v1.4.0

Highlights

1.4.0 is about speed and fit: a much faster OpenGL ES renderer, upscaling that renders the battlefield
below screen resolution while the interface stays sharp, and an interface size setting that makes menus and
buttons larger on small screens. Both settings are in the launcher:

Setting	Where in the launcher
Upscaling (Snapdragon GSR)	Graphics page (shown with the OpenGL ES backends; Vulkan does not use it)
Interface Size	Interface page

Performance: a faster OpenGL ES renderer

The native OpenGL ES renderer (the default) got most of the work in this release:

• Its own render thread. The game no longer waits on the graphics driver for every draw: GL calls are
  queued and run on a separate thread.
• Dynamic geometry streamed the way the driver expects -- persistently mapped buffers, index data written
  into never-reused memory, fewer GL calls per draw, base-vertex draws and a shader program cache.
• Cheaper translucent effects, sounds and file lookups: particle and model draws with the same state are
  merged, .wav sounds are decoded natively instead of through FFmpeg, and the sound cache no longer drops
  sounds still in use.

On the old Mali test phone, heavy battles went from about 23 to about 35 fps -- before upscaling, which adds
on top of that.

Upscaling: more frames, sharp interface

Launcher → Graphics → Upscaling (Snapdragon GSR). The 3D battlefield is rendered at a lower resolution and
sharpened back to full screen with Snapdragon Game Super Resolution; menus, the command bar and text are drawn at
full resolution afterwards, so they stay crisp. Four modes, as on PC: Ultra Quality, Quality, Balanced,
Performance -- the launcher shows the resolution each one renders at. On a phone whose GPU is the limit this
is the biggest single gain. Works with OpenGL ES and OpenGL ES + ANGLE; with Vulkan the option is hidden.

Interface size: bigger buttons on small screens

Launcher → Interface → Interface Size. Menus, the command bar, the generals' power bar, the group panel and
the corner HUD can be made larger. The layouts themselves are scaled as they load, so buttons really grow --
larger touch targets, not just a larger picture -- and the main menu, emblems and power bar are kept inside the
screen at every size.

Typing in the game: a real Android text field

Chat, lobby names and passwords are edited in an Android text field at the top of the screen: cursor,
selection, copy and paste, the keyboard's suggestions. OK or Enter sends, Back closes.

Online (GeneralsOnline)

• Cross-play with the current PC release (100126). Every match against a 100126 PC went out of sync at
  frame 100; the game now follows the PC release's checksum rules on its own.
• Sessions no longer die after 15 minutes. The GeneralsOnline sign-in lasts fifteen minutes and the PC
  client renews it; the phone did not, so after a while every lobby request was refused and the lobby simply
  stopped changing. It now renews itself, during long lobby waits and long matches alike.
• A failed online start gives the main menu back. No connection, or a sign-in the server no longer
  accepts: the game says which (and asks you to sign in again in the launcher when that is the cause) and
  the main menu's buttons return -- no more killing the game.
• Relay for the joining player (#31). A player joining a lobby never got TURN relay credentials, so two
  players on "difficult" networks (mobile data, some Wi-Fi) could not connect. Connection retries and the
  server's mesh check follow the PC client's current rules.
• The service's integrity checks are answered the way the PC client answers them: loading-screen and
  score-screen screenshots, the match replay and the list of loaded libraries, uploaded to GeneralsOnline when
  the service asks for them.
• Online game data: the install no longer fails with "checksum mismatch", and the community data patch is
  not mounted over a mod (Contra and others start again); a launcher switch uses it with mods anyway.

One account per device. The service accepts one active sign-in per account: signing in with the same
account on a second phone (or on the PC) signs the first one out. Use a separate account on each device.

LAN games between phones

LAN lobbies work on Android: the game listens for lobby broadcasts on the Wi-Fi network rather than on the
mobile-data interface, and holds the multicast lock Android requires. (Fix from the android-lan-fix branch
of JetErorr's fork.)

Game speed and controls

• The skirmish Game Speed slider works again; its top position is four times normal speed.
• Hold a command button to read its description -- also on commands that are not available yet -- without
  buying or building anything.
• Smoother camera momentum after a drag on high-refresh screens.

Launcher

• Support the project card on the Help page (Boosty -- like Patreon -- and USDT). Its contents come with the
  signed settings, so they are kept current without a new APK.
• Settings from the signed updates now also cover the data package's address and the PC checksum rules, so
  fixes like the "checksum mismatch" one reach older launchers too.
• List rows on the Tools and Help pages respond to a tap.

Fixes

• An audio exception in looping and multi-part sounds, which could stop a sound or flood the log.
• A command-bar description title no longer jumps between two font sizes.
• Tokens are removed from the launcher's network log before it is shared.

Full Changelog: v1.3.0...v1.4.0

Support the project

This port is developed with Claude Code, and the subscription is paid out of pocket. If the port is useful to
you, donations are welcome -- on Boosty (a Patreon-like platform,
bank cards from anywhere) or in USDT, see the launcher's Help page or the
README. The game and every build stay
free; nothing is unlocked by donating.