GemRB 0.8.0 released! (Fork Me edition)

[Xelasarg]

Same for me: black screen, then dropped back to the home screen. It's not a "real" force close, though, because there's no pop up error message; still, it won't work. Logcat is disabled in my ROM (Note 2, Wanamlite v2.5, Adam Kernel 2.4), I'll try to re-enable it and post a log.

 

In v0.7.2, I had stored all data (i.e. GemRB and game date) on a 64 GB external sd card (my internal 16 GB storage is almost filled up with other stuff); seeing that GemRB is installed into the internal storage by default now, I've set paths accordingly in GemRB.cfg, but that didn't work either. :-(

 

Another question: just exactly why has the GUI startup screen been removed? I quite liked the ability to configure everything beforehand.

 

But: thanks for your efforts nonetheless, I love this project! :-)

(going back to v0.7.2 for now...)

[Xelasarg]

First off: I was being stupid and edited the wrong gemrb.cfg (in /sdcard0/app-data/net.sourceforge.gemrb), that one was a left-over of a very old 0.7.1 installation.

 

I had another go with the right file (the one in /sdcard0/Android/net.sourceforge.gemrb), and managed to start the game, or at least I saw the start menu. Once. In portrait mode. And it crashed on me as soon as I tried to turn the screen to landscape.

 

That was before I re-enabled my logcat, unfortunately, because I never got so far again. I managed to play the intro movies, though, they started in portrait mode and I could switch to landscape without GemRB crashing on me. But this time, the game itself wouldn't load.

I've tried different cfg settings, such as fullscreen=0 / 1, additional path settings, etc., all leading to a black screen that I had to terminate myself; I wasn't even dropped back to the home screen (don't know if that's good or bad ;-) ).

 

I've attached the complete logcat file. It starts right in the middle of things, i.e. when I was able to load the intro movies, and continues through all my attempts (4 or 5 times IIRC. That's all that was saved to file). I've noticed that GemRB complains about some wrong setttings, but this doesn't seem to cause the crashes.

 

Btw, I'm not sure if screen rotation was meant to be applied to GemRB in this release, but I think anything else than landscape is almost useless, unless you're running this on a 10" tablet.

2013-04-29-13-30-25.txt

[Trasd]

Since everyone who is having trouble with 0.8.0 is giving some details, I thought I'd do the same.

 

My GemRB data files are not located on the SD Card. When it first runs, I let it download to the app-data directory like it does by default, but my BG is located in emmc memory as well as GemRB's data files, where I prefer. I do keep the app-data directory as a backup, though. I've been successfully using this configuration since I discovered GemRB at version 0.7.0.

 

Version 0.8.0 does not write to the app-data directory, or anywhere else that I can tell, before it times out. I also keep the GemRB apk on my SD Card.

 

Again, I am more than happy to share any of my diagnostic files to help get GemRB up and running, just let me know. Here is my basic system info, in case this helps too:

 

*** INFO ***

build_manufacturer: bn

build_model: NookColor

android_version_release: 2.3.7

android_version_sdk: 10

rom: CyanogenMod-7.2.0-encore

 

I do plan on moving to JB as soon as Cyanogen releases a stable build.

[SyntaxError]

Another question: just exactly why has the GUI startup screen been removed? I quite liked the ability to configure everything beforehand.

 

it was never ever part of GemRB to begin with. Somebody else did that and we never made our own android build before. (I think its pretty obvious we don't know much about developing for Android lol). We could have kept distributing using that build system, but it would have never been compatible with with multi-touch and it runs considerably slower (~5-10 fps). Eventually we will get an SDL2/OpenGL rendering system and we would have had to drop the interface anyway.

 

Anyway, we would like to do a better GUI interface that isnt based around a config file. In the meantime we will probably add a text editor at least so you can see the config file, and hopefully some nice GUI error alerts instead of nothingness.

 

If you have problems getting the 0.8 android version running, I encourage you to seek help on IRC instead of here. You will get a better response from people that actually build the android version or know how to get it running.

 

Btw, I'm not sure if screen rotation was meant to be applied to GemRB in this release, but I think anything else than landscape is almost useless, unless you're running this on a 10" tablet.

 

side effect of the SDL2 renderer. the iOS version of GemRB asks it to lock landscape, but the android version does not it seems; an easy fix really.

 

speaking of the new renderer, its worth mentioning that it will upscale the game using hardware acceleration, so you can set resolution to something like 640x480 to achieve better prformance without it being too small to play (obviously it will be quite fugly at such a low res, but you get the idea)

[Xelasarg]

Thanks for the reply!

 

I believed this was the right place to post because you were asking for a logcat. ;-)

 

I'm fine with editing conf files, if someone could only confirm this version actually works or tell me what I'm doing wrong. It's pretty clear to me that I'm doing something wrong, but I don't seem to get it... guess I'll have to ask around somewhere else, as you suggested.

 

(wishlist: a fix for the screen rotation issue would be nice... ;-) )

 

Cheers!

[Trasd]

Thanks for the reply!

 

I believed this was the right place to post because you were asking for a logcat. ;-)

 

I'm fine with editing conf files, if someone could only confirm this version actually works or tell me what I'm doing wrong. It's pretty clear to me that I'm doing something wrong, but I don't seem to get it... guess I'll have to ask around somewhere else, as you suggested.

 

(wishlist: a fix for the screen rotation issue would be nice... ;-) )

 

Cheers!

 

Ditto, I must be missing a major concept.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If anyone who is having problems does figure this out, please post the solution here. Me, my system, and my schedule, don't lend themselves to IRCs very well.

[psch]

Hi guys, android build guy here.

 

There's a new build up on sourceforge, here, GemRB-0.8.0-git-d23d201.apk that is.

This build does have forced landscape orientation and, barring any as of yet undiscovered underlying issues, should work.

 

For clarity, a set of configuration instructions follows:

 

0) Copy your game data onto your device.

 

1) Install the mentioned apk.

 

2a) Copy a known working GemRB.cfg into /sdcard/Android/data/net.sourceforge.gemrb/files. You can create the folder structure if it doesn't exist. This path might be different for Android <4.0, if you're using such a device you'll have to search for the folder.

 

OR

 

2b) Run GemRB once, it should blackscreen and exit shortly after (unless your game is BG1 and it's in /sdcard/gemrb/bg1, because that's what the template config is configured for). After that, kill GemRB by swiping it off the task-switcher or navigating to Settings -> Apps -> Gemrb -> Force close. After that, edit /sdcard/Android/data/net.sourceforge.gemrb/files/GemRB.cfg to reflect your setup, i.e. GameType, GamePath, et cetera.

 

3) After editing and saving GemRB.cfg, run GemRB again.

 

After following this instructions you should be greeted by your game's main menu.

[Xelasarg]

Wow, that was quick. :-)

 

I've configured the new GemRB build and managed to start BG2. So far, so good, but I've come across some more issues (mostly mouse emulation bugs):

 

1. Mouse pointer isn't displayed, no matter what I set in gemrb.cfg

2. Screen taps only randomly work; I have to tap the screen several times until it's accepted as left mouse click.

3. After starting a game, the screen scrolls uncontrollably to the upper left corner, rendering the game unplayable. :-(

4. Display isn't stretched to screen, but runs in 4:3 with black borders instead.

 

But that's definitely a step in the right direction.

Thanks for your efforts!

[MephistoSatanDevil]

multibyte font support? How??

[Trasd]

psch - thank you. With the data files in a different location, that may have been the problem all along, but you will understand if I don't want to verify by reinstalling an older version.

 

I have the same problems as Xelasarg, but I expect the mouse pointer isn't supposed to be displayed and my aspect ratio (1024 x 600) is fine.

 

The biggest problem for me is it not catching all taps.

 

I will have to see if I can get used to not having configurable, custom keys, and no mouse pointer. Also, my FPS is not higher, but possibly lower; I will get back to you on this one.

 

Thanks, I have some testing to do and some adjustments to make. Without the SDL that I got really used to, it's going to be weird for a bit, especially as the custom SDL (peyla or some such) was very configurable.

 

EDITED

Sorry, I misunderstood the mouse thing - maybe it should be shown? If so, I hope I don't loose relative mouse movement! I assigned my mouse clicks to my volume keys which makes it easier to see what's under the pointer.

 

Unfortunately, this is all moot for me as my frame rate has dropped by 5 - 10 FPS (not gone up by that amount - I think I read somewhere it was supposed to go up), and as crowed areas were marginal for my system before, they are unplayable now. With 0.7.2, I was dropping to 11 FPS at the lowest, now I'm hitting 4.

 

I will try some more tweaking before restoring 0.7.2, but I think I may be SOL for now.

 

Thanks again though, I was scared this project - for Android - was dieing.

[SyntaxError]

Wow, that was quick. :-)

 

I've configured the new GemRB build and managed to start BG2. So far, so good, but I've come across some more issues (mostly mouse emulation bugs):

 

1. Mouse pointer isn't displayed, no matter what I set in gemrb.cfg

2. Screen taps only randomly work; I have to tap the screen several times until it's accepted as left mouse click.

3. After starting a game, the screen scrolls uncontrollably to the upper left corner, rendering the game unplayable. :-(

4. Display isn't stretched to screen, but runs in 4:3 with black borders instead.

 

But that's definitely a step in the right direction.

Thanks for your efforts!

 

don't expect the mouse pointer back anytime soon. I cant replicate any touch coordinate issues, but the scrolling screen is likely that the "mouse pointer" is by default in a location that causes this behavior. this is accounted for in the iOS version, but i see no such handling for android.

 

the "screen" is NOT supposed to be "stretched" ever (we have never supported arbitrary resolutions). if you want widescreen you must install a widescreen mod like always. the only change here is that you can mod to a smaller resolution (for better performance) than your screen and stretch to fill as long as it is the same aspect ratio as your available screen.

 

Unfortunately, this is all moot for me as my frame rate has dropped by 5 - 10 FPS (not gone up by that amount - I think I read somewhere it was supposed to go up), and as crowed areas were marginal for my system before, they are unplayable now. With 0.7.2, I was dropping to 11 FPS at the lowest, now I'm hitting 4.

 

To get better FPS you need to lower the resolution. we use software rendering so resolution will continue to be the primary performance factor. unfortunately the SDL2 renderer doesnt support 16bpp textures so we did loose that performance boost, but 32bpp on this new version will be faster than 32bpp on the old version if that makes sense.

 

there should be a setting for fog of war to be lower quality that would speed the game up considerably.

[SyntaxError]

multibyte font support? How??

 

depends on what language. for Chinese, "simply" replace the dialog.tlk with the chinese one and then either add the chinese BAM fonts and edit your fonts.2da file to use them or get a unicode chinese TTF font (assuming you have the TTF plugin) and edit the fonts.2da file as per the TTF font plugin instructions. after that ad Encoding=chinese to your gemrb.cfg. there is a chinese.ini file in the gemrb shared data directory to control wether to use BIG5 or GBK.

[Trasd]

Unfortunately, this is all moot for me as my frame rate has dropped by 5 - 10 FPS (not gone up by that amount - I think I read somewhere it was supposed to go up), and as crowed areas were marginal for my system before, they are unplayable now. With 0.7.2, I was dropping to 11 FPS at the lowest, now I'm hitting 4.

 

To get better FPS you need to lower the resolution. we use software rendering so resolution will continue to be the primary performance factor. unfortunately the SDL2 renderer doesnt support 16bpp textures so we did loose that performance boost, but 32bpp on this new version will be faster than 32bpp on the old version if that makes sense.

 

there should be a setting for fog of war to be lower quality that would speed the game up considerably.

 

No, it is moot for me. My system and the game are already tweaked as much as they can be. I am aware of the FoW setting, openal versus sdlaudio settings, etc. Sometimes I may make stupid mistakes, but I've been around computers for more than 30 years. It's a shame that faster FPS and "improvements" excludes those of us on a budget. The same thing just happened with my two favorite games by RORTOS - his "improvements" increased hardware requirements to the point where they no longer run on my tablet. Unfortunately, one of my backups was bad and I can no longer run that app at all.

 

I guess I cannot complain too much as I didn't pay for GemRB, but I did buy BG1 and BG2 specifically for GemRB. I stated this in SourceForge's Tracker a few months ago. I just wish, when better hardware is needed for an existing program that's been around for awhile, someone would make note of that somewhere (like, 5 - 10 FPS increase, for those running 32bpp) as I would not have spent hours trying to make GemRB 0.8.0 work on my tablet (actually, I probably would have anyway! LOL).

 

I hope who ever was compiling the peyla SDL version continues, or if I ever find the time, I guess I could try to compile it myself. It looks like this is going to be my only recourse; that or I could just stick with 0.7.2.

 

Left in the dust....

[Xelasarg]

Thanks for the info!

I was simply comparing to the 0.7.2 build, which handles certain things better IMO, like 16:9 display (don't know how and why, but it's different to 0.8.0), and mouse emulation.

I'm running this on a Galaxy Note 2. 0.7.2 picks up the S-Pen as hardware mouse, and I can move the mouse pointer (the "hand") around by hovering 2 or 3 cm over the screen. That's probably the most convenient way to play, and I've gotten quite used to it. I didn't have any speed issues before, so I guess I'll stick to 0.7.2 for now, even though that one has a few annoying bugs, too (settings aren't saved and Auto Pause doesn't work).

 

It's great fun anyway, I'm looking forward to further updates!

[Trasd]

Thanks for the info!

I was simply comparing to the 0.7.2 build, which handles certain things better IMO, like 16:9 display (don't know how and why, but it's different to 0.8.0), and mouse emulation.

I'm running this on a Galaxy Note 2. 0.7.2 picks up the S-Pen as hardware mouse, and I can move the mouse pointer (the "hand") around by hovering 2 or 3 cm over the screen. That's probably the most convenient way to play, and I've gotten quite used to it. I didn't have any speed issues before, so I guess I'll stick to 0.7.2 for now, even though that one has a few annoying bugs, too (settings aren't saved and Auto Pause doesn't work).

 

It's great fun anyway, I'm looking forward to further updates!

 

Auto-pause works fine for me, unless you are talking about 'pause when enemy is sighted' (or whatever the exact phrasing is) which tries to center using different coordinates. Let me know if you are not talking about pausing when enemy is sighted and I will explain how I changed the settings.

 

If I misunderstood, just ignore this post!

 

So, that's two sticking with 0.7.2....

 

EDITED

Sorry, I should have qualified this; auto-pause worked fine for me running BG1 and BG2.

 

I also agree 0.7.2 handled some things better, but it might just be an adjustment period. When they get a pointer back and if your system can handle it, you should probably update, unless the other SDL version is maintained.