Android Viewer Problems

KevinCrossKevinCross London, UKMember Posts: 1,894
in Working with GS (Mac)

Hi

I finally bought an Android device after my iPhone had a little tiff with a wall and failed. It's a cheap one to see whether or not I could get used to the OS as I've never used it before. So far so good. However I can't get the GameSalad Viewer to load my project. I used the version on Google Play 1.25.5 and I also installed the latest version 1.25.73 as an APK file. Both versions find GameSalad Creator on Wifi but in GameSalad Creator it freezes at compressing assets (the blue line is at 100%).

I can't get the USB way to work either, I know with my Kindle a long time ago that option showed in GameSalad Creator.

I've followed a number of forum posts as well as the cookbook. Developer mode is on my phone, I've turned on USB debugging (cookbook says that) and I've turned off firewall on my MacBook.

I can install my project as a signed APK but the first thing I noticed when viewing it is that buttons are missing from view (maybe missing completely or off screen) so the app is completely unusable. The app fits fine to the same resolution when I preview it in GameSalad Creator with custom resolution. To keep installing a new APK every time I want to check something is going to be a slow process, especially when I don't know why buttons are missing at the moment so having a workable viewer is would be a massive time saver.

The phone I got has an 8GB hard drive and 95% of that is used by the operating system and with apps installed I'm almost at 100%. Do you think that it might be due to not having enough space to proceed? It doesn't even attempt to download the project in the viewer so not sure that is the reason.

I've ordered a memory card for it to see if that helps but maybe someone else has experienced a similar problem and can offer some tips/advice on what to try

Thanks

Kevin

Comments

  • KevinCrossKevinCross London, UKMember Posts: 1,894

    Don't know what I've done but I did reboot my phone and when I plugged in the USB again it asked if I wanted to allow USB debugging from the computer, and now I have the option to test the app via USB in GameSalad Viewer. The buttons are still missing so the app is currently unusable but now it'll be quicker to get the buttons on screen in my app.

    Unfortunately Wifi doesn't work.

  • FeathersFeathers Member Posts: 31

    Mine never works either. So I just build an ad-hoc every time. It's funny how this is much faster.

  • KevinCrossKevinCross London, UKMember Posts: 1,894

    I noticed that the viewer was really laggy when working with two actors with physics. I'm hoping that it's just an Android viewer problem as it's fine on an iPhone. If it is a viewer problem I will just use the viewer to get the app fitting on the screen properly and then will do an adhoc build test to see if that's laggy too. I might give up if I have to do an Adhoc build everytime I want to quickly view a project on the device though.

  • IceboxIcebox Member Posts: 1,485

    @KevinCross yes the lag just happens in the android viewer , when you build an apk and test it doesnt lag and runs smooth, but some games do stutter and lag a bit.

  • KevinCrossKevinCross London, UKMember Posts: 1,894

    Thanks for confirming @Icebox

    My device was a cheap one so can accept some lags even with an APK build but as it's an app and not a game with only one screen that uses a little bit of physics hopefully it's not a showstopper.

  • RowdyPantsRowdyPants Member Posts: 465

    @Icebox Oh, thank you for mentioning that. I was discouraged by the micro stutter when connecting the viewer to an android device. I guess I'll start only testing with an adhoc.

  • IceboxIcebox Member Posts: 1,485
    edited October 2016

    @RowdyPants Yes its always better to test with an adhoc for both iOS and Android.
    These are the results I got on my game , with big graphics on each scene .

    Android viewer:
    Samsung galaxy s4 - stutters
    Samsung galaxy s5 - stutters
    Samsung galaxy s7 - stutters
    Samsung grand prime - stutters

    Android APK build:
    Samsung galaxy s4 - only 2 scenes stutter out of 8 and I can't find the reason behind it.
    the rest of the devices run pretty well with high performance

    iOS viewer:
    Iphone 5s - high performance
    Iphone 6 plus - high performance
    Ipad mini Retina - high performance
    Ipad 3 - high performance ( but a bit lower than the iphone 5s )
    Ipad mini non Retina runs like the ipad 3

    heavy graphics scene takes 2-3 seconds to load in viewer

    iOS adhoc build:
    High performance on all devices with faster loading time 1-1.5 seconds loading scene.

    The point is , it varies between devices , so don't get discouraged with it. Maybe the device your testing on handles things different.

Sign In or Register to comment.

© Vanilla Keystone Theme 2025