Animist's Awakening freezing from cascades [Fix in 3.9.1]

madwren
madwren Posts: 2,226 Chairperson of the Boards
Numerous people in our group reporting freezes using AA. We think the problem is such: 

Before the patch, if you make a match, but a match is created on the partial board from activated gems, those matches would process before new gems dropped from above, so you'd wind up creating matches on a board only half-filled with gems.

After the patch, however, it seems that instead of processing those matches, the game freezes.

//Edited Title -Brigby

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Comments

  • Avahad
    Avahad Posts: 296 Mover and Shaker
    I’ve got a screen cap of the board state frozen after the activated gem from AA popped- the gems converted with a 4 green and 3 green match created- there is a gap where the activated gem was- the match froze at that point- before any matches finalised. 

    The only odd thing about my pic is that the match 4 would theoretically take the line that includes the bottom gem of the match 3 and also includes the gap created. Maybe that’s another problem?

    my freeze was on turn 3 so quite a clean board as well.
  • thesmallesthuman
    thesmallesthuman Posts: 99 Match Maker
    Just here to confirm. My freeze screenshot also includes an unprocessed green match-4 and an empty row. 

    Hopefully this one is a fast fix, losing AA right after losing half of standard feels extra bad
  • Windy
    Windy Posts: 79 Match Maker
    Has anyone had the same with Serum powder activated gems? I have not seen freezes with that one so might be that conversion of same mana color is a part of it? But confirm that the AA issue. 
  • Machine
    Machine Posts: 787 Critical Contributor
    edited November 2019
    When I read this post, I had to think about this post here:
    https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/80584/trick-or-treat-event-bugged-post-3-9#latest

    So it's not specifically related to AA. It's a general issue.

    @Brigby, @Tombstone: this is a serious issue. Please put it on your priority list, if there is anything like that.
  • thesmallesthuman
    thesmallesthuman Posts: 99 Match Maker
    Just got a report in of Serum Powder having the same freeze effect. Seems to be across the board for activated conversion effects. Sigh.
  • Muhhh
    Muhhh Posts: 66 Match Maker
    I have also had two separate freezes using AA. A big loss for my standard green decks. 
  • ssenillis
    ssenillis Posts: 16 Just Dropped In
    I've had 3 such freezes in the coalition event.  I didn't immediately associate them with AA, but, thinking back, it was definitely involved in.all.three.
  • Volrak
    Volrak Posts: 732 Critical Contributor
    edited December 2019
    Gilded Goose conversions are triggering soft freezes as well.  It's likely the same problem.  This is being widely reported by players across many coalitions in a Discord chat.
    In all the freezes I've encountered, and many I've seen screenshots of (about 10), there is an unprocessed match-4 aligned in a row or column that also contains empty space.
    Hypothesis: The freeze is caused by a match-4 trying to destroy for the second time an empty space on the board which contained a support gem earlier in the cascade (possibly, specifically a Food support).
  • jjorissen
    jjorissen Posts: 21 Just Dropped In
    edited December 2019
    When playing several events, since the last update, I've already had 5 freezes. On different days and in different events.
    It happens when you match 4 or more gems and an entire row or column disappears. It remains empty,nothing happens anymore from that point on and the game hangs.

    //Edited Title -Brigby
  • Volrak
    Volrak Posts: 732 Critical Contributor
  • Volrak
    Volrak Posts: 732 Critical Contributor
    edited December 2019
    Here's a selection of freezes which are probably all the same bug.  All of these occurred since the 3.9 update.  They are from different players, across different devices, in different events, and with different cards in play.  In all cases:
    • An effect triggers a gem conversion mid-cascade, i.e. further gem matches occur when there are "holes" in the board from previous matches in the initial cascade.
    • The game hangs on a 4-in-a-row match mid-cascade.  The four gems can be any colour.  Gem animations on the board are still occurring and the game menu can be opened, but the game is unresponsive otherwise.
    • The 4-in-a-row match is always lined up with one of the "holes" on the board (possibly, a hole which used to contain a support gem such as a food token).

    Hope this helps to isolate the problem.  It looks to me like the highest impact bug in the 3.9 release.
  • Brigby
    Brigby ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 7,757 Site Admin
    *Merged similar thread topics
  • Boogeyman
    Boogeyman Posts: 223 Tile Toppler
    Ahh this makes sense.  I need to rid my deck of this card for the time being.
  • Azerack
    Azerack Posts: 501 Critical Contributor
    Just got this happening to me, as well, and I knew I should have looked in the bugs forum before I played that last node of the Challenge of the Courts...  :s
  • ArielSira
    ArielSira Posts: 489 Mover and Shaker
    I've had 2 softlocks since patch with Demolish (once involving Hixus, the 2nd involving a guildgate). Both screenshots show a 4 gem green match. Is it the same issue?
  • MTGValor
    MTGValor Posts: 1 Just Dropped In
    edited December 2019
    I had my game freeze after the guild gates changed gems and then an activated gem was triggered for Prime Speaker Vannifar. The battle log does not show that it was triggered but the trigger resolved and the Abbot of Keral Keep that was already in play got reinforced. However the row of gems that matched 4 or more are ghosting and the game freezes on functions except for the menu. 

    From what I gathered it feels like an issue with gem activations. Gonna play decks with no activations and see how that panes out. 
     
    Edit: Yep totally the activations paired with gem landfalls. 
  • RithPrimeval
    RithPrimeval Posts: 14 Just Dropped In
    @Brigby: has this issue been addressed yet?
    We're facing multiple encounters with silly mana gains and HP totals in the triple digits this weekend during the Elderspark event.
    If we ourselves are unable to play gem changers without risking freezes (one of the most popular options to speed up game play), this iteration of The Elderspark event will be more disastrous than the first time it ran! People are getting frustrated with the game (see Machine's thread, the direction this game is taking) and an increasing number of players is considering to leave. This might push many players to bite the bullet and find another source of entertainment.. 
  • Stormcrow
    Stormcrow Posts: 461 Mover and Shaker
    Had two crashes due to this in Elderspark, and just hit another one in Training Grounds. Hope they fix this quickly.
  • Machine
    Machine Posts: 787 Critical Contributor
    edited December 2019
    @Tombstone
    @Oktagon_Support

    Can we please have an ETA on when this is going to be fixed? Since you lowered the entry fee of Trial of the Planes, I wanted to use a Kiora deck with Ulvenwald Hydra. I played two matches where the Hydra was cheated into play by another green gem converter and Reason // Believe. When the Hydra came into play, the board was setup for another match-4 with an empty space in the same line / column. Needless to say, I lost both matches due to this stupid bug.

    Please fix it!!
  • EvilDead
    EvilDead Posts: 167 Tile Toppler
    For Standard Green this is breaking events.......can we get an answer?