BlueStacks 5 is launched with an even greater focus on Android games on PC

This Wednesday (19), BlueStacks 5 leaves the testing period and reaches the general public with its stable version. Among the highlights of the edition are reworked menus, precise adjustments, and optimized resource consumption to deliver what would be “the next generation of Android gaming”, in the words of BlueStacks itself.

If performance is a recurring issue in emulators, BlueStacks 5 tries to solve it on several fronts. The program focuses on the latest update on the relationship between the software and the resources available on the system. Compared to its predecessor, the changes pave the way for leaner machines, and on beefier machines, performance can go even further than before.

According to BlueStacks, the consumption of RAM is up to 50% lower in BlueStacks 5, the startup of the virtual system becomes 40% faster and the software structure has undergone adjustments to raise the frame rate, even more, providing animations smooth and high responsiveness in compatible games.

BlueStacks remains gaming-focused and therefore gives the player an extensive settings menu for fine-tuning. You can easily select the window resolution, the GPU in charge of the graphics, how much RAM can be allocated and even the number of processor cores that the emulator should face — all this in a simple and extremely user-friendly way, allowing you to focus just for fun.

A full Android on the PC screen

One of the main new features of BlueStacks 5 is its multi-instance manager, here named in English as “Multi-Instance Manager”. Don't be scared by the name: in fact, the novelty allows the user to create several “virtual devices” on the same machine with ease, cloning it from existing virtualization or creating one from scratch.

Thus, the user can explore the possibilities of playing with multiple Google accounts simultaneously — whatever the need for this practice. It is possible to open more than one of them at the same time, but it is important to pay attention to the machine's resource management before starting to explore the clones, after all, if an instance has access to almost all the memory, little will be left for the others and it. can cause performance issues and crashes.

It is worth mentioning that each instance can be different. They can run 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Android, depending on what you configure at the time of cloning. The process, like the other configurations, is quite simple; still, if you're struggling, BlueStacks support has put together a pretty complete illustrated tutorial on their official page to guide anyone.

On the other hand, Eco mode minimizes the number of resources consumed by a BlueStacks unit. By enabling it, the system reduces the demand by up to 87% on the CPU and 97% on the GPU, making it more efficient to be placed alongside other tasks of greater importance or even other instances of the emulator.

RAM usage, another recurring villain in emulators, has also received significant tweaks and an “economy mode” achievable in one click. The feature called Trim Memory “wipes” the memory being consumed in the background by the emulator and makes room for other tasks, as in similar mechanisms on mobile.

Of course, this is also reinforced by other changes placed “behind the scenes” of the virtual device code. BlueStacks comments that its fifth edition is “built to offer stability and performance during long gaming sessions”, something that, if proven in practice, minimizes problems and allows greater focus on activities.

Convenience for games

BlueStacks 5 inherits the creation and use of Macros from the previous version and even allows importing of favorite shortcuts to save the work of old users. In addition, the on-screen controls are adapted for the main games on the Play Store, but if they don't fit, you can quickly adjust them from the side menu — and there's an illustrated tutorial on BlueStacks support, too.

The emulator interface is cleaner, so you can focus exclusively on your virtual device. The initial settings are extremely uncomplicated and the learning curve to understand is almost nil — it's like using an Android phone, only with the help of a keyboard and mouse.

That said, some things might not work out well. The input of most apps is touch-adapted, so they may not adapt to the keyboard + mouse combo. In that case, a little patience for experimentation is needed before taking action — keep that in mind for your first experience.

Thousands of games are available on the Play Store, but it is important to be aware of the restrictions on the use of each one: some competitive titles do not allow you to use emulators to play, as it does give you an advantage over your opponent. If you violate these terms, your account may be permanently banned, even from cell phones also connected to it.

BlueStacks 5 minimum requirements

The focus here is on scaling based on available performance, but that doesn't mean weaker PCs are left out. The minimum requirements are:

• Processor: unspecified;

• Memory: 2 GB of RAM;

• Storage: 5 GB free;

• Operating system: Windows 7, 8, or 10.

Because it is virtualization, it is necessary to enable hardware acceleration in SETUP, directly in the BIOS. Without it, the CPU will dedicate only one of its cores to run the virtual device, and, regardless of the configuration chosen, the emulator will have an unstable performance.

BlueStacks 5 can be downloaded for free from its official website. Previously, the program was in beta. It is a good option to completely uninstall it from the machine before moving on to the final release if you were a beta tester.

BlueStacks 5 chega com promessa de foco ainda maior em jogos de Android no PC - Canaltech