android-bridge

中文

Run the desktop version of Mindustry on Android — several versions of games in one app, Mixin bytecode patching supported.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Getting
• Features
• Supported versions
• Building
  • Quick build
  • Detailed build
• Known issues
• FAQ
• Contributing
• Support
• License
• Credits & Dependencies

Introduction

• android-bridge is a JVM bridge that runs the desktop version of Mindustry on Android
• Several games or versions in one app, with as many isolated sets of data and mod configuration
• Bytecode patchers such as Mixin keep working, and loaders such as CopperLoader and Fabric run as they are
• It runs vanilla Mindustry: official releases 146.0 and up, bleeding-edge builds 24369 and up
• The game itself needs no changes and no repackaging — it runs the official release jar as it is
• This repository is the bridge alone; the host app is yours to write, or to pick an existing one

Getting

1. Releases: download bridge-<version>.jar from this repository's Releases (pushing a version tag — they start with a digit — makes CI build it and attach the artifact)
2. Snapshots: the snapshot release is rebuilt and its asset replaced on every push — to main or to a version tag (a pre-release) — and the artifact is bridge-snapshot.jar; use it when you want neither to build the bridge yourself nor to pin a version
3. Build from source: see Building

Features

• Several games in one app
  • Install several games or several versions, play one at a time
  • Data and mod configuration can come in several isolated sets
• Mods
  • Loaders such as CopperLoader and Fabric run as they are
  • Bytecode patchers such as Mixin keep working, patching classes as they load
• Look and feel
  • Touch, soft keyboard, back key and gesture, rotation
  • File picker, clipboard, vibration, opening links
• Display
  • OpenGL ES 2 / 3 both work
  • ANGLE for devices that need it
• Tuning and logs
  • Add and change JVM arguments yourself
  • Logs in one file, optionally also in logcat

Supported versions

Item	Range
Game version	Official releases 146.0 and up Bleeding-edge builds 24369 and up (the two numbering schemes are independent and not comparable)
Android	11 (API 30) and up
ABI	arm64-v8a, armeabi-v7a, x86_64
Game jar	Must be a desktop release build with assets; a classes-only one does not run

Building

Quick build

git clone https://github.com/MDTCopper/android-bridge.git
cd android-bridge
./gradlew :pack:bridgeJar

On Windows use gradlew.bat.

The jar lands in pack/build/libs/bridge-snapshot.jar: without -Prelease the version is snapshot — buildVersion in gradle.properties belongs to a release, and only a tagged build should use it. Pass -Prelease for an artifact that carries a version number (which is what CI does for a tag build):

./gradlew :pack:bridgeJar -Prelease

The first build checks out and compiles Mindustry and Arc at v159 by itself, which takes a few minutes and a network connection; after that it reuses what is in .mindustry/ and .arc/.

Detailed build

Prepare the following if you want control over the build.

JDK

JDK 25. Gradle runs its daemon on it, and downloads one if it is missing.

Android SDK

It needs build-tools (that is where d8 comes from), plus an NDK and cmake:

ndkVersion=29.0.14206865
cmakeVersion=3.22.1

Both versions are pinned in gradle.properties — a different NDK produces a different binary. The SDK location goes in sdk.dir in local.properties, or in ANDROID_HOME.

Mindustry and Arc

A full clone of each, next to this project, and with tags (the build checks out by tag):

mindustryDir=../Mindustry
arcDir=../Arc

Those are the default paths; they live in gradle.properties and can be changed.

LWJGL Android natives

Nothing to prepare. The build downloads them and packs them into the jar alongside the .so.

JRE

The bridge does not need a JRE to build. It is a payload the host carries at runtime; the tested one is an Android build of OpenJDK 25.

Build

./gradlew :pack:bridgeJar

Just to see the task list:

./gradlew tasks -PskipEpochPrepare

Known issues

• The game jar must be a release build with assets; a classes-only one does not run
• The bridge ships no app; the host is yours to write
• The bridge is not a mod loader; loading mods is up to the loader the host provides

FAQ

• Can I use Mixin? Yes. Have the bridge start a custom loader (CopperLoader, Fabric, and so on), and that loader patches bytecode as the game loads.
• Does it need root? No.
• Can it run other games? Only vanilla Mindustry for now.

Contributing

Any kind of contribution is welcome. For code changes, open a pull request that says what it does and how you verified it.

Run the full build after a change:

./gradlew :processor:compileJava :core:compileJava :bridge-v1:compileJava :native:assemble :pack:bridgeJar

After touching bridge-vX sources, run the game on the oldest versions of the range with a real jar —compiling is not running.

Support

Questions and suggestions go to this repository's issue tracker; read Known issues and the FAQ first.

License

Released under GPL-3.0.

Credits & Dependencies

• Oxygen Launcher
• Mindustry — GPLv3
• Arc — Apache-2.0
• LWJGL — BSD-3-Clause
• ByteHook — MIT