Topic: AGS engine Android port

[ROOKMAGE]

No luck. The game won't launch :/

Speaking of which, is there any way to easily downgrade the version of AGS your game is currently using?

[Crimson Wizard]

No luck. The game won't launch :/

IIRC there should be a log file written to the engine's directory. I am not sure how that works on Android, but maybe it's there. If it is, can you check the very first lines of text there (should say something like "Adventure Game Studio Interpreter, ACI version A.B.C.DDDD")? That will be useful to know, if possible, what version of engine this APK actually is.

Speaking of which, is there any way to easily downgrade the version of AGS your game is currently using?

Generally - open in the previous version of the AGS Editor and save project. But this will fail to load automatically, because of slightly different project format. I think it's possible to convert project file (Game.agf) by manual edit (it is plain XML).
By the way, which version of the editor do you use for your game? Is it the official 3.3.0 release, or some "experimental" build?

[ROOKMAGE]

It should be the official 3.3.0.1158, I got it from the main page.

[Crimson Wizard]

There are build instructions for Android on github. I may try to build an up-to-date APK, but this will take some time, because I never did that before.

[ROOKMAGE]

Alright. Thanks, wish I knew more about android and AGS engines so I could help Good luck!

[Joseph DiPerla]

If you give me till tomorrow I will make a new build for you.

[ROOKMAGE]

Oh, ok. Sweet. Thanks!

[km3k]

EDIT: The error message you mentioned could only be shown if you use APK made prior to "game format 3.3.0" was introduced. This happened 26th September 2013. Probably any build later than that could run 1158 games, although there's no guarantee it will run them 100% properly, because aside from data format changes, there were feature additions that could be used (like new script functions).

That's odd. COuld you link me to the latest APK? I've been searching all over and all of the apk's i've downloaded have errored. I think I'm using an outdated version..?

The latest APK I see on jjs/daily is of 24th October 2013: http://jjs.at/daily/AGS_2013-10-24_16-22-13.apk
I cannot tell what program state was it built with, but if it really used the engine from 24th October, then it should be able to run 3.3.0.1158 games (although you will get a different warning message).
Still it will be more correct to create a new apk...

I found a slightly newer apk from JJS that may be the 3.3.0 release. It's from 2013-12-14: http://jjs.at/daily/branches/release-3.3.0/AGS_2013-12-14_10-25-44.apk

Any word on a newer build from anyone else? If I find some time, I may check out the instructions on github to build a new apk.

[ROOKMAGE]

That worked, thanks!

[Joseph DiPerla]

Give this one a shot: http://www.adventurestockpile.com/ags330.apk and see if that works. It is using the latest repo from 3.3.0 Master.

[monkey0506]

That APK refuses to install on my Galaxy Tab 3 (and yes, I have Unknown Sources checked). Could you upload a signed APK?

Edit: Actually, I was able to confirm that the latest master is fatally bugged for Android anyway. [Android: Failed to find acceptable graphics filter (Undefined) #151]

I'm looking into it.

[ROOKMAGE]

Yeah, getting the same problem on both amazon kindle and Motorola g.

[Liquidje]

I am also looking for a newer/better build as I get random crashes in Resonance with the October 2013 release. If people have problems please see this post, as a newer version is hidden:

I found a slightly newer apk from JJS that may be the 3.3.0 release. It's from 2013-12-14: http://jjs.at/daily/branches/release-3.3.0/AGS_2013-12-14_10-25-44.apk

Any word on a newer build from anyone else? If I find some time, I may check out the instructions on github to build a new apk.

It gave me a minor graphics glitch in Resonance, but no crashes (so far!).

Regarding creating a newer build: I looked at Github to build a newer APK but the source files (at least the important ones) do not seem to be updated since the December 2013 build. I am not a great Android developer (or software developer for that matter), but judging by the files it is not that easy to combine the newer ags builds with the Android libraries, effectively just rebuilding the file linked above. So as far as I know there is no point in rebuilding the above.

I am more than prepared to further look into the matter and help wherever I can

edit: also, as far as I know, there are some problems with the current build. Enabling logging does not give any useful information for debugging (only notifications of loaded and unloaded rooms).

[Crimson Wizard]

Better wait a little for a new build; I was trying to fix the recent fatal problem for mobile devices. Need to hear from monkey_05_06 if my patch works.

[Liquidje]

Awesome I did not know you fixed the 'fatal' problem, I understand the newest Android build (Dec-2013) did not have the fatal problem, but that the fatal problem occured in the builds after that??

If there is anything that needs testing, I am happy to help (although more debug logging would be nice for the devs). Cool that people still work on this    

[monkey0506]

Regarding creating a newer build: I looked at Github to build a newer APK but the source files (at least the important ones) do not seem to be updated since the December 2013 build. I am not a great Android developer (or software developer for that matter), but judging by the files it is not that easy to combine the newer ags builds with the Android libraries, effectively just rebuilding the file linked above. So as far as I know there is no point in rebuilding the above.

The files in the Android folder are the Java-specific library and the launcher app. The actual engine itself is still built against the native C++ source (using the NDK), so these changes wouldn't be reflected in the Android folder.

CW has been working with me to try and get rid of the most recent fatal error, which was caused due to some incorrect code on Android which doesn't support graphics filters. I haven't had a chance to test it just yet, but CW posted a patch here. I will do a full rebuild later today to confirm if this patch resolves the issue. If so, I will upload the APK.

[Liquidje]

The files in the Android folder are the Java-specific library and the launcher app. The actual engine itself is still built against the native C++ source (using the NDK), so these changes wouldn't be reflected in the Android folder.

Thanks for the information. Glad I did not try to figure out this stuff for myself, although I am highly intrigued by the process.

CW has been working with me to try and get rid of the most recent fatal error, which was caused due to some incorrect code on Android which doesn't support graphics filters. I haven't had a chance to test it just yet, but CW posted a patch here. I will do a full rebuild later today to confirm if this patch resolves the issue. If so, I will upload the APK.

Great! Thanks (you too CW!)

[monkey0506]

It appears that CW's latest patch fixed the most recently introduced bug (incorrect graphics filters). The latest APK is available here.

[xlynx]

I just tried AGS_2014-4-30.apk on my Samsung Galaxy Note II. For the most part it's working fine. I noticed:

• The Blackwell Legacy: The dog leash graphics near the beginning are rather glitchy.
• Primordia: Crashed when Scrapper was cutting through the Engineering hull, I wondered if it were memory related, as closing other apps then trying again worked.

[EctoOne]

Hi, i just found this piece of gold and i'm so happy about it.
But i have one question. Is there a way to change the language of some games?
I'm mostly speaking of Maniac Mansion Deluxe which has a bunch of translation files i can choose form in the Windows Settings.