Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
Well, it seems we finally have a resolution to the Rollback Bug. While it doesn’t seem to be the solution/resolution many of us were hoping for EA has come out with their plan to “fix” to Rollback Bug.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Rollback Bug check out this post. Or this episode of Addicts Live.
Many of you who have reported the bug to EA should have received an email yesterday about their solution to the problem. Thank you to many of you who forwarded this email to me. Too many of you to name, but I appreciate you all taking the time to pass the info over to me. And yes, you all got the same email.
So what does it say? What’s their solution? Let’s take a look…
Here’s one of the emails that was forwarded to me…
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Hello ______,
Thanks for sticking with us. We’re sorry you had to wait so long on this issue.
What happened?
The idle character button caused problems for some players in The Simpsons: Tapped Out.
What are my options?
We have two options for you to pick from:
We can roll your game back to a previous save. You’ll lose progress and Donuts from today until the rollback date, but you’ll get 50 Donuts per week of lost data. If you have receipts, we can restore the Donuts that were bought during the rollback period. Just attach them to your case when you respond. You will also be required to remain logged out of the game across all devices for 48 hours after we confirm rollback. This final step can help prevent it from happening again.
We can give you a brand-new Springfield: It won’t be the same as your current Springfield, but you’ll still have your level and can continue playing your game. If you have receipts, we can replace the Donuts you bought before the template land was applied. Just attach them to your case when you respond.
We’ll also be giving you an additional 100 Donuts to get you back up and running.
Let us know which option you’d like to go with through My Cases.
Is this issue fixed?
It’s possible that this could happen again, but we’re doing our best to prevent it.
Where can I go to see the details of this case?
Review this case and your entire case history on EA Help.
Where can I go if I still need help?
EA Help and Answers HQ
We’ll never ask for your password and you should never give it out—Keep it secret. Keep it safe.
Find more account security tips on EA Help.
Taylor H.
EA Help
So obviously the options aren’t great. You can either have your game rolled back (which is something we mentioned in our original post) OR they’ll give you a brand new Springfield. It seems to me, from what the email says, that the brand new Springfield is basically a nuked version of your town. You’ll have the same level and characters but it’ll be a different game. I’m not 100% sure if that’s accurate, but that’s how i’m interpreting it.
If anyone has talked to EA about it, let me know what their explanation on a new Springfield was.
UPDATE: Here’s a link from Hobbesisreal in the EA Forums with a better description of what EA told him, my advice is to read what he says before making a decision.
Also, some of you are saying you didn’t get an email. I don’t know what to say to that. I know a lot of players received this email, so if you didn’t try calling EA and see if you can get some kind of update. I know they look at this site, so they should be aware that it’s now public knowledge.
So as we discussed it the Addicts Live episode about the Rollback bug, I believe the Rollback Bug is a server-specific issue. So it appears that it’s not something they can fix with a patch since it’s not impacting every player. Their only solution is to move you to a different server (new Springfield) or roll you back to an earlier point.
It does appear, for those concerned they may get it, that they’ve worked to resolve the issue from spreading further.
Either way, the options aren’t the best in the world but at least they’ve finally put out some solutions to move forward. Not what many were hoping for, but at least they’re working out some compensation for players.
Which option should you choose? I have no idea. If I find out more info about the new Springfield I’ll certainly report that to you guys, but without that info, I couldn’t tell you which option is better.
Thoughts? Comments? Wanna just vent? Feel free to do so in the comments below…just keep the venting PG.
I had a rollback to 6 weeks ago, and apparently that wasn’t far enough to fix it. So I guess I’m waiting for an even further one, otherwise I’ve lost a lot of work (including a whole redesign of my town) for nothing.
Is there not some common problem that could be causing the glitch i.e. device used for the game, operating system etc?
It’s a server side issue. It is not device specific.
I only thought it was device specific as I’ve seen on different apps and games some glitches seemed to be related to certain Samsung’s and Nexus models whereas my HTC and Kindle seem too be trouble free
Nope – I use a HTC and it’s glitched out
it didnt hit me yet, but im also not sure how it looks like, is my assumption correct if it is like this:
lets say my game was fine yesterday, but today i would log in and my game looks like it was few months/years ago with old quests, icons missing etc?
so i would complain at EA and tell them roll back to yesterday.
but with the rollback i would keep everything i had to yesterday?
or
get template town, that has random stuff in it.
And now most ppl complain cause they had the bug, EA could not help and they kept playing for weeks/months and would now lose everything they got in that time (from events etc), right?
Yes. But in most cases people waited weeks or months for a fix and have lost ALL progress since then if they take the rollback.
And your solution?
Again…your solution?
Because our towns are in a constant state of flux, there’s no way to perform a rollback and compare the items that you had then with what you have now and restore the layout of your town…
HOWEVER, if all of these items are held in a database (which I assume they have to be), it would be fairly easy to write a script/app/program to compare all your items at the date of your requested rollback with all of the items you currently have in the game.
Now there is no way that they could possibly place them in your town, but they could place them back in your inventory. That way all you are losing is any placement changes made to your town since the glitch occurred. You’d lose no items.
They obviously have all of this data archived, because we’ve all had the glitch at different times. To me, they chose the EAsier solution. 😦
I just can’t wrap my head around this. I have to give up 2 months of game play for a roll back (This is my second time, so if I guess the date wrong I’m double F-ed). I’ve also farmed enough sprinkles that I’ve bought EVERY premium item for months. I get 50+ a day, not 50 a week. Getting a new springfield is also not an answer if I have no idea what I’m getting. I have 200+ blue houses. That can’t be replaced.
They fixed this for me once before so I don’t know how they can’t fix it now.
I chose the rollback method. Now they asked me for the date to rollback to. I have no idea when this started. Can’t they tell? So now I could pick a date that isn’t far back enough or is too far. Maybe it is time to quit. Just a shame the money I’ve stupidly spent on this game over the years. Should have stayed a freedium player.
They didn’t ask me a rollback date. They said on their end they know what would be considered a “safe” backup. So now I’m just waiting the suggested 48 hrs to see where we are at….best of luck with your rollback.
Seeing as EA has given up on releasing real content for Battlefront2 and now this TSTO problem, looks like I wont be buying Battlefield5 or any other EA games from now on. EA is just dropping this “fix” to try and make it go away without doing anything. “We messed up, so you can fix it by losing your progress”. NOT A GOOD LOOK EA
*update* so the rollbacks failed, hard!!!
I lost all my latest content for nothing and “We’ve sent your case 40554641 to our team of specialists who will be able to take care of it for you.” so pretty pointless to even keep playing until I hear back again…
Was this a recent rollback?,,,, My game glitched last Feb. & I started the ball rolling to try to fix my game. I hope I’m not wasting my time & effort to have the same problem.
So I tried the rollback with a big time margin before the glitch and the problem still didn’t go away.. still in conversation with EA assistant.. I asked to go back to before the whole event update. Lets hope that works..
I didnt really keep time of when it exactly started as I thought it was a temporary glitch. But it seems all will be lost from that period forward. It was right in the middle if act 2 of the event of that time. I requested the rollback as wel, lets see what will happen.
I cannot believe that this is what they’ve come up with,,it just is not feasible that they should expect us to accept this as an answer. To lose so much of our game,,,,there has to be another way. It seems to me they’re taking the easiest & cheapest way out when really,,they should do it right the 1st time. It hasn’t escaped my attention that there are no guarantees that this is a permanent fix. So,,,guess I won’t be trying either one of these options. Good luck,, everyone.
Hope you guys get this sorted out. Must be very frustrating.
Iv’e not had this issue ” yet ” but still being asked for my age on starting the game & a false ID cropping up ? Usually goes away after 3rd attempt.
I know Alissa has mentioned this but wondered if everyone is having this problem still ?
That happened to me too. I’m past three attempts and still can’t log on.
Or there is option 3 of just hang it up because we have finally had enough. This “glitch” is like 5 months old. They are going to give me 1000 donuts compensation for 5 months of grinding through their events. Try 10,000 donuts and then I’ll consider it. Right now I think I’ve had enough. Would have been nice to have quality customer support on day 1 when I first reported it and just roll back a couple days rather than have them be dismissive and now it’s months worth of progress and they barely offer to cover the donuts I would make in a week through the rail yard and KEM farming.
Goodbye EA.
Glad to see you use “solution ” in quotes as this is anything but a solution. Further proof that EA is absolutely the worst gaming company in the world. As a PC and console I will never purchase another or their games again
So after an extended discussion with them via email and finally deciding to accept their rollback “solution ” They told me I had to submit a new request to verify my account. Seriously? WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER
I’m scared I just got some bug… Lenny and carl no longer have the opinion to drink at Moe’s, which I need for a quest. It’s just gone from the menu, and the drink at Moe’s express is there, despite me not having moes express. Help?
That happened to me as well at one point. It probably means you have a pending quest that needs to be completed first, likely involving someone who has a task at mos tavern. I think what blocked me was Declan Desmond or Ruth powers or Cecil terwiliger questlines (since I was completing them at the same time). Once those quests were completed, it went back to normal.
Ok, thanks
The only thing I can think of is storing either Moe’s or the Buddhist Temple, or both, and see if that resolves the problem.
What happens if you send them on the “Drink at Moe’s Express” task?
I’ve tried storing both, and I can’t send them to moes express because I dont have it
My opinion is that they should drink!!
Mine too… Unfortunately… They’ve gone sober…
I have had clarification from EA regarding the “New Springfield”
“Thanks for writing us back.
As per the second option as received by you, New springfield would mean we will give you pre made land with random buildings and characters.
Should you have any further questions regarding this or any other issues, please do not hesitate to let us know.
You can also find answers to common questions on our Help at http://help.ea.com, or ask our community experts by visiting Answer HQ at http://answers.ea.com.
Thanks again for contacting EA help.”
So lets roll the dice and see what they come up with…….
When EA says they’ll roll your game back to a “previous save” what do they mean by that? What constitutes a save?
The last point before the glitch hit
Well I finally got a rollback. Calling was absolutely useless until I requested they send me the “solution email” people have been getting. Once I received the solution email things wen’t pretty smoothly, shockingly.
All I had to do is click reply to the solution email stating the option I wanted Say either Rollback or new Springfield in the reply. However the insist you don’t login for 48 hours after rollback.
If you bought donuts during the glitch they should add those to their I’m sorry donuts. However in my case they were denied still fighting for them
P.s They had to roll mine back to March 15th. Missing every event item won or bought since item I assume. All worth it to have tap radius back frankly and hopefully!!
Again Best advice..Request the email if you have got it and reply.. rollback or new Springfield. NEW Springfield seems to be the worst of the two options.
If you purchased donuts they should restore them as long as you havethe receipt. The receipt should have been emailed to you from iOS or android
Agreed.. however email receipts from Google play long gone. They prefer those for sure.
Not sure about iPhone. However you can pull up order history on your Google Play account.
It shows the app, what was bought, date and Price. Took a screen shot tapped out specific purchases via Google Play account, attached it to Rollback request email.
At first it was not good enough for them as proof. However after complaining a little they accepted it.
I may have been lucky enough to not have this bug happen to me, I think.
If there is a trend, on which specific iOS and/or Android versions is this problem happening?
No
I’m going to keep playing as is. After weighing the options it seems like the best solution. Second option is a roll back.
I just won’t spend as much time on it and will certainly never spend real money again. If it gets too time consuming I can just quit. Have a vacation coming up….might blow a week day on calling and see where I get….
I’ve requested the roll back – wish me luck!! 🍀
How did you do that? I want to do the same.
As I sit bemoaning a placebo 48 hour quarantine,
I think back on 8 weeks of progress lost. Ghosts of writers past now even more undead.
The spy and tech district I finally got round to building.
Ol Lampwick, the Vegas Wives, Indian Casino, Nanna, and more vanished into the swirling Nothing.
Will I soldier on?
Will Gil arrive in my town offering me a discounted option to buy them again? No. He will probably return with Duff Gardens.
But EA says I’m in good hands. Every time. So many hands. So many specialists. So many 4 hour alerts I needn’t have heeded.
EA finally responded, 2 months after I first raised the issue – on my third attempt. If they had responded in a week or so I could take a roll back, but over 2months? How is a simple roll back and losing event items which might only return in a few years time a good option? Or some random new town that we didn’t build?
Really sad way to end playing this game after 4 years, but what is the point in carrying on given the poor fix options? Without a working character button and maximum tap radius it makes clearing the town take forever and really tiresome trying to switch to premium skins on characters, not to mention no way of earning donuts on the railway tasks.
Really dissappointing that some programmer can’t work out an alogithm to compare the current town to the roll back point and find whats been affected and fix the the current town.
im done with the game. had it a month ago. they rolled me back to a previous day and it was fine, and then came back with no soloutions (which i might add, have NOT been offered to me, and i had contact with them TODAY), and the customer service on the issue has been less than ideal. Not going to “nuke” my springfield after years of play, and i am worried rolling back a second time will just cause the same issue the next day again. hasnt been worth the frustration. ive not played of over a month now, and really dont miss it.
Being at about level 50. I’m wondering if anyone knows where the second option sets you up? They told me the first option was. But what level is the template one based on?
I’m just not willing to lose all the stuff I’ve gathered since the glitch first hit me some 10 months or so ago by doing a rollback. And it sounds like the template town would be an even worse solution, but “more likely” to not get glitched again. If the template town was every single item I currently have, just all in storage like nuking, I would probably do it, because it might be fun to start from scratch that way, but why would I want to basically start over if I can’t decorate with the stuff I spent so long tapping to earn anyway? It would be too disheartening. I can see why people would quit in that case. I’ll just keep a small kernel of hope in the back of my mind that maybe a real fix will come someday, and keep playing a glitched version until that comes. At this point, I’m more used to that than being able to tap the character icon, play mini-games and use the railyard.
I think this might be the end of the road for me. Been playing since before Tap Ball whenever that was. Got the bug during the Heists event and have tried to play but it is sooo time consuming and just not fun anymore. And when things stop being fun what is the point? The solution just isn’t one either.
On a positive note, I simply wouldn’t have had so much fun playing if it wasn’t for this Addicts site. Thank you all for your hard work you have all been more than fantastic! Much love to you all x
I reported months ago that I had the rollback glitch but I haven’t received any email from EA. I think I have too many premium items, characters and event items that would be lost to be rolled back or given a new town so unless they come up with something else I think I’m going to continue with my glitched game.
As a player since it came to android, I took the rollback and 500 donuts. Wait and see until Saturday to see what my game looks like and try to knock out krusty adventure. EA sent me the link to recover donuts I purchased. My question is if EA has the ability to go into my game and find out when the glitch happened 3/15, why can’t they credit me for donuts and premium items that I’ve purchased? Please no more updates until you get this resolved.
Thankfully, I didn’t have this bug. However, I have wondered why EA couldn’t just audit your game, roll you back and then credit you for all of the things that you’ve unlocked.
Almost two years ago, I had an issue with the game that a last building (Dead Lobster) during one of the events never appeared in my game (despite finishing the event). I contacted EA and they quickly put me through to someone who verified my story and added that building to my game.
Why not audit the player’s account, roll back and then re-insert the buildings, characters and purchases achieved up to the date of the audit (along with the “We’re so sorry” donuts)?
@Alissa, thanks for posting that e-mail on your site and everyone else who had helpful information here.
I just finished writing up my experiences with ‘The Glitch’ on the EA Forum after your post inspired me to try and request a rollback (again), even though I didn’t receive that e-mail for my open ticket.
Just some quick notes:
* I made a list of everything I knew I’d lose when I requested the rollback so I was prepared when I finally got in touch with someone who ‘could’ help me.
* I was determined to speak with someone in U.S. or Europe support. Unfortunately, the support folks in India don’t have the same access, nor can they transfer my call to them.
* I created a call back ticket and kept resuming that ticket until I received a call from an adviser in Ireland.
* That adviser was very friendly and helpful.
* He was able to access my game while we were on the phone.
* He was able to locate my last good save on their system.
* He could see everything on my list, including all of the ‘Heist’ event characters, and Cinco de Mayo sales purchases.
* He made sure that I got everything back, even helping me troubleshoot which items on my list that he wouldn’t need to restore.
* He gave me the donuts promised in the email. I’m sure he would’ve probably given me more if I’d asked.
* When he was finished updating my game, I asked him if I needed to wait 48 hours to log in again, per the email. He said no, I was good to go.
* He did all of this while I was on the phone with him (30 minutes max).
* My game works fine now. The only thing I lost were some levels and bonus percentage points and I’ve nearly gained 3/4 of them back with the donut reimbursement. .
* I wish that all areas of EA support had the capability and authority to assist customers like he did. They’d be top notch.
HTH. 🙂
I’m so glad you had a great experience! And you did the right thing by waiting for an advisor from the US or UK, those are the most helpful and they can do everything while you’re on the phone with them. 🙂
Could you explain the “call back ticket”? I’ve only ever emailed support. Thanks!
I got this during February event. rolled back and wasn’t offered a compensation. at least y’all are getting donuts either way. :/