Suspend and resume is broken and unreliable.

Microsoft advertise a wonderful feature on the xbox one called "Suspend and resume".

It allows the user to, at any point in the game, load other non gaming apps and return to the game to find it, and i quote MS marketing blurb "exactly where you left it".

This is thanks to the ground breaking multi OS design that has a dedicated game OS.

The only limitation that MS have explained is you can only suspend one game at a time.

However it doesn't actually work like that, and every time a user decides to pop out of the game and use multiple apps, their game progress is in danger of being lost.

This makes the concept of Suspend and resume almost worthless to people like me who use a lot of apps between game sessions.

It is either disingenuious marketing from MS, or there is a bug in the OS.



Here is how to replicate what i hope is a bug in the Xbox one operating system.



Follow these steps to the letter:

Step1: load game,

Step 2:load an app and use it for 30 minutes. This is the most important step.Keep away from the game for 30 minutes.DO NOT RETURN TO THE GAME UNTILL STEP 5

Step 3: load 5 more apps, make sure each app is fully loaded,

Step 4: use the 5th app for 1-2 minutes

Step 5: go back to the game that was loaded in step 1. Game is no longer suspended and has closed down, progress lost.



I have tested this across 4 different consoles.

I have been told from an xbox employee that was part of the product launch team, that no matter how many apps you load, the game should stay suspended.

This is clearly not the case.

I really want to get this to the attention of MS, and maybe get an explanation as to why this happens.

:)

 

Suspend/ Resume

Hey there. Is your console set to Instant On (Settings, Power, Turn off or restart, Turn off after...)? This feature works fine for me most of the time. It will only work for the last game you were playing. Sometimes if you open a bunch of apps or do something
that takes up a lot of memory, it will also force close the game.

 

Suspend/Resume

THIS!

I've actually contacted MS Support for this, which they had no response to. They believe that it may be related to the huge update they released.

You're not the only one brother.

 

Any one from support want to test out my steps and comment on this?

 

The suspend and resume feature is handled differently by different games (probably due to their resource requirements). Games like Forza 5 and Battlefield 4 seem to struggle with the suspend and resume feature but other games I have had resume the next day
after using multiple other apps.

 

Thanks for replying Bazajaytee.

However, i am not talking about the consoles ability to suspend a game overnight whilst turned off, which in the settings screen is called "instant resume", but its ability to pause, or suspend, a game whilst you watch netflix, surf the web etc... then come
back later, having not powered down the system, to return to the game exactly where you left it.

The Xbox one has an OS dedicated to games and another seperate OS which runs the apps, such as ie, Netflix, youtube etc..

When you are playing a game and you switch over to an app, you are just switching over to the other operating system, and the game is literally running in the background.

The game always and exclusively has access to the 5GB of ram, with the remaining 3 GB reserved for the app OS.

There should be no way the apps should effect the game due to them being resident in their own OS.

There should be no time limit for how long a game stays paused, nor should there be a limit to how many apps you can load while a game is paused.

But, as my testing has shown (and feel free to replicate the 5 steps in my first post) the app OS is interfering with the game OS, in a seemingly random and arbitary way.

For example, you can play a game, instantly switch to 8 different apps, return straight to your game and it will be where you left it.

But if you play a game, instantly switch to 4 different apps, use the 4th app for 30 mins then load a 5th app, your game will close down (most of the time).

That doesn't make sense.

Basically, once your game has been in suspend mode for 30 minutes and you THEN load more than 3 apps your game is in danger of being thrown out of the game OS.

The only way to keep the game suspended reliably, is to use no more than 2 apps, then the game will stay suspended forever.

This flies in the face of everything MS have said about the Xbox ones hardware design.

Surely it must be a bug?

 

Also, when using internet explorer, if you go to a website that has alot of "gifs" on the page, this will also cause a suspended game and any suspended apps to close down.

Browsing NeoGaf, for example, can be a bit of a nightmare if you have a game suspended and you plan on returning to it after browsing.

If the game OS and the 5GB of ram are partitioned off from the rest of the system, and can never be touched by the apps, as MS claim, then why can using internet explorer cause the game to close down?

Are MS aware of this flaw in the system?

Will it ever be sorted out?

 

Been testing the newest system update and this issue still hasn't been fixed.

Guacamelee just closed down on me after opening ie, upload and upload studio.

Will MS ever acknowledge this issue?

 

The suspend and resume feature isn't supposed to be used to suspend for a long period of time while you do a bunch of other things. It's used to suspend temporarily while you do something real quick then go back to the game.

 

CMUchippewa,

Thanks for replying, but i have to correct you there.

There should be no time limit on how long a game stays suspended.

The game you have running resides in its own, dedicated operating system.

It should stay suspended/paused for as long as you need it to, or until you load another game.

If you want to test this out then load a game, then use, for example, youtube for 2 hours, or 3 hours, even 8 hours, and when you go back to your game it will be exactly where you left it.

There is no time limit.

However, play a game, use youtube for 30 minutes, then load another 4 or 5 apps and the game closes.

This makes no sense.

There have been many articles about the xbox ones operating system(s) and a live panel with the people who designed the system is available to watch, and it is quite clear that a suspended game shouldn't close.

There should be no time limit, nor a limit to how many non gaming apps you can load while a game is suspended.

Lastly, i created a thread back in january, i believe, and an official xbox employee, who was part of the product launch team, confirmed that there should be no time limit, nor a limit on how many apps you can open while a game is suspended.

He stated a game will only close (or "terminate", as he put it) if you load another game.

The more people who talk about this "bug" , the more likely MS will fix it.

However, i seem to be a lone voice in a sea of millions who have either not noticed the issue, or are unaware of how the Xbox one is supposed to function.

 

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