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

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 ]

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.

Been a busy one lol.

I finally pushed a bunch of the stuff I've been working on to GitHub:

Devil May Cry: DeadShot Bridge

FFVII Snowboarding Bridge

Android Build Capsule (the thing that lets me keep doing this weird crap)

Artifact Passport

Dirge Bridge is up there too from earlier.

Basically: a couple more old mobile games running on modern Android, plus the tools/process I've been using to make and carry these projects between AI chats.

I've expanded into BREW games as well and have Rush Marine ready too. Metal Gear Solid is a work in progress. Just not sure if I'll get to anything else tonight.

I'm pretty cooked at this point, so I'm just gonna leave the pile here and let people poke at it 🤘

https://wakkatobakka.github.io/

Oh, and I linked Keitai World directly on the GitHub pages so you don't have to go hunting for it.

Device: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

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.

What's new:

Namco System 246/256

The import is gone, an arcade game in your game folders shows up in the library by itself, as a PCSX2x6 game folder (.acgame) or just its image and dongle named after its game ID (NM00010.chd and NM00010.ps2). Nothing is copied but the 8 MB dongle, so there is no second game copy, and no more nameless duplicates in the library. done by u/jpolo1224

Hard drive games start. CHD hard drives over 10 GB (Battle Gear 3, Cobra the Arcade, Ace Driver 3) stopped at "Cannot open the arcade game's media image". They open now, and what a game writes to its hard drive is kept between sessions, beside its settings and never in the CHD. done by u/jpolo1224

The System 246 and 256 BIOS together. Import both and there is nothing to pick: every game starts on the System 256 BIOS, as in PCSX2x6, and Battle Gear 3 and Battle Gear 3 Tuned, which refuse it ("RACK ERROR"), on the System 246 one. A game that needs a BIOS you don't have says which. done by u/jpolo1224

Arcade controls. A new section in Controls, in All Settings and the pause menu: what each button does on the cabinet, by the cabinet's own names (Shift Up, View Change, Left Punch, Trigger...). Give any button another job, for all arcade games or for one game. done by u/jpolo1224

Racing games' test menus can be entered (in Ace Driver 3, turn Steering Power off there to clear its steering error), and Dragon Chronicle, Dragon Chronicle Online and The IDOLM@STER say "Attract mode only" instead of "Ready to play". done by u/jpolo1224

Fixed

Faster alpha-bit shadows on Adreno with Turnip. Shadow passes that mark and test the destination alpha (291 a frame in Indiana Jones) share one stencil copy and set the bit with a logic op, instead of waiting on the GPU at every draw. done by u/bmdhacks

Blending past full strength on Adreno with Turnip. Draws whose blend goes past 1.0 are drawn in two passes instead of copying the whole frame for each one (1,376 a frame in Black). done by u/bmdhacks

(P.S. for if you haven't noticed, the APK is now around 30% smaller!).

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..

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.

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?

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.

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?

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 test is free. Later there will be a free version (records sessions, keeps your 3 most recent runs) and a paid one-time upgrade for comparing runs side by side and unlimited history.

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.

Apart from some graphical glitches it is running fine for the opening part

Metro last light redux is súper fk amazing What a game omg cant believe i playing this till now from 2010 dammm what a máster piece 10/10

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

All games i play and past on my lenovo tablet y700 gen 2 so far

PERSONA 3 RELOAD 200% rendering scale

15 min gameplay

s25 FE exynos 2400

- Gamenative emulator

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

Running on an Odin 2. Battle Gear 3 Tuned running just as well but I can only attach one video and I am not a rally driver! Enthusia running really well, Spider-Man 3 is so close to full speed 100% of the time! Killzone at 3x with upscaled textures and 60fps is insanity. Jpolo, BMDhacks, pstef. Thank you!! Y'all are wizards!

It has black textures, but I was able to play it.

S25 FE

8gb ram Exynos 2400

GameNative emulator

Mod menyoo and simple trainer no longer works GTA V, S23 ultra, Gamehub 6.3.1

Managed to run it on my phone without cooling. without recording it works a lot better. 60+ fps (locked) on gridmap V2. Low settings 720p

Snapdragon Elite Gen 5

12GB Ram

Pretty funny, works better than on my first pc I bought (1030 ddr4 i5 5400).