Franchise server issues since update
- Thread starter criswaller
- Start date
Yep, still no update via the support ticket either. Last update was 12/22 with the message that a fix wouldn't be "immediate" because of the holiday. Maybe the whole team has the entire week off? Don't begrudge folks a holiday, but I sure wish they'd gotten their ducks in a row before.
Note, if your hypothesis is correct, it will be interesting to see if their suggested stopgap will be to delete all animals from your franchise zoo...
Note, if your hypothesis is correct, it will be interesting to see if their suggested stopgap will be to delete all animals from your franchise zoo...
That's definitely not going to be a route I take. If that's what they come up with as a stopgap, I will just not play until it's fixed in a non-stopgap way. I'm sure I'm not alone in this thought.
That isn't the Problem though unless it changed for some Reason. I've also started a empty Zoo a While ago because I needed to buy Animals and it still disconnected and I could only buy one Animal
Yeah, I used to do that quite often - until I found out that if you don't have ANY of a specific animal in question you lose ALL research for that animal. As long as there is an animal of that type in a zoo somewhere and you have it at max research, you will be fine.
It took me over 3 years to realise that my starting over every few updates meant I was losing all my research. The birth of the Alphabet Zoo Franchise was born. Currently A, B, C, JKL, MN, R, S, T-Z zoos are complete. DEF, GHI, OPQ are difficult ones with my Dingos dying off due to a bug and several bears amongst these with huge habitat requirements ( at high adult/children population counts ).
I now have nearly 200 animals being researched across my zoos .. I will get that zoopedia achievement rofl.
But yeah, I will not be happy if they suggest that.
But, if player bought animals are the cause - the solution is to just release / sell in the interim and only buy Frontier animals - they would of course have to increase the number of those if that was the only work around.
It took me over 3 years to realise that my starting over every few updates meant I was losing all my research. The birth of the Alphabet Zoo Franchise was born. Currently A, B, C, JKL, MN, R, S, T-Z zoos are complete. DEF, GHI, OPQ are difficult ones with my Dingos dying off due to a bug and several bears amongst these with huge habitat requirements ( at high adult/children population counts ).
I now have nearly 200 animals being researched across my zoos .. I will get that zoopedia achievement rofl.
But yeah, I will not be happy if they suggest that.
But, if player bought animals are the cause - the solution is to just release / sell in the interim and only buy Frontier animals - they would of course have to increase the number of those if that was the only work around.
Hmm interesting. Did you put the animal in the zoo, or was it left in the trade center ? And was it a Frontier animal or one from a player ?
It could also be zoo related as the zoo I was having problems with also takes forever to load and shut down. I'll have to check my other zoos with similar set ups to see if they also have major disconnect problems and delays.
Only bought the Tiger there to ship it to the other Zoo. Nothing was built besides a Trade Center. I think it was sold by another Player
Well, another idea, to look into ..- guest counts are rounded to the nearest 1k block
Just opened my A zoo (193 animals 6k guests ) and paused the game - within seconds I had 2 disconnects.
Checked my animals and there was a birth 0.0 and when I unpaused there were 3 more born. ( African Penguins )
The earlier MN Zoo (166 animals 3k guests ) I had the disconnects for had a similar situation. Opened, paused, disconnect. Check animals and there was a meerkat 0.0 and when unpaused, 3 more born.
edit:
Checked B Zoo (111 animals 4k guests) - and although there was a pregnancy due that game month, none was born as the disconnect happened seconds in.
Checked C Zoo (136 animals 3k guests) - common wombat 0.0 after start + pause cycle I usually do - then disconnect.
Checked DEF (a) Zoo (88 animals 2k guests ) - no new births but there was a dromedary camel with one due that month. None born at the time the disconnect kicked in after a few seconds.
So, could be a coincidence with the babies being born, or soon to be born. But, with every zoo so far having the problem except the one with no animals it is interesting.
Checked DEF (b) Zoo (27 animals 500 guests ) - no pregnant females - no disconnects during the 5 minutes the zoo was open. So, could be something linked to pregnancy being the issue or the numbers of animals/guests - which have always been an issue with the game.
GHI Zoo ( 147 animals 2k guests ) - Greater Flamingo 0.1 ( birth control not toggled so was born after my last animal check in the previous playthrough ) - Disconnected after a few seconds.
JKL Zoo (83 animals 3k guests) - Offspring Imminent Little Penguin - Disconnected very soon after starting.
OPQ Zoo (47 animals 367 guests) - No pregnant habitat animals, an exhibit animal had expecting offspring but no time frame - No Disconnect during the 5 minutes it was open.
S Zoo (205 animals 4k guests) - Sand Cat with imminent birth - Disconnected soon after starting.
T-Z Zoo (146 animals 4k guests) - Timber Wolf with birth that months. Disconnected soon after starting.
Red Fox Breeding Zoo ( 29 animals 595 guests ) - No pregnancies, no disconnects
My original world zoo (112 animals, 5k guests) - Gemsbok with imminent birth , disconnected very quickly
Okay this one just puts a stop to my theories ..
R Zoo ( 116 animals, 3k guests ) - Not only was there a 0.0 Red River Hog since my last play through, but there was also an imminent Red Fox Pregnancy.. and 4 minutes in.. no disconnects
So, barring the R zoo, all zoos with either high counts or pregnancies disconnected within seconds.
Edit: Just checked my empty trading zoo and that still didn't have issues.
Just opened my A zoo (193 animals 6k guests ) and paused the game - within seconds I had 2 disconnects.
Checked my animals and there was a birth 0.0 and when I unpaused there were 3 more born. ( African Penguins )
The earlier MN Zoo (166 animals 3k guests ) I had the disconnects for had a similar situation. Opened, paused, disconnect. Check animals and there was a meerkat 0.0 and when unpaused, 3 more born.
edit:
Checked B Zoo (111 animals 4k guests) - and although there was a pregnancy due that game month, none was born as the disconnect happened seconds in.
Checked C Zoo (136 animals 3k guests) - common wombat 0.0 after start + pause cycle I usually do - then disconnect.
Checked DEF (a) Zoo (88 animals 2k guests ) - no new births but there was a dromedary camel with one due that month. None born at the time the disconnect kicked in after a few seconds.
So, could be a coincidence with the babies being born, or soon to be born. But, with every zoo so far having the problem except the one with no animals it is interesting.
Checked DEF (b) Zoo (27 animals 500 guests ) - no pregnant females - no disconnects during the 5 minutes the zoo was open. So, could be something linked to pregnancy being the issue or the numbers of animals/guests - which have always been an issue with the game.
GHI Zoo ( 147 animals 2k guests ) - Greater Flamingo 0.1 ( birth control not toggled so was born after my last animal check in the previous playthrough ) - Disconnected after a few seconds.
JKL Zoo (83 animals 3k guests) - Offspring Imminent Little Penguin - Disconnected very soon after starting.
OPQ Zoo (47 animals 367 guests) - No pregnant habitat animals, an exhibit animal had expecting offspring but no time frame - No Disconnect during the 5 minutes it was open.
S Zoo (205 animals 4k guests) - Sand Cat with imminent birth - Disconnected soon after starting.
T-Z Zoo (146 animals 4k guests) - Timber Wolf with birth that months. Disconnected soon after starting.
Red Fox Breeding Zoo ( 29 animals 595 guests ) - No pregnancies, no disconnects
My original world zoo (112 animals, 5k guests) - Gemsbok with imminent birth , disconnected very quickly
Okay this one just puts a stop to my theories ..
R Zoo ( 116 animals, 3k guests ) - Not only was there a 0.0 Red River Hog since my last play through, but there was also an imminent Red Fox Pregnancy.. and 4 minutes in.. no disconnects
So, barring the R zoo, all zoos with either high counts or pregnancies disconnected within seconds.
Edit: Just checked my empty trading zoo and that still didn't have issues.
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I have an empty zoo (no animals and no guests yet) that I am building an entrance for. I still get the issue there.
How long before it first triggers ? Maybe an empty zoo takes longer before it kicks in - less stuff to check so maybe different server stuff is on a different update cycle.
I don't think it has anything to do with births, or at least it's not only that. I get disconnects at least once a minute, many times 2-3 times a minute. It does not matter which zoo I play, if i have it paused or not and no matter what i do. It also seems like the game is unable to connect zoo's at the moment. If I put an animal in the trade centre and go to another zoo, the animal is gone. It only appears in the tradecentre again if I go back to the zoo from which I placed it in there. And of course, I am unable to buy any animal at all, and haven't been able to since the problems started before Christmas. So there is hardly anything working in franchise atm...
I've not had problems getting animals to and from the trade center yet, nor seen the disappearing animal thing happening for me. Outside of the one time I crashed and the animals bought between saves had disappeared from zoo and trade center. But saving and reloading the zoo a second time registered the update and showed the animals in the trade center. I guess, loading and then re-saving updates the animals in the zoo properly and it can then discern which animals were bought and are not in the zoo they were initially moved to. At least that kinda makes sense.
Based on my findings so far, it seems either the number of animals, guests are more likely the factor. The more animals, the more babies, the more data will need to switch between animals still around. My zoos with less than 30 animals or none at all don't have disconnects. But other's have had those disconnect for them. So maybe something else entirely that is common to all the zoos that have the problem but explainable if some zoos don't have the problem.
But, I can agree that the last 2 weeks have been the worst. For me the last day or two have been almost unplayable, to the point I am too scared to open my big zoos at the moment.
But hopefully they got the 2 zoos I sent them to test with. One disconnects within seconds, the other seemingly no disconnects after minutes. If it's a data issue, hopefully that will help them find where it is.
I spoke too soon. The zoo that didn't crash last night after 5 minutes, crashed today at the 4 minute mark. Maybe a progressively worse scenario .. what seemed to be once every now and then has progressed to once every minute or within seconds.
Looks like it's Planet Zoo break time rofl.
I spoke too soon. The zoo that didn't crash last night after 5 minutes, crashed today at the 4 minute mark. Maybe a progressively worse scenario .. what seemed to be once every now and then has progressed to once every minute or within seconds.
Looks like it's Planet Zoo break time rofl.
Sudden thought .. I wonder if they have had to put some cost effective measurement in place and thought they could safely turn off some of their servers. It might be as simple as turning some back on again, until access dips significantly again and remember holidays might need more access not less rofl.
I did hope that someone accidentally turned off a switch when leaving for the holiday and only one single little main server is trying to deal with all of our shenanigans. That would be a very easy fix for the developers.
This issue is so frustrating, sure work around from having to load back into the menu is esc but the constant pop up is disruptive.
Not to mention
Animals losing pregnancy as soon as I get the error (pregnant again when I reload??? (but as soon as I get the error the pregnancy is gone again)
Saved the game last night, loaded in and the buildings I deleted are back along with the new ones??
Animals I moved to new enclosures are either back in the trade center, or they halved with some in the old enclosures I already deleted and other's in the new.
Moved my Polar Bears into the TC and now I can't take them out haha. Even if I reload the game.
Not to mention
Animals losing pregnancy as soon as I get the error (pregnant again when I reload??? (but as soon as I get the error the pregnancy is gone again)
Saved the game last night, loaded in and the buildings I deleted are back along with the new ones??
Animals I moved to new enclosures are either back in the trade center, or they halved with some in the old enclosures I already deleted and other's in the new.
Moved my Polar Bears into the TC and now I can't take them out haha. Even if I reload the game.
In addition to what you say, it also doesn't let me delete the franchise zoo or delete the franchise. I followed some steps that were indicated to me on Steam to delete the game again, but the franchise mode remains the same. A week ago I bought all the DLC and now I can't use the franchises... how disgusting
Yes, having that happen accidentally instead of some kind of cost saving effort would be understandable. Cruddy timing but understandable. It's a game, not a life necessity. It's super annoying but it'll get back on track after the holidays. Still feel like they should say "here, we're giving you the EBB for free due to this mess up".