App Binary RC 1.25.20210309 - Android updates. Expansion Files, FireTV Fix, Loading Optimizations

adent42adent42 Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,155
in Release Notes

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).

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed bug where FireTV would pause on launch leading to app reviewers to think the game has frozen (again).

iOS:

Changes

  • N/A

Fixes

  • N/A

Both:

  • 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

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!

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