App Binary RC 1.25.20210326 - Scene Loading Fixes. macOS Fixes, updated Ad Libraries
adent42
Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,199
To get these benefits use "Build RC". It doesn't matter which version of GameSalad Creator you publish with as long as it's a version 1.25.x.
For people used to the old RC thread, I will be repeating features that are not present in the regular "Generate" build, so you know in total what you are getting with this RC. New fixes since the last RC will be in bold.
This build fixes an issue Android IAP and updates Ad Networks versions.
Android:
Changes
- APK Expansion File Support
- Game project loading tweaks to improve performance (smaller memory footprint, faster loading on really large files).
- Ad Network Updates:
- IronSrc 7.1.0.2
- Admob 19.6.0
- Chartboost 8.2.0
Fixes
- Fixed bug where FireTV would pause on launch leading to app reviewers to think the game has frozen (again).
- Fixed bug that shows up when a scene instantly moves to another scene but takes long to load.
iOS:
Changes
- Ad Network Updates:
- IronSrc 7.1.4.0
- Admob 7.69.0
- Chartboost 8.4.0 (no IronSrc) / 8.4.1 (with IronSrc) 8.4.0 is required for GoogleMobileAdsMediationChartboost for now.
- Tweeting with "requestIDFA" in the image and the message should bring up the TrackingAuthorizationWithCompletionHandler
Fixes
- N/A
macOS:
Fixes
- Fix full screen mode staying as streched.
- Possibly Fix full loading on macOS versions older than 11
All:
- N/A
Previous update: https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/98290/app-binary-rc-1-25-20210218-android-iap-fixes-minor-ad-network-updates#latest
Commentary
Tracking Authorization
Ability to show tracking authorization request by using the Twitter behavior. You will need to put requestIDFA as both the message and image for that to happen.
This will allow ad networks to send a device wide device identifier, which is required in order to server personalized ads (which end up paying more than generic ads).
APK Expansion File Support
Long awaited support for APK expansion files is here! We'll be documenting things better soon, but basically there's a checkbox in publishing.
Check it and we'll generate an APK and a OBB file.
The APK should be signed as normal. The OBB file should be uploaded as your expansion file!
Some notes.
- Expansion files are only supported on Google Play. Amazon lets you upload big APKs.
- There's a bug in the Google Play console that prevents you from uploading an expansion file as part of your first release. So you'll need to regenerate (to increment the version code) and upload the apk again for the expansion file menu item to show.
- No patch file support, you'll need to do a new release every time.
- If the expansion file is not downloaded during first install, the game will just show the loading screen and the loading wheel while it waits for the download to finish.
- We didn't add any error checking for the general release. So if you check "Expansion Files" and hit Generate you'll get an APK with no game in it, but won't be able to load the expansion file.
FireTV loading
The FireTV fix is just a repeat of what we thought we release the last time, but really this time!
Loading optimizations
As for the loading improvements, most people won't see much a of difference. The optimizations make the most difference in the loading of large table files or very large actors. The optimizations are in the parsing portion of our loading pass.
To put things into perspective, we tested against our HexWords template. In the main engine it took about 17 seconds to load the word table. The split was about 7 seconds to read the file in and 10 seconds to setup data in the game engine. The current engine does that same task in 12 seconds, 2 to load the file and 10 to setup data in the game engine. So in the grand scheme you users aren't going to feel a whole lot better yet. We believe that the biggest improvements will be seeing in the loading of actors with large logic stacks or scenes with a lot of instance actors. We'll also be taking what we've learned to continue to improve loading over time.
As usual, if you see any issues specific to this release, let us know!
Comments
Very very cool. Thank you!
Great thank You
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thanks for this, but the publishing portal seems to be bogged again.
@adent42 Can this workaround also be used for other staff? like native keyboard? (:
Tweeting with "requestIDFA" in the image and the message should bring up the TrackingAuthorizationWithCompletionHandler
@bob loblaw publishing portal should be good again.
@solnika possibly!
FYI it looks like the new table loading code has problems with saved tables (I think), so use the main build if you use that.
Okay, so it's not saved tables, it's large scenes (large in terms of number of actors / layers / xml file size). We have a fix that should be coming soon.
oh boy oh boy! Yes! @adent42 Please! tell us more
My most wanted feature (:
what is classified as large?
I think over 5k which is over our read buffer block length (I was playing with different buffer sizes so I forget the exact size).
It was a problem I fixed for large tables, but forgot to apply the same fix for other object files.
New build up, we're doing our checks on it now, post any issues you find there: https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/98346/app-binary-rc-1-25-20210406-loading-fixes-macos-full-screen-fix/p1
@adent42 is that for table size, scenes or both?
Also can I take it from that, that whats affect the loading times are the table total size and not how many cells there are?
if I have few cells with lots of data it won't make a difference against many cells with less data, is that correct?
Also this:
@solnika The bug was for scenes and actors. We had fixed it for tables. Both file size and cell size affect loading, it's best to just test it out.
As for the keyboard thing, it will partially help, but not completely, we have a few things to look at before keyboard support but we'll get around to it.
Thanks, Looking forward to it!