Hi Rob,
Thank you for helping to track down this problem.
Yes, I can confirm it has a Snapdragon ARM11 processor. See here: http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_phoenix_p505-3924.php
So is that the answer? Corona doesn’t support the ARMv6 processor or anything based upon it?
If this is the answer, are there any other processor or other Corona limitations we should know about?
Very kindly as always,
Troy
Intel Atom processors support an emulation mode. I don’t know how officially we support it, but it works on the couple of devices we have, but there is another active forum thread right how where it’s not working, so for Atom, its “Your mileage may vary”. The only official chipset is ARMv7.
Rob
Hi Rob,
Please forgive my lack of understanding, but what does “Your mileage may vary” mean?
Am I to understand that only ARMv6 processors are not supported?
What other SnapDragon versions are not supported?
Very kindly as always,
Troy
Sorry for the cliche. “Your mileage may vary” is a term used by US automobile dealers when they tell you the kind of gas mileage your car should get, but they add the disclaimer basically meaning “it may be different for you and we the car company doesn’t guarantee you will get the same results”. The Computer industry and taken that cliche to simply mean “It might work for, it might not. No guarantees.” In this case, it might run for some of your customers on Atom processors and for other customers it may not.
The only officially supported chipset is ARMv7. This seems to be the best list of processors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ARM_microarchitectures
Only ones that say ARMv7 under ARM Architecture are supported. SnapDragon is a brand name owned by QUALCOMM. However there are multiple variants. Some are compatible, others are not.
Rob
Hi Rob,
In trying to get a handle on what is not supported, although ARM7 is supported, what about ARM8, ARM9, ARM10, ARM11?
And how about the more modern “Cortex” cores which represent cores of the past decade?
I was just reviewing the graph near the bottom of the page from the link you provided.
Kindly as always,
Troy
It’s kinda hard to understand and ARM did this to themselves.
When you see ARM and a number, it’s referring to a specific chip. Kinda like in the early Intel days there was the 8086, 80286, 80386 etc. They all basically spoke the same binary machine language, just each chip had more goodies and was faster. But at the same time the 8086 was out, there was also the Z80 and the 68000. What would seem like English to one CPU would sound like Russian to another CPU. This is a term called architecture and I tend to also call it the chipset (the set of verbs and nouns that make up the machine language).
In ARM’s case, they have multiple architectures: ARMv1, v2 … ARMv6, ARMv7 and ARMv8. Notice the lower case “v”. ARMv6 understands one language, ARMv7 a different language and so on. Where ARM went nuts is they named the chips with a similar scheme ARM and a number… no “v”). So there is an ARM7 chip and an ARMv7 architecture and they are not the same.
On the WikiPedia link I provided, you will find the common name of the CPU in the left most column. The architecture is listed in the 2nd column. Any chip that has ARMv7 or ARMv7-A listed in the 2nd column is good. The various Android stores should filter out devices for you. In other words Google Play will not offer a Corona SDK built app to someone with an incompatible processor. Where it’s an issue is with you’re testing since you’re bypassing the stores ability to filter based on chipset.
Hi Rob (and other Corona folks);
I began this thread way back in January when I was trying to update a successful Nook app. I certainly appreciate Corona’s fixing it.
But . . . I have a show-stopping problem that is somehow (I believe) related to the “fix” of using the specific build 2014.2263 to work with the older Android 2.2 devices like the Nook Color.
I have finally returned to trying to do that update that got postponed in January. I am building on a Windows PC with 2014.2263 and I am including two plugins: Flurry and Fortumo. The app doesn’t NEED Flurry. But it does NEED Fortumo or else monetization goes away.
I can build the app without errors and I can install on a Nook Color test device and run the app without errors of any sort. That is true until I try to initialize my in-app purchase code and use the Fortumo plugin. When I call this:
[lua]fortumo = require(“plugin.fortumo”)[/lua]
I get this error:
V/Corona ( 1296): > Class.forName: plugin.fortumo.LuaLoader
V/Corona ( 1296): WARNING: Could not load ‘LuaLoader’
I/Corona ( 1296): Runtime error
I/Corona ( 1296): module ‘plugin.fortumo’ not found:resource (plugin.fortumo.lu) does not exist in archive
I/Corona ( 1296): no field package.preload[‘plugin.fortumo’]
I/Corona ( 1296): no file ‘(null)/plugin.fortumo.lua’
I/Corona ( 1296): no file ‘(null)/plugin.fortumo.lua’
I/Corona ( 1296): no file ‘/data/data/com.adveractive.game.justjumblenook/lib/libplugin.fortumo.so’
I/Corona ( 1296): no file ‘./plugin.fortumo.so’
I/Corona ( 1296): no file ‘(null)/plugin.fortumo.so’
I/Corona ( 1296): no file ‘/data/data/com.adveractive.game.justjumblenook/lib/libplugin.so’
I/Corona ( 1296): no file ‘./plugin.so’
I/Corona ( 1296): no file ‘(null)/plugin.so’
I/Corona ( 1296): stack traceback:
I/Corona ( 1296): [C]: in function ‘require’
I/Corona ( 1296): ?: in function ‘require’
I/Corona ( 1296): ?: in function ‘_listener’
I/Corona ( 1296): ?: in function <?:141>
I/Corona ( 1296): ?: in function <?:218>
Note that my build.settings file and my Fortumo in-app purchasing code HAVE NOT CHANGED since the last time I was able to successfully build an update last November (using an even older build of Corona - 2223).
I’ve included the contents of my build.settings file below as well as a snippet where the app DOES FIND ans SUCCESSFULLY LOADS Flurry (so it does handle that plugin). But it is choking on Fortumo.
Please can you help?? All of that work your engineers completed to support that old build will not assist me a wit if I cannot collect money from in-app purchases. 
Thanks;
Steve
=======================================================================
[lua]
– build.settings
– NOOK - No Advertising, Fortumo for in-App Purchases
– I have to build this using Corona 2014.2263
settings = {
orientation = {
default = “portrait”,
content = “portrait”,
supported = { “portrait”},
},
plugins =
{
– key is the name passed to Lua’s ‘require()’
[“CoronaProvider.analytics.flurry”] =
{
– required
publisherId = “com.coronalabs”,
},
[“plugin.fortumo”] =
{
– required
publisherId = “com.fortumo”,
supportedPlatforms = { android = true },
},
},
android =
{
versionCode = “22”,
usesPermissions =
{
“android.permission.INTERNET”,
“android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE”,
},
},
}
[/lua]
=======================================================================
– This is the console output where Flurry loads fine (so this plugin is OK):
V/Corona ( 1448): > Class.forName: network.LuaLoader
V/Corona ( 1448): < Class.forName: network.LuaLoader
V/Corona ( 1448): Loading via reflection: network.LuaLoader
I/Corona ( 1448): Platform: BNRV200 / ARM Neon / 2.2.1 / PowerVR SGX 530 / OpenGL ES 2.0
V/Corona ( 1448): > Class.forName: CoronaProvider.analytics.flurry.LuaLoader
V/Corona ( 1448): < Class.forName: CoronaProvider.analytics.flurry.LuaLoader
V/Corona ( 1448): Loading via reflection: CoronaProvider.analytics.flurry.LuaLoader
=======================================================================
Remove the line that specifies Android only and it should work. We tested it the Nook Color and it runs when the line is removed.
supportedPlatforms = { android = true },
or use
supportedPlatforms = { [“android-nook”]} = true },
Hi Tom;
Thanks very much for the info. I am away from my Windows machine (traveling) for a few days but I’ll test it as soon as I get back. Great that you tested it. Would this information be worthy of a mention in the Fortumo docs on CoronaLabs ("If you are using an older build to support Nook/Android 2.2 devices, then . . . . . "). I’ll bet it will save a few other developers a search of the forums or a post if you do include the information.
Thanks much!
Steve
HI Rob, I’m following up regarding the compatibility issues of Corona with older Android devices - namely to gain clarification regarding what older Android devices ARE NOT supported by Corona.
Above, you wrote, “Any chip that has ARMv7 or ARMv7-A listed in the 2nd column is good” - the key here is the “2nd column”. This is the link you provided: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ARM_microarchitectures
QUESTION #1) Are you confirming that Corona is NOT compatible with any other ARM processors, except for ARMv7 or ARMv7-A as listed in the “2nd column”?
QUESTION #2) Are there any other Android devices or processors which Corona is NOT compatible?
QUESTION #3) What is the latest build that will support Android 1.5?
QUESTION #4) Which is the latest build that will support Android 2.1?
QUESTION #5) Do you know which was the earlist Android version to support Google Play purchases? The answer to this question will likely determine the oldest Android version and build we will use to support older hardware.
QUESTION #6) Is there a spreadsheet somewhere that lists the build/Android version number as well as the Corona SDK features that were supported in that version? This will help us understand what code to avoid (i.e. sprite features which weren’t developed until after build 2263).
With millions of older devices in use in foreign countries, determining the lowest Android OS version to support is a very important consideration when embarking on App development to reach the largest number of potential customers. And because of this, your answers to these questions are very much appreciated.
Very kindly as always,
Troy
#1 Corona SDK is only compatible with ARMv7 family/chipset processors. I suppose that technically ARMv8 might be considered supported for iOS only since we support 64 bit there, but don’t hold me to it.
#2 I have no idea. ARMv6 won’t work after we dropped support for it (which was well before I started using Corona SDK). Some Atom chips support an emulation of ARMv7, but there are occasional hiccups.
#3 & 4, You will need to to back ground the various release notes and see. It might be faster to start at the beginning and go forward.
#5 build 760.
#6. No. While we try to keep your ability to build with older versions functional, we don’t support builds older than the recent public build. The older the build the more likely you’re going to run into bugs. Things like storyboard and composer won’t work… While there are older versions of Android out there, your chances of monetizing them is very slim. We can’t support modern devices that can be monetized.
hi,
am trying to build for iOS, simulator Version 2015.2666 (2015.6.29) and iOS sdk 8.3. Its showing “Template Not Found” as follows
Aug 21 13:51:02.945: ERROR: An error occurred during build. The server returned the following message:
A device build error occurred on the server.
BuildID: 55d6df6d17493
Error: Template not found.
Build Number: 2015.2666
Platform: iphone
Platform Version: unknown
Template Type: basic
assist me please
Can you try a newer build and let me know if you see the same issue?
Hi Rob,
I’ve been using the latest version lately which does not result in Template not Found. However, I have noticed recent new advertisements for modern version of Qualcomm’s SnapDragon processor. Are these supported by Corona SDK or not?
Kindly yours,
Troy
As long as they are ARMv7 family processors they should work.
Rob
build 590 was the last one that supported 2.1+. 319 was the last build that supported armv6. Support for doing device builds with simulators previous to 1100 was dropped quite a while ago due to security changes on the build servers.
For #3 and #4, ARM6 was dropped in build 319. We switched to Android 2.2+ in build 591. We’ve not supported builds older than 1100 for some time.
Rob
Hey guys,
I get the same or at least a similar error:
BuildID: kCoronaBuild [A device build error occurred on the server.
BuildID: 563f6b906d054
Error: Template not found.
Build Number: 2015.2731
Platform: android
Platform Version: 2.2
Template Type: basic
ERROR: An error occurred during build. The server returned the following message
:
A device build error occurred on the server.
BuildID: 563f6b906d054
Error: Template not found.
Build Number: 2015.2731
Platform: android
Platform Version: 2.2
Template Type: basic
Android build failed (5)
I get this error regardless of what I select in the Target App Store.
Until today I used build 2013.1260 and I never got this issue. From searching on the internet and also reading the past posts I figure that it may be the minimum os version?
If so how do I change it?
Also note that the error I got when building the sample Hello World project so I get this regardless of what I try to build.
Thanks in advance,
Ovidiu
Please download the latest daily build 2766 or later. I think it should fix your issue if you are trying to build on Windows.
hi,
am trying to build for iOS, simulator Version 2015.2666 (2015.6.29) and iOS sdk 8.3. Its showing “Template Not Found” as follows
Aug 21 13:51:02.945: ERROR: An error occurred during build. The server returned the following message:
A device build error occurred on the server.
BuildID: 55d6df6d17493
Error: Template not found.
Build Number: 2015.2666
Platform: iphone
Platform Version: unknown
Template Type: basic
assist me please