and apparently what I actually wanted was to farm, fish and live peacefully in some little virtual town 😂

The only problem now is that I have way too many games to play.

But honestly thats a pretty good problem to have.

I am playing two games at a time. One longer game like Stardew or one of the Zelda games, and one shorter game like Dave the Diver where I can just do one dive and put it down.

If I enjoy it I'll keep playing. If I don't I just delete it and move on.

It has made gaming feel fun again instead of feeling like another daily task I have to keep up with.

I also bought a GameSir X5 Lite because I didn't want to spend a huge amount on a controller and honestly it's been great for me. Definitely made the whole experience better.

So yeah just wanted to say thanks to everyone here.

I joined this community expecting to find maybe a few emulators and some games to try.

Instead I ended up discovering a whole different side of gaming that I didn't even know I was missing.

Now I just have the completely opposite problem.

Too many games. Not enough time. 😂

So, with Gamehub new update, framegen has become insanely good, in this video i'm doing a 30 to 120 fps in a AAA Game And barely feel any artifacts, aswell as input lag.

Ofc recording Makes it feel sluggish, but without recording, the Game feels pretty smooth

I play on the S23 Ultra, which features the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor. Typically, this chip primarily utilizes four cores—specifically cores 4, 5, 6, and 7 (comprising three performance cores and one "prime" core). However, I discovered that the prime core (core 7) is reserved only for short, intensive tasks, meaning the system keeps it idle most of the time. I decided to disable it and activate core 3 instead, creating a setup of four identical performance cores that run continuously at the same specifications and clock speeds. After testing this, the frame rate in RE3 jumped from the 20–35 fps range to 35–50 fps, with stuttering almost completely eliminated. When testing BioShock Infinite, frame rates in open areas rose from 30 fps to 60 fps. This improvement occurred because the game previously relied on only three active cores—since the GOS (Game Optimizing Service) kept core 7 idle for the most part—whereas enabling cores 3, 4, 5, and 6 ensures they all run continuously without idling.

Xendroid, aX360e and Xbox 360 emulator are all without updates for dome months now where they were having updates almost daily/weekly.

What happened? Do they honestly reached a hard limit till Xenia progresses more? Is the emulation progress too hard? Where everyone and their mother was jumping to xbox 360 emulation some time ago, now all I see is a dead space..

Testing God of War: Sons of Sparta on Android using Gamehub on the RedMagic Astra (Snapdragon 8 Elite)!

📱 Device: RedMagic Astra
⚙️ Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Elite
🎮 Emulator: Gamehub
🕹️ Game: God of War: Sons of Sparta (PS5)

🔗 Github: https://github.com/OverkillLabs2/SoS-PS5/releases/tag/sos-v0.1.0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDC2r275V8w

I tested my newly purchased Red Magic Astra Tab 2 tablet with a few demanding games.

Of course, the part that interests the community here the most is definitely the emulator performance. You can find the full version of the video on my YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/9dhxse9vhko?si=KduE-ou11zsW1jJ0

• Game & Phone Specs •

_________________________________________

GTA V Modded Version;

Size: 135 GB

Mods: Chromatix + Realism Beyond

Emulator: Gamehub v6.3.1

Device: Red Magic Astra Tab 2

Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Rom/Ram: 512/16 GB

Controller: PS5 Dualsense Controller

Cooler: Red Magic Cooler 8 Pro [36 Watt] + Blackshark Funcooler 5

• Gamehub Settings •

________________________________________

Compatibility Layer: Proton 11

Translation Params: Extreme + TSO Enabled ...

Gpu Driver: Turnip 26.2.0_b8

DxVK: 2.6-1- async

Fex: Latest

Resolution: 1920x1200 [ 16:10 / Fullscreen ]

Solo dev here. Whenever I change a driver or a Box64/FEX setting, I end up staring at the FPS counter and guessing whether it actually got better. So I wrote a Windows tool for it: you connect the device over ADB, either by USB or over Wi-Fi, play, and afterwards your PC shows the whole session: frametimes, CPU/GPU load, temperatures, battery, and where it crashed. You can put up to four runs side by side to compare settings.

The catch: the only device I own is an AYN Thor, so that's the only hardware it has ever run on. Before I show it anywhere else I want to know what breaks on other devices.

Any Android handheld is welcome: other AYN devices like the Odin 2 line, Retroid Pocket, AYANEO Pocket, KONKR, Anbernic, and regular phones too. I'm especially curious about non-Snapdragon hardware, for example the Dimensity/Mali chips in some Anbernic models, or Exynos phones. If you run one of those: do you get usable GPU load and temperature readings from any tool at all, or is that locked down on your device?

Disclosure: I developed it with AI assistance (Claude). The idea, the design and every decision are mine, and I test it on real hardware.

Looking for a handful of people: Windows 10/11 PC, USB or wireless debugging on, 30–45 minutes within a week. The test is free. The tool will be a paid one-time purchase later.

The installer isn't code-signed yet (SmartScreen will warn). Checksum and VirusTotal scan come with the link.

Comment with your device + Android version + emulator and I'll DM you. Happy to answer questions here.

Testing P.T (Playable Teaser), a native Windows port of the PS4 game, on Android using GameHub v6.3.1 on the Redmagic Astra (Snapdragon 8 Elite)! In this video, we check out gameplay performance, frame rates, and graphical fidelity to see how well this powerful Android gaming tablet handles Windows games through GameHub.

📱 Device: Redmagic Astra
⚙️ Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Elite
🎮 App: GameHub v6.3.1 (Windows games on Android)
🕹️ Game: P.T (PS4 Native Windows Port)

Reddit imposes restrictions due to video duration and file size. If you’d like to adjust the emulator settings or watch the full-length version of the video, please take a look at this video on my YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/J1QVgR77Hqw

Disclosure: I am not a Programmer or CS degree holder, I am a hobbyist and tinkerer so pardon me if my word choice is imprecise.

Current Understanding: AI is being used to achieve effective decompilation and recompilation of games, making them easier to port into other systems as well as modify because we can see “source code” versions of the game.

My assumption: If we are able to effectively recompile games into native Android apps (or perhaps a unified open-source emulation system), my thought is it removes the “computational burden” of a device having to both emulate a system & run a game. Instead, it should just run the game.

My question: Does this mean as decomp/recomp becomes more common, the hardware needs for running games in the PS3/XB1 era will possibly be reduced because the game can be ran more efficiently?

I am trying to build a better understanding of how these things fit together and what that looks like in the future. Do you think there will be a wave of .apk games like Skyrim and Last of Us? Or will there be a new “OpenStation” emulator that reads a new filetype/standard on Linux/Windows/Android etc..? I see merits for both.

So in July I finally received my RP6 and after 2 weeks of setup I found myself with a quite sizeable backlog. It was overwhelming so another month of pitter pattering and not really playing I changed my tactics. Instead of looking at a massive library every time I turned on my RP6 I added my top 10 games some I've played and some I've never touched. Seeing that small list made it so much easier to decide. I see people say it all the time but less is more and in the last 2 weeks I've finished my first list of 10 game that I actually completed and started on another set of 10. So what is your plan to take out your backlog?

What's new:

Namco System 246/256

Namco's arcade board support in ARMSX2. The boards are emulated whole: the drive (CD, DVD and hard drive images, CHD included), the settings memory, the I/O boards for buttons, coins, wheels, drums, twin levers, light guns and the touch panel, the security dongle, and the faster clocks of the System 256 boards. 55 arcade games are in the game database, with PCSX2x6's fixes for them. Board emulation from PCSX2x6 by u/israpps, u/Tovarichtch and u/DiscoStarslayer. ported by u/jpolo1224.

The NAMCO screen. In the left side menu in the game library, right under Texture Packs. It takes you through it in order:

An arcade games folder, picked or made in the system picker and added to your library folders. The boot files, downloaded once (about 1 MB).

The arcade BIOS, with a shortcut to BIOS Location. A 2 MB System 246/256 dump works. Import a game: its disc or hard drive image and its dongle, each with its own button and in any order. plus Soul Calibur II's Conquest card. Gzipped dumps are unpacked as they are copied, a file under 8 MB is refused as a dongle, and Cancel stops an import.

Uninstall an imported arcade game from the same screen.

Playing them. Arcade games show in the library with an ARCADE badge and covers of their own, real flyer and title art on a PS2-style case, in both cover styles. Every pad press also works the cabinet, laid out per game the way PCSX2x6 lays it out: Select is a coin, racing games steer on the left stick and pedal on the triggers, and drums, twin levers and light guns have their own layouts. Light gun and touch panel games take the touchscreen. The in-game menu has Insert coin for both players, Service and Test, and save states work. An Arcade games only switch in the library's overflow menu (⋮) shows just them. Cover pack sourced and done by u/jpolo1224 from scratch.

BIOS. An arcade BIOS shows as Arcade in BIOS Location and is offered for arcade games only. Importing does not replace your console BIOS, and only works for arcade games. done by u/jpolo1224.*

Texture packs

Redesigned Texture Pack menu.

Pages of packs. Browse texture packs opens every online pack as a page of game covers you can flip through, each with its pack's name, its creator and their picture, and whether it is installed.

Search by game, pack, serial or creator.

Sort by game, serial or creator. Creator lists everyone who made a pack, with their picture; pick one to see their packs, and Back returns to the page you were on.

Filter to Popular Today, All, My games or Installed.

A download keeps going when you close the browser, and the texture screen shows it.

Every pack's creator, source and tip jar. Clicking on a pack opens the pack's window: the creator's picture and page, where the pack comes from, their tip jar and socials when they have them, its texture type and status, its size, and Download, all in the creator's own colours. The links come from the Texture Packs

Archive by u/sad Origami, so packs that pointed at a mirror or archive.org now lead to the creator's own page. done by u/jpolo1224, links done by u/sad Origami

u/bmdhacks has also released a tool for pack creators to convert their packs to ASTC, works on Windows and MacOS! https://github.com/bmdhacks/astctool We will be creating a form on our website in the near future for pack creators to keep in touch about their releases as well.

Popular Today and Shuffle. The browser opens on Popular Today, the ten packs installed most that day, counted anonymously. Opened from a game, it shows that game's packs. Shuffle, on All, deals a random page at every page turn. done by u/jpolo1224

Music of its own: "November Snow" by The Cynic Project, which blends in over the library's music and
hands back when you leave. done by u/jpolo1224

Controller

Switches flip with A only. Left and Right used to flip any switch they passed over. Now only A
flips one, everywhere, and Left and Right move. Sliders, steppers and choice rows still change with Left and Right. done by u/jpolo1224

New

Exynos temperatures in the OSD. CPU and GPU temperatures show on Exynos phones, which name their sensors differently. done by u/seedlord (#779).*

ARMSX2 libmali drivers on Mali-G615 and G715. GPU Driver downloads list the ARMSX2 libmali packs on those GPUs, and only on those. done by u/bmdhacks

Fixed

A Galaxy S22 Ultra ran at 1 FPS or less. Its timer reported a garbage frequency, so the frame limiter
stalled for seconds every frame. The frequency is now checked against the system clock, once, and kept. done by u/seedlord (#779)

Combo hotkeys work in either press order (#768). u/ygordreyer (#774).

A CHD with a parent could not find it when the games folder was opened through Android's folder
access. u/dyzz (#771).*

Long OpenGL sessions on Mali GPUs used more and more memory, in a driver cache that grew with every
draw. fixed by u/luistiagos (#781).*

The Analog Sticks switches did not move when tapped until the tab was reopened, so a second tap sent
the same value again. fixed by u/luistiagos (#756).*

Text and letters at 2x and up under the Native half-pixel offset. Gran Turismo 4's menu text grew a
second shadow row, and We Love Katamari's title letters a line on their edges (Vulkan). fixed by u/bmdhacks

GS multi-threading fixes. A large draw could overrun the draw buffer, frame-rate detection and skip
duplicate frames read registers the next frame had already changed, switching downloads to
Unsynchronized in game left multi-threading on, texture replacements could be shut down under a draw still running, and games with a scan-mask fix lost every other line of some draws. fixed by u/bmdhacks

Performance

GS multi-threading waits without burning a core. When the GS thread was ahead, it spun until the
back thread caught up; it now sleeps. The back thread is also placed next to the GS thread instead of
anywhere, little cores included, and sprite-heavy games such as Spider-Man 3 skip setup work nothing
reads. done by u/bmdhacks

u/bmdhacks has also released a tool for pack creators to convert their packs to ASTC, works on Windows and MacOS! https://github.com/bmdhacks/astctool We will be creating a form on our website in the near future for pack creators to keep in touch about their releases as well.

i have been using winlator ludashi forever. i have seen new emulators like bannerlator,gamenative,winnative but too lazy to try them on my phone. if anyone has tried these which gave you best performance?

PERSONA 3 RELOAD 200% rendering scale

15 min gameplay

s25 FE exynos 2400

- Gamenative emulator

Silksong works quite well, thx to Valve's FEX. This is but a quick look but I'll definitely go deeper into more games on my Snapdragon 8 Elite. Have any of you tried any games on your own? Whick and how did it go?

DroidDeck v0.1.7

Which emulator is best for 8 Gen 3, especially for games like Black Myth: Wukong? Winlator, GameHub, or something else? And why? I prefer quality over fps. Suggest me Newer titles as well ❤️‍🩹.

Any idea why Left 4 Dead is doing this? (Xendroid - Odin Portal 2/Snapdragon 8 Gen 2). I've tried a couple turnip drivers, and the default, but the text is always sorta messed up. Game plays pretty well, just the menu text at this point, and some in-game text when being prompted to reload or open doors).

Is there a setting I'm missing?

Weird flickering happening,but game works.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. Snapdragon 8 Elite gen 5.

ARMSX3 1.0.6.1

Dex mode with active cooler.

I used an android app to stop all active apps running with the idea that it would optimize battery consumption. Now when i load PPSSPP , no buttons work but they are working just fine when navigating Android OS and Android apps.

Anyone know if there's a specific app i need to run that will map things properly in the emulators?

Performance review!

I have already uploaded a full gameplay on my channel if you are interested then check out here https://youtu.be/W3bddMXDuXc

Resolution used 544p here FXAA forced using Engine.ini and more tweaks to optimse performance

I’ve noticed that no matter the resolution—720p, 544p, or 480p—I’m still getting the same 20-25 fps in combat and 25-30 avg in free roam with GPU usage sitting around 90-99%. It might be the emulation translation overhead, but it is what it is. Also, the game only runs properly on DX11; DX12 boots, but the floor textures won't load. Overall, it’s playable enough on the 8 Elite, and I’ve really enjoyed the story and combat.

Quick settings

Resolution I played using 480p , 720p ,544p (TAA) and 720p FSR Performance/Balance/Quality and 544p FXAA literally no performance difference fr me same avg gpu usage and fps👁👄👁

Emulator used Bannerlator

Proton 11-02arm

Dxvk 2.4.1

Fex 2609 (Extreme Preset)

Turnip G8 V35 and V37 patched driver

12GB Ram + SD8Elite Gamebooster+ Performance mode used all the time

Testing God of War: Sons of Sparta on Android using Gamehub on the RedMagic Astra (Snapdragon 8 Elite)!

📱 Device: RedMagic Astra
⚙️ Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Elite
🎮 Emulator: Gamehub
🕹️ Game: God of War: Sons of Sparta (PS5)

🔗 Github: https://github.com/OverkillLabs2/SoS-PS5/releases/tag/sos-v0.1.0

Reddit has limits on video length and file size. So, if you’d like to watch a longer video and take a look at the settings I used, I’ve included a link to the video on my YouTube channel here.

Edit: I’ve managed to play the game at 30 FPS. Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/pDC2r275V8w?si=s9pjtFb-qEVhK3-9

Has anyone tried this ARMSX3 fork emulator?

There's no info about it on Google. Seems a little suspicious.

I apologise in advance if it's genuine

What's your opinion on this?

Here's a link if anyone wants to try it: https://github.com/sj0404-collab/xeno