Bannerlator 2.8.1

   

🎉 Milestone — Bannerlator has now passed 300,000 downloads. Thank you, every single one of you. 🎉

📋 Read the full detailed changelog → — every change and addition since 2.8, explained in depth.

Bannerlator 2.8.1

Run Windows apps and games on Android — no PC and no root required.

2.8.1 is a big catch-up release — it puts into your hands everything merged since 2.8 while the Virtual Controller Pro update finished baking. Headliners: a new Fusion performance HUD (a fourth in-game overlay with five sizes, per-metric chips and real graphics-API detection), cross-vendor HUD metrics that finally read GPU / thermal / VRAM on Mali · PowerVR · Xclipse · MediaTek · Exynos — not just Adreno, much smarter Community Configs (match by Steam appId, and a shared config now restores your whole setup — HUD, motion-aim, vibration, startup services and more), driver-source management, custom per-service startup, in-game refresh-rate unlock, Smart Game Import, and a File Manager overhaul. The Virtual Controller Pro update (PR #156) is finishing its final fixes and lands in 2.9 in the coming days — 2.8.1 gets everything else to you now instead of leaving it to pile up. Like always it's entirely app-side — no ImageFS reinstall — your containers, themes, custom accent and per-game settings all carry over untouched. Just install over 2.8.

⚠️ Testing a 2.9 pre-release (2.9-pre1 / 2 / 3 / 4)? Read this before updating.

These pre-releases carried the Virtual Controller Pro update (PR #156) that you've been testing. 2.8.1 does NOT include it — so updating to 2.8.1 will remove your Virtual Controller Pro setups / profiles.

If you want to keep those controller settings, do NOT update to 2.8.1. Stay on your pre-release and wait for the coming 2.9 release (landing in the next few days), which brings Virtual Controller Pro back — finalized. Everyone else can update freely.

✨ Full feature list — click to expand everything Bannerlator offers

Everything the app offers, at a glance.

🍷 Windows compatibility

• Wine — run native Win32/Win64 apps & games.
• Box64 / Box86 x86(-64)→ARM translation with performance presets.
• WOWBox64 for arm64ec containers.
• FEXCore alt x86/x64 backend, with automatic unixlib (.so) matching per version.
• arm64ec and x64 container support.

🎨 Graphics & translation layers

• 📖 Which wrapper/driver for my device? →
• DXVK (DX8/9/10/11→Vulkan; GPLAsync & Sarek variants).
• VKD3D-Proton (DX12→Vulkan).
• WineD3D / DirectDraw OpenGL fallback for older titles.
• Proton bionic layers (via GameNative) — Proton 11.0-1 & Proton 10.0-4 (arm64ec; FEX-unixlib + fast-yield), per-SDK (28 / 35).
• VEGAS — Adreno-optimized DXVK (less stutter, real-time upscaling).
• Turnip / Mesa Adreno drivers (+timeline-semaphore patches), bundled and installable.
• Wrapper Version Manager — bring your own graphics wrapper (.tzst): import / update / delete, a curated downloadable catalog from across the Winlator family, and auto-detected settings for every wrapper.
• Driver-source management (new) — add / remove / toggle your own adrenotools driver feeds; the built-in MTR / WinNative Drivers list combines MTR + WinNative-Emu releases and auto-updates.
• BCn transcoding for Mali / Xclipse — "Wrapper + bcn_layer" driver + BCn settings panel.
• Mali DX12 (experimental) — opt-in "Wrapper + compat + bcn" driver (leegao BCn + DX12 compat layer) with a GameNative-engine toggle, for Valhall-class Mali.

🖥️ Renderers

• Vulkan / OpenGL / SurfaceFlinger / VirGL host renderers.
• SurfaceFlinger colour fix — R/B-swap + crash fix, per-container/game toggle.
• Native Rendering (Low-Latency Mode) — direct-scanout, cuts input lag (Vulkan & OpenGL).
• Spatial upscalers — SGSR, FSR / FSR-Fit, NIS, Sharpen (RCAS), Linear / Nearest; live in-game, saved per game.
• Fullscreen aspect modes — Off / Fit / Stretch / Fill / Integer, live switch, per game.
• Supersampling — 1.25× / 1.5× / 2× render scale, Lanczos-2 downsample.
• Screen effects (Vulkan & OpenGL) — FXAA, Toon, CRT, NTSC, colour grading, CAS, fake-HDR.
• Debanding (Vulkan) — adjustable dither pass for smooth gradients.
• ReShade — real .fx effects on DXVK / VKD3D, on-device compile, ~100-effect catalog + your own, live in-game tab, per game, solo or stacked.
• VRR + in-game refresh unlock — match refresh to FPS (Auto or 60 / 90 / 120 / 144 Hz) and raise the in-game refresh ceiling from the drawer where the panel/layer support it.
• Adjustable resolution & frame-rate limit.

🎞️ Frame generation & pacing

• Two engines — Off / bionic-fg (bundled) / lsfg-vk (bring your own Lossless.dll), shown as a badge in-game. (bionic-fg is temporarily non-selectable while it's proven — use lsfg-vk for now.)
• Live controls — Off / 2× / 3× / 4× + flow-scale slider, hot-reloaded.
• Standalone FPS limiter — engine-independent present-pacing cap with quick 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 presets; steps aside when lsfg multiplies; both renderers.
• lsfg Performance mode — a lighter frame-gen model for weaker GPUs; per-container and live in-game, no root required.

📦 Containers

• Multiple isolated Wine containers with redesigned spec-chip cards.
• Run as administrator (per-container toggle) for installers/games needing elevation.
• Auto-close on game exit (per-container toggle).
• Startup mode — Normal / Essential / Full, plus a new Custom mode to pick exactly which services launch (winebus / winehid / …), defaulted per container and overridable per game.
• Import / export containers.
• Per-container Wine / driver / DXVK / VKD3D / Box64 / drives / Z-drive / env-vars, with an env-var editor + presets (DLL-override toggle, editable dropdowns, chip groups).
• Desktop wallpaper picker (per-container or global).
• Compatibility Layers download menu — browse / install / remove every component with progress bars, continuing in the background.

🕹️ Games, shortcuts & input

• Game library (grid / list, sort, filters) with redesigned cards.
• Smart Game Import — auto-naming, SteamGridDB cover art + Steam appId identification, missing-component recommendations, and an editable Game Details page.
• Add a single game or a whole games folder at once; drive letters assigned per storage volume.
• Back up / restore saves (GameHub-compatible zips); per-game language / locale.
• On-screen touch controls (theme-follow or per-game colour) + virtual gamepads; RTS-style touch gestures.
• Physical controllers (SDL2) + touchpad / mouse emulation; rebuilt binding screen.
• PC-accurate vibration — dual-motor rumble, per-container mode + intensity, winebus never-expire duration patch; per-slot and master toggles.
• Gyroscope motion aim — right-stick or mouse output, Tilt-to-Aim orientation mode, Hold/Toggle activation, device calibration, saved per container and per game.

🌐 Community Configs

• Catalog browser (globe) with search, filters, sort, and "Matches my device".
• Matched by Steam appId — a config resolves to the right game by its appId first (fewer wrong matches), with a "Which game is this?" picker for genuine ties, remembered per shortcut.
• One-tap Apply — surgically merges just that config's settings, preserving the rest; a shared config now carries your whole setup (HUD layout, motion-aim, refresh cap, startup services, frame-gen model, upscaler, vibration).
• Smart install of a config's missing DXVK / VKD3D / FEXCore / Turnip, then auto-applies.
• Config detail — provenance, what-it-sets, before-apply diff, upvotes / downloads / comments.
• Share your own — export the full recipe (never your files, logins or tuning), anonymous by default; My uploads to edit / delete.
• Optional account (username + password, recovery-key, no email) so uploads follow you and carry your name.
• Read-only for your setup — nothing changes unless you tap Apply. Now on Big Picture too, fully D-pad navigable.

🛒 Built-in stores & cross-store Download Manager

• Steam — user/pass or QR, owned library, built-in depot engine (JavaSteam), 4-tier speed, session hardening, DLC picker, true-size fix, optional Goldberg patch.
• Epic / Amazon — sign in, browse, download / install / launch (incl. Epic free games).
• GOG — DRM-free library with cloud-save sync.
• ⬇ Cross-store Download Manager — one view of all downloads + installed library, live progress, background + shade notifications, launch / verified uninstall.

🔒 Security & your store accounts

• Third-party sign-ins (not affiliated with the stores) — use at your own risk.
• Credentials redacted from logs — signed URLs, OAuth codes, GOG secret / refresh-token, account IDs — in logcat and shareable files.

🧰 Bundled Start-menu utilities

• Banner File Manager (dual-pane split view, Open-as-admin, native Win32 copy), AIO Graphics Test, Game Controller Test; .lnk "Start in" working-directory support.

🎛️ Interface & in-game overlay

• Jetpack Compose UI with an icon-led drawer; your theme recolours the whole app and the in-game drawer.
• 16 themes + HSV custom-accent picker.
• Big Picture mode — Compose couch launcher, full D-pad navigation, rails to games / settings / features, per-game spec chips, Community Configs.
• In-game overlay drawer + Task Manager (works on any renderer); Controls split into Touch / Mouse / Vibration / Gyro sub-tabs.
• File Manager with Favorites — multi-select + bulk ops, fast same-volume moves, archive extract (zip / 7z / tar), search / sort, grid + compact views; doubles as the universal import picker.
• Performance HUD — FOUR overlay styles (Classic / GameHub / GameNative-style + the new Fusion HUD) on one shared FPS source + cross-vendor, device-complete metrics (FPS + 1%/0.1%/0.01% lows / frame time / per-core CPU-GPU load & temp / RAM / VRAM / swap / net / battery / power), real graphics-API detection (D3D11·DXVK / D3D12·VKD3D / Vulkan / Zink), temperature danger colours + °C/°F, long-press lock, and a one-tap diagnostics export. (Fusion is also a standalone open-source library other projects can drop in.)
• FEX runtime indicator — live arm64ec vs x86-64, translator, and unixlib vs DLL.

📥 Builds & distribution

• Three flavors (standard / PuBG / Ludashi), optimized release builds, AOSP-testkey signed, GitHub Actions CI + tagged releases.

✨ What's New in 2.8.1

2.8.1 collects everything merged since 2.8 — the work that piled up while the Virtual Controller Pro PR (#156) finished up. Grouped by area:

🎛️ In-game HUD & overlays

• New Fusion HUD — a fourth performance overlay with a clean MangoHud-style look and five tap-cyclable sizes (Full / Tiles / Pill / Minimal / Mega), per-metric toggle chips, an FPS decimal and 1% / 0.1% / 0.01% lows, a subtle clock, and per-core CPU + full system info in Mega.
  • 🧩 The Fusion HUD is also open-sourced as a standalone, drop-in library for other projects → github.com/The412Banner/FusionHUD — any Winlator / Wine-on-Android fork can add it without re-implementing the sysfs/procfs plumbing (GPL-3.0, with a full technical write-up of how it reads every metric).
• Real graphics-API detection — the HUD now shows what the game actually runs: D3D11 · DXVK, D3D12 · VKD3D, native Vulkan, or OpenGL / Zink — no more labeling a native-Vulkan game as DXVK.
• Cross-vendor metrics — GPU load, GPU clock, CPU/GPU temperatures and VRAM now read across Adreno · Mali · PowerVR · Xclipse · Qualcomm / MediaTek / Exynos, not just Adreno; a metric a device doesn't expose simply shows "—".
• Export HUD diagnostics — one tap saves a sensor report to your Downloads (each metric's resolved source, or the paths it tried) — send it in and we can add coverage for your device.
• Lock-in-place on all four HUDs (long-press), plus temperature danger colours and a °C / °F toggle.

🌐 Community Configs — smarter matching & fuller round-trip

• Match by Steam appId — configs resolve to the right game by its appId first, so renamed or oddly-named shortcuts stop matching the wrong game; a "Which game is this?" picker handles genuine ties, remembered per shortcut (#167).
• A shared config now restores far more of your setup — the entire HUD layout (all styles incl. Fusion), motion-aim, refresh cap, custom startup services, frame-gen model, upscaler and vibration all travel now (previously dropped on export).
• Big Picture gains the full Community Configs experience with complete controller/D-pad navigation.

🎨 Graphics, drivers & frame-gen

• Driver-source management — add / remove / toggle your own adrenotools driver feeds, with the MTR and WinNative driver lists combined and auto-updating (#160).
• In-game refresh-rate unlock — pick 90 / 120 / 144 Hz from the in-game drawer where the panel and layer support it (a from-scratch RandR implementation).
• bionic-fg shader pool (models 2 & 3, live model chips) and a Xiaomi / HyperOS frame-gen fix.
• bionic-fg is temporarily grayed out while it's proven correct after repeated false-positive "working" reports — use lsfg-vk for frame generation for now; it returns once verified.

🚀 Startup, import & files

• Custom per-service startup — a new startup mode where you pick exactly which services launch (winebus / winehid / …), per game (#168).
• Smart Game Import — auto-naming, Steam cover-art + appId identification, missing-component recommendations, and an editable Game Details page.
• Drive-letter fix + games-folder bulk import — add a whole folder of games at once; drive letters assigned per storage volume so SD-card games stop clashing.
• File Manager overhaul — multi-select + bulk ops, instant same-volume moves, archive extract (zip / 7z / tar), search / sort / hidden files, grid + compact views.
• New containers now start with Motion Aim off by default.

⌨️ Input & UX

• Compose env-vars editor — a shared editor with a DLL-override toggle, editable dropdowns and collapsible chip groups.
• Cursor-to-Touch fix + RTS-style touch gestures.

🛡️ Stability

• ASurfaceTransaction null-guard hardening and a game-name mangling fix.

⏳ Coming next — 2.9: the Virtual Controller Pro update (PR #156) is waiting on its final fixes before merging, and 2.9 will follow in the coming days. 2.8.1 exists to get everything above into your hands now rather than have it keep waiting on the PR.

Previously in 2.8 — gyroscope motion aim, rebuilt Big Picture, PC-accurate vibration

🎯 Gyroscope — motion aim

Aim by tilting your device — gyro drives the right stick, left stick or the mouse, in Rate or Tilt-to-Aim mode, with Hold-or-Toggle activation, device-level drift calibration, an adjustable activator (L1 / L2 / R1 / R3 / Always On) plus sensitivity / deadzone / smoothing / axis invert, and settings saved per container and per game. Modeled on WinNative's rate-mode gyro — thank you.

📺 Big Picture — rebuilt from scratch

A full Compose rebuild — a fluid couch launcher with direct rails to games / settings / features, real per-game spec chips, no background music, and D-pad navigation fixed throughout.

🎮 PC-accurate controller vibration

Dual-motor output (strong + weak driven independently), per-container mode and intensity, and a winebus duration patch so sustained rumble actually sustains — across Proton 10 and 11, arm64ec and x86-64. Originates from GameNative #1214 via TideGear's port and #91, adopted with permission.

Full 2.8 notes: Bannerlator 2.8 release.

🌐 Community — thank you 🙏

Everything you've shared directly to Bannerlator's own Community Config repo now adds up to:

   

And because the in-app browser also merges the BannerHub catalog, the full set you can browse and one-tap-apply inside the app is bigger still — thousands of games and configs.

370 games and 466 configs shared straight to Bannerlator by the community — and thousands more usable in-app once the BannerHub catalog is merged in. All of it growing. Every config you share, every game you add, every account that joins makes this better for the next person. This project grows only because of the community's support and participation — thank you.

• 📦 Bannerlator config repo — github.com/The412Banner/bannerlator-game-configs
• 📦 BannerHub catalog (also browsable in-app) — github.com/The412Banner/bannerhub-game-configs
• 🌐 Browse online — the412banner.github.io/bannerlator-game-configs

📥 Downloads

Variant	File
Standard	Bannerlator-2.8.1-standard.apk
PUBG	Bannerlator-2.8.1-pubg.apk
Ludashi	Bannerlator-2.8.1-ludashi.apk

ℹ️ Updating in-app? 2.8.1 is entirely app-side — the standard APK covers everything. There's no ImageFS reinstall: your containers, themes, custom accent, per-game settings and control colours all carry over. Just install over 2.8.

📖 Guides

• 🎨 Graphics wrappers & drivers — which one should I use? → — what a wrapper actually does, a pick-by-GPU table (Adreno / Mali / Xclipse / PowerVR), and every built-in driver + catalog wrapper explained.
• 🎯 Gyroscope (motion aim) — the complete guide → — Rate vs Tilt to Aim, which target to pick, Hold vs Toggle, tuning, drift calibration and troubleshooting.
• 🌐 Community Configs — plain-English guide → — browsing, applying and sharing per-game setups, and the optional account.

🙏 Credits — click to expand: everyone this build stands on

• WinNative — the reference for gyroscope (motion aim) (rate-mode sensor→stick pipeline), and the MTR / WinNative Drivers feed now combined into driver-source management. GPL-3.0, same as this project. Thank you.
• TideGear — the PC-accurate controller vibration this build's rumble is built on: the feature port (carrying GameNative #1214 forward) and the preload-free winebus.so rumble-duration patch (#91). Adopted with permission.
• leegao — the Mali BCn transcode layer (bcn_layer) and DX12 compat layer behind the "Wrapper + compat + bcn" driver.
• GameNative — the engine behind the DX12 toggle; Bannerlator's HUD, present path, FPS-limiter and SurfaceFlinger colour work build on GameNative's foundations, and the vibration feature originates from GameNative #1214.
• WinlatorMali (GunaCharanTeja / Charan) — the Wrapper Version Manager is modeled on WinlatorMali's graphics-driver manager; several catalog wrappers come from WinlatorMali too (credited in-app).
• BrunoSX — the bundled Banner File Manager is our fork of BrunoSX's Winlator File Manager (MIT).
• Community reports & requests — including @Innersargento (#160 — driver sources) and the many device reports that drove the cross-vendor HUD work. Thank you.
• The wider stack — built on the Winlator → cmod → Star Bionic lineage (brunodev85, coffincolors, Pipetto-crypto, star-emu) with DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, Box64, FEXCore, JavaSteam, and wrappers credited to their upstreams. Full attribution in the repo README.

🔗 Notes

• ⚠️ On a 2.9 pre-release? 2.8.1 (versionCode 50) is offered to you as an update, but it does not include Virtual Controller Pro (PR #156) — updating removes those controller setups. If you want to keep them, don't update — wait for 2.9 (coming shortly), which finalizes and restores that feature. Otherwise 2.8.1 is the stable line with this cycle's newest work.
• bionic-fg frame generation is temporarily non-selectable while it's proven correct — use lsfg-vk for now; it returns once verified.
• The Mali DX12 driver remains experimental and opt-in — inert unless you select it; Qualcomm/Adreno devices are unaffected.
• Gyroscope motion aim needs a device with a gyroscope; on devices without one the gyro controls simply stay inert.
• Nothing about your existing containers or settings changes on update — install over 2.8.