Admob plugin causes frame rate drop when the ad cycles

Solar2D Monetization (in-app purchases, ads, etc.)
#1

Hi Corona,

I have a very simple game app set at 60 fps and it runs very well on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone.

I recently added the admob plugin and required the corona ads library on my scene and noticed a few performance issues.

  1. When the ad is initially requested, fps drops to 0 for 2 - 3 seconds

  2. When the ad cycles (i.e. for a text ad it slides to the next text) it causes a noticeable frame rate drop which negatively affects the game play. Since admob ads cycle every couple seconds it is a big problem.

Have you all looked into the performance implications of your implementation of admob? What can I do to stop the frame rate drops?

Thanks

#2

I just picked up a Nexus 7 to create an Android version of my app, and similarly noticed a significant framerate drop when my AdMob ads are showing. I have it on a 35-second cycle (30 on, 5 off) and during the 5-second grace period, it’s back to being completely smooth like my iPad mini Retina (which shows no drop in performance regardless if the ads are on or off).

#3

I can confirm this problem. It happens on both of my HTC One and Samsung Galaxy Duo

#4

Corona guys, can we get a reply on this one?

Thanks

#5

Hi all,

Can one of you pinpoint when this may have started occurring? For example, do you recall that it was not happening a month ago? Two months ago? We’re trying to get a better idea of when this popped up, as we don’t recall this being an issue in the past.

Thanks,

Brent

#6

Thanks for the response Brent. For myself, I noticed the issue the first time a couple weeks ago; however, it was my first experience with the ads library (I’m pretty new to Corona) so I don’t know a time when it wasn’t doing this. Perhaps some of the others who have been developing with Corona longer could comment?

#7

I’ve been getting the same problem with admob banner ads, game lags bad when they cycle (but sadly can’t say if this has or hasn’t been happening earlier in time) as I just now came back to Corona after seeing adMob is now available, so I hope you guys find a way to fix it :slight_smile:

#8

By the way, can one of you CoronaLabs guys please look at and reply to my post here, because this is a cruicial functionalityhttp://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/45130-coronalabs-please-look-prevent-admob-interstitial-to-fire-mid-game/thank you

#9

also experiencing this in my latest app… hope you guys get can this fixed soon

#10

Hi all,

Thanks for the continued input. We just tried running a basic sample on the newer Nexus 7 and we didn’t see any issues. So, to start getting this issue more “focused”, we’re going to need more help from you, including:

  1. A basic sample project, if you can submit one.

  2. The specific devices that it’s occurring on (and please be as specific as possible).

Regarding #2, thanks to those who have already mentioned which devices. So far we have:

— HTC One

— Samsung Galaxy Duo

— Nexus 7 (but which one, early or late?)

— Samsung Galaxy Nexus (is this a specific model? There are just so many Android phones…)

Any iOS devices at all? Or is this entirely happening on Android devices?

Thanks

Brent

#11

I saw this on a Sony Xperia Z. It slows the game down every time the ad cycles, its like everything slows down for a short period and then speeds up again.

I dont have a sample for this, but the game is out on google play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.borgb.flimsy

I will try and get a hold of others to try it out on other devices as well. With this game I have only tried iAds on iphone and there is no issue on the 4s at least, but only tried with test ads since its not yet out on the appstore. I have a game with similar scrolling and such, but there is no problem with this on iphone and admob.

One thing I did different was using 60fps on the new game and 30fps on the other game… could that be a issue?

#12

Started experiencing this today. It creates a very heavy lag when the ad gets loaded initially and then every time it cycles. 

#13

ok, so had some others trying it out as well and it happens on the other game too on Android. This is on samsung s4 and galaxy tab 8.9. But on iOS these games only lags slightly just when the ad loads and then its fine. So the issue seems to be on Android.

#14

Is there a Bug report for this that I can look at?

#15

Rob, can you please look at this and get someone to answer me, ITS CRUICIAL FOR ALL CORONA USERS!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/45130-coronalabs-please-look-prevent-admob-interstitial-to-fire-mid-game/

thank you

#16

The samsung galaxy nexus is the name of the actual phone. I don’t have a sample project for you illustrating the issue… maybe I’ll be able to get something basic going from one of the corona sample physics apps…

#17

You guys are welcome to try my Android version of Feather on Google Play, I was testing the app with the 2013 Nexus 7 on KitKat 4.4.2 and it lagged noticeably enough that I updated the metadata to ‘recommend purchasing the in-app unlock to remove the ads.’

http://tinyurl.com/feather4gps

#18

A live app wiithout source code doesn’t help the developers unfortunately.

#19

I am having exactly the same problem.

Any updates on this?

#20

Can someone experiencing this please file a bug report with a sample project.  We can’t to anything to solve this without it.

Rob