Category: Google

Terraria Android Cloud Issues Solved

On By Michel McDonaldIn Android, Games, GoogleLeave a comment

Terraria

I have a little addiction to a silly video game called Terraria. I found out about this game when I got my PS4 for Christmas in 2015 while playing Minecraft. It said Also try Terraria on the Minecraft logo, so I found it in the PlayStation store and bought it. I didn’t love it immediately because I wasn’t sure how to play it, and I kept getting killed at night and it was frustrating to keep burying myself whenever the zombies came out at night, much like Minecraft lol. But once I started to play it more, I became addicted and eventually over time I bought the PC version and the Android version.

I have it installed on my Nook HD+, but recently I decided to install it on my cell phone so that I could play it anywhere. I uploaded my world to the cloud from my Nook so I could use some of the items I had gotten before on my phone. I created a new world, because it’s always fun to start over and build a new house, even though I build the same exact house every time lol. Anyway, I uploaded the world a couple more times and eventually it wouldn’t allow me to access the cloud. Every time I would click the cloud save, the game would freeze up for about 10 seconds before crashing. I’m sure anyone would understand just how frustrating that can be. I tried accessing the cloud worlds from my Nook, but no go. I even installed the game on my old android phone and still couldn’t access the cloud worlds.

My only alternative was to go to Google Play for help. Their help sent me to my email app to send an email to them. I got an email to sign up on their website so I can submit a ticket, which I did late on Friday. Today is Monday and I finally got a reply. They sent me a link to a fix, which I didn’t read right away, but they sent me the link again and I read it and apparently when you save your game to the cloud, your worlds and characters go directly to your Google Drive into a folder called Terraria. I had no idea lol. I didn’t have any special world that I needed anything from. Everything was basically just backup, so I deleted all the files and went to the game and it took a minute, but it cleared up the issue and now I am able to use the cloud again.

Here’s a little cheat tip. If you back up your world on the cloud, then access the back up, then go into one of your bags and grab things, like for example ore, you can exit out and go back into the cloud world and it will still be there as if you never touched it. Use this tip only if you must. Don’t use this tip if you think it might ruin the game for you. I actually did that so that I could duplicate the hearts so I could get the max amount of hit points without having to search for more hearts. I know it’s bad, but I just can’t stand dying so fast, but now I have to deal with the Eye of Cthulhu before I’m ready, so that’s on me.

Anyway, I hope you found this cloud fix and my cheat tip useful.

Terraria mobile issues resolved

On By Michel McDonaldIn App, Games, Google, How toLeave a comment

Screenshot_2015-05-04-23-30-38

I’m doing a little happy dance right now because I was finally… sorry, that was weak. I was FINALLY able to get Terraria to play on my refurbished Samsung Galaxy S3, and I will tell you how I did it.

The Issue was that when it installed the game, it only installed the obb file in the Android/obb folder. It didn’t install any of the actual game files in the Android/data folder. Every time I tried to load the game, it would give me this message (below). Try as I might I could not figure it out. I didn’t realize the data folder was lacking files. The OBB data file is fine, it installed all 52mb of that, it’s just that it didn’t install the rest of the data.

Screenshot_2015-05-02-19-33-57

The Fix. My phone came preinstalled with a file viewer called My Files, but that isn’t enough. I have an app from Cheetah Mobile called File Manager and that did the job. So what I did was I zipped the data files from my Nook and uploaded the zip file to my OneDrive so that I could download it on my phone. I downloaded it and then went into the File Manager and located the zip file in my downloads folder. I copied the zip file and pasted it in the Android/Data folder, but it kept saying 0kb. So it was showing a file name, but it wouldn’t allow actual data to be inserted in that folder. I then figured out (after days mind you) that in the File Manager there is a option in the settings for Root Settings (Advanced Users). Root Explorer and Change System Folders. Check both of those.

Screenshot_2015-05-04-23-27-29

Once those two options were checked, I copied the zip file again and it actually unzipped all of the files, but for some odd reason all of the files were 0kb. So then I decided to paste the zip file in the SD Card Android/Data folder and it pasted with all 52mb in tact. I then unzipped it and it actually unzipped. I find that to be amazing because before it wouldn’t unzip onto the SD card. So once I had all the files in the SD card, I went into the folder with the files and I tapped (and held) on one file to select it, then I clicked that little icon at the top with 4 squares and it selected the entire directory, then I clicked copy at the bottom of the screen and went in the Device to the Android/Data/com.and.games505.TerrariaPaid folder and hit paste and all of the files actually pasted with actual file sizes too.

To prove it worked, the Terraria image at the top is the actual screen shot from my phone. I cannot believe I finally got it to work. Now, I’m worried about if/when there is an update in the Google Play store and it installs all the files again, but this time it deletes all the files, or it makes them all 0kb lol. If that happens, I still have it on my Nook, so I’ll just be able to copy it over.

I really hope this has helped someone out there who has been just as frustrated as I have been. If you have a second Android device that it actually works on, you will be fine.

Nook HD+ from Barnes & Noble

On By Michel McDonaldIn Android, Books, Christmas, eBook, Facebook, Gadgets, Google, Google Chrome, Kindle, Nook, Pictures, Products I Like, Reading, Social Network, TVLeave a comment

Nook HD+ from Barnes & Noble

I love my Nook HD+.  I have been having so much fun with it since I got it for Christmas, actually the week before Christmas.  Yeah we don’t conform to the traditions of opening your presents on Christmas day, or even on birthdays.  We open presents the day we get them.  Screw tradition lol.

My Nook HD+ has a 9” screen, so it’s bigger than the Nook HD in the sense that it has 2 more inches, but I’m telling you that because there are certain apps that work with 7 inches, but don’t work with 9 inches.  Like The Sims FreePlay and Viggle for example.  The Sims FreePlay is downloadable, you just can’t play it because you get this warning when you try.

The Sims FreePlay

I am not sure if The Sims FreePlay will even work with a Nook HD 7” tablet.  I know it works with the Kindle Fire because I’ve seen people taking pictures and video of it on that device.  I’m pretty sure it was the 7”, so if it runs on the Kindle Fire 7”, then it probably runs on the Nook HD 7”.  If so or not, please let me know.

Viggle on the other hand doesn’t even show up in the Google Play Store, so they don’t even give you the option.  I know it works on 7” tablets because I installed it on my partner’s tablet to see if I could do trivia when trivia wasn’t giving me any points with my phone.  It installed and looked great too, but the trivia was not working on his tablet any better than it was on my phone.  Although, just because it installed on his tablet doesn’t mean I know if it will install on a Nook HD 7” tablet.

Facebook isn’t great on the Nook HD+ when you use the app.  Using the browser is so much better because you get the full website that you get on the computer, but the only problem I have is when I use another tab to visit another website, or even if I use an app, like if I go check my email, when I come back to the Facebook tab, it goes straight to the mobile version.  If I wanted to use Facebook mobile, I would just use the Facebook app.

The Twitter app that comes with the Nook HD+ from the Nook store isn’t updated, so it’s better to let Google Play update it.  It’s easy to use and if you have multiple twitter accounts, you can switch back and forth very easily.  It’s actually better on the Nook HD+ than it is on my phone.  When I am using @xanapus on my phone, then try to switch over to another twitter name, for some odd reason it switches me back to @xanapus.  It doesn’t do that on my Nook HD+.

I didn’t like the Google+ app on my phone and I rarely ever use it on my computer, but it is great on the Nook HD+.  That’s one of the social media websites that I wanted to start using more often.  It has a much better look than Facebook does in my opinion.  Google+ doesn’t force you to look at ads or suggested posts.

One annoying thing that I noticed is that when I am in my library, I scroll down to My Files and see there are 564 files.  How the heck am I supposed to weed through all of those files to get to the ebooks I have downloaded?  Well, I discovered that if you click the words My Files, it brings up a new window which shows folders.  They are in the Download folder.  I have 6 ebooks that I downloaded from the EverQuest Next website that are fiction based books based on EverQuest the game, but they are all in PDF format.  Ebooks that I’ve downloaded in ePub format will show up with my Nook books, but the PDF files don’t.  I did download an app called File Manager HD which allowed me to create a new folder in my download folder so I could keep the EQN ebooks in there to keep that folder more organized.

PicsArt Photo Studio is a good app that I use on my phone to add stickers and frames and text to my pictures, but it’s such a small screen that sometimes it’s difficult to see what I’m doing.  My Nook HD+ doesn’t have a camera, but I can use Google Drive to retrieve my files.  What I really like most is that I can write on the screen with this.  I can do that on my phone, but it’s too small.

Happy New Year 2014

Okay, so my handwriting isn’t the best, it’s even worse on paper lol.

ChromecastSome useful apps that come with the Nook HD+ include Netflix and Hulu+ and if you have a Google Chromecast, you can watch them on your TV.  You don’t even need to have the Google Chromecast app installed to use it.  I know this because I bought it for my partner and I couldn’t get it to connect to his tablet.  I connected it with my CR-48 aka Chromebook, then was able to connect it to his tablet.  I don’t have the app installed on my Nook HD+ or my phone, but the icon is visible on YouTube, Netflix and Hulu+.  I guess any Android or Apple device that is connected to my network will have that ability.

Of course, other good uses for the Nook HD+ is actually reading a book lol.  You aren’t limited to Nook books either, you can read your Kindle books plus your Google Play books.  In fact, if there is a service that sells ebooks, you can read the books you bought from them, including pdf files and ebooks.  Some writers only publish their ebook with Amazon KDP Select because they get more advertising, and if they chose KDP Select, they can only publish with Amazon for 3 months.  That’s why it’s good to use the Kindle on my Nook, because some ebooks aren’t available on the Nook.

One of the features that I do like is the Nook app “Your Highlights and Notes.”  If you do a lot of highlighting and like to add notes, this is a good thing.  It had all the highlights from the Nook for PC when I got it, but it didn’t show any text.  When I add new highlights, it shows the page number and the first couple of sentences that I highlighted, and if I left a note, it shows my note.  That makes it so much easier to find every highlight and every note on every ebook you own whether it’s downloaded or in the cloud.  Highlighting and leaving notes on my Nook WiFi was so difficult and as soon as I started reading another ebook, all of the highlights and notes disappeared, which was very frustrating.

There is also a Nook app called “Your Lookups” that shows you every word you ever had to find the definition for.  That does come in handy if you ever want to find that specific word again.  The list of words you looked up are on the left, and the word, the book you found it in, the page and the date and time you looked it up are on the right along with the definition of the word.  WOW!  Now you have a record of the date and time you learned a new word.

Anyway, these are some of my thoughts on the Nook HD+.  I like it a lot and I will get a ton of use out of it.  I still have my Nook WiFi and I don’t think I will use it as often for reading ebooks, but if the occasion ever arises when I go outside to read, I will be able to use it.

Google Keyboard

On By Michel McDonaldIn Android, GoogleLeave a comment

google keyboard

I hate to type with my tiny android phone. The keyboard is literally too small for my fat fingers. Naturally it can take me a long time to type out a simple email which I hate because if it takes too long to type something, you forget what you wanted to say in the first place. That’s why I much prefer to type with my computer, but what if I’m not at home and I need to send a text or write an email to someone? In screwed, right?

So I got an email the other day from Google telling me about Google Keyboard for android. I had seen the swiping keyboard before, but it didn’t come with my phone so I forgot about it. I immediately downloaded the Google keyboard and started using it and I actually love it.

Okay, this is what I love about it… If you are typing and your finger doesn’t go on the right letters, for some reason, it already knows what you wanted to type, so the word comes up anyway. If it’s not the right word, there are choices you can choose from. If you didn’t see that you made a mistake, you just tap the wrong word and you can choose the correct word from the list. It’s literally that easy.

I am typing this out with my android phone right now.

Last night I typed out another post called Patriotic keychains and flag lanyard and it literally only took me like 10 minutes to type it out with Google keyboard.

When I need to type something with my phone, I usually use voice recognition, but then people hear me which makes saying what I have to say more difficult because I don’t want everyone knowing my business. This is actually faster than voice, but you still have that option if you need it. I don’t think I will need that anymore.

Just to clarify, they are not paying me to write this post. I just love Google keyboard that much lol.