Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

Samsung Galaxy S SCL I9003 + Unity > sooo bad

Discussion in 'Android' started by mrKaizen, Nov 27, 2011.

  1. mrKaizen

    mrKaizen

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2011
    Posts:
    139
    Hi everyone,
    I bought this week a new Samsung Galaxy S SCL (189 euro) with the idea to develop games with my copy of Unity on it, but instead I'm here because my very bad experience.
    The device is powered with a 1.00 GHz CPU ( TI OMAP3630 - Cortex A8 - ARMv7), a PowerVR SGX 530 GPU and 650 MB RAM.
    The OS is now 2.3.5 (bought with 2.2), so not bad ( I think)

    I used to work on a nice Samsung Galaxy Tab GT-P1010 and that works fine with any of my tests but when I started with the Galaxy S SCL NOTHING WORKS.
    And by NOTHING I mean NOTHING: Unity screen then crash.
    I have tried different settings on the Player Settings but nothing changed.
    This makes me very sad and angry.

    So I went on the market to find some Unity apps but I find out many nice games are NOT available, like Angry Bots or Cordy, but honestly I don't understand why when I find Guerrilla Bob and ShadowGun that are supported.
    Guerrilla Bob works SUPER FINE and FAST but haven't bought Shadow gun - honestly I'm affraid it will not run.
    I tried also penelope demo from the market, it works fine (some texture issues but nothing sooo bad), then I dwload the tutorial and made an apk from it.
    Result: crash.
    So, now I'm searching answers online but I really don't understand where's the problem with it.
    Have anyone solutions or ideas where to start?
    I read the log thread about Android devices that works and also other pages like Devices that get bad reviews on the Marketplace but nothing really helps me.

    Tks in advance.

    Uhm, before posting I notice this comment on the shadow gun description:
    "Version for Tegra 2, Mali-400, Adreno and PowerVR devices released"

    PowerVR, like on my device. Did I miss something? Are there issues with the PowerVR? If so, whre can I find hints to make my game run on device with a PowerVR?
     
  2. Bigshoes

    Bigshoes

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2010
    Posts:
    69
    is your Unity version 3.4.2f2? There is a known crash bug with it, try updating to 3.4.2f3 if you can and give that a shot.
     
  3. mrKaizen

    mrKaizen

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2011
    Posts:
    139
    You are right, my Unity version is the 3.4.2f2, but if I check the updates it tells me that the editor is up a date.. should I try to update manually? :\
    Where can I find the dwload url? Can't find...

    Btw I haven't a pro version, just the android.
    Tks for the hint.
     
  4. mrKaizen

    mrKaizen

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2011
    Posts:
    139
    ..btw even if my app works, why are there so many apps that aren't working with my Samsung Galaxy S SCL? :\
     
  5. Dreamora

    Dreamora

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2008
    Posts:
    26,601
    Because the GPU is crap perhaps or because the apps simply were built for OES 2.0 only to rule out 'stoneage'

    Don't forget that this is the same GPU as used on iPhone 3G and 1st generation iOS devices. that it has 512MB RAM and an ARMV7 cpu does not help if you invest in a phone that was totally outdated years ago already for 'gaming purpose'. Its enough as a smart phone and for multimedia consumption, but anyone who buys it with the target of gaming totally missinvested and any unity developer investing in it just flushed money down the toilet
     
  6. mrKaizen

    mrKaizen

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2011
    Posts:
    139
    ahah, really? :\ I feel so stupid. I can understand your point of view but do you really thik that it's so outdated?
    Honestly I thought it should be enough to run and test "simple" apps without 3milions polygons or whatever.
    Ehi, don't forget that shadow gun works.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2011
  7. Dreamora

    Dreamora

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2008
    Posts:
    26,601
    It has nothing to do with 'think'
    The SGX 530 is the same GPU used in iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G, the first 2 iOS generations that are not even supported anymore since iOS 4.3 from early this year.

    The GPU is OpenGL ES 1.1, no support for OpenGL ES 2.0 at all, so no shader and per pixel stuff.

    Even worse, the gpu is severly limited on its memory, it can't use the 'full available ram) like the SGX535 (used in 3rd and 4th gen iOS devices and ipad1), which normally can cause crashes on its own already as you run out of VRAM and that results in a straight crash of the graphics driver.
    Even the HTC Desire, 2008 hardware by the way (Snapdragon 1), does not have this limitation anymore.


    and simple apps in terms of these gpu on iOS already meant 7k verts at maximum. If we assume normal android driver quality level that makes it 5k verts at maximum in view!

    If you wanted to go through cheap you better invested in a Galaxy S, the real one, the GT-9000 or the Nexus S, which both come with the SGX540, a 2 generation newer gpu without all these limitations.

    Your device will not support Android 4.0 and chances are pretty high that no future 'higher profile' games will run on this totally outdated gpu either.
    I stopped supporting them on iOS in 2010 already, because the severe limitations on VRAM and vertices just remove any kind of designer flexibility, you have to dumb down the quality completely or have to create a 2D game where you are primarily using images and little else and mobile gaming on smartphones just has outgrown that level of 'super limitations' once and for all with the iPhone 3GS generation / HTC Desire / Galaxy S and its time to walk on and leave such trash in the dust, so the device makers finally stop spitting out new android devices with hardware from 2008 crippling the experience and trashing the expectations that people have on 'android' thanks to real handsets.


    As people would say it: What you invested in was a pimped dumbphone. It won't do much more than other dumbphones did beyond the 'work oriented support' thats cpu bound and it will for surely not bring you into the 'mobile gaming' range of 2010+
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2011
  8. mrKaizen

    mrKaizen

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2011
    Posts:
    139
    Tks for the long and super fast answer ;)
    On wikipedia I found that is Open GL 2.0 and, again, I'm telling you that shadown gun runs on my device. Is wp wrong and should the game NOT run?
    You sound like an expert and I want to listen to you, but still those are facts that aren't making me sleep the nights ;).

    So, to clear the point, you are telling me I was an idiot :) (no prob, I understand you pov) and bought a toooo old hardware.. Holy crap, I didn't do soo much research about the gpu before the purchase and not even the samsung site gives information about it (I think because is cheap, now....) but honestly I never expected that bad quality. My idea was to have a decent device to test my apk.
    Ok, maybe you are right, but let's jump the hardware problem for a moment, there are apps on the market that I mention and works fine, so why can't I create mine? Just a simple scene with a cube and a texture didn't work.
    What I'm making wrong?
    I'm downloading the editor now, let's see if the 3.4.2f3 version works better.

    Ok, but in my state (Italy) the 9003 super lcd is THIS device. :\ or did you make a mistake writing the model?
    I found out that models in differente countries don't necesarely have the same hardware.

    Ok, ok, stay cool. You are damn right, this make absolutely sense - this is my first experience with Android, I'm learning...
    But, again, what doesn't is why I can build one single apk with my unity. This, to me, is stupid or did I miss something?
    Thanks for your patience, I really appreciate.
     
  9. Dreamora

    Dreamora

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2008
    Posts:
    26,601
    I remove the model number above to prevent other confusion if the model really is the said one as it then either is not consistent everywhere or the specifications mentioned everywhere are not as they stated it to be the same as the Galaxy S.
    So sorry in that case.


    And I'm cool. But I wanted to make sure we talk about the same thing here. If you really sit on an SGX530, there is little to be said. If wikipedia tells you that it can do OpenGL ES 2.0 then it is an error in your break down and it was really meant to say SGX540, not 530 and it would then again be the I9003 (Galaxy S with cheaper screen and a few other 'cheaper replacements') I originally meant. (its a bit of a shame that Samsung missuses the Galaxy brand on devices that are not remotely in the same class leading to a chance to even have missunderstanding. The Galaxy Mini is an superb incarnation of that as its really a dead weak device).
    The number is relevant here, cause as mentioned the 540 is 2 generations newer than the 530 and just to keep that in mind: its also significantly stronger than the GPU used in iPhone 3GS and iPhone4 and iPad1 which are all SGX535, so it really makes a major difference if it is 540 or 530 :D

    I previously might have missunderstood that as only a single app runs and the rest doesn't.
    To get on the single apk thing: sure you can only build a single one? Sure that you gave each project you tested it with a different bundle identifier as the bundle identifier is the relevant thing, not the apk name and you can lead in a situation where you have to delete the old one first again if you use the same bundle identifier for different projects, if you want to install a new with the same bundle identifier?
     
  10. mrKaizen

    mrKaizen

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2011
    Posts:
    139
    yes, wikipedia is about the 530.
    I have highlighted it here:
    http://awurl.com/DOY6AwLD6

    yes, yes, I changed everything but nothing worked: I can't run any apk from unity on my samsung.
    I deleted, unistalled, changed name, version and so on.. nothing.
    Everytime: crash.
    I did before a lot of versions of my game for my work's Samsung Galaxy Tab GT-P1010.. everything works fine with it.

    A screenshot of the simplest project PLAYER SETTINGS here.
    Uff, I'm so tired of it, and today my internet connectiong is very slow and I can't download the editor to try last version.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2011
  11. mrKaizen

    mrKaizen

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2011
    Posts:
    139
    CLeyden, you was right.

    The editor 3.4.f3 version works PERFECTLY. After a night of waiting (but of curse today internet is super fast again) finally I installed the current version.
    Result: all my apks work perfectly. I build not only my apks, but also penelope and angrybots.
    Penelope has some textures issues but nothing to kill for.
    Angrybots works very good, it's fast and smooth (played 5 minutes..) but the editor gives me an image filter error:
    can't use image filters (npot-RT are not supported or RT are disabled completely)
    but still ok.

    I set Open GL 2.0 on the editor in ANY games and they works.. So, is it really a OpenGL1.0 or not? O maybe unity selects the right one by himself (uhm, maybe not...)? What do you know about? I honeslty curious.. (will do some research by myself about it).

    Tks guys for your patience and support, I really appreciated.
    Thread is for me now officially closed . ;)