How to play FEH on PC (Windows only)

[THD]

1 hour ago, mental_offence said:

There're two possible problems - either you didn't install lollipop for memu or it's some software incompatibility.

Try to reinstall lollipop and see if it works. If it doesn't - uninstall memu and try 2.9.6.1 version.

 

Either your videocard driver is outdated or you didn't enable hardware virtualization in bios.

If it won't work after updating driver and enabling hardware virtualization - you can try chinese bluestacks, there's a post about it on this page.

I'm almost sure I did. Clicked on the file and after a progress bar I get an "Update succesfully!" message. The "almost" part comes from that, when I open MultiMEmu, the only instance it shows at first doesn't seem to be at 5.1, so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the issue.

I'll try the 2.9.6.1 version and see how it goes

[THD]

Well, no luck. Installed 2.9.6.1, then Lollipop, chose Create emulator -> Import emulator -> FEH2.3full.ova and it still failed to Import. Maybe it is a software issue.

[mental_offence]

@THD You can try chinese bluestacks which is described here.

[nowait]

I tried chinese bluestacks and it works great!

Just one problem the shop loads forever,any tips for that?

[mental_offence]

1 hour ago, nowait said:

Just one problem the shop loads forever,any tips for that?

It happens because of freezed google apps. You can unfreeze them and access shop, but soon you'll get 803-3001 error. That's not a big problem though, as bluestacks has root and you can delete deviceAccount:.xml file after you get error.

 

[mental_offence]

A little edited way to play FEH on BlueStacks from me. I've installed microG, so you can download FEH from Play Store without any problems. Also no "update google services" error upon lauching game. I'll add this guide to the thread topic soon.
BlueStacks is kinda slower than MEmu, but it has root installed, so you can reroll much easier just by deleting deviceAccount:.xml file. Anyways, here's the guide:

 

1) Download and install BlueStacksCN 2.5.105.6191 (press blue button to start installation). Press blue button when installation finishes. Bluestacks should start another quick installation and then it will launch itself. Wait until Bluestacks fully loads.
2) Press on triangle on top of BlueStacks, select the first option, then second option in new window, and choose 兼容性优先 (just look at the picture so you understand me better). Keep DirectX setting for now. After that close this window and it will ask you to save settings and restart. Press first (left) button. Wait until Bluestacks fully loads and close it (press X on top of BlueStacks and choose red button).

Spoiler

 

(thanks to @Astellius for screenshot)

3) Download this archive. Extract everything from this archive to C:\Program Files (x86)\BluestacksCN\Engine\ProgramData\Android.
4) Launch Bluestacks. On the main menu click on the folder that has 4 pictures on it. Now click on the cog (settings), scroll down until you see a colorful icon with various flags on it, click on that, and scroll down to English and select it.
5) Get back to the main menu, click on that folder again and launch Google Play Store. Login into your google account and download FEH straight from Play Store. Play Store can close itself once, that's because it's updating to new version.

Most of the credit goes to @Ninferno and @Astellius.

Edited March 11, 2018 by mental_offence

[Selena4Lyfe]

10 hours ago, mental_offence said:

There're two possible problems - either you didn't install lollipop for memu or it's some software incompatibility.

Try to reinstall lollipop and see if it works. If it doesn't - uninstall memu and try 2.9.6.1 version.

 

Either your videocard driver is outdated or you didn't enable hardware virtualization in bios.

If it won't work after updating driver and enabling hardware virtualization - you can try chinese bluestacks, there's a post about it on this page.

I'm hoping it's not an issue of the video card since I'm stuck with an ancient AMD X1600M...  I'll check the bios and report back to ya.

[mental_offence]

I've added BlueStacks guides to the topic.

[harimakenjibr]

Thank you @mental_offence for the tutorial, for me the memu gave error for importing the file.

But the Bluestacks microG worked just fine.

Question: Do you know how to use joystick? Tried xpadder and joytokey but neither worked. I'll try to install the US 2.5 version on a VM.

Edited March 12, 2018 by harimakenjibr

[mental_offence]

8 hours ago, harimakenjibr said:

Question: Do you know how to use joystick? Tried xpadder and joytokey but neither worked. I'll try to install the US 2.5 version on a VM.

I don't :(

Bear in mind that FEH won't work on non-chinese Bluestacks.

[harimakenjibr]

5 hours ago, mental_offence said:

Bear in mind that FEH won't work on non-chinese Bluestacks.

Yes, I understand. It's just to see the english version of these options:

 

 

Edited March 12, 2018 by harimakenjibr

[Astellius]

On 3/10/2018 at 8:39 PM, Selena4Lyfe said:

If not, could I use another emulator or is this the only one that works with FEH at current?

Memu never worked for me, but the Chinese Bluestacks is available. The instructions for it have been added to the OP. If you have an old graphics card, you may need to select the OpenGL rendering method as mentioned in the instructions.

22 hours ago, mental_offence said:

A little edited way to play FEH on BlueStacks from me. I've installed microG, so you can download FEH from Play Store without any problems. Also no "update google services" error upon lauching game. I'll add this guide to the thread topic soon.
BlueStacks is kinda slower than MEmu, but it has root installed, so you can reroll much easier just by deleting deviceAccount:.xml file. Anyways, here's the guide:

 

1) Download and install BlueStacksCN 2.5.105.6191 (press blue button to start installation). Press blue button when installation finishes. Bluestacks should start another quick installation and then it will launch itself. Wait until Bluestacks fully loads.
2) Press on triangle on top of BlueStacks, select the first option, then second option in new window, and choose 兼容性优先 (just look at the picture so you understand me better). Keep DirectX setting for now. After that close this window and it will ask you to save settings and restart. Press first (left) button. Wait until Bluestacks fully loads and close it (press X on top of BlueStacks and choose red button).

  Reveal hidden contents

 

(thanks to @Astellius for screenshot)

3) Download this archive. Extract everything from this archive to C:\Program Files (x86)\BluestacksCN\Engine\ProgramData\Android.
4) Launch Bluestacks. On the main menu click on the folder that has 4 pictures on it. Now click on the cog (settings), scroll down until you see a colorful icon with various flags on it, click on that, and scroll down to English and select it.
5) Get back to the main menu, click on that folder again and launch Google Play Store. Login into your google account and download FEH straight from Play Store. Play Store can close itself once, that's because it's updating to new version.

Most of the credit goes to @Ninferno and @Astellius.

Glad to be of service! Hopefully this helps out some people.

16 hours ago, harimakenjibr said:

Thank you @mental_offence for the tutorial, for me the memu gave error for importing the file.

But the Bluestacks microG worked just fine.

Question: Do you know how to use joystick? Tried xpadder and joytokey but neither worked. I'll try to install the US 2.5 version on a VM.

I don't believe that FEH has gamepad functionality, as most apps don't, but I'm not totally sure on that point. If you really didn't want to use a mouse, you can use joytokey to map cursor movement to the directional buttons/joystick, and a left click to one of the buttons. That seems like an obtuse way to play to me, but it's an option.

[ToP]

On 2/7/2018 at 9:23 PM, mental_offence said:

2.2. Chinese BlueStacks (microG)

To reroll on BlueStacks you can download any file manager with root access (or use preinstalled one), go to data/data/com.nintendo.zaba/shared_prefs and delete deviceAccount:.xml file.

So, I got everything up and working, but I did not get good heroes at the start, so I want to reroll. I installed Amaze File Manager, since that supposedly gets root access, but I can't find the data/data/com.nintendo.zaba/shared_prefs folder. I can find android/data/ and from there, it looks like that's where the folder I'm looking for should be, but I'm not seeing it, even after enabling hidden files/folders to be seen. Nothing there from nintendo.

Never done any of this smartphone emulator whatnot before, and I don't have a smartphone myself, is there something basic I'm doing wrong, or what? I grabbed the chinese bluestacks from the link in the OP if that makes any difference. Is this preinstalled thing you mention important? if it's there, I don't know which one it is, cause most preinstalled apps are in chinese, even after switching over to english language on the settings.

Edited March 15, 2018 by ToP

[mental_offence]

3 hours ago, ToP said:

So, I got everything up and working, but I did not get good heroes at the start, so I want to reroll. I installed Amaze File Manager, since that supposedly gets root access, but I can't find the data/data/com.nintendo.zaba/shared_prefs folder. I can find android/data/ and from there, it looks like that's where the folder I'm looking for should be, but I'm not seeing it, even after enabling hidden files/folders to be seen. Nothing there from nintendo.

Never done any of this smartphone emulator whatnot before, and I don't have a smartphone myself, is there something basic I'm doing wrong, or what? I grabbed the chinese bluestacks from the link in the OP if that makes any difference. Is this preinstalled thing you mention important? if it's there, I don't know which one it is, cause most preinstalled apps are in chinese, even after switching over to english language on the settings.

There's supposed to be an option which enables root access. Try searching for it in settings of that file manager.

Edited March 15, 2018 by mental_offence

[ToP]

OK, got it working. There was an option in the settings pages, like you thought. I checked there earlier, and didn't see it cause Infinite scroll is dumb, as usual. Having loading times for scrolling while making it seem like you're at the end of the page/scrolling, even when you're not.

Thanks.

[Some Jerk]

Dumb question from someone who hasn't emulated Android before: is it safe to use my main Google account, or should I make an alternate account for this?

Also, since I'm probably going with the microG option that doesn't restrict Google shop options, is there anything I need to be aware of (other than my money going to waste if I somehow cop a ban) if I want to purchase Orbs / do rerolls?

Edited March 24, 2018 by Some Jerk

[mental_offence]

2 hours ago, Some Jerk said:

Dumb question from someone who hasn't emulated Android before: is it safe to use my main Google account, or should I make an alternate account for this?

Also, since I'm probably going with the microG option that doesn't restrict Google shop options, is there anything I need to be aware of (other than my money going to waste if I somehow cop a ban) if I want to purchase Orbs / do rerolls?

It's fine to use any Google account, the Terms of Service don't say you can't use emulators. Also I've never heard of emulator-related bans.

You can reroll as much as you like, however the problem with microG is that google services aren't fully implemented here, so I'm not even sure if you'll be able to buy any orbs. It's possible to buy orbs on MEmu or BlueStacks with freezed google apps after unfreezing those apps, though shortly after unfreezing them and lauching game you'll get 803-3001 error.

[Some Jerk]

3 hours ago, mental_offence said:

It's fine to use any Google account, the Terms of Service don't say you can't use emulators. Also I've never heard of emulator-related bans.

You can reroll as much as you like, however the problem with microG is that google services aren't fully implemented here, so I'm not even sure if you'll be able to buy any orbs. It's possible to buy orbs on MEmu or BlueStacks with freezed google apps after unfreezing those apps, though shortly after unfreezing them and lauching game you'll get 803-3001 error.

Cool, just had to check. I'd heard horror stories of emulator users getting banned, but more than likely they were doing stupid things.

Is it theoretically possible to sync FEH to my Nintendo account after I'm satisfied with the starting rolls, use microG Bluestacks for main gameplay, and only use MEmu when I want to buy things? A bit convoluted of a solution, but it would make the 803-3001 issue way more bearable.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Some Jerk

[mental_offence]

nvm

Edited March 27, 2018 by mental_offence

[Some Jerk]

Excellent, it's good to know there's more than one method.

One last question: is it possible to change my player name? I can type it in, but the game doesn't save it when I hit Enter. Supposedly it can be done with the on-screen keyboard, but I don't know how to enable it (it's under "Select IME" in English Bluestacks, but in this Chinese Bluestacks the IME menu just freezes before displaying anything).

Edited March 25, 2018 by Some Jerk

[Some Jerk]

I'm sorry to double-post and bother you again @mental_offence, but I now have an emergency situation. After making sure FEH worked and rerolling worked, I tried testing that "clone instance" method just to see if it would work as advertised, and ran into a much bigger problem as a result:

The game will not start. At all. Regardless of instance, regardless of Bluestacks settings, regardless of using System Restore and manually nuking Bluestacks from my files and registry and reinstalling it fresh with the exact same method. It just goes into the starting loading screen, then automatically exits before even reaching the title screen and returning to the Bluestacks screen, not even giving me an error message.

I don't know why this would happen after a clean install, save for IP blocking. Am I boned? Or is there some Virtualization wizardry I'm unaware of that's breaking FEH?

 

Detailed sequence of events that led to this:

 

• followed the installation steps for microG Bluestacks to the letter, FEH downloaded and launched with no problems
• slowly figured out how to delete the save data, began rerolling with no issues
• (there were some graphics card-related crashes that are supposedly commonplace with Bluestacks, unrelated)
• at some point between rerolls, poked around the settings to see if I could get around the "can't change nickname" issue
• couldn't fix the issue, reverted settings and continued rerolling (no issues caused from setting changes)
• after getting a reroll I was comfortable with, held off on syncing just in case and tried to clone the instance
• FEH did not copy to the cloned instance for some reason... in fact the instance overwrote the original one
• closed Bluestacks, restarted it, I had my original instance back
• this is when the issues started
• took it to a new instance (this one did keep FEH for some reason), same result
• unable to retrieve my save data or sync it in any way, decided to uninstall Bluestacks and completely delete it from my system in preparation for a reinstall (and fixed some other computer-related problems in the process, not Bluestacks or Virtual Machine-related)
• finished reinstall, but oddly Bluestacks would not finish loading with the "兼容性优先" option enabled, had to stick to the other option (this did not occur with the old Bluestacks install, even after the issues started)
• despite being a clean install, FEH still has the same issue

Edited March 26, 2018 by Some Jerk

[Turaga]

I’m trying the Chinese Bluestacks (microG) method, but after changing the first option (in the same window were we did NOT change from DirectX), my PC Blue screens because of memory management every single time I fire up Bluestacks. I’ve unchecked HyperV which seemed to be the fix for many, but not luck. Please help me out.

I tried the memu method as well, but I keep getting a “FEH has stopped working” every time.

Also, when trying to install lollipop for memu, I get an “please install memu and retry” message. I’ve installed and reinstalled memu multiple times but with no luck. HW virtualisation is enabled as well. 

 

 

Edit/update: I tried without the compatibility setting change and now I don’t get blue screened, but when I start FEH now it loads for a bit, but before getting to the title screen it just exits back to Bluestacks, no error message or anything.
I've now tried the first Chinese Bluestacks method, but after installing the .apk, I get the same issue. FEH loads for a while, I can move the in-game cursor around while the game loads, but before the title screen appears, the game just exits back to the dashboard of bluestacks.

thanks in advance!

Edited March 26, 2018 by Turaga

[Astellius]

On 3/25/2018 at 7:38 AM, Some Jerk said:

Excellent, it's good to know there's more than one method.

One last question: is it possible to change my player name? I can type it in, but the game doesn't save it when I hit Enter. Supposedly it can be done with the on-screen keyboard, but I don't know how to enable it (it's under "Select IME" in English Bluestacks, but in this Chinese Bluestacks the IME menu just freezes before displaying anything).

You will probably need to install a keyboard app like Gboard, which is what I had to do back when we could play the game on regular Bluestacks. You'd install the APK for that, and then go to Settings, Language & Input, and turn it on there.

2 hours ago, Some Jerk said:

I'm sorry to double-post and bother you again @mental_offence, but I now have an emergency situation. After making sure FEH worked and rerolling worked, I tried testing that "clone instance" method just to see if it would work as advertised, and ran into a much bigger problem as a result:

The game will not start. At all. Regardless of instance, regardless of Bluestacks settings, regardless of using System Restore and manually nuking Bluestacks from my files and registry and reinstalling it fresh with the exact same method. It just goes into the starting loading screen, then automatically exits before even reaching the title screen and returning to the Bluestacks screen, not even giving me an error message.

I don't know why this would happen after a clean install, save for IP blocking. Am I boned? Or is there some Virtualization wizardry I'm unaware of that's breaking FEH?

 

Detailed sequence of events that led to this:

  Reveal hidden contents

• followed the installation steps for microG Bluestacks to the letter, FEH downloaded and launched with no problems
• slowly figured out how to delete the save data, began rerolling with no issues
• (there were some graphics card-related crashes that are supposedly commonplace with Bluestacks, unrelated)
• at some point between rerolls, poked around the settings to see if I could get around the "can't change nickname" issue
• couldn't fix the issue, reverted settings and continued rerolling (no issues caused from setting changes)
• after getting a reroll I was comfortable with, held off on syncing just in case and tried to clone the instance
• FEH did not copy to the cloned instance for some reason... in fact the instance overwrote the original one
• closed Bluestacks, restarted it, I had my original instance back
• this is when the issues started
• took it to a new instance (this one did keep FEH for some reason), same result
• unable to retrieve my save data or sync it in any way, decided to uninstall Bluestacks and completely delete it from my system in preparation for a reinstall (and fixed some other computer-related problems in the process, not Bluestacks or Virtual Machine-related)
• finished reinstall, but oddly Bluestacks would not finish loading with the "兼容性优先" option enabled, had to stick to the other option (this did not occur with the old Bluestacks install, even after the issues started)
• despite being a clean install, FEH still has the same issue

Manually editing your computer's registry is usually a bad idea. I'd suggest trying a System Restore again, perhaps from an earlier point.

You mentioned that you had graphics card errors. Perhaps try switching the rendering method from DirectX to OpenGL? OpenGL won't look as nice, but it's supposed to be faster.

The starting and immediate closing of the app sounds similar to the behavior that I would get on other versions of Bluestacks. I'd double check to make sure you have the engine settings changed, restart Bluestacks, and see if that works.

Check to make sure that the proper compatibility engine is installed. For me, this information is obtained by clicking on the triangle on the upper right, and then selecting the last option. You should see two sets of numbers. The bottom set of numbers should be 2.5.105.6191.

32 minutes ago, Turaga said:

I’m trying the Chinese Bluestacks method, but after changing the first option (in the same window were we did NOT change from DirectX), my PC Blue screens because of memory management every single time I fire up Bluestacks. I’ve unchecked HyperV which seemed to be the fix for many, but not luck. Please help me out.

I tried the memu method as well, but I keep getting a “FEH has stopped working” every time.

 

 

Also, when trying to install lollipop for memu, I get an “please install memu and retry” message. I’ve installed and reinstalled memu multiple times but with no luck. HW virtualisation is enabled as well. 

 

 

Edit/update: I tried without the compatibility setting change and now I don’t get blue screened, but when I start FEH now it loads for a bit, but before getting to the title screen it just exits back to Bluestacks, no error message or anything.

thanks in advance!

FEH only runs with the compatibility engine, so that's a necessary change.

Do you use Avast as your antivirus program?

[Turaga]

Thanks for the quick answer! No I only run the default Windows Defender. I'll try disabling it for a moment and see if the compatibility engine works then.

 

edit: blue screened again, with AV turned off. Damn.. any other suggestions?

Edited March 26, 2018 by Turaga

[Some Jerk]

@Astellius Don't worry, I'm savvy enough with Windows to alter the registry and not crash my computer, and I backed it up just in case. The System Restore point I used was also from before I installed Bluestacks (in fact I made a restore point before altering anything for installing Bluestacks for this sort of problem).

Switching between DirectX and OpenGL didn't have any noticeable effect. I did that when FEH was still working in an effort to get around the crashes (which didn't work, for the record). They don't seem to affect the game's startup, and the crashes could even happen when Bluestacks was idle. (It hasn't happened since the reinstall, though I haven't been able to play FEH to dry run it, of course.)

The BluestacksCN version is indeed 2.5.105.6191. I also copypasted the engine files from the .zip folder as per the instructions. The only thing different from the first installation is that I can't use that second option in that menu:

 

Trying to use the second option now makes Bluestacks never finish loading. This didn't happen with the first install even after FEH stopped working, so I have little idea of what is causing this.

You mentioned Avast! though, and while Turaga isn't using it, I am. I will try disabling Hardware Virtualization on Avast! and HyperV in Windows options (if my 8.1 even has it). I'll post again after I've investigated it.

On a lighter note, this fiasco got me to try the MEmu option, which I'm pleased to report does not have this issue and actually runs the game... though with a few bugs. The gameplay hiccups constantly, and the in-game videos (like the intro and special summons) don't play and give a brief error message before skipping it. These things didn't happen in Bluestacks, so I'm positive it isn't a hardware issue, though increasing the CPU Cores/Memory didn't improve it and DirectX causes MEmu to fail when launching (OpenGL does not). It's playable, though a bit immersion-breaking.

Edited March 27, 2018 by Some Jerk