Unity Build Issue Fix Collection - Gradle build failed, type initializer exception

Table of Contents

1. gradle build failed error

2. type initializer error

3. Android app bundle size warning

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1. Gradle build failed error

• Error logs encountered:

Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':launcher:checkReleaseDuplicateClasses'.

Starting a Gradle Daemon, 3 stopped Daemons could not be reused, use --status for details
WARNING:We recommend using a newer Android Gradle plugin to use compileSdk = 33

This Android Gradle plugin (7.1.2) was tested up to compileSdk = 32

This warning can be suppressed by adding
    android.suppressUnsupportedCompileSdk=33
to this project's gradle.properties

CommandInvokationFailure: Gradle build failed.
/Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/2022.3.4f1/PlaybackEngines/AndroidPlayer/OpenJDK/bin/java -classpath "/Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/2022.3.4f1/PlaybackEngines/AndroidPlayer/Tools/gradle/lib/gradle-launcher-7.2.jar" org.gradle.launcher.GradleMain "-Dorg.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx4096m" "assembleRelease"

Main symptom

• Error occurred during Android build.
• It was caused by Minimum API Level / Target API Level settings in Project Settings - Other Settings.

Solution

• From Android 13 (API 33), policies changed so apps need explicit permissions for notifications/media access. Add required permissions in Assets/Plugins/Android/AndroidManifest.xml.

  Currently target policy has moved to API 34, so keep tracking latest requirements.

  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS" android:minSdkVersion="33"/>
          <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES" android:minSdkVersion="33"/>
          <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_VIDEO" android:minSdkVersion="33"/>
          <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_AUDIO" android:minSdkVersion="33"/>
          <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="32"/>
          <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="32"/>
          android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"

• Also set Minimum API Level: 22, Target API Level: 33, then rebuild.
• Sometimes Jenkins build passes but manual build fails; in that case, setting Target API Level to auto can make manual build succeed.

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2. Error: The type initializer for ‘Google.Protobuf.WellKnownTypes.StructReflection’ threw an exception.

Main symptom

• Occurred when building on mac mini build machine.

• Additional note (2023-08-22)
• Even after successful iOS automation build, below error appeared:

Exception: DescriptorValidationException: google.protobuf.Value.kind: Method ClearKind not found in Google.Protobuf.WellKnownTypes.Value
Google.Protobuf.Reflection.OneofDescriptor.CreateAccessor (System.String clrName) (at <00000000000000000000000000000000>:0) Google.Protobuf.Reflection.OneofDescriptor..ctor
(Google.Protobuf.Reflection.OneofDescriptorProto proto, Google.Protobuf.Reflection.FileDescriptor file, Google.Protobuf.Reflection.MessageDescriptor parent, System.Int32 index, System.String
clrName) (at <00000000000000000000000000000000>:0) Google.Protobuf.Reflection.MessageDescriptor+<>c__DisplayClass5_0.<.ctor>b__0 (Google.Protobuf.Reflection.OneofDescriptorProto oneof,

• Looking at logs (Reflection...) showed Google.Protobuf preserve was missing in link.xml.

Cause

• Likely related to C# reflection + enums under Unity IL2CPP build.
• Since some code was only referenced through reflection, IL2CPP stripped required parts.

Solution

• Add below to link.xml under project Assets folder:

<linker>
    <assembly fullname="Google.Protobuf" preserve="all"/>
</linker>

• If still unresolved, add this too:

<linker> <assembly fullname="DataModelBindings" preserve="all"/> </linker>

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3. App Bundle Size Warning

Main symptom

• To upload to Google Play Store, you must build as .aab.
• Enabling Build Settings - Build App Bundle (Google Play) outputs .aab.
• But if app size exceeds 150MB, warning like above appears.
• Therefore you need Addressable asset system to reduce base app size.
• Keep only startup-essential resources in app and move the rest into Addressable groups so they can be downloaded via patch system.