Design Notes

Post Maker for Cemaros

November 18, 2015

Reminder: Clear your cache

A Letter from Cemaros, Lead Bug Hunter for AQWorlds

Hihihi! Cemaros again. Just in case any of you forgot, I’m the AQW Lead Bug Hunter. Which means it’s my job to track down all the issues that annoy you the most and see what we can do about fixing them.

Your cache needs regular cleaning. SO dirty! Tsk. What would Grams say?

I’ve been tracing a rather annoying bug for several months. The one which refuses to give you items from quests you turn in. And after months of hair pulling, clawing, spitting and general mayhem, I have tracked it back to its source: it turns out to be a simple thing - it’s caused by a full cache.

"What's a full cache?" you ask? GOOD question!

A cache is a place on your computer where the browser (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari) keeps things you've downloaded in case they're needed again - like the logo on a website or information about your AQW character. That way, it doesn't need to be downloaded each time you visit the page; as long as the same logo is displayed, your computer already knows what to look for.

Caches have a limit of how big they can be. When a cache gets full, the items in it that haven't been used in a while are discarded to make room for whatever new items you're looking at now.

And it’s all transparent to you... until something breaks! (Like with this bug.) But that's when you need to "clear your cache."

Clear Your Cache!

The fact that this bug is caused by a full cache is both a good thing... and a bad thing.

It's good because it's easily preventable.

CLEAR YOUR CACHE REGULARLY.

It’s bad news because this isn’t something WE can fix... but YOU can by - say it with me -

CLEARING YOUR CACHE!

This is the single most common cause of the bug reports I read. This also causes more problems than I can count.

What kind of problems? Glad you asked!

The quest didn’t give me the item!
I can’t move right! (invisible walls, char goes where I didn’t click)
The game menu won’t load!
Maps are taking a long time to load!
Error 1337! (If you’ve ever had this one, you REALLY need to clear your cache badly!)
I can’t connect to the servers! (Okay so this is step one in a process, but it fixes it more often than not.)

If I could reach into everyone's computer and yank out all the bits and bytes clogging up your caches, I would do it in a heartbeat! But with these very specific bugs, the only way to fix them is to... CLEAR YOUR CACHE REGULARLY!

If you have any other issues, please remember to report them to the Bug Tracker! I send emails to the developers every week, and they fix as many as they have time for (starting with the highest priority issues first)!

Thanks!! ~Cem

Clearing your browser's cache gives you the latest version of the game

When you play AQWorlds, or any Artix Entertainment game, the game window you see is called the "client."The client shows you the updated files (that make up each release) we put out every week. Those files are stored in your browser's "cache."

Browsers store things in caches. We store them in boxes.

When we release BIG new features or fix important bugs, we want you to get the latest version of the game client, which means your browser's cache needs to be emptied of all its current files. Emptying your cache is called "clearing your cache." That lets it get all the new, most up-to-date files so your game works right.

Below is a list of the most popular browsers and how to clear the cache on each of them. This guide provides links to the homepages of the various browsers.

Chrome

Click on the Options -> "History". (Or Ctrl + H)

Click "Clear Browsing Data".

From the drop-down menu, select "The beginning of time"

Make sure that all options are unchecked, except for "Empty the cache".

Click "Clear Browsing Data".

Alternative method: Press down Ctrl+Shift+Delete to open up a browser settings menu.

Internet Explorer

- To clear the cache for a single site: hold down "Ctrl" and click "Refresh" on the toolbar, or press Ctrl + F5 or CTRL + R

To clear the entire cache:

Click "Tools -> Delete Browsing History..." (or Ctrl + Shift + Del)
Check only "Temporary Internet Files."
Click "Delete."

Restart Internet Explorer.

Alternative method: Press down Ctrl+Shift+Delete to open up a browser settings menu.

Firefox

To clear the cache for a single page: hold down "Shift" and click "Refresh" on the toolbar, or hold down CTRL and press F5.

To clear the entire cache:

Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> History(drop down menu)
Remember History > Remove individual cookies -> Select cookies -> Remove Cookie
- Or Use custom settings for history -> Show Cookies -> Select cookies -> Remove Cookie
Optionally Remove all cookies
Restart Firefox.

Alternative method: Press down Ctrl+Shift+Delete to open up a browser settings menu.

Opera

Click "Tools."
Select "Delete Private Data..."
Click the "Detailed Options" button.
Uncheck everything except "Clear Entire Cache."
Click "Delete," and restart.

Safari 6

Click Safari -> Empty Cache.

Click "Empty" on the dialog box.

Restart Safari.

Safari -> Preferences -> Privacy -> Details
Select site to remove cookies from -> Remove or Remove All
Restart Safari

Alternate method Safari -> Reset Safari... -> Check Remove all Website Data -> Hit Reset

Safari 6.0.3 (Mac Mini)

Located Develop option on Toolbar
Click Develop
Click Empty Caches on list (not the delete caches option)

Firefox for Mac

Click "Firefox -> Preferences."
Click "Advanced" and select the "Network" tab.
Under the "Cashed Web Content" section, click "Clear Now."
Restart Firefox.

Note: If you do not see your browser's version listed here, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade your browser. The latest browsers typically have more features and improved security.

Be sure to also restart your web browser. So the game page fully reloads, and not just the content files.

Thanks to the Archknights and Moderators on our forum for compiling and updating the guide!

Tags: Alina,