Closed | Archived Extra popup window opens

[Sir Derf]

So, because speedy Neighborly Help in the Browser gets progressively slower the longer you did it, I reload the browser every 5 pages of Neighbors. (I haven't checked if this has been fixed, but neither have I heard that it has)

So today, I start the process. I click the World Map icon, and the game goes to the Main Map. I click the honeycomb Provinces Icon, expecting the 3-Tabbed Provinces popup. I get the Provinces popup. I select the NH tab. I do the first 5 pages of NH. So I reload the browser. I click the World Map icon, and the game goes to the Main Map. I click the honeycomb Provinces Icon, expecting the 3-Tabbed Provinces popup. Instead, I am shown a window to apply Time Boosts to something. I did not spend Time Boosts, so I don't know what I would be boosting. If I dismiss the Time Boost window, I am shown the expected Provinces popup.

 

[Silmaril]

We can confirm that these are not bugs in the game, but purely down to your devices caching system. The Cache stores game codes to prevent the need to reload them each time. Unfortunately when this becomes full or when game code changes, this means the saved codes clash with the new ones, causing all sorts of glitches, not least game lag and display errors.
We advise our players to perform a cache clear at least every two weeks after the latest update is released, to follow the cache clear with a device restart and a modem reset (as modems/routers also have a caching system).
We are happy to help with things like developer tools, to look deeper if you need additional help with your device.

 

[Sir Derf]

Respectfully, but cache management is a game issue, not a player issue. Am I to understand that INNO does not automatically clear the cache when a new version is deployed?

 

[Silmaril]

As this is an integral part of your phone, laptop, pc or tablet as well as the router or modem that you use, this is not something we have any control over. But should be part of general standard maintenance that is done to keep your devices working well.

 

[Sir Derf]

I'm still at a loss with how cache conflicts isn't something pre-detectable and, if not proactively clearable, then prophylactically game-halting?

On the browser or the phone, does the game not do a fresh download of gamefiles on start or reload? If there are old cached files, in the PC/phone, on the router, whatever, is this not detectable with timestamps and version numbers?

 

[Silmaril]

This should be proactively cleared as a normal part of basic maintenance for your device/s.
The game does indeed download fresh game files, but if your cache has not been cleared and is holding onto the old game codes (which is the point of the caching system) this will then not allow the new codes to load, with two sets of data it then cannot load either. Hence the lag, display glitches etc:
Wiki has a decent explanation, if you are seeking more on this subject here.

 

[Sir Derf]

@Silmaril , cache issues still seem like a problem that could, and should, be dealt with at the program level.

A basic cache system should discard 'old game codes' when 'new game codes' are loaded, as the new game codes will be accessed, and re-accessed, more recently than the old game codes. If the 'old game codes' have been locked in the cache and not replaced when no longer accessed, a feature which can be done for important codes that, while maybe not constantly accessed, need the speed boost of being used from cache, well, that locking is done by the program, and so should be unlocked by the program when it is loading the new codes. And that granularity shouldn't even be necessary, as a total cache unlock and flush should be part of the program downloading fresh game files.

And with all that, cache issues of this nature shouldn't cause 'display glitches' as what I described. Lag, yes, but not display glitches on the nature of the wrong, or additional, pop-up windows opening.

 

[Silly Bubbles]

The game files are stored locally so for the game to clear your cache it would have to have access to your device. That might be quite a problem from security point of view. The only way to fix that is for the browser to clear the cache more often but than it will slow down because it will load more information more frequently.

 

[Sir Derf]

We're not talking about clearing the whole computer cache, which would represent a security issue...
We're talking about manipulating the cache being used specifically for the particular program.

Yes, the way to fix this is to clear the cache more often. As in, clear the cache at the singular point when you one hundred percent want to lose all previous information and reload from scratch, exactly at the supposed point of the problem, when game files are being loaded. Which is the point being described as the problem point, when newer files are being loaded over older files.