I’ve submitted a ticket to support, but I’m curious to know if I’m the only one having this issue.
My opportunity deck says I have negative 2 billion some odd cards. I’ve logged in and out and switched browsers to no avail.
Here’s a screenshot, just for your amusement at the absurdity:
I see someone’s almost ready to go north! (Use an option that takes you to a place with a different deck, like the nadir or the pickpockets promenade to fix it)
Thank you! I’ll try that now :)
Yes, I have only to lose my head now. Though I may tarry here for a bit before I depart.
ETA - You were absolutely right, thank you, suinicide!
edited by LawrenceKeyworth on 11/17/2016
The theory I’ve heard for this issue is the transition from an infinite deck to a finite one. The zee has an infinite deck, so presumably visiting the Chapel and other locations at zee leaves the deck in infinite mode, as cards aren’t relevant. The issue is that activities at the Chapel transport the player directly home, which presumably is missing some relevant code that the regular return-from-zee option has.
It’d be funnier (and more thematically appropriate) if it’s done on purpose, though.
Possibly, but given Alexis had to restructure the entirety of Seeking in a week it’s almost certainly an oversight. In addition to major bugs when it first relaunched, some things went quite a while before getting caught, like one Marsh-Mired option not having a SMEN cap and a different one giving quirk gains past 15. (And there are other things that may not be fixed even now, like drowning secrets consuming an extra 77 secrets on success.)
[quote=Optimatum](And there are other things that may not be fixed even now, like drowning secrets consuming an extra 77 secrets on success.)[/quote]I thought that this one was fixed a few months ago.
Ah! Looks like I was not the only one! The pickpocket promenade was indeed a great way to reset the deck. Wish I had thought about it earlier… In any case, many many thanks!
For those curious, this is called an integer overflow. Most numbers in programs are stored as 32-bit integers, which can hold any whole number from -2,147,483,647 to 2,147,483,647. (There is a reason that such an weird number is the limit, but it involves semi-esoteric math).
If you try to go above or below that limit, the number will “overflow” and suddenly go to the opposite extreme. Clearly that happened here.
I suspect Failbetter’s code was treating the infinite card decks as a finite deck holding 2,147,483,647 cards, and you happened to get a new action/card while you were in the middle of moving to a place with a finite deck. Since that is WAY outside the expected range of deck values, nothing kicked in to catch the error.
I haven’t drowned any secrets for quite a while, so it may be fixed indeed.
Quick calculations have indicated that you’d be getting your next opportunity card in about 40,857.86699 years! Have a nice day!
Thank you for doing the math!
… Thank you also for the unexpected contemplation of the briefness of my own life! (I jest).
Even the Bazaar could not be quite so patient between cities!
Thinking over such long timescales though makes me wonder just when the Bazaar first went to Axile and how old it truly is.
Thank you as well to everyone who added explainations for how and why the quirk can occur!
edited by LawrenceKeyworth on 11/20/2016
The bug still exists - it happened to me when I returned from the Chapel yesterday.
Some people have too much time.
Some people have too much knowledge.
Some people have too much money.
Some people have too much- er, too many action cards.
I will bet you absolutely nothing that all those cards have been laced with Irrigo.
I’m pretty sure the chapel is the thing that causes it most often. Something about immediately going back to London.
I ran into this bug a few weeks ago after leaving the Chapel, and I was convinced it was a feature. I wasn’t even that fazed. Just “oh, I guess that’s Seeking for you. You got me again, SMEN.”
Honestly i’m still not entirely convinced that it isn’t a feature