Bug High scores and objectives vanished

[Mithrellas]

Hi,

I am very concerned at the moment because all my scores and objectives just disappeared.

I played it on 2 days ago with almost all my objectives unlocked in expert, high scores in the most of the tables, and now I got all reset like I never played at this game before.

I am not sure what happened.. is it a coincidence that I got the welcome message announcing the 3rd season after I got all my high scores and objectives vanished ?
Indeed, the third season appeared with no welcome message at first: I was able to play the Fish Tale tables before I got it.

Anyone could help me with this, please ?

P.S: Obviously, I will supply any details you need for debugging this.


Thanks !

OS Version: Windows 7 64 bits
Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 670
Ram: 6GB

 

[Mithrellas]

Hello,

Could you please consider this thread and reply to it ?

Thanks by advance.

 

[Stuart Webster]

User data is typically located in:

"C:\Users\<username>\My Games\Pinball Arcade\"

Is it possible that these files were either moved or deleted?

 

[Mithrellas]

Thank you so much for your reply, Stuart !

Actually, I just ran the game at this moment as usual and I just got the new welcome message saying that Black Rose is now available.
And my objectives and scores are vanished again at the same time than the previous one !

It is not a coincidence at this point in my opinion: I have a weird bug coming each time a new welcome message occurs after each update.

And no, my files in that directory never got deleted or modified. Also, the files creation matches with the first time I ran the game on November 5th.
For being more specific, I am talking about these files precisely:
- datae.dat
- datas.dat
- HighScores
- settings.dat
- Settings.ini

Thank you for your kind help Stuart, I was kinda desperate here.

 

[Mithrellas]

I just did notice that the "HighScores" file is now a 0 byte file so that confirms what I just said previously.
The size of the other files are the following :
- datae.dat = 27 bytes
- datas.dat = 27 bytes
- settings.dat = 44 bytes
- Settings.ini = 6 bytes

Also, the "HighScores" file has been modified (by the game itself not by myself) when I started the game before turning into a 0 byte file.

 

[Stuart Webster]

Does your Log.txt say anything about loading/saving failing?

It is typically located in this folder:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\PinballArcade\"

 

[Mithrellas]

Only this one occurs as failed :

Open File Resource\TBlackKnight2000.rez :
Failed


Here the complete log :

vs 1.22.7
Main Start
Init Steam
Init Achievements
Init Heap
Largest Memory Chunk = 788332544
Alloc Resource Heap
Init Resource Heap
Success
Alloc Resource Heap2
Init Resource Heap
Success
Alloc Object Heap
Init Object Heap
Success
Alloc Lua Heap
Init Lua Heap
Success
Alloc STL Heap
Init STL Heap
Success
Init Game
IMemoryInterface - Allocate
IMemoryInterface - InitHeap
Set display mode
Resolution = 1920x1080
PixelFormat = 22
DepthFormat = 75
StencilBits = 8
Create DX9 Device
Create Device Success
Success
Open File Resource\Debugging.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TestFX.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\BallObject.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TableDefines.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\GUIMenuDefines.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\GUI.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\Fonts.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\GUI_ProVer.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\GUI_DLC.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\GUI_LCD.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\GenericEnv.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TTotan.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TRipleys.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TTheaterOfMagic.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TBlackHole.Rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TMediev.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TBridePB.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TCirqus.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TFnHouse.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TMonsterBash.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TGorgar.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TCreature.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TKnight.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TTaxi.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\THarleyDavidson.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TGofers.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TElviraPartyMonsters.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TGenie.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TScaredStiff.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TVictory.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TTwilightZone.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TBigShot.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TStarTrekTNG.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TPinbot.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TAttackFromMars.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TWhirlWind.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TDrDude.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TFirepwr.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TCentralPark.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TCactusCanyon.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TShuttle.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TChampionPub.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TAceHigh.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TWhiteWater.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TCentaur.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TFlight2000.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TGoinNuts.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TTerminator2.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\THauntedHouse.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TTeedOff.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TClass1812.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TElDorado.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TCueBallWizard.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TFishTales.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TBlackRose.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\TBlackKnight2000.rez :
Failed

Open File Resource\Objects.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\Overlays.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\Sound.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\GenTableSounds.rez :
Success

Open File Resource\Adverts.rez :
Success

 

[Stuart Webster]

If you change an option and then return to the main menu, it will force a save. Does that put anything into the log?

 

[Mithrellas]

I just did what you suggested me, I lowered down the sound & music volume in the option then quit the game.

Now I got this message in the end of the log file :
Save File |C:\Users\Nicolas\My Games\Pinball Arcade\HighScores|

 

[Mithrellas]

My HighScores file now has a 496 KBytes size but while I am into the game, it is still like I never played this game before.

 

[Mithrellas]

Hi,

What should I try next ? Should I re-install the game completely or just erase the save Pinball Arcade folder (C:\Users\Nicolas\My Games\Pinball Arcade\) ?

Thanks by advance for your kind help.

 

[Mithrellas]

Guys,

I am not playing TPA anymore since the highscores and objectives disappear after each new update.
It is really sad since I was expecting to buy the last 3rd season tables but it is useless playing a pinball game that does reset your scores.
I always did support your work in the past though: I bought the whole first season, the most of the 2nd season tables on PC, and the first XBOX 360 version when it was available.

The main bug track I get is the following :
- the highscores and objectives reset occur after each new welcome message update.
- the reset happened to me 2 times since the 3rd season occurs.
- it happened first when I got the new welcome message announcing the Fish Tales table (also I was able to play the Fish Tales table before this new welcome message occurs)
- it happened a second time when I got the new welcome message announcing the Black Rose table (also I was able to play the Black Rose table before this new message occurs)
- each time this new welcome message occured, I noticed my "HighScores" file (located in C:\Users\<Username>\My Games\Pinball Arcade) has been modified (by the game itself not by myself) when I started the game before turning into a 0 byte file.

How could I be sure the scores and objectives will not reset at the next update ?
Is there any way to get my scores & objectives back (I got an highscore on almost each table I bought and all the standard objectives unlocked) ?


Thank you for considering this major issue.

Kind regards.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Sorry you are experiencing this. I'm not sure what the issue is (so far you are the only one to have reported this). We are hooking up the Steam Cloud for backing up saves, once that's in I'm hoping it'll help with the issue. In the meantime I'll see if we can have someone here reproduce the issue.

 

[Mithrellas]

Thanks for your reply Mike.

Do you have any idea for finding anything into some logs that could help identifying or even leading to fix that issue ?

Thank you for your hard work guys anyway, I am happy to read you are working on a Steam Cloud solution for backing up saves.

Kind regards.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Thanks for your reply Mike.

Do you have any idea for finding anything into some logs that could help identifying or even leading to fix that issue ?

Thank you for your hard work guys anyway, I am happy to read you are working on a Steam Cloud solution for backing up saves.

Kind regards.

Unfortunately I didn't add anything to the logging code to put out messages for this kind of situation.

We should have the cloud stuff in soon. Until then I would suggest doing manual backups (copy the highscores file somewhere else). Even after the cloud stuff is in I would still recommend it, as it's always good to backup save files.

 

[JPelter]

I'm kind of wondering if it doesn't have something to do with windows file access somehow. I've had something vaguely similar happen in the past because the location the program was saving to was heavily restricted read/write access. Although it only happening during updates makes that seem a little more unlikely. I'm not sure honestly but looking at the access levels in the directory housing the saves might be worthwhile just to rule it out.

 

[Mithrellas]

Even after the cloud stuff is in I would still recommend it, as it's always good to backup save files.

Indeed, even in the case you got syncing issues with the cloud: unfortunately that could happen for several reasons (networking issues for instance..)

Since I got this issue, I did manual backups into zip files for that saves folder but unfortunately not before I got all my scores and achievements reset.
Would there be any way for recovering achievements or scores from the Steam account (since all the achievements are still unlocked on the Steam app side) ?

Thank you truely Mike for your support and your answers.

Kind regards.