Guide
Best Lichii Settings for Android: Handheld Mode, NCE and Resolution
The tested Lichii baseline and how to tune past it: handheld mode, the NCE backend, 0.5x resolution, frame ahead presentation and per game memory limits.
Contents On this page
Start from the baseline
Every tuning session on this site starts from the configuration the Android port itself recommends for testers: handheld mode, the NCE CPU backend and 0.5x resolution, with a custom RADV driver on Xclipse graphics. The lichii emulator gives you dozens of toggles; the baseline exists so that when something breaks, you know it was the last thing you changed. Everything here assumes the tested build from lichii emulator.
Run the baseline for a full session before touching anything. Build the shader cache, feel the thermals, watch memory in your longest scene. Most players discover the baseline was the answer and the itch to tune was the problem.
The big three, explained
Handheld mode renders for the phone screen class of output and is the gentler mode; docked mode reports up to 1080p to games and costs accordingly. The NCE backend executes game code natively on your processor instead of interpreting it, which is the single biggest performance decision in the app; keep it on unless a specific game misbehaves with it.
Resolution scale is your frame rate dial. 0.5x quarters the pixel count of 1x, which is why it transforms heavy games from slideshows into playable ones, at a softness cost that looks mild on a phone screen. Raise it per game, in scenes you know, and watch what it costs.
The refinements
Present a frame ahead lets the CPU prepare the next frame while the GPU finishes the current one; per game it can be Auto, Off or On. On usually raises frame rates in GPU heavy games and costs one frame of input latency, a trade racers may refuse and adventurers will not notice.
The per game memory limit during scene loads exists for titles like Ocarina of Time that spike memory while streaming textures; Auto applies it where the port knows it helps. Change settings per game, not globally, because the whole design of this emulator is that games differ. The docked versus handheld comparison goes deeper on the mode question.
Related reading: the docked versus handheld comparison.
Related reading: the shader stutter fixes.
The file itself waits on the Lichii download page whenever you are ready.
Quick Answers
What is the single most important setting?
Resolution scale. Moving from 1x to 0.5x quarters the rendering work and is the difference between playable and closed for low memory on most phones.
Should I always use the NCE backend?
It is the recommended default and the biggest performance lever. Only change it when a specific game is known to misbehave with it, and change it for that game alone.
Does frame ahead cause input lag?
It adds about one frame of latency in exchange for higher frame rates in GPU heavy games. For most genres that trade is invisible; for precision racing or fighting, test it both ways.