[SOLVED] Can someone clear up mobile app scaling for me? I am confused.

when you use retina how does the downscaling work? i used the retina option and when I tested it on web it was still huge...do i have to test it on the iphone simulator?

Hows this handled on Stencyl 3? I created an entire game at the wrong resolution and hard coded starting positions etc. I didn't want to use the scene editor as it didn't seem to do what I wanted.? I want a universal app. I designed all my graphics now as 1920x1080 in Photoshop as well. My game is going to be landscape so I created a new game (no mobile option select-able) I set to 320 height by 480 width to accommodate the original iphones/touches.. I tried to import images for actors using my Photoshop as they are 1920x1080 and they are huge. 

No where in the documentation does it explain the process of setting up the game properly before investing time to find out all your measurements and coordinates are wrong and the app needs redesigned to work on different resolutions..

thats exactly what I'm scared of...Ive finished all the coding in my game and its time to make graphics however I don't want to create the wrong resolution(if there is one). Im pretty sure it has something to do with what siddharth said. make sure when you import your graphics you select the X2(retina) tab. Also in game settings I think in mobile you have to get your app scaling right...again I'm not too sure and I'm currently toying with it. do you only test using the iphone simulator?

actually i think what you did was correct. According to stencylpedia you are supposed to work on a 320 x 480 (standard X1) size and create graphics at 1920 x 1280 (X4). When you select Retina and SCALE x4 under mobile it should automatically resize to the correct scale in the ios simulator depending on what device you use. I haven't tried testing in the ios simulator because im currently having to update my whole osx to mavericks and xcode to version 5. if your ahead of me let me know how this works. I think i get it now...

basically..work on your game in 320 x 480 first and make sure everything works at that size(this is what stencyl meant by design at 320 x 480).

then draw all everything at X4 that size or 1920 x 1280

then select the proper scale X4.

then test...

i think thats it...could be wrong...again...but im hoping ive had a breakthrough with this as i cant wait to test it after ive updated everything. let me know!im excited.

actually i think what you did was correct. According to stencylpedia you are supposed to work on a 320 x 480 (standard X1) size and create graphics at 1920 x 1280 (X4). When you select Retina and SCALE x4 under mobile it should automatically resize to the correct scale in the ios simulator depending on what device you use. I haven't tried testing in the ios simulator because im currently having to update my whole osx to mavericks and xcode to version 5. if your ahead of me let me know how this works. I think i get it now...

basically..work on your game in 320 x 480 first and make sure everything works at that size(this is what stencyl meant by design at 320 x 480).

then draw all everything at X4 that size or 1920 x 1280

then select the proper scale X4.

then test...

i think thats it...could be wrong...again...but im hoping ive had a breakthrough with this as i cant wait to test it after ive updated everything. let me know!im excited.

Uninstall previous Stencyl and install Stencyl 3.0, it handles this resizing thing very nicely.
You make a game of 320x480, import a graphic with scale 4x selected while importing it and the graphic is 1/4th its size.
Go ahead and try it.

i think i have 3.0 what im needing to update is my xcode so i can preview the game on the simulator. so i make the graphics 1920 x 1280 and do Scale x4 correct?

i think i have 3.0 what im needing to update is my xcode so i can preview the game on the simulator. so i make the graphics 1920 x 1280 and do Scale x4 correct?

It is correct. When you import the 1920x1280(or 1280x1920) graphics with 4x selected Stencyl will create other 3  versions for your graphics(1x,1.5x and 2x).

I personally use this and also from Mobile settings I use Full Screen Scaling and I position all the objects from code. The only problem I had was with backgrounds because you can't position those from code and usully look strange on 4''and iPad.

Take a look on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I_HqB9-bis

wow man that was the video that ive desperately needed. thanks for ur answer. it all seems to make sense now. for the longest time ive had to reread the stencylpedia page to figure it out but thanks for your help and the link. im gonna go and fiddle around with what everyones been suggesting and follow the video as well.. thanks!

I watched the video and still confussed. Guess Im thick Can you answer this if I am having someone make graphics for me and I want to use them on original iphone up to retina mini and Air's what resolution do they need to be made and imported into stencyl 3 with? I tried various sizes but had issues with the actual size on the screen being way to large on 320x480 setups..

I think I get it now. For Stencyl, you basically wanna make your graphics as large as possible (1920 x 1280). Create your mobile game at 320 x 480, then import your graphics at the 1920 x 1280 then select the proper scale you want to use...since your importing 1920 x 1280, you wanna scale X4 (i believe..) which will shrink your graphics x4 when you test on the ios simulator in xcode. Also, i believe in Settings>mobile make sure your scale is set there as well..keep playing around with it and let me know...i may not have given you a 100% answer so please correct me if im wrong...still a bit confused but not so much anymore.

Also, are you using the web/flash test simulator or the ios simulator?

flash / web... I have an Imac just not installed / setup that PC for development yet..

UPDATE: just in case anyone was interested I got it to work thanks to everyones input. Basically the best way to go is update to Stencyl 3.0. for some reason 2.2(which was the version i was on) has some issues with scaling and basically it wouldn't downscale correctly. Once I updated to 3.0 i set all my scenes to 320: 480 (iphone portrait orientation). Then i created graphics made for a 1280 x 1920 ( Highest optimal resolution for scaling with ipad retina and below. Tip: it usually helps to create a blank 1280 x 1920 and sizing all your graphics on there like an atlas so that you know for sure once everything is uploaded in stencyl it will look nice instead of just guessing the correct size). Once created I uploaded all of them to stencyl. When uploading to stencyl look up and you will see a scaling bar. Stencyls preset to X4 all your animation which means if you scale a 1280 x 1920 graphic it will look like a 320 x 480 (or 4 times smaller then your original animation size). Not only will this work with a 320 x 480 graphic, but everything in between which is optimal for using on multiple ios devices without having to resize everything and this generally works the same with android as well. Cheers! hope that clears the air!

And if you also want a 640x480 flash application? Will that still look ok or would you need a different build for that?

You can make your application any size you want and it will be fine. The general idea of scaling is just to make your life easier if you wanted to upload your app to ios devices or android devices, but if your only going for a web based flash app then go on ahead and make it any size you want. It doesn't hurt though to make your aspects at 1920 x 1280 and scale them because it gives you access to various sizes in the event you did want to upload to multiple devices; however if your sticking to 640 x 480 and are planning to upload to ios or android its probably in your best interest to take advantage of scaling and just go higher res of 1920 x 1280. cheers!