(unstable) Yakumo v0.6.6 — MediaTek Helio fix (Android)

⚠️ This is a test build, not a stable release. There is no stable release newer than Yakumo v0.6.0-alpha.4 yet. If you just want to play, stay on (or go back to) v0.6.0-alpha.4. Install this one only if you want to help test. Some phones with MediaTek chips (Helio, Dimensity) run slower on this build than on alpha.4 (#210, #212); a fix is in progress.

Note

An Android preview with the fix for MediaTek Helio phones. This release only has the Android APK. Windows, Linux, the Steam Deck and macOS stay on v0.6.5 for now and get these changes in a later release. Updating keeps your settings and saves.

The MediaTek Helio fix

Phones with MediaTek Helio chips (Mali GPUs on older drivers) showed only a black screen after setup, or stopped at start with "Yakumo cannot draw on this device's GPU" (#159, #169). The renderer ran out of descriptor pool space: desktop drivers quietly hand out more than was asked for, but strict mobile drivers keep to the exact numbers.

• The pools now grow as needed instead of running out (#209).
• Optional features step back instead of stopping the app. If a set still can't be had, only what needed it goes without: a texture is drawn plain and asked for again a second later, and a sharper UI copy is skipped in favour of the original.
• A fatal error is now a report. The error dialog shows what failed, the GPU with its driver and Vulkan version, the phone, its Android version and chip, and the Yakumo version, so a screenshot of it tells us what we need. Its Save the log… button saves the log right there, even when the game never got to its menu. The end of the log is no longer garbled.
• The dialog fits the screen. On a landscape phone its buttons used to be squashed off the bottom edge; now the text scrolls and Close and Save the log… always stay full size and readable (#211).

As far as we can tell without the phone, this fixes the black screen of #159 and #169.

Testers wanted: MediaTek Helio

If your phone has a MediaTek Helio chip (such as the Infinix Hot 50), or Yakumo showed a black screen or a GPU error on it before, please help us confirm the fix:

1. Install this APK over your current one and start the game.
2. Does it start now: the intro movie, the title screen, the village?
3. If it doesn't, the error dialog names the GPU, the driver and the phone. Take a screenshot of it, then press Save the log… and save the log.
4. If the picture stays black without a dialog, open Yakumo's menu, set Video → GPU compatibility to On, restart and try again, then use System → Save the log….
5. Post in #169: your phone model, its chipset and Android version, whether it started, and the screenshot or log.

A short "it works on my phone" with the model is just as welcome.

Everything else

Apart from the fix above, the Android app is the same as in v0.6.5: the action-style touch layout, control presets and chords, generic gamepads, lock-on, no black bar beside a notch, GPU compatibility mode, sharp text, layered armor, fast-forward, the free camera and the backup reminder. Its notes list them all, along with the known issues.

Download

yakumo-0.6.6-android-arm64.apk: Android 10 or newer, 64-bit (arm64), Vulkan 1.1. It installs over earlier versions and keeps your saves and settings; don't uninstall the old one first, because that deletes its saves. If Android says the package is invalid, download it again: the file is about 200 MB. As always, no game data is included: pick the disc image of your own copy of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Ver. from Yakumo's own setup screen (Choose image…). The image is copied into the app, so you need about 2.5 GB free.

Verification

Built from commit dab6736 on main, signed with the same release key as the earlier releases (same certificate as v0.6.5 and alpha.4) and checked with apksigner verify; every library import checked against Android 10 (API 29); version name 0.6.6, version code 364 (v0.6.5 was 357). The packaging checks that the APK holds no game data.

On the Android 15 emulator (API 35, arm64):

• It installed as an update over the alpha.4 and the v0.6.5 release APKs; the save and the settings came through unchanged. After each update it started into the game with a copy of a test save: the backup reminder (naming v0.6.6), the intro movie, the title, the game menu, the character and the village.
• With the descriptor pools forced small (64 texture sets in all) it still reached the village with the save loaded; the textures past the limit were drawn plain instead of stopping the app.
• With pools of a single set it stopped at start with the same error the Helio phones showed. The error dialog named the failed pool, the GPU, driver, Android version, device and v0.6.6, with both buttons readable at 2400×1080 and at 1280×576; where the text doesn't fit, it scrolls. A test build of the same fix was also checked at 1600×720, and its Save the log… opened the system folder picker.

The emulator's GPU is not a strict mobile driver, and this APK has not been tried on a real phone yet.

SHA256SUMS:

de668509caf9e35e3cd162473441fdb29538c6d96ed080292b3cf9e6fc5d558f  ffmpeg-7.1.5.tar.xz
ae8cbe98f80f52d692239e50a0843c76f9bdf8b8e2b3b1f5a8773ac4fe82e7a8  yakumo-0.6.6-android-arm64.apk

ffmpeg-7.1.5.tar.xz is the unmodified source of the FFmpeg the APK includes (LGPL).