I think the fix has to come from epic.
Right now, the obb is saving in the root folder.
When the game first loads up, it looks for the obb but does not have the permission to find it.
Unreal doesn’t ask for the permission and then you get the XAPK validation error.
One user has said he changed up his Downloader.Activity.java file to request the access when temp access isn’t granted.
“I have edited DownloaderActivity.java.template to request for Storage access permission request at first if not granted as temp solution…”
He didn’t share exactly what he did though.
Here is the google link of the issue for people who use other platforms to develop games. Google has known about the issue for years but what people in the thread complain about is being forced to USE a dangerous permission to make the error go away. Currently in UE4, even WITH the write external permission activated, the XAPK error still happens.
Android permissions cant be requested at run time from inside the game because the game is never properly installed enough to get to that point.
Common Denominators
-Game over 100 mbs with an OBB file.
-Fresh installs only (updates of the game work fine)
-Targeting SDK 23 or above
Another issue is the UE4 game files saving out in the open including the save files. Don’t know if that has any affect on the above.
For anyone that is running into this, the user has 3 options at the moment.
- The one that works 100% of the time is simply restarting the device. The obb is placed correctly for some reason and the game installs properly when loading the app.
- The second thing is going to settings>applications>(App name)>permissions>storage and turning it on. When you load up the game, the app will properly install.
- The 3rd is something that doesn’t work 100% of the time, but when the app loads up and you see the xapk, sometimes you can press the android back button and it will ask for the storage permission. After saying yes, the app will background itself and take you to the home screen. If you go straight back to the app, it will crash. If you force close the app and reopen it, it will work properly.
Hope this helps.