BLueStacks is slow: how to optimize the emulator?

When using an emulator, it is very important that there are no brakes or lags. Of course - after all, games are launched through it, in which every second delay can be critically important. And it’s simply uncomfortable to use the program when it constantly slows down. A similar situation can also happen with the Bluestacks emulator. It may begin to slow down - and the reason for this is a variety of factors. In this article we will describe them, and also tell you how to speed up Bluestax and configure it so that nothing lags.

Bluestacks 5 offers better performance compared to the previous version.

How to improve Nox emulator performance?

Select Switchable Graphics Application Settings. Find Nox

App Player and set its graphics to "High
Performance
". Click the "Apply" button. And everything is ready!

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Where to download the emulator

The BlueStacks 4 emulator has its own website, where the program can be downloaded completely free - https://www.bluestacks.com/. There is a large download button on the main page. Here you can download the latest Bluestacks on your Windows 7 PC. Users choose this application for several reasons:

• The emulator perfectly supports any, even new gamepads;
• Simple user interface, reminiscent of a regular Internet browser;
• Support for Android application icons on the Windows desktop;
• Internal user reward system.

  
  Home page of the Bluestax website

You can also add that it has been completely translated into Russian, which is also important. There are other emulators for games, for example, MEmu, Nox App Plyaer. For comparison, you can install several on your PC. And conduct independent testing to determine the best emulator.

How to set up BlueStacks for games

Next, go to the settings of the Bluestax program. To open them, you need to run the emulator. Then click on the gear button in the top panel.

Opening Bluestacks settings

And select Settings . The first setting item is the screen. Here we need to select the resolution of our screen by selecting Select size .

Screen Resolution Settings

This parameter controls how the game will be displayed on the screen: full screen or not.

The DPI parameter is responsible for the number of pixels per inch. Simply put, if you have a powerful PC, set the maximum value: 320. And vice versa, if the PC is at the office level, 160 DPI should be set. You can navigate by the system requirements, which you can find out about in the section below.

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Graphics settings in BlueStacks

Select Engine on the left in the settings menu . This window has more influence than others on Bluestacks optimization in games.

• The first settings item is Graphics Mode . There are two points here: OpenGL and DirectX . Their detailed description is the topic of a separate article. We can only say that if problems arise with games (crashes, severe freezes), you can switch them. Thereby checking whether it was possible to get rid of the problems. Leave this value as is;
• Use an advanced engine - this item is currently still being tested. If you have a powerful computer configuration, you can check this box;
• Use a discrete graphics card — if your PC has a separate video card installed, check this box;

  
  Performance tuning in Bluestacks

• Quick Settings — this setting contains ready-made parameters for your PC. If at least one of the ready-made presets is suitable, you can select it here. And restart the emulator for the settings to take effect;

  
  Bluestacks quick graphics settings

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• Cores - the item is responsible for the number of cores used by BlueStacks (emulator). Select all available kernels here;
• Memory ( MB) - an item responsible for the amount of RAM that the emulator will use. Set the maximum possible value (slider as far to the right as possible);
• Frame rate - this setting controls the number of frames per second displayed. The more there are, the smoother and better quality the picture in Android games. You always want to increase this value to the maximum. But this should only be done if the PC is powerful enough. If the game starts to slow down, then FPS needs to be reduced. Don't be afraid to experiment, change the meaning of this item;
• Enable high frame rate — by default, Bluestax displays the maximum allowed amount of 60 FPS. But if we select this item, we can select up to 240 FPS. If, of course, your PC can handle this value.

  
  Setting frame rate (FPS) in BlueStacks

The last item is Show the FPS in games. It is needed to display the numerical value of FPS in the window directly during the game. It is often used when you need to see what a video card is capable of. For any BlueStacks settings to take effect, you must click on the Restart .

Update drivers and platforms

Finally, take the time to check that your graphics adapter and .NET Framework drivers are up to date. It is not recommended to update the graphics chip's control software through Device Manager, since Windows usually reports that the most suitable driver is already installed in the system. It is best to use automatic search programs like Driver Booster or DriverPack Solution Online. The platform installer can be downloaded directly from the official Microsoft website, then run it as an administrator and wait for the required components to be integrated into the system. A reboot, as in previous cases, will be required.

How to speed up games in Bluestacks

Optimizing the BlueStacks emulator starts with your computer or laptop. Make sure there are no viruses in it. To do this, use one-time scanning utilities from well-known developers (Kaspersky, Dr.WEB, etc.). If antivirus programs are active on your PC, disable them for a while or session.

Official website Dr.WEB

Although such popular antiviruses as Avast, Kaspersky, AVG add emulators to the white list, they closely monitor them. These observations result in game delays. Instructions for disabling them can be found on the official website of the antivirus developer. Information useful to us (links to instructions) is located at this address.

BlueStacks 4: testing on weak hardware + developer comments

This is what last year’s review of BlueStacks 3 looks like in the emulator environment, in mobile Chrome.
I reviewed previous versions of BlueStacks, so I couldn’t pass by the “four” that came out in October. Moreover, there are actually a lot of changes promised by the developers.

This material will contain not only an analysis of the functionality of BlueStacks 4, but also first-hand information - the company’s service station Suman Saraf answered several of my questions, revealing some of the features of the platform.

Part 1. First-hand review

I run the emulator on Sony Vaio with the following characteristics:

• RAM – 8 GB DDR 3;
• processor - Intel Pentium 2020m 2.4 GHz;
• graphics – Intel HD 4000;
• storage – SSD 128 GB;
• OS - Windows 10, 64-bit version;
• Laptop model: Sony Vaio sve171e13v.

Like last time, let's see how the new version copes with the game Fallout Shelter on my not-so-new hardware.
Every year this laptop becomes more and more obsolete, although most of the software behaves normally and there are no special brakes or lags. At the same time, I’ll try to install Wallapop again - a Spanish mobile “buy and sell” application, something like Avito. With the previous version of the emulator, this program worked so-so: it periodically crashed and became glitchy. At that time, the application was crude, and some glitches were due to flaws in the program itself. Now Wallapop works smoothly on any platform, so there shouldn’t seem to be any problems.

Installation and configuration

The installation went without any problems, the software was installed in a minute and a half.

Immediately after installation, the emulator reported that it did not have enough RAM and suggested closing some applications. Not much was launched: Slack, Skype, Firefox with five tabs, desktop Whatsapp and OneNote. I closed Skype and Firefox, since it is the latter that eats up most of the free memory. After restarting the emulator there was no message about lack of RAM.

After installation, the program began to strongly recommend speeding up BlueStacks using VT-x virtualization. This can be done in the BIOS by enabling the appropriate option.

I relaunched Firefox, it updated immediately, but the problem did not recur. We begin setting up the “smartphone”.

Ok, Google, enter the required test account information.

After Google verified the data, BlueStacks reported that it was ready to go. The main program window appears.

There are many settings: you can choose the configuration you need. There is even a quick hide function using the Ctrl+Alt+any button combination. It allows you to instantly hide or return a program.

If necessary, you can create a local or cloud backup of your settings.

Interface

This center breaks down the most popular apps by category. In the first place, of course, are games - in many cases, an emulator is installed just to play on a PC, not a smartphone.

On the next tab, BlueStacks World is available, a social system inside BlueStacks that allows you to collect special cards for active play and exchange them with other players, the BlueStacks Store with the ability to exchange points received for using the platform for premium subscriptions and products from the BlueStacks Pro Gamer series: mice , keyboards, and so on. Where does such an auction of unprecedented generosity come from? They explained to me that this increases audience retention, which is important for a platform that makes money from advertising. More users means more views or clicks on advertising, higher company income. It's simple.

This is what BlueStacks World looks like (“the account has already been upgraded, I took the screenshot from the Internet)

Compared to the previous version, the button configurator has been significantly improved. It allows you to quickly set up keyboard and mouse controls.

Structure and performance

The emulator runs on Android N, and according to the developers, it is 6 times faster than the most powerful Android smartphone. I downloaded AnTuTu and checked: it turned out weak, but, as I said, my hardware is low-power. The same iPhone 8 Plus easily plays video in 4k, but my laptop refuses to do the same.

51st place is also worthy

BlueStacks developers claim that in the new version of the emulator, almost all processes are unified, which reduces the expenditure of resources on inter-process communication. In previous versions, some processes were isolated, including those that worked with massive amounts of graphic information (textures). This led to resource leakage for interprocess communication. After unification, some games began to run much faster, and the platform's performance increased many times over.

There are two versions of BlueStacks 4: paid and free. The paid version has no ads and has premium support.

Recommended System Requirements

• OS: Microsoft Windows 10.
• Processor: Intel or AMD Multi-Core (PassMark greater than 1000) or more powerful processor with virtualization enabled in BIOS.
• Video card: Intel/Nvidia/ATI, integrated or discrete (PassMark greater than or equal to 750). Follow this link to view the Passmark quantity for your video card.
• RAM: 6GB or more.
• HDD: SSD (or hybrid).
• Network: Broadband.
• Current video card drivers from the chipset manufacturer or Microsoft.

Radioactive wasteland nearby - Fallout Shelter test
But let's return to test applications. We look for Fallout Shelter and find it.

Hurray, everything starts up and works, sound is also available.

Yes, she chose me as the caretaker of the shelter. This is good news, because winter is coming... Nuclear winter.

Everything is working, the shelter is being built, energy is being generated.

Let's look at what we have in the task manager. And there the load on the processor is even less than last year.

PC Boot - 2022 Data

PC Boot - 2022 Data

By the way, you can play either in full screen mode or in a separate window.

Wallapop app test

Now let's try to install Wallapop, which behaved poorly when working with BlueStacks 3 last year.

After a couple of minutes of working in this program, nothing crashed or glitched, so last year’s problem went away.

The emulator interface seemed convenient and user-friendly to me. Settings for BlueStacks, Android and some others are located “within walking distance,” so to speak.

You can install the program for Android as usual - via Google Play - or select the .apk package and install it. BlueStacks 4 also has an application center of its own “design”, in this the new version is no different from the previous one.

Reading last year's review of Habr in the Habra application on an emulator

The third application that I tried on the emulator is the Habrahabr app.

Everything loaded quickly and I was pleased with the information that there were no advertisements in the application. It worked quite well too. The screenshot in the announcement was taken in the emulator environment.

Conclusion? It seems to me that BlueStacks 4 is suitable for gamers who like mobile games, but want more convenience (a large screen, a normal mouse and keyboard, that’s all), and for developers who need to test their software on Android with different hardware configurations "

Alternative emulators

In addition to BlueStacks, there are other platforms that emulate Android on PC, here are the most famous:
Nox App Player

is a minimalistic Android emulator in which you can install and uninstall applications, enable root access, and change the size and orientation of the window. The problem is that many games here launch with errors; there are fewer problems with applications.

Memu

- a gaming emulator, where the developers have provided a specialized keyboard and gamepad emulation. The connection with Windows also works - files can be transferred from the emulator to the PC and back. There is also a Root mode.

Koplayer

— its advantage is that you can customize the keyboard layout for each game separately. You can work with both a mouse and a gamepad.

Genymotion

— the platform allows you to emulate a large number of Android devices with real characteristics, both flagships and budget ones. Only BlueStacks 4 can be called a universal combine - other emulators have certain specifics for which they are “tailored”.

Part 2. Mini-interview with service station

What do you find most remarkable about the new version of the emulator?

On average, the emulator's performance increased by 30%. In addition, the virtualization platform has been updated, input/output mechanisms, guest emulation and other aspects have been improved.

We have improved and redesigned almost all keyboard controls and improved mapping. To do this, it was necessary to reflow the entire input stack to minimize latency and some other problems. As a result, emulated input mechanisms for Android applications are almost “native”.

Can BlueStacks 4 be useful for developers?

Yes, it is quite. Android developers can use the emulator as a test environment to test their applications without additional devices. This helps speed up the development process, shortens the testing cycle, plus developers in a relatively short time can test the application in an environment with different characteristics: display resolution, RAM, main memory size and processor resources.

Game publishers using the platform can interact with hardcore gamers who use BlueStacks 4 as a gaming platform. By the way, the emulator is suitable for gamers because there is no need to worry about battery life, device overheating and other similar things.

Many large companies work with us, for example, MSI - they offer their users an application for playing mobile games on a PC, and starting this year it is installed on every MSI gaming laptop.

What challenges did you encounter during the development process?

There was not enough time to introduce some innovations that will have to be postponed until the next release. We are developing the new functionality using feedback, comments and wishes from BlueStacks users.

We group reviews and work on separate categories that include similar offers. But there are so many wishes and proposals that it is impossible to implement all this at the same time. If only because we are a relatively small company with limited resources.

Okay, how many developers are on the team?

About 80 people. These are programmers, testers, support. There are also sales managers, content managers, and marketers. Total - about 180 people. Everything is as usual.

I note that different teams are working on different tasks. Porting Android is one team, Hypervisor and virtualization is the second. Graphics, application compatibility, UI - all these are different teams. Of course, people from different teams are in touch with each other all the time, combining the results of their work.

What about protecting user data?

Indeed, on Habré they once discussed the issue of data security for BlueStacks users. In fact, user privacy is a top priority when working with BlueStacks. We do not provide access to data to anyone, and we support the European law on personal data storage - GDPR.

Regarding the above comment on the link, the problem that is discussed in it has a fairly simple explanation. The fact is that we use the HTTP protocol to provide communication between our Android and Windows components. HDPlayer.exe redirects Android game traffic, which explains the connection to numerous Internet addresses.

Also, another point that is mentioned in the comment has to do with the old implementation of the Shared Clipboard feature. It allows the clipboard to work in both Windows and Android. There were some bugs in that implementation and we used a different scheme, removing problem areas, even when BlueStacks was released more than three years ago. We came across the security of personal data when studying alternative emulators. The policy for using user data is not transparent for many companies; once we even encountered the problem of mining on a user’s PC with one of the emulators developed by a Chinese team.

If you have questions, ask them in the comments - I will pass them on to the developers. We will not receive answers immediately, but we will try to do everything quickly.

Why is BlueStacks slow?

To get started, just look at the configuration of your PC or laptop. The list of system requirements for the emulator itself states that for its normal operation, a minimum of about 1 GB of RAM is required in combination with an average 2-core processor with an operating frequency of 2.2 GHz. Even if your configuration meets this minimum, it’s too early to rejoice, because some of the resources are consumed by both Windows and other programs that are active at a certain moment. This load causes BlueStacks to slow down.

If you do not take into account the system requirements, other reasons for this behavior of the emulator include the following:

• conflicts between the program and antivirus software;
• inflated settings of the application itself (especially in terms of setting video resolution parameters);
• outdated video card drivers and versions of additional platforms.

BlueStacks System Requirements

Now let's look at computers with what minimum configuration are suitable for BlueStacks.

• Hard disk space – from 5 GB;
• Processor - any;
• Windows - can be installed on OS version 7 and higher;
• The minimum amount of RAM is 2 GB;
• Any video adapter that supports DirectX 9 or higher.

  
  Bluestacks minimum system requirements

These parameters on the computer are only necessary so that Bluestax can run on it. But for BlueStacks to be optimized for gaming, your PC must meet the recommended requirements:

• Stable Internet with broadband access;
• System - Windows 10;
• Hard drive - SSD (flash memory);
• A processor that scores more than 1000 points in the PassMark test;
• A video card that scores over 750 on PassMark;
• RAM - 8 GB or more.

These parameters of your computer will allow you to unlock the maximum potential in games on BlueStacks. Feel free to adjust any parameters in the Bluestacks settings as an experiment. You cannot harm your computer with them.