Continuing with our latest theme of update screw-ups, a new and more ridiculous bug has cropped up in one of the bonus stages in the Winter Mission Carnival.
According to posts in this thread on the official PSU forums, many players' games are either crashing or freezing during Stage 7 of World of Illusion: Alpha. Sega has not said much at this point other than that they are looking into the issue.
I haven't tried the mission yet, but I do have this to say: Does anyone at Sega actually test things on the servers before they go live? Testing probably could have identified the Stage 7 glitch, and it probably could have fixed the disappearing mission glitch that came up yesterday afternoon.
Because the maintenance periods are so late in the evening, I bet that Sega of America employees skip extensive testing so they can get some sleep. This is absolutely no excuse, though. Some level of detailed testing is always necessary. Just because it worked on the test server doesn't mean it automatically works on the live servers. Putting out buggy content doesn't do much for customers, either (especially in this case since the last event we had was MAG and we all know how well that turned out).
For now, I imagine that it would be a good idea to just continue collecting Event Tickets. It's not worth anyone's time or effort to spend tickets on a mission that is randomly impossible to complete. Fix it, Sega!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Colony Free Mission Bug
Just when you thought Sega finally managed to pull off an update correctly, we have a new issue courtesy of this thread on the official PSU forums.
Many of the free missions on the Guardians' Colony, the HIVE, and Rykros are currently not appearing on Universe 1 (Leo) and Universe 2 (Caelum). On PC, selecting a free mission that does show up causes the game to crash to the desktop.
If that wasn't enough, there are a few reports that the Colony rare mission is randomly appearing at some of the bugged counters. Selecting it also causes the game to crash. This rare mission has not yet been released nor was it announced for the past update, so it's safe to say that this was probably an oversight.
Similar problems have occurred with other missions in the past, and they were fixed by taking the servers down for a little while. The same thing will probably happen here, so a rollback is not likely. I imagine that the only reason it was not noticed sooner is that everyone is busy with the Mission Carnival.
UPDATE: Sega apparently is aware of the problem, but is choosing not to deal with it at the moment due to a Carnival-related bug which occasionally freezes the game at Stage 7 of the bonus mission.
Many of the free missions on the Guardians' Colony, the HIVE, and Rykros are currently not appearing on Universe 1 (Leo) and Universe 2 (Caelum). On PC, selecting a free mission that does show up causes the game to crash to the desktop.
If that wasn't enough, there are a few reports that the Colony rare mission is randomly appearing at some of the bugged counters. Selecting it also causes the game to crash. This rare mission has not yet been released nor was it announced for the past update, so it's safe to say that this was probably an oversight.
Similar problems have occurred with other missions in the past, and they were fixed by taking the servers down for a little while. The same thing will probably happen here, so a rollback is not likely. I imagine that the only reason it was not noticed sooner is that everyone is busy with the Mission Carnival.
UPDATE: Sega apparently is aware of the problem, but is choosing not to deal with it at the moment due to a Carnival-related bug which occasionally freezes the game at Stage 7 of the bonus mission.
Winter Mission Carnival Underway
The Winter Mission Carnival kicked off on the US/EU PSU servers this morning, and unlike the past two maintenance updates, it looks like things went off without a hitch.
This event is slightly different from its Japanese equivalent, which was held almost seven months ago. Unlike the Japanese event, in which new missions and rewards were unlocked through achieving certain point total milestones, it looks like the content in our event will be released on a set schedule.
As a result, there is no English Web site for this event. There is a site for Japanese players, which is available here. It only contains basic information for the event, which suggests that there is no player-unlockable content.
The Winter Mission Carnival will run for five weeks. The last day of the event is Friday, February 27.
This event is slightly different from its Japanese equivalent, which was held almost seven months ago. Unlike the Japanese event, in which new missions and rewards were unlocked through achieving certain point total milestones, it looks like the content in our event will be released on a set schedule.
As a result, there is no English Web site for this event. There is a site for Japanese players, which is available here. It only contains basic information for the event, which suggests that there is no player-unlockable content.
The Winter Mission Carnival will run for five weeks. The last day of the event is Friday, February 27.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Rare Mission Notification Not Working
PSU GM Edward has confirmed that the rare mission notification feature supposedly included in Wednesday's patch is not working properly.
Sonic Team is apparently aware of the issue, but there's no information given on when or how the bug will be fixed. In the meantime, players will have to continue checking for rare missions the old-fashioned way.
Sonic Team is apparently aware of the issue, but there's no information given on when or how the bug will be fixed. In the meantime, players will have to continue checking for rare missions the old-fashioned way.
PSU "Expansion" Details Revealed
Sonic Team has finally provided details of the forthcoming "expansion" update to Phantasy Star Universe. The information was posted on the official Japanese site, and a translated version has been provided by players over at Sega's official US/EU PSU forum.
The update, which is specifically targeted to PC players, will be made available to the Japanese as a free download sometime later this year. According to Sega, the download will completely overhaul the game by rebalancing races, classes, Photon Arts and SUVs. Players will also be able to customize their characters' abilities using extra EXP.
As far as new additions, the update page states that a number of items will be added to the game, many from Phantasy Star Portable.
Interestingly enough, this update could also begin the era of Phantasy Star Universe DLC. The translated page mentions the addition of "PSU Tickets", which can be bought on Sega's billing site. The tickets can then be used to download additional content for the game, such as new weapons, armors, clothes, missions, etc. Not much appears to be known about this addition at the moment, so we'll see what happens. I have to say that I'm less than thrilled with this idea, though, because it could fundamentally change the way Sega handles updates to the game.
In any case, this "expansion" is most definitely many months away for US/EU players, so more information will probably be revealed before we even come close to seeing this update hit our servers.
The update, which is specifically targeted to PC players, will be made available to the Japanese as a free download sometime later this year. According to Sega, the download will completely overhaul the game by rebalancing races, classes, Photon Arts and SUVs. Players will also be able to customize their characters' abilities using extra EXP.
As far as new additions, the update page states that a number of items will be added to the game, many from Phantasy Star Portable.
Interestingly enough, this update could also begin the era of Phantasy Star Universe DLC. The translated page mentions the addition of "PSU Tickets", which can be bought on Sega's billing site. The tickets can then be used to download additional content for the game, such as new weapons, armors, clothes, missions, etc. Not much appears to be known about this addition at the moment, so we'll see what happens. I have to say that I'm less than thrilled with this idea, though, because it could fundamentally change the way Sega handles updates to the game.
In any case, this "expansion" is most definitely many months away for US/EU players, so more information will probably be revealed before we even come close to seeing this update hit our servers.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
More rollback compensation and Winter Carnival coming January 23rd
I'm impressed, we're actually getting some content this week.
First off, RubyEclipse has announced additional rollback compensation. This time we get 10x casino coins each day from the 23rd to February 6. Not bad.
Second Edward@Sega has announced the Winter Carnival will finally be arriving on the US/EU PSU servers.
This should be an interesting time for PSU and hopefully it stirs up some server activity.
First off, RubyEclipse has announced additional rollback compensation. This time we get 10x casino coins each day from the 23rd to February 6. Not bad.
Second Edward@Sega has announced the Winter Carnival will finally be arriving on the US/EU PSU servers.
This should be an interesting time for PSU and hopefully it stirs up some server activity.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Wednesday Maintenance Scheduled
Looks like the full story has finally come out.
Tonight's previously announced maintenance period has been cancelled. The maintenance has been rescheduled for 1 AM Eastern time on Wednesday morning.
No new playable content is being delivered in this maintenance. Instead, Sega is delivering a gameplay update that will improve a number of features and fix some bugs.
Notable changes coming in this patch:
Tonight's previously announced maintenance period has been cancelled. The maintenance has been rescheduled for 1 AM Eastern time on Wednesday morning.
No new playable content is being delivered in this maintenance. Instead, Sega is delivering a gameplay update that will improve a number of features and fix some bugs.
Notable changes coming in this patch:
- Photon Charges fully refill weapons in both hands
- Mission counter party list sorting
- Rare mission notification at end of trial
- Another machine gun glitch fix
- Other minor bug fixes
Friday, January 16, 2009
Tuesday Maintenance Scheduled (Updated)
According to this post on the official PSU message boards, an additional maintenance has been scheduled for next week.
The servers will be taken down at 2 AM Eastern Time on Tuesday morning. It's not known at this point whether or not new content will appear after this maintenance -- no details are available yet.
In addition to this new Tuesday maintenance, it was announced earlier this week that the regular Friday maintenance period will begin three hours early, at 11 PM Eastern Time Thursday.
Stay tuned for more information.
UPDATE 1/19/08: This server downtime has been cancelled. Maintenance that was to be done tonight will now be part of Friday morning's regularly scheduled maintenance.
In another post, however, GM RubyEclipse seems to be hinting at a maintenance period scheduled for 1 AM Eastern on Wednesday morning. We'll attempt to sort out the details when more information is available.
UPDATE 2: See this post.
The servers will be taken down at 2 AM Eastern Time on Tuesday morning. It's not known at this point whether or not new content will appear after this maintenance -- no details are available yet.
In addition to this new Tuesday maintenance, it was announced earlier this week that the regular Friday maintenance period will begin three hours early, at 11 PM Eastern Time Thursday.
Stay tuned for more information.
UPDATE 1/19/08: This server downtime has been cancelled. Maintenance that was to be done tonight will now be part of Friday morning's regularly scheduled maintenance.
In another post, however, GM RubyEclipse seems to be hinting at a maintenance period scheduled for 1 AM Eastern on Wednesday morning. We'll attempt to sort out the details when more information is available.
UPDATE 2: See this post.
PSU in 64-bit Windows 7
On Saturday, I blogged about my results testing PSU in Windows 7. All of my attempts to run the game were foiled by GameGuard's inability to want to run in the new OS.
However, those tests were run in the x86 (32-bit) version of Windows 7. Yesterday, I tried the game on an x64 (64-bit) version of the OS, and for whatever reason, GameGuard actually runs. This means that you can play PSU in Windows 7, if you're lucky enough to have a 64-bit processor in your computer.
You do have to slightly tweak GameGuard to run the game, however. The instructions to do so have been provided by another player on the PSU official forums. It seems that the problem is caused by a new version of the GameGuard updater that isn't compatible with the current beta build of Windows 7 (yet an old version is? How the hell does that happen?).
Note that you must have a fresh, unpatched copy of the game on your computer to make this work. If you've already tried to run PSU before doing this, you'll probably have to uninstall and reinstall the game.
Once the game is installed, open up the PSU folder and look for a GameGuard.des file in the directory. Right-click it, then select Properties. In the window that appears, look for a Security tab. Click that, then select the Edit button under the "Group or User Names" box. The following window should appear (without the little red markups, of course):
For each user in the "Group or User Names" box, set Write permissions to Deny. Once you've finished, click OK to save your changes. Doing this tells Windows that the GameGuard updater is permitted to run, but that it is not allowed to modify itself, meaning that the updater can never update to the new, game-breaking version.
This fix is within the Terms of Service -- GameGuard is still allowed to patch itself and run -- so you don't have to worry about getting banned if you do this.
Note that the game may still not run perfectly after you apply this fix. Some players, after downloading the game patches and restarting, complained that there was no sound in Network Mode. I did not have this problem, however, so if you have trouble with the game it may be a hardware-specific issue.
Finally: this fix applies only for the 64-bit (x64) version of Windows 7. You'll continue to get the same old "initialization failed" error if you try it in x86 Windows 7.
However, those tests were run in the x86 (32-bit) version of Windows 7. Yesterday, I tried the game on an x64 (64-bit) version of the OS, and for whatever reason, GameGuard actually runs. This means that you can play PSU in Windows 7, if you're lucky enough to have a 64-bit processor in your computer.
You do have to slightly tweak GameGuard to run the game, however. The instructions to do so have been provided by another player on the PSU official forums. It seems that the problem is caused by a new version of the GameGuard updater that isn't compatible with the current beta build of Windows 7 (yet an old version is? How the hell does that happen?).
Note that you must have a fresh, unpatched copy of the game on your computer to make this work. If you've already tried to run PSU before doing this, you'll probably have to uninstall and reinstall the game.
Once the game is installed, open up the PSU folder and look for a GameGuard.des file in the directory. Right-click it, then select Properties. In the window that appears, look for a Security tab. Click that, then select the Edit button under the "Group or User Names" box. The following window should appear (without the little red markups, of course):
For each user in the "Group or User Names" box, set Write permissions to Deny. Once you've finished, click OK to save your changes. Doing this tells Windows that the GameGuard updater is permitted to run, but that it is not allowed to modify itself, meaning that the updater can never update to the new, game-breaking version.
This fix is within the Terms of Service -- GameGuard is still allowed to patch itself and run -- so you don't have to worry about getting banned if you do this.
Note that the game may still not run perfectly after you apply this fix. Some players, after downloading the game patches and restarting, complained that there was no sound in Network Mode. I did not have this problem, however, so if you have trouble with the game it may be a hardware-specific issue.
Finally: this fix applies only for the 64-bit (x64) version of Windows 7. You'll continue to get the same old "initialization failed" error if you try it in x86 Windows 7.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Update for January 16th
Good news everybody, the Japanese Xbox360 site (translated) has been updated with this weeks update.
And now for the bad news: It's only a lobby change to the winter lobby with the snowman room decoration on sale. Yes that's it. And how long will this lobby be up you ask? Why to February 13th of course!
I think I feel another update drought on the way...
And now for the bad news: It's only a lobby change to the winter lobby with the snowman room decoration on sale. Yes that's it. And how long will this lobby be up you ask? Why to February 13th of course!
I think I feel another update drought on the way...
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Windows 7 and PSU
Earlier this evening, I decided to take the brand new Windows 7 Beta for a test drive. Just for the hell of it, I thought it would be interesting to see how well PSU ran in the new version of Windows.
After installing the game and messing around with options for a half hour or so, I came to a conclusion: PSU doesn't run at all.
The problem doesn't seem to be the game itself, though. Instead (and this probably shouldn't be a shock to anyone), it's GameGuard that's causing the issue. Immediately after starting the game up, the following error message appears:
And there doesn't seem to be any way to fix the problem. No combination of compatibility mode or privilege changes kills the error. I guess the only thing to do is to wait until INCA decides to make GameGuard compatible with Windows 7.
After installing the game and messing around with options for a half hour or so, I came to a conclusion: PSU doesn't run at all.
The problem doesn't seem to be the game itself, though. Instead (and this probably shouldn't be a shock to anyone), it's GameGuard that's causing the issue. Immediately after starting the game up, the following error message appears:
And there doesn't seem to be any way to fix the problem. No combination of compatibility mode or privilege changes kills the error. I guess the only thing to do is to wait until INCA decides to make GameGuard compatible with Windows 7.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The S+10 Super-Fail
Oh, those crazy Xbox 360 PSU players.
A group of people on the 360 servers is attempting to make a quick buck off of the S+10 grinder glitch that occurred back in early 2008. Yesterday, the apparent "leader" of this group outlined his "super-plan" in a thread on a popular PSU fansite's forums.
Turns out it's not a very complicated (or very smart) plan. According to the thread, members of the group will buy up as many S+10 grinders as possible. They then plan to resell them for ten million meseta apiece.
They claim that the purpose of this massive grinder purchase is to artificially increase the rarity of S+10 grinders. However, it seems pretty clear to me that this is just a poor attempt to make as much money as possible -- as quickly as possible.
Think about it: they want to resell the grinders, not delete them. Players with lots of money can continue to buy and resell grinders at obscenely high prices. Therefore, arbitrarily raising prices won't decrease demand. In fact, demand will probably remain about the same, and these guys could stand to make some money by ratcheting up prices once they've bought the grinders.
If these guys really want to increase the rarity of S+10 grinders, they should buy them all up and sell them at an NPC shop. Or, they could drop the grinders in a mission and quit, deleting the grinders forever. They apparently want to do neither.
And it looks like the PSU community may not be fooled by this attempt, either. In this thread on the official PSU forums, the group's "leader" claims that the players are now attempting to destroy the Xbox 360 economy using the S+10 grinders they buy. My guess is that nobody bought into their "plan", and now they're going to try to make some money using the exact method I just described in the paragraph above.
My guess is also that they will fail miserably. But the forum threads do make for interesting drama!
A group of people on the 360 servers is attempting to make a quick buck off of the S+10 grinder glitch that occurred back in early 2008. Yesterday, the apparent "leader" of this group outlined his "super-plan" in a thread on a popular PSU fansite's forums.
Turns out it's not a very complicated (or very smart) plan. According to the thread, members of the group will buy up as many S+10 grinders as possible. They then plan to resell them for ten million meseta apiece.
They claim that the purpose of this massive grinder purchase is to artificially increase the rarity of S+10 grinders. However, it seems pretty clear to me that this is just a poor attempt to make as much money as possible -- as quickly as possible.
Think about it: they want to resell the grinders, not delete them. Players with lots of money can continue to buy and resell grinders at obscenely high prices. Therefore, arbitrarily raising prices won't decrease demand. In fact, demand will probably remain about the same, and these guys could stand to make some money by ratcheting up prices once they've bought the grinders.
If these guys really want to increase the rarity of S+10 grinders, they should buy them all up and sell them at an NPC shop. Or, they could drop the grinders in a mission and quit, deleting the grinders forever. They apparently want to do neither.
And it looks like the PSU community may not be fooled by this attempt, either. In this thread on the official PSU forums, the group's "leader" claims that the players are now attempting to destroy the Xbox 360 economy using the S+10 grinders they buy. My guess is that nobody bought into their "plan", and now they're going to try to make some money using the exact method I just described in the paragraph above.
My guess is also that they will fail miserably. But the forum threads do make for interesting drama!
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