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Character Lost - Mega Thread


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Ok, so just spitballing here, and this of course is without having intimate knowledge of the code and blueprints the team is using..

 

The first thing I would do is re-think the way the transfers are done, I don't want to sound arrogant or belittling in how the routines are being handled, but it at least appears that it's a simple matter of file transfer from point A ( PlayerCurrentServer) to B (Cloud_Server) and then to C (PlayerTargetServer).  So instead of a more rudimentary transfer system, I'd implement a way to trace the player's character data.  

 

[ Player accesses Transmitter ]

Add a routine upon logging in to any server with player data associated with it to immediately capture the player_data, CurrentServer, Timestamp and store this in a subdirectory in the cloud.  This should always be kept and tracked.

[Upon accessing the Transmitter do the following: ]

- Check the timer on transferring, if the timer is less than or equal to 3 minutes, reset it for 3 minutes and proceed, otherwise continue without a reset to the timer.

// This is so we have adequate time to gather the information needed to ensure a smooth backup.

 

[Once the player selects the server and activates the transfer do the following: ]

- Set a flag to the playerfile to indicate that a transfer is in progress from <current location> to <destination location>, set a timestamp.

- Next check for assets being transferred from the ark data folder or character inventory, snapshot these assets along with the player data and upload the information to the cloud.

// Do not delete the information on the local server until running a synchronization check on the information in the cloud, if the information does match, send a signal to delete the local file on the current server.  

[Once the player data is in the cloud: ]

If the player data comes back as synchronized do the following:

Backup the current player information and then archive a copy of it in a separate  archived file.

Push the transfer through to the target server.

Run a synchronization check to make sure the information has been successfully transferred, if yes, run a cron job and set it to delete the files after 24 hours.

[Once the player data is on the target server: ]

Remove the transfer in progress flag and set whatever necessary flags to keep a full tracking log of when/where and what transfered in the player file.

 

Like I said, this is a shell of simple logic, not fully explored I might add, but the purpose in summing things up, is to track player transfers, back up player data, and then have the transfer system do a list of checks to make sure things went through, give a 24 hour window in case the server crashes and rolls back, then on the next login, set up checks when you select your server to see if your character exists or not, if it doesn't, re-institute the transfer.   Basically,  plug in the tracking, logic to check if the transfers were successful, back up enough information to use for making sure duping doesn't occur, and then push the transfer. If there is a rollback or crash, the information will still be valid for 24 hours, so you can attempt to relog into the server and it should automatically redo the transfer.   Anyhoo that's my current thought process, granted it's thrown together pretty quickly, but maybe rethinking the original design would be a good idea at this point. 

 

** Edit:  This is certainly not the extent of what would need to be changed, nor is it thought out in it's entirety, there would need to be some backend as well as client-side changes to pull this off,  unfortunately that means quite a bit more work for the team, which may be why they haven't done it yet.  A ton of work goes into handling a system like this and it isn't as simplistic as people usually try to play it off as being. However, it is doable, and could be done, if Wildcard really wanted to invest the time into fixing this issue. **

Edited by Rio4201
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Would it be better if WC could keep the character data in upload for at least an hour after transfer, that way if the server fails to save and crashes u could re download again once its back up. 

To prevent character dupe disable character transfers to join other servers for that player during the time the character remains in data upload, after the hour is up the character is deemed safe and the sever deletes the upload and you can transfer again.

At least this would offer some safeguard to our beloved toons :)

 

I really hope WC one day fix this issue, there's endless posts regarding character losses :(

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5 minutes ago, reddotjellytot said:

Would it be better if WC could keep the character data in upload for at least an hour after transfer, that way if the server fails to save and crashes u could re download again once its back up. 

To prevent character dupe disable character transfers to join other servers for that player during the time the character remains in data upload, after the hour is up the character is deemed safe and the sever deletes the upload and you can transfer again.

At least this would offer some safeguard to our beloved toons :)

 

I really hope WC one day fix this issue, there's endless posts regarding character losses :(

Heheh thank you, that was basically what I was getting at, I tend to think in code blocks rather than using decipherable text lol.   You definitely need to add that tracing/tracking algorithm, if the server through code can determine that you attempted a transfer, finds once logging into a server that the player's character isn't there, it should be able to recover on it's own and put that temporarily stored information back into the server. Don't get me wrong, I'm  under no illusion that there aren't any obstacles standing in their way but ultimately it is able to be done. The real question is, why hasn't it? lol. 

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49 minutes ago, Rio4201 said:

Heheh thank you, that was basically what I was getting at, I tend to think in code blocks rather than using decipherable text lol.   You definitely need to add that tracing/tracking algorithm, if the server through code can determine that you attempted a transfer, finds once logging into a server that the player's character isn't there, it should be able to recover on it's own and put that temporarily stored information back into the server. Don't get me wrong, I'm  under no illusion that there aren't any obstacles standing in their way but ultimately it is able to be done. The real question is, why hasn't it? lol. 

xD I read ur previous post again, now it makes sense what u are getting at, WC really need to read these kind of posts because there are some good ideas that come from them, we need to push this onwards to @StudioWildcard and get them to listen :) at least we could have some responses in the forums regarding the issue and what the plans are to fix the character loss problems if there are any plans in the pipeline. 

WC may look at the post title and think "Oh its another one of those posts again" and not even read what people have to say.  I say WC please read, the community may have ideas you could implement with ease to prevent future character loss :) 

We just want our toons to be safe and free up valuable time of GM's to address other issues, hey we might even get faster ticket responses and a resolve, currently I would think most of the GM's time is spent replacing characters to only 105 and imprints.

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1 hour ago, Jerryn said:

That is why there is a forum specific for suggestions:  https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/forums/forum/64-game-suggestions/

Would it be really feasible to see continuous posts titled lost character in the suggestions forum, would they also be ignored or will they actually be read by WC team.

The post title is not a suggestion it's about an unfortunate loss, it's the replies following the post where suggestions come in.  This is why I reccomend WC read general forum posts too.  In the middle of almost every post there is a suggestion  about something or other thrown in there :)

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9 hours ago, reddotjellytot said:

Would it be really feasible to see continuous posts titled lost character in the suggestions forum, would they also be ignored or will they actually be read by WC team.

The post title is not a suggestion it's about an unfortunate loss, it's the replies following the post where suggestions come in.  This is why I reccomend WC read general forum posts too.  In the middle of almost every post there is a suggestion  about something or other thrown in there :)

They do read the forums.   They just don't take the time to reply.  It uses up more time than you would think; you have to be especially careful as any minor mistake will be used against them.   And, they will also be met with toxic replies and/or off topic replies; I have seen this before, and not just on this forum.

So, you post a suggestion in the suggestion forum; and there are also mechanisms for reporting bugs and for creating support tickets for in game issues.

Suggestions are for a specific item(s) that someone has come up with.  In addition, items in the suggestion forum can be discussed and voted on.

That is, you are streamlining the process by putting things in the right place instead of cramming them together and/or having them buried within each other, in look a like threads.  You can make the cheese easy to find or bury in the back of frig.  

 

Edited by Jerryn
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lost character

Lost my 130 character with alot of tames in my inventory i have clip of all my ingrams and my inventory, post 2 day 2, im normally not an impatient person but this happening right at the launch of new dlc i would like to get back to the game ive been a survivor since the very biggining of beta launch lost plenty of stuff to glitches and 2 other characters and ice never complained, with that being said i know you guys are busy but your boy lunchbox could reeeeaaaally use some help i cant even get on and help defend because im not even imprinted to any of my gigas anymore

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1 hour ago, L4D2 said:

lost my character too that i was using on 3 different maps, took 2 weeks to create a new one and get back ownership of my stuff with the help of GM, since then i use one character for each map i play, no more transfer except to do bosses on island

That's the best way so far risk is still there but significantly reduced having a toon on each map, that's how we do things too, good thing u can still transfer all ur tames and items around since characters are account bound. 

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6 hours ago, Lunchbox said:

lost character

Lost my 130 character with a lot of tames in my inventory i have clip of all my engrams and my inventory, post 2 day 2, im normally not an impatient person but this happening right at the launch of new dlc i would like to get back to the game ive been a survivor since the very beginning of beta launch lost plenty of stuff to glitches and 2 other characters and ice never complained, with that being said i know you guys are busy but your boy lunchbox could reeeeaaaally use some help i cant even get on and help defend because im not even imprinted to any of my gigas anymore

 

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I run CrossArkChat for my cluster and have a separate room in my discord for each tribe that has their tribe logs plus they can use it as a private tribe chat room.  To setup everything I need the tribeID and all the playerID's.  Easiest to just have them either leave one of their implants in one of my base's drop boxes or just send me a message with all their implant numbers.  Benefit of this is that I have a list of all the players on the cluster so if anything happens I can go through the backups and pull out replacement files to fix problems.

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The absolute absence of support to their customers  on this is problem is ofc inexcusable.   This is not about the ability to do it. 

It's about willingness to support their customers. WildCard does not care about their customers. After you have paid, you're value to them is gone.

This is blatantly apparent in everything they do.

But as Sakutera said.  Don't screenshot it. Just die once and save your implant from your dead body. I have implants from my entire Ark life. All levels.

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I always screenshot my implant when completing a major events such as ascension or other bosses, the problem is it feels pointless because the GM will not give back a lvl135 character with the tek engrams u have unlocked on the way even with the proof.  They will give u levels to 105

The appointment times are so long its already too late to reset building timers etc if ur solo.  I can understand why people would give up ARK after putting in so many hours for it all to go poof in less than 1 min.

 

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I'm pretty sure almost all ARK players have tried unofficial at some point, then resorted back to official, finding a half decent server is like looking for a needle in a hay stack.  Not everyone wants mega boosted servers, some hosts want u to pay too :/ But then again the host usually gives up after a couple of months, at least that's how we found it on multiple different servers

 

Unofficial server admin don't guarantee your toon to be replaced if it was lost in the cloud during transfers

 

Half the unofficial servers don't even show up unless u know the IP of a specific server which usually comes from invites. Or mentioned in discord. 

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7 hours ago, reddotjellytot said:

I always screenshot my implant when completing a major events such as ascension or other bosses, the problem is it feels pointless because the GM will not give back a lvl135 character with the tek engrams u have unlocked on the way even with the proof.  They will give u levels to 105

The appointment times are so long its already too late to reset building timers etc if ur solo.  I can understand why people would give up ARK after putting in so many hours for it all to go poof in less than 1 min.

 

This is incorrect. They will give you levels all the way to 150+ if you post them a proof on implant. And no, character id is not enough. You need screenshot of implants showing what bosses and ascensions you have done. Otherwise you will get the max lvl 105.

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2 hours ago, reddotjellytot said:

players have tried unofficial at some point, then resorted back to official

Indeed, I have tried several, and I continue to play Official PvE.
I had my own private server for three years, until an update made it unplayable (Homestead update). Since 2015, I've tried several other unofficials, which all get taken offline in a few months, and I want my stuff to last for years. I do like singleplayer, but when my D drive corrupts... RIP saves (thankfully I have backed up alot of them).

I've never lost a character before, but I also havent done very many bosses, and I make a new character for every server I play on because of the frequency of lost characters I read about on the forums.

I didnt know I needed to take a screenshot of my implant (or keep a copy of one from my dead character), so here I am, a player who hasnt yet screenshot my implant (I didnt know to keep a record of it). I'll be sure to keep a screenshot and implant from my corpse from now on.

I strongly desire for this game to have less bugs, and a more consistent transfer system, but it's been years, and I've lost alot of hope.
One of the best games and DINOS! for me... but the dev team ... Some maybe great people but idk what the heck is going on, something is lost. Lots of stuff getting lost and some of them seem to not care? I'm sure some do care but are powerless (not their department?)

Summary
I feel lost characters need a better remedy imo than the current method of insufficient replacements.

Edited by GreenRoc
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I decided to come back to the game after a 6 month break and start fresh on small tribes. I have had 3 characters vanish without a trace in 8 days. 

 

The latest just happened just now  when I lost connection to host, when I tried to rejoin the server  my character was no longer on it. 

Not bothered about the levels or  tames/items I've lost because it's all early game  stuff that's easy to get. 

I just don't understand why my characters keep vanishing and I am more concerned at not being able to progress when  having to create new a survivor every few days 

Edited by Cam420
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Lost character while transferring between servers

I was transferring my lvl 88 character between crystal isles servers when it appears an error and when i see, my character is nowhere, not in downloads and not in the 2 crystal isles servers. What can i do? The error was: 007-failed while downloading transferred character with code: 200 and msg: RefCode:1-0

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