Android port coming soon...

[Kamamura]

Unless the Help encyclopedia and unit stat page is implemented, this is mostly worthless.

[Dare234]

I was just wondering if this will end up in the BlackBerry Playbook App World now that the Playbook can run Android apps.

Thanks in advance.

[Max]

no, because it's a native app (uses c++ rather then java) and afaik such apps won't run on the playbook.

[Beren]

Hello All:

Goofy question here. I installed the Android version on my rooted Nook Tablet, and it runs great. The only trouble is that the NT does not have a "menu" hard button as most android phones do (just the little raised "N" button at the bottom of the screen), which is what the app wants you to use in order to pull up the menu for recruiting units. Might anyone have any suggestions about a way to deal with this?

It might also make the game more intuitive to those who've played wesnoth before to change it, if possible, so that one recruits units with, say, a "tap and hold" on a fortress hex (rather like the right-click in the normal version).

Anyway, I'd appreciate any suggestions!

[cjhopman]

Hey all-

A couple questions answered quick-

Q. Is the Android version abandoned?
A. No.

Q. Is multiplayer ever gonna happen?
A. Yes, very soon.

Q. Will this be updated to 1.10?
A. Yes. Multiplayer (+a few other changes) is the last thing planned for the 1.8 version. After that, serious work will begin on 1.10, this should not take nearly as long as multiplayer has taken. One thing that I am undecided on is how to do the upgrade. I will probably not upgrade people with the current version automatically to 1.10 (as it would break stuff). There is no way to really optionally upgrade through the Google Play Store... What will probably happen is that the 1.8 version will no longer be available and a new 1.10 version app will be. This means that even if you have paid for the 1.8 version, you will have to pay again for the 1.10 version. I don't really like that solution, but it is what it is. I think I will probably have the new version available at a deep discount for the first several weeks so that it isn't as much of an issue. (If anyone has suggestions on how to handle this, please let me know)

Q. Will there be support for addons?
A. I do not plan to add support for addons in the current version. It is a feature I would like to eventually have, though. I expect that it will eventually be supported. The Android version uses the same directory structure as the desktop version and so it may be possible to sort of sideload addons. I have not tried this so I have no idea if it works. It may also require editing some of the config files (which should all be in the same places as on the desktop).

Q. Will there be support for other languages?
A. This is essentially the same as for addons. I would like to have it, but multiplayer and 1.10 come first. Also, I think I heard a report that sideloading translations works.

Q. What about support for Help/Unit Stat pages?
A. I have done some work on this... but I expect that this will also come after 1.10.

Q. What if you have no menu button?
A. Support for a long-press context menu will be coming with the multiplayer update.

Q. Where is the source available?
A. https://github.com/cjhopman/Battle-for- ... on-Android

Q. How do I compile this?
A. If you just want to play with all the touch UI on a desktop, you should just be able to use scons like you would for desktop Wesnoth (just navigate into the part that looks like the Wesnoth stuff). If you want to compile it for Android, it is more difficult and I have not written a guide to it. If you've compiled Android NDK apps before, it shouldn't be very different.

Some Known Bugs being worked on:
Useless error messages when downloading data fails.
Blank screen when returning to a backgrounded game

Alright, I think that hit most questions/concerns I've seen. Feel free to ask more and I will try to address them.

[Insinuator]

Wow.

With answer #2, you talked me into actually buying Wesnoth for Android!

With answer #3, you talked me out of it. DLC is one thing, but not even the blood-sucking corporate giants are charging for PATCHES.

[ace214]

Q. Will this be updated to 1.10?
A. Yes. Multiplayer (+a few other changes) is the last thing planned for the 1.8 version. After that serious work will begin on 1.10, this should not take nearly as long as multiplayer has taken. One thing that I am undecided on is how to do the upgrade. I will probably not upgrade people with the current version automatically to 1.10 (as it would break stuff). There is no way to really optionally upgrade through the Google Play Store... What will probably happen is that the 1.8 version will no longer be available and a new 1.10 version app will be. This means that even if you have paid for the 1.8 version, you will have to pay again for the 1.10 version. I don't really like that solution, but it is what it is. I think I will probably have the new version available at a deep discount for the first several weeks so that it isn't as much of an issue. (If anyone has suggestions on how to handle this, please let me know)

Glad to see this isn't abandoned. I see your point regarding the upgrade but agree that that solution is not ideal. If the program is built correctly, I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to upgrade...

What if you upgraded the paid app and put the full 1.8.6 on the free version, so that neither group will be penalized. Then once the bugs are worked out, revert the free app to a trial of 1.10?

[cjhopman]

Wow.

With answer #2, you talked me into actually buying Wesnoth for Android!

With answer #3, you talked me out of it. DLC is one thing, but not even the blood-sucking corporate giants are charging for PATCHES.

Actually this is how I see it:

Patches are like updates to the minor version, i.e. 1.8.4 to 1.8.5
DLC is like the addons
Expansions are like updates to the major version, i.e. 1.8 to 1.10

That is, I see that update as much more like the update from Starcraft to Starcraft-Brood War than it is like a mere patch.

Still, I would much rather have the upgrade be automatic and free... I will be very happy if my concerns with that approach can be dealt with.

I see your point regarding the upgrade but agree that that solution is not ideal. If the program is built correctly, I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to upgrade...

I currently have two concerns about upgrading installs.

The first is that I do not know how compatible savegames are between the two versions. This is probably my most important concern. Personally, it would really annoy me if a forced update broke my savegame.

My other concern is changes in performance between the two versions. I can not evaluate this yet, and I expect/hope that the performance will be similar or better. If it is worse, though, then that may need to be addressed.

[ace214]

The first is that I do not know how compatible savegames are between the two versions. This is probably my most important concern. Personally, it would really annoy me if a forced update broke my savegame.

In my experience, beginning of chapter saves seem to work fine, but I haven't done this for every campaign.

[AI]

Mainline campaigns are *generally* stable enough that start-of-scenario saves will work, but you can't count on that.

Some problems with your problems with your github repo:
-It's so huge that lesser machines run out of memory trying to clone it
-You make such huge commits that github's webinterface refuses to show them
Regarding the first, I'll try again tonight with a machine with 4 GiB RAM and 6 GiB swap.
As for the second, I understand that you don't want people to publish your updated version before you do, but could you at least make smaller commits and then push the lot of them at once?

[cjhopman]

Some problems with your problems with your github repo:
-It's so huge that lesser machines run out of memory trying to clone it
-You make such huge commits that github's webinterface refuses to show them
Regarding the first, I'll try again tonight with a machine with 4 GiB RAM and 6 GiB swap.
As for the second, I understand that you don't want people to publish your updated version before you do, but could you at least make smaller commits and then push the lot of them at once?

Ah, I was unaware of these issues. Currently, I am using bzr for development and not git... and so having smaller commits in git is difficult (also I don't know of any free hosts for bzr repos). I think that when I start focusing more on 1.10 I will switch to using git instead of bzr and so that should be a better. In the meantime, I will see what I can do about the current git repo, let me know if you have problems even with more memory.

[ace214]

also I don't know of any free hosts for bzr repos

I think Launchpad does this.

[floken]

Wait, are you serious? i've already paid more than the average game price for a ported game that's free on PC, but i've done so because i like the game and I expected it to be just like the pc version, with all it's features and updates, but you really plan to rip us off making us pay again for every update?

this is just ridiculous, what a theft, don't you just take profit with what others did for free, but you try to squeeze it to the maximum. As I said, you look to me as a plain thieve. Shame for you.

[Insinuator]

There is no way to really optionally upgrade through the Google Play Store...

Still, I would much rather have the upgrade be automatic and free... I will be very happy if my concerns with that approach can be dealt with.

I must admit to ignorance regarding how the "Google Play Store" functions, but I do know that you have already released updates for the Wesnoth app currently available. What is the fundamental difference between the two? Aside from the size, of course.

[Scatha]

Sidestepping all the hyperbole above (of course it's a trivial amount for an amazing game in real terms, even if you have to pay it twice; it's only because prices are so low for apps that anyone might think this was expensive!), I thought I'd comment that it seems to me likely that charging again and a separate app will annoy more people than save issues, particularly if these only occur sometimes; the problem is that it creates a perception of punishing people for investing early.

Payment aside, I'd actually generally prefer to try to port data over to a new version rather than have to deal with two different apps. (I haven't actually played too much on the Android version, so I'm not too invested personally in campaigns there, but it's a general comment.) Is it possible to put a warning on the update so people can defer getting it until they've finished any campaigns they can't bear to risk losing?