Bug Game reverts to launch view during Final Frontier

[Kolchak357]

It's been so long since I've played this table, I've forgotten to test this.

But yes, this problem STILL exists.

IPad4/iOS6, TPA 2.8.0

It sure does. Happened to me a week or so ago. I play it about once a month. Then I hit this bug and don't play it again for another month. Very irritating.

 

[pezpunk]

weird. i wonder why it's never happened to me on iPad 2

 

[Fungi]

weird. i wonder why it's never happened to me on iPad 2

Do you play with "multiball" cam on?

 

[pezpunk]

Do you play with "multiball" cam on?

just checked -- no, it's off. perhaps that's the workaround.

 

[Fungi]

The workaround is to have it "on". So, I still don't get why you're so lucky. Could be the iPad 2.

 

[Korven]

Multiballcam on seems to do the trick for me. But since I never use it on other tables I always forget about it.

 

[pezpunk]

i do have multiball cam on.

 

[Fungi]

just checked -- no, it's off. perhaps that's the workaround.

i do have multiball cam on.

Are you ok? Did you get hit on the head?

 

[vikingerik]

Reporting in another data point for the same problem and solution on the Steam/Windows (XP) version. Final Frontier would often lock on the plunger view for the entire mode. Turning multiball camera on mostly solves it. It goes to plunger view for a couple seconds at the start but then back to normal.

 

[Sumez]

Holy crap... I finally bought this table on PS3, remember seeing this thread a few times. I was pretty shocked to see that this bug still exists. And not only does it happen a lot, it happens almost constantly, whenever ANY multiball is started! The game is practically unplayable, competitive scores impossible.
I can't believe something like this would ever go through QA (do they have any QA?), it's unbelievable to me that everyone hasn't demanded their money back, and the game pulled from the service. You can't sell a broken product like this, and you're telling me they have been doing it since the table came out?

This, guys, is why we need XBLA's strict publishing reviews.

 

[DanBradford]

ipad air with latest software, happens to me every time and is very frustrating.

i've been playing this a lot as it's a table where my position is low, so every day for the last few i manage to play a bit, get to FF, then watch from the bottom right corner and try to randomly flap away and maybe hit one shot or maximum two, by luck, until they drain and it brings me back around the front again. frustrating, as with my 6 artefacts i was on 150M a shot today, any shot, for as long as i could keep at least two of six balls in play - that's an easy extra billion even for a numpty like me.

who do i have to ask to get a reaction?

 

[doedje]

Very annoying indeed, had the exact same thing yesterday. My daughters had played some pinball and I assume they changed the cam-mode-during-launch. What I did after that waste of a Final Frontier is during a regular ball-launch select cam1, which is in my opinion the best view there is to get during ball launch. This cam setting is also used for FF. It is a different cam-setting than the one used during 'normal' play. Good luck with that! =]

 

[doedje]

In a reply on a PM from DanBradford (he asked me to restate how I fixed it...):

Well, first of all, 'fixing it' is not quite what I did... I just changed it from absolutely horrible and unplayable to something a bit better. =]

The concept behind it all is that the game remembers two different camera preferences: 1) in game and 2) during ball launch. So whenever you push the camera button in the upperleft corner during play it will change the camera preference that I refer to as the in-game-camera-preference. And when you push that button during ball launch (or better, just before you launch the ball, for instance at the beginning of a new game) it will change the ball-launch-camera-preference. Play around with this button until you get what I mean...

When Final Frontier starts, the game goes into ball-launch-mode for some *stupid* reason and will use the corresponding ball-launch-camera-preference. From the options this camera preferece has to offer I'd suggest camera angle #1, because this one lets you at least see the whole table and while it is not perfect it is the quite okay.

Hope this is a bit clearer?

Bottom line stays: this is a very annoying thing, FS should fix this...

 

[DanBradford]

thank you doedje (can i call you doedje? it seems so informal) i have now cleared my blockage. i will try what you suggest, but also it would be nice to see an update from FS sometime. i think maybe 18 months for a bug may be some kind of record? or at least up there with the top scorers.

btw i am in Leiden tonight, hope you are well

 

[doedje]

thank you doedje (can i call you doedje? it seems so informal) i have now cleared my blockage. i will try what you suggest, but also it would be nice to see an update from FS sometime. i think maybe 18 months for a bug may be some kind of record? or at least up there with the top scorers.

btw i am in Leiden tonight, hope you are well

You can call me doedje, or Remy, whatever makes you feel more comfortable =]

18 months is a long time for a bug, but I work in software developement myself and with a popular product like TPA comes a huge usergroup, which results in a massive flood of bugreports and feature demands (people might even forget to refer to the latter as feature wishes and just go about and DEMAND stuff, talking about annoying...). But sometimes even the simplest of bugs to fix or features to implement just lay around for years because of the working pressure. Think server update, OS updates, browsers updates (enough stuff to keep a small developement team busy). Think profits, revenues, sales teams, long-term goals and you also include a bunch of stuff that is not even your core business, but hey, you have to keep up with those to, you are trying to run a business... So basically I have respect for what FS has accomplished so far and try not to focus on what is NOT there, but what IS there and what makes me enjoy TPA. At the moment only 3 of my favorite pinball machines are available in TPA: STTNG, T2 and MM... So I'll stick with those, and play them happily!

Enjoy the Netherlands!

 

[Sumez]

I somehow managed to avoid the bug most of the time. I'm not sure what I did, but through a mix of various settings, it now only stays in plunger cam for a short while before returning to regular camera.
The result is I can now play Borg multiball seriously, meaning I now get scores that could probably be defined as being less than serious.

 

[Jeff Strong]

who do i have to ask to get a reaction?

I sent Stuart a link to this thread. Sounds like they got right on it and have a fix ready for the next update.

 

[smbhax]

The workaround is setting "multiball camera" back to "ON" in the game options. Last I knew that prevents the problem (and most other stuck camera problems) from happening on all platforms.

 

[DanBradford]

I sent Stuart a link to this thread. Sounds like they got right on it and have a fix ready for the next update.

thanks dude. your name may be Jeff, but you will always be Jimi to me

 

[netizen]

18 months is a long time for a bug, but I work in software developement myself and with a popular product like TPA comes a huge usergroup, which results in a massive flood of bugreports and feature demands (people might even forget to refer to the latter as feature wishes and just go about and DEMAND stuff, talking about annoying...). But sometimes even the simplest of bugs to fix or features to implement just lay around for years because of the working pressure. Think server update, OS updates, browsers updates (enough stuff to keep a small developement team busy). Think profits, revenues, sales teams, long-term goals and you also include a bunch of stuff that is not even your core business, but hey, you have to keep up with those to, you are trying to run a business... So basically I have respect for what FS has accomplished so far and try not to focus on what is NOT there, but what IS there and what makes me enjoy TPA. At the moment only 3 of my favorite pinball machines are available in TPA: STTNG, T2 and MM... So I'll stick with those, and play them happily!

If we could nominate posts ... This one should be a sticky post all unto itself.