App Binary RC 1.25.20210406 - Loading Fixes. macOS Full Screen Fix
adent42
Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,170
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 Start in Full Screen mode having content offset.
- Fix full screen mode staying as stretched.
- Possibly Fix full loading on macOS versions older than 11
All:
- Fixed loading bug for project files larger than 5k.
Previous update: https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/98341/app-binary-rc-1-25-20210326-scene-loading-fixes-macos-fixes-updated-ad-libraries
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
requestIDFA is indeed bugged. Next release will fix the prompt and publishing will be updated so you can set the text for the prompt.
@adent42 could this be related?
https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/98355/tweet-sheet#latest
@solnika probably not, because this is for iOS only. My guess is my memory was wrong and I didn't implement social sharing on Android. We'll be looking into it.
@adent42 Thanks for the reply.
I remember a few times when you stated that it's on android too, will really appreciate if this could be implement on android. I designed my game with share as a big aspect on the design itself and a special system that needs to transfer info with the feature.
months of work, can't really do it without it...
As a side note, if anybody needs to test on android and don't have one , you can use bluestack, just need to drag a signed apk and drop it to the instance.
I got the code working today, I just need to install twitter and maybe fb to see if it's actually attaching the right results. Hopefully we'll be done with testing tomorrow and be able to release this weekend.
Many Thanks @adent42 truly appreciated!
Hi @adent42
I have sent you a message regarding issues with APK Expansion Support.
Full screen ads from applovin through ironsource don't work. Absolutely not a big deal for me but wanted to mention it just in case:
I/IntegrationHelper: --------------- AppLovin --------------
I/IntegrationHelper: Adapter 4.3.21 - VERIFIED
I/IntegrationHelper: Adapter - VERIFIED
I/IntegrationHelper: SDK Version - 9.14.12
I/IntegrationHelper: *** Activities ***
I/IntegrationHelper: com.applovin.adview.AppLovinInterstitialActivity - VERIFIED
I/IntegrationHelper: com.applovin.sdk.AppLovinWebViewActivity - VERIFIED
E/IntegrationHelper: com.applovin.adview.AppLovinFullscreenActivity - MISSING
E/IntegrationHelper: >>>> AppLovin - NOT VERIFIED
E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: com.cabagomez.heartrepair, PID: 6054
android.content.ActivityNotFoundException: Unable to find explicit activity class {com.cabagomez.xxxx/com.applovin.adview.AppLovinFullscreenActivity}; have you declared this activity in your AndroidManifest.xml?
@adriangomez thanks! we have another release soon, it should be fixed then.
@adriangomez the release is taking a bit longer than expected, so I'm patched the live version to fix your issue, since it's just a config issue.
thank you