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Bsod

Typical 'Black Screen of Death'

Wsod

Brand new shiny 'White Screen of Death'

The Killer Glitch of 2013/4 is what killed some twenty percent of players of Pirate Maidens, many of which were paying customers. The massive glitch had locked out players from the event, rescue, quarters, and news pages, as well as many more listed below. Players were locked out of the game for up to 30 days, from 10th December 2013 to 9th January 2014, and the situation is still not fully resolved to date. There was a relapse during the next rescue type event. (See Le Deathly Watermelon Glitch)

The bug is account-specific, meaning an affected user can log into other working accounts and access all features, but his/her main account is broken like a heart of a man that's run away from love too long.

Events and limited card releases continued despite the fact that the bug had yet to been fixed for most.

Background[]

The Black Screen of Death (BSOD) had appeared many times before, causing interference to gameplay. The bug could usually be bypassed by refreshing the page, changing one's nation or initiating a brawl. The number of occurrences gradually increased as time passed and nothing was done to solve the situation. (DEBUG DEBUG DEBUG!) BSOD occurrences peaked during the 1-year anniversary Champagne Shower EventThe Killer Glitch of 2013/4 was the first time where certain users got the BSOD 100% of the time.

Timeline[]

Key: Official report, Unofficial report, () editor commentary

  • 10/12/13 - First reported occurrence of bug
  • 13/12/13 - Release of next Aeria mobile game, Dragon Legion
    • A few GMs from Pirate Maidens moved over to the new game
  • 16/12/13 - Beginning of the bug for most users
  • 17/12/13 - Account Recovery Procedure (1st false warning of bug fix)
    • In the event that you lose access to your account or want to use a new device, don't worry! We can and will recover your information! We suggest that you keep a record of your Pirate name and Unique ID for every installation. Alternatively, creating and using an Aeria Ignite account can help save and transfer data for specific accounts between devices. If you lose access to your account please contact us[...]
  • 19/12/13 - Server Maintenance (2nd false warning)
    • Over the most recent maintenance we have attempted to make further improvements to increase server stability, and we hope you see even greater improvements to app performance. Although this has addressed the concerns of some players, we are still working diligently to fix the Connection Error screen bug for all affected players in the next several days. Game Stability is important to us, and we will not stop working until all affected users are able to enjoy the game again[...]
  • 19/12/13 - GM_FresnoBob is lobbying to push back the next event in order for aeria to have time to fix all the pressing issues.
Rawr

Emergency server maintenance

  • 19/12/13 - Emergency server maintenance (3rd false warning)
    • ā€‹RAWR WHY IS PIRATE MAIDENS DOWN!? (the empathy was a nice touch)
  • 20/12/13 - A lead was found: Bug seems to be related to a table that is commonly accessed. The more times an account accesses it, the more likely the issue is to come up. Older players are more likely to be affected
  • 23/12/13 - Server Issues
    • We seem to be still experiencing some connection/game issues - we are still hard at work looking into it. In the meantime, please provide our GMs with any and all useful information. Sorry for the inconvenience! We hope to resolve these issues soon and permanently.
  • 24/12/13 Server Issues (Update)
    • We understand the frustration that many of you face, regarding the connectivity/black-screen/error issues. We have been working through the Holidays, in order to try to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible. Recently, we made a big breakthrough and have pinpointed the exact problem that is causing the issue. We have also traced the code we will need to apply in order to fix these problems. We will be working rigorously throughout the next few days to get these problems resolved.
  • 30/12/13 - Connection bug fix is a multi-part fix. The first phase was implemented 2 days ago.
  • 31/12/13 - First change to the bug!!
    • The BSOD alternates with a WSOD, but encounter rate is still 100%. (OHMIGOSH MORE COLORS! That's so entertaining...)
  • 1/1/14 - Server Issues (Update 2) (4th false warning)
    • (original message) The black screen and server issues are NOW RESOLVED!!! We apoloogize for the inconvenience, please check your inbox for FREE GIFTS!![...]
    • (later edited message) We've partially Resolved the Black Screen issue that some players are reporting! These issues are muchmore complex than initially imaginedl it will take us some more time to fully remedy the issues[...]
      • A handful of players were fixed during this update. Most others were still glitched and facing a WSOD 100% of the time.
  • 3/1/14 - Continuing Server Fixes
    • Although several fixes have been implemented to address the connection issues, we've found that the problem is much more fragmented than anticipated. We are working hard to resolve this issue and have been looking at each individual error on a case-by-case basis. We understand the frustration. We recommend clearing your cached data history by tapping 'Erase Data'. Rest assured that the data being cleared are ONLY OLD IMAGES and will not clear your progress, cards, or affect your crew in any way[...]
  • 8/1/14 - More players get fixed. (not all players)
    • Aeria did not release a statement.
  • 9/1/14 - Most Connection Errors Resolved!
    • After exhaustive research into the connection issue that affected a number of our players, our technical operations team have been able to pin-point the cause of the error. With the help of the players who reported the issue, we were able to resolve the problem for the majority so that they could enjoy Pirate Maidens once again. Though, there are some isolated instances which we will be handling on a case by case basis [... and] we will be reopening our Champagne Bottle Rescue! [...]


Not dated:

  • There were two reports on PM's Facebook that the bugs were fixed. These posts were later removed.

Compensation[]

The main compensation given to glitched players was one randomly picked out of three cards Bodyguard Forssman, Smiling Alice and Smoking Admiral Albert. These three cards are event cards for a future event, 'Rain Tower'. Other compensations were tonics and blackout rums, but these were given out to all players, including non-glitched, which was not seen to be fair.

Individual compensation were given to a few players who requested it directly through tickets. Hilariously, some glitched players were accidentally given the compensation requested by another, and got to keep that compensation.

Affected users[]

The following users were killed by the glitch for 30 days (more or less). Some had quit, others persevered in vain. You've been affected by the glitch, and your name isn't listed here? Then add it in to forever express your disdain for the trouble it has caused.

  • All the members of ā˜Snowflakesā˜
  • Nara X Ļ€ (i.e. Maine12329)
  • ā˜ā˜Peligrosoā˜ā˜
  • Wally
  • Handsome pb
  • Yrbloodyfrnd
  • EXcalibur
  • Valhart
  • EXtinguish
  • LongJohn Crew
  • Wally
  • Starscream
  • Vailyn
  • --BlaZoN--
  • Ryu
  • Poison Ivy
  • phiwoody
  • Madam Mar
  • ice013
  • Hibarii
  • TuckingFypo
  • Son of Saint
  • Conundrum
  • Crew of Two
  • Renegade
  • Ruby Roseā˜ā˜
  • MarieCurie
  • The Joker
  • Kissandra
  • Spooky code
  • avaleen
  • Misaka
  • eXcalibur
  • WWkld
  • ā˜XThunderXā˜
  • Phiwoody
  • Lupo
  • GildartsClive
  • Crusher69
  • Yradel
  • TheSyren
  • All the members of Event Raiders
IMG 4515

Locked out! All is lost...

Global glitches during this period[]

Global lockout[]

There was a global glitch where every single player could not enter the game for a few hours. This was resolved on 23/12/13 and every player was given 12 Tonics and 1 Blackout Rum as compensation for the inconvenience.

Jillian WSOD[]

Spoiler (3)

Jillian knows how we feel!

The Jillian WSOD affected every single player who could access the event. Upon encountering the raid boss Brave General Jillian, one would be shown a White Screen of Death (WSOD). Initially, refreshing multiple times could solve the problem, but some time later the issue was worsened such that it showed a white screen no matter how many times the screen was refreshed.

For a short period of time, players who were unaffected by The Killer Glitch got a taste of how terrible the glitch players felt. However, the bug was soon fixed on 26/12/13, a decent amount of time after it had started.

Possible temporary solutions[]

The following temporary solutions had been suggested but never implemented.

  1. PM could push forward the release of the 'unlimited bottle pirate' that both the Chinese and Japanese version already have. i.e. one will always get a Perquira whenever a bottle set of 8 is finished. Note: Bugged players can access the gift box when a bottle pirate is completed.

2nd occurence (20/2/14 - present)[]

Main article: Le Deathly Watermelon Glitch

Accessible areas of the game during killer glitch[]

Players experienced the glitch in multiple ways (different pages not accessible ,etc). This made the error much harder to pinpoint and solve, as reported by Team PM.

Nara's glitch

Main Page ā€“ can access

  • Event tabs
    • Cannot
  • See Rankings (Battle Nation Rankings)
    • Cannot
  • Management News
    • Cannot
  • ā€˜see all newsā€™
    • Cannot
  • Daily Brawl Rankings
    • User profile of Rank 1 player
      • Can
    • ā€˜view moreā€™
      • Cannot
  • Guild Rankings
    • ā€˜See details of rank 1 guildā€™
      • Can access
    • ā€˜view moreā€™
    • Cannot

My Quarters ā€“ cannot access

Rescue ā€“ cannot access (Gold, wink, ticket and event rescue)

Story ā€“ can access

  • Pillage (all features)
    • Can
  • Change Episode
    • Can
  • Change Chapter
    • Can
  • Change Nation
    • Can
  • Assign Stats
    • Can
  • Review Chap
    • Can

Brawl ā€“ can access

  • Opponents of similar level
    • Can
  • Opponents with Bottles
    • Can
    • Brawling against others
  • Call for assist
    • Can
  • Build Crew (separate)
    • Can
  • Build Crew (all)
    • Can
  • Defensive Record
    • Cannot

Menu ā€“ can access

  • Guild
    • Can
  • Guild Brawl (GvG ā€“ all functions)
    • Can
  • Enhance (all functions)
    • Can
  • Shop
    • Cannot
  • Items
    • Cannot
  • Bottles
    • Cannot
  • Pirates
    • Cannot
  • Profile
    • Can
  • Friends
    • Can
  • Invite
    • Can
  • Index
    • Can
  • Substory
    • Can
  • Help
    • Cannot

Otherā€™s user page ā€“ can access

  • Friend Invite
    • Can
  • Brawl
    • Can
  • Greet
    • Can
  • Own greeting history/Greetings Received
    • Cannot
  • Send Gift
    • Can

Miscellaneous

  • Gift Box
    • Can access
      • Gift box is fully functional when one completes a bottle pirate as there is a link to it through there

Miscellaneous glitches[]

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