Angry Birds Cloud Sync Coming Soon via Your Rovio Account
Well, unfortunately, this feature was not ready to be released and has been deactivated for the time being, but don’t worry this is proof that it’s coming soon! If anything, we can view this as a “gamma” release that has been revoked for additional testing and bug squashing. What really matters is, an Angry Birds sync system is in the works!
Preliminaries
Now, let’s quickly run through how this appeared to work. Of course, since the system is still a work in progress, things are likely to change before the final release. Foremost, this appeared to be a pure overwrite style of sync. What this means is that if you have mix-and-match progress between devices, you’ll have to chose which one you want to keep (or create different Rovio Accounts for each device). At this time, the system won’t grab your best score on a per-level basis, but simply push / pull your entire progress. How it exactly handles different progress states across different devices remains to be seen. Anyhow, when it comes down to it, to have a per-level sync would be a very, very slow process and a bit Utopian. Bottom-line, always proceed with caution, as no sync system is perfect. They’re meant to support the most common use-case, not those of us hard core players.
Next, while the system was only seen on iOS (it was noticed on Google Play as well, but we have little information there), in theory, it should work across all platforms, including iOS, Android, PC, Mac, etc. There are a few issues here and there that I foresee (though it’s entirely possible that Rovio had the same vision and is already putting them to rest). The biggest is level discrepancies, namely the Facebook and Twitter levels in “Seasons” that are NOT available for PC and Mac at this time. A second could be Game Center achievements not registering properly if transferring to a new iOS device. A third could be the “full activation” status if transferring to PC. Another may be “concurrent gaming”, such as if you’re playing on your iPad while junior is plays on an iPod Touch.
Preface: Manually backup as well!
As I mentioned above, no sync system is perfect, so take the simple steps to make sure your progress is safe and sound. “Cloud” systems — especially new ones — aren’t always perfect. Before you first login to your Rovio Account, be sure to consult our Ultimate Backup Tutorial. This guide includes comprehensive instructions for most devices and is a must-read for anyone wanting to protect their endless hours of flinging.
Getting Started
OK, let’s get into the good stuff. How does it actually work? Or rather, what will YOU need to do? Thus far, the process is pretty darn simple.
Register or signing into your Rovio Account will be the first REAL step once the system goes live en masse. You will have the option of either signing in or registering. If you made a new Rovio Account when playing, “The Croods”, you should be able to use it here as well. This step is nothing fancy, nor is it rocket science. Just create an account, sign in and move on.
Oh, one thing I should add. Don’t try to fool Rovio by providing a fake email, as you have to confirm your email address within 48-hours of registering.
Now that you’ve registered or signed in the system will likely (again, speculating here a bit) check your data files to see if your device has “newer” data than what appears in the Cloud. If it does it will overwrite in the cloud. If the cloud is newer, it will pull the progress down. Then, just like that, your most recent progress is now loaded!
If this is your first time logging in then obviously you don’t have anything in the cloud, so it’s probably wise to login from your primary device so that’s the progress that gets pushed up.
Can you still Manually Backup, Restore, and Transfer Progress?
The simple answer is, “Yes”, you can, but how depends on your situation. Once your device is connected to a Rovio Account and your progress has been pulled down there will be two additional “highscores” and “settings” LUA files. These new LUA files contain a hashed string of characters (e.g. ‘highscores_<hash>.lua’ and ‘settings_<hash>.lua’). The “hash” is a long hexadecimal number, likely unique to your Rovio Account.
Okay, With that said, how do you transfer or backup your progress on iOS? Well, it depends. Read on, but I want to first add a disclaimer.
Disclaimer: These our our preliminary tests, so proceed at your own risk. Always backup via iTunes first! We will definitely do some additional digging once the system goes live for good.
If you don’t have a Rovio Account:
You can simply backup, transfer, and restore as normal by following our backup guide. Dead simple as always.
You do have a Rovio Account and have already synced:
To Backup
- Open up DiskAid as your normally would
- Backup the four files: highscores.lua, settings.lua, highscores_<hash>.lua, and settings_<hash>.lua.
To transfer and/or restore your progress:
- Logout of your Rovio Account and completely close the game
- Open up DiskAid (if not already)
- Copy all four files: highscores.lua, settings.lua, highscores_<hash>.lua, and settings_<hash>.lua to your new device
- Launch the game and log back in
- Your new progress should be there and pushed up the cloud.
Questions
I imagine there will be more, but wanted to get some thoughts down nonetheless.
- Will it prompt you to overwrite your progress?
We weren’t the first time we tried, but that might be a nice “just-in-case” feature to add. - What happens if old progress gets loaded onto your device?
I’m not even sure if this is possible, but this is yet another reason to manually backup. - Can I create multiple profiles for different progress?
As far as I can tell, so long as you provide different email addresses this shouldn’t be an issue. - Will it work across platforms?
We don’t know just yet, but would assume that is the ultimate goal. - Will it merge my progress (i.e. just take my highest scores)?
We touched on this above. At this time it doesn’t look like it. I personally don’t think this will ever be supported, but who knows.
More to come…