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• fixed another 2 cases where users couldn’t load the HTML5 version. Please try to permanently switch to this one.
• fixed Gifts (again).
• optimized Farm Chat.

NOTE: we noticed a few users are using really, REALLY poor graphic cards on their computers. HTML5 uses the graphics card more, while Flash used the processor more. The differences are, in Flash, the game ran bad on all computers, no matter their specs (about 20 FPS – Frames Per Second). In HTML5 (and the new engine, partially), the game uses the graphics card, as all games do. On a computer with average specs, this allows 60 FPS. So on these computers with older / very very slow graphic cards (2.6% of all players), the game might run as fast or slower than Flash version, because they practically have no graphics card, and Google detects the low performance of the graphics card and triggers a software version, Swiftshader (a virtual graphics card that uses the processor). This is how we detect the graphics card performance. We have a few laptops with the lowest specs we could find from a few years ago, not really meant for playing games, and we couldn’t trigger this Swiftshader. The game runs at about 30 FPS on them, with huge farms and all animations turned ON. By comparison, Flash runs at 18-20 FPS.  So the graphic cards of a few players are older/slower than this, and their processor is more powerful than their graphics card. For the vast majority, the game should run sensibly, or way better than Flash.

• fixed a game performance bug and reset the CDN servers, so the HTML5 version should run excellent for everybody and it should have all latest game files, in order to load. Please make sure to clear your browser cache first, then refresh the game, if you have trouble with the game loading. If you have a slow internet connection, please allow a few minutes for the files to load into your browser cache. We did not optimize the Farm Chat yet, so if you use that, the game might run slow. Also, please make sure to keep the game tab active, because currently it doesn’t load if the tab is inactive.
• now you can know for how much time your Zzz Neighbors have been inactive: more than 3 months or 6 months, so you can easily decide who to remove. Hover over them to see. You can always add them back later, when they start playing again (they will show up in the Friends tab in the Neighbors popup).
• fixed a bug where when you used a Train ticket, the Train did not show up (it showed up at refresh, though).
• removed the annoying Add to Warehouse popup confirmation and added a new animation, so you know what happens to the item being added to Warehouse, and improved some things to make decorating and reconfiguring your farm easier.

• added a more descriptive HTML5 preloader, so if the game gets stuck when loading, you can message us about what says under the loading bar so we know where it’s stuck (“feeding chickens”, “planting the crops”, etc.). These of course mean totally different things, such as loading assets, unzipping code, generating the graphics, etc.
• New, best in class Barn menu, with unparalleled filtering options and new features, so managing your inventory can be a breeze:
  – Silver and Gold Starred plants are moved in a sub-filtering dropdown menu (bottom left), in both Plants and Fruits tabs. Now it’s easier than ever to see when you’re below a certain amount in any category. Plus, we’ll have more silver and gold categories in the near future, so having them as a tab doesn’t make much sense now.
  – separated the Other tab into Forest and Minerals tabs.
  – the game now remembers separate filtering settings, depending on the Barn popup, to better suit your gameplay. For instance, when selling with the Train you might be only interested in Qty or Price; when checking the Plants in Barn you might only be interested in not dropping below a certain amount of plants; when in Bellflower Meadow you might be interested in only sorting by Recent, when loading into the Truck. Now the game remembers each of these situations, so you don’t have to switch between them.
• Improved Achievements filtering, now when you sort by completion it sorts all Achievements by the ribbon color + number of produce you need to make, in descending order. Now, it’s easier than ever to decide what Achievement to earn next.
• Achievements above your level will be shown at the end of the list, locked, so you don’t place hourglasses on a really high level one by mistake.
• added duration to make when you hover over Gear products inside the selector pop-up window, and Automation buttons next to the window title.

• massive performance improvements in HTML5. Optimized several aspects of the game. Still a few tricks up our sleeves to implement, but in our tests it already runs sensibly better than Flash, even on our weakest test computers. NOTE: We will look at why the game doesn’t load in HTML5 for a few players as soon as we finish with the game optimizations. Most probably it’s a files cache issue, or some glitch where a single item not loading blocks the whole loading process. So, since HTML5 now uses less resources and is faster, don’t worry, it’s not your computers. 🙂
• Blue Dot improvements:
  – now the Blue Dot shows the nearest mushroom / loot / seed near Joe, not randomly as it did before, so you don’t annoyingly run around the farm in zig-zag any more.
  – now the Blue Dot has improved showing order in BfM: first shows the loot, so you don’t go over 50, then the plants / trees ready or empty plots, then the seeds.
  – when you click on it, now the arrow takes you to a medium zoom level, because if you play zoomed out, it’s hard to see where the arrow appears.
  – fixed Blue Dot in the mine, where it was completely broken.
• other gameplay improvements:
  – Sarah axe orders will give much better XP and Coins. But starting from next ones, if you have one order from her now on your board.
  – now the Old Shack shows the items quantity when you hover over it.
  – when you hover over a Seed / Fruit in Shop or in Barn, it shows you the quantity in both Barn and Old Shack, so it’s easier to manage multiple properties, and maintain a stock for those orders. 🙂
  – fixed a bug when collecting Walnuts from BfM and the Old Shack was full.
  – now Joe unloads his Backpack too, when you click to unload the Truck, so you don’t forget to unload things from BfM in the Barn, and then take them back to BfM.
  – the Trucking Menu now shows the loaded items quantity, and warns you if Tyrone is “a little” hungry.
  – fixed a bug where you could click on the empty Truck space next to the Orders, even if the Truck was away.

NOTE: all above improvements are HTML5 only, and all future ones will be HTML5 only.   There’s no point in updating Flash, for the obvious reason it will be gone in a month. 

• bug fixes and performance improvements (HTML5): fixed gifting Neighbors, added Collections, Themes, added helping Neighbors in BfM, fixed bug when adding to Cooler in the Train, fixed Train sound continuing after departure, fixed bug where the game was not loading for some players with really old computers, fixed Cool Packer showing Carrots, fixed Jam’r giving an error when switching to another product, plus numerous other small fixes. Now the HTML5 version has all functions working.

• HTML5 version is available for everybody to test (link at the bottom of the game). It has all main game functions implemented, so you can play hassle free. Still some font styles for window titles to implement, switching Themes and Activity. Of course, you can switch back to Flash at any time.
• Better way of loading your Neighbors farms when visiting (HTML5 only): instead of loading the landscape, then all items on it, it now loads everything behind the clouds, then shows you their farm. This way, it doesn’t feel like an empty place slowly populating with objects, but feels like a farm. PLUS, this way the farm loads faster. Of course, Neighbors with huge farms naturally will take longer to load (you’ll see the clouds for a couple of seconds more than Neighbors with small farms).
• During the Competitions only, Conan the donkey gets hungrier, seeing Tyrone pass by him, running around the town all day to deliver your orders. Therefore, Tyrone will accept 60 “Orchard” Grass daily, for a total of 20 fuel/day.

Hello dear farmers, just wanted to let you know we are aware of the issues experienced with the game in some browsers. We didn’t change anything in the game, we’re still checking, but most probably it’s something the browsers changed. Since Flash will be gone at the end of the year, we’re not expecting much support or interest from them to fix it as soon as they can.

That is why, we plan to add a HTML5 WIP (Work In Progress) link next week, so, worst case scenario until the HTML5 version is fully ready, you can at least plant, harvest, use the gear, feed the animals and sell your produce, without any unexpected surprises / game speed issues from the browsers. You will of course be able to switch back and forth between Flash and HTML5 versions.

Our current status is:
Working in HTML5:
– planting
– harvesting
– feeding animals
– using gear
– kitchen, craft shack
– train
– achievements
To be converted to HTML5:
– mines
– log cabin
– gifting
– neighbors
– font effects
– competitions
– orders
– activity
– visiting neighbors
– farm chat
– foraging, crops management, logging, skills, quests (Joe stuff)

HTML5 tools for games only recently have matured enough, to the point we could make the most informed decision on how to convert the game. We’re constantly creating scripts to automate this task and make the conversion even faster, to the point we will be ahead of schedule.

Until the conversion is ready, we will update the game with only small things (such as the Happy Egg Carrier in your Craft Shack). We’re not currently planning anything for Halloween (although we will put all previous Halloween stuff in the Shop), because we’re fully focused on getting the HTML5 game to you as fast as we can.

Thanks for taking the time to read this info! 🙂

• Now, Neighbors can help you cut that pesky “Orchard” Grass and Wild Bushes! A setting will prompt you to choose if you allow them to do so.
  Features:
  – you have 50 “Visit Energy”, allowing you to help 5 Neighbors, if they have Bellflower Meadow. Visit Energy IS NOT Joe’s energy!
  – you must click 10 times on any grass or bush. You get your reward when you click the 10th time. If you quit midway and get back to your farm, you will have to start over.
  – all grass and bushes gives 2 loot for you, and 8 for the Neighbor. You also get 15 XP for helping.
  – example: if many Neighbors choose to cut the same grass at the same time, each Neighbor gets 2 grass, and you get 8 grass, waiting for you when you refresh / travel between farms.
  – example: if you have 48 loot waiting to be picked up and a Neighbor helps you, it will allow the 8 grass above the 50 loot limit, so you will find 56 loot waiting for you at BfM reload.
  – example: If you have 50 loot wating, the Neighbors won’t be able to help you, so you better pick up your loot, if you want to get rid of those plants without consuming Joe’s energy.

• Added a Best Neighbors tab in the Activity window, so you can keep track on the amounts of gifts received/sent to a certain Neighbor. List populates when a Neighbor sent you a gift. Counter starts from now. Counter registers when you send a gift, not when the Neighbor claims it. Counter registers when you help somebody building something too. Counter updates at game refresh.
• you can now move Rustic Fences and Weathered Green Fences back to your farm and decorate your farm with them. Also, you can move other items – insecticide, pesticide, etc.

• Beta invites for Bellflower Meadow are again available.
• every farmer with land in Bellflower Meadow gets 2 Sell from Barn Tickets, valid for 6 hours each, when activated. You’ll find them in the Vouchers tab.
• now, when you hover over any required ingredients icon in the Gear selectors, you see ALL required materials in the text bubble.
• added Zzz icon over the Neighbors inactive in the game for more than 10 days, so you can easily see who to send Gift requests to, and have the best chance to receive some back. Also, you won’t be able to visit these Neighbors, but you will have the possibility to “Wake them up”, and they receive a game request (as per Facebook available tools and recommendations). After they enter the game, you can visit them again.