Bug Unity Mediation merged into IronSource LevelPlay build successful, app crash exits

Unity 2021.3.17f
IronSource 7.2.7
Unity Ads 4.3.29.2
AdMob 4.3.46.0
Android Build to Samsung S6 Android v.7

I merged Unity Mediation into LevelPlay on dashboard.unity3d.com.
I set it up on Iron Source
I connected sdk networks for IronSource, Unity Play, AdMob (API Failed for Google Ad Mob but AdMob Native API OK).
My game is in development. It has not been published yet. I've been trying to 3 days to make it work following official ironsource level play docs and also a youtube video link below.
I'm unable to deploy to a test device. Build is successful and then crash exit.

Logcat reports:

Code (CSharp):

1. 0001/01/01 00:00:00.000 -1 -1 Info  --------- beginning of main
2. 2023/01/26 21:19:29.828 13086 13086 Error Zygote v2
3. 0001/01/01 00:00:00.000 -1 -1 Info  --------- beginning of system
4. 2023/01/26 21:19:29.829 13086 13086 Info libpersona KNOX_SDCARD checking this for 10253
5. 2023/01/26 21:19:29.829 13086 13086 Info libpersona KNOX_SDCARD not a persona
6. 2023/01/26 21:19:29.832 13086 13086 Error Zygote accessInfo : 0
7. 2023/01/26 21:19:29.832 13086 13086 Warn SELinux SELinux selinux_android_compute_policy_index : Policy Index[2],  Con:u:r:zygote:s0 RAM:SEPF_SECMOBILE_7.0_0010, [-1 -1 -1 -1 0 1]
8. 2023/01/26 21:19:29.835 13086 13086 Info SELinux SELinux: seapp_context_lookup: seinfo=untrusted, level=s0:c512,c768, pkgname=com.MyUnityAndIronSourceCompanyName.MyProjectTitle
9. 2023/01/26 21:19:29.846 13086 13086 Info art Late-enabling -Xcheck:jni
10. 2023/01/26 21:19:29.901 13086 13086 Debug TimaKeyStoreProvider TimaKeyStore is not enabled: cannot add TimaSignature Service and generateKeyPair Service
11. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.415 13086 13086 Debug AndroidRuntime Shutting down VM
12. 0001/01/01 00:00:00.000 -1 -1 Info  --------- beginning of crash
13. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime FATAL EXCEPTION: main
14. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime Process: com.MyUnityAndIronSourceCompanyName.MyProjectTitle, PID: 13086
15. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to get provider com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
16. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime
17. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime ******************************************************************************
18. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * The Google Mobile Ads SDK was initialized incorrectly. AdMob publishers    *
19. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * should follow the instructions here:                                       *
20. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest         *
21. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest.                          *
22. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here:              *
23. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest.   *
24. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime ******************************************************************************
25. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime
26. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime
27. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:6329)
28. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at android.app.ActivityThread.installContentProviders(ActivityThread.java:5918)
29. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:5857)
30. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap3(ActivityThread.java)
31. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1699)
32. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
33. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154)
34. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6682)
35. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
36. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1520)
37. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1410)
38. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
39. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime
40. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime ******************************************************************************
41. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * The Google Mobile Ads SDK was initialized incorrectly. AdMob publishers    *
42. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * should follow the instructions here:                                       *
43. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest         *
44. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest.                          *
45. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here:              *
46. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime * https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest.   *
47. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime ******************************************************************************
48. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime
49. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime
50. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at com.google.android.gms.ads.internal.client.zzek.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@21.4.0:26)
51. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@21.4.0:1)
52. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:6326)
53. 2023/01/26 21:19:30.432 13086 13086 Error AndroidRuntime     ... 10 more
54.  

Can someone please help to resolve it. Can LevelPlay be deployed to a game that was not published yet?

Link to a video that I also followed but for me Ironsource DemoScene crashes on deploy to a device. My own game scenes build deployed to a device also crashes.
Video:

 

Finding a solution - progress:
I managed to make some progress with resolving my problems migrating from Unity Mediation to LevelPlay.
For anyone having similar problems here's what seems to have worked for me to some extent. This is for test ads.

- First of all I had a backup of my project. I started fixing with a copy from a backup. I removed Unity Mediation from the project. I switched off Services -> Ads in project settings as turning it "ON" broke the build for me.

- I followed this step to get rid of "Play Services" folder from my project. That was there for Unity Mediation I believe:
https://developers.ironsrc.com/ironsource-mobile/unity/ironsource-integration-manager-unity/#step-3
(review step 1 and 2 on the same page).
- I followed the section "External Dependency Manager Changes" in there.
It replaced Play Services pacakges with "Assets -> Mobile Dependency Resolver" option in the Editor. This replaced old "Play Services" folder and option to resolve android.

- I still couldn't get test banner ads loading with only iron source installed in Unity -> Ads Mediation tab (that appears at the top of the Untiy Editor once Ironsource SDK was installed).
I was getting "empty waterfall" result in debug log but I managed to deploy build to my android device. Empty waterfall probably means there's no ad available (?). I couldn't find much info on that anywhere so I decided to enable Banner Unity Ads (non-existent in Unity Mediation if I'm correct but existing in Unity Ads).

- So I enabled Unity Ads banner ad on IronSource -> SDK Networks Setup page - I was moving from Unity Mediation and had no banner ad setup on unity Dashboard Monetization before. I set this up on both Unity Dashboard and on Ironsource.

- Having tested it with level play ironsource and unity ads installed in unity I can see unity banner test ad loading and test interstitial iron source ad also loading, at least for now. I haven't tested rewarded ad yet.

- Changes to gradleTemplate.properties in Assets -> Plugins -> Android
On top of adding:
android.enableDexingArtifactTransform=false in gradleTemplate.properties in Assets -> Plugins -> Android I had to add
android.useAndroidX=true
android.enableJetifier=true
in there as well.
(If anyone could explain what these two settings are, why they're required that would be great).

Without these two settings my build failed. Adding them solved the problem with building to a device, launching the game and getting Banner and Interstitial Ads loading.

To get gradleTemplate file it has to be enabled (ticked) in Project Settings -> Player -> Build.
While in there it also required to enable (tick) two extra boxes:
1. Custom Main Manifest
2. Custom Base Gradle Template - watch the video I linked in my post above for details. It really helped me to get going.

- I got Test Rewarded Ad loading too.

- For Google AdMob I installed AdMob via Ads Mediation -> Integration Manager window in the Editor.
I had to go to navigate to Assets -> IronSource -> Plugins -> Android -> IronSource.plugin -> AndroidManifest.xml <-- This is the second(!) AndroidManifest file on top of Assets -> Plugins -> Android -> AndroidManifest.xml, and in there I added my AdMob App ID like this:

Code (CSharp):

1. <manifest>
2.     <application>
3.         <!-- Sample AdMob app ID: ca-app-pub-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXX -->
4.         <meta-data
5.             android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.APPLICATION_ID"
6.             android:value="ca-app-pub-xxxxADMOBxxxAPPID~yyyyyyyyyy"/>
7.     </application>
8. </manifest>

This solved the problem with Google AdMob integration for Test Ads for me.

I thought I share my findings if anyone's interested.

 

I have the same bug at runtime even thought I added the application ID.
The migration process to levelplay is tedious and has many errors in the documentation, still didn't manage to make it work unfortunately

 

When I add the APPLICATION_ID meta-data it disappear after building

 

I had to use a menu to add it that is not documented, that's many many little things like that that makes the migration tedious (And I'm not in the iOS phase yet ).
I used Ads Mediation then Developer Settings then Mediated network settings