TPA NA v2.33

[Byte]

I downloaded v2.33 last night (not really sure when it became live), 3+ gig.

It will allow you to log in now (authorize ticket) but when you go to Leaderboards, it will show you your highest score in All / Friends mode, but in any other view it's a big list of None / 0 (however your *place* in the list seems to matter).

 

[yespage]

3 gig for that?!

 

[Byte]

As usual there is no changelog and I didn't have time to look around any further than what I hoped had been fixed.

 

[Tom Devaney]

Hey everyone, I'm the new Sony Pinball Arcade engineer, so I'm charge of PS3, Vita, and PS4. I've been at Farsight for almost 4 months now, and I've been trying to catch up PS4 to all the other platforms while also trying to fix some bugs like leaderboards on PS3 and Vita.

I will look into the bug you mentioned because last time I checked the PS3 leaderboards seemed fine. And as for a changelog, this seems like as good as any place to put it.

Various bug fixes
-Tournaments score posting works
-Twilight Zone missing sound added
-Challenges all work now
-Tables will no longer request you to update them
-Fixed Bonebusters exit crash in Season 6 Gottlieb challenge
-Fixed black hole pointing to wrong leaderboard
-Fixed save warning not showing up in beginning

 

[Byte]

Thanks [MENTION=1214]Tom[/MENTION]Devaney! And of course welcome to PinballArcadeFans. People seem to be a bit negative around here, but that's because people feel a bit neglected in the past.

I don't have any friends added to my PSN account, but perhaps someone else can see if they can see actual scores from others in "Friends" mode on the Leaderboards. In all other views you can see where you rank, but all scores are None for the player name and 0 for the score. I'm in Canada if that helps.

 

[Tom Devaney]

Thanks for the welcoming. I was a bit nervous because I do know a lot of fans are unhappy with the Sony products, but I want to be able to communicate with the fans, so I bit the bullet.

Are you able to post some photos of what you're seeing, so I have a better idea of what you're seeing? I think I understand what you're describing, but I just want to be sure.

 

[Byte]

Are you able to post some photos of what you're seeing, so I have a better idea of what you're seeing? I think I understand what you're describing, but I just want to be sure.

Of course, I'll post them tomorrow. It's past midnight where I'm at

 

[Tann]

Hello, I was cooking a changelog since the 2.32 (US)/1.30 (UE) release in November, but one month later, surprise, a new update (2.33 in US, 1.31 in EU).

I planned to create a topic about that, but as there is this one (moreover with a dev roaming around! Hail to Tom Devaney!), here we go:


TPA 2.32 & 2.33 (US) 1.30 & 1.31 (UE) (Note: an update make re-download the whole game, approximatively 3.3Gb)


General:

+ Physics 3.0 on all tables. Yeeess, finally. Makes a huge difference on the majority of the tables.
+ "Shiny" lighting and reflection FX toned down on the ball (and this is a good thing)
+ All challenges added
+ Non-purchased tables now have their own music (not ToTAN music playing for all tables)

- Input lag still awful in 1080i/p. Ball stuttering is even worse. I guess it will never be fixed. Too bad, as in 720p, no input lag but 2D assets on the playfield are weirdly messy and aliased as hell (huge dithering in 720p, not in 1080i/p).

- Translucent ball bug still there (see this post for steps to reproduce)

- Friend leaderboards partially fixed: ToTan, HRC, ToM, JD:SS, JY, MM, NGG, BK2K, NF still display IDs from my PSN friend list, which don't even own TPA.

+ Black Hole leaderboard re-synced (but in the process, all PS3 highscores from the previous BH leaderboard have been erased... bye-bye my 16M score)
- FunHouse leaderboard still de-synced: PS3 highscores are not posted to the "official" leaderboards (those on the TPA website)

- Sound settings (Table music, table FX, Menu music) don't stay saved. It has to be set again each time the game is launched

- Font for the Challenge table result screen is too big (the one asking you if you want to continue or use another credits). The score display is trimmed (ex: let's say you scored 59.6 pts. I will be displayed: "Your score: 5")

- Tournaments partially fixed: no problem to enter a tourney, to post scores. But when a tournament is finished, trying to check the tourney final rankings, it still says "You did not participate to this tournament", although you did. "None" is displayed instead of the final rankings (when pressing the X button). However, All-Time Rankings (when pressing the square button) take into account the latest tourney results.


Tables:

+ ToTAN multiball start fixed: the first ball is correctly caught by the magnet each time the shoot is attempted.
+ CV yellow bulbs fixed (OMG, this one was sooooo old!)
+ TAF: the Power has been weakened (good!)
+ ST:TNG : Final Frontier camera view fixed

- The Champion Pub rope event still broken in 720p. The ball does not jump at all. Fun fact: pressing all buttons to find a way to make the ball jump... deactivates the flippers. Yes, when the ball is released from the Rope place, flippers don't work anymore. ^^

- BK2K camera bug still present: after any multiball ended (Ransom or Double Knights Challenge), the camera does not zoom in anymore on the upper playfield (even if the camera view is unlocked). Pretty annoying.

- BK still scripted (it has been said somewhere that the ROM emulation version is not planned to be released on consoles)

- Some tables still too dark and lacking contrast: mainly T2, TZ, WH2O and JB (by far the worst, dark as hell)


Pending Reports:

* Test Challenges:
"The Williams challenge can't load Bride of Pinbot and displays "Completed goal 1" instead. The Bally challenge shows a black screen at the first table already.". Seems fixed, ScotchYeti said so.

-----------------

If you noticed something else I didn't catch or forget, let us know!

-----------------

Now, the 1 million question: as TPA on PS3 won't be supported anymore due to "technical limitations" (#BestJokeEverFromFarsight), can we assume that this Xmas update will be the last?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Byte]

[MENTION=1214]Tom[/MENTION]Devaney:

Here are the images, pic 1 is when you first go to the leaderboards, the 2nd if you want to see Everyone .something seems to have changed as if you cycle a bit, the data does show eventually (pic 3)

Pic 1 = Opening Screen

Pic 2 = All Time Scores

Pic 3 - All Time Scores after some cycling

 

[yespage]

Thanks for reading!

Yipes! That was thorough! Quick question, how can you tell Physics 3.0 is on all tables? Be a bit odd for FS rep to not mention that... being a rather big change.

 

[Zevious Zoquis]

Yipes! That was thorough! Quick question, how can you tell Physics 3.0 is on all tables? Be a bit odd for FS rep to not mention that... being a rather big change.

Yeah you would think it would be the sort of thing they’d be trumpeting loudly rather than completely failing to mention. Otoh, i’ve noticed over the years that devs often seem not to want to be very specific and open about exactly what they’ve changed in games when they release updates - particularly in the somewhat nebulous realm of “physics.” I think on one hand they don’t want to come out and state that they’ve “improved/made more realistic” the physics because they know the fanatics will then be like hungry dogs on a bone and start picking the changes apart. Then otoh, they hope for sort of a placebo effect where people convince themselves there has been some big improvement in areas they actually haven’t done anything to.

 

[Tom Devaney]

[MENTION=2327]Tann[/MENTION]

Thanks for that incredibly thorough changelog. For some of the problems you see, I will try and check out those. As for your question, there will be at least one more. I have to do a patch for a bug that Sony wants fixed, and when I do that patch, I will also look at some other bugs like any mentioned in this thread.

A question for you: did you get a change to try out the new tournament?
[MENTION=1509]Byte[/MENTION]

Thanks for the screenshots. That definitely helps me see what the problem is. I will be looking into this.

 

[ScotchYeti]

The challenges are working again! Yesss.
[MENTION=5794]yespage[/MENTION]: When you can do a live catch then it's safe to assume that Physics 3.0 is enabled. You need to play all the tables of course to verify this...
[MENTION=2327]Tann[/MENTION]: Are you sure the transluscent ball bug is fixed? I have a custom ball on Dracula. When switching to another table the default ball is close to invisible.
[MENTION=1214]Tom[/MENTION]: The leaderboard thing is really strange. On Creature it was enough to change the filter from All-Time to weekly and then monthly. For weekly the friends showed up correctly, for monthly all IDs were random (even mine was gone) although the scores were correct. For me it's not high prio. The rest is more important like the stuck camera on BK2k.

Any idea if the dithering in 720p can be reduced? Or add another option to give users a choice?

 

[Tann]

Yipes! That was thorough! Quick question, how can you tell Physics 3.0 is on all tables? Be a bit odd for FS rep to not mention that... being a rather big change.

As ScotchYeti said, performing a live catch is the ultimate proof. But more generally, the ball is a lot less bouncy when hitting the flippers, you feel it specifically during multiball, when you want to control the balls as much as possible. I played iconic tables of each season (from S1 to S4, before Cyclone), and I performed live catches on each of it. So I assume physics 3.0 is on all tables.

A question for you: did you get a change to try out the new tournament?

Yes, currently playing the Xmas tournament. So far, I didn't see any bugs, no problem to log in, highscores are correctly posted. I will wait its end (Dec, 25th) to see if the final results are correctly displayed.
Because there was a bug that when you wanted to see the tourney final results, it said "You did not participate to this tournament", although you participated. However, All-Time rankings took into account your latest results.

Are you sure the transluscent ball bug is fixed? I have a custom ball on Dracula. When switching to another table the default ball is close to invisible.

In 2.32/1.30, the translucent ball wasn't fixed. My process to produce the bug:

- Start Monster Bash with regular ball.
- During the game, change to a custom ball.
- Finish the game.
- Start another game with the custom ball.
- Change back to the regular ball > It is translucent.

In 2.33/1.31, following the exact same process multiple times, it was impossible to produce the bug.

But if you say you still encounter it, I will re-try to produce the bug, by switching tables like you this time.


*******
Some additional bugs I forgot (tagged as minor):


------------------------
A display bug in the table challenge result:

The font for the screen asking you if you want to continue or use another credit is too big: the table challenge score is trimmed.

For example, let's say you scored 59.6 pts. It will be displayed > "Your score: 5"


------------------------
A bug I had forgotten (a veeeeery old one) in the changelog, because it is a not a big deal, but still:

At the end of a game, during the Dot Matrix animation just before you can enter your initials (particularly the longer ones, like on Black Rose), if you press the X button before being actually invited to enter your initials, a new game starts directly. And adds a player each additional time the X button is pressed (4 max then). Then the X button becomes inactive.
The last game score (for which you didn't enter the initials) is not saved and not posted to leaderboards.

------------------------
A bug I encountered on BH (minor, because rare to trigger, I think).

- Lock the first ball in the captive hole on the main playfield
- Lock the second ball in the captive hole on the lower playfield
- Launch the third ball, then send it to the lower playfield to start the multiball with two balls (with the other one released from the captive hole).
- Let 1 ball drain from the lower playfield.
- You still play with one ball in the lower playfield, but the bug occurs now, as it is possible to lock it in the newly empty captive hole of the lower playfied (it should be impossible).

If the ball is locked in the captive hole, it is now impossible to drain it from the lower playfield, in order to continue the 3-ball multiball on the main playfield.
The whole table is locked, camera stuck on the lower playfield, call attendant doesn't work.

Whatever, it is rare to trigger this gamebreaking bug, because 90% of time, the first ball is locked on the lower playfield (very rare to lock the first ball on the main playfield, unless you aim to do so).


******
ST:TNG Final Frontier Camera Fix :

* I played a ST:TNG game, and I didn't encounter the multiball camera bug during Final Frontier (when the camera get stuck to the plunger view). In the past, a workaround was to not hit the flipper buttons until all balls were launched in order to prevent the camera view bug.
So, for testing, I pressed the flippers as Final Frontier started, and the camera went back and forth to the plunger view/playfield view several times (wtf), but did not get stuck to the plunger view. So I assume this is fixed? lol
EDIT: I tried again, and definitely not encountered the camera bug at the start of Final Frontier.

 

[Tann]

Are you sure the transluscent ball bug is fixed? I have a custom ball on Dracula. When switching to another table the default ball is close to invisible.

I tried again, and yes, you're right, the translucent ball bug is unfortunately still there.

Steps to reproduce:

- Start a game on a table that is already set with a custom ball (by default). It means the first time you set a custom ball on the table, the bug does not occur.
- Finish the game, then quit.
- Launch a table that is set with the regular ball. The ball will be translucent (and on all tables set with the regular ball).
- The only way to get back the ball texture is to relaunch TPA.

Example:

- Launch White Whater. Before pushing Start, go to Extras, and set the custom smiley ball (as the regular ball is hard to see on this particular table, due to the weird contrast)
- Launch the game, play, and finish it.
- Quit and launch a game on Monster Bash. The regular ball is still OK.
- Quit and launch again White Whater (which is now set by default with the custom smiley ball).
- Play the game, finish it.
- Quit and launch again Monster Bash. The regular ball is now translucent.

 

[ScotchYeti]

The tournament works fine. I forgot that I wanted to play badly to drop down to silver level. That will provide some good challenge to rise up again. Well, nex time.

In another thread someone mentioned that Judge Dread feels slower now. I had a similar impression when I played Who Dunnit. The ball seems to move slower although my memory might play tricks here...

Cheers,
ScotchYeti

 

[Tann]

As the tournament has now ended, there is still the final ranking bug:

- After a tournament has finished, when a player wants to see the tournament final rankings, it says: "You did not participate to this tournament", although you did. And "None" is displayed instead of the tournament final rankings (when pressing X button). However, the All-Time rankings (when pressing the square button) are up-to-date as it takes into account the latest tournament results.