Text not printed properly in android version

[mudmirror]

I have problems rendering text when I port my game to android (doesn't matter if I use the zip method or run it directly as a lovegame folder). Only some of the characters are displayed. This happens in any app I make, not just this one!
For the record, my android version is 6.0.1 and löve is updated to the last version.

UPDATE: I found a workaround. Creating a Text object instead of printing the string directly. Still, I would like an explanation. Does anybody knows why this happen? Am I always supposed to use Text objects instead of strings in löve?
Nope, that doesn't work either.

The guilty code looks like this:

Code: Select all

function love.draw()
  if text.show then
    lg.setColor(0,0,0.05,0.9)
    lg.rectangle("fill",text.x,text.y,text.w,text.h)
    lg.setColor(1,1,1,1)
    for i=1,#text.ls do
      lg.print(text.ls[i],text.x+5,text.y+5+text.rowsep*(i-1))
    end
  end
  
  if menu.show then
    for i=1,#menu.opt do
      lg.setColor(0,0,0.05,0.9)
      local y= menu.y+(menu.h+5)*(i-1)
      lg.rectangle("fill",menu.x,y,menu.w,menu.h)
      lg.setColor(1,1,1,1)
      lg.print(menu.opt[i],menu.tx,y+menu.ty)
    end
  end
end

This is how it is displayed in windows:

Good boy

screenshot_Windows.png (269.35 KiB) Viewed 6136 times

And this one is android:

Bad boy

screenshot_Android.png (597.42 KiB) Viewed 6136 times

What am I doing wrong?

[GVovkiv]

maybe missing fonts?
are you tried to change fonts?

[Gunroar:Cannon()]

Do all the apps you make make use that text.ls thingy. I wish I could see more code related to the text causee now I'm curious too

[mudmirror]

maybe missing fonts?
are you tried to change fonts?

I tried using a custom font and the problem persists. Does it only happen to me? lmao

Do all the apps you make make use that text.ls thingy. I wish I could see more code related to the text causee now I'm curious too

The "text" object is the message box where dialog is displayed. It looks like this:

Code: Select all

text= {
    ls={}, buffer={}, bufferi=1, show=true, wait=false,
    x=SCR_X+5, y=SCR_Y+SCR_H*0.6, w=SCR_W-10, h=SCR_H*0.4-10,
    rowsep=12
  }

New strings are added to text.buffer, and then added character by character into text.ls.
But I don't use this in all my games, only in those who has dialog boxes.

With "This happens in any app I make, not just this one!" I meant the love.graphics.print() bug.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hold up, I found how to replicate the bug.
Look at what happens if I try to print multiple strings in the same love.draw call.
CODE:

Code: Select all

lg= love.graphics

function love.load()
  font= lg.setNewFont("cour.ttf")
end

function love.draw()
  lg.print("Hello World! This is a test.",0,30+12*1)
  lg.print("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz",0,30+12*2)
  lg.print("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ",0,30+12*3)
  lg.print("1234567890.,:;-_+*=/|\\?!#",0,30+12*4)
end

OUTPUT:

out1.png (6.46 KiB) Viewed 6071 times

It only prints the last character I requested: #. The exact same happens if I put all those strings in a table and iterate over them.

Code: Select all

function love.draw()
  for i=1,#toadd do
    lg.print(toadd[i],0,30+12*i)
  end
end

However, if I use this code to add a new line each time the user taps the screen:

Code: Select all

lg= love.graphics

function love.load()
  font= lg.setNewFont("cour.ttf")
  toadd= {
    "Hello World! This is a test.",
    "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz",
    "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ",
    "1234567890.,:;-_+*=/|\\?!#"
  }
  str= {}
  toaddi= 0
  keydown= true
end

function love.update()
  if love.mouse.isDown(1) then keydown= true
  elseif keydown then
    keydown= false
    toaddi= toaddi+1
    table.insert(str,toadd[toaddi])
    if toaddi > 3 then toaddi= 0 end
  end
end

function love.draw()
  for i=1,#str do
    lg.print(str[i],0,30+12*i)
  end
end

It works just fine? OUTPUT:

out2.png (23.27 KiB) Viewed 6071 times

Hell, it also works if I replace the empty table with the full one!

Code: Select all

function love.update()
  if love.mouse.isDown(1) then keydown= true
  elseif keydown then
    keydown= false
    str= toadd
  end
end

This is so weird. It's like strings that are "compiled" into the program are erased/corrupted, while those generated dynamically are displayed fine? But my app uses generated strings, so that's not it? I have no clue.

[GVovkiv]

Can you provide full source code and your phone's characteristics?

[pgimeno]

Full source was provided.

I wonder if this is yet another auto-batcher bug. Too bad it can't be disabled.

[slime]

I wonder if this is yet another auto-batcher bug. Too bad it can't be disabled.

It's much more likely to be a graphics driver bug than a problem in love's higher level batching code, given how platform- and device-specific it is. love started using more "modern" (8-12+ year old) OpenGL APIs at the same time as it introduced auto-batching, the majority of graphics issues in 11.x have been related to those APIs.

Details about the device you're testing on would be helpful. Also if you're testing on a simulator/emulator/android development environment on your PC instead of an actual phone that would be useful information too - emulators tend to have a lot more bugs in their OpenGL backend code than real phones do.

You could verify whether it 100% only happens with text or whether it happens with other types of batched draws too, by drawing the same image twice with no other code between the draws, with the second draw offset so you can see it.

Another possible thing that might help is using a love 11.4 prerelease build instead of 11.3 - it has a few workarounds for graphics driver bugs, although I don't remember any that had those exact symptoms. The love-android github page automatically makes builds - the latest available one is downloadable via the 'artifacts' button here: https://github.com/love2d/love-android/runs/2538144141

[mudmirror]

It's a shame that we work in different timezones, you guys reply when I'm not at my PC.

I'm taking screenshots from a physical phone: HTC Desire 820, Android 6.0.1.
There is another bug that I deemed unimportant but may give some clues: when an app is launched nothing shows on screen; I have to pause/drop it to the background then back up again for the graphics to start.

About drawing in batches, it works with images and polygons but interestingly enough not with imagefonts. In the image below you can see only the D (no pun intended) from the word WORLD.

Screenshot_20210706-170913.png (30.85 KiB) Viewed 6001 times

And about the 11.4 release, I can't download it since it's just text not a link.

So neither love.graphics.print, nor using Text or Imagefont works.
If push comes to shove I can use a font image, split it into quads and use them as if they were sprites, but if you dudes want to know why is this happening, I'll gladly collaborate.