DragonVale Tips, Strategies, Updates, & Help

[Cyn]

Oct 13, 2020 18:29:58 GMT -6 willowthecat said:

Looking for a bit of help from a Techie. I contacted Apple to ask if the new IPad Pro 11” had 6GB of RAM (all the better to play Dragonvale). They didn’t know , so would anyone here know or where I can find out for sure. I googled it but don’t like relying on the information there. Thanks.

willowthecat ,

According to Cult Of Mac: (clickable links in the story)

Every 2020 iPad Pro reportedly includes 50% more RAM than most versions of its predecessor. This goes along with an enhanced processor.

In addition, Apple’s latest tablet also supposedly includes the U1 chip for directionally-aware AirDrop.

Update: Tests with Apple’s latest tablet confirm that it has 6GB of RAM. However, it does not have the U1 chip.

<snip> (more to the story at the link)

www.cultofmac.com/693941/2020-ipad-pro-ram-specs-u1/ 

ADD: Confirmed over at Mac Rumors
www.macrumors.com/2020/03/18/2020-ipad-pro-models-6gb-ram/ 

[willowthecat]

Thank you MinyaZ and Cyn. Both articles were very helpful. Apple said they don’t deal in RAM which I remember being discussed here before, but I thought they would still have the information in their specs somewhere. Anyway, you have given me the answer I was after, now to decide whether to part with a whole of money. Thanks again.

[crumble608]

Oct 13, 2020 22:31:30 GMT -6 willowthecat said:

Thank you MinyaZ and Cyn. Both articles were very helpful. Apple said they don’t deal in RAM which I remember being discussed here before, but I thought they would still have the information in their specs somewhere. Anyway, you have given me the answer I was after, now to decide whether to part with a whole of money. Thanks again.

Hi willowthecat,
I don't know if you are an apple fanatic or if you could think of an alternative.
I bought a new Samsung tablet this summer. It has 6GB RAM and 128 GB memory. I'm very satisfied with it and it only cost about 420 Euro.

[LynnMarie]

I started playing again this past winter and missed last years Halloween event and all the Ghostly Effigies. I’ve somehow managed to collect Fire, Plant and Cold, but am still missing Earth. Since I don’t have all 4, I’ve kinda put off breeding the ghostly dragons. I’m planning to start on breeding what I can now, but do you all think Deca will have the Earth Effigy available with the upcoming Halloween event?

[Fletch_smf]

Oct 14, 2020 18:26:49 GMT -6 LynnMarie said:

I started playing again this past winter and missed last years Halloween event and all the Ghostly Effigies. I’ve somehow managed to collect Fire, Plant and Cold, but am still missing Earth. Since I don’t have all 4, I’ve kinda put off breeding the ghostly dragons. I’m planning to start on breeding what I can now, but do you all think Deca will have the Earth Effigy available with the upcoming Halloween event?

Signs point to “highly likely”.

[willowthecat]

Oct 14, 2020 6:30:52 GMT -6 crumble608 said:

Oct 13, 2020 22:31:30 GMT -6 willowthecat said:

Thank you MinyaZ and Cyn. Both articles were very helpful. Apple said they don’t deal in RAM which I remember being discussed here before, but I thought they would still have the information in their specs somewhere. Anyway, you have given me the answer I was after, now to decide whether to part with a whole of money. Thanks again.

Hi willowthecat ,
I don't know if you are an apple fanatic or if you could think of an alternative.
I bought a new Samsung tablet this summer. It has 6GB RAM and 128 GB memory. I'm very satisfied with it and it only cost about 420 Euro.

Hello Crumble.   No, not a fanatic, but probably want to stay with something I know.   I wouldn’t want to buy something and then not like using it.
The prices here are roughly the same between Apple and Samsung anyway.

[cynmed]

I am not getting the option to watch the video for 2 gems and DC after collecting from the colosseum. It goes straight to choosing a new dragon. Did they remove that option or is this just happening to me?

[theresa]

I’m wanting to breed Atramento in a cave. The sand box is saying Atramento and Tidal for 7.9%, 27 possible outcomes. (Atramento And Wisp is 6%, 6 offspring). Is this accurate or is the sandbox still having the Tidal glitch?

[LynnMarie]

Oct 14, 2020 21:48:08 GMT -6 cynmed said:

I am not getting the option to watch the video for 2 gems and DC after collecting from the colosseum. It goes straight to choosing a new dragon. Did they remove that option or is this just happening to me?

As of an hour ago, I still have the option for the ad for gems and DC.  

But, the ad did blank out to a black screen and I had to restart my game. Maybe there’s a glitch. 🤔

[lisgie]

Oct 14, 2020 21:48:08 GMT -6 cynmed said:

I am not getting the option to watch the video for 2 gems and DC after collecting from the colosseum. It goes straight to choosing a new dragon. Did they remove that option or is this just happening to me?

Make sure before you finish your coliseum, that the option to watch a sponsor video is available when you click the gem count rectangle at the top of your screen.  If the crystal ball shows up, go ahead and finish your coliseum, if it is not there keep checking back until it is there.

[Fletch_smf]

Oct 14, 2020 23:37:55 GMT -6 lisgie said:

Oct 14, 2020 21:48:08 GMT -6 cynmed said:

I am not getting the option to watch the video for 2 gems and DC after collecting from the colosseum. It goes straight to choosing a new dragon. Did they remove that option or is this just happening to me?

Make sure before you finish your coliseum, that the option to watch a sponsor video is available when you click the gem count rectangle at the top of your screen.  If the crystal ball shows up, go ahead and finish your coliseum, if it is not there keep checking back until it is there.

And making sure Tolzar is there is another good check. Grandpa Kenny was talking about this a little while ago. He doesn’t collect from Tolzar until after the Colosseum for this reason.

[wapatango]

Oct 14, 2020 23:37:55 GMT -6 lisgie said:

Oct 14, 2020 21:48:08 GMT -6 cynmed said:

I am not getting the option to watch the video for 2 gems and DC after collecting from the colosseum. It goes straight to choosing a new dragon. Did they remove that option or is this just happening to me?

Make sure before you finish your coliseum, that the option to watch a sponsor video is available when you click the gem count rectangle at the top of your screen.  If the crystal ball shows up, go ahead and finish your coliseum, if it is not there keep checking back until it is there.

Lisgie is correct. The sponsor gem is the one absolutely sure way to tell if you will get a colosseum video. I have, more than once, lost my extra gems because I sped up a breeding shortly before finishing the colosseum. Since there was still a green arrow on Tolzar, I thought I would get a video, but I didn’t. I spent a few days experimenting and doing screen recordings to figure out what is really going on. I like to analyze and understand things.

If you forget and watch all your extra videos before the colosseum finishes, you can still get a video...but you no longer have a sure way to tell if you will get one. All videos are tied together, and they have to reset before a new one can be watched. On some things, you can get credit without watching a video if you go fast enough. For some reason, the sponsor gem and colosseum will NOT give you credit unless you watch a video. Tolzar will give you credit even if you didn’t watch a video. Therefore, the sponsor gem crystal ball is the one 100% guaranteed way to tell if you will be offered an ad on the colosseum. If the crystal ball is there, you will always be offered 2 extra gems. If the crystal ball is not showing, you won’t get an ad even if Tolzar has the green arrow. Again, you can get a video even if you already watched Tolzar and sponsor videos, but you no longer have a way to tell if the video is available before you click to finish the colosseum. I do have screen recordings to back up these findings if anyone is interested in seeing them.

[Kiwichris]

There’s a sponsor gem crystal ball?
Must go try to find it...after all this time lol

[adlerist]

Oct 14, 2020 21:48:08 GMT -6 cynmed said:

I am not getting the option to watch the video for 2 gems and DC after collecting from the colosseum. It goes straight to choosing a new dragon. Did they remove that option or is this just happening to me?

I recall we had a conversation about this several months ago, and I provided this link. It worked for you, and you were able to watch the Colosseum ad (scroll down to the COLOSSEUM section).

As wapatango, lisgie, (and greggerman before them) pointed out, some players use the Sponsor Gem in the Treasure section of the Market as an indicator that the Colosseum ad is available. Personally, I find it easier to wait for Tolzar’s Optical Oracle to appear, since it’s highly visible in your park and doesn’t require switching to the Market (the Market can load slowly on devices with less RAM, so it’s more time-consuming). But whichever method you prefer should work. To be clear, the green arrow appearing on the Optical Oracle is different than the Optical Oracle itself appearing. Since the other issue that causes players to lose the Colosseum ad is their session is too long (eating up their device’s RAM), the method many players use to ensure the Colosseum ad plays is to (1) open their game, (2) wait for Tolzar’s Optical Oracle to appear in a puff of blue dust, (3) complete the Colosseum and watch ad. While the Optical Oracle and the Gem Sponsor are helpful indicators to let you know the Colosseum ad is available, they’re useless if your device doesn’t have enough RAM to play the ad because your session was too long.

Btw, if anyone is having difficulties with the Colosseum, Sponsor Gem, or Oracle ads, tips to troubleshoot are in the ED.

[adlerist]

🐞 BUG ALERT! 🐞

There is a bug in the Vale. A sort of flickering.

BACKGROUND

Several months ago, dragonglow , greggerman , rulilind , and wapatango reported reported 'flickerings' in their parks. For a couple weeks, we discussed the bug and everyone submitted screenshots, videos, and status updates.

Sometimes the flickering looks like this:



Other times it is more severe:



The frequency and severity of the flickering depends on the device (both processor and RAM), the size of the park, and the amount of animation displayed.

You may recall in September 2019, there was a bug in the game that looked like this:



Players posted similar images on Reddit and FB. After several weeks, Backflip fixed the bug, and no one has posted about it since.

However, most interestingly, the above screenshot is not from last year’s glitch. It is a frame from the second flicker video I posted above. If you play the video frame by frame, this image is what occurs in the quick flashes. So the flickering is related to the old glitch.

THE PLOT THICKENS...

If you compare Hooded’s tail with the above screenshot, there’s a sense of déjà vu.



It appears the flickering bug is caused by one glitched frame in Hooded’s animation going full screen for the frame's duration.

I first notified Deca of this bug during the summer. They have now informed us the source and reason for the glitch cannot be identified, so they will need to look into it further. We don’t know if this glitch will become worse, as parks grow, but it seems fairly stable for now. Remember, Backflip worked on this issue, and while they were able to minimise Hooded’s enormous black and gold blotches to a flickering, they were not able to completely resolve it. Since this is proving to be a difficult bug, and Hooded is now in the event market, the glitch will likely become more widespread as more players obtain Hooded and their parks continue to grow.

WORKAROUND

While we’re waiting for a permanent fix, I found a workaround to end the flickering. If you hibernate all the Hooded dragons in your park, the glitch will stop. Generally, for items to affect your game, they need to be displayed.

Note: traited Hooded dragons in the Rift do not need to hibernate. Visual glitches like these don’t travel to the Rift.

As the flickering in my game is minimal and intermittent, the wonderful flicker testers graciously volunteered to test
the workaround in their parks. After several weeks, they all reported no flickerings. But when they let Hooded roam free again, the glitch immediately returned. So, if the flickering is disruptive in your park, this is an effective temporary solution.

CREDIT AND STANDING OVATIONS

Many bountiful thanks to the flicker testers, dragonglow , greggerman , rulilind , and wapatango , who brought this bug to everyone’s attention and for their thorough and outstanding reports on the glitch.

The participants in this group were using an iPad 7th gen (3GB RAM), two iPad 6th gen (2GB RAM), iPad Pro 1st gen (4GB RAM), iPad Pro 2018 (6GB RAM). Some are playing in Low Resolution Mode, others not. Two players have 16 islands, the rest have all 29. This bug is not exclusive to iPad or iOS devices. It has been reported on Android as well.

The videos posted above are edited clips from a longer video by wapatango. All the testers submitted screenshots, videos, and data that was used to evaluate and report this bug to Deca. Enormous kudos to the very scientific and always humorous (there were lots of laughs) flicker testers.

Flicker Friends Forever!

[adlerist]

Oct 13, 2020 18:29:58 GMT -6 willowthecat said:

Looking for a bit of help from a Techie. I contacted Apple to ask if the new IPad Pro 11” had 6GB of RAM (all the better to play Dragonvale). They didn’t know , so would anyone here know or where I can find out for sure. I googled it but don’t like relying on the information there. Thanks.

Annoyingly, Apple has never added RAM to their product specs. The easiest way to find any (Apple, Android, etc) device’s RAM is to Google '(the device) + RAM'. A search for 'iPad Pro 11 RAM' resulted in this:



I have an iPad Pro with 6GB RAM. The only drawback I’ve found when playing DV is I’ve gone absolutely nuts and have zillions of twinkling, sparkling, animated decorations everywhere, so now my iPhone 8 (2GB RAM) can’t manage my park anymore. As a result, I can never go back to playing with less RAM. But it’s worth it to have 100 Starlight Spruces. Enjoy all your new RAM, and going decoration overboard!

[adlerist]

Oct 14, 2020 22:05:55 GMT -6 theresa said:

I’m wanting to breed Atramento in a cave. The sand box is saying Atramento and Tidal for 7.9%, 27 possible outcomes. (Atramento And Wisp is 6%, 6 offspring). Is this accurate or is the sandbox still having the Tidal glitch?

The Tidal glitch is a long-standing issue with the DV sandbox. I’ve looked into it several times, and this what I’ve found: under Parent Finder, Tidal will show in the top breeding pairs, if the target dragon

1. shares three or more elements with Tidal
2. shares two Tidal elements and an epic element that can contain one of Tidal’s elements (e.g., Atramento’s dark + lightning + hidden). Even though the hidden element is not adding any of the 10 base elements to Atramento’s breeding outcomes, historically the hidden element has contributed and is associated with base elements.

There are a couple exceptions. Tidal will not show in the breeding results if,

1. the target dragon has a locked breeding combo (e.g., Neoteric)
2. the target dragon contains all 10 elements (Muse, Rainbow, etc)

(Background: I think the source of this glitch developed when Tidal was first released and was accidentally contributed all 10 elements, instead of the elements it’s associated with (water, dark, earth, lightning). To reflect this, Drow added all 10 elements to Tidal’s breeding results. After BFS fixed Tidal, the sandbox was also corrected, so Tidal’s results are now accurate; however, the Tidal glitch was left behind.)



To avoid the Tidal bug, I first look at the estimated breeding percentage or the number of offspring, not the breeding pair, to determine the best combo to use.

Remember: Tidal will never be in the best breeding combo, unless you’re trying to breed Tidal. So if you ever see Tidal at the top of the breeding pair results, please disregard.

[theresa]

Oct 15, 2020 13:45:35 GMT -6 adlerist said:

Oct 14, 2020 22:05:55 GMT -6 theresa said:

I’m wanting to breed Atramento in a cave. The sand box is saying Atramento and Tidal for 7.9%, 27 possible outcomes. (Atramento And Wisp is 6%, 6 offspring). Is this accurate or is the sandbox still having the Tidal glitch?

The Tidal glitch is a long-standing issue with the DV sandbox. I’ve looked into it several times, and this what I’ve found: under Parent Finder, Tidal will show in the top breeding pairs, if the target dragon

1. shares three or more elements with Tidal
2. shares two Tidal elements and an epic element that can contain one of Tidal’s elements (e.g., Atramento’s dark + lightning + hidden). Even though the hidden element is not adding any of the 10 base elements to Atramento’s breeding outcomes, historically the hidden element has contributed and is associated with base elements.

There are a couple exceptions. Tidal will not show in the breeding results if,
........



To avoid the Tidal bug, I first look at the estimated breeding percentage or the number of offspring, not the breeding pair, to determine the best combo to use.

Remember: Tidal will never be in the best breeding combo, unless you’re trying to breed Tidal. So if you ever see Tidal at the top of the breeding pair results, please disregard.

Thanks adlerist,  I thought this was cleared up, and was surprised to see it in the list.

[LynnMarie]

Oct 15, 2020 13:07:48 GMT -6 adlerist said:

🐞 BUG ALERT! 🐞

My vale has been flickering just like this, on and off, for the past few weeks. Maybe 5 or 6 times I can remember. But only on  the top half of the screen, very weird. 

should I be doing anything? I play on an iPad mini 5th gen, that I bought last fall just to play on. 

[adlerist]

Oct 15, 2020 17:14:50 GMT -6 LynnMarie said:

Oct 15, 2020 13:07:48 GMT -6 adlerist said:

🐞 BUG ALERT! 🐞

My vale has been flickering just like this, on and off, for the past few weeks. Maybe 5 or 6 times I can remember. But only on  the top half of the screen, very weird. 

should I be doing anything? I play on an iPad mini 5th gen, that I bought last fall just to play on. 

Unfortunately, there isn’t anything players can do. Deca will need to fix it. But if the flickering bothers you, hibernate all your Hooded dragons. That should keep the bug away.

[dragonglow]

Oct 15, 2020 17:14:50 GMT -6 LynnMarie said:

Oct 15, 2020 13:07:48 GMT -6 adlerist said:

🐞 BUG ALERT! 🐞

My vale has been flickering just like this, on and off, for the past few weeks. Maybe 5 or 6 times I can remember. But only on  the top half of the screen, very weird. 

should I be doing anything? I play on an iPad mini 5th gen, that I bought last fall just to play on. 

When those of us who participate in the flickering issue put our Hooded dragons in hibernation the flickering
cleared up and then when we let them out to slither again the flickering returned. If you put them in hibernation 
you lose the dc from them but no flickering in park if you leave out you get dc and have flickering. You will
have to make that call. As far as I know we  all let ours out to play again. My iPad was bought this last May 2020
and I have the flickering so not your iPad. The flickering is in different parts of our parks...I believe it depends where your
Hooded dragons call home in your park because I moved mine and when I did the flickering changed location.

[wapatango]

Oct 15, 2020 18:36:37 GMT -6 dragonglow said:

Oct 15, 2020 17:14:50 GMT -6 LynnMarie said:

My vale has been flickering just like this, on and off, for the past few weeks. Maybe 5 or 6 times I can remember. But only on  the top half of the screen, very weird. 

should I be doing anything? I play on an iPad mini 5th gen, that I bought last fall just to play on. 

When those of us who participate in the flickering issue put our Hooded dragons in hibernation the flickering
cleared up and then when we let them out to slither again the flickering returned. If you put them in hibernation 
you lose the dc from them but no flickering in park if you leave out you get dc and have flickering. You will
have to make that call. As far as I know we  all let ours out to play again. My iPad was bought this last May 2020
and I have the flickering so not your iPad. The flickering is in different parts of our parks...I believe it depends where your
Hooded dragons call home in your park because I moved mine and when I did the flickering changed location.

I wondered if that affected the location of the flickering, but by the time we had determined it was the hooded dragon causing it, I was busy with other things and never got around to testing it. I might have to try that some time. Maybe I can get some more cool pictures and videos from other islands.

FFF (Flicker Friend Forever)