Not A Bug: FoE Android App crashes on beta while loading

[Andi47]

First: Why is there no template for bugs in the android app in the "please read before posting" thread?

Reproduction Steps:
I did the following:
1.) tried to log in with the android app on thursday this week after not using the app for several weeks
2.) the app forced me to update
3.) after the update, I attempted to log in again
4.) the app went immediately to beta and started loading (I saw the loading screen)
5.) app crashed at 0%
6.) deinstalled the android app today
7.) installed the app
8.) logged in on .de3 (it worked)
9.) collected coins and installed an update from within the game
10.) after the update the app reloaded (reload on .de3 worked perfectly)
11.) logged out
12.) attempted to log in on beta
13.) I see the loading screen, the app crashes at 0%
14.) tried to log in again
15.) the app immediately goes to the loading screen (without the possibility to log out on beta and try again on .de)
16.) the app crashed again while loading at 0%


Issue Description (10/10): The android app (seems to be the newest version, see procedure above) crashes when attempting to log in on beta. I see the loading screen and the crash occurs at 0%. (Android gives an error message "the app has been stopped" (german: Die App wurde angehalten). Uninstalling and re-installing the FoE app doesn't seem to work.


I have performed a quicksearch of the forums using a select few keywords relating to my bug to see if it has already been reported: yes, nothing found.

 

[thephantom]

This is to be expected right now for anyone who is in the Arctic Future or is visiting Arctic Future players. The new era is not yet available on mobile apps, the assets for it are missing so therefore the game cannot load this city. The app would simply crash.

Once the new era is released on mobile, the situation should be back in order. Unfortunately until then, you would not be able to login to your city from a mobile app, sorry.

 

[Andi47]

Once I attempted to log in on beta and it crashed, there is no way to go back, so if I start the app again, it immediately attempts to log in to beta again, and obviously crashes again without an option to cancel the login attempt.

The only way to cancel the login attempt (e.g. if I want to play on .de) is to uninstall and re-install the app. I think at least that is a bug.

 

[thephantom]

This is not likely to be changed in any way sadly, because it happens under very specific circumstances, and only for Beta. For live markets the new era is released for both browser and mobile together, it's only for Beta that due to technical limitations that is unfortunately not possible.

We understand the inconvenience it poses, but making adjustments to the app's login for this is not at all feasible.

 

[DeletedUser5518]

Does the fact that this BUG affects all servers make a difference in your thought process here??? Once you get the 0% crash on the beta server the app is locked out of all servers. . . .

 

[Andi47]

Does the fact that this BUG affects all servers make a difference in your thought process here??? Once you get the 0% crash on the beta server the app is locked out of all servers. . . .

I would say this is a CRITICAL bug - getting the 0% crash once makes the whole app inoperable (reinstall needed).

 

[thephantom]

And once you reinstall the app, you can avoid loading the Beta market and you won't have any issues.

While this affects the app as a whole, it only happens when app users from Beta have used a browser to reach the Arctic Future but then returned to a mobile app. Needless to say the number here is very low. And the issue will be fixed soon when the new era is introduced to mobile.

 

[DeletedUser7090]

And once you reinstall the app, you can avoid loading the Beta market and you won't have any issues.

While this affects the app as a whole, it only happens when app users from Beta have used a browser to reach the Arctic Future but then returned to a mobile app. Needless to say the number here is very low. And the issue will be fixed soon when the new era is introduced to mobile.

That doesn't negate the utter ridiculousness of this issue. It does, however, shine a light on Inno's woeful customer service. Actually, I've never understood why the beta server was even accessible on mobile. We've never been able to participate in testing because the app is only updated for live. So why bother?

And once you reinstall the app, you can avoid loading the Beta market and you won't have any issues.

I'm just repeating this for how ridiculous it sounds. Reminds me of that time when Inno was having trouble with the servers and told us to contact our ISP and have them change our IP address to one that didn't start with 104. You know, instead of doing the work themselves.

 

[Andi47]

I am not sure whether Beta is now accessible with Android. If not, I found a workaround for the deadlock: If locked out by the crash, do:
1. Prerequisite: Have at least one notification set to active in Android on your home Server (not beta), without this the workaround will not work
2. Enter your home world via an other device, e.g. Browser on your PC
3. Do an Action to trigger the notification, e.g. scout a province or have an offer accepted
4. Get the notification on Android device
5. Click the notification on your Android device
Result: it redirects you to the login page, which will now work properly.

As said, I don't know if the crash has been fixed, so can anyone confirm the workaround?