warning: bad grammar, I write this article to practice my writing skill.

I did spend big chunks of my free-time to play maimai at home/ anywhere I want. I learnt something along the way and want to share it with my friends.

takeaways:

• libhoudini on AMD suck, use libndk instead.

logs:

• Like many people, I saw some AstroDX videos, saw many ppl play it irl, seek a way to play it, soon to realized that AstroDX on Ipad is in beta stage, and the testflight is already full.
• they will clear inactive beta player and open new slots soon, but I don’t know when. cannot resist the urge to play—me at night decided to install It with current hardware I have.
• follow methods from astrodx discord and wiki
  • get latest version from latest release at https://github.com/2394425147/astrodx
  • see https://wiki.astrodx.com/en/install/android
    • find maps from ‘that’ channel, navigate there, you will find
      • way to download maimai charts
      • custom charts : https://majdata.net/
  • after download some charts, if it in .zip format, edit that file to .adx format, then click it, open with astroDX, It will import that charts to astroDX’s specific path
    • you can import charts manually, but I found this method more convenient for me.
• play on samsung s23U(2025-08-13)
  • success
    • experience was near perfect, need bigger screen
    • have to set the offset to 0.10s to match the right rhythm
    • troble with this screen size, notes that require spamming 1 buttom with 2 hand/finger
• play on NixOS PC with touch screen(2025-08-14)
  • software: waydroid, waydroid-helper (install houdini-wsa11-patched(libhoudini) extension to be able to install ARM .APK file)
  • hyprland: buggy, not full screen, covered by big black screen
    • Solve: wayland-helper >> persist.waydroid.multi_windows enable and set persist.waydroid.width/heigh to 1920/1080 (depends)
    • gnome: success (2025-08-14)
      • a bit lag
      • I hypothesis that the problem is ram usage might be a bit too low
        • me at 2025-08-15: it’s from not using right ARM translation extension
• play on Nixos PC + ipad
  • connect remotely
    • PC -> sunshine/tailscale -> tailscale/moonlight -> ipad
      • connect via my phone’s hotspot
  • bad experiences, don’t do this
    • (fixed) small screen on Ipad’s moonlight
      • change my current sitting from rotate left >> landscape
      • when play with external monitor: mirroring
      • ideal: unplug the external monitor
    • 2 finger drag move the moonlight’s screen instead of drag the note
    • (big problem)the system output multi-touch that I do on my Ipad as 1 cursor
    • good: not much input latency, but quite lag
  • I suggest that directly play on your touchscreen monitor would be far superior experiences
  • Biggest problem that made this approach unplayable: this game don’t recognize cursor click when we play the chart.
• (2025-08-15, 2AM) decide to order 14-inch portable monitor with touch screen
  • to make me work with people on-site more effectively and play maimai
  • other interesting option would be buy thinkpad with touchscreen but t480 is currently out of stock.
    • might do it later
  • thought:
    • connect with samsung >> dex might be both good and bad experiences
      • good: gaming performance, low lag
      • bad: way to charge, 3.5mm jack port require docking station, which robbed the portable monitor’s touch screen capability
    • connect with my pc >> good?
      • good: storage, ports
      • bad: a bit lagging
        • problem solved:
          • update to android13
          • install ndk-translation-chromeos-zork extension via waydroid helper instead of libhoudini.
            • found from reddit
          • far less laggy