Q AND A Whats going on????

I posted a subject (Was called I have a QUESTION for you) since then I'm seeing postcards, but I still do not see an answer to the question?

Was the whole Question and answer removed - when a real Q came up?

What happened?

Let me refresh it!

Why are these inane messages blocking the left side of the screen - In a game played from left to right?????

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why, when I chose to click on a general on the left side of my screen - WHY! can't I do that?

Well it is because your inane messages BLOCK THE SCREEN!!!!!

These Messages (general attacking) General victorious) The list goes on and on and on and on and on... ect... ect... OMG more!

This is a Question?????

When are u going to fix this?????????????????????????????????????????????



More....

I think u have employed some very clever people.

These people are so clever - That what they do.... oh wait for it.....

They have moved beyond the flash available to all BEGGAR BEHIND browsers...

Your people are so (clever) - that they run the game beyond what flash can handle - But they are so clever - that flash will catch up?

OK here is the problem - U have all the clever people working there! - the people working on flash - well they can't pay what u do obviously.

So can we compromise? - can we maybe remove the MEGA-BITES of information being transferred to tell me my General is attacking? - and maybe the millions of these type messages (REMOVED) will increase play ability?

Maybe u should hire me?

There are and always will be 2 critical resource shortages in this information age: bandwidth and storage capacity. What you are talking about falls directly into that and comes under the heading of Theory of Constraints. Absolutely agree. We get those messages in a log tab, so why do we need it making the game harder to manage and slower to play.

And FLASH? Well, if the trend indicators are even close, FLASH is not going to be around much longer or at least updates to FLASH.

So, Gazza1, I totally agree and have a strong hunch that a lot of the screen freezes we have been having over the past several weeks will go away or greatly diminish in frequency.

Agreed, we don't need the duplicated messages stacked at left whenever an action is completed. Enough other cues exist to eliminate them. But those playing on large monitors with robust video capability and plenty of RAM are surely less affected by this issue. Still, even with aggressive image caching, it seems as if there are superfluous actions like this which wouldn't substantively affect the appearance or operation of the game but might contribute to increased stability if minimized or eliminated.

Adding to SN02's bandwidth and storage capacity assertion is also the disparity between browser capabilities and users' wildly diverse maintenance of such -- digital hygiene (or lack of it), so to speak. And web-wide, virtually all Flash-based applications are experiencing difficulties and hiccups as browsers and web developers attempt to address Flash's legendary weaknesses. (The most common current hiccup seems to be the ubiquitous erroneous "update Flash" message.)

On the other hand, so much of the web is Flash-dependent; can Flash realistically be eliminated without enormous disruption? I know there are those who'd like to see it banished altogether but too much commerce is at stake, in my opinion. Eventually it'll go but later probably rather than sooner. In the meantime, I'd like to see developers examine ways to improve stability while preserving the look and feel of the game.

I am not really so deep into computers so i know nothing about it.

I switch on the computer, and i expect it to work. That's all.

Now, a bit about Flash. It is high time that this game moves away from using Flash. The problem here is Flash not being able to handle the game.

OK at this point - I would like to point out two very important things.

1 - SNO2 Is super mega smarter than me

2- Trafik Is super mega smarter than me

Now game I admit these guys are smarter than I - Can u listen to people that play the game (Just smarter than u, cos they play it is all)

i certainly wish there is a fix

I agree, there is no reason for the prompt messages that keep appearing especially when looking for collectables or during adventures. It covers a portion of my screen and I have to wait till it clears. Also the News tab shows exactly whats going on. And only on the current island like the prompts. Its not like I get news from my home island when I'm in an adventure. Its not a major problem on big monitors I agree but how many would be playing an online game on a dedicated gaming rig. Most players will be on 14-17 inch screens. BB when designing probably looks at the results on a graphics system which may look good but not so on player systems (Black Knight Event). One option could be to have a toggle for those messages that people could turn off.

As far as Flash is concerned, I donot agree that Flash cannot be removed with out disruptions. Every major company is migrating to HTML5. I work for a manufacturing company and they have also employed consultants to port our Flash based apps to HTML5 (IT is not a big spend area for us).

I feel that since BB does not have any plans to migrate to HTML5, it may just come down to everyone who wants to continue playing the game switches to the Slim Browser version. That does not have as many hiccups or freezes as normal browsers or maybe the game is being designed taking that into account. I'm not sure if the glitches will go away because initially I used play on chrome because it was faster but now the game is usable only on firefox. Using it on chrome means refreshing every 15 mins.

I think BB needs to take player feedback on the usability which they have been of late (eg. cancelling Black Knights event and the queue button). Maybe they should have a poll on usability to find out the major pain points.

To add my 2 cents - the messages "ARE" redundant and not needed. on a smaller laptop screen, they are cumbersome and can lead to "oops" but will admit that when I am using my desktop, with a much bigger screen, they are more of an annoyance than a hindrance. the ones for the expedition weapons? those are totally stupid and whoever came up with that idea needs to wear a dunce cap and go sit in the corner. all in all, this is an awesome game, one that I have had years of enjoyment playing, but those "notices" need to go - just my 2 cents worth.

I agree with Gazza1 in general, and what Frodo69 posted is spot on. The messages are a pain and they take up too much room on the screen of a laptop. Honestly though, I'm not computer savvy so I never gave it serious thought. If there was a way to mute the messages, perhaps it would provide a compromise. Heck, we can mute the background music, why not the messages.

BB, can there be an option to turn the popups off? just like many others which were added some time back, and many appreciated it (like turn off buff animation).
Might speed up the game even more perhaps.. and I can tell you from my experience, it does make few other things harder..

For minimalists like us :D, I would vote for having an option to turn it off..

Thanks

there are some fixes that ease the choppiness like turning off all the animations. but definatley way too much coding bogging the flash engine down

I find some messages useful. Whenever I see a message that I've completed a task at Pathfinder or completed an Achievement, I click on the message to find out exactly what was completed.

However, it's also true that sometimes the messages can be annoying. Providing an option to suppress them seems like a good idea.

I agree with Gazza1, we don't need to have twice the same messages and I am really getting tired of the game freezing after playing for 30 minutes and since few days, I have to refresh the game every 2 hours. I hope they will listen and fix it asap

Agreed. Remove the messages

Hmmm.. some may like those popups and others don't
my Idea is have on/off switch with option to keep chosen and skip unwanted.
perhaps a make Pop-ups smaller function?
After all,... this is the age of options
I feel guilty now cause I play on 32" screen
(off subject) hate the new age Apps with security flaws.
I feel for you who play on laptops and (Gasp) even worse tablets
...or ( The Horror) on your phone??
please say no one does... lol..
because of those pop up notices I start Collect-ables from top left so they cover where i been.
I do take time to pull the screen around for visability
but even on my monster 32 inch screen those messages are huge..
but that would be needed on small screens so I get it.
I agree several types of those messages are superfluous and unneeded
One thing I like is when Geos find deposits I can click the message and port to location to start a mine right away. (Keeper)
I do not use chrome.. I use Opera and it seems to stand heads and shoulders above the rest..
I reboot my modem and router at least once a week and refresh page 2 or 3 times a day each time the screen starts to hang/freeze for a moment..
notice if you will if you do not refresh the freezes continue to get longer and happen more often.. thus your frustration..
I always reboot & refresh before i do colonies..
I been caught flat footed more than once in the middle of blocks with combo attacks that foiled in my endeavors

i check my Modem Speed online when refresh does not help and usually it has dropped from 23Mbs to 2 or 3 Mbs..
so I reboot modem and if that is not problem then i restart my computer
- something about Ram Cache I suspect and that does fix if the others remedies do not
I run 8 core AMD with 12 Gig ram with a 2Gig low end graphic card
these things I take in stride as I play other games that have far worse issues than TSO.
I run 2 screens my small screen is 28" ;-D
So in Summation.. i came to TSO cause this game has less issues than any other I play
and is not cut throat pay to win bull..
This is a perfect lifetime casual hobby that soothes my soul..
Html5 will be a great new super stable fast platform and it is sad Flash was unable to keep up.
Browser games are incredible and quite amazing in my opinion.
I am amazed at what they can handle..
The Browser is Client side programming with the Server Side Holding it all together..
I am also impressed that they have chat on different server so it does not drag on game and vice verses..

Have a nice day.. and remember to count your blessings
I am real pleased to meet you all

catch you on the flip side.
Happy Halloween
Best Regards
CIGNEOUS

OK, I am confused. Those messages disappear after like 5 seconds, don't they?
Surely you are not complaining about 5 second pop up messages that inform you of game actions?

I agree that the popups need to die. The information presented is redundant and only serves to slow game play down. When playing maximized on a widescreen monitor, their annoyance is mitigated some, but they still cause visible slow down and choppiness. When I first started playing the game, I was on a small laptop and it was nearly unplayable with the popups consuming a full third of the screen. I now no long play on a laptop screen and limit game time to when I am at a desktop or at least have an external wide-screen monitor to use.

Some people are advocating introducing a toggle switch for these popups. While this could satisfy both sides of the issue, I think the bigger issue here is Flash.

Adobe has announce they will End of Life flash in 2020. Google has announced they will begin actively blocking flash this year: https://blog.google/products/chrome/flash-and-chrome/

It does not seem wise to continue developing a game in a platform that clearly has a finite lifespan. Let's hear about your plans to port this game to HTML5 or some other platform that is known to be more stable, less prone to security issues, and not clearly labeled for the chopping block by its parent company and a major browser.

Not interested to get into specifics but generally agree that freezes due to Flash need to be addressed by BB....The regular game freezes are a constant nuisance with resulting player frustrations.....

I agree, I do dislike the popups since we do get the updates in our log file as well. And definitely need to move away from flash ASAP, there really is no reason to just keep working on a code that is ending soon. It really is not that hard to port from flash to HTML5, yes it does take time and some work but not as much as writing the code for the game from scratch. An options button would be a great start to resolving the problem with the popups since some like them and some don't.

I completely agree, these messages have no purpose other than being completely annoying. They always get in the way. There are other features they allow us to turn off, section markers for example, or those silly animals running over your island. Why not this as well? If there are people who actually like those messages being in the way, let them keep it... but please, let me turn them off... I know that my general is attacking, I sent him...

I agree with you Alice007 i thin there should be a way to turn off the messages and they can get annoying on a laptop screen

my work around is to collapse friends list bar and chat window.....much to my guildies pleasure i am sure lol because of this....pretty sure they think me a selfish (albeit wonderful) Guild mate....my 2 cents

The interest in this game has obviously peaked and waned long ago. BB is a business and are in it to make a profit. They have a finite number of "clever" people and can only put effort and energy into games that make money. This game is not really a money-maker for them any more, so why invest in it?

I agree with you Gazza1,wish there is a fix for that problem

I would like the option to turn the messages off as well.

I too, would like the option to turn off pop-up messages.

A lot of good suggestions. Why do we need message to say we found a collectible? It disappears when we click on it...so no need for duplication.

I was going to suggest an option to disable those types of messages. It has already been done.

Does a game need pop-up messaging on an event. Possibly... I don't think its really annoying and if some see it as a problem in taking over parts of the screen then u need to look into upping your video resolution and/or screen size. But if that cannot be done I think BB would need to see a large majority of users complaining which I don't see that happening. Though to add to the thread as others have indicated BB should look an option for pop-up messaging to be disabled because all messaging is logged in news folder anyways so really you have duplication and a total removal or disable may save degradation on your servers. Just a thought.....

I am truly sorry that everyone has an issue with these tiny messages that come up. I will talk with the BB team and see if they can't figure something out, like being able to turn them off. I can not promise anything though and it would not be a change that would instantly happen overnight as well.

As for the issues with flash. A lot of times these issues come from the client side. These can be because not everyone has the same computer specs as another, someone might have different settings, different browsers/browsers being out of date, different browser settings, different versions of flash. The list could go on and on and this is why support always suggests the list of updating/trying a different browser. This is mainly because those things do work and do a lot of times fix an issue. Kind of like when you call about your modem being slow, they will always tell you to unplug it and plug it back in. A reboot fixes a lot of the issues many common people face. For those of you experiencing choppy screens and slow loading problems, I would suggest trying out different browsers. It does make a big difference and even the popular Chrome and FireFox browser have sub browsers out there, like Canary for chrome or WaterFox for FireFox.

Why Flash and not HTML5? Well it would require for the entire game to be reprogrammed in Java. Yep HTML5 is not a programming language but it delivers APIs. With that the entire game code would need to be redone and then all the testing done again to catch any bugs or issues. It all takes time really and is not something that can be done within a day or two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BB_Odhran

I am truly sorry that everyone has an issue with these tiny messages that come up. I will talk with the BB team and see if they can't figure something out, like being able to turn them off. I can not promise anything though and it would not be a change that would instantly happen overnight as well.

As for the issues with flash. A lot of times these issues come from the client side. These can be because not everyone has the same computer specs as another, someone might have different settings, different browsers/browsers being out of date, different browser settings, different versions of flash. The list could go on and on and this is why support always suggests the list of updating/trying a different browser. This is mainly because those things do work and do a lot of times fix an issue. Kind of like when you call about your modem being slow, they will always tell you to unplug it and plug it back in. A reboot fixes a lot of the issues many common people face. For those of you experiencing choppy screens and slow loading problems, I would suggest trying out different browsers. It does make a big difference and even the popular Chrome and FireFox browser have sub browsers out there, like Canary for chrome or WaterFox for FireFox.

Why Flash and not HTML5? Well it would require for the entire game to be reprogrammed in Java. Yep HTML5 is not a programming language but it delivers APIs. With that the entire game code would need to be redone and then all the testing done again to catch any bugs or issues. It all takes time really and is not something that can be done within a day or two.

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BB_Odhran: I don't think it's an issue solely with those pop-up messages as shaky stability at large and perhaps the pop-ups are the target of frustration. I think players are suggesting that eliminating or minimizing minor features (like the pop-ups) could lead to increased stability. Speaking for myself, I recognize resources are limited and game issues are triaged based on various factors. I also do not wish to see certain visual features which enhance the game experience eliminated in an effort to improve stability -- a balance clearly must exist between form and function. I enjoy this game and I appreciate the efforts of BB developers and support staff. Too often, we players focus on problematic aspects without acknowledging the many successes of the game's creators and maintainers. I am grateful for your efforts. :-)

I do understand what you mean Trafik. It becomes difficult to optimize a game for everyone, when we all have different types of computers. One day Joey might run the game fine and Tommy has issues. The next day Joey might have issues and Tommy is fine. It really and sadly does depend a lot on the computer and also the settings within the browser or even the browser it self. Which makes it difficult to get the game to be optimized for everyone. Also you have the browser doing updates and always changing for the better or disabling things on updates.

It really does become a difficult task to try dealing with.

I agree with you completely Gazza, and would also like to see an option to toggle the messages off. Thanks BB for looking into this possibility.

Smyth

I am having a problem gettting storehouses on the last two archipeleago isles; have purchased and applied the gems deeds. I have also refreshed, restarted and cleared cache to no avail. Will put in ticket, but was told to comment here too. thanks