Time Traveling?!? I don't think so...

Ok, so I get this message that I'm time traveling, along with warnings.  I am not.
Then I get it a few days later.  I am not.
Then I get it twice in one night.  I AM NOT!!!!!

I contact support and explain the situation, because I don't want my account or activities to be blocked for no reason.  I get a canned response that is not at all helpful, along with a warning that I could be permanently blocked and now I am concerned.  Especially since I am not doing anything but clicking on items to load for my launch.  The time and date on my device has never been changed manually, only adjusted for daylight savings time which is done by the device!

Anyway, the response says that I have not been allowed to collect money on my commercial buildings and they gave me a code to fix.  This is not true, I have had no problem collecting money, at all.  Even though I'm getting the message, the game (so far) has not been blocked in any way.  I have not applied the fix.  This is obviously a bug and is my first issue with GI.

So, I take to the forums and see that this is an issue but it still doesn't make me feel good.  Does anyone have any experience with this so I can get a resolution?

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Sulfe

I have shut down my device and restarted it and have not had the problem since, but I am still concerned.

@sulfe

I feel your pain - sorry to hear you are having these issues…

I have had similar issues with some of my games and then they get fully locked out – it does not matter how many times I have tried to explain to GIS that I do not change the time on my device they don’t seem to understand or want to understand!!!

Sadly this is a common side effect of GIS’s programming. Adding items during launch prep has been an issue since they introduced these rockets…. If you try to add it too quickly etc… it seems to lockup… if you click too quickly it starts up multiple launches that your neighbours can see – but you only see one launch…. Makes it very hard for your neighbours to know which launch to join and not be left alone…

Sadly none of this is going to help you… best advice I can give you is

Take frequent screen shots of your game and progress – if you every have to go back to GIS for recovery it would help.

Good luck and try not to leave the game running in the background if possible (just a hunch…) sorry don't have a fix for you...

Thanks Tam.  Sometimes I think know that my fingers are faster than my internet.  That could be it.  I know that some folks cheat, but I'm not one of them and don't like to be treated like one with a canned response that indicates that they are ignoring my issue.  I can see that you have been frustrated with this issue, too.  And, I guess it's nice to know I'm not alone.

When you say not to leave the game running in the background do you mean to shut it down before my screen times out?  Or, not to leave it on over night?  Just curious.

Thanks again.
Sulfe

Mine frequently goes to sleep on me and I have never had a problem but I left mine on overnight this weekend and received the time travelers message when I woke the tablet up.

I restored from a backup, unfortunately it was 2 days old so I lost quite a bit of progress. I just remind myself it's a stupid game and move forward.

My recommendation:

Find you a good backup program and back up your game.

Hope it helps.

df99

It is just a hunch based on some of the feedback I have had from others and my experiance…

It seems to be ok normally on most devices i.e. play the game and then answer the phone, surf the forum    etc... And then switch back to the game (just give it enough time for the "New Stuff" screen to load) - the game seems to want to connect back to their servers...

On some devices (perhaps they are a bit slower or internet connection is slower) when the game switches back it does not seem to make a proper connection and then suddenly catch up with itself - hence it though that it moved forward and time travelling issue - but as it not so severe - you are not fully locked out.

I meant if you are going to lock the device for any period of time and definitely if you are going to put the device on charge and leave it for a while or overnight – it is safer to not leave the game running. Amongst other things you don’t really benefit from leaving it running.

Screen timeouts seem to be ok for me… I regularly leave the game running and the screen times out – most often it seems to be ok – Now I just let it bring up the “New Stuff” screen or sometimes the free cash for installing a new game screen before I proceed.

Just make sure you don't accidently click and spend your greens on the "New Stuff" screen - I have forgoten how many times I have done that!!! doh

Also the game only saves your progress perodically - so if you loose your game (i.e. it crashes and your restart) you end up loosing the last 15 mins or so of progress... I noticed it does an autosave every time you visit a neighbour and reload your city when you return...

Been a victim of the warning and having my city locked up. Had to fight with them for the code. I agree that it is a GI bug, and not the fault of the player. Shutting down the game and going slow seem to help. I've never had another problem since the first one. If your game is working fine I would not use the code GI sent you.

Sulfe,
You jinx'd me here. My tablet shut-off on me unexpectedly today while I had AC open. When I re-opened it has me locked out for time traveling. Ticket sent into GI. I will be out of commission for a couple of days. @$&#^*!!!!!

OH, NO!!!!!


So sorry you lost your game.  I know it's hard to be out of commission.  I got an email from GI asking me if I redeemed the code they sent me and I told them no, because my game was never blocked, that I just got the message in error, 'cause I never time travel.

Sorry, Dave.  Hope they respond quickly.
On the bright side, at least you already have a bunch of Universities for me to click on.

Doesn't that make you feel better?     Probably not.


Good luck on a quick return.
Sulfe

Sulfe wrote:OH, NO!!!!!


So sorry you lost your game.  I know it's hard to be out of commission.  I got an email from GI asking me if I redeemed the code they sent me and I told them no, because my game was never blocked, that I just got the message in error, 'cause I never time travel.

Sorry, Dave.  Hope they respond quickly.
On the bright side, at least you already have a bunch of Universities for me to click on.

Doesn't that make you feel better?     Probably not.


Good luck on a quick return.
Sulfe

Hope they get me restored before visitors get turned away due to my absence. Got a confirmation e-mail that my trouble ticket was received. Waiting for their canned response; been down this road before. Hold onto that restore ticket, I may need it.

Bastoska wrote:Sulfe,
You jinx'd me here. My tablet shut-off on me unexpectedly today while I had AC open. When I re-opened it has me locked out for time traveling. Ticket sent into GI. I will be out of commission for a couple of days. @$&#^*!!!!!

Sulfe has nothing to do with this...
It all started a couple of days ago when you hijacked my tiny little green rocket
Now you will not wanna mess with me anymore, little devil

Seriously, I really hope GI will restore your game as quickly as possible. Good luck.
r911

rockfall911 wrote:

Bastoska wrote:Sulfe,
You jinx'd me here. My tablet shut-off on me unexpectedly today while I had AC open. When I re-opened it has me locked out for time traveling. Ticket sent into GI. I will be out of commission for a couple of days. @$&#^*!!!!!

Sulfe has nothing to do with this...
It all started a couple of days ago when you hijacked my tiny little green rocket    
Now you will not wanna mess with me anymore, little devil

Seriously, I really hope GI will restore your game as quickly as possible. Good luck.
r911

Lol!! If it was bad karma then I would have been locked out a long time ago.

I was rather proud of myself that day. Stole first place by a margin of only 16 points, not a bad effort if I do say so myself.

Seriously, I appreciate the kind words. GI has me in their "que" awaiting support.

I'd like to think that I had everything to do with it, but alas...I did not.  You boys better try to get along.    Gotta love this game.  Welcome back, Dave.  And, be nice to your neighbors. 

I was experiencing a condition in which I could not visit neighbors (the classic version-out-of-date bug). I wrote GI and they gave me a load of crap that the reason I couldn't collect from commercial buildings was because I had Time traveled and that this was only my first warning so not to worry. BULL5H1T!

I did not say anything about commercial buildings (from which I could collect just fine). My problem was with visiting neighbors. So I threw it back at them and next thing I know I'm getting time travel pop up warnings and I cannot collect from my own buildings. I was quite close to deleting the game but I shut it down and restated and the time travel warnings went away (this has happened to me before)

Like I wrote elsewhere. My patience is growing thin.

The Time Traveler warnings started with the World Map in an attempt to prevent cheating. The World Map is so corrupt with registry hackers that it is a useless venture for the regular fair player. Wish they would abolish the World Map and the Time Traveler cheat software, the game would be better without both.

This was and still is an issue for me. I have had travelled last year to Turkey, time difference 1 hour and when I got a message of time travelling during launches I contacted the support. Just small remark that nothing was blocked, everything worked fine. I exchanged around 20 message with the feature they call support, which is not the right word for it imho. I got so many stupid answers and finally I got the code. I applied it despite the fact everything worked fine and to my surprise it happened the next day again. I asked again and got another code, after 3 weeks I gave up. Up to now I am getting the time traveller messages sometimes during launches when I go for 2 or 6 points only, the pattern I gave already to GI, but no responce. I have never cheated in this game and never changed the time manually. After the experience I have even removed the feature which updates the time automatically at all from my device. I take it as it is, today I play and tomorrow maybe I am blocked for no reason. I hate it, but life is not fair at all sometimes, but I gave up any fight with GI in advance, because you could not win and the mistakes in program are turned against you.

Sorry for long message, but somehow I don´t like the way they are treating their customers and you have simply noone to make a call.

I wish to all of you luck, because the GI support and the game itself is about luck and quick restoration for Bastoska.

Greetings

I several times get this warning. In my opinion we should disable the feature of automatic update of time from our device. if you think that the internal clock of the phone went wrong then shutdown the game by exiting it, clear memory, update time and then again disable automatic time update before starting the game. GI make very strict software to compete with world map cheaters. I lost all my silver and gold tokens after unblocking the game

I just found all my tokens missing as well. If I don't get them back im done.

mikedabomb wrote:I just found all my tokens missing as well.  If I don't get them back im done.

I ask GI to refund the tokens but they regret. So from now i do not open my space travel chests till i got 200 tokens to purchase promotional building.

GI refuses to replace the silver tokens they stole. So I am done playing this or any other GI game.

Goodbye my friends!

mikedabomb wrote:GI refuses to replace the silver tokens they stole. So I am done playing this or any other GI game.

Goodbye my friends!

I hope you change your mind. I understand though. My philosophy - When frustration exceeds fun it's time to quit.

If it's any consolation - they stole mine too. I had just earned my first 3 gold coins too. I've earned the silver ones back but am still out the gold. It's just a stupid game and I hope by continuing to play and post on here I'm a small thorn in their side.

G! runs off another good neighbor

I appreciate your kind words DF. The game was starting to be less fun. ..

I have no problem with their bugs, or their changing the rules (re: population!), the crashing etc.

But to accuse me (and others) of time traveling and summarily delete my tokens with no chance for an appeal was just too much. The callous nature of their customer support sealed the deal.

I've already deleted the game.

I also lost my tokens. It's annoying since I was just about to buy a high speed plane but in reality, a 10% speed up is pretty lame for all the work required to get a token. The only real way to get gold tokens is to complete adventure quests since as has been mentioned above, the world map is a joke. It will be Tuesday and some guys has completed 400 flights to Rio.

mikedabomb wrote:GI refuses to replace the silver tokens they stole. So I am done playing this or any other GI game.

Goodbye my friends!

Sad to hear Mike, but I understand your decision. Thanks for being a good neighbor!
Enjoy the free time you will have from now on!
SS

I'm sorry, too, Mike.  You were a good neighbor and I hate to see you go.  I am one they accused of time traveling and wasn't, won't, will not.  What's the point of cheating at a computer game.  It's a sad statement for an individual.  In any event, they sent me a survey to respond to their support.  I said it was AWFUL!!!!!   I submitted my thoughts and concerns, for whatever it's worth.  I'm not sure who is reading these, if at all, but they really do need to pay a little more attention to their LOYAL customers.  After all, we are the hands that feed them.

I'll miss seeing dabomb around...take care and hopefully you'll reconsider.  If not, come back and tell us what fun game you found out there.

Thanks for the gifts,
Sulfe

That's a shame Mike, and I think there are many people (including myself) who are also ready to hit that 'uninstall' button when GI tip them over the edge. Thanks for being a good neighbour.

So long,
GASBS

so how does one actually travel to different time zones and continue to play this game? or is it impossible

and farewell Mike. hope you hang around the forums!

hello Hey Mike same two weeks a go I was a time traveller,
they said but my game wasn't blocked they only take about 700 silver and about 22 golden tokens
I also had the thought to quit, but its just a game and thougts are F***K GI
hope to see and hear soon

Gr
Orion

meilinwei wrote:so how does one actually travel to different time zones and continue to play this game? or is it impossible

I switch time zones every week for work.  Before you connect to the G! server, always make sure the time on your device is later than the last time you connected to the G! servers.  Very difficult if your device auto-corrects the time especially if you are traveling to a different day.

Also very sorry to see you go Mike - - think you were among the first group of folk that became my neighbours when I joined this forum. I came pretty close to ditching the game a few months back with that last population tweak that crippled my city, but after some time out worked my back into it. It is indeed just a game and that's exactly why it's only worth pursuing if the fun outweighs any frustrations.

As a side note, and on the subject of this thread, I too have now been accused of being a time cheat by GI in their first response to my crashed game support request. At this point it looks to me like it's simply a standard-worded response and they haven't even bothered to read my original message properly to work out that the issue is a crashed game and not a blocked game. Have messaged them back to try and clarify the issue and will now probably have to wait another 4-days for next response . . .

cheers
abc

drivefast99 wrote:

meilinwei wrote:so how does one actually travel to different time zones and continue to play this game? or is it impossible

I switch time zones every week for work.  Before you connect to the G! server, always make sure the time on your device is later than the last time you connected to the G! servers.  Very difficult if your device auto-corrects the time especially if you are traveling to a different day.

Not sure if I'm following you 100%.if I set it ahead of the time I last logged in, wouldn't it make gi think I'm trying to speed up clock? And are you saying if I'm traveling I will have to be forced to have the wrong time on my devices for the duration of the trip?

Farewell dear friend

it was nice to have you as a neighbor.  I remember that we were neighbors from before I joined this forum. 

Goodbye and take care

mikedabomb wrote:I just found all my tokens missing as well.  If I don't get them back im done.

Same thing just happened to me - they took away 200+ silver tokens.
I am afraid I got asleep while the game was still open in my mobile but is that cheating? When I woke up I got the time-traveling warning and they wouldn't let me collect coins by tapping on buildings. I shut down the game and at the restart everything seemed to be working fine... until I realized my silver tokens were gone.

I am not expecting much from their "support" team but I dropped them a line nonetheless. Bleah.

rockfall911 wrote:I am not expecting much from their "support" team but I dropped them a line nonetheless. Bleah.

Well people at GI kinda redeemed themselves this time. A couple of angry e-mails did the trick. First coupon they sent me was useless, the second one gave me my 200 silver tokens back.

rockfall911 wrote:

rockfall911 wrote:I am not expecting much from their "support" team but I dropped them a line nonetheless. Bleah.

Well people at GI kinda redeemed themselves this time. A couple of angry e-mails did the trick. First coupon they sent me was useless, the second one gave me my 200 silver tokens back.

That's good news, Rock.  I also would never time travel and I worry because I get the message periodically when I am loading launch items.  So far I've not been "punished".  I have contacted them and they gave me a "fix" code that I never used because I didn't need it.  Based on everything that I've seen, in this forum, I keep checking my silver coins (220) and they are still here.  Whew!  I'm really glad to hear that they have responded positively to your email because they definitely have a bug that must be very hard to find if it keeps happening.  I hear that the world map is a big issue also and because of that I never open it.  I just wanna keep my coins...again, congrats on getting them back!
Sulfe

Sulfe-
The World Map is what prompted GI to come up with the code for detecting time travelers, as they made the competition unfair. Unfortunately the code has some bugs in it, but do to the nature of the problem, GI will always treat you as guilty unless you push back hard. I told them that I was going to contact Google Wallet and request a complete refund of all the money I ever spent on the game; that seemed to get their attention.

You are safe in opening the world map, and in fact if you want a good laugh you should. Check the high score flights and see the same players that have completed several hundreds of flights to numerous locations in one week. GI might have cut down on the time travelers, but the registry hackers still monopolize the world map.

Thanks, Bastoska.  I'm not sure why I get it while loading launch items.  It's happened three times.  I slowed down my "finger pointing" and it seems to have stopped the problem, but I just don't know.

There's a timing difference between Russia and where you live.

I have noticed it more on the lower items that take 2 hours to replenish. I always wait a few minutes after the button is ready.

The higher items that replenish quickly don't seem to be as much of a problem but I still wait 10 - 15 seconds before clicking on them.

I noticed my flights havent been counted on the world map for some months now. So i contacted GI last weekend and was told it was because i was time travelling. I never touched the time on my phone and know i havent done anything to cheat, nor i have i really given a toss about the world map. All other features of the game worked fine, i get stars for flights, i can collect passengers and coins etc just my flights wouldnt register on the world map. They sent me a reply warning me about time travelling and that since it was apparently my first time the would give me a code to fix the issue but if it happened again i would be permanently blocked.

Before using the code i want to wait until i get a new phone as its my last chance apparently. I have replied back to GI but just got original stock email returned....thanks for nothing.

If i dont use the code until i get a new phone in say a months time, does the code set the game back to how it was the day the code was issued? or is the code just to unblock me from gaining counts on the world map?/

I guess i should wait until i have used my silver and gold coins before using the code given what others have said when using these fix codes??

Well...here's the new story and I'm not sure if I should try to notify them or not.  Would you all provide me some "Game Insight", so to speak?

Thanks...here's the scoop...

I just received the time traveler warning twice on Nov, 5^th,   At 10:35 PM I was loading an additional stabilizer to a launch when I got the first time travel message.  Then again at 10:36 PM I loaded solid fuel and I got the second message. At 10:37 Airport City crashed my tablet.  I was able to restart but I am concerned that my game may be compromised.  I just successfully finished the Dark Skies event and built my Silent Hill and don’t want to lose it or any other game capability.

I did not do anything but load an Apogee launch with the items mentioned above.  I am not a time traveler and I am concerned that my privileges will be revoked.  I currently have worked very hard at getting to this stage of the game.  I currently have 9 gold and 253 silver tokens and I have read, in the forum, that G! has taken these items away from time travelers.  I don't want this to happen to me.

Should I write them or not?

And, then...I might add...how can all of us be time travelers?  It appears that a very high percentage of players are accused of time traveling.  It seems ludicrous.  (Just my two cents.)

It is ludicrous... What happened to you also happened to me a few times. While loading some slow burning fuel all of a sudden a time traveler warning pops up. I normally take the old school approach, which is leave the game, switch off the device , back on again and very carefully go back to the game. Don't touch the slow fuel items and hope the rocket leaves a.s.a.p.  
But remember (and forgive me for repeating myself) that this game is actually for 95 percent an off line game. The file is on yr device and you can and should back it up almost daily. Copy the backup to yr laptop as well. If you than think yr game is compromised in any way, you can simply restore the latest back up and the problem is gone. Of course you may have lost a day or 2... 
By all means practice with a 2nd game on another tablet/phone if you think this is scary. Once you know how to do it you can relax  . 

Cheers
Erik

eatteveld wrote:It is ludicrous... What happened to you also happened to me a few times. While loading some slow burning fuel all of a sudden a time traveler warning pops up. I normally take the old school approach, which is leave the game, switch off the device , back on again and very carefully go back to the game. Don't touch the slow fuel items and hope the rocket leaves a.s.a.p.  
But remember (and forgive me for repeating myself) that this game is actually for 95 percent an off line game. The file is on yr device and you can and should back it up almost daily. Copy the backup to yr laptop as well. If you than think yr game is compromised in any way, you can simply restore the latest back up and the problem is gone. Of course you may have lost a day or 2... 
By all means practice with a 2nd game on another tablet/phone if you think this is scary. Once you know how to do it you can relax  . 

Cheers
Erik

Thanks Erik.  Oddly enough, I had just finished completing the Silent Hill plot and was waiting for that before I backed up my game.  And, POOF...crappola...I got the error.  My last backup is a week ago...and, now for sure, I won't wait that long again.  I have never tried to restore my device, and I'm sure I need to practice it, to make sure it works.  And, since I can't practice on my tablet, I may just have to upgrade my antiquated three year old smart phone to a newer, bigger, fancier one that I've been lusting for.  Gee, bummer. 

I took a screen shot of my gold and silver coins just in case and I like your idea of not touching that launch again.  Thank you!

Your input always helps.

Thanks again,
Sulfe

If your coins are still in your inventory, you should be fine. Back up your game now. As Eric said, probably a good idea to not add additional to the current launch but launch when it's ready.

No reason to contact GI, that's useless at this point. I try to backup everyday. I always backup when I have a new point that I don't want to lose, like: before every launch (in case something goes wrong), after every launch is completed (to not lose the progress).

Good Luck!

drivefast99 wrote:No reason to contact GI, that's useless at this point. I try to backup everyday.  I always backup when I have a new point that I don't want to lose, like: before every launch (in case something goes wrong), after every launch is completed (to not lose the progress).

Good Luck!

It would be a GREAT enhancement if G! allowed an online cloud backup option, like other gaming companies.  But, it's probably too much to ask.  I'm just sayin'.

Thanks, df...I just backed up.  I appreciate the help!
Sulfe

GI's latest victim? Me. I came home, played some. Left the game open and left my phone for two hours for dinner. Returned to a completely locked out game and time travelling message. If it happened, it was some weird glitch because I don't even know how to manipulate my phone to do that.

Edit: They emailed and said they are looking into it (which is a huge shock) and my game has since been unlocked. Am I in the clear? Sure hope so...

Yesterday a strange thing happened to me too.
I left my game open for a few hours. Later in the afternoon I opened it again and there was no progress at all. Fuel was still at 76/100 instead of 100/100 what it should have been after a few hours. And it said my latest flight was still at the beginning instead of almost returning (3:58 remaining from a 4hr flight).
I didn't get a time traveling message so there is no problem, it was just a strange experience because it was like time stood still while my phone was on the right local time.
SS

The last time I caught my game buggy like that SannSunn (and maybe that's what happened to me yday I just didn't catch it) I was worried they would eventually nail me for it so I mailed GI to alert them of the problem. They sent me a form-letter warning saying time traveling was not allowed and I might have my game yanked..... So yeah, not gonna do that again! Rofl

Mhm there it is. The form letter warning. Grrr. I wrote back, not like it will do me any good!

GI mailed me and asked if i used the code they sent. I said no because it is not blocked in any way. They told me to enter it anyway because on their end, I am still showing as blocked!?! I am afraid that if i use the code it will confirm their claim of my abuse of the game, and I don't want that warning. Twisted logic? Idk. I'm just gonna keep playing and not enter code. Is that what you did?

I never got the time travel message so I never contacted GI concerning Time traveling.
The risk of entering the code is having your gift list changed. I don't know I what I would do, but I think I would ignore GI, at least if you don't have any problems in the game.
Back up your game in case anything happens!

I've never backed up my game and wouldn't know how if I wanted to.
I'll probably leave well enough alone for now!