While playing on phone, the table view has suddenly changed

[LaidBackAries]

Copenhagen and Baren Park have display issues. There is a shadow that appears on the board and it's really hard to get a tile in the right spot on mobile. S21 Android

[Hex_K]

The issue is really bad on Cosmoctopus, I can't see all of the cards in my hand and it is extremely frustrating.

Ditto. I can see four cards, and then just the edge of the fifth. If there was a way to scroll sideways or to zoom out on the cards, that would be a fix ...

[GTSchemer]

UPDATE: As of today, September 10, I am not aware of any more planned BGA changes which might affect rendering.

They might happen, but if so, they have not been planned and communicated with game devs.


What does this mean to you? If a game you really like still has severe mobile / tablet rendering problems, please:

• Create a mobile rendering bug report for that game (https://boardgamearena.com/bugs, create report, specify the game), or vote and reply if a report exists already.
• In your report, include the exact device like "Galaxy S20" and browser version like "Chrome 128". This is crucial, or the dev may be unable to help!
• In your report, if you can, include a screenshot (like using imgur.com).
• In your report, feel free to link this post so the dev knows they no longer have to wait on BGA changes, but probably need to make the fix themselves.
• Advanced note: If you cannot identify the developer / maintainer of the game (for example, 6 nimmt! does not have one listed), feel free to reply in this thread -- hopefully we can find someone to help.

[mondrianbox]

Thank you for your help here, GTSchemer. Could you please provide more information on what led to these issues? I understand that it was initially thought to be due to a Chrome update, but that seems to be incorrect. Was there a determination on what actually caused it?

As a side note, I’m still seeing problems across multiple games. It’s a little disheartening to hear that nothing more is being planned site-wide, as it does seem to be a widespread issue. Perhaps it does need to be fixed at the per-game level, as you suggested.

[GTSchemer]

Thank you for your help here, GTSchemer. Could you please provide more information on what led to these issues? I understand that it was initially thought to be due to a Chrome update, but that seems to be incorrect. Was there a determination on what actually caused it?

As a side note, I’m still seeing problems across multiple games. It’s a little disheartening to hear that nothing more is being planned site-wide, as it does seem to be a widespread issue. Perhaps it does need to be fixed at the per-game level, as you suggested.

Sure, gory tech details below:

Chrome 128 was the cause of the change. Chrome and Edge browsers use the same render engine behind the scenes, so the change affected both browsers. What changed? Both browsers were updated to be technically "correct" per the CSS specification for the "zoom" keyword. This keyword was used by BGA to render games on mobile, since it was convenient.

The problem? Since Chrome didn't technically follow the spec for a long time, BGA was designed to use the zoom behavior that existed, rather than the theoretical zoom behavior that did not exist. It was a practical decision.

Once Chrome 128 came out, there was a big problem -- BGA couldn't simply change everything to work with Chrome 128, because then Chrome 127 users would be out of luck -- and some volunteer developers may have depended on the flawed zoom behavior as well. Many BGA games use a general library called "dojo", which may also be affected by modified behavior or BGA changes.

The only solutions seemed to involve changing the BGA framework in general to use "viewport" scaling on mobile devices (which has its own problems like laggy click response in some cases, and tiny icons, and double tap zoom), or try to rework everything to use the new "correct" behavior of "zoom".

Users who saw temporarily fixed, unfixed, etc. behavior saw these sorts of changes happening, as staff raced to get mobile games playable again as soon as possible.


I am less clear on the final state of things -- my rough understanding is that going forwards, the new "correct" zoom behavior is used, and Chrome / Edge users are expected to update. However, tons of volunteer developers have created hundreds of BGA games over the years, and not every game works the same way. For this reason, certain games and tutorials may no longer look right, because their original assumptions are no longer valid.

This kind of growing pain is painful, but the best approach I can see now is making lists of games, mobile devices, and browsers that still have problems so they can (hopefully) be resolved for good.

[mondrianbox]

Thanks for the details, but ultimately there is something that doesn’t make sense—I and others here have repeatedly said that this is a problem also affecting non-Chromium browsers. In my case, the issue is present on iOS Safari.

While I definitely appreciate everyone’s efforts to fix it, I’m stunned as to why BGA seems intent on ignoring this aspect. It’s not a Chrome/Edge exclusive problem. Please quit framing it as such.

[GTSchemer]

Thanks for the details, but ultimately there is something that doesn’t make sense—I and others here have repeatedly said that this is a problem also affecting non-Chromium browsers. In my case, the issue is present on iOS Safari.

While I definitely appreciate everyone’s efforts to fix it, I’m stunned as to why BGA seems intent on ignoring this aspect. It’s not a Chrome/Edge exclusive problem. Please quit framing it as such.

I did not frame it as Chrome/Edge exclusive, I merely explained, since you asked ("what led to these issues?"), the reason the problems started occurring -- which was the change in behavior of Chrome/Edge.

The cause of a problem can be different than the consequences of attempted solution(s), as any programmer well knows.

Are you curious about the reasons for change in behavior in Safari? I can try to explain, but it may not make sense if you do not have a web development background.

[KenFin1]

Jaipur has issues still, cards overlapping the draw pile, player table area shrunk right down so over half the mobile screen is the footnotes on "how to play" etc. The top player bar scores area instead of being 2x2 as before is now a row of 3 and a lone 1 below it.

7 wonders duel is borked on desktop today. Everything has gone mega size and expands to fill the screen (incorrectly) irrespective of browser zoom. All I can see on screen is a horizontal row of 4 card placeholders for the wonders once played, and nothing else.

Who is making these changes? Stop ruining the site and leave it alone please

[menettm]

Hi KenFin1,
Have you read the previous messages from GTSchemer ?
With which device have you problems, with which browser ?

[KenFin1]

android chrome, firefox and bga app (chrome)
windows firefox

My money is on the site code not the browser.