Build / Render / OpenGL issues when building Android version (Fork environment)

[skulltombstone-hub]

Hi!

First of all, thanks for the work on Butterscotch. I’m currently experimenting with the project in a fork to explore compatibility with additional engines and different build configurations (notably Android standalone builds and CI-based builds via GitHub Actions).

This issue is not meant to change the direction of the project, but to document build/rendering problems I encountered in my environment so they can be useful for debugging or future compatibility improvements.

Environment used

Local build (Android Studio):

Android Studio: Panda 2 / Quail (tested on both)

JDK: 17 (Android Studio bundled)

Gradle: Wrapper version from project (./gradlew)

Device target: Physical Android 13 device

I also used GitHub actions with a workflow that I made

Fork setup:

Repository is a fork of Butterscotch with minimal visual modifications and support to games made in other engines planned to be added in the future.

No submodule modifications intended (Butterscotch source kept as-is)

Issues observed

1. OpenGL / Rendering initialization failures

On Android startup, rendering sometimes fails with GL-related errors or blank screen state.

Observed symptoms:

Black screen after launch (no crash)

GL context not properly initialized on some devices

Occasional logcat errors related to EGL / GL surface creation

Example log pattern (varies by device):

EGL_emulation / EGL_BAD_ALLOC
eglCreateContext failed
Renderer initialization skipped or incomplete

Impact:

App launches but does not render UI/game scene correctly

Sometimes only splash or initial activity is visible

2. Inconsistent rendering behavior between desktop and Android

Desktop build works normally (no GL issues observed)

Android build shows partial or missing rendering

Some Compose / rendering layers appear not to be drawn consistently

3. Build fails most of the time but when it works runtime fails silently

If the build fails:
Most of the log is related to "glGenFramebuffersEXT"

If the build don't fail:
Runtime rendering issues only appear after launch

No hard crash logs in most cases (only EGL warnings)

4. GitHub Actions build environment differences

CI build is reproducible but slightly inconsistent with local behavior:

Gradle build completes successfully on ubuntu-latest

APK generated without errors

Runtime issue persists in emulator/device, same as local builds

Noted differences:

No hardware acceleration in CI environment

Potential differences in EGL/OpenGL backend

Possible missing native GL bindings or device-specific rendering fallback

What was tested

Clean rebuild (./gradlew clean assembleDebug)

Different Gradle caches disabled

Physical device (Android 13)

Debug and release variants

Fresh project sync in Android Studio

Hypothesis (not confirmed)

Based on logs and behavior, possible causes might include:

EGL context creation not fully compatible with some Android environments

Missing or incomplete OpenGL ES initialization path

Engine initialization order differing on Android lifecycle

Possible issue in renderer setup timing (surface created vs engine init)

Device/emulator GPU differences affecting GL fallback path

Purpose of this report

Since this fork is also being used experimentally to explore:

Android compatibility improvements

Alternative engine integration

CI-based APK builds

I’m documenting these issues in case they are useful for:

Identifying Android rendering edge cases

Improving GL initialization robustness

Supporting broader device compatibility

If needed, I can also provide:

Some logs

GitHub Actions workflow file used

Exact device

The only APK I could build successfully

Thanks again for the project and the work and care put on it!!

[MrPowerGamerBR]

The Android version was only tested with commit afe0d080cd48a57f06cf92289e47a34c1023dd15 (+ the changes included in the repo on the commit that I published including the Android version, because I cherry-picked the changes from my local branch to the current main because I wasn't maintaining the Android version anymore)

[MrPowerGamerBR]

For reference, the afe0d080cd48a57f06cf92289e47a34c1023dd15 commit was used as the base for the last Butterscotch for Android version that I published on the Play Store before I unlisted the app, which the reasons for why I pulled are on Butterscotch's Discord server, but the tl;dr was that Butterscotch for Android was meant as a revenue stream so I could keep maintaining Butterscotch, because I was working on it and working on supporting games that aren't games that I care about, that I needed a reason to at least justify the time I was putting into the project. But because I felt like there wasn't going to be a good revenue stream for me because there were plenty of alternatives if someone wants to play GameMaker games on Android (YoYo Runner + UndertaleModTool to add virtual gamepads, Winlator/GameNative for YYC games and games that use native dependencies), and for the games that I do care about (Undertale and DELTARUNE) there were already other better alternatives for them, such as QuickTale and DeltaQuick, which use the official YoYo Runner under the hood. So I've decided to take a undetermined break from Butterscotch because I had already achieved my original goal (that is, running Undertale on the PlayStation 2).

Some people on Butterscotch's Discord server asked me to publish the Android changes even though I wasn't working on it anymore, so that's why I cherry-picked my changes to main and pushed it, but I did not bother to check and fix anything that caused the app to break since that last commit.

For reference, the Android code still works if you build it using the original commit that Butterscotch for Android originally used, that is, if you do this:

git reset --hard afe0d080cd48a57f06cf92289e47a34c1023dd15
git cherry-pick 7ececa3b3b03ca0598ea1ea49f2da961da4ed421

Then fix the CMakeLists conflict (accept the incoming cherry-picked change), update the app/build.gradle.kts on the Android app side (the butterscotchRepoDir path needs to point to the Butterscotch's repository folder), and then assemble the Android app with ./gradlew assembleDebug (or ./gradlew installDebug if your device is connected), the build and the app will work fine.

[skulltombstone-hub]

For reference, the afe0d080cd48a57f06cf92289e47a34c1023dd15 commit was the commit that was used as the base for the last Butterscotch for Android version that I published on the Play Store before I unlisted the app, which the reasons for why I pulled are on Butterscotch's Discord server, but the tl;dr was that I wasn't planning on working on Butterscotch full time anymore because I had other projects to take care of, and supporting other GameMaker games wasn't really something I was interested in if there wasn't any monetary advantages for me, and for the games that I do care about (Undertale and DELTARUNE) there were already other better alternatives for them, such as QuickTale and DeltaQuick, which use the official YoYo Runner under the hood.

Some people on Butterscotch's Discord server asked me to publish the Android changes even though I wasn't working on it anymore, so that's why I cherry-picked my changes to main and pushed it, but I did not bother to check and fix anything that caused the app to break since the afe0d080cd48a57f06cf92289e47a34c1023dd15 commit.

But for reference, the Android code still works if you build it using the original commit that Butterscotch for Android originally used, that is, if you do this:

git reset --hard afe0d08
git cherry-pick 7ececa3
Then fix the CMakeLists conflict (accept the incoming cherry-picked change), update the app/build.gradle.kts on the Android app side (the butterscotchRepoDir path needs to point to the Butterscotch's repository folder), and then assemble the Android app with ./gradlew assembleDebug (or ./gradlew installDebug if your device is connected), the build and the app will work fine.

Thanks for the information! [[Pq eu tô falando assim, eu tb sou brasileiro!?]]