bugs Simtropolis 9.0.x - Bugs & Issues Report Thread

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

23 hours ago, korver said:

I'm having trouble posting mosaics at full resolution. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi korver,

I'm unsure what's caused the image resize handles to not appear for you. I've cleared the site cache in case that might fix them, and perhaps it could be an issue similar to when the editor was reported to be inoperable in some geographical locations (depending on Cloudflare).

Anyhow, I've located the setting responsible to remove the 1280px height limit, and I don't think we really needed that anyway. Testing with your Burj Al Arab image from your recent "Middle East" CJ update, I'm now able to paste this into the editor from where it displays without being downscaled. Now not having the height limit, images will resolve to the maximum possible width of the container, whether that's the CJ entry visible display area, or posts here on the forums.

To fix it and any other images, try removing and then pasting the image URL into the editor, from where they should now extend properly.

Hopefully this does the trick.

 

21 hours ago, redfox85 said:

Umm sorry I just broke all the lights along the top ... 

No worries, but it is tough work. The LBRT has been working non-stop 24/7 trying to replace them this past week!

[korver 27,685]

@Cyclone Boom Thanks for looking into this - everything seems to be working perfectly fine once again since the fix. Really appreciate the help

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Random test post to test if posting randomly posts.

[Boombox Gamer 19]

Can't sign in through facebook anymore (cleared cookies), so I have to use this account again.

granted I had that other account sort of by accident, but still.......

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi @Boombox Gamer and sorry to hear this.

Just to confirm, please let me know the name of your other account you wish to regain access to. It's possible there's something gone awry with the social media logins, and this is a component built into the board software which I have very limited control over. One thing should the Facebook login be unavailable, if you wish I can de-associate it from your account. Then I'd set you a temporary password (sent via PM), from where you can sign in again as normal and change it to whatever you'd like.

If you'd rather not disclose what your other account is by posting here, feel free to send me a PM instead.

[matthiasbasler 2]

This forum thread is gone since today. I assume this is a technical error. Here is what I get:

Mayor, we have a problem...

We could not locate the item you are trying to view.

Error code: 2F173/O

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

37 minutes ago, matthiasbasler said:

This forum thread is gone since today. I assume this is a technical error.

Thanks for the heads up.

For some reason that thread got hidden from public view. I've now restored it fully to be viewable again.

[catty-cb 4,393]

Seem to be having a few problems today, try posting on the Banished topic here

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/55871-banished/?page=7

and the "Reply to this Topic" button is missing, then when I randomly clicked on another forum topic to see if it was just the Banished topic that was having a problem I got this page instead

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

@catty-cb

I went to the Banished topic and the pink Reply button was there, however, no amount of clicking would cause it to jump down to the reply box. I scrolled down and saw the reply box was closed up with just the Choose Files option. So, I refreshed the page and all was well again. (I'll remove my test reply there once you've read this.)

For the past year or so the board will sometimes randomly have these little glitches. It affects members, mods, admins, and all. It will almost always straightens itself out with a page refresh. On rare occasions I've had to refresh twice or even more rarely, thrice. I believe when all the background processes such as, but not limited to, sending out beeps (notifications) for replies in topics it will sometimes ignore its other tasks like opening the reply box for typing.

For the other random test I'm guessing whatever ST was doing during its mini vacation would be the cause of that as well.

[catty-cb 4,393]

19 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

@catty-cb

I went to the Banished topic and the pink Reply button was there, however, no amount of clicking would cause it to jump down to the reply box.....

Have replied and thanks .... refresh didn't work for me, but once I'd cleared the cache that seems to have done the trick

[doldrum 67]

Hi guys,

A problem. Although a member for years, only recently returned. Site is somewhat unfamiliar to me. Using the 'Message' button in the site logo header gives me a small popup with a swirling 'busy' indicator. Clicking on the 'View main Inbox' button gives this (in my browsers tab, as the page is loading, I see " a configuration or...):

An error occurred accessing the requested page or resource.

Error code: 2C137/A

Using the 'Contact us' button leads to a logo-ed but blank page which allows no input.

This behavior is the same using any of the 'Message' links on a page or within a profile, although the error code might change. I did not note that. Clearing my local browser cache had no effect on this behavior. I am using Firefox 52.0 on a WinXP, S3 machine, with Java 8SE. Can't upgrade any higher on this machine.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Hi @doldrum

I've sent you a message to see if you can receive it, and whether that might reset something in your account. This is peculiar because just yesterday we received reports from another member by where a similar (or the same) error was encountered when attempting to send a PM to them. What's different here is unless it just so happened how this is an intermittent issue, it being possible to send you this message seems to suggest a related but likely dissimilar occurrence.

Oftentimes these error codes in the board software are very generic, leaving us all guessing as to what they might mean specifically. It seems there's a wide range of causes for certain types of errors, and that's what also adds difficulty for diagnosing possible issues. For those indicating items are "Not Found" and this hints towards missing database records, where an ID number doesn't correspond with anything in the referenced table. It gets complicated beyond that, and it's above my current technical understanding.

Let me know if you can read my message and reply, and otherwise we'll see what can be done.

[doldrum 67]

@Cyclone Boom.

While in the middle of another page, got a pop-up notification of a message from you. Clicking the 'Read message' button gave me the same error as above. I show a message waiting for me in the logo header, but can't access it. I'm reasonably certain it is not on my end, as when I came back to the site about a week and a half ago, I checked that box and had an old message from years ago. It worked then. It was only about this past Sunday, I discovered the above problem. Thought, at the time, it might be a site maintenance issue, but is ongoing.

ADDENDUM -

In my browser history, is the following:

A configuration or server error has occurred

https://community.simtropolis.com/messenger/

NEW ADDENDUM -

Had several tabs open and got them mixed up in the course of replying. While in my Profile, got your pop-up. See above. Opened my e-mail client, got your e-mail test. Using the shortcut in the test e-mail msg. from you took me to the same Simtropolis page and  error. 'Fraid the balls in your court.

Here's a screen shot of any attempt by me to get to messages:

Here's what I get when I click the 'Contact Us' button. No input is possible:

[doldrum 67]

Gotta' leave for now. Hope you all can straighten this out.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

8 hours ago, doldrum said:

I'm reasonably certain it is not on my end, as when I came back to the site about a week and a half ago, I checked that box and had an old message from years ago. It worked then. It was only about this past Sunday, I discovered the above problem. Thought, at the time, it might be a site maintenance issue, but is ongoing.

Thanks for detailing the additional info with pictures. That does help to see the extent of the issue.

It does indeed suggest how this isn't caused by local factors such as browser, operating system, or network connection. I wondered if perhaps using an older version of Firefox (with latter versions from FF Quantum no longer compatible), if maybe that has a part to play here. So the fact you saw your messenger working over a week ago, that shows how in-between then and now, something has changed to be causing this behaviour at the present moment in time.

The million dollar question (as ever) in these cases is what that might be...

Viewing the test PM which I sent, oddly it shows like so:
 

 

Bizarrely your read date there appears as January 1st, 1970 which corresponds to the start of Unix time. Checking the database record for this convo and the read time is set as zero there which proves how the inability to access the PM is preventing this being updated. In normal circumstances having not viewed a conversation, that value for the timestamp being as such would display as Not read yet for the text there.

The fact you've received the email notification proves my message was sent properly. Likewise for the popup to display on the site for previewing the new received PM convo. Just clearly the apparent problem is preventing you accessing it in any form.

For the Contact Us page not displaying and it's especially peculiar, given that's a completely separate module of the site.

One thing which comes to mind is how you had that duplicate attachment upload, and whether that might've been the start of what's happened here. That likewise doesn't seem possible to be related though, but sometimes there can be strange associations with how a glitch propagates to a wider range of symptoms.

Later one thing I can initiate is a full check process of the relevant database tables, and also clearing the site cache via the server side method. This would involve the complete purging all temporary files to see if that may help. We may have to temporarily take the site offline during this time for a short duration while this completes. I don't hold high hopes there however, but it's worth a try given that's helped resolve certain obscure issues before.

Apologies for the inconvenience this is causing, and here's hoping it can be resolved shortly.

Update:

I've now run the task to clear and rebuild all temporary server side files related to the board software. This has completed successfully, and next I'll run a check on the database. Again I'm doubtful this will help, but let me know if it does.

  Edited September 11, 2019 by Cyclone Boom  

[doldrum 67]

Hi CB.Things seem to be working properly now (Thank you!), though would have to search for a 'Contact Us' link to insure that is functioning properly.

Sort of doubt the old msg. date had anything to do with it.Some background: Have visited the site intermittently over the past few years,  but never visited my Profile or got involved in msgs. During that time the board evolved through the software changes.This time, I have become more involved, and visited that old msg. which did NOT appear as a new msg. in the page header after I signed in. I chose to visit the 'Message' link from the page header.It was a reply from me to the original conversation, though the conversation as a whole was not shown. At the time, (2 weeks ago), I did not READ the msg, just saw the preview in the Profile page. At the time, (7 years ago), I did read the conversation, and WROTE the msg. Given the site upgrades, I can see how the date was set to a Pre-Cambrian period, awaiting an update by a member visiting the page.

However, today's problem was different, in that, not only was I unable to read your msg. to me, I could not access the messenger page, as I wanted to PM the other half of the CONBOOM team (that's how I discovered the problem). The whole msg. function was inoperable (the shortcut in your e-mail led me to the same non-reactive page & error), which HAS to be connected to the 'Contact Us' error. At some deeper site-software level, despite being different modules, the msg. capability must share some functions.

Can't say whether the problem was member-specific, i.e. me, or site-wide, that's for your team to determine.

In any event, its working now. Thank you, again.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

35 minutes ago, doldrum said:

I wanted to PM the other half of the CONBOOM team

This half of said team (or one with a similar name) hasn't received a PM from you yet.

[doldrum 67]

1 hour ago, CorinaMarie said:

This half of said team (or one with a similar name) hasn't received a PM from you yet.

Because I could not message, per above problem. Trying to PM you caused me to discover the problem. The content of the PM would have been the appropriateness of uploading my 'KeyCfg' file, which I then broached to CB in a comment in the thread, "Modding-Future Planning". So the PM became irrelevant.

But, since you're here:

REVOLT AGAINST THE MACHINES!!!

Minor issue, I'm not really concerned about it, choosing to ignore it.

In my Profile, it claims I have not completed my Profile.

Not true. I choose not to have an Avatar (it told me I can't use a Simtropolis site url, the default Avatar). I choose not to have a cover photo in my Profile.

Having gone through the steps, NOT skipping them, it should accept that I have 100% completed my profile. The machine is not happy I won't do what I'm told. Still claims I'm derelict in completing my Profile.

REVOLT AGAINST THE MACHINES!!!

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

6 hours ago, doldrum said:

The content of the PM would have been the appropriateness of uploading my 'KeyCfg' file, which I then broached to CB in a comment in the thread, "Modding-Future Planning".

And there is a forthcoming official decision from us on that.

 

6 hours ago, doldrum said:

REVOLT AGAINST THE MACHINES!!!

[doldrum 67]

Sigh...! I know I'm becoming a PIA, but I don't do social media, so this is all relatively unfamiliar to me.

In my 'Manage Followed Content', for a given individual item, in the 'Change Preferences' box, I get this:

Send me:

• A notification when new content is posted
  You cannot use this option because you have not chosen how the notification should be sent. Notification Settings

I don't understand what I need to set. I've enabled push notifications & daily e-mails (though not the news option), toggled & and un-toggled the various notification list toggles, made sure to save (both). Still get above msg. Must I disable e-mails over notifications? Must I disable notifications over e-mails? A little clarity for a dumb 'noob' is in order.

EDIT:

Never mind. Toggling all e-mail notifications off enabled the setting, and offers a daily e-mail option in the 'Change Preferences' box for an individual item. Some notice of that fact that excluding one or the other is mandatory, on the notification settings page would probably be helpful to 'noobs'. Would keep moderators from having to answer questions like this.

  Edited September 12, 2019 by doldrum  
IGNORE

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

5 hours ago, doldrum said:

Having gone through the steps, NOT skipping them, it should accept that I have 100% completed my profile.

Bad machine! I've given it a good dusting down and fixed it for you:

This 100% status may not appear now (at least it didn't as seen via admin tools). But I captured the moment of their defeat for your profile is now fully complete.

 

4 hours ago, doldrum said:

Sigh...! I know I'm becoming a PIA, but I don't do social media, so this is all relatively unfamiliar to me.

Not at all. It's completely fine to ask if unsure of anything. The same applies for SC4 related questions too.

That's what we're here for to help when people ever would like assistance navigating the site. The great thing also is when answering questions, it can help others who might learn the odd tip and trick along the way as a result. That's all with the flow cycle of knowledge.

 

4 hours ago, doldrum said:

Some notice of that fact that excluding one or the other is mandatory, on the notification settings page would probably be helpful to 'noobs'.

Good idea. On the dialog I've expanded on this to hopefully clarify.

It now looks like this when both are unchecked:

 

Then on the actual setting itself:

(The checkboxes are then over on the right side of this.)

So this way it's possible to have both the instant Notifications and then the Email ones to be sent.

The only Email toggle disabled is for reactions, and that's since there's possible performance considerations with the email service sending too many at once. For a reaction, that's when people click the little blue heart button or the various choices for a given posted item. E.g. Like, Thanks, Haha, Yes

I added a note to clarify how that Email reactions notifications toggle is disabled intentionally.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[doldrum 67]

A quick query: Am exploring the tools in my Profile. I note that in My Attachments are the pics I uploaded to various threads. If I use the trash can button, does that delete the image from the thread post? Missing pics in threads is one of my pet peeves.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

3 minutes ago, doldrum said:

If I use the trash can button, does that delete the image from the thread post?

Yep. It will remove the pic from that thread and any other thread (if you'd copied the URL of the image itself to another post).

[twalsh102 1,601]

I went looking for a tutorial I remembered seeing in answer to one of @simchey's topic "Some Beginnerish Questions".  I actually managed to find it in the Omnibus under SC4 Tutorials.  It is titled "Making Money The Easy Way" by @soldyne.  The tutorial is primarily about how to create a prosperous city, but it is also a reasonable tutorial about how to build up a region. 

It includes 86 .jpgs, without which the included text is almost impossible to make sense of.  The problem is that every one of the links are borked.  It almost looks as if at some point the links were truncated.  Each link is in the format //www.simtropolis.com/library/Omnibus/MoneyTut/soldynemoneytutimage001.jpg, which the website is apparently not resolving.  All the pictures apparently still exist, as every one I tried to access by copying / pasting the existing link in a new browser tab would resolve and bring up an image.  If you could add this to the list of things to get fixed...?  Thanks!

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

1 hour ago, twalsh102 said:

The problem is that every one of the links are borked.  It almost looks as if at some point the links were truncated. 

Prolly one of the conversions from this or that to that or this played havoc with them.

Images in Making Money The Easy Way are all fixed now.

[twalsh102 1,601]

Thanks @CorinaMarie!!  I really wasn't expecting such a quick fix.  Must have been a slow morning.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

19 minutes ago, twalsh102 said:

I really wasn't expecting such a quick fix.

I try to get my site chores knocked out first thing when I login.

And this wasn't overly difficult. I copied the whole thing to N++, did a search and replace changing //www. to https://www., and then just scrolling thru placing the cursor at the end of each linky and pressing the spacebar once to make the editor recognize each one as an actual linky for it to then resolve itself into the pic. I tidied up the formatting a wee bit too as there were oddities in the line spacing. Also, image 019 wasn't used, but 020 was in there twice. I fixed that as well. Then the old 4.gif wasn't found so I replaced it with the current party one.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

2 hours ago, twalsh102 said:

Thanks @CorinaMarie!!  I really wasn't expecting such a quick fix.

It's nice how either Cori or myself are around the site on a daily basis to help resolve things like this. One thing we rather avoid is to say "we'll look into it" and then something just lingers and takes ages, and ages (and ages) to be completed. Instead when an objective can be completed here and now, that's usually our best methodology to get a job done in a timely fashion. There are so many little details which collectively add up too.

Thanks for reporting the broken article.

[catty-cb 4,393]

17 hours ago, twalsh102 said:

I went looking for a tutorial I remembered seeing in answer to one of @simchey's topic "Some Beginnerish Questions".  I actually managed to find it in the Omnibus under SC4 Tutorials.  It is titled "Making Money The Easy Way" by @soldyne.  The tutorial is primarily about how to create a prosperous city, but it is also a reasonable tutorial about how to build up a region.

I've been working on a omnibus index

I never included author's name, just the name of the article would it help in the future to include that kind of information?

  Edited September 14, 2019 by catty-cb  
added a link

[doldrum 67]

Sorry if this has been asked, or asked and answered before, BUT I already spend way too much time on this site, and didn't want to search thru a gazilion un-related posts.

I have a WinXP-S3  machine, Java v8.11, and Firefox  v52.0. I cannot upgrade anything past those versions.

When I'm in Simtropolis 'Files' (or a post with sequential images), the (I assume) Java popup that allows one to scroll through those images is a problem FOR ME. I'm reasonably sure this is not a site problem, so I'm not looking for you to fix it, just asking if anyone has any ideas, short of upgrading my OS.

If there are, say, 4 image thumbnails in a file description, and I left-click on any one of them, the first image to be displayed will not display. The scroll arrows work to show the other images, but the first selected image will not display in any way. For multiple images, I will perform the action twice. Not display file1, scroll thru 2 > ?, then return, not display file 2, and look at file1.If there is only one image, I need to copy its link into a new tab, but I have to use a Firefox add-on to zoom the thumbnail.

Any ideas, anyone?