Freezing issue in RB Blitz (tied to # of songs played?)

[CausingTugBoat8]

I'm a bit confused about the stars in the playlist. I don't see anywhere in hmxhenry's post that it said or implied that the stars would start showing up on subsequent plays. Is that what you're observing yourself? Meaning, all your stars weren't showing up but they did show up on the song(s) you played since the fix?

Yes they are showing up again since the fix. I am concerned that future problems may arise once we have got all the stars back and all that extra data has to be handled again.

[Pankrazzo]

I can confirm that songs record stars again, everything pre-fix is blank as it sadly is supposed to be.

[rko389]

Bob - What you do at Harmonix, is you take people's data and you fix it so they can play their game?
Hmx Employee- Yes, yes that's correct
Bob - Well then I just have to ask. Why couldn't you test the game or patch it for everyone before their stars are reset?
Hmx Employee -Errrr, well I'll tell you why. errrr BEcause....we like being awkward.
Bob - So, you physically FIX the data from the customer?
Hmx Employee -Well.....no...our-our-our software team does that
Bob - So then you must physically take it to the software team?
Hmx Employee- Well......no...errrr. I mean sometimes
Bob - Wha-what would ya say, ya DO here?
Hmx Employee - Well look I already told you, we make games. I HAVE PEOPLE SKILLS. I AM GOOD WITH DEALING WITH PEOPLE. CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLEEEEE

Still, at least it's fixed and I can play without worrying now. Sure i'll be annoyed that my stars are gone, but I can get them back and I'm still enjoying the game so it' not all bad, and thanks for fixing it

[Epsilon82]

Yes they are showing up again since the fix. I am concerned that future problems may arise once we have got all the stars back and all that extra data has to be handled again.

Yeah, that's my concern, too. Unless they've somehow adjusted the way the stars are populated post-song, it seems like we could just end up running into this all over again. Obviously I don't know for sure, but it seems as though they may have just wiped out pre-existing star results to reduce the load temporarily.

Does anyone know what happens if you play a song you've previously gotten gold stars on but only get fewer stars on that particular post-fix run? I'm curious if the game simply records whatever you did that time as your star result or if it polls your high score and populates that.

I wish I could test this myself, but I'm stuck at work and between not being able to try this fix and not being able to watch my playoff baseball game, I'm going crazy here.

[hmxhenry]

Bob - Well then I just have to ask. Why couldn't you test the game or patch it for everyone before their stars are reset?

I know that this was posted as a goof, but it's a valid question with a legit answer. We did extensive load testing for content prior to launch, but often times things function differently in a test environment than a live environment. There's no playbook for loading, playing and logging scores for 1,000+ pieces of content because no other game has to process that may pieces of downloadable content. To some extent, with every RB release, we have to relearn everything from scratch.

As for patching, there are a variety of reasons why this isn't feasible, the most important being that the issue gating the larger save data file from processing is part of the core engine code. Not only is that incredibly difficult to access or change in any way, even attempting to do so could irrevocably affect other, more complex areas of the game. We discussed patch options at length and, in addition to production bandwidth and the limited number of users affected, there was no guarantee we'd even be able to fix the core issue via patch.

Well it's not crashing any more but not seeing stars in the playlist is very annoying. I used to see what songs I hadn't played by sorting them by stars and seeing which songs had no stars. Now they all have no stars! But I guess that is a good incentive to replay all songs to build up the stars again. Am very happy!

It's totally understood that not having instantaneous visual reference for stars can be frustrating. Hopefully having all of that star data immediately accessible in RB World (go to My Profile -> RB Blitz -> Select the source in the drop down) will offer an acceptable solution. This was not a decision that we came to lightly, as preserving leaderboard scores, career score, coins and cred was a priority, and this was honestly the least disruptive solution.

So are you saying that at some point in time everyones stars will end up missing once the fix is applied to there account?

As users approach that 1,000 unique songs played mark they will run into this issue, yes. Currently the number of user users that own both Rock Band Blitz and over 1,000 songs who could encounter this issue number in the low triple digits. That number will grow over time as people buy more DLC and purchase Blitz, but it's unlikely that 99% of the people playing will ever encounter this issue.

If this is indeed The Fix and not just a fix until a proper fix can be implemented, can you guys consider making the Rock Band World Facebook app more mobile-friendly?

There are no plans at the moment to further develop mobile / iOS specific versions of RB World, but nothing is set in stone. Oddly enough, the best way to encourage further RB World development is to have more people use the browser based version. If we're able to point to an obvious demand in the community, we can make a better case for additional web development.

I'm a bit confused about the stars in the playlist. I don't see anywhere in hmxhenry's post that it said or implied that the stars would start showing up on subsequent plays.

Hmxhenry, can you confirm how this works and will work going forward?

Sorry for the confusion. Once you load up RB Blitz post fix, your star count will no longer be visible in your setlist. Songs you play post fix, whether you had previously played them or not, will generate stars in the setlist just as they would have pre fix. If you had played a song previously and you play it again post fix, the star count of the replay will post in the setlist while still displaying your previous high score in the Global Leaderboard pane and in RB World.

Yes they are showing up again since the fix. I am concerned that future problems may arise once we have got all the stars back and all that extra data has to be handled again.

This is, unfortunately, an issue that will arise each time the save data file reaches that critical mass. If affected users in this thread play another 1,000+ unique songs in Blitz, the setlist star count will be reset once again. Regardless, all of this data will be preserved both in game and on RB World. Career score, high scores, leaderboard placement, coins and cred are all preserved, and the only thing that should be affected is the shorthand visual reference for stars in the setlist.

I hope that info helps. We really did everything we could to minimize impact on folks affected. As I mentioned previously, we'll see what we can do to offer an additional make good to users in this thread who helped with testing. Now that we've rolled the fix out, affected users can shoot me a PM with their gamertag, console and mailing address and we'll follow up shortly. We will be checking gamertags against server data to verify you've been affected, so please only reach out if you've already received the fix.

Give me a shout if there are any additional questions and I'll do my best to get answers as quickly as possible.

[rko389]

I know that this was posted as a goof, but it's a valid question with a legit answer. We did extensive load testing for content prior to launch, but often times things function differently in a test environment than a live environment. There's no playbook for loading, playing and logging scores for 1,000+ pieces of content because no other game has to process that may pieces of downloadable content. To some extent, with every RB release, we have to relearn everything from scratch.

As for patching, there are a variety of reasons why this isn't feasible, the most important being that the issue gating the larger save data file from processing is part of the core engine code. Not only is that incredibly difficult to access or change in any way, even attempting to do so could irrevocably affect other, more complex areas of the game. We discussed patch options at length and, in addition to production bandwidth and the limited number of users affected, there was no guarantee we'd even be able to fix the core issue via patch.

PLEASE tell me you've seen Office Space :'(
I'd rather have to start over again, as opposed to not being able to play the game again. Would you patch the game if a lot of people were getting affected by it? I realise it's not going to affect everyone of course but more people will start to get closer to the mark and if it keeps recurring surely you could look into a permanent fix?. I just hope Brian Chan hasn't spent your budget on candy.

[pmpboarder]

I hope that info helps. We really did everything we could to minimize impact on folks affected. As I mentioned previously, we'll see what we can do to offer an additional make good to users in this thread who helped with testing. Now that we've rolled the fix out, affected users can shoot me a PM with their gamertag, console and mailing address and we'll follow up shortly. We will be checking gamertags against server data to verify you've been affected, so please only reach out if you've already received the fix.

Give me a shout if there are any additional questions and I'll do my best to get answers as quickly as possible.

So the fix happens automatically at 1000 songs, or at the crash ~1020 songs? I made it to 1016, but decided I'd rather replay songs than not play songs at all. I'm not gonna beg for swag, just wondering exactly who qualifies. I wasn't affected by not being able to play crash-free, but I was affected in that I had to keep an eye on my song count and not play any new songs past a certain point.

Thanks again for rolling this fix out. I know it's not ideal losing the visual cue of songs played, but at least we get to play freely again. Your work is appreciated, Harmonix. And if it weren't this thread would never exist in the first place. I can't speak for everyone, but if I could, I would say we all love you.

[HMXPope]

Hey guys, can any of you confirm you're seeing an inbox message in RB Blitz once this fix happens on your game? There should be a message going out that tells people what's up.

[CausingTugBoat8]

Hey guys, can any of you confirm you're seeing an inbox message in RB Blitz once this fix happens on your game? There should be a message going out that tells people what's up.

Yes I had the message.

[Epsilon82]

This is, unfortunately, an issue that will arise each time the save data file reaches that critical mass. If affected users in this thread play another 1,000+ unique songs in Blitz, the setlist star count will be reset once again. Regardless, all of this data will be preserved both in game and on RB World. Career score, high scores, leaderboard placement, coins and cred are all preserved, and the only thing that should be affected is the shorthand visual reference for stars in the setlist.

Thanks for clarifying, and sorry to nag, but I'm still a little bit vague on the meaning of one aspect of this. You say that once critical mass is reached again, the setlist star count will be reset once again. Does this mean that it will automatically be reset by the server at a certain threshold, say, 1000 songs? Or will there have to be another manual intervention?