Gear VR - app not get past Splashscreen [ unity 4.6.2 serious issue, totally random, reported! ]

Unity Engine
1

Recently we purchased the Samsung Gear VR headset and I got about everything running on the Galaxy Note 4 when it comes to simple mobile applications. However when I add an OVRPlayerController ( the one included in the mobile SDK ), publish the app, run it in the headset, it loads the Unity Splash screen ( we have no pro version ) and then it gets stuck. The splashscreen stays on screen but the scene included in the build won’t start.

I’ve been reading the whole documentation, searching videos with tutorials and did about everything to fix it. However I wasn’t able to let a simple scene run on the Gear VR headset. When it comes to a non-vr app, everything is fine. It seams the OVRPlayerController just won’t load in the scene or something.

I’ve uploaded the simple project to dropbox and included in the map “Builds” the version I tested. I wonder if other people have the same problem when building this project. It’s about 21MB, I hope someone can help me to find what causes the application not load the main scene.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15023634/unity/forum/samsung_gear_vr_test.zip

2

Having the exact same issue. Followd the tutorial at

HELP!

3

I followed this tutorial for 100%, updates everything ( JDK, Android SDK, Unity 4.6.2 ) created the oculus sig file, copied the project settings and so on. When I publish my app and start it inside the Samsung Gear VR, all I see is the unity 3D logo and there it stays for ages. It just doesn’t load the main scene at all.

I’m using: Unity 4.6.2 Pro with Android Free

For anyone to test is they get it working, I’ve uploaded the project to dropbox which is a result from the video tutorial above.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15023634/unity/forum/gearvr.zip

Could any Unity user as well Unity Developer shed a light on why this isn’t working? I’ve recreated the project 3 times with both completely different sources for the walktrough and none of them works.

Thanks in advance if someone knows what’s wrong.

4

As for anyone having problems with the Samsung Gear VR. Here it comes!

The above project isn’t working for 100%. I thought why is this happening so I did the following:

  • reopen project
  • remove OVRController
  • added just a simple Camera
  • publish & run

result: Was working fine, however since the camera isn’t stereoscopic, the view isn’t correct. But hey, it works!!!

Then I did this:

  • removed the just added simple Camera
  • added OVRController
  • Publish build & run

result: VR controller was working fine. Wait… why??? I removed the previous, added a camera, removed the camera and added OVRController again? Why does it work now?

Conclusion: 0 logical explanation, but if this is how it worked, it’s fine but strange to me.

5

All above can be ignored, this is partly true.

IMPORTANT, SOLVED!

OVRController needs to be inside the scene without being a child of another empty or game object. If the OVRController is places inside an empty object, the VR app won’t load the main scene at all. This was the only thing I did different from all walktroughs I have followed. However I do not read this problem anywhere in the documentation, at least I didn’t found it.

Update!: Seems this issue keeps randomly comming back.

6

Currently I’m running into a new problem with the Oculus Signature file for Samsung Gear VR.
Yesterday I’ve build a project perfectly for my Samsung Note 4 and it works fine.
Today I open the same project, build the same scene and tested the app. The app starts, loads the Unity Splash ( I have android Free ) and then it’s stuck. However I hear my scene audio on the background, but I only see the Unity Splash Screen.

I’ve had this issue before ( can be seen above ) and this was caused by parenting the OVRController to another GameObject. However this time this isn’t the issue and it’s for sure 100% Oculus Signature File related together with Unity.
The same project with the correct signature file just doesn’t work anymore on my Samsung Note 4 and the only thing I changed was replacing 10 textures by overwriting them.

My question to Unity Developers… what’s happening here? Why can I build my project at day 1 perfectly and test is without a problem and the 2nd day build it perfectly but it’s stuck on the Unity Splash screen while I hear my game running on the background??

It’s frustrating and has no logical explaination at all.

I’m not the only having this problem:

However, in my case, the bundle indentifier is correctly set. I’m clueless tbh

7

I went trough all settings again that are written down in the Oculus mobile vr sdk and nothing helped. So I tought about creating a new project and test that. After some tweaking I found out the following things:

  • Build settings was set to ARMv7 + x86 ( even tho I copied the files from the project settings ) so I set it to Armv7 only. Did a build, and it showed me the splash screen forever.

Then I tried this:

  • The manifest file contains a default com.Oculus.OculusSample package name. While it worked before without changing this ( not written in the SDK PDF ) I changed this to my package name com... I build again and it didn’t work. So I copied the manifest file from my empty project, changed the package name in the xml and it worked out of the box. reason? I have no clue, since the day before it worked on the Note 4 without any issues and the next day the same manifest file was crap.

Conclusion:

  • Manifest somehow corrupted I think. Since I’m the only person working on this project I have no other clue what happened.
8

Unity Devs, read this!

Yesterday I posted a reply ( see above ) that overwriting the manifest xml file fixed the problem that my app didn’t get past the Unity Splashscreen ( have Android Free ). Today I opened the exact same project from where I left it, didn’t touch anything and did a straight build. I ran this build and got again stuck on the splashscreen while on the background I can hear the audio play.

I’m 100% sure this splashscreen issue is a random problem occuring with the current Unity / Oculus mobile SDK. This issue is with no reason appearing and going away again. I have had issues that the splashscreen was stuck when and did these things that fixed it afterwards. However, doing it again wasn’t garantee that it would build again. It’s a totally random issue and I think just pure luck that those fixed made it work again.

  • OVRController was a child of another game object, unparent it, build and worked
  • Publish settings was set to ARMv7 + X86, changed to ARMv7 only, build again and worked
  • Manifest XML file, removed it, add a clean one, put my package name into it, build and worked
  • Reactivate my Unity Pro license, build again and worked

It’s completely random and I’m about getting totally nuts.
Yesterday we had to cancel a presentation because I wasn’t able to build and get my application running, while it worked fine before. I can’t rely on this technology as long this issue hasn’t been looked into. I need a serious action from Unity about this subject. We bought 2 Unity licenses and 12 Samsung Gear VR’s and we can’t do anything serious with it before this issue has been fixed.

I’ve been reading forums on other websites like: Reddit, Samsung, Oculus, and people seem to have this same issue when using Unity Pro with Android Free. In other release notes I have read that this issue should have been fixed, but it isn’t.

Bug report Information

Unity Pro 4.6.2f1 + Android Free

Case: 673956
__Link: http://fogbugz.unity3d.com/default.asp?673956_5789eenl64m09ld6__

For Bug report I have added the following files:
Project files: worked before, next day did a new build without touching anything and didn’t work

In the folder “Builds” are 2 seperate directories.
Directory “Working version” with an Android APK that worked Thursday 19 Feb 2015

Directory “Not working version” with an Android APK that doesn’t work Friday 20 Feb 2015 ( exact same project, nothing changed, nothing updated, nothing resaved or whatever, 100% exact same project, just another build different day)

I’m not sure why the 2nd APK isn’t working and I don’t know if this information can be used to track the issue, but in case it can, I included it.

Download files ( 32mb )
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15023634/unity/forum/gearvrissue/Gear VR Examples.zip

Screenshot that I’m using the correct device with correct Oculus signature file:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15023634/unity/forum/gearvrissue/SamsunGearVrIssue.jpg

9

Today I contacted Unity Tech department and asked for a Android Pro Trial.
I rebuild the project with the Android Pro, and worked like a charm.

Seems that Android Free in combination with Gear Vr is not trust worthy at all. Randomly it works or doesn’t work. When it doesn’t work, it’s just stuck on the splash screen while all other of your application runs behind the splashscreen.

At the moment we’re forced to purchase Android Pro because otherwise we won’t be able to build our projects on a reliable base. I hope they’ll fix this issue, so far I haven’t got any confirmation about this issue from Unity itself.

Conclusion so far: Android Free and an app build for Gear Vr at random doesn’t get past the splashscreen. With Android Pro this isn’t a problem. However I didn’t check if adding a custom splashscreen with Pro brings back this issue or if this only happens with the Free version Splashscreen.

I hope this topic helps others with the same issue.

10

@JDMulti I have tried to reproduce the issue you are seeing using the project that you provided. I have used Unity Pro + Android Pro, Unity Free + Android Free, and Unity Pro + Android Free (the failing case). None of the three license combinations seem to hinder my ability to build and run your project and get past the splash screen every time. Also, both of the project builds that you provided in the builds folder are working on my device.

I am using Editor version 4.6.2p2, but we have also released 4.6.3f1. As I noticed that you were using 4.6.2f1, I decided to look at the Release Notes for the two patches. It appears that in 4.6.2p1, there was a fix on Android for Black Screen on certain Adreno Devices. While this could have been the problem, can you or anyone confirm you do or do not get builds that cannot pass the Splash Screen using either 4.6.2p2 or newer?

11

posted reply back on oculus, This is happening to me also on 4.6.2f1, exactly as described. I will test with 4.6.2p2 now. Am on windows 8.1, running 32bit versions of the sdk and jdk. If I remove vrlib.jar it runs fine, just not stereoscopic

12

@Perrynow If you are able to reproduce on 4.6.2p2, could you file a bug report with your project and include just the number of the report, not the link, in the next post. Thanks

13

4.6.2p2 has the same problem, this time I can create a new project and its working okay (normally it would break again if I did that) but I haven’t done anything to my main build and one minute it was fine and now its freezing at the splash.

14

ok will do, if it helps here’s is the logcat for the crash.

15

okay, bug number is 675201. Hope it helps, I may have introduced a bug somehow but I definitely had the same issue over the last few weeks the others have described, a seemingly random crash at splash that I fixed once by reimporting the ovr integration and once by changing the bundle name, this looks like the same thing and the project was fine before I reopened it and made a minor change.

16

I’ve got it to work again this time by deleting a hidden object in the hierarchy called ‘willow’, its been there all week not causing any problems so i have no idea why it should make a difference, I have a feeling the project’s going to work fine on your machines with it in there anyway but for me deleting that has fixed the crash this time.

17

I’ve tested again to be 100% sure about it.

Test case 1:
Unity 4.6.3f1 Pro
Android Free
Result: APK I build didn’t get past splashscreen

Test case 2:
Unity 4.6.3f1 Pro
Android Pro Trial ( received by Unity support for testing purpose )
Result: APK i build did work ( sounds fair, since it has not unity splashscreen )

Files:
Project included Build folder with 2 directories that explain themselves by naming. ( 2 apks, one that works, one that doesn’t) 31 MB
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8t9pi75jsdd2j2g/Gear VR Examples 4.6.3.zip?dl=0

Maybe it a good test to download these files since I updated them included with new APK builds. I did read there is a program on Oculus forums that injects a signature file into the APK. Maybe you can test that and run on your device. I don’t know how you test the APK’s, but maybe an emulator isn’t a good test case but an actual device is. Not sure tho which way you use for testing. But I’m 100% sure the Android Free has something to do with it or maybe something else is screwing it up.

Things I checked:
JDK installed is 64 bit
Android SDK latest updates
Oculus latest Mobile SDK
Unity 4.6.3f1 Pro installed
Windows 7 64 bit

If you need any further information from me, let me know.

18

@JDMulti I just tested the projects included in the builds folder on a Samsung Galaxy S4. I installed them on the Device using adb install and then I ran using the Gear VR Headset. Both the Not working version .apk and the Working Version .apk ran without stopping at the splash screen. I will try building the project with my own signature file on 4.6.3f1 again today and I will try running @Perrynow 's project on the same version as well.

This definitely sounds like an issue with the licensing, though I am curious as to why I am able to run your Not working .apk file on my device while you are unable to on yours.

19

@JDMulti I have been able to Reproduce the issue using your project and Unity Pro + Android Free. Thanks for submitting that. I will post again on both the Unity and Oculus Forum when I have resolved the issue.

2 Likes
20

I am using unity free 4.6.2, when I build for gearVR, if I don’t uncheck, then recheck “Use Camera Texture”, under the OVRCameraController, then save before I build, the build will crash and instead launch the Oculus App.

edit: downloading 4.6.3 now and will test again