Sorry, Android 15’s new body fee override function will not work for many video games

Android telephones with excessive refresh fee shows are in all places now, however there are nonetheless many video games obtainable for the platform that don’t assist working at increased than 60fps. There’s quite a lot of reliable causes behind why some builders restrict their Android video games to 60fps, however not each sport will break or run poorly in the event that they’re compelled to run at a better body fee on some units. That’s the concept behind a brand new Android 15 developer function that permits you to disable the default 60fps body fee restrict for video games.

With the discharge of Android 15 Developer Preview 2, Android’s developer choices web page now has a disable default body fee for video games setting that “disable[s] limiting the utmost body fee for video games at 60Hz.” Android players who noticed this toggle had been excited by the prospect of a function that might lastly allow them to play their favourite video games at their units’ native refresh fee. Sadly, the function will solely work with a moderately small variety of video games.

Below the hood, the disable default body fee for video games toggle in developer choices switches the system property persist.graphics.game_default_frame_rate.enabled between “true” and “false.” By trying to find this property in AOSP, I used to be capable of finding a number of references to a “sport default body fee override” function in Android’s graphics stack. For instance, one reference mentions how the function’s availability is decided by the worth of the beforehand talked about system property however that the precise body fee override worth is decided by one other system property, ro.surface_flinger.game_default_frame_rate_override.

In line with code feedback for the ro.surface_flinger.game_default_frame_rate_override system property, this function is meant to cowl the situation the place a sport hasn’t set its personal desired body fee by way of the setFrameRate() API. In different phrases, the disable default body fee for video games toggle in Android 15 will solely work for video games that don’t explicitly set their very own most body fee. Most video games specify a body fee to make sure a secure, constant expertise, so there possible aren’t many video games on the market that this function will work on.

Moreover, this new override has a decrease precedence than any sport mode interventions set by the OEM. For instance, Android 13 added FPS throttling as an obtainable intervention in Android’s Recreation Mode API. If an OEM chooses to throttle a specific sport’s FPS utilizing this intervention, then the brand new Android 15 function received’t work for that sport on the OEM’s units.

Because the ro.surface_flinger.game_default_frame_rate_override was unset on my Pixel 8 Professional working the most recent Android 15 developer preview, I needed to set the property to check this function manually, as in any other case, it simply defaults to 60. Nevertheless, I couldn’t discover a sport that this function truly labored with throughout my temporary testing. I used to be capable of get Minecraft: Pocket Version working at 120fps on my Pixel 8 Professional with this function enabled, however that’s solely as a result of the sport appears to oddly be locked to 60fps on the 2 Pixels I examined, regardless that it runs simply nice at 120fps on each different machine I attempted.

There are hints in Android’s supply code that this function will probably be utilized by Android’s Recreation Supervisor service, which is the underlying system service utilized by Android’s Recreation Mode API, so it’s potential a extra distinguished user-facing toggle will probably be added to Android’s Recreation Dashboard sooner or later. For now, although, the function is hidden behind developer choices exactly as a result of it’s not likely meant for customers proper now. Even so, if you’ll find a sport that this function works on, chances are you’ll end up having a extra fulfilling gaming expertise.