Internet connection bug crashes TPA on PS3 and PS4

Hello everyone,

This is my first post. Just wanted to give a heads up on an internet connection bug that causes the latest version of TPA to crash every time it is played on at least some PS3 and PS4 consoles. I confirmed the bug with FarSight (affects PS3 and PS4 according to them) and they are actively working on a high-priority fix. Both of my PS3 250GB Super Slim consoles are affected. Here are the details.

Bug symptoms:
On PS3 and PS4 consoles connected to the internet, TPA crashes to the PlayStation main menu within about 15 minutes. Happens every time. Makes no difference what pinball table is being played. Makes no difference if TPA is sitting idle in any game menu.

Workaround (for now):
To play TPA, disconnect the PlayStation console from the internet. Either unplug the Ethernet cable for a wired connection or manually disable wireless Ethernet before starting TPA.

No word on an ETA for a fix. Hopefully soon.

Wow, nasty bug, but it seems it affects only the US version though. Phew.

I've played many hours in a row these past days on the EU PS3 version, and no crash.

I cant even get the game to load up, whether im offline or online. When opening TPA it just goes to black screen, forcing me to reset my ps3. I'm showing ver 2.26 as latest version. I even tried deleting TPA, re-download it, updated again, same result.

That is a nasty bug, no problems for me so far, just got done playing for around 30 minutes.

both of my ps3's wont play TPA anymore. please try to fix this soon.

neglectoid said:

both of my ps3's wont play TPA anymore. please try to fix this soon.

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Same bug as MarkItZeroSmoky ?

Same bug as MarkItZeroSmoky?

Tried disabling the internet connection and the problem continues.

Can't find reference to this issue on any other posts on the forum.

Any idea what is actually going on here?

MarkItZeroSmoky said:

I cant even get the game to load up, whether im offline or online. When opening TPA it just goes to black screen, forcing me to reset my ps3. I'm showing ver 2.26 as latest version. I even tried deleting TPA, re-download it, updated again, same result.

Click to expand...

Re-downloading and re-installing won't help. It's a bug in TPA code. Some type of conflict with a recent Sony software update that causes TPA to do a hard crash when it sees an internet connection and tries to access online data.

maaron82773 said:

Same bug as MarkItZeroSmoky?

Tried disabling the internet connection and the problem continues.

Can't find reference to this issue on any other posts on the forum.

Any idea what is actually going on here?

Click to expand...

It's a new problem that only affects some PS3 and PS4 consoles. I got the impression from FarSight that I was one of the first dozen or so people to report it. My guess is some kind of hardware-dependent race condition that varies depending on when your console was built and exactly what parts are on the motherboard. For example, if certain hardware of my console's motherboard is slightly faster or slower than average, then most consoles might work great but mine will fail, most likely because some part of TPA software is reacting too slowly or quickly on my consoles and causing an unrecoverable or improperly-handled error. The Ethernet issue is just a symptom of the bug. There could be any number of related failure scenarios that cause current TPA software to crash. Hopefully FarSight releases a fix soon.

Thx for the info chihuahua. That's about what I figured. I just bought Dracula right before I updated and now I can't play it. I'm Jonesin' for it! Will wait patiently for a fix.

Looks like some pc users are experiencing the same problem with todays update.

How did this update get past cert for PS3/4?

Anybody who's experiencing this, what does the "NAT Type" say in Settings> Network> View Connection Status?

Mine says "NAT Type - Type 2"

Hey guys..and especially @ RSchwantner...I have some info for you. The issue im having has something to do with older save files.

Upon opening TPA, i get the black screen that we usually see right before it gives you the "Installing Trophies/Checking ticket for Leaderboard access screen". Normally at that point, i hear the little beep you get when it loads your save file, and then the fan kicks in and you can hear the ps3 loading/running or whatever as it does its thing. But now, instead of that message, i hear a very faint beep, and then it does nothing as it sits at black screen until i reset my ps3.

So i decided to delete my save file & see what happened. Voila...TPA loads up, creates a new save file, and all seems well. Except of course that i no longer have my goals & local scores from before.

Now before you guys say i have a corrupt save file...i do not. the Ps3 will give you a message saying there is a corrupt save file and will try to rebuild the data base. It does not do this. I experimented with my other accounts that i have on my ps3 that ive played TPA on, and i get the exact same results. Unable to load with the old save files, deletion of old save files and letting the game create a new one allows TPA to load up with no problems. I've even pulled my back up saves from both the ps + cloud, and one i had on a usb stick to see if those worked, and no dice.

Ive been getting my TPA fix on Vita or Droid lately, and i havent played on my ps3 in quite some time. Not sure how many updates ago i actually loaded up the ps3 version, but perhaps somewhere along the way or in this most recent update, older save files that havent been saved to an updated version in awhile have become incompatible with the current version. All i know is i have quite a few tables that i was only one wizard goal away from completion & now i might have to start over. And thats a bummer, man.

MarkItZeroSmoky said:

Hey guys..and especially @ RSchwantner...I have some info for you. The issue im having has something to do with older save files.

...

So i decided to delete my save file & see what happened. Voila...TPA loads up, creates a new save file, and all seems well. Except of course that i no longer have my goals & local scores from before.

...

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Sorry to hear that your save is gone, but it sounds like you may have taken one for the team.

Does anybody want to try backing their save file up to USB then deleting it from the system?
This should only change things for anybody who's game will not boot after disabling the internet connection.
Make sure not to delete the USB version (I usually pull the USb after the save before I delete to make sure).
And I would not recommend this if you cannot save to USB.

If this is the case, I'll see if our PSN programmer can look at your Save file(s).

Again, thanks to MarkItZeroSmoky for the extra info.
And are you completely unable to get an old save, or can you load a save file and go into the game to a black screen?
If so, I would recommend saving your latest to a USB and emailing a copy to us at support@pinballarcade.com .
Mark down that I requested it and I'll see how much our programmer can do.

RSchwantner said:

Sorry to hear that your save is gone, but it sounds like you may have taken one for the team.

Does anybody want to try backing their save file up to USB then deleting it from the system?
This should only change things for anybody who's game will not boot after disabling the internet connection.
Make sure not to delete the USB version (I usually pull the USb after the save before I delete to make sure).
And I would not recommend this if you cannot save to USB.

If this is the case, I'll see if our PSN programmer can look at your Save file(s).

Again, thanks to MarkItZeroSmoky for the extra info.
And are you completely unable to get an old save, or can you load a save file and go into the game to a black screen?
If so, I would recommend saving your latest to a USB and emailing a copy to us at support@pinballarcade.com .
Mark down that I requested it and I'll see how much our programmer can do.

Click to expand...

I tried as MarkItZeroSmoky did, by deleting my original save file, and I was able to boot and play TPA just fine. I have emailed my original save file to support@pinballarcade.com marked to your attention.

I hope this helps as I'd really like to continue using my save if at all possible. But at least I can play in the meantime. Thx for your assistance RSchwantner

Hey my problem is related I believe. I can't update my game at all. So if the fix is an update how will that work?

Update. I played the game for hours yesterday and today with Ethernet connected. No problem at all, even though there hasn't been an update. Must have been a fix on the server side.

Dedpop said:

Same bug as MarkItZeroSmoky ?

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my bug is worse.. it wiped out all my tables.. I haven't played in 2 months. my home internet wifi isn't strong enuf to push my ps3's. I usually go to my friends house to dload new content, so I haven't tried in weeks to see if **** is still messed up.
a local barcade near me just got 4 machines so ive been playing those for the time being. I guess I should try this week to see if things are still broke, so I can report something.

to be honest I haven't been to upset about this bug cuz ive been doing other things and TPA just doesn't consume my thoughts like it once did. my town has finally realized that pinball is cool again and I can now play 8 different tables just by walking a few blocks. oh life is great again.

neglectoid said:

my bug is worse.. it wiped out all my tables.. I haven't played in 2 months. my home internet wifi isn't strong enuf to push my ps3's. I usually go to my friends house to dload new content, so I haven't tried in weeks to see if **** is still messed up.
a local barcade near me just got 4 machines so ive been playing those for the time being. I guess I should try this week to see if things are still broke, so I can report something.

to be honest I haven't been to upset about this bug cuz ive been doing other things and TPA just doesn't consume my thoughts like it once did. my town has finally realized that pinball is cool again and I can now play 8 different tables just by walking a few blocks. oh life is great again.

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That sucks hopefully this bug will get fixed soon for you.
There are three places I can go play physical machines but, they are
all an hour and half to two hours away.

The bowling alley has two beat up machines, FTails, which shuts off after one nudge and a Johnny Mnemonic which plays super slow.