0.99.2 APK tear down: bug fixes and two mysterious additions

Posted in
Table of Contents
Asset changes
Code changes
Mysterious code additions
Closing words

Trainers, the latest Pokemon GO update (0.99.2 on Android) is slowly rolling out to Android and iOS devices around the world, bringing a handful of bug fixes before the highly anticipated 1.0.0 release.

GO Hub team managed to get an early copy of the APK and performed a detailed APK tear down, analyzing both the code base and the static assets bundled with the APK – images, icons, textures, etc.

Manage your expectations reasonably, the theme of this APK is Quality of Life and bug fixes Here’s what we’ve found (we’ll do notable assets first, code changes second, a bit of a twist on our usual APK mines).


Asset changes in 0.99.2

Fire3.png, aka a new fire texture,  was added, bringing more variety to fire damage effects. We are not sure which moves will be using this texture and in what form, so stay tuned for that. Curiously, although it’s named Fire3, the APK only has one ther fire texture, called Fire4. The logic behind this naming scheme eludes us at the moment.

Along side Fire3.png, a number of Privacy Policy text files was added, enabling the game to load Privacy Policies from the device, rather than fetching it online. The included PPs include the following languages: DE, EN, ES, FR, IT, JA, KO, PT, ZH and are available in the Text Assets folder of our Github repository. Previously, only Terms of Service files were available offline.

Lastly, a new version of the loading spinner Sprite sheet for faster and easier animation rendering was added:

Here’s a short list of other notable asset changes:

  • new Pokeball texture diff map
  • new 2KM egg texture (looks the same to us tho)
  • new Google logo (multi-color variant)
  • a number of changes to background gradients

Code changes in 0.99.2

Right of the bat, we’ve got small code change targeted at Mythical Pokemon and Gyms. You are now officially unable to deploy a Mythical Pokemon at a Gym (the game prevented you also before, but now you should be able to get a new error message):

.DISABLED_LOW_STAMINA_KEY
.DISABLED_BUDDY_KEY
.DISABLED_MAX_SAME_DEFENDERS_KEY
.DISABLED_LEGENDARY_KEY
.DISABLED_MYTHIC_KEY

A plethora of camera and rendering changes were introduced for camera transitions during gym Berry feeding, switching defenders and panning around the gym (not raid) lobby. It seems that the motivation effects were touched in a similar fashion. A new flag for the AR Plus mode has been added, titled Ar Plus Pokemon Frightened In Photo Mode, and a few error flags were added to accompany it.

In addition to this, there’s a number of bug fixes for quest handling, completion and rewards, indicating that Niantic has fixed bugs that were reported from various Android devices during the past few weeks.


Mysterious code additions

Lastly, there are two code changes we are not baffled with:

  • PROXY SOCIAL ACTION is a new action flag that has appeared near the existing redeem pass code, add new POI, add login and remove login actions. We are not sure what it refers to, but it could be the first hint of a deeper integration between Pokemon GO and social networks, namely Facebook at this moment. Given the recent leak / rumor that trading could take place using social networks, we are curious to why this action flag was added. We’ll be on the lookout for more information in the coming versions.
  • Geostore is a new concept that was spotted in the 0.99.2 APK. We are not sure what it refers to, but it is connected to the existing POI submission mechanism we’ve discovered in the 0.97.2 APK. We’re speculating it could be a reference to NIA’s global Point of Interest storage system, used by Pokemon GO and Ingress alike, but we could be wrong. Again, we’ll be on the look out for more changes.

Closing words

The 0.99.2 update is not a major Pokemon GO update, but it is an important one, as it brings a handful of bug fixes, quality of life changes and slight texture bumps across the board.

The addition of the Proxy Social Action and the mysterious Geostore references hint that more could be in the works, but has not yet appeared in the APK code branch. We’ll be monitoring the release schedule and future patches with more depth to provide a better understanding of what is going on under the hood.

Until next time, stay sharp!

P.S. A huge shout out to Kenneth C. for extracting and sending us the APK so fast! Kenneth, may your IVs be high and your move sets optimal.

Author & tags

Tags
Zeroghan
Zeroghanhttps://pokemongohub.net/
Zeroghan started the Hub in July 2016 and hasn't had much sleep since. A lover of all things Pokémon, web development, and writing.

Further reading

Popular today

Latest articles

Support us

Buy GO Hub merch

Get your very own GO Hub t-shirt, mug, or tote.