Topic: AGS engine Android port

[pcj]

Just tried the new daily.  I have to enable frame dropping to keep audio and video in sync while playing Theora on my Galaxy Nexus.

[uswin]

EDIT:
Regarding the theora crash: Uswin or David_OSU, does anyone of you have a rooted device? If so, can you post the output of the command "cat /proc/cpuinfo" in a terminal emulator? I guess you can also open the file in a text editor/viewer. Somehow I suspect that the Tegra 2 lies about its available features.

EDIT 2:
Maybe this new daily fixes the theora problem on Tegra CPUs: http://jjs.at/daily/AGS_2012-01-24_19-04-16.apk
But it is a stab in the dark. I will post the source later because my local repository got out of sync with the online one and I have to fiddle around with it some more to make it usable again :.

JJS, Unfortunately I don't have an access to rooted device yet,

but Good news, I confirmed that using the latest AGS_2012-01-24_19-04-16.apk, the theora crash DOESN'T OCCUR on LGP990 Optimus 2X ANYMORE. Kudoooos. 
Where is the LIKE button mate !!

[Jonathan Wedge]

Just curious can this play AGS 3.2 games yet?

[JJS]

It could always run games from 2.6 to 3.2.1.

Uswin, this is good news indeed!

[Jonathan Wedge]

I see but what I mean is 3.2.2 I think. The PSP version can run those games but I wanted know about  the Android version.

[JJS]

Ok, so you mean the current development version in the SVN. All changes were only to the editor as far as I can tell, so no problem there. Also all ports are built from the same engine source, so they should be identical in compatibility.

[Jonathan Wedge]

Oh sweet it works. Thanks man I had asked cause I remember I couldn't get my game to load when you first released the port.

Great so now I can confirm it works on the Sidekick 4g. Only problem is the sound does this weird sound when the game is not reading my finger.

[David_OSU]

EDIT:
Regarding the theora crash: Uswin or David_OSU, does anyone of you have a rooted device? If so, can you post the output of the command "cat /proc/cpuinfo" in a terminal emulator? I guess you can also open the file in a text editor/viewer. Somehow I suspect that the Tegra 2 lies about its available features.

Here is the Features list from the cpuinfo command:

Features:         swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp vfpv3 vfpv3d16

Also, I know that the Tegra 2 does not have the NEON instructions, which is surprising.

[GMoney]

Would it be possible to compile the APK to a BAR for PlayBook users? That would make my day if it were possible. :o

[JJS]

David_OSU, thanks for the info! The problem is that the compiler generated code for neon, but to target the Tegra CPU it has to be set to vfpv3-d16. Fortunately this was easy to fix, a problem in the optimized assembler code would have been very hard to resolve for me.

The PlayBook is a Blackberry device, right? I have no clue how the development environment for that looks, but it is certainly not a simple recompile. This would be an entirely different port and I don't think it will happen tbh (at least not from me).

[uswin]

David_OSU, thanks for the info! The problem is that the compiler generated code for neon, but to target the Tegra CPU it has to be set to vfpv3-d16. Fortunately this was easy to fix, a problem in the optimized assembler code would have been very hard to resolve for me.

Thanks god it is not that friend. 

[GMoney]

JJS, yes, the PlayBook is the BlackBerry tablet. With the new PlayBook OS (OS 2.0) Android developers will be able to release their Android apps in Blackberry App World. The only thing that is required is that the APK be converted to a BAR file. I'm sure there is more tweaking that might need to be done, but, generally apps seem to work well after the conversion.

I actually converted "AGS_2012-01-24_19-04-16.apk" to a BAR last night, but am unable to install it on my PlayBook without first getting a signing key from the RIM servers.

Here's a little video tut:

I might be able to tinker with it later tonight or tomorrow and let you know how it works out.

* EDIT: This just popped up today:
http://crackberry.com/android-developers-submit-your-apps-february-13th-and-get-free-playbook

So, if you have any other existing Android apps, you could get your hands on a free PlayBook--it's how I got mine.

[R4L]

JJS, I can't even describe how awesome this project has come along in such short time. From not functioning to almost perfect compatibility in this amount of time is impressive my friend, and I applaud you for taking the time to make it possible. You can't beat playing 6 Days a Sacrifice in bed when I'm too lazy to get up and play on the computer. Especially considering my phone is very limited in terms of games.

Seriously man, bravo. 

[uswin]

JJS, I can't even describe how awesome this project has come along in such short time. From not functioning to almost perfect compatibility in this amount of time is impressive my friend, and I applaud you for taking the time to make it possible. You can't beat playing 6 Days a Sacrifice in bed when I'm too lazy to get up and play on the computer. Especially considering my phone is very limited in terms of games.

Seriously man, bravo. 

Couldn't agree more mate.
This is absolutely a brilliant effort to make the AGS step up to the next level.
Kudos.

[GMoney]

I managed to get it loaded onto my PlayBook, but it force closes immediately. I ran RIM's compatibility test and this is what it gave me:

uses-access-native:impact=5:com.bigbluecup.android.EngineGlue
uses-access-native:impact=5:com.bigbluecup.android.GamesList
uses-access-native:impact=5:com.bigbluecup.android.PreferencesAcivi ty

Basically, the PlayBook doesn't support the above APIs. I'm not sure what they are exactly. "EngineGlue" sounds pretty important though.

"impact=" refers to the severity of "unsupportedness". 5 is the absolute highest.

I'm hoping this could potentially be only a few tweaks away from being PlayBook compatible.

[JJS]

Thanks guys! 

Looks like the PlayBook can only run the Java code, but not native ARM instructions. Because the whole AGS engine is in native code, this is of course bad news. I guess nothing except for reimplementing the whole engine in Java could fix this .

[GMoney]

Yeah, I found your code online and was looking through the different classes. In the back of my mind, I knew that would have been too good to be true.

Oh, well, I have an Android phone and I think I might play through Gemini Rue again using that! Very awesome stuff you've accomplished. 

[JJS]

Gemini Rue

At the moment you will not be able to do the fighting and box pushing minigames I think. You could use the Windows binary from my daily build site and play through those sections on your PC because it should be savegame compatible though.

[cianty]

I dunno if it's exclusive to my device (Nexus) but the backspace key doesn't do anything. Which is really annyoing.... jus started playing Ghost's Hubris on my phone and the prefilled text of "player" can only be extended with further characters, but not deleted.

[Jonathan Wedge]

It's not just you phone. My sidekick does the same thing which sucks.