What does "Please remember not to update right before a game starts." mean?

[Miloh]

This is posted to not do, but we always play on Tuesday nights which is typically an update day. I log in at about 6, typically there is an update, and we play at 6:30. I'm not sure what "Please remember not to update right before a game starts." means. Should I do the update, close FG, then exit and reload everything before others log in? Do they need to do something like this also?

Thanks

[SilentRuin]

This is posted to not do, but we always play on Tuesday nights which is typically an update day. I log in at about 6, typically there is an update, and we play at 6:30. I'm not sure what "Please remember not to update right before a game starts." means. Should I do the update, close FG, then exit and reload everything before others log in? Do they need to do something like this also?

Thanks

It's a warning because if any bugs are in the update you can cause your game not to be playable (potentially). This includes extensions also.

I ignore it and insure we are all updated before we play. Not been burned yet but... I live on the edge.

Your call what you and your players do.

[superteddy57]

This is to help the GM check out the changes and see if it will cause issues with their game. I would recommend doing the update after the game and check it out prior to your next weekly game. If you use extensions, the update can also cause havoc with them till the extension developer can update it (if the update affects it).

[LordEntrails]

This is posted to not do, but we always play on Tuesday nights which is typically an update day. I log in at about 6, typically there is an update, and we play at 6:30. I'm not sure what "Please remember not to update right before a game starts." means. Should I do the update, close FG, then exit and reload everything before others log in? Do they need to do something like this also?

Thanks
If you play on Tuesdays, then update on Wednesdays. That gives you almost a week to discover any issues while you are preparing for your next week's game.

If you visit the City Hall and read through the release notes each week, you will see what has been updated. Ususally if it's content only updates it will not impact you. But if it is application or ruleset based updates there is a chance it will impact you. If you use extensions, your risk grows exponentially with the number of extensions you use.

[Griogre]

You also need to make sure your players don't update either, since if there is a large change, and they update they won't be able to connect to you or will have errors.

[Miloh]

Thanks for all the replies. If I'm understanding correctly, it doesn't matter (much) if I and players update 1 minute before game or 2 hrs before game, and we don't have to do anything weird like exit and reload after the update before logging in the game. It's just a matter of new update bugs that may have not been squished yet, which may/may not get addressed in the week to come.

Yes, I always update (about 3 times a week & on Tuesdays), which often forces players to update or they sometimes get the incompatible version error.

[LordEntrails]

The release notes will give you a heads up if the version will be backwards compatible or not. If you care to check before updating.

[Nylanfs]

It also can be an issue if you are using extensions that are broken that the creators haven't been watching the test channel.

[SilentRuin]

It should be noted the last few replies do not apply to normal updates - but usually only to major ones which Smiteworks announces are in the TEST with some future date estimate for their release. Normal updates rarely.... very rarely... give issues. Especially if the extension dev is tracking these changes themselves.

As I said - I have no issue updating before game time - in fact I've never been burned in 3 years. But I keep abrest of any serious changes and tend to have control over everything I use - mostly.

[Lazybones1969]

I have had issues where major updates created significant in-game problems with installed extensions (mostly by throwing up error messages every few minutes), but I haven't had an issue where my group wasn't able to play at all. But I typically only have a few extensions installed at any given time, partly for this reason.

[srbongo]

You also need to make sure your players don't update either, since if there is a large change, and they update they won't be able to connect to you or will have errors.

This is the hardest thing in my experience. I know there's a large update in the pipes and I try to tell my players not to update - but one does and then we all effectively have to. Still, as Silent has said, I've never once had a huge issue that stopped play because an ext stopped working.

[Griogre]

That has been my experience as well. That's why I don't worry about it, but if you have a special game session where people are taking time off or something just to play it, it really can mess up the experience. I played a long time without extensions and while I do use them now, worst case I'll just turn them off if they seem broken.

[Morenu]

I play PF1e and use a lot of extensions (30+) and 1 in particular is key to several others and the way our characters are built. so our players know not to update unless told via the discord chat. we got burned once and since then I tend to give it a week to make sure our 6-7 major extensions are unaffected. If you play with very few mods I would think you are fine. but I would honestly suggest that you make the habit of players updating at the end of the session on Tuesday instead of the beginning. that way you are no more than a week old and it gives a week for any bugs to get sorted.

[Laerun]

This works best with communication, but assuming that players only play in one session. This has come up where as the GM requested not to update until after our session. Well, a couple of our players were in other games with different GMs and the same rule set, so that happens...