ie_android mod testing

[In_A_Graveyard]

Hello all,

I'm hoping to start testing a number of my mod load outs using the android ie distribution.

Most of the info I'm referencing to do this can be found in these threads:

[How To] Install Mods on Android [1]

Black Pits Implementation

dlc-builder

eet_install_errors [4]

EET on Tablet

EET on Android

Ultimately, I'm hoping to be able to reproduce a useable EET environment. 

Currently, I'm getting a stable modding env set up, researching, testing, etc. Just thought I'd post here some of my process and results as I go.

If anyone else has any experience or interest here, I would love to collaborate.

Thanks!

Edit: Updated references.

Update (2/27/23): I've been able to produce, and reproduce, a stable eet environment on android working only from within android. Currently laying out and installing some mods for a full mobile playthrough and will be posting about my modding process soon. Updated references.

Edited February 27, 2023 by In_A_Graveyard

[In_A_Graveyard]

Just a brief update:

I've managed to recreate ie_android environments on my Linux system for bg1/bg2/sod.

Tested some one off mod installs w/ success. Will begin digging into native Android installs soon. Hopefully tomorrow. Will give progress updates as I am able, as well as more details if there's any interest.

Best and thanks!

[In_A_Graveyard]

Another brief update:

I've been able to successfully install a suite of mods on bg1_android I consider a very basic "improved vanilla" load out. I'll attach the weidu.log for any interested.

I'm now attempting a full EET load out using the method described in one of the threads above.

Since EET imports a large amount of resources into bg2, I've been splitting my lang.zip file into lang.zip and data.zip in order to not exceed the size limit of the centralfix binary.

So far, I can get bg2_android_eet to load and play the opening Bioware "fire dragon" movie, at which point I get a black screen and all I can do is close the apk.

Will continue to investigate and post results.

Any thoughts welcome.

Thanks!

weidu.pdf

[In_A_Graveyard]

Update:

I've been working on modding with weidu within android as started in one of the references above.

I've been able to successfully recreate ie game directories, archive sod as dlc content, dlcmerge it with bg1, and perform a full eet eet_end installation.

At this point I've tried a couple ways to pack, archive, centralfix, load to data, renaming .tlk, .key, etc, but have not had any success.

I can get the apk to launch as non-merged bg2 using it's original chitin.key file, but when I attempt to rename the original in main.obb, I get crashing at start up.

Will keep looking into different ways of going about it. 

So far, installing mods on the stand alone games has been successful though. I've installed numerous mods on bg1 within android and so far all is testing well.

[Agerio]

@In_A_Graveyard hello soo about the chitin.key file for some reason the game doesn't look for the file in the bg2ee data like with dialog.tlk in my testing of it.

[In_A_Graveyard]

Hey again @Agerio, thanks for your response. Your input is always helpful!

I seem to be having the same problem. I've tried zipping it by itself and centralfixing it, but that didn't work either. Could it be included in override maybe? Won't be able to test until later, but I'll keep trying things.

Could it be added to main.obb somehow without the game attempting to delete/download on start?

[Agerio]

@In_A_Graveyard i think chitin.key is the problem here not the zipped  content and centralfix and it's definitely possible to place the modified chitin on the main obb and i'm sure it should work once the below issue is solved but the problem is that the obb needs to the exact size as pre modification which i have no easy solution to.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Agerio

[In_A_Graveyard]

@Agerio

I agree. My chitin.key is bigger than the one that ships in main.obb.

Maybe we can replace chitin.key w/ the larger one, find a file within main.obb that isn't integral and is the same size or slightly larger and remove it, and then create a dummy file to take up the remaining size?

If the only check that the apk uses is size, it shouldn't be too hard to get it matched per byte.

Have you had any luck w/ unzipping a .obb, making changes, re-archiving, and running without the delete/download process initializing?

[Agerio]

@In_A_Graveyard i tried before but i eventually gave up doing it but it's definitely possible but have you talk to the people on eet on tablet? maybe they can help us about this issue

 

[In_A_Graveyard]

Just got caught up on the latest resource. Thank you @Agerio! I had not found that post.

Will attempt a basic install without chitin.key transfer soon.

[In_A_Graveyard]

Brief update:

I've been pretty busy, but I wanted to at least land somewhere w/ my progress.

Using the tethering method best described by Gusinda[1], I have been able to successfully modify bg1_android w/o much problem.

Using the android-only terminal method best described by 2k16daniel[1], I have been able to install most mods on bg1_android successfully w/ some exceptions that I'm sure just need some fault finding to work out. (SCS so far)

EET:

It took a few very minor edits and binary compilations[4], but I was able to complete the full installation and resource importation w/o error.

So far, I have attempted a handful of different ways to import the chitin.key file:

It doesn't seem to register within lang.zip

I have attempted to package it by itself, (chitin.zip, centralfixed)

I have attempted to rebuild main.obb with tweaks to achieve the same byte count.

I get more or less the same two results.

Either the original chitin.key is loaded, and it starts like a regular bg2 game, or I manage to get an opening movie/logo or two and then a black screen.

Started using logs to track down errors, but haven't had much time to dig further. I will again soon-ish, will post updates.

Thanks

[Agerio]

@In_A_Graveyard some news.... Subtledoctor has just managed to get eet working on ios! here's the thread below but i hope this can help out.

 

[In_A_Graveyard]

That looks very helpful! I would love to adapt this to Android. I'll put some time in on my tablet soon. Works had me pretty busy so I haven't made much progress on this since my last attempt.

Thanks again Agerio!

[subtledoctor]

My general advice is:

• Extract and mod the mobile app, don't mod the desktop app and then send files over.
• Don't touch chitin.key, or the data folder's biff archives.
• Be wary of file formats - the mobile app may expect compressed or lower-quality versions of stuff like sound and movie files.
• A7-TextureConvert handles the .pvrz files imported from BG1/SoD, it is a necessity for making these things work on the mobile app.

But I don't know exactly how the Android app is packaged, and how it handles things. (Does it have/recognize an /override folder? Does it treat the /portraits folder just like an /override folder, the way the iOS app does?)

Edited June 13, 2022 by subtledoctor

[In_A_Graveyard]

Hey @subtledoctor, 

Thanks for the advice. The Android package does recognize /override and /portraits the way one would expect. The only tricky part I've found with android there is case sensitivity, which I'm sure you're quite familiar with running iOS.

Honestly, the only problem I was really having that I hadn't found a way through yet with eet specifically was the .key merge that happens during resource importation that I wasn't then able to transfer to my android main.obb package successfully.

I did have to replace the weidu, lua, and ffmpeg binaries within the eet mod with ones compiled to be compatible with android os and edit a few scripts with proper file paths.

I might of been over thinking it, though. Now that I've had some time away from it and I've read through your process, which seems similar to mine, I'm seeing some of my mistakes I might of missed or didn't fault find properly. I'm also quite interested in seeing your changes to eet and how they might of overlapped with some of mine.

Thanks for reaching out! Hopefully I'll post about some results soon.