EXAMPLES
Here's an example of a good bug report. No, this isn't a real bug. I made it up. Don't Panic. This would be the
portion of the bug report I would place in the text box of the bug report interface.
I have included the text
"[THIS IS A SAMPLE, NOT A REAL BUG.]" several times so that people searching for bugs don't think this is a real bug.
---------------------------[EXAMPLE]-----------------------------------
Character Name: Jimer Lins
Galaxy: Scylla
Summary: Schematics made with with exactly 100 items cause factories to disappear (this is an example, not a real bug.)
Date/Time: December 13, 2004 8:53 PM Pacific Time
Location: Lok, -3223 1293
Description: If I make a schematic for any item I can craft and put 100 items as the manufacturing limit, when I run the schematic and the factory is done, instead of simply shutting down, my factory vanishes.
I have verified that this occurs with any item I can make. If I make it for less than 100 or more than 100, the factory operates normally and no problems occur. Also, if I put more resources than is required to make 100 items, a schematic with exactly 100 items on its limit works normally.
In summary, this occurs when you make a schematic for exactly 100 items, no more and no less, and include precisely the amount of resources required to produce the item in the factory's ingredient hopper.
[THIS IS A SAMPLE, NOT A REAL BUG.]
Repro Steps: (assumes you're a Master Artisan, and using a Weapon/Droid/General Crafting tool. I use a +42.15 crafting station, located at the coordinates above.)
- Craft a schematic for any item (say, a dice set).
- Set the manufacturing limit to exactly 100 on the schematic.
- Use the schematic in an Equipment Factory. (in my case, the factory had about 10 days' worth of maintenance and 7 days worth of power)
- Place exactly the amount of resources required in the ingredient hopper to produce the item. Using more or less than is required will not reproduce the bug.
- When the schematic is completed, the factory will vanish. [THIS IS A SAMPLE, NOT A REAL BUG.]
---------------------------[EXAMPLE]-----------------------------------
This bug report provides all the necessary information for a tester or developer to diagnose the bug, or at the very
least provides the info necessary for them to start digging.
What it does NOT do is take out the consequences of the bug (losing a factory and all the stuff in it) on the hapless tester or dev that gets to pull this bug out of the queue. There's no ranting, no demands to fix the problem right now, and no demands to return the items lost. Remember, bug reports are NOT CSR tickets. You won't get any customer support for a bug report and you won't get a bug filed when you put in a CSR ticket.
If the situation described above were real, I'd also have filed a CSR ticket (maybe even including the bug report ID, which is sent to you when you create it) about the situation. I'd at least be likely to get my factory back.
Here's an example of a bad bug report.
---------------------------[EXAMPLE]-----------------------------------
DAMMIT SOE YOU Stink! I wuz makng tools 4 my guild n my factory disappeard!
FIX IT NOW! I WANT MY FACTORY BAK! YOU SUCK!!!!!
If u dno't fix tihs n give me my factory bak, I'm gunna quit this stupid game!!!
---------------------------[EXAMPLE]-----------------------------------
I don't think a description of exactly why this is a bad bug report is required. However, I can *promise* you that the SWG
team gets a lot of these. I also doubt that any bug report that even remotely resembles this one is going to be looked at.
There's no relevant information, and frankly- if I was the one reading this bug report, I'd assume that the person who wrote it didn't
pay their maintenance and not give it another thought.
Remember, you're dealing with human beings, and you may actually know some game systems better than the person who reads your bug report. That's NOT because they're incompetent or because you're an uber gamer gawd, it's because this game is huge and not everyone on a test/dev team will know every aspect of the game, any more than you do.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Basically, I hope that this guide gives people a good starting point for filing solid bug reports that the testers and dev team can work with. I'll be happy to incorporate any constructive feedback into revisions of this guide.