Zanith
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0.5 Development Update 30
🕑 Added 2021-07-31 18:34:06 +0000 UTCHey, folks!
This is a public update, so I won’t be able to post Wednesday Nipples and other NSFW stuff in this one. We’ll get back to all that next week, and I’ll hopefully have something from the upcoming update to show off, too.
Now, the reason why this update is public. There’s no Hi-Res Android build in the latest v0.5.8 Alpha/Beta posts. The game is now officially too large to fit into the 4Gb APK limit. Yay.
I spent more than half of last week trying to somehow bypass this limit. I researched the android build process, asked some knowledgeable folks, and unfortunately, haven’t found a way to bypass this limitation.
I’m still trying to find a way to make a (more or less) self-contained Hi-Res APK, but honestly, it looks like a doomed endeavor. If anyone reading this knows their way around the Android SDK (knowing what zip64 does and which gradle task uses apkzlib is a must), I’d be super grateful for any assistance, but in the meantime, I think we have to start considering various workarounds.
This post is a multiple-choice poll, I’ll ask those of you who play on Android to check all the options that you personally consider acceptable. I’ll provide some context for each of the options.
Option 1. Splitting the Hi-Res android version into “chapters”. The game is a non-linear sandbox, but I could just make a special “Chapter 1” build based on v0.5.7 with a special check. Once you’ve finished all the events, you’ll be notified that there’s no more content left in this version, and you’ll be able to move your save to the “Chapter 2” build. This second build won’t contain any of the “Chapter 1” event assets, but otherwise will be fully compatible with the save files.
This option will require a fair bit of work from me, and I’m still not sure how to handle repeatable events and the like. On the other hand, it’s the most straightforward option. I’ll have to update my build toolchain and sort all the assets into essential and event-bound, and you will probably encounter some missing images now and then, but it should work.
Option 2. Third-party solutions. Well, one solution There’s an app called “Joiplay'' which allows you to play PC versions of RenPy games on your android devices. I am not really familiar with it, and right now my game uses some custom RenPy code which makes it incompatible with Joiplay. That said, I can make it compatible, but it’s not going to be pleasant.
There are other problems with Joiplay. If my info is correct, the latest version doesn’t play the RenPy games at all, and you’ll have to get an older build to be able to run AHitR. And I’ll have to rebuild it anyway. And the support may completely cease in the future.
Option 3. This option might not even materialize, but I’ll include it anyway. I’m currently looking into ways to load arbitrary content from the device. If it is possible, I’ll be able to build the base content version (aforementioned “Chapter 1”, with all the content of 0.5.7) and then provide additional files with newer graphical assets. You’ll have to download and move them by hand (using the file manager on your device), and there might be additional performance costs with this approach. Oh, and you’ll have to redownload the APK with the new event scripts anyway. And it may not even work at all. But if it works I may be able to split the APK/content even further, providing a very small base APK with just the code and the UI assets, and packing everything else into separate archives. But again, it may not work at all.
Option 4. Who needs Hi-Res anyway. We could just forget about the Hi-Res Android builds for the time being. It’s not like the compression is super noticeable on the smaller screens.
Option 5. This is for you, PC/Mac folks, if you don’t care about the Android versions at all, you can make your voice heard with this option.
Once again, this only applies to the Android version.
If you have anything to add, please leave a comment. Here’s a still from the latest update to lift your spirits.
And a clothed version of this week’s Wed Nip (the real one will be in the next week’s dev update).
See you soon!
Comments
Hope Bridges
I'm speaking from a place of ignorance because I know bugger all about making games. But would it be possible to make a separate APK for anything after this update? So there could be a HITR vol 1 that holds everything up to this point and then a HITR Vol 2. This is me being biased because I love the idea of being able to come back and view important points in the story (as well as the awesome lewds) Either way I'm happy to adapt to whatever the decision is
Wild Bill
I wish I knew enough about Android to help; it would be pretty simple to do with desktop Renpy, almost trivial even. But I have no idea if you could do it with Android Renpy.
Shane Klein
So i asked around ( few buddys of mine uses to dable in hacking) the apk 4gb cap can't bypassed its just straight up a part of the andriod software. And the only 2 ways i can think of to work around it are both alot of work 1 the episode system 2 having just the main game be one download then all the texture vedios be a seprate download not sure how renply handles this but ive seen some were its just a matter of drag and droping the stuff into the same directory and others were you have to use some form of patching app. 3 and i dont know if the works with renply or apps in genral is there are programs thay can break files into smaller parts normally used to bypass fat32 4GB limit.
Hood
thats good to hear its still annoying that the APKs have limits like come on but hopefully we get a way around but imma stay with you for a bit for Caits sake of course ;)
Zanith
I mentioned the automated launcher/downloader earlier. It's a bit too much work. But just a few content archives should be possible.
Zanith
Well, the compressed version is still fully functional, and I expect it to remain under 4Gb for at least a year or two more.
Zanith
Yes, most big games on Android do just that. As I mentioned in the earlier reply, it should be possible to do with Renpy, but it's a lot of extra work. Much more than I can realistically commit to right now.
Zanith
The issue is, RenPy The Engine takes care of all the low-level stuff. If I were to add a separate resource pack download, I'd have to fork RenPy, add the necessary code, make sure it works everywhere etc. I really, really don't want to do that, and AFAIK, there are no readymade solutions compatible with RenPy.
Zanith
I'm afraid doing a proper representative survey would involve way too much work. And I don't really want to go the telemetry way (make the game report the device etc to some third-party analytics aggregator).
Hmmm i feel like option 3 is more reasonable than it seems (if it would work), if its possible to download a zip file with all the proper paths in it already so i only have to extract one file i would be down for that. Also what limits that from being automated? I dont make apps so i wouldn't know for certain but i have definitely used apps that have downloaded update files before not just downloaded apks. Would it just be too much work on your end to get a zip file like that ready every update? Also could could you just make the extract be for the non high rez to upgrade it to high rez or would it need to be a seperate apk due to scripts and the different resolutions?
Jesster Gold
Joiplay doesn't work so well if you have Android 11 so make sure not to update if going that route.
Hood
the only thing i know is that JoiPlay didnt work for me so yea . . . lets see had to abandon a game cuz of it so i really hope there is a way around
Shane Klein
To my knowelge the 4gb limt is a hard cap. And ive never heard of a way to bypass it. The only games ive seen with a form of a work around do it buy haveing the main app dowload parts of the game separtly telltale games did this.
Harem Hotel works just fine on an older version of joiplay with the renpy add-on. Plus the added advantage I also use File Manager +, which allows me to put games on the SD card. The disadvantage is that it takes a lot longer to set up.
Wild Bill
I don't use my phone for gaming, but I'm surprised that there isn't a decent solution been developed by now; 4GB is really not very big these days, even for a phone. I wouldn't have thought that the separate resource pack option would have had to be manual either, shouldn't the app itself handle downloading and installing that?
Bee
Do you have a game play need for hi res on most android devices?( max res on most devices is not that much). And the effort to make it happen would be substantial and only be effective for a subset of the users. Can you?/Have you? surveyed what hardware is commonly used to play the Android version?
