email about downloading turns multiple times...

[eggman51]

I received the following email:
"Dear ******,

The server tracks all actions taken by all users in the PBEM++ system and we notice that you have consistently downloaded your turns multiple times.
Please contact technical support via www.slitherine.com/forum to resolve the issue or you may find you are unable to continue to use the PBEM++ server system.

Regards"

I am NOT doing anything to request multiple downloads. I am on a 1st gen iPad and the game crashes frequently when I go to submit a turn, therefore I have to re-download it and play my turn over again.

I found the above email to be annoying given that it's the game crashing (which is annoying).

Thanks,
eggman

[pipfromslitherine]

What exactly happens when you go to submit a turn? Do you get an error message etc. This is not something that has been reported before to my knowledge. Is there any common pattern to when it does verses does not crash? My guess would be some kind of memory issue, so you could try killing off anything else still living in memory before playing any turns (double tap the home button, then hold, then zap all those resident apps!). If you are able, post a crash log for me and I can be more precise. You can find them:

•Mac OS X : ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/
•Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter/
•Windows Vista: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter/MobileDevice/

With regard to the email, I am sure you can see that we want to prevent cheating, and the game can't tell whether it crashed at some prior point or not, so please don't take offence. Any and all flags from the automated system are checked by a real person to ensure that only actual cheaters are penalised.

Cheers

Pip

[eggman51]

Thanks for the prompt reply Pip. As noted I am on a 1st gen iPad, so I assume a sync is required to get the crashlogs? When I submit a turn it will crash just before the "waiting" picture renders. It always crashes here (or succeeds). Disabling any other running apps helped, prior to that it would crash every time I submitted a turn.

[pipfromslitherine]

Yes - a sync is required. I am going to look at adding in some online error log reporting, although in theory Apple now collates the crash logs from when people sync, but we don't have any yet! Not that all that many people sync their apps with iTunes, given its foibles...

It does sound like a memory crash. I will look into it some more, although it is very tough working around the IOS memory system. No documented actual limits, and it will kill off the running app rather than something else sitting in memory dormant. Oh well!

Cheers

Pip

[eggman51]

There is nothing in that folder on my Mac after letting a sync with the iPad complete.

[pipfromslitherine]

Oh well. I think it has probably moved. I will try and track it down.

Cheers

Pip

[enric]

Mac OS X : ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/

The path is correct.
Probably you already know that to see the Library folder you must hold down option key while open the Go menu in the Finder.
Inside, logs/CrashReporter, the folder MobileDevice, and inside should be a folder with the name of each device you own (iPad, iPhone...) and inside that folder something like: FaceTime-2012-04-07-172245.crash

HIH

[eggman51]

I got another email about this.

"We note you are still consistently downloading your turns multiple times.
If you are having technical issues you need to contact our tech support team immediately via info@slitherine.co.uk.
A member of the team has been notified and your account will be locked out of the PBEM++ system until the issue is resolved."

I don't know what more info I can give regards the crashes. It happens in between the screen where you can chat and the "waiting" screen. It seems to be worse if I type a message in the chat. It is also worse if I have left other things running; a purge of running apps and a restart is the most reliable means of playing (when I first got the game I couldn't play a single MP turn without it crashing until I tried this).

Let me know if there is anything further you need.

egg

[pipfromslitherine]

This is almost certainly iOS deciding that the game is using too much memory - the next update includes some pretty aggressive memory savings, now that we have seen these issues for a small number of people when uploading MP games. For now I can only suggest purging any other apps resident in the background before playing your turn.

Thanks for the details.

Cheers

Pip

[eggman51]

Thanks. Will do - I generally do that with regularity.

I figured out this weekend what the "cheat" is here. I had thought this was about something complex like hacking the files to see enemy units or some such.. but I believe the issue is much simpler than that (won't post details here, but it's self explanatory if you think about it).

I don't know what can be done about that... I suppose there is a need for some sort of "gentleman's rules" that need to be abided by.

[pipfromslitherine]

I'm not sure what you mean? If you are talking about redownloading turns, that is what the warning messages are for. We are able to track people via the server. These iPad iOS kills are a fairly rare happening, although more common than we would like for sure, but they should be a thing of the past once the next update comes out.

Feel free to PM me if that isn't what you are thinking .

Cheers

Pip

[Bigbaba1111]

i face the same problem. i got the same mail yesterday.

i played a lot of servergames (maybe 15-20, actualy 3 games running) since release of war in the east and this was the first time i got such a message.

i had a lot of problems with my PC in the last week and was forced to change the power adaptor to get rid of shut downs of my pc.

[pipfromslitherine]

If you were forced to redownload turns, that would explain the message. If there is a reason and it is an isolated event then there isn't a problem. Each case is reviewed by a person.

Cheers

Pip

[joelq]

Hi,

This has happened to me a couple of times on ipad1. It crashes at the chat screen after a turn occasionally. Ive lost 'good' turns and 'bad' turns to it.

I wonder if saving the turn file locally before the chat screen comes up and saving it after might help stop any potential exploit?

[pipfromslitherine]

The next update should fix the intermittent crashing on uploading a turn. It's iOS deciding we are using too much memory and killing off BA, rather than some of the apps sitting in the background...

A local file is something we are working on, once we are able to ensure its security.

Cheers

Pip

[Brynog]

Hey Pip,

I am playing on an iPad 1. Updated iOS recently, several weeks ago so the firmware is recent.

I too have been having this issue or one very similar to it. Circumstances in which it manifests:

1) If I close BA and open another application (Safari, Angry Birds, iTunes, etc.) then whatever I was playing in BA is erased. When I reopen BA, I get a quick white screen flash and then the opening page.

2) Rarely, if I simply close BA (and do nothing) then when I reopen BA it erases as above. This is pretty rare, however, as in only happened once.

3) After the turn, if I enter in a large amount of text in the comments window (5-6 lines of text) then the game freezes, screen blanks and goes back to title page.

4) After the turn, if I hit the backspace key a lot in the comments window (erasing a sentence for example) then the game freezes as above.

5) Again rarely (as in once) I have had the game freeze/blank when I hit the submit button.

I would prefer that it save locally as it goes, I think this would alleviate some of the issue. I have started saving as I go and that usually works fine, no problem. I also understand the playability effect...if you know that this is how it behaves you can load the game, send all your units off on suicide missions, find where all the enemy units are and then close BA, open Safari, etc. and reboot knowing all the enemy locations from the free scouting. I really like that the RNG instead of a PsuedoRNG is different every time, i.e., just because you fire and kill the tank this time, doesn't mean when you reboot you will fire and kill that tank. Its annoying though to kill a tank in a tight battle and then lose the turn because I forgot to save; invariably when I reload I can't hit crap (I've started saving now to protect those moments).

All in all I love the game, money well worth it. My friends and I think its a hoot.

When will the update for iOS be out? Just curious.

Regards,
Bryce
(Brynog)

[pipfromslitherine]

The update has taken longer than we had hoped . We should be going into a PC beta phase this week to check out the play balance of the new MP force selection missions. The main game had a very long beta phase but we didn't see these multitasking and memory issues unfortunately.

Doing a local save periodically could help, but I am wary of opening up another cheat vector in some way.

Thanks for the details reports though - I will check into it more to ensure that it is all memory releated as I suspect.

Cheers

Pip

[Brynog]

Hey Pip,

I think you can allow the local save if you use something like an encrypted MAC/SHA-1 on the save file. The save file can be done in the clear, i.e., a simple text file.

Advantages are:
1) You can email the save file around, to another system for example, for replayability. So mail it to your friend(s) for them to watch the game turn from 'your' perspective.
2) People cannot create or edit the save file themselves, because:
a) when you modify the save file, you generate your (customized) SHA-1 or MAC hash.
b) to load a save file successfully, it must take the file and recreate the hash which must match the one given from when the file was last modified.

This will stop about 99% of the local hack attacks of a save file.

For those who are willing to edit files and create accompanying hashes, the 2nd layer defense comes into play, the system uses some level of encryption to obfuscate the hash.

This will again stop a large majority of those out there from being able to modify a simple text file, but they could still transfer it for loading by a 3rd party as a spectator (which would be cool).

A bouncing hash value that iterates between users and is shared may be of some value as well.

This won't stop a dedicated hacker, but it would stop most.

PLAYBACK CAPABILITY
I would really like to see some sort of playback capability added. After the game, you can run the entire simulation in playback mode. All units are visible. When a unit is moving, perhaps you shade the squares that it can "see" and put the red triangles on units it can target...

All turns are added in so all moves are shown sequentially.

SPECTATOR CAPABILITY
Perhaps also allow some sort of spectator mode during the game. It'd be like the above, except that it only shows the units visible TO EACH OTHER. That way a 3rd party can watch the battle unfold as well.

TAKEBACK FEATURE
One final gripe. It happens way to much with my touch screen, I tap and realize I have the wrong unit selected, or I fire at the wrong hex. Whatever it is, something I didn't intend.

I'd like a takeback feature to undo these. But I'm concerned about its usage.

Perhaps the takeback feature is something where you request a takeback, the opponent is notified about the actual move and they either agree or not. If I see a lone Stuart charging my 2 Tigers, I am inclined to think that their move was a mistake and they can take it back. Requires both players to agree to take it back, i.e., if they did whatever and gained valuable scouting info, maybe I will decline.

BRANCHING SCENARIOS
Give a series of scenarios where subsequent scenarios are decided by the outcome of the current one. Do well and go to Scenario A. Do ok, go to Scenario A with less stuff. Do badly, go to Scenario B...

UNIT RETENTION
In related scenarios, you should be able to retain some units from the previous scenario(s). As units get better, they remain better in the next. If you have an elite Scout, its an elite Scout in the next scenario. On the other hand, if you have an elite Scout but it lost 2 of its 3 men, it gets downgraded to regular since it now has 1 elite, 2 green. Or you have so many 'veteran' replacements, rest are green. Obviously your goal is to protect your better units and keep them healthy.

Just some $0.02.

Regards,
Bryce

[pipfromslitherine]

Good ideas definitely. Encrypting the save is something I have been tinkering with, but it does add the problem that for the iPad we then need to go through the process that allows us to 'export' encryption technology, which can add to the time taken to do updates. So I've been wary of doing it. It's definitely possible, but non-trivial .

The process doesn't really allow for the takeback feature - there is no point where your opponent could decline, as then the rest of the playback would be incorrect (e.g. either a unit would be alive that wasn't, or visa versa).

Market Garden includes unit carryover, so might be something you would enjoy .

Cheers

Pip

[GottaLove88s]

Hey Brynog, Would love to see the playback feature. For the many times that I've asked myself, how the heck did he manage to get all of those units there to trash me so conclusively!! Would learn a lot from seeing how the smarter players move...