Android build is up

[Josh]

We have the Android build uploaded and are upgrading registration keys. Building apps for Android is difficult to set up the first time, but once you get it working it's fairly easy after that.

 

There are two steps to installing Leadwerks 3 for Android. First, you need to install the Android Developer Tools for Leadwerks. You can find these by clicking on your name in the top-right corner of the website header, and selecting "Client Area" in the drop-down box. Select the Leadwerks 3 for Android item to view the information and get the download link. Run this installer, and it will install the Android SDK, NDK, and Eclipse in one convenient package.

 

Once we email you confirming that your key has been upgraded, you can just run the Leadwerks Updater, and the files for Android will automatically be included. The instructions for publishing for Android are here:

http://www.leadwerks...or-android-r625

 

Your biggest challenge will be to get your Android device communicating with Eclipse. Most devices require a USB driver so the device can communicate with your PC. You will know this is working when you see a lot of messages being printed out in the LogCat panel in Eclipse. I recommend Samsung devices. You just plug them in and they usually automatically install the needed driver after a few minutes.

 

I have to warn you that the Darkness Awaits example game will run at a very low framerate on Android right now. It runs at 60 FPS on an iPad 3, and we have had reports of slow performance on some PCs, so this week I will focus on optimization. When we started running this on the iPad it was going at 1 FPS and after optimizing it, we got 60 FPS. I apologize for the performance right now, but we assumed it was the low-end devices we were testing on. When I tried on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, the performance was still bad, so there is something there for me to fix while we're still in beta phase.

 

Simple examples like this will run perfectly fast, so I know I can have the performance up by next weekend. Just copy and paste this code into "App.cpp" to see it running:

http://www.leadwerks...ationframe-r141

 

I think the problem is CPU-bound, not graphics, probably a mem leak in the physics or pathfinding routines. These are fairly easy to diagnose and fix so I will get right on it tomorrow.

[Juggernaut]

Hello,

 

Is it possible to create an android application or game using LE 3 without using a real android device physically ?

I mean if it is just possible to create the game on Windows PC and then upload it to an application store for download on android devices ? Or having a physical android device is mandatory ?

Is there a android simulator available ?

 

Thanks,

[Admin]

Yeah, you actually can do that, because it creates the APK on your hard drive. You'd probably want to try it on an a device, but yes, it would work.

 

As long as you stick to the Leadwerks command set you are safe for cross-platform compatibility...I never thought about that, but it would be interesting to see someone put an App in Google Play without ever having run it on an Android device!

[Juggernaut]

NIce. Any chance of an android emulator or simulator being included so that the developer can be sure of how the game will look when running on an actual android device ? Or is Google's Android emulator included in Android Development Kit good enough to get an accurate feel of the game ?

[Josh]

Until recently, the Android emulator didn't even support OpenGL ES 2.0. It supposedly does now, but last time I tried to use it, it just hung for about 20 minutes with a black screen. Just running "Hello World" took about ten minutes to start up.

 

I strongly recommend developing on PC or Mac, then just doing a final build on Android. You can just replace the calls to Window::TouchDown and Window::TouchHit with Window::MouseDown and Window::MouseHit while testing on PC, since they work the same.

[Canardia]

You can just replace the calls to Window::TouchDown and Window::TouchHit with Window::MouseDown and Window::MouseHit while testing on PC, since they work the same.

Can't those be chosen in runtime, like from the game options?

Android devices have also mouse and keyboard, and some gamers might prefer those over touch functions. And vice versa, PCs have also touchscreens.

if(GAME_TOUCHMODE==inputmode)
{
   mousedown=Window::TouchDown(0);
}
else
{
   mousedown=Window::MouseDown();
}

[Josh]

In player.lua I call System:GetPlatformName() to see what OS it's running on, and choose controls accordingly. I don't think it's worth worrying about rare exceptions.

[Josh]

I've already made a lot of progress. I think part of the problem is the Galaxy Tab S2 sucks, but I did fix that mem leak and found some things that can be improved. It's gone from completely unplayable to slow but playable so far.

[Canardia]

Well, iPad3/iPad4 and iPhone5 have a faster GPU than any other fastest phone/tab on the market, so don't be surprised if it runs slow on some Galaxy Nexus or Tab. Galaxy S2/S3 are however the most sold Androids, so it should be OK if it runs decently on those.

http://www.glbenchma...on=all&test=454

[YouGroove]

Nexus are not bad, i run some good graphic games on Nexus 7 and yes it's powerfull, not slow.

[YouGroove]

I had some JRE and JDK already installed.

After installing LE 3 Android, it started Eclipse, but it said it dindn't found the JRE somewhere in the istallation directories of LE3 Android.

Can i configure it somewhere ?

in the properties of Eclipse.exe i think i can specify the JRE

Cuas in Eclipse.ini there wasn't nothing.

 

I have another eclipse installed and running perhaps i can use this one ?

 

I'm gonna read the documentation finally.

[Josh]

The Android rumble will begin tomorrow. I've gained a lot of performance just since I started working on it this afternoon. Must sleep now.

[Flexman]

Really it shouldn't run slow at all, especially on those tabs, not for what it's doing. I'm still interested to see them all running side by side. Hope to see it soon.

[YouGroove]

I forgot , i think we must update LE 3 and not just download Android setup.

[YouGroove]

After update no Eclipse projects anywhere and re publish Android game ? what is going on ?

In fact Andorid publishing only publish the ressources nothing else more.