Version 1.31.8

[MWink]

Hmm. They were there yesterday. And they're up and okay on the website.

No, they weren't there yesterday either. I'm a bit depressed because it probably means my 12 billion point game of Twilight Zone won't post to the leaderboards. I guess it could be worse, some people are reporting losing access to their (in-game) purchased tables. BTW, the leaderboards still appear on the website and on the Android version, so it's definitely a problem with the Steam version.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

No, they weren't there yesterday either. I'm a bit depressed because it probably means my 12 billion point game of Twilight Zone won't post to the leaderboards. I guess it could be worse, some people are reporting losing access to their (in-game) purchased tables. BTW, the leaderboards still appear on the website and on the Android version, so it's definitely a problem with the Steam version.

I'm going based on my recent ToM score that I posted. Which I now realize was on Saturday, not yesterday. However it is showing up on the website.

Access to IAPs etc. are not tied to the FS login. The FS login is only used for leaderboards, tournaments, etc. IAPs are tied to the account you used to purchase them with - Steam, Google Play, iTunes, etc. So issues with losing access to tables are not related to missing leaderboards.

 

[dwarvenpanzer9]

I was on TPA (Steam) at around 7:30p ET Saturday night when a buddy of mine had beaten one of my high scores and I wanted to check to see how many he had above mine. I was out of the house from then until a couple hours ago. I just went to hop on game, and my local high scores for each table are still there, but the leaderboards are blank for all tables.

I still have access to all my tables, but I didn't try logging out and logging back on, in the fear of the aforementioned inability to log back in at the present time.

The website still has leaderboards, but when I log into my account there, it only shows about somewhere between 30-35 tables' worth of my own personal high scores.

I don't know what's going on, but hopefully someone/someones is/are looking into this...

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

The website still has leaderboards, but when I log into my account there, it only shows about somewhere between 30-35 tables' worth of my own personal high scores.

That's been the case for a while now. There are a lot of tables missing from that list - if you log in, then go to the 'Leaderboards' tab, you'll see your score listed for every table.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

My thinking is that something has changed on the way scores are pulled in from the database. I don't know if the game uses the same calls as the website, but it makes sense for that to be the case. Perhaps it's an authentication thing. Leaderboards have been working fine in this version up until now; since nothing has changed on the client, the change/issue has got to be on the backend.

 

[dwarvenpanzer9]

My thinking is that something has changed on the way scores are pulled in from the database. I don't know if the game uses the same calls as the website, but it makes sense for that to be the case. Perhaps it's an authentication thing. Leaderboards have been working fine in this version up until now; since nothing has changed on the client, the change/issue has got to be on the backend.

That makes sense. I was just looking forward to checking the boards to see how many tables I needed to do some score work on to reclaim my spot above my buddy before I would head back to working on Wizard Goals, heh.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Trying to figure out what's going on with the leaderboards and server issues.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Ownership and Leaderboards are fixed. Was an issue on our server.

 

[MWink]

Ownership and Leaderboards are fixed. Was an issue on our server.

Glad to hear it. So, does this mean that packs purchased in-game ARE dependent on your (FarSight's) servers and not Steam's?

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Glad to hear it. So, does this mean that packs purchased in-game ARE dependent on your (FarSight's) servers and not Steam's?

It's actually kinda complicated. It uses both Steam and FarSight servers to do transactions.

Ownership is stored locally as well as on the server. Not sure why the local version wasn't working for some people. Essentially if the servers were down, or you are playing offline it should use the local version of ownership.

 

[Gozer]

It's actually kinda complicated. It uses both Steam and FarSight servers to do transactions.

Ownership is stored locally as well as on the server. Not sure why the local version wasn't working for some people. Essentially if the servers were down, or you are playing offline it should use the local version of ownership.

I know it's working now but could you look into this? I'd rather not lose access to my tables just because of a server issue.

 

[MWink]

I know it's working now but could you look into this? I'd rather not lose access to my tables just because of a server issue.

This is exactly why I despise DRM. It often screws over the paying customer. Also, I take this to mean that, should FarSight's servers ever disappear (if they go out of business or just decide to shut them down) people will lose access to the tables they've purchased. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

This is just one reason I'm a HUGE fan of DRM-free stores (like GOG) and wary of ones like Steam (which I sometimes begrudgingly tolerate). Unfortunately, GOG only has a few good pinball games (most notably the Pro Pinball series).

 

[JPelter]

This is exactly why I despise DRM. It often screws over the paying customer. Also, I take this to mean that, should FarSight's servers ever disappear (if they go out of business or just decide to shut them down) people will lose access to the tables they've purchased. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

This is just one reason I'm a HUGE fan of DRM-free stores (like GOG) and wary of ones like Steam (which I sometimes begrudgingly tolerate). Unfortunately, GOG only has a few good pinball games (most notably the Pro Pinball series).

I don't think you read the comment correctly. It's supposed to work in offline mode, but there's something wonky going on. I'm sure they're fixing it.

 

[MWink]

I don't think you read the comment correctly. It's supposed to work in offline mode, but there's something wonky going on. I'm sure they're fixing it.

I did read the comment but I'm not sure it gives the whole picture. I'd bet the authorization token (or whatever it's called) that allows for offline play is only good for a certain amount of time. I expect it would require you to get online and let it reauthorize from FarSight's (or Steam's) servers every now and then. Of course I could be wrong. I would LOVE to know all the details if FarSight would be willing to share them but I realize most companies don't want you to know how some of their stuff works.

 

[Biff]

This is exactly why I despise DRM. It often screws over the paying customer. (...)

I have games on PSN, Steam, Origin and Uplay. Never had an issue with DRM. I'd say the "often" in your statement is wrong.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

There are NDA issues with how Steam works which is why I can't explain details. Explaining details is kinda like asking a bank the details of how they keep info secure.

There is no time limit on playing in offline mode. I think what happened in this case was the ownership query returned garbage data (server was up, something on the server got messed up). This isn't the same issue as if the server is down, in which case it returns the server is down and uses offline mode data. I took steps to make sure the problem on the server never happens again.

 

[MWink]

There are NDA issues with how Steam works which is why I can't explain details. Explaining details is kinda like asking a bank the details of how they keep info secure.

There is no time limit on playing in offline mode. I think what happened in this case was the ownership query returned garbage data (server was up, something on the server got messed up). This isn't the same issue as if the server is down, in which case it returns the server is down and uses offline mode data. I took steps to make sure the problem on the server never happens again.

Yeah, I kinda expected the "we can't talk about it" response. I really hate hearing the "just trust us" type of line. Anyway, I'll just ask the most important question, point blank, and hope you can answer it. Should FarSight's servers ever disappear (god forbid, they go out of business or just decide to stop supporting TPA, etc.) might we lose access to the tables that we have purchased? How about if the game were freshly installed through Steam and thus lacking any stored ownership data that comes from FarSight's servers? I hope your NDA allows you to answer these important questions.

 

[LeRoy3rd]

Yeah, I kinda expected the "we can't talk about it" response. I really hate hearing the "just trust us" type of line. Anyway, I'll just ask the most important question, point blank, and hope you can answer it. Should FarSight's servers ever disappear (god forbid, they go out of business or just decide to stop supporting TPA, etc.) might we lose access to the tables that we have purchased? How about if the game were freshly installed through Steam and thus lacking any stored ownership data that comes from FarSight's servers? I hope your NDA allows you to answer these important questions.

+1

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

You'll still keep ownership. Make sure you back up your entire save folder if you ever plan to install it fresh (and our servers no longer existed).

Actually I suggest backing up your save folder for any and every game you own in case something happens to your PC.

 

[MWink]

You'll still keep ownership. Make sure you back up your entire save folder if you ever plan to install it fresh (and our servers no longer existed).

Actually I suggest backing up your save folder for any and every game you own in case something happens to your PC.

Thanks for answering. Which save folder are you referring to. TPA appears to save data in two folders. One is \Steam\userdata\*SteamUserNumber*\238260\, the other is \Users\*UserName*\My Games\. Or did you mean \Steam\steamapps\common\PinballArcade\?

On a semi-related note, unless something changed in the last few months, the Steam Cloud functionality doesn't work quite right in TPA. If you install it to a new computer it will not sync before the game first starts but it will sync after it closes. This means that not only will the new computer lack your scores and unlocked goals but, the next time you run TPA on the old computer, it will overwrite those files with the fresh ones from the new computer. Basically, unless you either disable Steam Cloud or make a copy of the TPA save files and manually restore them, you can lose all your high scores and goals after installing TPA on a new computer. At least that was my experience. Luckily, I regularly make backups.