[RFE] Permit "Restore Tables" from Titanium Backup or Manual Restore

[jaredmorgs]

This has been an ongoing issue for me ever since I had to install my first custom ROM on a tablet I owned about two years ago. Sorry I'm only reporting this now officially.

Summary

For those rooted Android users, the ability to restore purchased Zen HD tables from a Titanium Backup is currently not possible. Even when I transfer the files from my device to my PC, and then back into the correct directory structure, the app still demands I download all the tables from the CDN.

Request

Allow rooted users to save bandwidth and restore Zen Pinball HD table files from Titanium Backup or manual transfer into the /sdcard/Android/com.zenstudios.pinball/ folder, after verifying they have entitlements through Google Play Services.

Additional Info

The Pinball Arcade allows users to do this without issue. They do an automatic "Restore Transactions" check when the app is first reinstalled, then it is up to the user to download each table themselves separately.

[c7rolek]

Request

Allow rooted users to save bandwidth and restore Zen Pinball HD table files from Titanium Backup or manual transfer into the /sdcard/Android/com.zenstudios.pinball/ folder, after verifying they have entitlements through Google Play Services.

Additional Info

Did You tried to restore tables on the same devices or on different devices (moving files).
Did You move all files from sd card? Not only these one representing tables themself?

[jaredmorgs]

Did You tried to restore tables on the same devices or on different devices (moving files).
Did You move all files from sd card? Not only these one representing tables themself?

On the same device. Different ROM.

I took the whole Zen folder in Android/data/.

[BarbieBobomb]

This has been an ongoing issue for me ever since I had to install my first custom ROM on a tablet I owned about two years ago. Sorry I'm only reporting this now officially.

Summary

For those rooted Android users, the ability to restore purchased Zen HD tables from a Titanium Backup is currently not possible. Even when I transfer the files from my device to my PC, and then back into the correct directory structure, the app still demands I download all the tables from the CDN.

Request

Allow rooted users to save bandwidth and restore Zen Pinball HD table files from Titanium Backup or manual transfer into the /sdcard/Android/com.zenstudios.pinball/ folder, after verifying they have entitlements through Google Play Services.

Additional Info

The Pinball Arcade allows users to do this without issue. They do an automatic "Restore Transactions" check when the app is first reinstalled, then it is up to the user to download each table themselves separately.

Thanks - will forward your feedback to the team

[jaredmorgs]

Thanks - will forward your feedback to the team

Thanks Barbie. It's not generally something that I do all the time, but when I have to do a full re-install, it frustrates me no end.

[BarbieBobomb]

Thanks Barbie. It's not generally something that I do all the time, but when I have to do a full re-install, it frustrates me no end.

Totally understandable. My guess is that we don't currently offer this feature to prevent pirating, but I could be talking out of my butt.

[jaredmorgs]

Totally understandable. My guess is that we don't currently offer this feature to prevent pirating, but I could be talking out of my butt.

This was my thought as well, but the good thing about Google Play Framework is that it can easily interrogate a users' purchase history and determine whether they are entitled to play a game based on the transaction history.

So even if I was to obtain all the table files from another user, Google Play would still need to bless the menu item in-game for me to be able to play it.

Also note that for games like Zen that use GPG framework, an extra layer of licence checking is implemented into the game which disables all leaderboard and achievement activity in game (even cloud save) if a checksum mismatch is detected.

I verified this with a hacked version of Sky Force 2014 that I downloaded purely to check the IAP upgrade levels in the game. Once I determined the upgrade level cap, I uninstalled the APK because the checksum mismatch crippled so much in the game (already purchased the full version, but couldn't easily see how many stars I'd need to use to cap out the weapon tiers).

Unless Zen's Android Devs use an older method of determining entitlements for IAP, I would assume that allowing us to back up table files should not be an issue for piracy. I know The Pinball Arcade don't have an issue with it, and when you reinstall that game for the first time again, it "restores transactions" and will only let you play games (without a score limit demo enforcement) that you have rightfully purchased.

[jaredmorgs]

Totally understandable. My guess is that we don't currently offer this feature to prevent pirating, but I could be talking out of my butt.

Do you have any update about this issue, Barbie?

[BarbieBobomb]

Do you have any update about this issue, Barbie?

I don't at the moment, sorry!

[bookcase]

This really needs to be made a priority as it clearly isn't according to the age of this posting.