[Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.1.0-dev]

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stu
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[Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.1.0-dev]

by stu » Post

Minetest 5.1.0-dev build for Android

Here, I will try to provide some regular snap-shots of the current development version for testing purposes. I will update on an approximately weekly basis depending on what gets merged.

This is a release mode apk that has been signed with the debug key, consequently, it can only be used for 365 days.

Installing

You will need to enable 'Unknown Sources' under ‘Settings’ > ‘Security’
For Android 8 it's slightly different

Git Hash: fe6c666

Download: Minetest-fe6c666.apk

MD5 Sum: 4966809c8be33d2502918e77601ccc47
Spoiler
Minetest-3fce27e.apk md5sum 28be149113d915a2b7f1dda68f6fb336
Reporting Issues

Please post any problems with the apk or installation here, however, MT engine or game related problems should be reported on the appropriate github issue tracker, cheers!

"App not installed."

Please uninstall the old Minetest app first.

"Can't open file"

This means that Android can't find an app to open the file.
This happens when the web browser blocks the opening of APKs.

To fix this, you need to open the APK outside of the web browser.
You can do this either by using a file manager app, or by finding "Package Installer" in the apps list manually.

Warning

If you have an existing installation of minetest on your device then it is important that you rename your current ‘Minetest’ directory before installing this. This version will overwrite the data in that folder, making it difficult to return to 0.4.x if you wish.
Last edited by stu on Sat Jul 27, 2019 19:58, edited 19 times in total.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds

by paramat » Post

Thanks for this.

We really need testing at the moment due to the large amount of Android improvements that have recently been made and the release of MT 5.0.0 approaching.
The intention for MT 5.0.0 is that the Android app is overall better than any of the forked apps, so that we can convince the majority of players on servers to use the official app, which is free, has no ads or pay-for-privilege, and none of the many irritating things these forked apps do.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds

by AspireMint » Post

Renaming folder did not help me, i had to uninstall old version.

Clouds, sun...
Image

...stars and moon! Yay!
Image

Controls are much better. Than you!

(Bug: https://i.imgur.com/ImRYMYA.jpg --> https://i.imgur.com/DTe1kZA.jpg )

Edit: after install it says its null.21 version o.O

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds

by dawgdoc » Post

How far back in Android will it work? As far as KitKat, 4.4?

Of course I could reformat the tablet and just try it.
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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds

by stu » Post

AspireMint wrote: after install it says its null.21 version o.O
Thank you for testing, It seems I had cloned MTG in the wrong directory, I am very sorry about that. The apk download has now been updated if you care to try it again.
dawgdoc wrote:How far back in Android will it work? As far as KitKat, 4.4?
The minimum target is currently android 4.0 (IceCreamSandwich) however, some have reported crashes with android 4.x since switching to a shared stl (libc++). I would be very interested to know if it works for you.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds

by kestral » Post

I first tried your version from two days ago, with md5sum = bd9871bb…, but that couldn't start single player, and when I connected to a local 5.0 server, it kept throwing error messages on the screen.

I'm currently trying your current version, with md5sum = d6650b9e… It does show up as version null.21 in the app list, but it works very well in single player.
I just checked as I was writing this, and it also works well connecting to a local 5.0 server, but I haven't figured out how to fly the hangglider mod yet—coordinating jump and left click is going to be tricky with these controls.

However, so far I do like what I see.

[edit to fix md5sum typo]

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds

by kestral » Post

It looks like the error messages were due to having too old a version of 5.0 for the server—on the order of 1 month old. They were showing up on my laptop server with your latest android version too. Once I recompiled that server to the latest git code, the flood of error messages went away.

I've also played around with hacks to the hangglider code to use something other than left-click, and I'm now able to hangglide on android. This isn't the first mod I've needed to change to make it usable on android, but I suppose that should be the topic of another thread.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds

by stu » Post

kestral wrote:I first tried your version from two days ago, with md5sum = bd9871bb…, but that couldn't start single player, and when I connected to a local 5.0 server, it kept throwing error messages on the screen.
Sorry, I did mess up the first apk by not packaging the game correctly, I have since written a simple bash script to automate this whole process and ensure that does not happen again.

PS: The version has now been updated to f0dca28 so you now have the full menu by default, making game and world management much easier.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by stu » Post

Updated to ce32a327

No android specific changes but maybe some improvements to the content DB.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by stu » Post

Updated to: 05f3dbf

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by stu » Post

Updated to: b8b33a6

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by LMD » Post

This looks very promising - but one question came to my mind : why don't you make the builds unofficial ?
It was implied multiple times that this are the newest(and possibly best) android builds.
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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by stu » Post

Updated to: badecfa

@LMD These apks could never be official, especially considering MT 5.0.0 is not even released on pc yet ;^)

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by jas » Post

Can you do an official beta build?

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by XiongChangnian » Post

Minetest-badecfa.apk appears corrupt. My phone refuses to install the download with "can't open file" error; and yes I've enabled sideloading. Tried a few fiddly things, no joy.

Fixed.
Last edited by XiongChangnian on Mon Dec 31, 2018 02:02, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by rubenwardy » Post

XiongChangnian wrote:Minetest-badecfa.apk appears corrupt. My phone refuses to install the download with "can't open file" error; and yes I've enabled sideloading. Tried a few fiddly things, no joy.
User has worked this out, but for other readers: "can't open file" means that it can't find an app to open the file.

This commonly happens when the web browser blocks the opening of APKs, so you need to open the APK outside of the web browser somehow. You can do this either by using a file manager app, or by finding "Package Installer" in the apps list manually.
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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by XiongChangnian » Post

Correct; I solved it. Some time since the previous (successful) experiment sideloadng Minetest, I broke my phone. If you manage to do the same thing, look for your package installer app... disregarding the loud urgings to "just tap" the APK.

badecfa installs okay.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds

by XiongChangnian » Post

paramat wrote: We really need testing...
Testing now. Where do you want Android-specific feedback?

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by XiongChangnian » Post

Absent direction, here:

5.0.0 First Look badecfa

Big improvement over 0.4.x but not without issues.

Must note porting MT to Android well is impossible; the paradigms are incompatible. Play is best on a large screen with Razer Tartarus and 104-key Dvorak kbd. Fat-fingering a device the size of a bar coaster will always be bad.

• Irrlicht Bug Resolved

This bug made chat impossible, server commands difficult, and even vanilla singleplayer tough. Workaround required hours of studyup to config... nothing is easy on Android. Buried setting in Hacker's Keyboard to create a permanent notification so kbd can be pulled down and F2 struck to hide chat, plus disabling logging.

Great job! I don't care how messy the patch.

See #7525

• Soft Joystick

The new stick allows diagonal movement. This is more freedom but a mixed blessing. My play style involves a lot of rigid, repetitive movement constrained to orthogonal rows and columns; I don't want to veer off. Someone who wants to explore the jungle may find the freedom a big help.

The new stick may be an improvement but it's presented badly. The default has the stick jumping all over the left 40% of the screen... for me. Naturally the setting to make it fixed is buried.

Exposing settings later. Specific to the stick, must allow user choice among fixed, jumping, and old-style arrows.

Controls are a matter of taste: highly subjective but highly important. No point debating why one user loves this control scheme and another hates it. I was so infuriated by the jumping stick I nearly deleted and reinstalled 0.4. Sure a lot of work went into it but if you want to serve the user, let him opt.

• The Boat

This has seen considerable improvement... to the point where it's an important tool and not mere novelty. However weird boat controls interact very badly with new stick.

Rather than force users to swap back to the old stick when sailing, suggest a rethink of boat controls. Let forward be forward always, in the direction character faces; let diagonal stick turn boat and player together in small increments. This discussion needs to go into detail.

• Health/Breath/Hunger Status

There are several issues with the new status bars, I'm sorry to say... the old bars were nasty funky, looked like a 0.0.1 feature nobody bothered to fix. So about time for a rethink! Sorry it went wrong for Android.

In normal two-handed play, my right thumb covers the entire status area. This is bad when, say, diving for clay. I'm highly experienced and know play so when I drowned in shallows I was ashamed.

Critical indicators must always remain in clear sight. On a shitty pocket screen this may also be a matter of taste so offer choices. Ideally the status area should be draggable anywhere.


Turns out this was all fault of a mod. Base game uses the same old hearts-and-bubbles: no better, no worse.

• Screen Edge

The old stick and new jumping stick are too close to the bottom edge. The new status area isn't merely crammed into a bad corner; a good portion is cut off. Debug HUD is cut off on the right. Not sure how to inform MT of desired... size? resolution? I foresee much fiddly in my future... while common player just shrugs, says it's broken, and uninstalls.

The client gets the correct screen size in pixels; I checked. This is a basic task: you have a hard clip, stay within it. May all the gods forbid a rich kid with a bezelless aircraft carrier be infuriated because you're drawing not only beyond hard clip but also under the rim of his flash Pokécase... and he asks his dad to sue, call his Senator, or order a drone strike. This... coloring off the page... is unacceptable.

Consider leaving the standard Android soft keys onscreen... make this a choice. Make it a choice to allow the notification bar, too.

• Settings

This is Android... KISS. Page after page of nested configs is useless to all but the most hardnosed user.

Not everyone plays on a tablet bigger than an old ThinkPad. I see main menu text as about 3..4 mm tall; my fingernail covers three lines and some. At least in 5.0.0 I don't have to navigate to buried setting and shrink the whole GUI... to work the even tinier text menus to fix sth else before restoring GUI to play... good that. But the settings are still all but opaque and inaccessible.

Someone needs to take a good hard look. Retain the hierarchy of midget menus; some of us demand full control at any price. But mere mortals expect a set of a half-dozen clear choices to be available under a gear menu. Decide what to offer. Make good choices! And yes, these need to be available ingame. A pregame main menu today smacks of... well, people as old as me.

Flip side of easy config is wise defaults. Indeed choosing defaults is the pinnacle of good programming: Make good choices! Lazy to say let user fix it. But arrogant to fail to offer other choices.

• Formspec Text

Virtually all text is cut off by its bounding box... even short simple buttons like "Proceed". (You want "OK".)

Core devs can't enforce on all mods some standard of terseness but it can be presented and encouraged. That foobar button will never be self-documenting; it must read "Foobar", period... and there must be a standard '(?)' button available at all times for further explanation. (And helpful help text must be written! Not foobar help => "This foobars.")

Shrinking text to fit available area is Bad... but perhaps better than clipping it or letting it run over other formspec elements.

• Up/Down/Sneak

Finally an AUX button so Down can be set independent of sneak! But this puts Down above Up and the overlay makes no sense. Also, enabling button requires thought and knowledge (why would i want...?)

Provide three controls by default but let down be Down, sneak be Sneak (with a simple but distinct icon and not the not-ready-for-prime-time AUX image), and yes let up be Up.

A better approach might be to use the new soft joystick to provide variable movement speed. The further displaced touch is from center, the faster you go; small displacements sneak while large ones invoke fast. This makes immediate sense to new people and keeps them from asking whiney questions about a feature they don't even know to describe.

• Morekeys

Unwise to crowd screen but must provide optional buttons that can be bound in minetest.conf. Such binding can't interfere with Android control binding. See example use case https://github.com/minetest-mods/technic/issues/472

• HUD

Yes, this topic has been argued but the other side boils down to We Devs Like Debug HUD. But so long as players vastly outnumber devs... and if there's any desire to expand userbase... it will always be the wrong side.

Nobody argues against debug info. Let that feature remain just as it is. But common users need a user-oriented HUD.

I hacked around with a HUD mod and thought to improve it but... this is inappropriate method. HUD should be a configurable client choice; most users will play on public servers so their personal choice cannot be tied to server admins' mods.

This issue has always applied to all non-dev users but Android makes it urgent. We don't have the real estate to waste on several lines of ciphertext, each cut off just when it gets interesting.

I'd love to prototype a user-centric HUD as a mod and I will do so as soon as someone with pull stands up for sanity and says HUD must be mainstreamed. Otherwise the effort is mere self-amusement.

• And The Other 42 Things...

More could be said but that must be enough. I feel I'm running a modernized game, with significant improvements; issues old and new addressed. But the Android pressure cooker leaves no room for "our way" thinking. If you want to attempt this difficult project you need to think inside the box!
Last edited by XiongChangnian on Fri Jan 11, 2019 18:45, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by runs » Post

I've tried to compile but the server crash when open a game.

Can you tell me any trick to do it??

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by AspireMint » Post

Bug: can't create server lol
Button "Register and Join" doesn't work
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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by DoyleChris » Post

I installed the latest played, closed and reopened and the screen is shifted to the lower left and buttons dont work. Haft to reinstall all the time.

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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by DoyleChris » Post

I installed the latest played, closed and reopened and the screen is shifted to the lower left and buttons dont work. Haft to reinstall all the time.
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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by BuckarooBanzay » Post

Tested the latest build (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubgcqjcclvcaq ... a.apk?dl=0 / d6f9cf6e44addacc06edf55f36a381fc)

Device: Galaxy A8
Android-version: 8.0.0


Bugs
  • Content-DB: installing a mod with hard-deps does not pull them in automatically (errors after game-start)
I loaded a few other mods (technic+deps, ethereal) played a little and had no crashes so far.
I have to say: The new controls are awesome :)

I think thats "production"-ready for minetest-standards :P
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Re: [Android] stu's unofficial android builds [5.0.0-dev]

by rubenwardy » Post

BuckarooBanzay wrote:Content-DB: installing a mod with hard-deps does not pull them in automatically (errors after game-start)
This isn't a bug, that feature just isn't developed yet. Hopefully in 5.1.0
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