Poll: What Platform Do You Play On?

[ChiptheFish]

Interesting results. Windows is said to have 0.7% of mobile devices market but here in this poll 40% play on Windows platform.

The "Windows" edition also works on all Windows 8 & 10 desktops/laptops as well...that's where I think most of the Windows players are coming from.

[ChiptheFish]

Interesting results. Windows is said to have 0.7% of mobile devices market but here in this poll 40% play on Windows platform.

I think Windows players spend more time searching desperately for answers than most iOS users so are always over represented on the forums. iOS/Android users have never needed to google, "HOW THE HELL DO I SEE THROUGH WHITE SHIELDS? STAR WARS COMMANDER"

Agreed. The Windows client+server is much less cultivated and more frustrating. The poll reflects users searching for help, and probably from desktop internet browser users as well.

[ChiptheFish]

I played SW Commander back on my tablet about a year and half ago, but let it go because it was taking too much of my time. I decided to dip my toe back in the water this summer with it running on my Windows laptop and found I could control myself better (until I got addicted to upgrading my Vanguards). However when I spun up the game on my Android I found that the gameplay was significantly more engaging because there are many more players and the features are months ahead of the windows edition. After the "Squad Wars" update to the Windows platform edition the game because extremely unstable and crashed often. Every other day my progress was lost and I had to run through the demo and re-sync my account (VERY FRUSTRATING). Matchmaking is also really bad on the Windows edition since there are hundreds of thousands of less players.

Dear Windows SW Commander players: You're probably not enjoying the game as much as you could. Bite the bullet, abandon your base, and start over on iOS or Android (including the Amazon Fire Tablet line) device. There's better features, more players, and the game doesn't crash all the time.

[ChiptheFish]

P.S. - A comment about the 2 different versions of SW Commander.

iOS and Android both connect to a Linux server farm, so they can share users and accounts. This was the original edition of SW Commander.

Windows Client: Apparently Windows apps require some windows server components on the backend to function properly, so there are special Windows servers for the Windows client edition. According to my research there are NO plans to migrate the users or servers over to the same platform as the iOS/Android users.

Therefore: You cannot synchronize a Windows account with an iOS/Android device. You also cannot join squads from the other servers, see the other players, etc. etc.

[Sigma582]

Every other day my progress was lost and I had to run through the demo and re-sync my account (VERY FRUSTRATING).

to alleviate this issue you can do the following (and any Windows player should in fact):
Go to C:\Users\***\AppData\Local\Packages\Disney.StarWarsCommander_*******\LocalState\ and copy playerprefs.dat file to a safe location. It's better to keep a copy somewhere in a cloud like Google Drive or MS OneDrive in case something happens to your laptop/phone.

Whenever you have lost your progress and forced to go through the tutorial you can retrieve your copy of playerprefs.data from your "safe place" and put it into LocalState folder. It will tell the game to connect to your base.

Also this way of saving the file is essential for those who run multiple bases on the same device. You quickly switch between accounts by placing the appropriate playerprefs.dat in the LocalState folder (requires game restart of course).

[Sigma582]

Windows Client: Apparently Windows apps require some windows server components on the backend to function properly, so there are special Windows servers for the Windows client edition. According to my research there are NO plans to migrate the users or servers over to the same platform as the iOS/Android users.

I will tell you one big IT secret: you don't have to run client and server on the same platform. This forum probably runs on Unix-like server but apparently I can access it with a browser running under Windows 7, 8 and even WinPhone.

As Windows version of SWC client application is merely a port of the "main" version it probably uses the same client-server communication protocol as iOS/Android/Amazon versions of the app. Therefore in theory nothing prevents both versions from talking to the same server. However due to some management reasons DI runs a separate copy of SWC server and Windows apps are configured to connect to this separate server. Both Windows client and the relevant server app receive updates later than the "main" server and relevant clients.

One reason for that may be DI that Windows development team who ports SWC for Windows is rather small and also have a bunch of other projects to work on - it was mentioned by Dan on the old playdom forum. Therefore DI is not able to release Windows app updates as frequently as for the other platforms. However when you update a server you have to update all relevant clients accordingly. Delays in Windows releases would postpone the whole game releases if they all were on the same server.

Another reason may be (it's just my speculation) that because of low popularity of Win Phone platform SWC wasn't launched there initially. When DI decided to do so they wanted Windows community to be isolated because main server population has already progressed far and the new players on Windows would experience hard beating from the very start.

[ChiptheFish]

Windows Client: Apparently Windows apps require some windows server components on the backend to function properly, so there are special Windows servers for the Windows client edition. According to my research there are NO plans to migrate the users or servers over to the same platform as the iOS/Android users.

I will tell you one big IT secret: you don't have to run client and server on the same platform. This forum probably runs on Unix-like server but apparently I can access it with a browser running under Windows 7, 8 and even WinPhone.

As Windows version of SWC client application is merely a port of the "main" version it probably uses the same client-server communication protocol as iOS/Android/Amazon versions of the app. Therefore in theory nothing prevents both versions from talking to the same server. However due to some management reasons DI runs a separate copy of SWC server and Windows apps are configured to connect to this separate server. Both Windows client and the relevant server app receive updates later than the "main" server and relevant clients.

One reason for that may be DI that Windows development team who ports SWC for Windows is rather small and also have a bunch of other projects to work on - it was mentioned by Dan on the old playdom forum. Therefore DI is not able to release Windows app updates as frequently as for the other platforms. However when you update a server you have to update all relevant clients accordingly. Delays in Windows releases would postpone the whole game releases if they all were on the same server.

Another reason may be (it's just my speculation) that because of low popularity of Win Phone platform SWC wasn't launched there initially. When DI decided to do so they wanted Windows community to be isolated because main server population has already progressed far and the new players on Windows would experience hard beating from the very start.

Great background info! Thank you.

[Ghost666]

Now...this result is a big surprise to me...Windows in front??????? I thought it was a "minority"...

[Midge]

Now...this result is a big surprise to me...Windows in front??????? I thought it was a "minority"...

It is a minority. A VERY VERY large minority. BUT ... those that play on Windows are more likely to be on a PC and thus can find and visit forums easier.

Most who play on Android/iOS are on phones and tablets and do not go searching for forums like these that often.

[Ghost666]

Now...this result is a big surprise to me...Windows in front??????? I thought it was a "minority"...

It is a minority. A VERY VERY large minority. BUT ... those that play on Windows are more likely to be on a PC and thus can find and visit forums easier.

Most who play on Android/iOS are on phones and tablets and do not go searching for forums like these that often.

Simple answer i guess...highlights the effect of measurement technique on the value being measured....