game breaking chat bug: cant use system, squadron or direct message chat

FullM3talX

FullM3talX
o7 cmdrs and devs,
i've been a happy elite dangerous gamer for years now. never encountered any serious game bugs until this last week or so (27/2/2021) this bug is literally killing my enjoyement and appreciation for the game. im posting this report in hope that this gets more eyes and attention by the devs and hopefully fix it. if you happen to experience this bug too, feel free to contribute.

brief description of the bug:
system + squadron + direct message gets disabled. i cant see or type in neither of those chats. i can send direct messages, but not receive them. the bug sometimes happens mid gameplay at random moments where it would get disabled and stay so for hours. other times it would be disabled from the moment i log in to the game. there seems to be no cause on my end that triggers the bug. i tried to experiment with many possible solutions with no success.

solutions that i tried:
  • switching game modes (open, solo, private)
  • relauching the game completely, rebooting computer.
  • rebooting my router
  • reinstalling the game on steam
none of the solutions above have any effect on the bug.
here's a quick video demonstration of the bug in action:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgAZi7CBL8M



i am a squadron leader, and i invite friends and new players with the promiss that we can help and mentor them to the game. and the fact that i cant respond to them in squadron chat or in direct message is absolutely agonising and game breaking for me. i've been distracting myself by playing other games (NMS) for about a week now, but everytime i log in to check, the bug is still on. at first it started happening randomely, and for short periods of time. now it's just constantly disabled. i haven't seen GREEN TEXT in weeks! i dont think i can enjoy this game without chat functions, as the only thing that makes elite special is it's community.

heres some links to other instances of this bug reported by other cmdrs:
forum posts:

You are not currently subscribed to any channels in this group????

It's been stuck this way for much of the weekend now, through multiple logins and reboots. I've tried all the different settings (full right icon in chat panel), and nothing fixes this. Maybe I should be thankful, since system chat can be the dregs, but sometimes it is a fun place to hang out...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk

System Chat not working, "You are not subscribed to any channels in this group"

Please FDev, without system chat this game gets so boring and stale. I have tried /system, fss switching, Swapping game modes, Logging in and out, nothing works.
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk

Not currently subscribed to system chat?

Did I change a setting somewhere? If so where? Is anyone else getting this?
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk
issue tracker:

webapp

issues.frontierstore.net issues.frontierstore.net

webapp

issues.frontierstore.net issues.frontierstore.net

webapp

issues.frontierstore.net issues.frontierstore.net

theres many more instances and versions of it on the issue tracker. please FDEV, do something about it. there's many cmdrs that are plagued by this issue for apparently years now. im okay with system chat not being functional, but not being able to chat in my own squadron or direct messages is just game breaking.

o7
 
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Vedmo

Vedmo
I've never been able to send anyone a direct message, or maybe I am but they aren't answering, thinking me crazy for spamming them as I never see that my message was sent and keep trying.

There's also a decent chance anytime I'm trying to chat in /system that as I'm typing the chat window just closes. I guess that might be an errant keybind closing things down, but can't be bothered to figure it out so I'll just blame the system.
 

Frankymole

Frankymole
FullM3talX said:
theres many more instances and versions of it on the issue tracker. please FDEV, do something about it. there's many cmdrs that are plagued by this issue for apparently years now. im okay with system chat not being functional, but not being able to chat in my own squadron or direct messages is just game breaking.

o7
Click to expand...
What is the point of spreading the votes across many different entries on the issues log / bug tracker? It will just make it easier for FDev to ignore this major, major problem. It's turning a lot of new players away from the game (one of my Epic accounts is in a squadron for mentoring new players - we know from the Discord that they are finding the disappearance of Squadron chat for days on end a total turn-off from the game). Many of our new players have already given up and left. which means lost sales for Odyssey.
 

VR Roxydog

V
Had to stop playing last night because of this - couldn't join up to any faction in CZs.
Total lock up of the chat window after awhile of playing.
 

Lev -Shadow- Arris

Lev -Shadow- Arris
I've had this happening for a few days now. After playing with hiding, unhiding, tabbing, un-tabbing, using /system, closing and relaunching, sometimes one or more will let me re-join System Chat. It's not totally game-breaking if I want to play in Solo, but I don't want to play Open/PG when I can't communicate with people there, for example someone demanding I drop cargo before opening fire. That takes away a lot of the experience.
 

Frankymole

Frankymole
stormyuk said:
This is effecting me too noticed I can use local but not system chat, squadron or direct, says I am not subscribed if I try and enable the tab for system chat. It used to work fine. This is on PS5.

The only one confirmed on the issue tracker is;

Click to expand...
That's because if you try to report it on PC it says it's a duplicate of the PS one. Even though it's a different platform. TBH would be nice if they fixed any of them but I guess all hands are to the Odyssey pump as that's where the income stream is.
 

stormyuk

Volunteer Moderator
stormyuk
Frankymole said:
That's because if you try to report it on PC it says it's a duplicate of the PS one. Even though it's a different platform. TBH would be nice if they fixed any of them but I guess all hands are to the Odyssey pump as that's where the income stream is.
Click to expand...
To be fair it's the same bug on both platforms or appears to be. My experience is identical to the OP here.
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
stormyuk said:
Not really that useful for talking to people in your 'system' in the game......
Click to expand...

While that is true, neither is the in-game system chat... Personally I've never bothered with system chat as it is either empty or broken. Would be great if FD fixed it, though I'd prefer the instancing fixed first, myself. :)
 

Vetinari

V
Go to chat box and tab across to settings.

Reset them all as in turn then all off (Hidden) and back on again to Main and probably fix it.

but I still cant find people sometimes to wing or DM for example, havent found the solution to that yet.

Edit: Added (Hidden) for clarity as forgot what it was called when originally posted
 
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stormyuk

Volunteer Moderator
stormyuk
Vetinari said:
Go to chat box and tab across to settings.

Reset them all as in turn then all off and back on again to Main and probably fix it.

but I still cant find people sometimes to wing or DM for example, havent found the solution to that yet.
Click to expand...
When you say 'turn them off' I don't see this option on PS5. I have main, tabbed, hidden in the settings tab. Squadron has completely disappeared. System is there but doesn't work no matter what I set it to.
 

Vetinari

V
stormyuk said:
When you say 'turn them off' I don't see this option on PS5.
Click to expand...

Sorry I wasn't being very clear. Turn them all to Hidden at the same time and then all back to Main (maybe try closing and reopening chat / setting while all Hidden as an extra step?), not one by one to Hidden and back to Main. Worked on XB for me last night, could have been a one-off though or coincidence that it happened at the same time as whatever was wrong fixed itself. I was hoping others could replicate as atm purely anecdotal and only happened last night so I haven't had chance to replicate yet.

if no joy then just a coincidence or XB solution only, need more data either way, gl :)

Edit: have edited my post above as well for clarity.
 

stormyuk

Volunteer Moderator
stormyuk
Vetinari said:
Sorry I wasn't being very clear. Turn them all to Hidden at the same time and then all back to Main (maybe try closing and reopening chat / setting while all Hidden as an extra step?), not one by one to Hidden and back to Main. Worked on XB for me last night, could have been a one-off though or coincidence that it happened at the same time as whatever was wrong fixed itself. I was hoping others could replicate as atm purely anecdotal and only happened last night so I haven't had chance to replicate yet.

if no joy then just a coincidence or XB solution only, need more data either way, gl :)

Edit: have edited my post above as well for clarity.
Click to expand...

Thanks CMDR. Oddly mine came back today with no input from me so maybe it's a server side issue but, will try your fix next time.

Edit: and it's gone again....
 
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