Phaser/WebGL flickering on Chrome for Android v53

[JoeKryog]

Hi guys,

We developed a game last year with phaser 2.3.0 and webgl, it worked fine on computer browsers and mobile devices.
But since the last update of chrome for android (v53.0.2785.97), the screen is flickering until it becomes totally black, without any error or warning.

The issue is present on mobile only, it worked on chrome for android v52, but not v53.
We tried to upgrade to phaser 2.6.2, same issue on chrome for android v53.
If we use Phaser.CANVAS instead of webgl, it works fine, but we prefer using webgl for performances.

Does anyone encounter the same problem?

Thanks for your help.

Joe K.

[rich]

Does this happen if you try it with a simple project? I.e. take one of the Phaser Examples and see what happens? If it's a renderer issue, then it should manifest everywhere. Otherwise it's a combination of something in the game, so it'd be good to try and narrow down which parts.

[JoeKryog]

Thanks for your quick answer.

The issue is reproductible on phaser examples.

Example using webgl => screen blinking on chrome mobile v53, not on v52
http://phaser.io/examples/v2/filters/fire

Example using canvas => works perfectly
http://phaser.io/examples/v2/demoscene/sine-wave-canvas

Joe K.

[JoeKryog]

This happens on simpler examples too:
http://phaser.io/examples/v2/basics/01-load-an-image

[rich]

Any WebGL errors in the console (via Remote Debugging) ?

I'd put money on this being a (hopefully temporary) Chrome balls-up.

 

[JoeKryog]

There is no error in the console.

We investigated the issue because we're facing the same problem on other WebGL projects not based on Phaser/PIXI.
We found out it originated from the getContext method (when specifying a WebGL canvas drawing context): setting alpha to false makes the screen flicker.
Here's a minimal fiddle that will flicker on v53 chrome mobile:
https://jsfiddle.net/69wxvmLd/7/

We reported the bug on chromium:
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=651470

Seems you were right on the money, rich.

Joe K.
kryog.net

[JoeKryog]

Chrome support answered that they can't reproduce the bug on their device (Samsung galaxy S4 mini).

We have the issue on 2 devices:
- Samsung galaxy core II (SM-G355HN), Android 4.4.2, GPU Mali-400MP
- Wiko Rainbow v8, Android 4.4.2, GPU Mali-400MP2

Does any of you see a blinking black canvas after following this link on a device not listed above?
https://jsfiddle.net/69wxvmLd/7/

If so, check that you have the latest version of Chrome mobile (V53.0.2785.127) and tell us your device name so that we can add it to our list and encourage Chrome support to fix this pretty huge issue.

Thank you for your help.

[Kanthi]

We are facing the same issue with one of our games in the following devices. But the same game works fine when rendering in Canvas Mode.

Also the issue is only with Chrome 53 (V53.0.2785.124). We had no issues in Chrome 52 , Also Play Store ( IN ) does not show any update for chrome ie. (V53.0.2785.127)

- Micromax A106 (Micromax A106 Unite 2), Android 4.4.2 , GPU Mediatek MT6582

- Lava Iris X8, Android 4.4.2 , GPU Mali 450 MP4

- MicroMax Q372 (Micromax Unite 3), Android 5.0 , GPU Mediatek MT6582M

- Samsung SM-T116NY (Samsung Tab 3V), Android 4.4.4, GPU ARM Mali-400 MP2

- Samsung SM-T561 (Samsung Tab E) , Android 4.4.4 ,GPU ARM Mali-400 MP2

Thanks,

Kanthi.

[beni]

This is reproducible on BLU Advance 4.0 L2, Android 6.0, chrome 53.

Opera and UC Browser work perfectly fine.

[JoeKryog]

Thank you all for your help.

According to chrome support, it should be fixed on v54 chrome.

Joe K.

[Kanthi]

Hi,

We have tried on Chrome v54 (Beta) from Play store. The issues is not fixed yet . Has anyone tried it ?

Thanks

Kanthi.

[JoeKryog]

We tested Chrome Beta v54.0.2840.61 on the following devices and it worked for us:

- Samsung galaxy core II (SM-G355HN), Android 4.4.2, GPU Mali-400MP
- Wiko Rainbow v8, Android 4.4.2, GPU Mali-400MP2

Joe K.

[Kanthi]

Hi Joe,

It's not working for us. Apparently the chrome beta on play store is versioned 55 now ( v55.0.2883.18 ). Even with this version we are seeing the same issue.

below is the device we tested on

- Micromax A106 ( Micromax Unite 2 ) , GPU Mali-400 MP2

Here is a sample jsfiddle link which can be used to look into.

https://jsfiddle.net/Kanthi/p7azh80s/6/

Thanks and Regards.

Kanthi.

 

[Francisco]

Same problem here with an Wiko and chrome 53.0.2785.124

I'm using canvas to solve the problem.

If new solutions let me know.

Thx,

Francisco

[JoeKryog]

Chrome has just been upgraded to v54.0.2840.68.

We are not facing the issue with that version on our devices, and we hope this will work for other devices too.

Joe K.

[alex]

https://jsfiddle.net/Kanthi/p7azh80s/6/  is still flickering with v54 (and Samsung S2)

What's the difference between the two jsfiddles?

@Kanthi: Did you already report the bug?

 

Thanks, alex

[Kanthi]

The second JS Fiddle is using Phaser.js with WEBGL rendering. I guess issue is with Phaser ( Not sure though ) ,

as there is no flickering with PIXI.js. I still have not reported a bug yet  as I'm not sure of what's happening exactly.

 

Thanks ,

Kanthi.

[stupot]

On 29/10/2016 at 4:24 PM, Kanthi said:

The second JS Fiddle is using Phaser.js with WEBGL rendering. I guess issue is with Phaser ( Not sure though ) ,

as there is no flickering with PIXI.js. I still have not reported a bug yet  as I'm not sure of what's happening exactly.

 

Thanks ,

Kanthi.

 

The 2nd fiddle is not guaranteed to be using WEBGL, it's using AUTO which is WEBGL if possible otherwise CANVAS.  A older mobile device is much more likely to fallback to CANVAS than a desktop browser.  If you're getting mixed results it may be because the device is selecting CANVAS.

[Kanthi]

13 hours ago, stupot said:

 

The 2nd fiddle is not guaranteed to be using WEBGL, it's using AUTO which is WEBGL if possible otherwise CANVAS.  A older mobile device is much more likely to fallback to CANVAS than a desktop browser.  If you're getting mixed results it may be because the device is selecting CANVAS.

Hi,

I've checked the same on the device. It's running in WEBGL and not on CANVAS. On contrary, the CANVAS render mode has no issues on the mentioned devices.

Thanks and Regards,

Kanthi.

[stupot]

7 hours ago, Kanthi said:

Hi,

I've checked the same on the device. It's running in WEBGL and not on CANVAS. On contrary, the CANVAS render mode has no issues on the mentioned devices.

Thanks and Regards,

Kanthi.

Sorry, I meant that if people were reporting no-flickering, it may have been because the browser was running in CANVAS, rather than because the browser didn't exhibit the problem in WEBGL, when trying the 2nd fiddle.

[Kanthi]

18 minutes ago, stupot said:

Sorry, I meant that if people were reporting no-flickering, it may have been because the browser was running in CANVAS, rather than because the browser didn't exhibit the problem in WEBGL, when trying the 2nd fiddle.

I'm sorry . I did not understand your statement. I'll rephrase my statement. We are facing the issue when trying to run our application on Chrome via WEBGL.

It was working well in chrome 52 and the issue is still there in chrome 54. However the WEBGL rendering with PIXI is working well. 

So we are wondering if the issue is with our implementation or with Phaser itself.

Thanks and Regards ,

Kanthi.

[Kanthi]

Any update on this. Looking for help

thanks

kanthi.

[Kanthi]

Any update on this. Looking for help

thanks

kanthi.

[rekkon]

Android 4.2.2; Alcatel one touch 7041D.

Chrome 54.0.2840.68.  The screen still flickering (WebGl) ;(

thanks

[stupot]

On a OnePlusOne, Android 6.0.1

No flickering with Chrome 54.0.2840.68 using any of the test links above.