Game crashes when joining on Android device?

[daniellochner]

Hi there,

For some players, the game crashes when joining/creating a game when using an Android device.

Here is a link to a forum post in which others are experiencing the same issue:
https://forum.unity.com/threads/getting-a-lot-of-libil2cpp-so-crashes-in-android-build-after-implementing-unity-multiplayer.1401385/#post-9051061

I can recreate this myself on my own device using Bluestacks 4.

Unity: 2021.3.22f1
NGO: 1.3.1
Transport: 1.3.4

[mtarzwell]

Hello @daniellochner thank you for the bug report. Can we get a bit more details to help with troubleshooting?

Please provide:

• Android device details
• log files and/or error messages that appear at the time of the crash
• reproduction rate: is it 100% of the time, or sometimes?

Thank you!

[NoelStephensUnity]

Hi @daniellochner,
I posted a response in the thread you referenced, but to summarize:
Since you are using NGO v1.3.1, if you have code stripping enabled then you will most likely get a crash. The easiest fix would be to update to NGO v1.4.0 which has a fix for that (if you are using multiplayer tools then make sure to update to the most recent version as well since that package recently had a fix for a similar code stripping related issue).

Let me know if this resolves your issue?

[daniellochner]

Hi Noel,

Thank you, but it didn't seem to fix all the crashing unfortunately.

I can create and join servers on my computer using the Bluestacks emulator, but when I asked a player who was crashing on his phone, then it still crashed when he tried to create/join a world.

As you can see in the following screenshot, however, he seemed to crash right after he joined! So his connection was registered.

Would you mind letting me know what version of Unity you are using? I am currently using 2021 LTS, but am upgrading now to 2022 LTS. NGO, Transport and Collections etc. don't prompt me to upgrade in the package manager (I have to specifically include the version codes). Could that be causing issues?

[NoelStephensUnity]

Just to leave no "stone unturned":
Did you make sure the remote user connecting from their phone was using the updated version built using the NGO v1.4.0 package?

[NoelStephensUnity]

If so, then if you wouldn't mind trying:

• Have you tried building with NGO v1.4.0 and removing the Relay QOS package?
  • There could be a code stripping issue in that package.
• If the above does work, then try building with code stripping turned completely off (for the time being)

Let me know if either of the two above approaches (and which one) stops the remote user crashing issue (if either do)?

[daniellochner]

Yes, he was definitely using NGO 1.4.0! I will try removing the Relay QOS package though and reporting back.
How would I turn code stripping completely off? There appears to only be the option to set it to "Minimal".

[daniellochner]

Update: It seems I'm unable to remove the QOS package.

[NoelStephensUnity]

Based on that forum thread, it also looks like there is also a crash related to automatically setting the region on Android v8 or v8.1(is the remote client connecting is using that version of Android?).

Regarding turning off managed stripping level ("code stripping"), do you not see a "Disabled" property?

[daniellochner]

No, here are the options I have (Unity 2021.3.22f1).

[NoelStephensUnity]

Ahh, you are using IL2CPP as your scripting backend as opposed to Mono.
For production builds (i.e. Alpha, Beta, and actual release) that is the better choice, but for debugging I would suggest using the Mono scripting backend:

When you switch to Mono as the scripting backend, you should be able to completely disable managed code stripping (for testing/debugging purposes).

[daniellochner]

Hi Noel,

Some progress: When I force set the region to "europe-west-2" like in the allocation settings (as the forums thread suggested), it allowed the user to create a world, but no-one else could join him.

This is obviously not a solution, but it at least confirms that there is indeed a problem with QOS.

I will switch to Mono now and disable stripping entirely, but please could you have a look into this? Now that it is confirmed that there is actually an issue with QOS.

Note: I actually reverted back to NGO 1.3.1, because there was some change that broke something for me in 1.4.0 (to do with asynchronous scene loading). I'll upgrade back though and see what is now going wrong there...

Thanks.

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
Thank you for reporting back with your findings as it definitely will help expedite a fix for the QOS package issue. I will talk to the UGS group and see if they are aware of the issue and figure out if there are any work arounds or a pending update.

With NGO v1.4.0, there was an update to how clients load scenes. When you are ready for the upgrade to that package (or the v1.5.1 depending upon when you are ready) you might need to set your client synchronization mode to LoadSceneMode.Additive.

[daniellochner]

Okay, that's good to hear, but this is actually quite a massive issue! It's incredibly frustrating having so many negative reviews because of this. For reference, the game has 4.8 stars on Apple, and 4.3 stars on Google Play.

With regards to the loading issue, I don't necessarily want to use the additive mode. I'd just like for it to fade in and out between scenes. My game is actually open source, so maybe you could help provide some insight? Here are the loading and world manager scripts.

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
There could be a work around for the QOS crash.
The fix that I found will require you to be running Unity 2022.3.x (currently it is 2022.3.1f1).
The recommended steps:
###Step 1:
If you don't already have a version of 2022.3.x (LTS) then install that version of the editor (it is required for next steps).

###Step 2:
Upgrade your com.unity.collections package to v2.1.4

You will see some errors in the console, that will go away after step 3

###Step 3:
Upgrade your com.unity.transport package to v2.0.1

When done installing and compiling the errors in the console should go away and you should be able to build

###Step 4 (optional if you want to enable code stripping):
Upgrade to NGO v1.4.0 (or higher).

According to what I have read about the issue, it seems to be happening/related to the collections package and how the QOS package uses collections. Let me know if this resolves the issue for you?

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner

My game is actually open source, so maybe you could help provide some insight?

That makes it so much simpler to help you out (with NGO related issues). When I get a chance (later today), will pull that repo and install NGO v1.4.0 to see where the issue resides. If you could describe the issue a bit further (i.e. did an exception occur or did the fading scene transition not work correctly?), then it would help expedite my findings and a fix. 👍

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity
Great! I do unfortunately use paid-for assets, so I can't upload those to the public repo, but I could maybe send you them via Google Drive?

did an exception occur or did the fading scene transition not work correctly?

No exceptions. The scene loading works fine, but just doesn't fade in and out.

[daniellochner]

Right. I've upgraded to Unity 2022.3 LTS, but now I can't build anymore. I'm prompted with a gradle error:

And the following logs:

Can't determine the version of Play Core dependency "com.google.android.play:core". Upgrade to Play Asset Delivery library to ensure it is at least version 2.0.0, which is the default version used by Unity for Play Asset Delivery.
System.Linq.Enumerable/WhereEnumerableIterator`1<object>:MoveNext ()
Bee.BeeDriver.BeeDriver:WriteDataForBuildProgram (Bee.BeeDriver.InternalState,System.Threading.Tasks.TaskCompletionSource`1<int>)
Bee.BeeDriver.BeeDriver/<>c__DisplayClass0_0:<BuildAsync>g__WriteData|0 ()
Bee.BeeDriver.BeeDriver:BuildAsync (Bee.BeeDriver.BuildRequest,System.Threading.CancellationToken)
UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent (int,intptr,bool&)

Starting a Gradle Daemon, 1 incompatible Daemon could not be reused, use --status for details
UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent (int,intptr,bool&)

Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* Where:
Build file 'D:\Development\Unity\Workspace\Creature-Creator-Demo\Library\Bee\Android\Prj\IL2CPP\Gradle\launcher\build.gradle' line: 1

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred evaluating project ':launcher'.
> Failed to apply plugin 'com.android.internal.application'.
   > Cannot parse project property android.enableR8='' of type 'class java.lang.String' as boolean. Expected 'true' or 'false'.

* Try:
Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. Run with --scan to get full insights.

* Get more help at https://help.gradle.org

BUILD FAILED in 12s

UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent (int,intptr,bool&)

[NoelStephensUnity]

This is the solution to that issue.
Try updating your Android target SDK to v33 and see if that resolves your issue?

[NoelStephensUnity]

No exceptions. The scene loading works fine, but just doesn't fade in and out.
Just a few more questions about the fade in issue.

• Does this only happen for a remotely connected client? If so:
  • Is the client loading a new scene from a server based scene load event (i.e. NetworkManager.SceneManager.LoadScene)?
    • If so, is the SceneLoadMode.Single or SceneLoadMode.Additive?
  • If not from a server based scene load event, does this happen when the client is connecting and synchronizing for the first time?

There are two possible things happening that could be potentially impacting your scene fading:

• For an already connected client:
  • A server based scene load event of type LoadSceneMode.Single is occurring which will unload any loaded scenes
• For a connecting and synchronizing client:
  • The client connecting doesn't have the same active scene loaded as the server (it could not be the active scene on the client but would need to already be loaded) and the client synchronization mode is LoadSceneMode.Single which will make the connecting client load the server-side active scene in LoadSceneMode.Single...which will unload any loaded scenes.

For both cases, I am thinking the LoadingScreen scene could be getting unloaded which would destroy any associated assets and cause any fade transition to stop.

Are either of the two cases/scenarios happening when the scene transition fading is failing?

[daniellochner]

This is the solution to that issue. Try updating your Android target SDK to v33 and see if that resolves your issue?

Didn't work I'm afraid. Still the same error message.

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
Can you try making a clean build?
Before doing that, I would suggest cleaning your root\Library\Bee folder.
When you do that it will pop up an error about admin rights for the Android folder.
Navigate to:
root\Library\Bee\Android\Prj\Mono2x\Gradle (if it exists)
root\Library\Bee\Android\Prj\IL2CppBackup\Gradle (if it exists)
root\Library\Bee\Android\Prj\IL2CppBackup\Managed (if it exists)
Delete those files as well.

Then try doing a clean build and see if you get that error?

[daniellochner]

Alright, I removed all temporary files including the Library folder and tried rebuilding the project, but still the error persists.

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity Could I maybe rather just send you my project's files, and then create a new branch on the public repo for the "2022-LTS-upgrade"? Feels like an endless tsunami of errors that I have very little control over!

My email is daniel@daniellochner.com.

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
Probably the best way to get me your project would be to submit a bug via the editor where it will replicate your entire project (with settings) and include it in the bug submission. Once you have done that, you should get an email confirmation with a bug/ticket number. Send me the bug/ticket number (post here) and I can then get QA to assign it to me so I can gain access to your zip'd project file.

This is the best way to keep track of the submission and would provide me with more insights as to what the issue is at hand.

[daniellochner]

@daniellochner

Probably the best way to get me your project would be to submit a bug via the editor where it will replicate your entire project (with settings) and include it in the bug submission. Once you have done that, you should get an email confirmation with a bug/ticket number. Send me the bug/ticket number (post here) and I can then get QA to assign it to me so I can gain access to your zip'd project file.

This is the best way to keep track of the submission and would provide me with more insights as to what the issue is at hand.

Alright, I created the report (IN-43866).

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
Awesome! Just got the bug submission transferred to me.
Will look at it in a bit and let you know my findings. 👍

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity Ah that's really strange... Let me rather just send all the project files then via the bug reporter.

I guess it's also quite intimidating just attaching the entire folder because of secret keys etc. I also don't know if my UGS is fine? Is it fine to share the project ID on the public repo?

[NoelStephensUnity]

Submitting it via the editor keeps things internal to Unity. It is possibly the best way to handle things like protected keys and the like. Any other means (i.e. don't upload to any public facing site) I would recommend against...keeping it strictly between yourself, your editor, and Unity is the recommended way to handle troubleshooting issues like these where purchased assets (etc) are of a concern.

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity I just cloned the repo and dragged the paid assets in and all works fine.

There are a couple of shader errors, but those can just be cleared.

Are you copying the paid assets to the right location? "Plugins > External > Paid".

[NoelStephensUnity]

Are you copying the paid assets to the right location? "Plugins > External > Paid".

Ahhh... that is my bad... let me try that.

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity Ah alright great, then that should have been the issue. 👍

You should be able to build and see the error that comes up because of the Unity 2022 upgrade, but to run the game (to see the new scene fading issue), then you'll just need to remember to "Create > Key" and populate the Keys database with random values. (And also of course link to a UGS project!)

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity Did that fix the issue for you?

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
Sorry for the delay in response... will be giving it another go in just a bit but it still seems to be having issues. Placing everything under the Plugins > External > Paid folder seemed to yield a different set of errors.

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity There should be a few shader errors which can be ignored.

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity What is going on? 😕

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
I have been following some internal work around the com.unity.collections package and it looks like there could be an update or patch (TBD) that will --potentially-- be available soon...the ETA I don't have a bead on but there is currently an effort to get a few fixes for the < v2.x.x version of collections.
This would resolve the original issue you were experiencing and you could stay on 2021.3 and keep your original packages (NGO & UTP).

If you want to proceed with the upgrade, I think the best thing to do is re-submit a bug issue through the editor but include the entire project so I have all of your settings/configurations (including Android build settings etc) which will help to expedite a resolution to your gradle enableR8 build issue. If you go this path, then just let me know what the issue number is that you get in response to the new submission so I can get it assigned to me internally.

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity Alright, I've re-submitted. The new case number is 45900.

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity Have you imported the project?

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
Yes, I am taking the "clean" approach where I am just using:

• Your Assets folder
• Your packages folder (manifest settings)
  • Had to switch the manifest to use this:
  • "com.unity.netcode.gameobjects": "https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/com.unity.netcode.gameobjects.git?path=com.unity.netcode.gameobjects#fix/template_singleton_compile_error",
  • There is a regression bug in v1.5.1 that will have a patch soon, but for the time being using that.
• Using Unity 2022.3.3f1
  • Pre-Installed Android and iOS modules
• I switched to the Android platform once all scripts and everything was done with the default OS builds (in my instance it was windows).

When I switched to Android and was presented with the Android "Auto-Resolution" dialog I allowed it to "auto-resolve" the conflicts and download the appropriate dependencies.

When I tried building the first time the GRenderer was not defined, but after some digging around in visual studio it looked like I just needed to add the GRIFFEN define to the project settings player's defines.
(When I did this it kicked off some additional PinWheel scripts that filled out the remaining required defines).

• I then kicked off the Android build again.
  • This time I got the same gradle error complaining about the android.enableR8 property.
    • So, I switched back to visual studio and did a find in files (*.*) and set the folder to search the root folder of the project (i.e. the folder that contains the Assets, Packages, Library, etc. folders).
      • The search found 2 files:
        • Assets\Plugins\Android\gradleTemplate.properties
          • I placed a "#" symbol (plus a space) in front of the entry: # android.enableR8=**MINIFY_WITH_R_EIGHT**
        • Library\Bee\Android\Prj\Mono2x\Gradle\gradle.properties
          • I placed a "#" symbol (plus a space) in front of the entry: # android.enableR8=
• I then saved the changes to both files, switched back to the Unity Editor, and did another build.
  • This time the build finished (with a minor warning about not having google gaming services enabled)
    

So... there are two paths to take.

1. Search for the two files listed above and placed a "#" (plus space) in front of the "android.enableR8=" entry
2. If this still yields errors, then I would start with a completely clean separate folder and only include the Assets and Packages folder like I outlined above.

If you run into issues with v1.4.0 or want to use v1.5.1 then:
There is a known regression bug for a specific usage of NetworkVariable that your project happens to utilize. A patch will be made for this soon (sooner than the typical update time frame), but in order for it to work you will need to the #2603 fix. So, if #2603 is not yet merged then replaced your com.unity.netcode.gameobjects manifest file entry with this:
"com.unity.netcode.gameobjects": "https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/com.unity.netcode.gameobjects.git?path=com.unity.netcode.gameobjects#fix/template_singleton_compile_error",

If #2603 is merged then use this:
"com.unity.netcode.gameobjects": "https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/com.unity.netcode.gameobjects.git?path=com.unity.netcode.gameobjects#develop",

The core Android build issue (I believe) is that there seems to be a template that includes the android.enableR8=... and possibly the "auto-resolver" upgraded certain dependencies that no longer support it. So, when I get back from vacation I will poke around to see where that is coming from and if there is a way that we could (if it isn't part of the Android SDK or the like) remove it by default (or the like). Until then, just comment it out.

Start with commenting out those two lines in your gradle files to see if that gets you building your Android APK.

Will be curious to see if that is all that was needed. 👍

[daniellochner]

Thank you @NoelStephensUnity. I will test now and get back to you if it works.

No exceptions. The scene loading works fine, but just doesn't fade in and out.

The other issue was the scene fading problem.

[unity-ptrottier]

Hello Daniel, could you please try updating the QoS package to 1.2.1?

manifest.json:

...
"com.unity.services.qos": "1.2.1",
...

[daniellochner]

@unity-ptrottier What versions of the different packages should we be using?

I am using Unity 2021.3.22f1 and these are the versions of the packages related to this issue:
Collections: 1.2.4
QoS: 1.2.1
Unity Transport: 1.3.4
Netcode for GameObjects: 1.3.1

After updating to QoS 1.2.1, it didn't fix the issue unfortunately.

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner

After updating to QoS 1.2.1, it didn't fix the issue unfortunately.

The scene fading issue, Android crash, or the Android build issue when using UTP v2.0.x and Collections v2.1.4?

There have been a few mentioned so I just want to make sure we are tracking the right ones.

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity Android crash, but the scene fading is still an issue.

I followed your steps to fix the "Gradle Failed" error when building, but it still crashes when playing.

Could you list all the versions you used?

[NoelStephensUnity]

Ahh... the Android build issue should have only been specific to upgrading to 2022.3.3f1 (or higher) and it looks like you are using the original 2021 packages (i.e. pre UTP v2.x and Collections v2.x)/

I was using the "patch-in-progress" v1.5.1 version of NGO:
"com.unity.netcode.gameobjects": "https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/com.unity.netcode.gameobjects.git?path=com.unity.netcode.gameobjects#fix/template_singleton_compile_error",

Along with:
com.unity.transport: 2.0.2
com.unity.collections: 2.1.4
com.unity.services.qos: 1.2.1

Would you mind if we focus on fixing the android crash first? We can circle back to the scene fading issue (that will be an easier thing to figure out). Right now, let's make sure you can create an Android build that doesn't crash when using services QOS.

If you use the above package versions (including the v1.5.1 patch-fix version), then can you build an android application package with no gradle failed errors?
If so, do you still experience the same crash (i.e. com.unity.services.qos)?
If so, could you provide the stack trace of the crash (at least one line of the stack trace should point to QosJob_SendQosRequests).

Apologies for the very lengthy delay in resolving this issue, it is a bit tricky all things considered.

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity I copied my project files and updated the copy to 2022.3.1f1, but I hadn't updated to QoS 1.2.1.

I just tested again though with the following versions, and the joining client still crashes:

• Unity: 2022.3.1f1
• Collections: 2.1.4
• NGO: 1.4.0
• QoS: 1.2.1
• UTP: 2.0.2

There is an error message on the host when the other device joins (and crashes) that says there was an "invalid connection state".

Apologies for the very lengthy delay in resolving this issue, it is a bit tricky all things considered.

Yes, it has unfortunately been quite frustrating. The game has 4.8 stars on Apple, but 4.2 stars on Google Play just because of this massive game-breaking bug. I can focus my full attention on fixing this for the rest of this weekend if you are available. Could we organize a Discord/Zoom meeting?

[daniellochner]

@unity-ptrottier Were you ever able to reproduce the Android crashing on a test device? I am in contact with 2 players who have this issue and are eager to help fix it!

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
Do you mean the users are getting the following message?
Error sending message: Connection state is invalid.
If so, it would be helpful to know any messages they received prior to the message and any information that follows after the message.

[daniellochner]

I have been following some internal work around the com.unity.collections package and it looks like there could be an update or patch (TBD) that will --potentially-- be available soon...the ETA I don't have a bead on but there is currently an effort to get a few fixes for the < v2.x.x version of collections.

@NoelStephensUnity How far along is this fix?

[NoelStephensUnity]

It looks like something is holding it back still...
Let me find out in the morning what that status is.

Also, did you have any further information about the Error sending message: Connection state is invalid. logs?
That doesn't appear to be related to the collections crash issue... so whatever build you were getting that specific error on it would be helpful to know any log information prior to that message to figure out what caused the connection state to become invalid...

There are a few reasons why that message can appear but typically it is has an error before it and after it that will tell us what the issue is...but we haven't seen it specific to the QOS error this issue was originally filed under.

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
As an example of an error message that I am talking about:

Error sending message: Connection state is invalid. Likely caused by sending on connection 17179870000 which is stale or still connecting.

This error message typically means that there was a lower level network state mismatch.

Since you are using relay that error you are getting on the host side should be expected if the clients connected suddenly crashed (i.e. the relay services has to time out...which then conveys the time out to your host...and between that time frame you could be trying to send messages to the clients that had already crashed...which would cause that error).

The update to the collections package v1.5 should be coming soon...it is in the "release pipeline" (pretty much the last stage of a package release). I will post here when it completes the release process and is publicly available.

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
It looks like com.unity.collections v1.5.1 is available at this time!
See if by updating by name and using the 1.5.1 version you can get the updated collections package that should resolve the issue with the QOS crash on Android.

[NoelStephensUnity]

@daniellochner
There was one additional NGO specific Android 32 bit crash fixed.
While v1.6.0 isn't yet fully propagated out (i.e. you might not see the update availability in package manager)... at this time you can "add package by name" and include the version in package manager:

com.unity.netcode.gameobjects
1.6.0

This will update you to NGO v1.6.0 (which has the NGO specific Android 32 bit crash fix in it).

Let me know if this resolves your issue?

[daniellochner]

@NoelStephensUnity I can't believe it but v1.6.0 ACTUALLY WORKED! Thank you for your work on getting it fixed -- very excited to finally get this update out to my community! Do you have any suggestions on fixing the scene fading?

[NoelStephensUnity]

Glad to hear the v1.6.0 32bit fix worked for you. 👍

Do you have any suggestions on fixing the scene fading?

Being perfectly honest, I need to circle back and refresh myself on that issue.
Adding a note to myself in my daily "todo" list to get reacquainted with this issue and figure out where the disconnect is happening.