That's it - I'm (probably) off for good.

[Medamanaman]

Hi,

a month after the devs locked all rooted Android devices out, I actually missed Eternium so much that I bought a cheap(ish) Samsung phone, just for Eternium.

Unfortunately, the pleasure is gone - I bought my new device on a Thursday, and didn't even remember the new ANB until Sunday evening - and didn't bother to participate.

Every time I switch on that unrooted device, I again get angry at the thought that, just because I've rooted all my devices since 2012, the Devs, sight unseen, have classified me as the type of scumbag who gets pleasure not from playing a game but from cheating.

So, as I've just started the rooting process (bliss!), which totally has erased the phone's memory, Eternium is gone; until Google manage to make rooting impossible (or the devs think again), it's bye bye!

Kind Regards,
Jochen

[Travis | Support Mgr.]

...the Devs, sight unseen, have classified me as the type of scumbag who gets pleasure not from playing a game but from cheating.

To clarify, this isn't something we did - it's something the Google Play Store did.

[Medamanaman]

... it's something the Google Play Store did.

????? This is the FIRST time that I've heard about GOOGLE changing apps in such a way that they no longer accept rooted devices.
This seems to be an overreach even for this "we want to rule the roost like Apple does" company.

[Travis | Support Mgr.]

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10183279

It used to be optional, but it's not anymore.

[Medamanaman]

Can it be that the Devs were a bit too eager to obey?

I just searched for "Eternium" in the Play Store, from the list of "similar games" selected three that have been updated this month, installed/started/uninstalled all three, and all of them worked without any problem (except that none of them could make me like them).

[Travis | Support Mgr.]

It could be that compliance was a requirement for promotion (i.e. the "top arpgs" list or something along those lines).

[Medamanaman]

Weird! I glanced through (the German version of) the doc you supplied; as far as I can tell, all it claims is to protect against manipulations of an app, of forcing users to use the Play Store version.
I HAVE used the Play Store version; so, unless Google's programmers, in customary ineptitude, programmed something that had unintended consequences, there must be something in the text that I, as a non-programmer, don't understand.

[laffcarl]

Well my friend I think those days of jail breaking and rooting ya phone, custom roms etc are pretty much dead now, (what is the point - you can always disable most of the crap?), apart from not being able to play your favorite game.... I remember you from a while back and we both couldn't get past tl137...this was purely down to limiting hardware, I had been playing the game on an old Samsung Galaxy J5 circa 2016 (for 4 years) and the frame rate was my limiting factor (14fps max). Now I have a new phone and I'm making my way up the 140's I even beat my previous Main best score doing a ANB, just goes to show how it was the phone holding me back.
My advice would be to re-install your Samsung OS and sign up for the beta ui6 android 14, This will give you something new to play with and I'm sure you will beat your old score then.
Give it a go man what's to loose, and a little slice of Humble Pie is actually quite tasty.

[Medamanaman]

Well my friend I think those days of jail breaking and rooting ya phone, custom roms etc are pretty much dead now, (what is the point - you can always disable most of the crap?), ...

Hi,
luckily there's still life there - and just the existence of one app (XPivacyLua) would mean that I would root every device; however, there are a number of root-only apps I wouldn't like to do without - and who knows: maybe in six months or so there will be a LineageOS ROM for my device, which I would infinitely prefer, even though nowadays Samsung's OneUi isn't as horrible as it used to be.
Anyhow, the Devs seem to have had second thoughts - I've just tried, and Eternium now works again both on the old device (TWRP) and the new one (Magisk).
Now, if only I can get my old enthusiasm back...

[Travis | Support Mgr.]

You keep insisting that this is some we've done, but as I've mentioned previously, it's not us - it Google. Perhaps the Play Store widened it's range of acceptance after the initial iteration of their app integrity protection.

[Medamanaman]

My bad - I beg your pardon!

Google make a far better "enemy" than the people who create something as lovely as Eternium, anyway! ;-)