Redmi Note 9 Pro (Joyeuse) Modders Guide.
Introduction
This post is an attempt to be a modders guide for Redmi Note 9 Pro, similar to my LG V20 guide. This time around, I will place each post in order, by date, in an attempt to keep this article organized as I add to it over time.
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For those new please read from the bottom up. This is a changelog.
I would highly recommend before continuing to join us on telegram in case you need help. Here is the Joyeuse group.
July/August
Which Model do you have?
So lets try to start with the basics their are a few different phones in this family for a complete breakdown check out this post here.
This post is for the Redmi Note 9 Pro (Joyeuse model) as stated in the title. Some mods may work on other phones but please do your own research.I do not take any responsibility if you break your device, whether its Joyeuse or otherwise. Please note that as of right now the Curtana model is more supported by the devs.
Bootloader unlock
Follow this guide until step 3, as soon as you get the phone so you can unlock the bootloader asap.
Stop when you reach step 3 on XDA and reboot the phone, and keep it powered on during the following week. When 168 hours have passed, repeat step 3 and this time it should finally unlock. Note that this erases your data, which is always the case when unlocking bootloaders on any Android phone. When complete, come back here to continue the process.
Installing Custom Recovery
Instead of following the rest of the above link which will have you patch Magisk via fastboot, we will install a custom recovery. After that, we will flash Magisk directly from said recovery.
Here is the installation guide for Pitch Black Recovery Project for your phone. Since we don’t have any custom recovery currently installed, follow the instructions labeled “From PC”.
After you have successfully installed, you should reboot into PBRP by holding down volume and the power key, at the same time.
Now that you have PBRP installed you can either flash Magisk on the current stock rom, or you can install a new rom (and flash Magisk on it).
Flashing a Custom Rom (Miui EU)
Since Miui is quite bloated out of the box, I decided to flash Miui EU. The TLDR is that it’s a debloated, stock, Miui based rom with a lot of fixes and tweaks.
I would highly recommend you flash .04, NOT .05, since .05 has terrible system battery life.
Here is the link. Make sure to wipe and then unmount all partitions before flashing. After that flash Magisk if you want root access.
Root apps and Magisk Modules 8/12/20
Apps
Adaway- Make sure to enable system-less hosts in Magisk.
I am currently using Battery Charge Limit from the play store, to limit my charging to 85 percent. The ACC Magisk module causes the phone to bootloop.I am using Better Battery Stats to monitor drain.
Franco Kernel Manager- mainly to drop minimum CPU-Freq, which for some reason are defaulted to one step higher than the minimum.I also disabled Zram.
Naptime-Still getting better doze times even with MIUI battery saver, but YMMV
Terminal Emulator-my terminal of choice.
Wakeblock- I am using the Magisk module, and followed the list here.
Viper4Android-Make sure to install NLSound first and Busybox(listed below).
Magisk Modules
Busybox by NDK in Magisk Repo
CloudflareDNS in Magisk Repo
Doze Google Play Services (FROM NAPTIME THE ONES IN MAGISK REPO CRASH ANDROID VM)
NLSOUND- Link
Thats all for now. Feel free to buy me a coffee if this helped you out.
Miatoll 9/28/2020
Been a while since i have done a update, its been very busy, both in my life and in this phones life so lets get to it.
A major new development in this phone is the concept of Miatoll.
Miatoll is an Unified codename for All Redmi Note 9 Snapdragon 720G family + Poco M2 Pro
MI = XIAOMI
ATOLL = SNAPDRAGON 720G
Device in miatoll line:
- Curtana
- Joyeuse
- Excalibur
- Gram
Due to the Miatoll tree/concept, there has been an explosion of custom ROMs. I have only had a few hrs to play with some of the different ROMs and the ones I tried weren’t fully baked for my use case.
- Arrow Os- No face unlock or battery limit controls as well as crashing setup app
- Paranoid Android- couldn’t install properly
- MSM — was perfect except ANX camera in portrait mode didn’t work.
Again I didn’t have much time to mess around with any of these, so take everything I have said with a massive grain of salt. I think for many users a lot of Miatoll ROMs would be fine for their use cases. Especially if you have a bit more time to put into each rom. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Currently have updated to Miui EU 11.0.7 and the newest PBRP Miatoll Recovery. Currently no major bugs in Miui EU.
MSM Extended (Android 10) 10/19/20
So a lot has changed. I have been on MSM Extended for a while now, I just haven’t had time to update this post.
So why MSM? As mentioned previously it had face unlock, battery charge limit, and volume rocker skip. But after Daily driving this for a while I have fallen in love with it. Tons of customization but not bloated like RR.( On a side note there are 4 RR builds for this phone and I have no idea how you are supposed to decide which one you are to use).
The ROM is also rock-solid stable, with a great dev working on it for Miatoll. Battery life is better than MIUI for me with 10ish hrs of sot. Safetynet passes out of the box.So I would highly recommend it after you do the next two fixes.
The two issues that I ran into were slight lag when going to the recent’s menu which is fixed with the linked GPU driver below. And ANX camera front-facing mode, which is fixed with ANX camera pro or Gcam also both linked below. There is also a fully updated list of what mods I’m using currently.
ANX Camera Pro -Search for Portrait mode.
Enable Adreno Idler in Kernel Manager.
No longer using battery charge limit as its built into the rom.
No longer using naptime,rom is optimized.
No longer using Wakeblock, ditto.
Zram is enabled and left at stock.
GLHF
Android 11 10/28/2020
Currently, If your going to go to Android 11 I would recommend Arrow OS for pure AOSP and Nusantara for customization (The build of MSM currenly publicly available has broken audio.) I would recommend the gapps build of Arrow since Nikgapps currently has issues on A11. Nusantara is Gapps only.
Now for mod updates.
Very Important GPU Drivers — If you use the gpu drivers listed above (490) it will break the play store. The latest you can use without breaking the play store (on A11) is 464, which you can get here. Use Aida64 under the display menu to check if drivers updated properly(stock drivers are 415).
Magisk 21-Toggle Magisk hide to pass Safety-net
To get Viper4android working on A11 . Install NL-SOUND linked above, and from the Magisk repo install, audio compatibility and modification modules.
Install Viper apk listed above but don’t install drivers. First reboot then install drivers which will reboot again. Once that’s done you need to go into the Viper settings and toggle compatibility mode.
Updated Gcam config for A11 to prevent crashing here
GLHF
A11 MSM and Legion 11/19/2020
Been a bit since I last updated. First off MSM is stable now and ready for daily use. Another OS which in my experience is very similar is Legion OS which can be found here. Both Sonal (MSM/Arrow) and Raj (Legion) have been working out the kinks in A11 ROMs (together).
Orange Fox Recovery is now recommended as it doesn’t seem to have as many mounting issues as PBRP.
GPU Drivers 490 seems to work but you have to download an updated version of play services and play store from Apk-mirror first. Then install Magisk Gpu drivers module and reboot. Then install play services and play store update. Reboot and check if your Play Store is working.
New Years Update-Daily Driving and Sonal’s Trees.
Happy New Year people!
So my current recommendations, stick to ROMs based on Sonal Singh’s trees, most ROMs will say in the description if they do.
My current three choices are the same as before. Arrow for pure AOSP. Legion which is my current daily driver for the past few months for in between. And MSM for the most customization.
In terms of Kernels I have been sticking with Agni and setting my small cores to 1612, and big cores to 2112 MHZ respectively. Agni updates can be found here. Please note on the latest Agni I have disabled the audio Magisk module since I am using NLSOUND.
For the camera, I am currently using TRCamera Xmas edition.Make sure to use the XML for it. You can find everything camera related and constant updates here.
If your looking for a stable daily driver this is the way to go IMO.
That’s all for now.
( 02/07/21) A11 Sticking to Legion, Kernel recommendation changes, and another recommended rom.
I now recommend Fluid OS as well. It sits between Arrow and Legion in terms of customization. Definitely has a different UI feel than stock Arrow, Legion, or MSM. Another rock-solid Rom based on Sonals trees with a great dev @Ramiskyy on telegram. Here is the telegram support group.He has fixed a whole bunch of issues in the trees while staying on the dl, so thanks dude.
In other news to pass SafetyNet, you need to hide Magisk then, you have to use Kdragon’s new SafetyNet fix here. And you may have to flash Magisk Hide Props from here, and use the Pixel Five’s fingerprint.
ANX Camera is on the way. Almost ready thanks @Sonal.
Agni is no longer recommended on the latest versions of my 4 chosen ROMs due to inline encryption issues. As well as perf+ just having way better battery for my needs. YMMV.
Daily Driving
I have been sticking with Legion OS, I’m on some test builds but recommend the latest Gapps 3.4 as I was having issues with Legion 3.5 vanilla build. Later betas have been fine and I can’t wait to link to them once raj makes them public. For the current second either stick with 3.4 or use Fluid, MSM, etc.
The kernel I’m using and recommend currently is from Fluid OS, it will have the info that’s shown in the right image. There is no zip available so extract the boot image from the latest Fluid , flash to boot in recovery then flash Magisk and boot. If you need the boot image dm me on telegram @Notapizzza, or email me here.
NlSound 2.3 is available here, make sure to skip mic fixes as well as mixer files for various devices. I have moved to Poweramp EQ instead of Viper.
