The announcement today was a very interesting awakening event in a sense to alert and make us aware that we are talking about a digital asset... not tangible... and it can be gone/taken from us because it is not actually ours... consoles and PC alike... makes me also re-evaluate all investment of life-time and money we make on such things compared to how much they really worth.
Full Transfers, Full Stop.
- Thread starter olgrateful
- Start date
Hey Artie, thanks for the thoughtful response. I am not trying to trivialize the effort. But I would prepay for Odyssey if required for them to justify the effort. My point is that if you wanted to do right by the player base they are leaving behind they could offer this kind of support. So far just more “we will see” type communication.To be fair, making a full account transfer from one platform to another can and very likely is MUCH more complicated than any 3rd party tool is doing. For 3rd party tools, the platform doesn't matter much, because the output is still the same regardless the platform. But the game internal systems/server must handle more - for example handle squadrons memberships and ownership, name collisions, transfer all the related data and assets and so on. On top of that, for such transfers must be proper systems made so in an ideal case players can transfer the account via an automated tool. All of that is a non-trivial amount of work.
![[VR] Orodruin](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/237/237188.jpg?1614840532){kind=avatar}
As a VR player that no longer plays: Good luck. This will never happen. Do not go around hoping that FDev will listen to your outrage or take your pleas to heart. This will save you a lot of heartache in the future.
Oh I know. Shouting to the void for today and moving on. Seems the game is dead. The community can smell the blood in the water.
Sadly one cannot rebuy a large amount of the cosmetics I have (CG decals, OG paints, and limited bobbleheads) nor can one just get a Cobra Mk.4 again. In my mind the only option is to transfer everything from the name of the account down to the cosmetics. Nothing gets left behind.
It is never going to happen though. This is unfortunately kind of obvious from the FDev track record. Everything will be left behind.
Exactly this. If they can’t or won’t do it then tell us. I can’t believe a transfer was not discussed before this announcement so I’m guessing they just went with “screw U”!
On the one hand, i'm inclined to agree. On the other hand, i'd be willing to believe FD hadn't thought about it at all. Not sure which is worse.
I suspect it's not that easy. Adding stuffs to an account would be easy enough, although they could have issues automating the process I guess.
One issue could be with names, every cmdr name is unique (not sure if that's platform specific?) so the problem could be to do with compatibility of the historical cmdr data.
It would be nice if they can manage to offer a full transfer but I don't think it should be a deal breaker for everyone able to move to pc. I have 3 pc cmdrs and 2 (now defunct) xbox cmdrs. If you enjoy a game it can be fun to start over & the old cmdrs are always still there in their first discovered tags. Just try and look at them as retired.
To be fair, making a full account transfer from one platform to another can and very likely is MUCH more complicated than any 3rd party tool is doing. For 3rd party tools, the platform doesn't matter much, because the output is still the same regardless the platform. But the game internal systems/server must handle more - for example handle squadrons memberships and ownership, name collisions, transfer all the related data and assets and so on. On top of that, for such transfers must be proper systems made so in an ideal case players can transfer the account via an automated tool. All of that is a non-trivial amount of work.
There are at least two credible cases that I recall on these forums where bugs allowed players to log into their console accounts on PC and play them essentially normally.
Honestly, I am doubtful that any particular transfer work would be required, beyond a very literal dragging and dropping of one folder into another, or the changing of some headers on some files. The accounts are likely in the same format and contain exactly the same data that they would on PC, after all the underlying game is the same, we have all the same stuff and influence the same shared BGS.
Merging squadrons and private groups is about the only thing I think there could be real issues with.
Depends how things are stored and for example if the database tables with ships, equipment, and so on are cross-platform or not. Moving such things between databases will very likely also require to recreate IDs and all relations between database items and that's where the extra work will kick in. I can imagine there may be a way how to make a "hack" on the backend to access the other platform database while using a login of another platform (the bug you mentioned), but that is quite messy. But, it's all speculative, of course, nobody but Frontier knows how the stuff is handled in the backend.
Imagine if they waited 2 - 3 weeks after making that decision to implement a way of transferring accounts over to PC before making an announcement. They more than likely have tools to manipulate accounts for testing, moving around the galaxy etc. That, along with apis to transfer data should be enough, no? How does Inara manage to store all that information about an account? Mats, ships, everything! Every single game that stops supporting a platform offers the option of a free transfer. This game has so much potential, yet it keeps falling short on every single decision that is made.
I'd miss my trophy bobbleheads, do like them bobbing around on the flight deck, but (and I'm no developer!) it feels to me as if they could surely come up with a date and say that from that date they can transfer any console commander's cash balance and unlocks across to PC. So we could sell all our ships, and arrive on PC with a cash balance enabling us to purchase a fleet (and fleet carrier, in some cases!), and with our combat/exploration/trade ranks and our engineers unlocked. Then we'd just lose our trophies, and have to grind again for the mats to reengineer our ships. I'm pretty upset about this but that would at least give me a way back so something approaching the same experience. I have triple elite, all the engineers to G5, a carrier and over 40 ships. I could cash out to 20bn cr or so, so at least I could arrive on PC still triple elite, engineers still at G5 and rebuy a base carrier and the same ships. Sure, the engineering would be a lot but it would be an outcome which would bring me to PC. Only reason I started Elite on PC is that I work mostly from home, at the PC, so didn't want to cross the streams and be tempted to game when I should be working. I'd have been a PC Elite gamer all along had I realised they might do this to us!
All or nothing. I can transfer money without frontier using carriers.
But not the ranks and unlocks. We're going to have to give something or get nothing.
We are already getting nothing. I don’t care about my cosmetics. I said that at the top. I JUST want my ranks, credits, ships, engineerings, etc.
There’s nothing else to give. So I don’t know what you mean.
Totally with you, well said.... lets hope they listen.
What totally blows me away is that Fdev after realizing that Odyssey to consoles was out of the question they didn’t throw the console users a bone and offer total account transfers to PC if you bought Odyssey.
They would sell Odyssey copies and cushion some of the bad feelings, giving the console users a way to keep all their hard work in the game.
There has been lots of talk about the ability to make the transfer that have fallen on def ears…….. just HEARTLESS’
there are many things that just can’t get replaced without Fdev’s help like your DW2 decal and special paints.
They would sell Odyssey copies and cushion some of the bad feelings, giving the console users a way to keep all their hard work in the game.
There has been lots of talk about the ability to make the transfer that have fallen on def ears…….. just HEARTLESS’
there are many things that just can’t get replaced without Fdev’s help like your DW2 decal and special paints.