[Android Software Development] s_firestone:
Acer A500

I have a 2nd instance of the last version, which shows "Music Visualization Wallpapers" in applications that I cannot uninstall by normal means. I uninstalled the 1st instance, and it uninstalls properly. I then loaded the new version. The Non-Neon ran, the Neon version stays at "Loading wallpaper..." indefinitely. I can go to the settings page and if I attempt to preview a preset, it will timeout after 1 or 2 seconds, or Force Close and stop the process.

I can now only run the non-neon versions. I suspect my problems with the new neon version are related to the partially installed version that shows up in apps. If I attempt to reinstall the old neon version, it acts exactly like the new version in that its a non-running shell that won't run the visualizations and shows "Loading wallpaper...". It took me a while to figure this out.

Until I figure out how to get rid of it, or do a factor reset, I'm going to limit my testing to the non-neon version. I do want to rule out that the older neon version is affecting the execution of the newer non-neon software. Until I figure out how to eradicate it, its tainting the environment so to speak.

My notes:

I copied and am using the the presets zip file from this page. There appears to be some leftover linux stuff in the zip with the presets (a CVS folder, some .tga file, some text files, etc.) I have removed this to ensure it was not causing the problems. It isn't.

I installed the new Androp .9 version and compared with the last version I have several issues. I will list issues for the non-neon and neon versions separately.

Non-Neon Version

A. Installation - Working, installs as "Androp Live Wallpaper"

B. Apply wallpaper - Not working, reverts back to original static wallpaper.

C. Visualization engine - partially working.

1. Some presets that were working in prior version, now don't

2. Some presets aren't rendering properly, halt or disappear

Examples:

Part of a preset will be functioning but other components appear broken

Some presets just a black screen, no discernible movement

Some presets execute formula once then crash or go blank

Some presets display only matte colors

Colored borders around many presets

D. Settings page - Working, all functions appear to work.

E. Presets chooser - Working

F. Preview - Working with exceptions noted above

The preview mode in the settings menu appears stable. I started walking through the list and loaded 75 to 100 presets in a row and it never crashed.

Neon Version

A. Installation - Working

B. Apply Wallpaper - Not working

C. Visualization Engine - Displays "Loading Wallpaper...", Crashes, Force Closes

D. Settings Page - Working, all functions appear to work, no crashes

E. Presets Chooser - Working

F. Preview - Crashes, see above

Essentially no visualizations are executing.

I tried both versions without any presets to eliminate that problems were related to a single preset. Also unchecked 'Random' so I could control the starting preset.

On the non-neon version, The initial preview in the live wallpaper picker app is sporadically showing previews. This may be due to the 'Select Random' setting, which I disabled for testing.

I am unable to apply to desktop at all on the new version. I closed every app I could (helped with the old version), but no effect wit the new version. I have about 400MB free of 1GB RAM. This was sufficient on the old version.

I am working through the list of all the presets, 283 is a lot to check. I may pick a subset of about 25 that represent the original versions (and least complex) of the presets, and focus on those for testing...Baby steps

I have uninstalled and reinstalled several times. I did a comparison between the old version and new version.

On the old version:

With the preset pack, most presets (that don't go white immediately) appear to execute and render properly. Execution speed is fast and smooth. Music audio input is stable and more or less predictable. Aside from the problem of resetting the count to the 1st visualization every time the screen goes to sleep or rotates. I have run it for hours straight testing it. The problems are mostly minor, repeatable and predictable.

On the new version:

With the same preset pack, most presets (that don't go white immediately) appear to execute partially correct, or for a few seconds, or half the components work. Execution of some presets is chaotic. A lot of presets display black. It looks and feels like something in the pipeline is broken. In most of these presets, there are several variables which likely have the same names from preset to preset. These variables are set up to pass data to the execution engine. If I were going to make an educated guess, one or more of these variables are hitting a dead end, which appears to affect each preset in some minor way. Like a guitar with a broken string would affect each song differently.

I have tried several iterations of changing settings such as mesh size, FPS, etc. Although they do affect the quality and speed, they do not affect the execution of the partially broken visualizations.

I burned through my battery so I had to take a break. :D

I installed the SDK so I can pull the debug information. I'll have some more time this evening to look at it.