Android - Request Beta Build with High-Resolution Tables Enabled

Background

In one of the more recent Android beta testing threads (the Dr Dude/Firepower thread) Ryan said the reason why Android hasn't seen the high-resolution (not Textures: High - that's different) table models is because when tested on his available hardware, the tables did not run in a performant manner.

I can confirm that when I was testing this build (the Dr Dude/Firepower) build, Dr Dude was running just fine for me on the TF300T (a Tegra 3 tablet). That early build had the troublesome "curly wires" present in it, which was suggested at the time as being the cause of slow-down on Dr Dude (the large number of polygons required to render the wires was causing a performance hit).

Challenge

With Android, there is always going to be a huge challenge of supporting the 400+ devices that run the operating system, compared to the sub-10 devices that run a variant of iOS (a controlled ecosystem, if you will).

For that reason, if the option of high-resolution tables is being blocked by older devices, is there a way of declaring that high-resolution table models are only supported on devices running a particular minimum spec?

While I'm sure some users with "low end" phones on contract will be screaming and boo-ing at their screens at my suggestion, I don't see any other way of getting this long-overdue feature into the Android release stream. The fact is many android users are playing TPA on tablets that have quite a bit of GPU power (CPU power has been confirmed as not being as important), so the technology should be catching up to the point where TPA can open up this feature.

Proposal

Here is the testing suggestion regarding High Resolution ("HR" from here on in) table models:

1. Ryan create a Beta build with HR models enabled.
2. (if possible) Have a toggle to turn off HR models if your device simply can't handle it.
3. Release the beta build to the Android community.
4. Android community test the build, but use quantitive measurement values (not just "works fine" or "It's jerky")
   • GPU/CPU cycles in the dev options.
   • Logcat?
   • Some other logging and performance measuring tool Ryan would like us to use.
   • Overall opinion of the tables (this can be a subjective report)
5. Ryan takes the performance data and uses it to tweak performance.

Result

The data we collect will assist Ryan in optimizing the code so it runs smoothly on devices with the GPU capability.

Outputs

This will allow Ryan to collect metrics and determine the "minimum" standard for High-Resolution table support.

The minimum standard can be declared in-game as a pop-up dialog (displayed when you activate the feature for the first time).

The dialog can include any Android tools users can employ to verify their device meets the minimum technical requirement.

So were the curly wires removed? Because I think I still have them on Nexus 7

personally I prefer a bug free table over an extra nice looking table.

Hi grasshopper

Yep, the latest RES file for Dr Dude does not have the wires present. You need to delete (if you want to) the Rez file from your sdcard (Android > data > com.farsight.AndroidPinball.javaProject > files > TDrDude)

TPA will then prompt you to re-download the table file when you next try and play the game.

It seems to play well and I do like the crazy things. I was just thinking it would have force updated me if they changed them. I heard talk of them getting yanked but thought they managed to work it out because they never left when I had to update to the Cactus Canyon pack.
Thanks for the info. Pretty interesting. Good to know if any issues arise.

I never had problem with Nexus 7 when all 3 curly wires were present, so I am in favour - bring on the high res models.
The thing that surprised me was that it was the Nexus 10's that were struggling. But it seems to be GPU not CPU that counts for TPA.
Great suggestion Jared! +1

grashopper said:

It seems to play well and I do like the crazy things. I was just thinking it would have force updated me if they changed them. I heard talk of them getting yanked but thought they managed to work it out because they never left when I had to update to the Cactus Canyon pack.
Thanks for the info. Pretty interesting. Good to know if any issues arise.

Click to expand...

I don't know why it didn't auto update. Perhaps the res file was updated, while keeping the same version number as in the play store version, so there was no force update.

Baron Rubik said:

I never had problem with Nexus 7 when all 3 curly wires were present, so I am in favour - bring on the high res models.
The thing that surprised me was that it was the Nexus 10's that were struggling. But it seems to be GPU not CPU that counts for TPA.
Great suggestion Jared! +1

Click to expand...

From what Carl and co discovered, the gpu cycles on that device are mostly dedicated to driving the incredible resolution of the screen.

jaredmorgs said:

From what Carl and co discovered, the gpu cycles on that device are mostly dedicated to driving the incredible resolution of the screen.

Click to expand...

Speaking as a mobile-device guy, this situation in which a device has such a high-res screen that it taxes the available CPU and/or GPU horsepower is... not unheard of. Everyone's always trying to cut manufacturing cost and power consumption to the bone while putting an impressive screen on the device, and you can end up squeezing out performance to the degree that the software developers are left scrambling to optimize everything.

Baron Rubik said:

I never had problem with Nexus 7 when all 3 curly wires were present, so I am in favour - bring on the high res models.
The thing that surprised me was that it was the Nexus 10's that were struggling. But it seems to be GPU not CPU that counts for TPA.
Great suggestion Jared! +1

Click to expand...

The n10 has a beyond 1080p screen, while the n7 is only 720p. Massive difference in the number of pixels being driven.

I'm in favor of this idea. I'm quite sure the N7 can handle more than what TPA is currently tossing at it.

As a fellow N7 owner, I'd like to see higher-resolution artwork and design, absolutely. I would think things get complicated with the growing number of processors and setups, though.

McGuirk said:

As a fellow N7 owner, I'd like to see higher-resolution artwork and design, absolutely. I would think things get complicated with the growing number of processors and setups, though.

Click to expand...

I think that is why--for this feature only--we need to have a device cut-off.

Zen (sorry to bring up Zen, yet again, as a business model comparison) has recently made the tough decision to limit the game to Android 4.0.4 to ensure they can continue supporting the product correctly.

While I'm *not* advocating TPA should ever be OS version limited, I think correctly filtering devices simply not capable of pushing hi res models could help Ryan hone support for those devices that can.

jaredmorgs said:

I think that is why--for this feature only--we need to have a device cut-off.

Zen (sorry to bring up Zen, yet again, as a business model comparison) has recently made the tough decision to limit the game to Android 4.0.4 to ensure they can continue supporting the product correctly.

While I'm *not* advocating TPA should ever be OS version limited, I think correctly filtering devices simply not capable of pushing hi res models could help Ryan hone support for those devices that can.

Click to expand...

I think that unfortunately brings up the F word so often associated with Android, fragmentation. There are so many variants of so many devices with different settings, it's probably mind numbing for these programmers to ensure the correct models are supported. Not to mention, people might buy the budget devices to get a somewhat modern smartphone at an affordable price. I get the feeling FS wants their dollars as well.

As far as stability, bug fixes and a smoother, longer lifespan, I do agree with you, though.

Yes, please add higher a resolution option for those of us on faster devices. Thanks!!

Yes, please add higher a resolution option for those of us on faster devices. Thanks!!

Click to expand...

+1

I was positiv amazing from the great grafik for the X360 (Video Youtube) pls see http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/4433-How-to-received-this-kind-of-grafic-view-on-a-tablet

and desperately disappointed as I've make a view on the A510 (1.3GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad Core Mobile Processor Super 4-PLUS-1 Quad Core with 5th Battery Saver Core // Tegra3 GPU) I'll believe, that the A510 is running also well as the Nexus7, because the solution is also "only" 720p. To be honest: that was the reason, that I didn't buy the 7xx instead of the A5xx, because the internal HW is more or less the same, but the GPU must offer all informatation for HD (GPU will be got hot, Accu drains faster .... )

McGuirk said:

I think that unfortunately brings up the F word so often associated with Android, fragmentation. There are so many variants of so many devices with different settings, it's probably mind numbing for these programmers to ensure the correct models are supported. Not to mention, people might buy the budget devices to get a somewhat modern smartphone at an affordable price. I get the feeling FS wants their dollars as well.

As far as stability, bug fixes and a smoother, longer lifespan, I do agree with you, though.

Click to expand...

PCs have much, much greater fragmentation, and most indie developers seem to be able to handle that perfectly well. In many cases they simply publish a minimum specification and leave it up to the user to decide whether their PC is good enough to run it.

Hi

I just got a lenovo touchpad A2109A which has the tegra3 chipset, I downloaded TPA (from google play store) and tried the Medieval Madness Table (free) as I have that on my ipad2 - it doesn't seem as smooth, is there any special Tegra3 enabled build or should it be using accelleration by default - apologies quite new to android.

I am running JB, rooted so can do any debug settings if advised what to do to see what it's doing

Also tried the new Champion Arcade and looks great but does get a bit choppy

Damianiw said:

Hi is there any special Tegra3 enabled build or should it be using accelleration by default

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No only the one build.
TPA doesn't have any Tegra enhancements.

Only graphics options if its running choppy is...
Press 'options' at initial TPA start screen. Change texture from 'high' to 'Normal'.

Baron Rubik said:

No only the one build.
TPA doesn't have any Tegra enhancements.

Only graphics options if its running choppy is...
Press 'options' at initial TPA start screen. Change texture from 'high' to 'Normal'.

Click to expand...

Thanks I'll give that a go.

I've been surprised at how much better some games look, but appreciate how different Android is to ios and also console platforms where there is less (or no) variant between devices