GameSalad breaks on Android 4.2

PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
edited November 2012 in Tech Support
After the most recent Jelly Bean update, GameSalad is displaying corrupted graphics - including on builds that worked perfectly on Android 4.1.2.

For example, this screenshot taken on 4.2:
image

Restart of phone/apk doesn't matter, reinstall of apk doesn't help, nor does re-importing the images into GS. Everything that's showing as corrupted are images that worked previously.
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Comments

  • mrpacogpmrpacogp Member Posts: 400
    edited November 2012
    I dont know if you know a xda-forums, but there is alot of people with 4.2 now, and maybe in ago 1 mounth samsung could be update their products too...
    but still remaining the 1% of final users yes xD
  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
    edited November 2012
    With the adoption rate of new versions of Android, this may be affecting what, 20 users? =))

    But anyway, maybe you should send in a formal ticket on this. Use the Help tab in the Menu, and send in a support ticket.
    Yes, I'm aware of this, but those of us who are, say, career designers/developers with Google reference phones - which serve to show us what should work on every Android product running that version of the OS - get the OTA updates as soon as they're released for the Galaxy Nexus/Nexus 4/7/10. Note that the Galaxy Nexus is a Samsung device-manufactured device and the delayed updates are a carrier issue. While the issue may only affect 20 GameSalad developers, let's keep in mind that these phones repeatedly sell out and are some of the most widespread Android devices worldwide.

    There's also no way to know what the actual OS update rate is on Android phones as carriers do not report this data to anyone and most phones are on contract with a specific carrier. Any information source who says otherwise, unless it's Google, is pulling numbers out of their nether regions. It's easier to track iOS updates, as they're required after a certain point by Apple to sync with newer versions of iTunes - a forced upgrade cycle which Android does not possess.

    In the meantime, I can test on 4.1.2 on another Android device, but it's something that should be brought to GameSalad's attention as an easily repeatable bug.
  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
    woah! slow down there buddy, it was just a joke on how slow updates are taken on by Android users - only 20 android users updating to 4.2 was obviously a joke
    Yes, I know, but maybe a moderator shouldn't make light of people reporting bugs? And jokes are funnier when they're informed, I guess :). No worries.

  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
    edited November 2012
    http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/10/only-25-of-android-users-upgraded-to-ice-cream-sandwich-jelly-bean/

    and in the words of the Joker.... "Why so serious?" :D
    Touché - though if we go with their 2.7% for 4.1.x JB, that's still almost 3 million potential users based on the 400m devices sold Google mentioned earlier this year and prior to the huge sales success of their newer unlocked phones and tablets.

    Serious? Nah. Irritated, maybe :).
  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
    edited November 2012
    I've been lurking around the past few months, reading the forums as I've learned the little quirks to make GS do what I want it to do. Now that I've gone Pro (though I don't know where my community badge is) and can test on actual devices, I figured it wouldn't hurt to start participating and maybe answer some questions I've learned the answer to by reading these forums and watching the mounds of videos about GS...figuring out how to procedurally generate levels for a rogue-like was quite interesting, GS doesn't make it as straightforward as it could be :).

    Like this:
    image

    And I hope you get to play the game as well! Hopefully on Android/iOS/Windows 8.
  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
    edited November 2012
    UPDATE: A project with a single actor containing a 1280x720 image crashes out of the application after showing the loading screen.
  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922
    I know a former sous chef that got canned for his proclivity for levity..tread lightly.

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  • MeaningfulGamesMeaningfulGames Member, PRO Posts: 171
    Nice find. While this isn't going to affect a lot of people (at all) it is still quite a major bug. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)#Usage_share_of_Android_versions
    Wikipedia doesn't even have % for 4.2 yet! XD
  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    yea, make sure you report the bug using the 'contact support' link below. in my opinion the android market is a strange beast. I think there is some great opportunity, but it's also very difficult to target it with all the differences in devices. I stopped publishing to Google Play because of it. I target the Kindle Fire and Nook for android devices.

    the open concept of android is great for customers, terrible for developers ;)

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  • TapcodiaTapcodia Member Posts: 84
    Oh great, i forced mine to update to 4.2....
  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
    edited November 2012
    yea, make sure you report the bug using the 'contact support' link below. in my opinion the android market is a strange beast. I think there is some great opportunity, but it's also very difficult to target it with all the differences in devices. I stopped publishing to Google Play because of it. I target the Kindle Fire and Nook for android devices.

    the open concept of android is great for customers, terrible for developers ;)
    Yep! It's been reported. No response yet. Sure wish there were a way to update previous bug findings after conducting more research into the matter.

    My workaround for the varying Android screen sizes is to dynamically generate the level based on the device's screen resolution, instead of trying to make a static level where everything is in the same place on every device. It was surprisingly simple to implement.

    And Another Bug Update: It seems to happen with non power of two images. On the off-chance that there was some issue with the 1280x720 image size, I also tried a build with a just a few 48x48 images - same display corruption occurs.

    Yes, I'm aware that iOS may potentially upscale these buttons to 64x64, but that's the size I need them at and with HUD design/placement, I can't make them 64x64 as they'll overlap and tapping one will potentially trigger another. I'm not especially worried about wasting that little bit of memory, with image tiles in my project being only around 300bytes each. The workaround of building rules to avoid this seems unnecessary when it was working on 4.x pre 4.2 just perfectly.
  • MarcoColMarcoCol Member, PRO Posts: 279
    I've test to build a new version with the latest GameSalad version, but there isn't a change. The game starts and after a short time (one or two seconds with a black screen) the game closes.
    Will there be an update soon? I had the status app of the day at the Amazon store and lot of the downloader give me a bad feedback, because it doesn't run with Android 4.2 - not good...
  • MarkOnTheIronMarkOnTheIron Member Posts: 1,447
    @PixelMetal I don't have a device updated to 4.2 so I cannot test it, but have you tried to update the sdk to the new version before testing the builds?

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  • MarcoColMarcoCol Member, PRO Posts: 279
    @MarkOnTheIron: I updated the SDK, make a another new build, same happens, it doesn't start.
  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
    edited November 2012
    @PixelMetal I don't have a device updated to 4.2 so I cannot test it, but have you tried to update the sdk to the new version before testing the builds?

    What Marco said. And previously working builds are no longer working.

    UPDATE: Another bug has surfaced: text does not display if it contains a value provided by a global attribute. It seems to display properly if it's an actor-level attribute.

    Some sort of official response from GS about this would be nice. Not a single GameSalad-based app I've tried has worked on 4.2, including the last "Game of the Month" winner.
  • SlowboySlowboy Member, PRO Posts: 329
    +1 for an official response please, I've got increasingly more Nexus customers reporting broken apps, even though their games have been working for a month.
    Uptimistik has just reported that it's also possibly Google's problem - I'd still like to know either way so that I can keep my customers in the loop, and happy!
  • SyfluxSyflux Member Posts: 22
    Why has there been no official response on this yet? I've already gotten 4 or 5 emails from people with 4.2 problems.
  • RPRP Member Posts: 1,990
    Why am I getting an email notification about comments on a thread I have not participated in/commented on? (This Thread). Is it just me? Just curious.
  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283

    Uptimistik has just reported that it's also possibly Google's problem - I'd still like to know either way so that I can keep my customers in the loop, and happy!
    It's extremely unlikely that all of these issues are caused by Google's updates, as the issue are affecting a number of systems (text, but not always, graphic display, but not always).

    I suspect we're not hearing anything because the main GS concerns are related to iOS/OSX builds and tools - despite a previous comment through official channels that they'd be kept at the same version, Windows GS creator is lagging behind iOS with no announced update release date, and while Windows 8 build creation is a nice idea the support from GS for that market is terrible and GS apps run much, much slower on the Surface RT despite superior hardware specs over iOS/most Android devices.

    *shrug* same old same old, it seems. Fairly typical based on past GS behavior as far as I can tell.

  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
    Still no response to this at all? Hey, it's only been 10 days, right?
  • PixelMetalPixelMetal Member Posts: 283
    More info:

    Initial testing with QA using a Nexus 7 on 4.2 didn't encounter a crash. Still investigating.
    Thanks for the update. That single bug report should at least be two, as I've submitted two on it myself. It might be nice if there were a way to update bug reports with no findings, which is what I've been using this thread as since there isn't a way to do that currently.

    Also, to confirm: on a clean install of stock 4.2 on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7, GS apps are broken. Some get as far as the menu screen, one (mine) gets as far as the gameplay screen but doesn't display graphics or text from attributes properly, others crash out after loading. This has been tested on 3 Galaxy Nexus phones and 2 Nexus 7 tablets, both rooted and unrooted, on both device types.
  • HoneyTribeStudiosHoneyTribeStudios Member Posts: 1,792
    @SaladStraightShooter Could you ask the QA team to test my game McBank on 4.2 please? I've had a couple peeps say it crashes on startup with a Nexus 7. Sounds like the reason would be 4.2 but would be good to confirm if possible.

    This is the Google Play link (it's free): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.honeytribe.mcbank#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDIxMiwiY29tLmhvbmV5dHJpYmUubWNiYW5rIl0.
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  • HoneyTribeStudiosHoneyTribeStudios Member Posts: 1,792
    @SaladStraightShooter - Cool, thanks
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  • beefy_clyrobeefy_clyro Member Posts: 5,394
    @SaladStraightShooter ... Any news on this?? Im getting several emails over the last few days where Nexus 7 users can't start my game LAD. It seems they're running 4.2 as well. Cheers
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  • TouchTiltGamesTouchTiltGames Member Posts: 1,162
    Yeah I'm still waiting for a fix too after numerous customer email complaints.
  • s4ndm4ns4ndm4n Member Posts: 13
    It would be good to get an update on this. My apps dont work on 4.2. They start, graphics appear wrong and then it shuts down. I sent a bug report too but i think this will result in alot of bad reviews if its not sorted. I can already see LAD has been getting bad reviews on googleplay because of this which could affect long term sales.
  • MarcoColMarcoCol Member, PRO Posts: 279
    My apps also crashing a few seconds after starting on 4.2. The test device is a Google Nexus.
    The crash also occur after the last system-patch-update from google at last weekend.
    A GS-fix would be good, because I got every day a lot of mails and some order-cancelations.
  • beefy_clyrobeefy_clyro Member Posts: 5,394
    It would be good to get an update on this. My apps dont work on 4.2. They start, graphics appear wrong and then it shuts down. I sent a bug report too but i think this will result in alot of bad reviews if its not sorted. I can already see LAD has been getting bad reviews on googleplay because of this which could affect long term sales.
    Yup .. Very frustrating. I had a really good overall rating until this issue occurred, now its dragged it down loads with all the 1 stars wont load reviews. Hope GS fix it soon, this should be a priority.

    @SaladStraightShooter Thanks for the update mate, its nice to know you have identified it to be effecting 3 devices and are seen to be working on it right away.
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  • MarcoColMarcoCol Member, PRO Posts: 279
    Sounds good. Any raw schedule for it?
  • Vision Strike Ware LLCVision Strike Ware LLC Member Posts: 86
    Bump - My latest app loads on Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, both 4.2.1 and crashes after the splash screen.
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