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| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:03 #134886 | |
ajax103
1120 posts |
Just as the title says, SimSig went down today meaning except for the free simulations that none of the paid for simulations were available. So what happened and why? Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:11 #134887 | |
Dick
387 posts |
More to the point, sims locked to a machine were also unavailable. I thought the whole point of locking the sims to a machine was to allow them to be available offline. Clearly not the case.
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| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:12 #134888 | |
Hap
1039 posts |
Things happen and the server was down. I've not spoken to anyone yet. for example, I was told it was around 4/5 hours ago that it went down. That's 2am in parts of America. The main thing is that it's back up now. I've issued some advice for anyone wishing to play tonight to lock their sims to their machines until we find out. Doing this would mitigate any interruption to your games in general, in case things like this happen, which they can and do. Apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused anyone. How to report an issue: www.SimSig.co.uk/Wiki/Show?page=usertrack:reportanissue Log in to reply The following user said thank you: elltrain3 |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:12 #134889 | |
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Hap
1039 posts |
Dick in post 134887 said:More to the point, sims locked to a machine were also unavailable. I thought the whole point of locking the sims to a machine was to allow them to be available offline. Clearly not the case.Ah ok. I will feed this back ASAP. What sims were locked in your case Dick? Thanks Craig How to report an issue: www.SimSig.co.uk/Wiki/Show?page=usertrack:reportanissue Last edited: 19/12/2020 at 16:13 by Hap Reason: None given Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:18 #134890 | |
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Dick
387 posts |
All the ones I have bought which is quite a number, none were available. I can supply a list if necessary but I guess Simsig knows which ones I have a licence for.
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| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:27 #134891 | |
jc92
3687 posts |
I've seen multiple reports of people with locked licences being unable to play throughout this downtime so there definetely seems to be some sort of issue.
"We don't stop camborne wednesdays" Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:29 #134892 | |
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Hap
1039 posts |
jc92 in post 134891 said:I've seen multiple reports of people with locked licences being unable to play throughout this downtime so there definetely seems to be some sort of issue.yup, as I said. I'll report this back. How to report an issue: www.SimSig.co.uk/Wiki/Show?page=usertrack:reportanissue Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:37 #134893 | |
hotwellian
211 posts |
The server fell over as the error messages said. all seems to be up and running Ok now!
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| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:40 #134895 | |
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Javelin395
272 posts |
I appreciate these things happen and it can't be helped. I also acknowledge that Hap is investigating and will let us know the nature of the problem. However, I must echo the comment made by Dick. I was playing a Manchester Piccadilly session with the licence locked to my PC. Suddenly a message window appeared saying something along the lines of "your session has expired" and the Simsig application then closed. I reopened Simsig but then couldn't proceed beyond the first screen (my password wouldn't verify) so I couldn't access ANY loader sim irrespective of whether they were paid for (and I owned a licence) or free. As I say, this is not a complaint. Just feel it might help you guys to understand the effect of the outage as having locked a licence to a machine was of no help (at least for me). I'll be honest... I was actually hoping the server was off-line whilst new sims were being uploaded !! Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 16:42 #134896 | |
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ccobh
6 posts |
Perhaps an extra discount on new purchases may be offered by means of compensation for the inconvenience ???
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| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 17:38 #134899 | |
GeoffM
6376 posts |
What appears to have happened is that a rather large Windows update decided to download itself at the same time as an influx of spam. The combination of the two caused an out of memory situation, causing the website to automatically lock down to prevent data loss. There will be brief outages today while the server reboots to install these updates. Apologies for the interruptions in service. As it happens, we acquired a more powerful new server just a few days ago but have yet to move things over. The issue with locked licenses is being looked into. SimSig Boss Last edited: 19/12/2020 at 17:56 by GeoffM Reason: Forgot a bit. Log in to reply The following users said thank you: DriverCurran, bossman, Hap, Javelin395, Steamer, mfloyd, robert, hotwellian, jackdaw |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 17:50 #134900 | |
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Dick
387 posts |
So what is the point of locking licences if it still relies on the server being available for the sims to work offline?
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| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 17:53 #134901 | |
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jc92
3687 posts |
ccobh in post 134896 said:Perhaps an extra discount on new purchases may be offered by means of compensation for the inconvenience ???But if you haven't bought the sim yet, how would you have been inconvenienced. Let's be fair. Its annoying but its not that great an inconvenience. We've had an apology, an explanation and the issue is being looked into. That's more than enough "We don't stop camborne wednesdays" Log in to reply The following users said thank you: Javelin395, bri2808, Trainfan344 |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 17:56 #134902 | |
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Dick
387 posts |
Err, no. Fair enough having server problems. What is totally unacceptable is the inability to access sims that have supposedly been locked to a machine thus not needing access to the server not working. I think there could be some interesting questions asked by trading standards if that isn't resolved!
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| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 18:09 #134904 | |
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TUT
532 posts |
Dick in post 134902 said:Err, no. Fair enough having server problems. What is totally unacceptable is the inability to access sims that have supposedly been locked to a machine thus not needing access to the server not working. I think there could be some interesting questions asked by trading standards if that isn't resolved!I too have been a little bit disappointed with the license locking feature so far, but realise that people have been clamouring for an easier way to play their sims on more than one computer for years and imagine license unlocks caused SimSig a lot of headaches. I can't comment on what happened while I was tucked up in bed following a night shift, but I can report that license locking does work, but it's still a little flawed at this stage. I have played many long sessions without any internet access whatsoever. However. It does appear to be necessary to "top it up" by logging in every so often. No idea why, but I have had times where I've fired up SimSig only to find all the locked licenses have been forgotten. Problem solved by logging in once, but obviously that's not always possible, hence locking the licenses in the first place ... But, although a bit of a work in progress, it does still generally work alright. As I say, I've been a bit disappointed by a few of version 5's great leaps forward, but I have to say I think you're being a bit ungenerous. It was only a brief outage, things do go wrong, and you have to give points for effort, don't you? A move to 'dynamic licensing' or whatever they call it was loudly demanded for years (admittedly not by me, but) Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 18:18 #134905 | |
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Dick
387 posts |
I suspect there is some sort of heartbeat/keep alive functionality that only allows for a limited period of lack of connectivity. Again, if this is the case, it is totally unacceptable. If licenses are locked to a machine they should be available continuously regardless of internet connectivity. Not being ungenerous at all, there is nothing to say that an internet connection is a requirement to play purchased sims. Last edited: 19/12/2020 at 18:20 by Dick Reason: None given Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 18:19 #134906 | |
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Hap
1039 posts |
I once remember that the Call of Duty servers were down and my world ended. I only buy it to play online. Got over it in the end. Phew.
How to report an issue: www.SimSig.co.uk/Wiki/Show?page=usertrack:reportanissue Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 18:39 #134908 | |
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Albert
1315 posts |
Dick in post 134905 said:I suspect there is some sort of heartbeat/keep alive functionality that only allows for a limited period of lack of connectivity.Even if a license is locked, the sim checks at times whether it is still available - if you have internet - to avoid situations where you requested unlock through an admin and can continue playing on two machines afterwards. If the server is online but gives an erroneous response, this might be misinterpreted as a license that has been unlocked through admin action. Likely you would have been able to play if you hadn't been online at the time. AJP in games Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 18:52 #134909 | |
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petr
3 posts |
I think that it is because the server hadn't gone down completely. When I opened loader 5.12 it didn't report "could not communicate with server" but instead it said "invalid username/password". I guess the server was still there but refused to ack the login. I'll suspect that once the loader thinks it has an invalid login, it will lock everything until it thinks the login is valid. I've tested on several occasions starting the computer with no internet connection and the locked sims worked fine. For a programmer, partial connection is the absolute nightmare! Log in to reply The following users said thank you: Hap, Stephen Fulcher |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 18:53 #134910 | |
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GeoffM
6376 posts |
petr in post 134909 said:I think that it is because the server hadn't gone down completely. When I opened loader 5.12 it didn't report "could not communicate with server" but instead it said "invalid username/password". I guess the server was still there but refused to ack the login. I'll suspect that once the loader thinks it has an invalid login, it will lock everything until it thinks the login is valid. I've tested on several occasions starting the computer with no internet connection and the locked sims worked fine.Spot on! SimSig Boss Log in to reply |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 19:22 #134911 | |
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Dick
387 posts |
You are all missing the point. It should not be a requirement for an internet connection or the server to be available in order to access sims that have been paid for and locked to a machine. End of.
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| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 19:41 #134913 | |
Peter Bennet
5402 posts |
Dick in post 134902 said:I think there could be some interesting questions asked by trading standards if that isn't resolved! I'd not hold your breath, last time I contacted Trading Standards about the refusal of a company to even acknowledge the existence of consumer rights they were not interested. Peter I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs! Log in to reply The following user said thank you: jc92 |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 19:48 #134914 | |
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mfcooper
707 posts |
Dick, May I draw your attention to... GeoffM in post 134899 said: The issue with locked licenses is being looked into. Log in to reply The following users said thank you: DriverCurran, Hap, BarryM |
| SimSig down, what happened? 19/12/2020 at 19:56 #134916 | |
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swiftaw
271 posts |
petr in post 134909 said:I think that it is because the server hadn't gone down completely. When I opened loader 5.12 it didn't report "could not communicate with server" but instead it said "invalid username/password". I guess the server was still there but refused to ack the login. I'll suspect that once the loader thinks it has an invalid login, it will lock everything until it thinks the login is valid. I've tested on several occasions starting the computer with no internet connection and the locked sims worked fine.Does this mean if you disabled the internet on the computer then the locked licenses would have worked, since Simsig would not have been able to connect to server, rather than trying to connect and being denied? Log in to reply |