HyperSeeder

Have a look at this article and its respective video: https://piunikaweb.com/2022/02/17/heres-how-to-downgrade-shield-tv-to-android-9-after-android-11-update/ Warning, the procedures are very technical and cumbersome, it will delete your data, and it's somewhat easy to get it wrong. Don't forget to make a backup before attempting a downgrade.

Check the posts pinned here: https://hyperspin-fe.com/forums/forum/172-hyperspin-android/ Having said that, apparently there hasn't been much progress on the official app since I've last posted. For now the HS experience on Android isn't great. One needs to either downgrade their device to Android 9 and use a modded APK like mine or use a Beta version that it is still buggy and can't launch a bunch of emulators. While this particular advice isn't popular around the forums, I would encourage new folk to try other emulation frontends. HyperSpin for Android may yet make a come back. But if I was new to the HS ecosystem, I wouldn't invest time on the Android version before a new official release with Android 11 + SAF support gets published to Google Play.

Thanks. So sounds like downgrading to Android 9 and using a modded APK is still the way to go if one really needs a working version of HyperSpin right now right? For folks that have moved on, what are the best options ATM? Is ARC Browser still the best alternative or have other FES like Launchbox and Daijisho taken its crown?

Hi guys, can someone give me a TL;DR update of how the official Android version of HyperSpin stands at the moment? 1. Has support for SAF been implemented? 2. Is anything other than RetroArch working? 3. Did Reznnate publish the updated version of the APK to the Android store? (Or some other store?)

Do they work if you launch them directly from RA? Some of the aarch64 cores were hit-or-miss for me even before the update. I'm pretty certain that I was using 32 bits RA for SNES and standalone M64 Plus FZ for N64. I'm not sure about Flycast as I moved to Redream... I think that the 64 bits version used to work but the 32 bits was faster (but don't quote me on that).

Great stuff :). It's great to see HS making an official comeback. Unfortunately my Shield has broken down and I ended up replacing it with a NUC, so I can't help much with beta testing ATM. @TheBandit may actually be someone well equipped to help as his collection uses quite a few standalone emulators, as well as multiple 32-bit and 64-bit RA cores. It would be great if someone could compile a list of working settings for modern emulators. The ones for RA can be found bellow: Main APK from RetroArch's website and Google Play Store Version: exe=com.retroarch/com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture RetroArch's website 32bit version: exe=com.retroarch.ra32/com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture RetroArch's website 64bit version and RetroArch Plus: exe=com.retroarch.aarch64/com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture Also let me know when the new version hits Google Play Store and I'll take down the modded version.

We are now past the 6 months mark. I'm not saying this to put pressure on the Developer, but we need to prepare ourselves for the possibility that HS for Android may become abandonware. @reznnate, is there any chance that the source code for the Android version could be released under an open source license? Or would it compromise IP / Copyright from the Hyperspin Dev team and potentially Nvidia? If the code can be made open source there's a chance that it would spark enough interest to attract external contributors able to help. I fully understand if it's not possible, but would appreciate your input regardless of outcome. Kind regards,

TL;DR: This is not a trivial update. Give the developer some space and let him have his saying when it's time to say something to the end users. ---- Hi folks, Give it some time. I'm not saying this to get one's hopes up. And I stand by my advice that there are other perfectly functional, well maintained front ends to choose from. Having said that, we need to contextualise the changes and understand why it may take a while, even for the original developer to be able to make things happen. The truth is that the initial port of HS to NVIDIA Shield required a somewhat different (although complementary) skill set to the one needed to make it all work with Android 11 restrictions. Plus honestly, it's not "fun" work to do. The initial port was mostly about emulating flash and being able to get custom themes to render correctly in a totally different OS and hardware architecture than the Windows x86-64 version. I have zero insights about the native side of the project, but I assume that it's written in a very low level programming language (possible even mixed with some Assembly). I would also assume that the development team was working close to NVIDIA to make it all happen. On top of the low level layer there's a very thin layer of Java / Android code that bootstraps the low level layer and enables a few user interactions + launching Android emulators. My point being: The original port was mostly a low level development effort. The Android 11 update is a somewhat different effort. Google has sandboxed Android apps and made some things very difficult for developers. They have provided several high level (as in, Java / Kotlin Android) APIs to access storage, and they have severely restricted how HS can interact with the file system (as well as what files it can interact with). The "new" Android APIs requires manual user interactions for stuff that wasn't necessary before. Retrofitting Android's high level storage API requirements in HS and making it play well with the native layer is not so easy. One still needs to be well versed with low level development and HS internals to make it happen. But there's also a lot of high level - Android specific - knowledge required. I can only guess, but I would assume a lot of messing around with badly documented (and possibly not so well thought out) integration between Android high level APIs and the low level layer where the API calls need to happen. And then, even if the author makes it happen, there's alway the possibility of further consequences to the end user given the changes to storage scope. I'm talking about possible having to change some previously hard coded paths (e.g., configuration files, resources, etc) and even the way that HS has to interact with some emulators. The sort of change that a lot of users will complain about, changes that may require guides to be rewritten, etc. What I'm trying to say is: The changes required to make HS work on Android 11 aren't a piece of cake for the developer. It requires some familiarity with modern Android development, as well as a lot of familiarity with HS internals and some non trivial modifications to make HS conform with the new "sandboxed" reality of Android applications. Give the developer some time and let him come back and say what he has to say when it's time to say it. Disclaimer: I'm not an authoritative source for any of this stuff. I'm just a guy that reversed engineered and hacked the Java / Android layer of HS a year or so ago. Everything that I just said may not be accurate, as it's based on nothing but speculation, my own experience as a developer and an unimpressive 3 LOCs patch to make HS work with modern versions of Retroarch (I have zero dealings with the dev team and the person that ported HS to Android).

Hi retrodevil, you can find many guides on how to configure HyperSpin around the forums. Keep in mind that currently HS is not working on Android 11+ Devices. Given that the original developer has returned to the forums and confirmed that he's working on a new version of HS able to launch modern versions od RetroArch, for all intents and purposes my hacked APK is on its way to retirement. I'll keep the download link available to the community until @reznnate publishes the fix, but I would recommend folks that aren't already invested in the HS ecosystem to skip the custom APK and wait for an official release.

Hi guys, Just letting you know that I'm aware that HyperSpin isn't working on NVIDIA Shield / Android 11. While I'm still in the process of debugging the problem(s) with it, for the reasons mentioned in my previous post, it's unlikely that I'll be able to do much about Android 11 support by hacking and reverse engineering the APK. The changes needed to keep the app alive are sophisticated and beyond my abilities as a programmer. In order to make it work with Android 11 someone would need to reverse engineer the native layer of the application and retrofit support for Storage Access Framework and Android 11 compatible API calls + permissions. As of now, the best advice that I can give to anyone that really needs HyperSpin is to stick with older versions of Android. If one of the developers with access to the source code decides to put the work to fix the app, my offer to contribute my small "patch" to fix RetroArch compatibility upstream still remains. I wish that I had better news, but unfortunately it looks like this time only the actual development team is in a position to do something about it. Kind regards,

I'm glad everything is still working. I wasn't notified of the messages for some reason l. Yes, this version is still working and configurations are done within the HyperSpin folder as you have already figured out. MAME works well, but I found out that I rather stick with older roomsets + cores. Hopefully the next version of NVIDIA Shield will be backwards compatible with its existing architecture / software. I've heard that NVIDIA is going to shut down Tegra even though Nintendo Switch helped move a lot of NVIDIA hardware. It's too bad as Tegra was / is still the best SoC on Android TV hardware.

Yes, the modded APK works with the website (https://www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms) 32 and 64 bits versions , F-Droid and Google Play Store versions, as well as modded / recompiled versions of RetroArch (as long as its package starts with com.retroarch). Sideloading the modded APK will work until Google permanently remove READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissions and force everyone to use Storage Access Framework (SAF). They are already enforcing Scoped Storage and SAF for new Android Applications in the Google Play Store. Google will also be enforcing it for new versions of already published apps from November 1st. Despite the Play Store situation, I won't expect Android devices to stop supporting READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission soon, so sideloading should be fine for a while. Nevertheless, my advice would still be for people to move on to a different Emulation Front End so that they aren't caught by surprise when it happens.

Hi guys, Just giving everyone a heads up. While my version of the app is still working great, unfortunately whoever is in charge of the Play Store version ignored my emails about merging changes upstream. More than that, in a few months (November 1st deadline) Google will start enforcing Android 11 / API Level 30 as the minimum target for Play Store apps updates. Updating Hyperspin to comply with Android 11 requires non trivial changes, particularly around Scoped Storage. https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/behavior-changes-11. I don't know if there is someone in charge for the app right now (as far I can tell, there isn't). But what I can say is that, if the person in question isn't willing to merge a 3 LoC patch, I doubt that he will be willing to do what it takes to keep HS alive. So, you have heard here first, the official Play Store version is likely dead in the water. New versions are unlikely to be released (unless things change and the official development team takes over the Android version). Also, contrary to some posts in the forum that previously led me to believe that there is active development going on and community members hacking the app to keep it alive behind closed doors, to the best of my knowledge, both official and community development efforts around the Android version of HS are basically non-existent. As far as I can tell, the modded APK in this thread is the only version that works with all modern versions of RetroArch. I couldn't find a working alternative anywhere else. I'll try my best to keep this version alive for as long as possible. Nevertheless, I feel the need to echo the message from older community members: If you are starting from scratch, don't use HS. There are great Emulator Front Ends for Android (E.g., Dig and Arc Browser).

By the way. Looks like RA will soon have to comply with even more restrictive storage permissions from Google (https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/issues/12181). I'm not sure if installing RA in adopted storage is a good idea at this stage.