[Known Issue] Terrain Rewriting (MD5 Issue)

[Damselx1]

I gave this info earlier post but i shall again to try and help. Xbox one/private multiplayer/nazgane/scavenger. Now been playing for almost a year never had this issue. However the last 2 days it has happened to us 3 times since yesterday. So i am guessing something was tweaked or worked on and now it is affecting us. I realize its something thats been happening to others but now affects my game. So whatever tweaks you made the last 2 possibly 3 days has made it unbearable. I also notice when my game crashes and makes a horrible noise it happens. If it crashes quietly and just goes back to main xbox screen it doesnt. Not sure if that little bit of info is anymore help. Hope so

 

I've noticed a few bugs that have occurred following a fix for something else, so you may well be right. The next update should be released sometime this week and will most likely have more MD5 fixes included so it may solve the problem for you. I've never heard any sorts of noises when the game has crashed, mine usually just tells me I'e been disconnected or the blue screen with the error code pops up.

 

I hope Clare and the devs can get to the bottom of it for you.

[Clare]

UPDATED ORIGINAL POST WITH NEW INFO

 

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Nicadeamus - I'm sorry this effected your game. Our last patch was about 25 days ago. No tweaks have been made since then. I do however appreciate you sharing the information! If there is anything else you can think of that you did differently that could have triggered it in your save, please let me know.

[FattyBlunt420]

Microsoft saves...

 

UPDATED ORIGINAL POST WITH NEW INFO

 

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Nicadeamus - I'm sorry this effected your game. Our last patch was about 25 days ago. No tweaks have been made since then. I do however appreciate you sharing the information! If there is anything else you can think of that you did differently that could have triggered it in your save, please let me know.

 

I know recently Stardew Valley was getting broken corrupted saves because of the way the x-box sends the saves to the cloud. Some of the saves were not getting fully sent to the cloud and would break the save file. I lost a 68 hour game and couldn't play it until they fixed the save's 6 weeks later. Your game might be having a similar issue. If the rewrites happen because broken saves you should contact microsoft and find out how Stardew Valley fixed the corrupted save files and stopped the problem from happening... But this problem happening so often is a game changer. Your game ratings will go down and people will request their money back like when Stardew Valley was having game ruining problems.

[ramtuff]

Game crashed, logged back in to a loss.

 

So I was at my house in Diersvill. I had a tunnel from that house to the gas station to the east past the hospital. I had grabbed my purple weapons, a bunch of building materials, all my ammunition and black powder. I went up to the house and made a storage crate. I unloaded a bunch of items into it. Then I used the safe that was already in the houses basement. Upon putting my best guns in this safe and my ammo, the game crashed. When I came back into the game I was somehow infected and on the roof! I jumped down to notice the house was only halfway modified. I went to the basement where the safe was and hte normal house door was there and locked. When I broke down the door the safe was locked and my crate gone. Along with that the tunnel was gone with my base that was down there. All weapons, food mats etc etc. Was on day 88 or so. All gone except the scooter i had down there to run the tunnel. it was magically up top. Very frustrating to spend that kind of time in a game and you do something that wipes it all out. Fun game but I honestly dont want to start completely over....The other thing is multiplayer doesnt seem to work for me and a buddy that lives 150 miles away. We got the game to play together and we can for about 10 min then we crash or he cant find me and i tell him im standing right next to you! I thought I bought a game ready to play....

[DrSvenVonGibson]

UPDATED ORIGINAL POST WITH NEW INFO

 

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Nicadeamus - I'm sorry this effected your game. Our last patch was about 25 days ago. No tweaks have been made since then. I do however appreciate you sharing the information! If there is anything else you can think of that you did differently that could have triggered it in your save, please let me know.

 

So you guys don't really know whats going on. This is just some mysterious bug that you guys are leaving to the community that plays your broken crap to solve this for you? What about testers on your front? I want to know what you guys are doing to get this game breaking bug fixed up. This is crazy that this glitch has lasted for so long without any other acknowledgement than, "We're working on it, just keep playing." There are 8 other pages on this one thread full of people "sharing their information", but I don't think anything is being done with it? How ♥♥♥♥ing long is it going to take? Another year? I understand that I'm no game developer, and I can understand that things might be hard to fix, but ♥♥♥♥ me if this isn't the only game that I've played in recent years that has ever done this, and if any other game or game developer ever did this to me, I'd react the same way. What pisses me off most about this, is that this game has the potential. It has the drive to be a great game. Just please put everything else you guys are doing or patching aside, And get this damn things fixed asap.

 

For all of us.

[DrSvenVonGibson]

So I was at my house in Diersvill. I had a tunnel from that house to the gas station to the east past the hospital. I had grabbed my purple weapons, a bunch of building materials, all my ammunition and black powder. I went up to the house and made a storage crate. I unloaded a bunch of items into it. Then I used the safe that was already in the houses basement. Upon putting my best guns in this safe and my ammo, the game crashed. When I came back into the game I was somehow infected and on the roof! I jumped down to notice the house was only halfway modified. I went to the basement where the safe was and hte normal house door was there and locked. When I broke down the door the safe was locked and my crate gone. Along with that the tunnel was gone with my base that was down there. All weapons, food mats etc etc. Was on day 88 or so. All gone except the scooter i had down there to run the tunnel. it was magically up top. Very frustrating to spend that kind of time in a game and you do something that wipes it all out. Fun game but I honestly dont want to start completely over....The other thing is multiplayer doesnt seem to work for me and a buddy that lives 150 miles away. We got the game to play together and we can for about 10 min then we crash or he cant find me and i tell him im standing right next to you! I thought I bought a game ready to play....

 

"We're sorry this happened to you. Just... Try and play again and let us know if it happens again (which it inevitably will)."

 

Hey, I could do their job too...

[Velox mors]

A thought

 

CLARE..So i know it's been mentioned before that adding the ability to save at any point and load your previous game would be harder than simply fixing the problem, and cause problems with how ppl play it. That being said i was wondering if maybe (even if only a temporary solution until/if the problem is resolved) this idea is possible? What if once every let's say 4 hours the game auto saves to a seperate save that you can manually load from? And every 4 hours it overwrites that previous manual load? So you would only have the most recent save to load, or you can continue as u normally would from the last 30 sec save this way ppl won't be abusing the ability to load (unless they're willing to lose the last 4 hrs of progress) and you wouldn't have to put the ability to manually save into the game. Atleast this way the most we would lose is 4 hrs of work, which is a hell of a lot better than the hundreds of hours ppl have lost. Could this potentially work? I haven't made any games before so i don't know if this would be less difficult to do. Also i understand that could potentially cause problems with online play so even if only available offline it would still be a huge step up. Example: i start game up, i can continue from most recent 30 sec save, or continue from the last 4hr auto save, so if it turns out my base and all my belongings are gone i can use the most recent 4hr save. Sorry this is long winded, just wanted to ensure clarity.

[Nicadeamus]

Playing day 119 and i was writing text for a sign and game made a horrible noise, crashed and replaced half my new base. Again i noticed where ever there was a tree, birds nest, any object i removed to build my base was where it reset. I tried finding the area with the least amount of terrain that i would have to alter and build. Also any place i dug into the ground also was reset. Grass doesnt affect it, but pretty much anything else that you can remove. Again hope this helps.

[Cts00]

Hundreds of hours wasted

 

I've been playing 7 Days to Die since the release. I've loved it and raved about it so much that I've gotten a lot of my friends hooked. Because it is such an ambitious task to take on from a game making standpoint, I've been very patient and overlooked a LOT of issues. A LOT. Sure, it does still look, feel, and perform like a game that wasn't properly prepaired developed and prepared and thrown to the masses to make a quick buck, but the concept is so genious and fun that I've stuck with it. Until now. For the third time, in different settings and different games, my progress has been wiped. This is hundreds upon hundreds of real time hours spent that are now completely wasted and nothing to be gained other than disappointment and stress. When you fall in love with a game to the point you are willing to dedicate so much of your time to it and then it is lost and amounts to nothing, why would you come back? Especially after reading through the forums. There are a few things that are clear.

1. This is obviously a huge problem with a lot of people affected. Instead of taking the time to implement a "self save" option to help the customer enjoy the product they spent their money on, the team has stated it would be too much work for them, so they just ask we continue to be patient and keep playing with the constant risk of losing everything over and over.

2. From reading through the forums, I'm really kind of shocked at how the contempt and rudeness is so apparent from the team members who respond to their customers concerns. This is a business. Customer complaints are never fun, but they are indeed part of running a business. If you're willing to take someone's money then you need to be willing to help them in a friendly manner.

3. This company is not customer centric. As a business professional with an MBA, it was obvious to me when reading through the forums and online articles that customers take a backseat to the bottom line. They've reached a point where a profit is being made so there's no rush or desire to make sure their customers are happy. People are buying the game as is and continue to play it, as is, so they are in no rush to do anything other than cash pay checks.

 

In short, I'm very, very disappointed in this game and company. I've played nearly all of the other telltale games and I've hooked many friends. After experiencing these issues with the game and ESPECIALLY after reading the forums and seeing how things are done, I am finished with the game, the company, and any future games. I don't expect to receive any kind of help or acknowledgment other than, "We are sorry. Be patient with us. Keep playing, and give us your money".

[allday]

Any update??

 

[sTATUS: LOGGED - IN PROGRESS]

 

Note: This issue can occur all over the world, but it is most noticeable when a base is wiped.

 

A strip of the terrain may have some trouble loading and it defaults to the Day 1 state.

 

There are no known workarounds, however the odds of it happening in the same area twice, is very small.

 

EDIT: It appears it is becoming more common and repeating in areas since the original post was made.

 

POTENTIAL WORKAROUND:

Player IBKillingFools has mentioned that hard resetting console after as crash has helped them avoid MD5 errors.

 

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UPDATE: The below message was given to me to pass onto you guys in regards to the issue with terrain regeneration.

The team call them MD5 errors - we've been calling then terrain rewrites and regens on the forums and this is where an area can revert to the Day 1 state.

 

Hi all!

We know you’ve been encountering a few MD5 errors recently and we wanted to explain a bit about them and what we’re doing to combat them.

Unfortunately, MD5 errors have a large number of different causes. In essence, though, they flag any part of a saved game’s map that is different than the world generation algorithm expects it to be. This can happen when the game crashes while it’s trying to save or if any of the changes we make or features we add impact the terrain generation pipeline. As we work to improve the game’s stability and fix any issues we find, you should encounter these MD5 errors less and less.

This has been—and will continue to be—an ongoing focus of ours. We really appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to improve your experience with 7 Days to Die.

 

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UPDATE: We've recieved some reports of POIs changing from one to another. This is possibly caused by an MD5 error triggering in the area. The team are investigating this possible MD5 trigger now too.

 

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UPDATE: A lot of players have asked about adding in a manual save option to the game. Which this sounds like a simple task that could temporarily help the issue. This is not as simple or temporary as it may seem. Not only would the UI need to changed to accommodate this new option but the team would need to dig into the core code of the game and change how the game saves. They would also need to work on how the game saves to the consoles and be sure Sony and MS approve of this. This is something that would take a considerable amount of time and resources. Afterwards the game still has the MD5 errors. It may not seem like it, but it is actually a lot quicker to hunt and fix the MD5 errors rather than digging into the core of the game and changing something so big.

 

Side note: Roland made a good point that adding a manual save also changes the design of the game and changes how it is played - Possibly one of the reasons manual save option was not added to PC. So if this was added in it would likely be removed afterward, which again is digging back into code to undo all that was done.

 

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Update: 04/08

 

Copy of post: [04/08] Message from the Team - MD5 Info

 

Hi all,

 

Below is a message from the team regarding MD5 Errors

 

First, let us say thank you for your patience as we work through the issues with MD5 resets. We are continuously looking for ways to improve stability and tracking down causes for MD5 resets is at the forefront of those efforts. To help us track down these issues, we’ve added analytics to the game to capture as much data as possible when an MD5 mismatch is detected. With this data, we have been able to find and fix several causes of MD5 errors. In the last few patches, we submitted fixes for several of these issues and the early results from analytics shows that the number of MD5 errors has decreased dramatically. That said, we will continue tracking these issues and look for ways to fix them as we find them. Once again, thank you for your patience and for being an awesome community.

 

Thank you guys for continuing to pass on your MD5 error info, I would recommend those who want to share their details continue to do so, having information from all sides gives us more chances to catch and fix these issues!

 

Thanks,

Clare

 

 

I was wondering if there is ever going to be an update to this issue, I noticed you first posted regarding this issue back in September 2016 - 6 Months later and still the issue exists, I would be gratefull to any insight you have regarding this issue please.

[Cts00]

Don't hold your breath

 

I was wondering if there is ever going to be an update to this issue, I noticed you first posted regarding this issue back in September 2016 - 6 Months later and still the issue exists, I would be gratefull to any insight you have regarding this issue please.

 

 

The fact that it has been going on for over half a year and still hasn't been fixed shows it isn't a big concern for them. They are pouring their resources into new content to drive sales. Enough people are continuously playing and not pointing out their discrepancies, so they just tell all of us who are being affected to just wait around until enough people complain or they eventually address it. Whichever comes first.

[Damselx1]

I was wondering if there is ever going to be an update to this issue, I noticed you first posted regarding this issue back in September 2016 - 6 Months later and still the issue exists, I would be gratefull to any insight you have regarding this issue please.

 

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?61452-04-08-Message-from-the-Team-MD5-Info

 

This is the link to a recent announcement regarding the terrain rewriting bug.

[Damselx1]

The fact that it has been going on for over half a year and still hasn't been fixed shows it isn't a big concern for them. They are pouring their resources into new content to drive sales. Enough people are continuously playing and not pointing out their discrepancies, so they just tell all of us who are being affected to just wait around until enough people complain or they eventually address it. Whichever comes first.

 

Actually, they have done a lot of work on this bug and fixed a lot of the triggers. They still need those who do experience the issue to report it with their system and game settings in case they have come across a trigger that the team hasn't yet identified. Sadly, a lot of people have just come to the forum to rant about the bug, but when asked for their details, either ignore the request or refuse. The more information the devs have, the faster this bug can be fixed. It doesn't help that not everyone has experienced this bug (I've never had it and I've been playing since it came out and there are many others who can say the same).

 

There was a recent announcement, updating us on their progress. You can read it at: https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?61452-04-08-Message-from-the-Team-MD5-Info.

[LegendEternal]

This happened twice today when we were playing. Same town but different POI's inside the town. The fix that has been floated around (shutting down the Xbox in the event of a crash) did NOT work. The reset still happened.

[Cts00]

Actually, they have done a lot of work on this bug and fixed a lot of the triggers. They still need those who do experience the issue to report it with their system and game settings in case they have come across a trigger that the team hasn't yet identified. Sadly, a lot of people have just come to the forum to rant about the bug, but when asked for their details, either ignore the request or refuse. The more information the devs have, the faster this bug can be fixed. It doesn't help that not everyone has experienced this bug (I've never had it and I've been playing since it came out and there are many others who can say the same).

 

There was a recent announcement, updating us on their progress. You can read it at: https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?61452-04-08-Message-from-the-Team-MD5-Info.

 

 

 

As someone who came to the forums to find a fix and understand the problem, yes, I did rant when I discovered the lack of information and fixes. I can also completely understand why people are less than happy to submit all of this detailed information. I paid for a product I expected to be finished and working properly. They are being paid to give us a working game. If I'm expected to take time out of my schedule to help fix something I've already paid for, then I expect some form of compensation. My payment for the game has been received - I've received an unfinished product that doesn't function the way I expect it to, and now the MANY paid customers this is happening to (just because you're lucky enough to not experience it doesn't take away from the problem at all) are expected to further be unconvinced by helping to fix the problem. This is all ridiculous.

[ALamAnT42087]

I support the game, and everything you guys are doing.... recently had a crash. 3 online players, WnJ seed map. We were in a poi south east of the main hub with a furnace. 4 online players. Day 21. All have excellent connections, on Frontier Internet provider not sure of the speeds. One player went to bed, 3 of us stayed up to face the hoarde. Had a massive wall built around poi, and decent spikes and what not... also had some new guy who decided he wanted to build some weird a** s*** on the roof of our poi.... like really weird and unstable s***.! So me and my brother fought the horde, while random kept building on the roof.. smh. Anyway, about half way thru the hoard night my brothers avatar disappeared. Literally, I'm shooting of hoard of zombies in the face.... and start seeing heads popping off left and right. (He is invisible too me, cutting them with his hunting knife) Hilarious might I add, anyway frame rate dropped too roblox standards... which is understandable. There were an a**load of zombies and like I said random was still building on the roof smdh. As soon as the sun came up, my brother was kicked (the host) along with us... came back poi respawned.... everyone's stuff that was placed ground level...in place of something like a bed they destroyed or something... was gone. Anything that was placed, where there was nothing ie empty space on day one.... was still there... but the storages were empty. All storages placed off the ground on the wall were still there and storage was still inside them. Also, btw lol randoms weird s*** on the roof vanished..... woot. Hopefully this all helps, maybe his weird ♥♥♥♥ triggered the reset.... maybe not. But the main thing we found is all floating storage boxes mounted on walls remained intact with all contents still there. Great game, love it. Keep up the good work.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Sorry 4 players online, only 3 were online when the crash happened.

[ALamAnT42087]

Hopefully I provided enough info, to help the team... to do their thing. Was in no way, shape or format discouraged by this minor set back... I host a server that has a bunch of underground bunkers and fall pits... day 41. Have not had any issues on that one, so I just jumped over after the crash. Best of all was the gratification of seeing randoms weird ish get completely erased. (:

Another reason why, I wasn't upset... is due to the fact I came to the fourms and read all the bugs before investing. I don't care if it takes 5 years to fix this one, I'll continue surviving and resetting if needed.

Keep surviving folks, stay happy and quit b******* over this glitch... it doesn't help the team to fix it. State what happened, when and where plus details and let them work it out.

[ALamAnT42087]

Sorry again lol... console, xbox one

[Damselx1]

Sorry again lol... console, xbox one

 

Could you also post you in game settings; day length, difficulty, spawn rate of zombies and loot, etc. Don't forget to include what day you're on. It all helps the devs.

[numbcoyote]

Xbox world strip reset

 

Just had mine reset.

Digital copy, should be latest patch, bought the game a few days ago.

Solo, Navez, day 26, 2:30ish

Clint, adventurer, default settings except for 18 hours daylight.

I'm in the big farm house alongside the Ansel Adams river, east of the bridge by the national Park sign, just south of the power station.

Came back and unloaded a haul from the houses out west, put a few new business glass windows in upstairs after taking out the old boards while I was waiting for daylight. Most of downstairs was brick wall. Was.

I was using the workbench I had made a few days before to see if it had any different recipes or what other purpose it might serve. Recipe window and inspection window disappeared while I was flipping through pages in the workbench menu, I went back and forth a few times to see if it would load. Crash to console home. Not building that again.

I was unaware of the issue and immediately opened it back up. Everything back to day 1 within a one block radius of the existing structure. Heartbreak on tax day. A few hours before hand, the game had crashed to console home seconds after I opened my save, but when I reloaded everything was normal.

My week old cobblestone wall ran over the nearby coal vane I dug out ages ago. Coal is back, wall is missing for a stretch near the vein.

I spent forever clearing out trees and grass all around that house, and as much as I had convinced myself that digital grass doesn't grow, that damned ♥♥♥♥ came back with a vengeance, ha!

I wonder if the game has been trying to normalize itself related to how it spawns zombies and animals. I've noticed if I head towards the clay patch North of me during the day, a horde of zombies spawns every time in the same spot up the hill, with a couple in mid air. Things run a little janky for a moment afterward.

I've also noticed zombies spawning inside my perimeter wall and even in the middle of spike trap pits on the blood moon, which also causes the game to behave strangely. Clipping and stuttering and the like. I haven't had any performance issues that weren't associated with creature spawns, to my knowledge.

Worst part was losing the forge and my wall. Took me forever to gather all the mats I had stored in there.

[ALamAnT42087]

Adventurer

Never run

Normal aggression

Daytime 18 hrs

Tool belt only

Drop on quit nothing

Memory 30

Loot respawn 5 days

Loot abundance 200

Air drops 24 hrs

24 hrs 60 mins

Air drops marked and mini bike icons on

Was on day 14, on this crash

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Enemy spawning medium

[ALamAnT42087]

On a side note, playing on my main server tonight had another crash... same settings and all... but on day 42.

It was isolated to the same random player from my last crash. The room he was in, (underground) *35* blocks down... reset all my crates holding all my storage. The furnaces and bed rolls were intact, just the storage crates were reset too stone walls. He was afk, when the crash occurred for about 10 mins... I will no longer be allowing him too join lol, but can't just be a coincidence.

Thanks for yalls effort, hope this helps in any way.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Also, checked their pings maybe 5 mins prior to the crash... while random was afk.... they were both @ 21

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Also note, this was at 12:00 game time.... so wasn't relevant to the blood moon....

[Damselx1]

On a side note, playing on my main server tonight had another crash... same settings and all... but on day 42.

It was isolated to the same random player from my last crash. The room he was in, (underground) *35* blocks down... reset all my crates holding all my storage. The furnaces and bed rolls were intact, just the storage crates were reset too stone walls. He was afk, when the crash occurred for about 10 mins... I will no longer be allowing him too join lol, but can't just be a coincidence.

Thanks for yalls effort, hope this helps in any way.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Also, checked their pings maybe 5 mins prior to the crash... while random was afk.... they were both @ 21

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Also note, this was at 12:00 game time.... so wasn't relevant to the blood moon....

 

Thanks for providing so much information, I wish others were as forthcoming. I hope CLare and the devs are able to resolve your issue quickly.

[ALamAnT42087]

No need for thanks, just hope it helps the dev team get too the bottom of it. I will regain my loot, main reason why I have the game on such easy settings until it's resolved. Love playing this game, been dreaming of something similar since I was a child lol... it's just a game at the end of the day, and I'm just glad we have it on console.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Good old days, when we play D&D in a journal.... once a game was finished you would spend weeks making another lol... designing maps and ect....this set back is nothing compared to the old grinds.

[Berserk chaos]

8 months still no word from. Devs

 

I was storing items after a run just finished putting stuff away drank water then game crashed. Navegame survival MP server name Alexandrea character Chang day 63 Xbox one i have recordings of the base after the glitch it seems it's deleted 32x32 squares wide in both directions but vertical 120x120+ squares. I had my base on top of the hospital in diersvill the hospital has reset to day 1 was sealed in ladders i made to get to roof had been removed doors and bourds magically appeared back I've sunk over 150hours+ into this game. You have your money so i surpose you win, i wont be playing this again and will be contacting jim sterling and Microsoft to try get a refund. Thank you for wasting my time and money 7 days to die should have (Preview) next to it in the storefront so people no your game is not ready yet/broken