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Emulator ads over the game

Both emulators show ads of their own, and they can land on top of the game.

  • MuMu Player. Its built-in app store can put an ad for another game over Viking Rise a few seconds after an instance starts. The ad covers the whole screen and dims it. It has a Remove Ads button and an X in its top corner, and a DOWNLOAD button in its picture. MuMu's home-screen app, MuMu Desktop, has ad code of its own.
  • LDPlayer. Its store can put a Top-Up via LDPlayer offer over the game when it starts.

Why it matters

Both are drawn inside the emulator's own screen, which is the screen the bot reads. While MuMu's store ad is up, every tap meant for the game lands on the ad instead, so the bot's actions on that account fail one after another. And because the edges of the game stay visible around the ad, the bot still thinks it's looking at the game.

MuMu decides who gets its ads, instance by instance. On one PC, three instances got the store's ad every time they started, even after restarts, while the instances next to them never did. Many users never see one.

What BotDaddy does about it

Every time BotDaddy starts the game on an instance, it first does three things inside that instance:

  1. MuMu's app store and MuMu Desktop may no longer draw over other apps. That's the Android permission these ads need. For the store's ad, this step is the whole fix: switching it off hides the ad at once, even one already on screen, and the game gets its taps back. The instance keeps the setting, so an ad that opens later stays hidden too. BotDaddy also stops MuMu Desktop from seeing which app has just started.
  2. MuMu Desktop is cut off from MuMu's ad servers. They're blocked by name inside that instance; the game's servers aren't affected. On LDPlayer, its store is cut off from the internet inside that instance. This lasts until the instance restarts, and BotDaddy does it again the next time it starts the game there.
  3. MuMu Desktop is restarted, so an ad it had already downloaded is dropped. It's the home screen, so the home screen reloads for a moment before the game opens. On LDPlayer, its store is restarted.

MuMu's app store itself isn't cut off or restarted. It's part of MuMu's own system, and it also runs MuMu's sign-in and downloads. Hiding its ad is all it takes.

If the bot still spots an ad over the game while it's looking for the game's screens, it hides it (the store's ad) or closes the app that shows it, and carries on. It never taps the ad, the Remove Ads button or the X, because a tap anywhere near an ad can open it.

All of this happens inside the emulator's own Android. Nothing on your PC is changed: no Windows firewall rules and no system files.

Don't click the ad on MuMu's loading screen

MuMu Player shows a picture on its loading screen, before Android has started. MuMu draws that one itself, on Windows rather than inside the instance, so the bot never sees it and never taps it. But clicking it makes MuMu's store download and install the game it advertises: on one instance, a single click on the loading screen did exactly that. BotDaddy can't block that picture without changing Windows, so avoid clicking inside a MuMu window while it's loading.

If an advertised game does get installed, it does the bot no harm: the bot only ever opens Viking Rise. You can uninstall it in that instance's Android settings, under Apps.

Troubleshooting

I never see these ads. The protection runs anyway and costs a fraction of a second each time the game starts. You won't notice it.

I see the ad while an instance is starting, before the game opens. That's when MuMu's store shows it. It stays up until BotDaddy starts the game on that instance, which hides it, so you may see it for a few seconds.

An ad still gets through. While the bot is looking for the game's screens, it checks for an ad about every 15 seconds. If it finds the store's ad, it hides it; if a hidden ad comes back, it closes the store instead. An ad from any other emulator app is closed. Nothing counts against the account, and the log says what the bot did. Once the game has loaded, the bot checks only when it can't recognise the screen, and an ad that leaves the game's edges visible doesn't cause that. That's why the steps before the game starts matter most.

Why doesn't BotDaddy just take away all of MuMu's permissions? Android doesn't allow it. MuMu's app store and MuMu Desktop are part of MuMu's own system, and most of their permissions are built in. Android lets only a few be switched off. "Draw over other apps" is the one these ads need, and BotDaddy switches it off for both.

I pressed the home button myself while the game was running. MuMu Desktop's home screen in front of a running game looks the same as its ad, so if the bot checks at that moment it restarts MuMu Desktop.

The panels on MuMu's home screen are empty. MuMu Desktop still works as a home screen, but its panels that load from MuMu's servers, such as recommended games or the MuMu Store, stay empty until the instance restarts.

I pressed Remove Ads and got MuMu's ad-free trial. That's fine. BotDaddy doesn't touch it.

One of these apps isn't installed on my emulator. Then there's nothing to block, and nothing changes.

I want MuMu Desktop to draw over other apps again. Turn the permission back on in that instance's Android settings, under the app's "Display over other apps" setting ("Usage access" is the other one). BotDaddy turns them off again the next time it starts the game on that instance.

I use LDPlayer. The same steps run there. LDPlayer 9 was seen showing its store's offer over a game's first start. It hasn't been seen on LDPlayer 14, but the protection runs on both.

What it doesn't do

  • It changes nothing on Windows.
  • It doesn't stop the picture on MuMu's loading screen, which MuMu draws on Windows. Don't click it.
  • It doesn't remove MuMu Desktop's own panels from its home screen. It only keeps ads off the game.
  • It doesn't switch off MuMu's app store, MuMu Desktop or LDPlayer's store.
  • It never taps an ad.
  • It doesn't give you MuMu's paid ad-free version.

Setting up MuMu Player for the first time? See MuMu Player setup for Viking Rise.