I found out it was pretty simply to make FVE support the new Facebook App Center. So that’s what’s changed in this release.

It’s not necessary for you to update if you haven’t noticed any problems related to this App Center. Many of you probably haven’t got it yet.

The rest of you should definitely try installing it and also take your time to send me some feedback. I need to be sure it works 100%

Download

Here you can download this release(3.1.15):

Changes in this release:

• The “Send return gift” button don’t work on Facebook and only makes FV Extender run slower. Therefore I have temporarily disabled that FVE clicked on it. But actually I’m not sure this button has ever worked.
• Request for showels could make FVE hang. This is now fixed and these requests are now handled properly.

Keep writing to me if you have any problems with FVE.

Facebook Appcenter

In my last post I mentioned this was on the way from Facebook. Actually it is here. It’s just not official for everybody yet. You can all get to it at this address: https://www.facebook.com/appcenter. I’ve decided to wait adding changes related to this into FVE until it is officially added to my own Facebook account. This will make it much easier for me to craft a solution that works and do it as quickly as possible.

Download

Here you can download this release(3.1.12):

I should have known that one problem doesn’t come alone. Facebook has just released a new App Center which disables FVE. I’m sure they didn’t deliberately wanted to do this. They just wanted FB to look smarter and struck FVE while doing that.

I will try to fix this Monday, and I think there is a good chance that it will be an easy fix. Expect a new post from me Monday or Tuesday.

Please notice that not all of you have this App Center yet. Including myself.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

With this bug fix I hope FVE can go on working until I get the version with the new features finished. The changes are pretty basic. It doesn’t look like Zynga or FB intended in any way to hit FVE. They just ” forgot” that someone like us exists, when they probably had to adjust something related to new features in FV like the Jade Farm. Which I believe should go online today.

Some of the event requests(like the wandering animals) were accepted slower than necessary. This is also fixed with this release.

There is a little known bug still there. When FVE clicks the “send gift” to return a gift it will sometimes receive an error. FVE will automatically continue after 10 seconds. So this won’t stop FVE from running. I will try to fix this later.

Download

Here you can download this release(3.1.11):

Hi again,

What a bad timing I’ve had with the last post. I had not foreseen that Zynga would get FVE into trouble because of the maintaince downtime. But I should have known better Many of you experience that FVE stalls because it’s not possible to accept many requests through FB because it goes to the farm in the end. The problem seems a bit permanent and not just a temporary bug. I’ll try to find a fix on monday. Expect a new post from me at tuesday.

My week – now and in the future

I’ve decided to reserve time to all the things I would like to do in my week. In this schedule I’ve decided that monday and tuesday is reserved for FVE. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but actually I feel that I can focus better on getting something done if I know that I have time for the other things later which includes job preparation, job application, my family, plain fun and house cleaning. And yes I am a control freak

Hey everybody,

FVE and all my other software projects have been on standby in the last three months.

As some of you may know my eyes haven’t exactly been without problems. Therefore I’ve been on an vision training course for a couple of months. This took a lot of my time and energy during the day. So during that time I haven’t really been able to focus on my projects in front of the computer. I hoped the result would be magic, but it hasn’t really been. I’m way more aware of how my eyes works and how to control them, but I’m still troubling with tired eyes. So working in front of the computer is not without problems, and it’s really hard to write an honest job application when I know everything is not fine and dandy in this area. Right now I can work in 8 hours with intense screen viewing. Just not 8 hours straight which I think a future employer would appreciate.

Actually I was prepared for this and therefore I’ve also been on a 6 weeks training course in “Lean management” which I finished with an A. The first A in my career I’m hoping this course can raise my changes when it comes to getting a job in another industry.

Now I’m done with these activities and I’m back to writing job applications and working with my software project. So everything is online again It will take much time to get back in to speed, but I haven’t lost any of the positive energy which I’ve always had around FVE.

FVE has been working like it supposed to and I’m now continuing the development plan for this.

Finally enough of you have shown your interest when it comes to FVE Auto. Therefore it is now actually going to be released when it is done. Thank you for showing your interest.

Over and out

Thank-you-gifts for help requests

This week a swarm of requests for thank-you-gifts came to FarmVille. This happens because you now automatically get a thank-you-gift request when a neighbor accepts to help you. This week I myself have sent a lot of help requests. The thank-you-gift requests returned easily take up most of the 50 spots available in my FV inbox(and on FB), which means there isn’t really much room for my neighbors help requests. Of course it is now great that you can see who actually helps. I have tried to test if these thank-you-gifts gets there in the end, but I wasn’t even able to do that(even by using ZMC). I didn’t even succeed in sending such an request

So FVE Auto is really needed at the moment if you want help all that you can. For me it would probably have run every 10 minutes this week.

To minimize the problems you can enable “Only accept non-gifts” in FVE or simply use ZMC(with it’s bugs) instead of FVE.

Weekly test in the future

I haven’t been able to perform a normal test this weekend. I’ve desperately tried and therefore this e-mail comes very late. The swarm of previous mentioned Thank-you-gifts made it impossible to get a reliable test result. I will keep trying in the future but I think the odds are against these tests until I get FVE Auto finished.

This weeks conclusions

• Help requests within the 50 first requests are returned perfectly with FVE.
• Gift requests within the 50 first requests are accepted and returned perfectly with FVE.
• Thank-you-gift requests(SDB’s) can only be accepted in ZMC inside FV and not on FV(with or without using FVE)

FV Extender Auto

I’ve just started on a vision training course to get my vision back on track. There is a lot of problems with squinting and that’s a bad thing when sitting close to a computer screen. The vision training course takes almost 3 hours every day and the eyes hurts a bit the rest of the day. Plus I have other things to do also. So the work with  FV Extender Auto and multiple game support is not going as fast a I hoped. So you will need to be patient. I’m still very excited about the project and the upcoming features, and a lot of you have shown your interest too.
Read more about FV Extender Auto and what it will do for you.

The weekly test is postponed until next Sunday due lack of time(and a little energy) and technical problems.

My own experience with using FVE the past week is that it seem to run just as good as last week. That was the weekly test conclusion :-) Hope you can do with that.

Have a nice valentines day BTW

You shouldn’t miss one of the next major releases: FV Extender Auto(FVE Auto). Therefore I will now in detail try to answer whatever questions you have on this. I will re-post this at regular basis and add more q&a’s if you have anymore.

What is “FVE Auto”?

FVE Auto is a Google Chrome extension just like FVE Classic. But it’s separate from FVE Classic.

How is it different than FVE Classic?

FVE Auto and FVE Classic shares 99% of the same look & feel.

FVE Auto just have a tiny but important feature that makes it special.

What is this special thing FVE Auto can do?

You can enable FVE Auto to automatically process your requests every time the number reaches 50.

Why it this special thing so special?

Because usually if you get more than 50 requests sent to you, the surplus will just dissapear even if these requests where meant for you. This means some of your neighbors don’t get your help and the other way around.

I still don’t understand. How about an example?

Okay. Let’s say you go to bed. Next one of your best neighbors Karen wakes up because she lives in another timezone. She sends you a help request in FarmVille. While you sleep 65 FV neighbors then also send gift and help requests to you. The next morning you grab your requests, but you are only able to grab the latest 50. So you didn’t get to help Karen. Isn’t that sad. If you had FVE Auto and enabled it’s special feature it wouldn’t have to be this way.

But FVE and Facebook shows that I have way more requests than 50. So I can get more than 50 request. Right?

Actually: No. No matter how you try to get your request, you can only get the latest 50. Inside FarmVille it only shows 50 and on FB(or through FVE) only the first 50 are actually accepted. The rest are invalid(but processed anyway). So the key is to never let the number go above 50. And that’s what FVE Auto is all about.

So when is FVE Auto released?

I will begin the release process when enough of you have shown your interest in FVE Auto. So there really is no release date.

How do I show my interest?

The release process happens in two major steps. The first major step is about showing your interest. The second major step involves converting your shown interest into a charity donation. Right now you shouldn’t donate anything. For now just do the first major step with consists of these 5 minor steps:

1. Create a new e-mail message.
2. As subject to the message write “I’m interested“
3. As text in message write “I’m prepared to donate (x$) to an emergency fund of my own choice to show that I’m interested in FV Extender Auto“. Instead of (x$) write the amount you are prepared to donate. You can write the amount in any currency you wish, but for me it would be easier if it was in american dollars. I suggest you write a number between 5$ and 10$ as a minimum.
4. Send the e-mail message to me at the e-mail address: info.a.creative@gmail.com
5. Finally make sure that you are also signed up for the FVE newsletter. This way you will know immediately if change of plans happens.

Did I hear you say “charity donation”?

Yes you did. This release is just as much a charity event. A lot of suffering people around the world will benefit from this IF enough of you shows your interest and in the end show that you really meant it.

When have enough people shown interest?

That’s a secret number. But in the end I hope more than I expect will grab this opportunity.

What happens if not enough people shows their interest in FVE Auto?

Then it will simply not be released.

What do you(the developer) get from it?

• I’ve had my fun with arranging my first charity event.
• With great interest follows a great usage, and I always love when people use what I make.
• All my work with this continues to make me more interesting when it comes to a future employer.

I have more questions about this

Just ask. I can always be contacted on this address: info.a.creative@gmail.com or this Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1001193790. I answer all messages and I usually do it within 24 hours and probably within a couple of minutes

So how do I donate?

You shouldn’t donate anything yet. Wait for me to guide you to that part of the process. Right now just:

Show your interest

Used version: 3.1.10

Basic test result

• Total requests: 50
• Succeeded: 35
• Failed: 15
• Success rate: 70%

Requests

Other tests

• Gift sent from “Free gifts”(“Holiday lights”) received with FVE: 1/1
• “Special Delivery Box” sent from icon and received with FVE: 1/1
• Special offered “Farmhands” sent from icon and received with FVE: 1/1
• Gifts received that was returned by FVE:0/3 (all was found in ZMC instead. So they were not lost)
• Received lottery ticket from request accepted by FVE:  1/1
• Received “Love” for “Romantic Carriage” from friend who accepted request through FVE: 2/2

Conclusion

• Special delivery boxes seem to get through in an accepted amount, at least if you remember to accept your requests before reaching 50. The next version of FV Extender Classic and FV Extender Auto should be able to help you with that.
• All other gift requests seem to end in ZMC or disappear completely. Very annoying. The other tests I did however shows that it is possible to get them all the way no matter where you send them from.
• Some might say ZMC is a more safe way to get your gifts. My tests show that ZMC also loose gifts.
• Help requests seem like going through without any problems. Nice

FV Extender Auto

During the week I posted about a new version of FV Extender. It’s called: FV Extender Auto. It a completely separate app. It will look and work like FV Extender Classic, but will have one feature that will be the only difference between the two: “Auto process”. “Auto process” makes it possible for you to make sure that you get all the gifts dedicated to you even while you are away. Some might say that is cheating/being lazy. Therefore I’ve decided to release it:

• as a seperate app.
• only if enough people are interested in getting it.
• and shows their interest in a way that helps those in need in the rest of the world.

Read more about the future development of FVE and how to show that you are interested in FV Extender Auto.