Reporting bugs / tracking bugs / validating bugs / fixing bugs ???

[xAzatothx]

**** Sorry if this has been discussed already ****

Given the number of platforms supported by PA, frequency of new tables and limited FS staff, it seems to me that lots of bugs are creeping into the product. At the moment these seem to be reported here and on the FB page, the latter being very fragmented and all over the place. Is there an official channel for communicating bugs to FS?

Is there an opportunity here where issues could be formally logged and tracked and freely available over the internet similar to what the Wordpress folks do? Pinball Arcade fans could then test and validate these before flagging them to FS for consideration?

I don't have visibility of the current process - which just seems a free for all resulting in FS not having a clue of what the issue is and on what platform....etc Which probably explains why none of the issues ever get fixed?


thoughts?

 

[1976mrk]

From Bobby King, Lead Designer of Farsight Studios:

The best way to report bugs to us is by emailing them directly to us: support@farsightstudios.com or by posting them on digitalpinballfans.com. Either way, they get added to our bug database and reviewed by our production staff.

On the main forum pages, there is usually a sticky topic for bugs in specific platforms.

 

[xAzatothx]

From Bobby King, Lead Designer of Farsight Studios:

The best way to report bugs to us is by emailing them directly to us: support@farsightstudios.com or by posting them on digitalpinballfans.com. Either way, they get added to our bug database and reviewed by our production staff.

On the main forum pages, there is usually a sticky topic for bugs in specific platforms.

cheers for that - I'd missed that.

Seems like FR should have things in place to track and sort issues then. Wonder if there is still a role the community can play in testing / assisting with these issues?

 

[Sinistar]

cheers for that - I'd missed that.

Seems like FR should have things in place to track and sort issues then. Wonder if there is still a role the community can play in testing / assisting with these issues?

Yes , do a brief search to make sure the bug you post here is not already well documented.

Then include what system you use and anything that you think made the bug happen, and if you have no clue, tell them what was going on in the game , before the bug happened.

what resoloution is your console set to? Is it HD ?

also tell them how easy or hard it is to make the bug happen, is it a rare thing ? Or can you make it happen all the time?

Then they can research with your info , and track down the problem and patch it. They might not fix it in a month , but eventually it does get patched.

 

[Jeff Strong]

From now on, we are going to have two separate threads for each release/update on each platform:

1.) A thread strictly for reporting bugs.
2.) Another thread for feedback and impressions.

Anything posted in the bug thread that isn't a bug will be moved or deleted.

Also, when posting a bug, we will ask that you please use this format:

Device/OS: (not needed for consoles)

Bug Description:

Steps to reproduce:

Frequency:

Additional comments:

This will make it much easier for Farsight to track bugs.

 

[xAzatothx]

cheers Jeff. So do FR actively monitor these threads or does someone forward info / alert them?

 

[Jeff Strong]

cheers Jeff. So do FR actively monitor these threads or does someone forward info / alert them?

They do for 360 and Android at least. I think Stephen might be checking all the other threads now as well (hopefully).

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

So just to be clear, table-specific bugs are now going in the platform bug threads, and NOT in the table-specific forums, correct?

 

[Jeff Strong]

So just to be clear, table-specific bugs are now going in the platform bug threads, and NOT in the table-specific forums, correct?

That's a good question. I think from a forum standpoint, it would be better to post them in the table-specific forums, but it might be easier for Farsight if we post them in the platform bug threads. So maybe the best answer is both?

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

That's a good question. I think from a forum standpoint, it would be better to post them in the table-specific forums, but it might be easier for Farsight if we post them in the platform bug threads. So maybe the best answer is both?

Probably should be one or the other, I think, because some people may post bugs in thread A and others in thread B, and then if FarSight responds in thread A, people looking at thread B may be commenting on issues FS has already addressed...?

Maybe we should ask FarSight which they'd prefer?

 

[Jeff Strong]

Probably should be one or the other, I think, because some people may post bugs in thread A and others in thread B, and then if FarSight responds in thread A, people looking at thread B may be commenting on issues FS has already addressed...?

Maybe we should ask FarSight which they'd prefer?

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'll run this by them.

Ryan for example tends to mainly stick to the Android section, but that shouldn't be an issue since, as we know, Mike is the guy who fixes table specific bugs. So as long as Mike doesn't mind then ideally we should keep table specific bugs in the table forums....it seems that the majority of the bugs are table specific, so that really won't leave much for the platform bug sections.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I heard back from Mike and he said it's best to keep table-specific bugs in the table forums. So any bug posts that aren't platform-specific will be moved to the table forums.

 

[Ruz-El]

It would help if we had details of what fixes are happening in each patch. Has there ever been a post like that? I'm only basing this on seeing the patch notes that Bethesda release with each Skyrim patch. It helps to recognize what changed thing is having an effect on the game.

 

[Jeff Strong]

It would help if we had details of what fixes are happening in each patch. Has there ever been a post like that? I'm only basing this on seeing the patch notes that Bethesda release with each Skyrim patch. It helps to recognize what changed thing is having an effect on the game.

We've requested changelogs several different times, but to no avail.

 

[xAzatothx]

what about compiling a top 5 bugs for each table every month? or similar.

 

[xAzatothx]

I guess the more medium we have to report bugs the harder it is for FS to manage the issues. I was thinking it would be nice if there was a bug submit form hosted by FS (on their webpage) which forced end users to log with enough information.......something like.

Platform:
Table:
Display device and connection method (HDMI or component ...etc)
Device:
OS:
Bug description:
Steps to reproduce:
Additional Comments:

I can't help but feel Facebook isn't the ideal medium for logging and picking up issues.

I'd be interested to know what software FS use to log and manage their issues. I'm hoping it's not just an excel spreadsheet. Really any decent bug tracking system should allow the creation of patch notes - something we'd all love to see per release.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

We use Mantis for bug tracking.

As for release notes, we keep forgetting to do them. I'll bring it up in our next meeting.

 

[xAzatothx]

thanks Mike - release notes sure would be good.

 

[jaredmorgs]

We use Mantis for bug tracking.

As for release notes, we keep forgetting to do them. I'll bring it up in our next meeting.

And let it be known that Mantis does have Android and iOS apps available. And the ability to API inject bug reporting code into apps.

This is what I found from their website.

The device info and other system stuff could be injected automatically from system info available to the API.

 

[Sinistar]

We use Mantis for bug tracking.

As for release notes, we keep forgetting to do them. I'll bring it up in our next meeting.

So Mantis is used by other companies ? , interesting , now you know where I learned how to bug report.