How to play FEH on PC (Windows only)

[Some Jerk]

Back from my foray, I do not have Hyper-V (on account of my 8.1 being the bog standard version, not Pro or Enterprise), and disabling Hardware Virtualization in Avast! did not induce any changes in Bluestacks or MEmu. I'm afraid I'm out of ideas.

[Astellius]

3 hours ago, Turaga said:

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?

Hm, I'm not familiar with the problem, so I'm afraid I'm not really much help in troubleshooting the problem. I'm basically looking around on the internet for other causes of the blue error screen. Do you have a program called Daemon Tools? I see that's mentioned as a problem elsewhere. But I can only search and guess, which really isn't an effective way of troubleshooting.

You could potentially try troubleshooting the blue screen of death here. That comes with the caveat that I haven't actually used that forum, but, looking through it, some of the people there seem pretty competent at analyzing blue screen crashes. Sorry that I can't be of more help here!

3 hours ago, Some Jerk said:

@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:

  Reveal hidden contents

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.

1 hour ago, Some Jerk said:

Back from my foray, I do not have Hyper-V (on account of my 8.1 being the bog standard version, not Pro or Enterprise), and disabling Hardware Virtualization in Avast! did not induce any changes in Bluestacks or MEmu. I'm afraid I'm out of ideas.

Yeah, you need to switch to the second option on the engine settings, otherwise it won't work. I don't really have any other ideas myself, except maybe to try it without MicroG? I don't know if that would do anything. At least you got the Memu option to work, so that's something at least!

[Some Jerk]

Trying to install non-microG Bluestacks ended up immediately crashing Bluestacks when it tried to do something related to Chinese Google on the first startup. So that's a no-go.

I got this notification from microG Bluestacks though, not sure if relevant:

Sadly I can't read Chinese, so I don't know what any of this is about. All I know is that everything was working fine before until I tried to create a clone instance of microG Bluestacks before, and then it will have an infinite loading screen with the Compatibility option checked despite System Restoring and reinstalling. Nothing else is frozen on the emulator, just the place where I'd select Apps. (Something else I noticed was that clicking the buttons @mental_offence told me to click for cloning gave me a notification with "4G" in it and increased to "6G" and "8G" with consecutive presses, not sure if relevant.)

For lack of any other inspirations, I guess I'll be sticking to MEmu for the foreseeable future.

Edited March 27, 2018 by Some Jerk

[mental_offence]

Apparently, trying to create a new instance automatically sets bluestacks to "performance" mode, which is no good since FEH won't work like that.

@Some Jerk, I know you already tried that, but you should once again uninstall bluestacks and then manually delete these folders if they still exist: C:\Program Files (x86)\BluestacksCN and C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\BluestacksCN, and after that try installing bluestacks again.

Sorry for the trouble, but at this point I'm out of options.

[Some Jerk]

Ugh. It never even occurred to me to check if the engine settings had been reverted, I was tunnel-visioned on DirectX/OpenGL being the problem.

And yeah, I've been manually removing any folders that were left behind when Bluestacks uninstalled, so that isn't the issue. It's a damn shame Bluestacks is no longer cooperating despite Compatibility mode in the engine working before. I feel like the fix is something simple and dumb that we're not seeing.

Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. I'll stick to MEmu for now and see what options can be tweaked to improve the choppiness/video issues.

Thanks for all the help!

Edited March 27, 2018 by Some Jerk

[Nic]

Hello guys, I want to ask something about Memu. I'm really happy using it but I feel it uses a lot of resources of my rig, what are the minimum configuration to use FEH in it? or do you recommend something?

Thank you!

[mental_offence]

19 hours ago, GNoMe said:

Hello guys, I want to ask something about Memu. I'm really happy using it but I feel it uses a lot of resources of my rig, what are the minimum configuration to use FEH in it? or do you recommend something?

Thank you!

All you can do is to lower allocated ram to 1024 and set 1 cpu core in memu settings. You could also lower the resolution, but I don't think it will help you much.

[Selena4Lyfe]

Oh mah gawd, after a week of finagling, I tried the MicroG method, and it works!  I get to experience emulated FEH for the first time!  Granted, I can only play with animations turned off, as my graphics card throttles during animated fights, but it works!  Thanks M_O Dude!

Edited March 29, 2018 by Selena4Lyfe

[mental_offence]

I was able to launch FEH without crashing upon launching (though I got 803-3001 soon enough) on latest beta of international version of BlueStacks, which you can download here. In my case it worked only using OpenGL and without that experimental driver in settings.

Try it for yourself and write the results here, if possible. In the end I may replace chinese bluestacks with this one in the topic, although I'm pretty sure IS will fix FEH being playable on this bluestacks quite soon.

You should try it too, @Some Jerk.

Edited March 30, 2018 by mental_offence

[backslashRob]

I made an account just to say this - but the recent mention of Avast in this thread helped me fix my problem!

Previously I had FEH running smoothly on MEmu for a long while, then somewhere along the line the entire emulator became very slow even outside the game. It's been like a month of trying to fix MEmu and trying Bluestacks, but finally MEmu is running smoothly again after going into Avast and turning off "hardware-assisted virtualization" under "Troubleshoot" in settings

Unfortunately because of this downtime I didn't autobattle the Tempest Trials like I used to and missed out on a lot of orbs

Edited March 30, 2018 by backslashRob

[Some Jerk]

Just poking my head in now that I've got a reroll I'm keeping, I just have a couple more paranoiac questions before I sync this MEmu instance to Nintendo.

1) Is it really as simple as opening the game in the instance and linking right away? There won't be any issues with needing Google Apps to sync or anything?
2) Can my FEH nickname be changed after I sync to the Nintendo account?

[mental_offence]

1 hour ago, Some Jerk said:

Just poking my head in now that I've got a reroll I'm keeping, I just have a couple more paranoiac questions before I sync this MEmu instance to Nintendo.

1) Is it really as simple as opening the game in the instance and linking right away? There won't be any issues with needing Google Apps to sync or anything?
2) Can my FEH nickname be changed after I sync to the Nintendo account?

1) Pretty much. Google apps are not required for linking to nintendo account.
2) Yes, you can change your name unlimited number of times, there's no limit for that.

[Some Jerk]

2 hours ago, mental_offence said:

1) Pretty much. Google apps are not required for linking to nintendo account.
2) Yes, you can change your name unlimited number of times, there's no limit for that.

Done and done. Thanks for answering, @mental_offence.

Meanwhile, I did the favor you asked and tested that new BlueStacks. Here's a rundown of my experience:

• BlueStacks' emulated platform would not let me skip linking my Google account on startup. Not sure if this is true of all conventional Android phones, but it's annoying.
• For those wondering, OpenGL is enabled and the experimental driver is disabled upon installation. No need to change them unless those options themselves are giving you issues.
• Fire Emblem: Heroes was not listed in the Google Play Store for some reason, and digging in BlueStacks' "Apps" menu told me that the game is incompatible. This is a lie. I fetched the version 2.3 .apk off of APKMirror and it installed perfectly fine.
• The game runs! Smoothly! It fully updated without incident, and I even got to purchase the Starter Pack off of the shop. (This purchase carried over to MEmu, for the curious/wary, which I could not purchase from due to the frozen Google apps. I also got error 803-3021 from trying to purchase on MEmu after unfreezing some apps, not sure why. Maybe I missed some crucial ones?)
• The fun was short-lived, as the 803-3001 error struck before I could even open my Starter Pack gifts in the mail. (But I could grab them in MEmu! Praise account sync!)

Edited March 30, 2018 by Some Jerk

[mental_offence]

@Some Jerk Thanks for testing.

To avoid 803-3001 you'd normally have to disable all google related apps, but apparently for some reason in this bluestacks it's impossible to disable Google Services Framework, the option to do so is grayed out. Also there's no root since it's a beta, so this bluestacks can't replace chinese bluestacks for playing FEH, alteast for now.

[Some Jerk]

If I recall correctly, the Google Services Framework requires some root wizardry to disable, so it would probably be worth looking into when the stable version of this beta comes out. By that point we'll probably know if FEH is still working in that build too.

If nothing else, it's an Orb-buying option for those of us (like me) who don't want to mess with MEmu's options.

[SuperSmash]

Hi everyone ! 

I tried the Chinese BlueStacks (microG) method but after settings changes and Bluestacks restart, a BSOD appear :/

Now everytime I try to launch BlueStacks, I got the same bluscreen with "Memory management" issue.

Any idea ? 

[mampfoid]

Memu works well so far on my new PC, thanks @mental_offence! 

I wanted to record some videos of gameplay because my Adnroid phone doesn't let me record videos with sound. The inbuilt Memu recorder also doesn't record sound as far as I understood. Additionally the recorded videos show some ugly artifacts on the left side of the screen. 

@Zeo As far as I understood, you did record your videos on a PC. What Software do you use? Also to dub them with music? 

[Zeo]

10 hours ago, mampfoid said:

@Zeo As far as I understood, you did record your videos on a PC. What Software do you use? Also to dub them with music? 

I use Camtasia Recorder to record on PC (with game audio but no music) then I edit the file (and add music) in Camtasia Studio. Maybe @mcsilas or @Hilda use more easily accessible tools for editing. Camtasia does cost money. 

[mcsilas]

42 minutes ago, Zeo said:

I use Camtasia Recorder to record on PC (with game audio but no music) then I edit the file (and add music) in Camtasia Studio. Maybe @mcsilas or @Hilda use more easily accessible tools for editing. Camtasia does cost money. 

@mampfoid sorry i use Mac so i don’t know of any PC specific suggestions that are available these days

i do use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit my videos but that’s part of my work. At least it’s available on both platforms although you have to get a specific version depending on your OS. And can be costly although for short term you can use a trial I guess.

For recording I used to use Quicktime Player as I attach my device on the mac. There’s an option called New Screen Recording that lets me do it- i don’t know if there is a Windows-friendly version of Quicktime and if it has that option. Now i just record off my phone after i finally upgraded to the latest iOs.

wouldn’t Android have screen recording apps available in the store?

Edited April 5, 2018 by mcsilas

[mampfoid]

@mcsilas @Zeo Thanks for the replies. Camtasia and Premiere are professional tools which require a too big investment for me.

23 hours ago, mcsilas said:

wouldn’t Android have screen recording apps available in the store?

I'm using a nice App called AZ Screen Recorder, which comes even with a simple Editor. The developer says Android can't record in-app sounds per design by a google policy. 

I thought using an emulator would give me more options, but Memu doesn't record sound with its in-built tool either. That means I'll have to find a simple Windows tool or an addon for Memu. 

/Edit: If anyone is interested: Windows 10 got an integrated recording function called Game DVR, just open the application with "WIN + G". (Even if it has the XBox logo everywhere, no account is needed)

https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-on-windows/social/record-game-clips-game-dvr-windows-10

/Edit2: Also a simple Editor comes with Windows 10: 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4051785/windows-10-create-or-edit-video

My only remaining problem is that I can't hide Memus title bar without fullscreen mode (which changes the ratio of the video to 16:9). 

Edited April 6, 2018 by mampfoid

[Some Jerk]

I have a question regarding the new game version coming out. Are we able to update the game version if Google services are frozen? Or will we have to wait until the .apk of v2.4-or-whatever is downloadable elsewhere?

[Warsteiner]

apkpure apkmirror etc

[mental_offence]

New update is out! I've updated links for MEmu.

Those who already have installed memu/bluestacks with freezed gapps - download and install 2.4 apk.

Those who have bluestacks with microG - just download update from Play Store.

[ZeBlueSlip]

Is it possible to run MEmu in performance mode (directx) ? Whenever I try, it will restart and load indefinitely. Compatible mode (OpenGL) is working flawlessly.

The reason is I want to run two instances at the same time and it gets a bit slow. Thanks everyone for all the hard work !

Edited April 10, 2018 by ZeBlueSlip

[mental_offence]

2 hours ago, ZeBlueSlip said:

Is it possible to run MEmu in performance mode (directx) ? Whenever I try, it will restart and load indefinitely. Compatible mode (OpenGL) is working flawlessly.

I've just tried directx and it does exactly the same thing - it loads and stops at 99%. I guess it just doesn't work.