Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
So for the last few months (since the arrival of Valentine’s Day), we’ve been hearing about an issue with Amazon Fire TSTO players, the game is super zoomed in. Since then the bug has expanded to Android. Let’s take a look…
We talked about this on the last episode of Addicts Live, but with the OS update rollout for Android Pie, the “Zoomed In” issue is expanding.
Those still using Android Oreo OS, or an even earlier version should have no problems. However, as the devices start their rollout of the new OS the “Zoomed In” issue will continue to expand.
I recently (as in this week) updated my devices from a Samsung Galaxy S8, running Android Oreo, to a Samsung Galaxy S10, running Android Pie. I had no issues with my S8, as soon as I launched TSTO on my S10 zoomed in city!
Here’s a visual look…
Here’s a screenshot of my town on my S8 (running Oreo), Zoomed all the way out:
And here’s the same view of my town on my S10 (running Pie), Zoomed all the way out:
Notice the difference?
Here’s another look…
On the S8
On the S10
While I don’t have an Amazon device, I know that it runs on its own version of the Android OS. So I believe the two issues are directly related to an update in the Android software.
Update: Here’s an image Teresa emailed me from her Amazon Fire 7. This is zoomed out as far as it will go…
While it’s not a massive issue and doesn’t hinder the ability to play, it is REALLY annoying. It makes designing difficult, and it’s really just a royal PITA.
The good news is, this has happened before. So it is fixable. EA has fixed this before. So, EA, get on it already!
Any players out there experiencing this? What device are you using? What version of the software are you using? Share your thoughts and some screenshots of how Zoomed in your town is, when it’s all the way zoomed out, in the comments below.
Hey team, the April 2024 made my town zoomed in. I had this issue before but lasted a couple hours. I reset my phone and it still didn’t work. Some people said to change the resolution and game launcher but that didn’t work either. Any tips?
Since upgrading from Samsung S8+ to the new Galaxy S21+, my town is super zoomed in. Has anyone else reported this?
Since getting my S10+ I’ve been having this issue n it scks…really annoying. N I agree, it makes it difficult to design ur area.
I had massive problems with zoom on my new Note 10+, resolved after I set to QHD, disabled game launcher, and restarted the phone. Letting the game run native without any helper-app was the key for me.
I tried that too. Exactly the same happens, so I think great – solved ! But when you go back into TSTO it’s back to being all zoomed in.
I have a galaxy note ten plus and the zoom is an issue no matter what I do. Sometimes when I first open the game, it’s normal. But as soon as I move around, it slowly zooms in. I still set character jobs daily, but haven’t built or designed anything since getting the ten plus.
I have a brand new S10+. On fresh restart, TSTO works great. Exit the game, come back a while later and it’s all crazy zoomed in. Previously on my HTC 12+ I fiddled with the Boost+ App it shipped with and solved it. But with Samsung I cannot get any resolution. It comes with Game Launcher which you can mess with FPS and battery saver vs. performance, but not much else. I think it’s something to with the native resolution of TSTO and how Android renders. I hope someone has some other suggestions, I feel I have tried everything lol
Hmm. I seem to have fixed the issue on my Samsung phone.
It seems that the issue was related to the amount of memory left on my phone. My phone’s hard drive was getting close to full. Like most computers, you need to have at least 10-15% free to protect yourself from issues.
Once your hard drive is above that threshold, many Android devices will automatically switch to a mode that will make your device “safe.” This includes changing the default resolution.
I opened up the Display section and found that I wasn’t permitted to switch to any display resolution setting other than the one that it was on.
My fix was simple:
I downloaded all of my photos and videos to my desktop (and also uploaded them to the cloud). Next, I deleted them from my device. This freed up an enormous amount of space. I then went to the DISPLAY section of my device’s maintenance in Settings. I switched to “Optimize.”
i restarted my phone and, PRESTO, the zoom issue was gone.
I’m not sure if this is the same cause for anyone else. However, it worked for me. If you’re on a device (like a phone or tablet), you might check to see if your hard drive/memory (hdd) is full. You might need to delete multimedia files or uninstall apps.
Good luck!
I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 and a Samsung Galaxy Tab a and my phone the S7 has very little disk space left and does not have zoom issue, however my Galaxy Tab A as over 6 gigs of the space left available and does have the zoom issue so at least for me this is not the issue
Like I said, I am not sure if this is the same cause for anyone else. However, I would remind you that your phone has TWO types of memory — RAM and ROM.
Your ROM is your phone’s hard drive. That is the total amount of storage space on your device (including the operating system). In my case, the hard drive was nearly full — well above the 10-15% needed to operate smoothly.
However, your phone also has RAM. To play a video game, you need both RAM and ROM. If your RAM is limited and many things are open (or running in the background), then I wonder if it would have the same sort of effect. However, you can check this for yourself…
1.) On the updated Samsung Galaxy S7 (running ), go to Apps. Then go to Settings. Click on Device Maintenance. There, you will see the option to “Optimize Now.” Under it, you will see four different categories — Battery, Performance Mode, Storage and Memory.
2.) The Storage is your ROM (hard drive) space). The Memory is your RAM. If you click on each of them, you will be able to “Clean Now” and see how much space it would free up (and even what things are taking up memory). *
3.) After you “clean now” them, go back and click on Optimize Now. Finally, click on the “Performance Mode.” You can run your device as “Optimized” (which limits performance to extend battery life). However, you can also choose the others depending on your preferred usage.
4.) Power down and restart your device.
It would be nice to see if this fixes the issue for you.
* Your Samsung Galaxy S7 comes with 4 GB of RAM. EA hasn’t announced the system requirements for the game — but they stopped supporting devices with older operating systems (probably because of the drain on the RAM). Thus, cleaning your memory (RAM) is probably very important to run the game effectively.
Sorry, that’s just complete snake-oilery.
The most zoomed-out view I have across my devices is on a rather old now Galaxy S6 with just 3GB of RAM that also happens to be notoriously filled to the brim (regularly below 1GB of free space) with podcasts.
None of that matters to the max zoom, only the game centre (I think that’s what it’s called) settings did, which can configure games like TSTO to run at lower resolutions than the native 2560×1440.
In fact, this defaulted to a lower resolution with a device or software update a couple of years back, and that was the only time in over 4 years of using this S6 to run TSTO that full zoom-out was not available regardless of any other factor.
I’m sorry that you feel this way.
However, I did replicate the problem on my tablet — just to see what would happen. Sure enough, when memory was very low on my Samsung tablet, I encountered the same “zoom” issue.
When I fixed the memory issue (by deleting programs and force stopping others), I restarted my phone (and made certain that the resolution was at the highest setting).
The zoom issue was gone.
Now, like I said, this might not be the same issue for everyone. However, it was the issue on my Samsung phone and my Samsung tablet.
I have 512 gigs of hard drive storage and 6 gigs ram. Running galaxy s10plus android pie. Ceramic edition. I have had this zoomed in issue ever since I got the phone in March. But I also had the zoomed in issue on my s9+ running oreo. However I could use game tuner to adjust the res. And bingo back to normal. Problem with s10 plus. Game tuner is not compatible with this phone. Adjusting resolution and frame rate in the built in game app does nothing. Just end up re downloading 2 gigs worth of game data everytime I try a different combination of settings. This is very annoying. So much that I stopped playing for 3 months! Until just a week ago. I’ve started again but dont know how long I can go. I have been playing everyday since Halloween event 2014. Would like any helpful feedback. Just my experience if helps.
Any luck ? I too have a brand new S10+. Tapped Out works fine only after you restart the phone. Then you exit and play again a few hours later and it’s all zoomed in again.
This zoom issue hit me this morning. Ouch. It isn’t fun.
Samsung Galaxy A8.
Phone upgraded to Pie on the 19th. Initially didn’t have the bug, The next day, the 20th got the zoom issue.
No idea why I initially didn’t have the problem, but now stuck with it.
I have a Samsung Tab S2 tablet with over 4 GB free and I have the zoom glitch. I have some really good ideas I want to design, but have kinda put of designing for the last 2-3 months because it is so much harder when zoomed in so far.
I really hope there is a fix soon.
I have an Amazon Fire 10 HD. My TSTO view is zoomed in. VERY ANNOYING!!!
I have a Galaxy Note 8 and only updated it to Pie last weekend. I had no issues with being zoomed all the way in. However, this morning I restarted my phone and opened TSTO and then it started downloading all the updates (I have 3GB space free so I am not out of room), when it downloaded all the updates I got in my town and I was zoomed in so far that all I could really see was like 1 building on my screen. I closed TSTO and reopened and it started to download all the updates again. I think my phone is clearing the cache data updates and have no idea why it’s doing it and how to stop it. I transferred a few GB of my photos to my computer and it still is continuing to keep downloading and still zoomed in. Very frustrating.
I have an S8 and S8+ that ran fine until I just updated to android version 9 Pie earlier this month. I think It has to do with The optimization to run in full screen.
Prior to updating I could turn the full screen on or off. Full screen on it was zoomed in. Full screen off I could zoom in and out nicely.
With android pie. I lost the ability to turn that off. It is just automatically turned on with no Option to turn off.
It has affected other games I play as well. Not just tsto.
When I logged in on my kindle this morning, my game for the first time since Valentine’s day, was back to normal. It only lasted a minute and it was back to being zoomed. So annoying.
I have not seen this issue on my Kindle Fire HDX.
I have the galaxy s10… have had it since March and wasnt having this issue at all, so I thought I was quite lucky… but my luck has run out… just logged in to my game and to my surprise, now I’m having the zoomed in issue… hopefully it can get fixed soon…
This is my view on the zoom issue.
I have a Huawei P20 running on Android 9.
If I set my phone display to full HD ie 1080 I have the zoom issue.
If I set my phone to 780 resolution the issue is nowhere near as bad.
The weird thing is when I change my resolution I have to download the game in its entirity.
I only know this as I have switched from 720 to 1080 and back twice tonight.
As my phone has 128 gig of memory built in I should never have the short of memory issues (that’s one of the reasons I picked the phone) but everytime before I play I mKe sure I close all other apps.
I heard about the changing resolution from one of the TSTO Facebook Groups I’m in.
I hope this helps.
Amazon Kindle Fire 7 and I am zoomed way in. Been playing maybe every 4 days only since it isn’t as much fun. The “Find Maggie” mini game is almost impossible.Next event will suck unless it gets fixed before.
Also, my version is Fire OS 5.3.6.4
I have an area that has all of the buildings that Maggie can be all clumped together so that I don’t have to search all over for her.
I only play on an iPad, and I’ve never had this problem.
Disney news article
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47904958
And so it begins, the attack of the Mickey Monster and his Marauding Marvel Masses… 7 bucks a month sounds fair enough I guess, but only if they don’t screw up The Mandalorian.
Oh I already intend to cancel my Netflix subscription and go to Disney+. With 2 kids, 99% of what they watch is Disney.
Sure, for kids this might be perfect. Adult singles on the other hand rarely care too much for Hannah Montana & Friends 😉
But hey, that’s what the new variety on the streaming market could be good for: more choices for everyone.
lol I dunno when I was a single adult I enjoyed Disney Channel shows. But then again, the only reason I still have Netflix is for Fuller House lol
Exactly what I meant: no matter if you’re a mother of two or just an adult with the soul of a kid, soon you’ll get the streams for all your cartoonish (or… well… animationish) needs^^
Netflix is great imo, but not necessarily in that special sub-department…
And we have just uncovered yet another difference between Alissa and me. I would sooner cut off the rest of my cable, than to give up Netflix right now. Where else can you binge watch a series as truly weird as “The OA” when you should be going to bed. Goofy never had that same allure to me.
But…I have to admit, that Disney was the primary source for our kids growing up. Of course, it was boxes and boxes of VHS tapes (remember VHS Tapes?), that we still have taking up space in our “video drawers.” The new live action versions of Disney classics are amazing…but break down the wall of “believable” too far. When he was a cartoon, it was obvious that Simba wasn’t real. Now…I’m not so sure, and I keep waiting for the wild turkeys in my neighborhood to start talking (which they can, if you drink enough Wild Turkey).
I agree…binge watching 7 seasons of Mad Men.👍😁
Still the best drama every produced…along with the most satisfying ending ever.
Seems you’ve never watched Breaking Bad, Pat. The story of a grumpy old man 😀
I’m certainly hooked…half way thru season 4. Only slightly disconcerting that the daughter is about the same age I was in the 60’s.🌼🌸🌼flower power!
Even with our youngest at 17 yrs old, we are still a HUGE Disney fan. My wife and I would use our kids as an excuse for going to see the latest Disney animated film at the theater when they were young, knowing that we would have gone anyways even if the kids weren’t around.
For $7 / mo, we will be getting it……..BUT…..unless Disney steals the rights of Stranger Things from Netflix, we wouldn’t be cancelling….can’t wait until July for the season Three!
This is irrelevant but, when i got missions that says ”send springfielders to blablabla”, the quest usually only needs like 5 characters. But the rest i want to send to regular mission via the office of unemployment but i cant, i have to do it manually which is frustrating cause i have 250+ characters. Is there any way to get a round this problem?
Unfortunately not
Sometimes it hits me, but never for more than a day or two. I have a Samsung galaxy s8.
My phone is fully updated with androod version 9, pie.
I have a Galaxy S8 running Pie, and I do not have a zoom issue. However, I played with my settings to see if I could get my phone to have a zoom issue. My screen resolution is FHD+ (2220 × 1800). When I changed it to HD+ (1480 x 720) it caused a zoom issue. I am now back to my normal resolution and the zoom is back to normal. I hope this at least helps the people running Pie on an S8.
I’ve tried changing the resolution and that has made no difference on my S8.
Runs great on iPhone hehe
my Samsung S7 is just fine however my Samsung tablet does have the same problem and it’s had it for many months now with the exception of two weeks after the last app store update hit us
Not all Kindle Fires are affected. I have an older Kindle (3rd Generation–Android 4.5 KitKat) and luckily has not hit my game. The newer/cheaper Kindle Fire (5th Generation–Android 5.0 Lollipop) is affected. Our android BLU phones (really nice phones) have Android 6.0 Marshmallow and 7.0 Nougat not affected but annoying to play on smaller phone screen vs larger tablet.
I have that issue on the iPad as well.
I play the game mostly on my phone, a Galaxy 6, and it looks fine and I can zoom out to the proper degree. I also have a Kindle HD8 and it has the zoom problem. I would LOVE to play on my Kindle because the screen is so much bigger, but the zoom problem makes it basically unplayable. BTW it’s the same town, I only have one town/account. My husband has an iPad Air and he says the zoom is fine on that device. Hope we get a fix for the Kindle soon!!!