Crash, Rattle & Roll: Post Tap Ball Bugs (Crashing, Icons, Servers and More)

Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!

So ever since the Tap Ball Removal hit our App Stores we’ve been seeing LOADS of reports from you guys saying you’re having all sorts of bugs/glitches/crash issues going on in your game after downloading the update.  Including MANY of you with reports overnight of connectivity issues.  So I figured let’s get a post together with some basic troubleshooting and one centralized place where you guys can report your issues, and see that you’re not alone in them.  🙂

So let’s dive right in, shall we?

First up, let’s talk about Now let’s talk about the Crashing Issue.  This is the number 1 issue impacting many of you right now.

Does this sound like you?  You’ve downloaded the new update from the app store and the game just crashes on you constantly.  You visit neighbors..crash.  You set tasks…crash.  You scroll around your town…crash.  Sucks doesn’t it?

Right now I can tell you, just from the comments, this is wide spread.  So know that you are not alone in the crashing.

I can also tell you, we’re seeing a lot more reports of this on iOS right now than Android.  That doesn’t mean Android isn’t crashing (mine was earlier), it just means that it seems to be impacting iOS more than Android users.

So that being said…if you’re on iOS and you’re crashing…first make sure you’re on the latest iOS version.  That could be causing the instability.  Also, if you have an older iOS device…that could be an issue too.  I know some of the older devices will have issues loading the game.  So it could just be a device issue.

Now for everyone (iOS, Android or Kindle)…if you’re crashing try these steps first:

1.  Uninstall TSTO.
2.  Restart your device.
3.  Reinstall TSTO.

This will re-download the game and all the files on your device.  It’s entirely possible the crashing is caused by a corrupt file from the App Store update.  So deleting, restarting & reinstalling will ensure a fresh copy of TSTO is put on your device.  (Note: this could take a little bit of time, as it has to redownload all the files onto your device.  So even if TSTO installs quickly, it may be a little bit before you’re back into the game as it’ll download the game files once you start TSTO up)

For those worried…as long as you have an Origin Account backing up your game you will NOT lose your Springfield from an uninstall/reinstall.  The Origin Account backs up your game, so once you reinstall just log back in and it’ll bring your Springfield right back to you.

A word of advice…if you’re reinstalling at work, make sure your Media Volume is turned all the way down (despite your previous settings) because sound will happen when you start up TSTO for the first time.  And yes, you will have to reset your sound settings (music, SFX) if you have them down regularly (like I do).

For many of you, myself included, the uninstall/restart/reinstall is correcting the issue.  BUT if for some reason it does not correct the issue, the next step is going to be to contact EA…

You can contact EA here.

We ALWAYS recommend doing the Call Me option if it’s available, and you can, the phone techs are always better than the chat ones.

I will warn you, the first thing they’ll tell you to do is uninstall/reinstall.  Let them know you already did and it still did not correct the issue.  (sometimes you may have to be persistent.  Depending on who get you, know that they’re reading from a script.  So just insist that you’ve done it several times and it’s still not working).

The more people that contact EA, the quicker the issue will be resolved.  So light them up if you’re still crashing after the uninstall/restart/reinstall.

And that covers the crashing issue…

Next let’s talk about the connectivity issues that took place overnight.  MANY of you were talking about not being able to get into your games for hours.  It appears that the Origin Servers were down for hours last night.  Usually this happens when they’re doing maintenance or something else.

If you’re repeatedly seeing the Bart Screen saying you cannot connect double check these few steps first:

Most Important…DO NOT PANIC.  They’ll come back up, they always do. 

1. Check the clock.  If it’s after midnight Central time in the US it’s usually related to Server Maintenance.  The Servers will come back up when they’re done.  (Confused about time zones?  US Central time is GMT -5hrs during Daylight Savings Time (March-November) and GMT-6hrs when Daylight Savings time Ends (November-March))

2.If it’s not during those times, check the Origin Server Status.  That will tell you if there’s a bigger issue going on.  You can check the Origin Server Status here.

3.  If it’s not around midnight central time, the Origin Server Status says it’s up…Try visiting a regular web page (like TSTO Addicts!).  If it loads extremely slow, or not at all, the problem could be with your connection and not Origin or EA.  Double check your internet connection and make sure it’s working correctly (or that you’re getting a strong enough signal).

There is one thing you should NEVER do when the Servers are down…

DO NOT try to create a new account with the same email (even if you’re prompted to do so). That’s one way to ensure you’ll lose your Springfield or misplace it for the unbearably long time it will take for EA to find it again.

So there you have a couple of basics to do when you see the dreaded Bart Screen….

Now for a few other issues we’re seeing popup…

My Game Crashes When I Visit This One Neighbor..

If it’s only crashing when you visit that one neighbor…not to sound obvious…stop visiting that one neighbor.

This happens from time to time, and can be caused by a variety of things.  Usually it’s on your neighbors side.  They have too much stuff in their town and it’s just cashing a drain on your game.  (this used to happen all the time to me I visited Wookiee way back when Addicts first started.  He’s since nuked his town and rebuilt, with less 2D decorations.  Thus, no more crashing)

So for now, I’d hold off on visiting that neighbor.  Check again in a week.  If it’s still going on delete them and move on to someone else.  Who needs a neighbor that’s crashing their game anyway? 😉

My Icon For Quick Tasks in the Top Left Is Glitching Out…

Either the icons are showing half a face, the back of a characters head, showing up super small, just randomly rotating between characters or not showing anything (some examples below)…

 how it should look…

How they’re looking with the glitch…

If this is happening to you, you can try hard closing and restarting your game.

(Hard close means to physically shut down the app via the task manager.  On iOS and various other devicesthis is done by double tapping the home button.) 

If it’s still happening, the quick set still works.  If you tap on it it’ll still bring up the characters task, you just won’t know who it is until you bring it up.  But it does still work.

If it’s bugging you a great deal and the hard close doesn’t work, contact EA and let them know.  They probably won’t be able to do anything right away, but I’m sure it’ll expedite a patch for it.

Spray Paint Glitches 

Our friend Larsyuipo posted this over on the EA Forums:

1. Randomly crashing glitch
-Game crashes at certain area in your town. This area most likely contains a spray painted Moe’s, this causes the crashing.
(It’s not known if this happens to the town hall, police station and school aswell but I’d suggest that you store them if storing Moe’s doesn’t work)
-How to solve: store Marge or more

2. Neighbour crash glitch
-Game crashes when spray painting a building. It’s also possible your neighbour hasn’t updated.
-How to solve: avoid tapping school, Moe’s and townhall

Honestly, I do think this will get resolved if you do the uninstall/restart/reinstall mentioned above for crashing.  Since doing that I haven’t had any issues with crashing.

Well I think that about covers all of the major bugs/glitches we’re seeing!

Do you have any issues since uninstalling Tap Ball that we didn’t cover here?  Any solutions for players having these issues?  Did the uninstall/restart/resinstall help solve your crashing issues?  Have you contacted EA about any of the above issues?  Sound off in the comments below you know we love hearing from you!