Revert to Stable Release?

[Neovirtus]

I'm wondering if it is possible for us to get a stable build pushed to a separate channel that we could opt in to? Obviously this is motivated by the recent issues, but my thought isn't to pile on about the problems, these things happen. The issue is that there is no way to opt out of updating. The common advice is "don't update right before a session", but what recourse do we have if some players have different versions than the GM? I frequently have a rotating cast, and I will often update during my prep between sessions. So either I have to coordinate telling my players "Never update FG, unless I tell you to!" then let them know any time I update and hope they do it, or get everyone on the same patch by updating before a session.

I know this would likely introduce other issues, but it really would have been a nice feature for us to have today. I knew there problems with the current patch, but also knew I had players on multiple different old versions joining the game. We HAD to update, and it kind of ruined our game night which we had been planning for a long while.

[Trenloe]

It's not always done, but the release prior to 4.6.0 is currently in the Prev (previous) channel.

[LordEntrails]

As Trenloe implies, you can revert to the last build of 4.5 by changing the channel in your settings to PREV.
If you have used the PREV channel before you will need to copy your campaign to the PREV channel set of folders, and when you move back to LIVE you will need to move your campaign back to live.

[Neovirtus]

It's not always done, but the release prior to 4.6.0 is currently in the Prev (previous) channel.

Ok, I wondered if that was the case, but didn't think it was public knowledge that that channel existed as an option or what build was in it. I certainly wasn't going to tell my group to use it tonight without knowing. Good to know that is we do have another session before this is resolved we could do that, but it's unlikely anyway.

My larger point stands, I think.

[Blackwolfe]

As Trenloe implies, you can revert to the last build of 4.5 by changing the channel in your settings to PREV.
If you have used the PREV channel before you will need to copy your campaign to the PREV channel set of folders, and when you move back to LIVE you will need to move your campaign back to live.

I opened our campaign in the PREV channel, and the token "ghost" issue is happening there as well?? Note I have never run the PREV channel and did copy our campaign folder over to the PREV channel folder.

[LordEntrails]

Oh, I forgot to say you have to run an Update after changing the setting to PREV.
If you did that, not sure then. Maybe that means the campaign was corrupted? If you are up for trying, does it happen on a new campaign too?

[jharp]

Maybe they need to make a backup of campaigns specifically when updating the client. Name it the old version of the client so that there is always a safe copy.
Jason

[Zacchaeus]

I opened our campaign in the PREV channel, and the token "ghost" issue is happening there as well?? Note I have never run the PREV channel and did copy our campaign folder over to the PREV channel folder.

If you never used the prev channel before then FG should have copied over your campaigns to the Prev channel. It doesn't copy them back when you revert to live however so you will have to copy the Prev version back into live when you leave the Prev channel.

[Blackwolfe]

I was away for a bit, looks like the LIVE channel update this AM may have cleared up the token issues. If so Well done Devs. If not more on that later. *L

[LordEntrails]

Maybe they need to make a backup of campaigns specifically when updating the client. Name it the old version of the client so that there is always a safe copy.
Jason
Campaigns backup themselves automatically. See the session.db files in the campaign folder.

[damned]

Campaigns backup themselves automatically. See the session.db files in the campaign folder.

Back themselves up LOCALLY.
If you lose your local data you lose your backups - eg these backups will save you from some situations but you still need to back these up elsewhere.

[Blackwolfe]

Maybe they need to make a backup of campaigns specifically when updating the client. Name it the old version of the client so that there is always a safe copy.
Jason

I already do this, at least one older copy saved of any campaign we're running and a safe copy of the most recent.
I work on a different machine for game prep each week and the campaign file is transported between the DM PC and the work PC on a flashdrive.
What I need to do also is keeping a good running back up on PREV.

[jharp]

Campaigns backup themselves automatically. See the session.db files in the campaign folder.

Not exactly the same. If you are having issues you could end up with several copies but not know precisely is the one prior to client update.

jason

[damned]

Not exactly the same. If you are having issues you could end up with several copies but not know precisely is the one prior to client update.

jason

Why not? The files have filesystem timestamps on them.

[jharp]

A nice to have.

[Neovirtus]

So back to the original question, is the "Prev" build typically one major release behind? Is there any real downside to just operating from that build (aside from not getting the features/bug fixes added in the meantime)?

How would this interact with ruleset updates? Forge purchases?

[Trenloe]

So back to the original question, is the "Prev" build typically one major release behind? Is there any real downside to just operating from that build (aside from not getting the features/bug fixes added in the meantime)?
It's usually only populated when there are issues to allow people to rollback for a short time. It is not recommended to run on the prev channel unless there are well known issues with the current live platform. Running long term could causes support issues.


How would this interact with ruleset updates? Forge purchases?
It might not work with recent updates which are specifically created for the live channel.

[Blackwolfe]

Why not? The files have filesystem timestamps on them.

And I rename each saved file with the save date.

[LordEntrails]

So back to the original question, is the "Prev" build typically one major release behind? Is there any real downside to just operating from that build (aside from not getting the features/bug fixes added in the meantime)?

How would this interact with ruleset updates? Forge purchases?
If you were always wanting to run int he PREV channel, then I think it would be much more stable and advisable to just not update when the button lights up. I'm still on 4.5.10. Sure it means that the dice packs I bought on Black Friday are not (yet) available to me. But I'm still cruising along happily. Also, as Trenloe said, it's not always populated and I think very few Forge developers ever populate it.

Honestly the solution we all want is for this type of release instability to not happen. SmiteWorks is working on improving their processes so this doesn't happen again. My personal contribution to this (besides not updating as soon as a release is available) is to start participating in the open beta testing.

[Neovirtus]

Honestly the solution we all want is for this type of release instability to not happen.

Yeah, but like I said at the beginning, this is something that has always been an issue and unfortunately is a reality of life that any user has to accept. The current issue notwithstanding the way updating works has been a thorn in the side for years. I think the answer is to just wait for the coast to be clear, get all my players on the same patch and ask them not to update until further notice. If cool features come along, we'll coordinate updates.

As much as I would love to help Beta test, and do test sometimes, it is very rare for me to have the time to run in Test WITH connected players. If we have time to get together as a group, we don't have the luxury of beta testing, sadly.

[damned]

PREV is not normally populated.
DEV is not normally populated.
LIVE is where we are expected to be.
TEST is probably always populated and expected to have some bugs.

Everyone in the group using UpDEnhanced is your only reliable way to manage running on prev builds.
Periodically there are version jumps that are not backward compatible - if a player upgrades they wont be able to join your older game etc.
If that player is playing in more than one campaign the reality is the other campaigns will likely be on LIVE.

Reducing the number of extensions will reduce the impact of new builds.
In this case there was a lot of engine changes that introduced issues as well regardless of extensions.