Android games from Hyperspin with Andy OS

[CitrikElektrik]

Hi guys,

I didn't found anything on Android games with Andy OS. I saw there's a bluestacks module for Rocketlauncher but since I'm not fond of this emulator, i tried to figure out what how launch games with Andy OS.

Since I don't want to reinvent something already existing, I would appreciate to know if someone already achieved this and the way to do it. ;-)

For now, I am able to launch Andy from a batch with a specific game on startup (with an awful workaround ^^), launch the shutdown of Android when the game is closed but the shutdown never happens. Andy freezes and I have to quit it manually.

I asked support on this issue to Andy's team on Facebook but if I don't get a conclusive answer, I will try to find a workaround with adb commands or virtualbox tools.

What I set up so far :

- install Andy 0.44

- root it with rootkit4

- install the apps I want to launch from HS

- install Automateit to perform automatic action on application's closure (shutdown by now but as explained earlier it fails)

- install autostart and stay! to launch the application I selected on HS at boot.

This is the dirty part. To select an application to launch on startup :

- I launch Andy,

- I select the first application in autostart and stay!

- I shutdown Andy,

- I copy the data disk file of the VM somewhere else (stored in the user profile under .virtualbox)

- I repeat each steps for every application/games I want to launch from HS.

The script I will use grabs the name provided by HS, replaces the current data disk with the proper one then launches andy.exe (start /W andy.exe).

Pros :

- a full virtualized Android system with the 3rd party tools you need,

- resolution settings to run it on your cab,

Cons :

- longer to boot than bluestacks,

- copies of the data disk are heavy (really heavy)

- you may have your game datas on separate data disk files. Boring if you use Andy outside HS.

I will try to find a workaround for those last two misdraws and of course the shutdown problem.

Let me know if this method is what you are looking for.

[SIMPLYAUSTIN]

I was looking into this a while back.  Bluestacks was the best and to be honest it was awsome.  But then they decided to make it a paid app and now it does not work how it should or did when it was started.  Not nice with Hyperspin.

 

Andy is good, but it needs work.  I aint touched it in months so it may have had some updates.  I know it was a bitch just to get it to load straight to a game and just exit, whch is what I want it for.

 

I was in talks with a new emulator dev.  the way interested in making a Android app for windows.  They asked if I could advise and help and I was more than happy as I felt it then could be molded to be used easily with any frontend.  However, they are deciding to go for the Linux version first... bluuuurgh.  So it may be some time now if ever if they actually get back onto it for Windows. 

 

Be nice to see how this develops and others feedback.  Android is a great system for emulation but since the paid Bluestacks I just removed it due to issues.

[CitrikElektrik]

Hi Austin,

Bluestacks seemed to be easier to handle with HS but they added a lot of shit and give very poor control over the system.

On the other hand, Andy is a complete Android System but seems to offer very limited interactions with the hosting system. Because of the virtualbox environment I think.

I will let you know how I progress but there is no reason it fails even if the result might be complicated. I hope it will help the guys who desperatly need to launch Android games from HS until a good emulator with CLI support appears. ;-)

[CitrikElektrik]

I made some progress yesterday.

Andy support told me the shutdown is still not implemented yet. So i setup a workaround. There is a default shared directory in /sdcard/Shared/Andy.

I use this to communicate informations between my script on Windows and Android.

I also discovered that Andy creates a shortcut in the start menu for each apk you install. It points to a file with an ".andy" extension. This file is very simple. It could make the app selection far easier as Andy launches the shortcut's app on startup but :

- andy.exe does not take any parameters, even the full path of the .andy file,

- only solution is : call "full path to the .lnk (the shortcut) which will run Andy if .andy files are properly associated with andy.exe,

- it is still very buggy as the selected app do not start successfully each time. There a error message displayed but didn't have time to read it.

To notice the startup script that the game were closed, I use AutomateIt like before but since the shutdown command doesn't work, I add the AutomateIt pluggin for shell command. I launch : touch /sdcard/Shared/Andy/gamestop

Once the script see the file exists, it kills andy.exe (taskkill /IM andy.exe /F)

I launched the script outside HS and it worked pretty well.

When launch from HS, the game is launched but it seems the script exits after the call command. I met this kind of problem before and launching the call throught a "start" command should fix this.

Now I have to fix the game startup and we will have something almost decent.

[brolly]

I never used Andy, but if you can launch an app from a shortcut via the start menu directly then you can also do it from AHK, that's granted there's no need to launch the shortcut you can easily replicate that in the module code. Reading you're using stuff like AutomateIt doesn't sound like you are trying to create a module though, but just trying to get some hacked way to get the games to launch.

 

Also if AndyOS uses VirtualBox then can't you just use vboxmanage to start/shutdown the VM?

 

Last time I checked BlueStacks and Andy compatibility was pretty poor and neither supported ARM v7 which means a lot of games wouldn't work. This might be a better alternative:

http://www.amiduos.com/

 

Again never tested it and the latest version isn't free, but it claims to have ARM v7 support. Might be worth checking it out if you're into Android emulation.

[CitrikElektrik]

Hi Brolly,

Andy's interface with the host is currently too poor to do the job without implementing something into Android. As I said earlier, this is quite ugly but it could work. However, this initiative of mine must not be taken as a project to produce a clean module. It is just a convenient workaround until Andy fixes what needs to be done and implement CLI.

For now, it still complicated even with the Virtual Box tools.

I don't know the other emulator you mention. I will take a look.