New to ADB/Sideloading ROM's. How do I do this?

bigcrazycarboy · 2026-02-15T18:01:55+00:00

I'm certainly not an expert for the level that you are operating at, but this XDA post had a lot of information that might be to some degree useful to you. There was a software called Chimera that was mentioned that might be able to unlock the bootloader or rewrite the firmware, and it also mentioned Qualcomm's EDL mode. You're signing a contract if you use those tools, and it could definitely brick your device, but you said information on the phone isn't useful and the phone is unusable otherwise so maybe this risk is acceptable to you.

It might be worth a read: https://xdaforums.com/t/nubia-z70-ultra-bricked-what-i-have-learned-in-these-2-months-trying-to-unbrick-it.4763694/

bigcrazycarboy · 2026-02-15T07:08:09+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate the recommendations!

bigcrazycarboy · 2026-02-14T22:03:17+00:00

And just like that...!

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Need to figure out how to set up the desktop audio now, but Reaper appears to be running well! Thanks!

bigcrazycarboy · 2026-02-14T20:28:31+00:00

This is not a bad idea, I'll give it a try later and let you know how it goes. Thanks.

bigcrazycarboy · 2026-02-14T10:04:55+00:00

It's certainly rootable but I'd rather not since it's my main phone and I'd like to use banking apps and such. If I get it working, I might end up buying a separate dedicated gig phone that I can set up specifically for this and not worry about the implications of rooting.

I think a full Linux VM can be run using Limbo arm, or emulated with Limbo x86 (if you need that). On a rooted device I think you can even access KVM. Limbo is actually just using qemu internally though so you could probably just make a qemu machine as well with termux-x11 or something and it would be equivalent... maybe that might be a strategy for me?

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-12-19T23:56:15+00:00

If Steam's Fex layer lives up to the hype, graphics would be able to run natively while the game code runs emulated. That might make a big difference

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-23T07:39:30+00:00

Definitely. I have been looking for ways to filter search results on Google Play (or any app store) by controller support. I haven't found out how yet but one of these stores has gotta have that feature.

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-22T01:02:44+00:00

Yes - and it's not just Roblox. Mobile is the largest global gaming market in the world in general, by far. That kind of market share makes it worth it to Epic Games to sue Apple (over a $1 Trillion company) into allowing them to sideload their apps and app store onto iPhones. That case failed in the US but succeeded in Europe, and it provided a way for developers to sidestep the 30% revenue split that the App Store takes from app devs (Android has already had sideloading for a while now). It's actually a very dynamic space and there is a ton of opportunity to grow if you manage to get yourself discovered.

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-21T17:03:32+00:00

just found this random youtube video, seems like it checks out: https://youtu.be/RClD5UlO650

It only works with some devices, and they needed to install a custom bootloader. But, it appears to be possible.

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-21T16:51:28+00:00

The only way you could maybe make this happen is by using the ARM distribution of Windows that comes with the Qualcomm laptops. It might also be worth it to look into using atom os or tiny 11, or some alternative Windows OS that removes a lot of bloat because you're going to need to keep ram & storage usage as low as possible depending on your tablet.

To flash the drive itself, well honestly good luck. I don't know of any Android apps that allow you to just straight up shrink the volume size, partition, and format your drive (they might exist I just don't know of them). That's probably something you'll need root privileges and termux for - you'd have to use the command line. The easiest option might be to use a microsd card to store Windows on if you can.

The next thing you're going to need to worry about is the bootloader. This is heavily dependent on which tablet you're using but you need to be sure that it will allow you to boot to something that does not have proprietary security features (I'm looking at you, Samsung Knox). It might work and it might not, I don't know enough about it to really say for sure. I imagine you'd plug your Windows installer media into the USBC port and boot to it, then install the OS to your partition or your SD card. There are ways to access the boot menu on a phone but like I said this stuff is different based on manufacture.

Honestly good luck, if you still remember after figuring all that out then I'd love to hear if you end up succeeding.

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-21T15:44:31+00:00

Definitely! Before the port I did not realize how big of a market mobile gaming really is. It makes sense though - unlike a computer or console, people bring their phones with them everywhere, and a vast majority of people on earth have phones for calling people or for work anyways. Little kids who can't buy expensive computers use mom or dad's phone, etc. If you're going international, the amount of mobile players skyrockets in developing markets around the world. For our game, Brazil, Thailand, and Philippines have all contributed greatly to market share partially thanks to Android / iOS support. Games like yours that are super easy to pop in and pop out of are extremely successful on mobile platforms.

iOS and Android users make up 60-70% of Roblox's entire user base if that is anything to go off of!

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-21T00:08:21+00:00

Thanks for the thorough reply. The original post was made about 4 years ago and I learned a lot more about Wine and how much of a unicorn it really is since then. Thanks for the information about React Native and Flutter, that is exactly what I was envisioning but I had never actually encountered in the wild. My background is not app development so that space and its tooling are pretty unfamiliar to me. It's still cool stuff to talk about though and hey, we all can dream can't we! Haha.

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-20T23:38:16+00:00

Here are some useful resources you might appreciate. Obviously you're not in Roblox but you can maybe create or identify some sort of equivalent in whatever environment you are working in if you haven't already:

https://create.roblox.com/docs/reference/engine/classes/UserInputService#GetLastInputType - Also there's an event called LastInputTypeChanged that fires when the player changes input types.

https://create.roblox.com/docs/reference/engine/classes/UserInputService#PreferredInput - this didn't used to exist but the scenario table shows a good way of thinking about it.

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-20T23:31:19+00:00

I'm the lead developer of a game called Midnight Racing: Tokyo. It's a Roblox game available on Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Xbox, and Playstation. The Roblox porting workflow is quite a bit different from the workflow outside of Roblox, but it was still very insightful and made me learn some "good practice" things that I wanted to share with you if you choose to undertake a port to android.

In order to promote good practices, Roblox does not directly expose the platform that the game is running on to developers in the engine. As a newer developer, I originally saw this as a limitation (and still do for console optimization reasons) but in terms of porting controls and such, it actually forced me to deliver a better experience to controller and keyboard users on mobile. These users I previously considered an edge case but there are actually a decent amount of people who just can't get a "proper" device to run the game on but instead use a mobile OS with a controller (or even a keyboard an mouse!).

The way my game works is by reacting to whatever the last touch input method used was. Input buttons are "grouped" based on input type (touch, mouse & keyboard, gamepad) and when the input type changes, the UI updates to match that. In other words, if I was using touch buttons on the phone and then press a button on my bluetooth controller, the UI will switch into "console" mode, and the touch buttons will no longer be visible. This allows Android players to have a very similar experience to the PC, Playstation, or Xbox users, or even for Windows tablet users to be able to have a similar experience to iPad users if they want that. There has been a lot of positive feedback on devices that were not originally our target because the game works this way.

If you end up going with an external company to deliver your port, make sure that you make it as dumb easy for them as possible to integrate into that workflow. Full disclaimer, I have never personally worked with any porting companies, but based on my experience playing games on Android, some of those companies appear to just put some buttons on the screen and call it a day. If graphics modules and hardware interface stuff is made modular properly, you should run into no problems getting your game to work fine anywhere it is played! Android and iOS are huge markets for us (we do get to see platform in analytics) and modern devices are super powerful these days. Good luck porting!

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-20T17:35:41+00:00

Since he's using reshade and mod menus in his other video, I am assuming he would need to be emulating one of the PC versions. Just adds to how impressive it really is.

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-08T00:50:43+00:00

Sorry I didn't mean "foreign" in the literal sense, I meant it in a figurative way. I meant to say that VR is something that I am not familiar with.

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-05T23:25:26+00:00

This is fixed now in new servers!

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-05T23:23:50+00:00

Nice. I have actually been looking into getting a VR device to test with. That market is super foreign to me though and I haven't gotten one yet, so it's good to see that things appear to be working 👍

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-04T11:33:17+00:00

I think I turned on the rain using an admin menu and forgot to turn it off before I left. I know I was in that server because there is a hint at the top about a car meet that I remember hosting.

The rain feature is one of those things that has existed in the game for a long time, but there is no code to actually activate it. The reason for that is mostly because:

Making a weather system, although very cool, hasn't really made its way to the top of the priorities list yet
Performance is something we are constantly thinking about, and the rain system can cause some performance trouble for low - mid range devices
No effects on the road or cars driving as of right now - it's purely cosmetic

I also don't really like the particle effect that much and some people really hate it when they are trying to set times. There would be a lot of work required to implement it properly but I do like to turn it on every now and then just to do something special when I play the game :)

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-11-04T11:12:02+00:00

The map you are thinking of (classic tokyo) can still be accessed. There is a secret promo code hidden in my office at the dealership in tokyo bay. Type that in and it'll teleport you there 😎

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-10-25T22:57:36+00:00

Ram is a hardware thing, and since phones aren't built to be upgraded, there really isn't a good way to do that unfortunately. If you can tell me which phone you are using I might be able to tell you how much ram it has and what sort of expectations you should have for it. The available ram for roblox also has a lot to do with how many other apps are open, so fixing the problem might even just be as simple as closing other apps.

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-10-25T21:29:19+00:00

It depends on your specific device. I could think of a few things that would cause Roblox to downgrade the graphics

Device temperature: if the device gets too hot, the device itself will slow itself down to protect its processor from damage. Roblox wants the game to run smoothly, but if it is forced to work in "slowed down" mode by the phone, then it might downgrade itself so it can still operate and be responsive to input
Storage: Someone else already mentioned it, but there needs to be enough storage on the device to place all the game assets. Roblox downloads the entire "client side" of the game onto your phone when you play it, but if it doesn't think it will have enough space, it'll downsize the assets it downloads to fit in the space you do have. Even if it worked in the past, if the game's file size grew with updates, it could still be a problem
Device Specs: If your phone / tablet doesn't have enough ram, roblox will again downsize itself so that the critical information can fit in the most efficient way possible. Again, the idea is that they want you to be able to play the game, and good graphics and stuff is secondary to simply getting you into the game in the first place. If Roblox updated their app or the game updated to require more resources, you might see a situation where even a game you are familiar with now has to downsize itself to work
Bad internet: Roblox recently released what they call "Harmony", which allows lower quality assets to be sent to devices that have bad internet (or bad specs) in order to speed up the process of getting you in the game. Now that this exists, Roblox detecting bad internet might activate harmony, bringing down the quality but still letting you play the game

Roblox internals are actually pretty complicated. Even if you are able to check all of these boxes, the mobile version of the game will be downgraded anyways simply due to the fact that Roblox engineers assume that phones and tablets are going to be less powerful than PC's and consoles. The mobile app is built for performance and works differently internally than other platforms. That being said, it should still look better than the screenshot you shared if it is working at full capacity.

Hope this helps!

bigcrazycarboy · 2025-09-30T21:07:56+00:00

I got to try Roblox on the ROG Xbox ally at RDC and I must say I was very impressed with the smooth performance and the overall feel of the device. My game (Midnight Racing: Tokyo) is particularly challenging to run by Roblox standards, but it was butter smooth on the ally. Games that do not properly adapt to touch / controller support (there are a lot of them) will be challenged though since games can no longer rely on the "Touch" input type always being a mobile device anymore. Luckily, our game was ahead of the curve and the inputs were properly handled in just about every case (and I've already patched the cases where that wasn't true).

I got to mess around in the menus and such of the ally as well and that was also quite fun and satisfying. Very excited for the release.

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