How to Flash a Custom ROM on Realme 8 4G
Preparing ADB:
Ensure ADB/Fastboot is prepared for usage, if not, download platform-tools from https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools, extract the zip, open a command prompt window in the folder, ensure the Fastboot/ADB drivers are installed and that the Recovery image, Vbmeta image, ROM package, GApps package are in the same place as the ADB/Fastboot, after that, you are ready to go.
Flashing the Vbmeta and recovery:
Ensure the device is in Fastboot mode and unlocked, if it isn't unlocked, follow our unlocking guide and come back, same goes for being on RealmeUI 3 firmware
Now we need to flash LOS recovery to our device, this is going to allow us to install the custom ROM onto our phone.
Ensure that the recovery.img and vbmeta.img are in the same folder, then run the following commands.
fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Now, reboot to recovery mode.
fastboot reboot recovery
Flashing the ROM:
The recovery we just flashed is Lineage recovery, but don't worry, it's not hard to flash, we can flash normal zip files.
To flash the ROM, follow the steps on the screen:
- Factory reset > Format data/factory reset
- Apply update > Apply from ADB
- Sideload the zip with your PC
To sideload, ensure the ROM zip is in the same folder, then run adb sideload (name-of-rompackage).zip
Flashing GApps:
LineageOS/CrDroid does not come with any GApps included, we must flash them ourselves, PixelExperience already has Gapps pre-installed, check the ROM post if it says Gapps are included, if you want to flash them, we have to choose one of our choice, we recommend to use MindTheGapps (recommended by LOS official) since they are the most stable ones we have seen
Download MindTheGapps here: https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=15664248565197177719
To flash the GApps package, we just ADB sideload it.
Ensure the GApps package is in the same folder, then run adb sideload (name-of-gappspackage).zip
If you get a "Signature verification error" ignore and continue anyways, the package will still flash, this goes the same to any other ZIPs you flash.
Now, you can reboot the device and enjoy a fresh Custom ROM on your Realme 8 :)