amorelli
Assigned
Reported
Comments
I’ll submit a world when I get the chance. I expect to find that a newly created world will reproduce the issue, which seems to have nothing to do with the actual world file. A new world file will hopefully be small.
To reiterate the problem, the Minecraft client fails to log in to a linked account when joining any world from split screen. It doesn’t seem to matter what world it is, or whether the world is local, an external BDS, or a realm.
Has anyone working on this tried joining a Realms world from a Nintendo (via split screen), with two different Minecraft accounts? Check the accounts section of the menu to verify MCID and gamertag for player 2. Any talk of “lost progress” or “inventory” would seem to be confusion about what’s actually happening, which is that players joining via split screen cannot log in.
I tried some troubleshooting to shed light on whether this is a problem with a local login token on the console, or a problem in the split screen login process.
I think I’ve ruled out any kind of problem with a local login token from save data.
I asked GPT a couple questions and it informed me that the Minecraft login info for a Switch user is stored as a token in the Minecraft save data, since there’s no Nintendo API for linking your Minecraft account. If that’s true, then it seems like either the Minecraft client introduced a bug with Chase the Skies that fails to use that token correctly in the split screen case, or some save data format change broke old tokens.
To rule out the latter, I logged out of my Minecraft account from the main Minecraft menu on my switch, then deleted my user’s Minecraft save data on the switch. When I started up Minecraft again, I confirmed that I wanted to create new save data instead of download my cloud data. I then had to re-link my Minecraft account using the QR code with my phone. This should create a new login token to store in the new save data. I then restarted Minecraft with a different Nintendo account and connected to our BDS, then tried joining that game via split screen from my account with its newly minted token. This did not work; I still got a local guest account. Perhaps this makes us more suspicious of the split screen login flow as opposed to some sort of stateful problem with a login token from the save data.
I’m still curious to know if anyone at mojang has been able to reproduce the issue, find the root cause, or identify a potential fix.
Sure. But, it should probably just be an option when you’re joining. If the Nintendo or Playstation account has an MCID login associated with it you get the option, i.e. “Sign in to <MCID> or guest?” If not then you’re just a guest.
It makes me curious about a couple things I might try later. I wonder if two people trying to join a featured server split screen can use both of their accounts? - I assume not from what we’ve seen.
Dane, if by self-hosting you mean administering your own BDS then I can tell you it won’t help with this problem.
Our normal mode of play for a long time was split screen from our Nintendo Switch to our Bedrock Dedicated Server. But the problem here is that someone who joins split screen simply cannot connect to their minecraft account, instead being joined as whatever local/temporary/guest account everyone has been trying to describe here.
Personally, I’m pretty skeptical that the actual problem statement is understood by the team when I’ve read Jay’s comments. I think the following very simple characterization could help:
Two different minecraft accounts cannot join a server via split screen.
If Jack spends some time playing on the server alone from the Nintendo then Jill spends some time playing on the server alone from the Nintendo then they decide to play together, they will find that they cannot get both of their accounts logged in via split screen. Only 1P’s account will be logged in.
This is my experience with our own BDS, and the problems people are describing with their paid realms are identical.
We are using this bug to track reports of losing progress when playing on a Realm in split-screen, which is affecting some players
I think this is a strange characterization of the problem. As others have stated, a better description would be that multiple players cannot log into their individual accounts via split screen on Nintendo Switch or Playstation. Instead, they are logged in as a guest account. The progress made on that guest account is not lost across sessions. The problem is that the player should have been logged into their normal Minecraft account in the first place. Their Minecraft account is not lost in any way. If they connect as 1P or from a different device (and thus actually log into their account), the player state is all correct.
Sorry this isn’t new info, but Jay’s comment makes me feel the need to chime in on clarifying the problem.
Thanks so much for looking at this, the feature as it used to work adds a lot of value for me and my kids.
I’ve still got my fingers crossed that it’s been fixed in the next drop.
Though I can’t help but feel that the silence here says a lot.
If the ability for split screen players to log in was irreversibly removed either on purpose or accident, it probably makes more sense to leave a bug open and let people lose hope or forget than to announce the situation loudly.
Maybe that’s overly cynical or bleak but I just don’t understand the silence.
I noticed the Bedrock Dedicated Server download changed to ‘1.21.102.1’ a few days back, though there’s no indication about what may be different there from 1.21.101. I did update my BDS to that and tested this out last night. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the problem persists.
It would be great to know if Mojang has:
Reproduced the error in their environment?
Identified the defect?
Identified potential fixes?
I would be curious to know if Mojang has at least been able to reproduce the problem in their environment. The last message from Jay would seem to imply they had not.
If you mean that this is considered normal behavior, I can tell you it is not based on the last year and a half we’ve been playing on my BDS from Nintendo Switch in split screen mode.
I need to correct/clarify my statement a bit. I can confirm from old server logs that before 1.21.90, when split screen was initiated from Nintendo Switch, what would actually be displayed for the split screen player was their Nintendo account name, not their Microsoft account name. But either way, the “Player1 (1)” thing started at the same time as the other problems in 1.21.90. I mention this detail just in case it helps provide any clue about what changed or where the problem is.
Nintendo Switch
Minecraft Client 1.21.94
Bedrock Dedicated Server Version 1.21.95.1
PlayerA with Microsoft account
PlayerB with Microsoft account
Steps to reproduce/demonstrate the problem:
PlayerA starts Minecraft selecting the Nintendo profile linked to their Microsoft account
PlayerA waits on the title screen for their Microsoft account to sign in
PlayerA connects to the server
PlayerA notes that their location, inventory, character skin, and username are as expected, associated with their Microsoft account.
PlayerA disconnects and closes Minecraft.
PlayerB starts Minecraft selecting the Nintendo profile linked to their Microsoft account
PlayerB waits on the title screen for their Microsoft account to sign in.
PlayerB connects to the server.
PlayerB notes that their location, inventory, character skin, and username are as expected, associated with their Microsoft account.
PlayerA picks up a second controller and presses start to join as player 2, initiating split-screen mode
PlayerA selects the same Nintendo profile from step 1, linked to their Microsoft account
PlayerA notes that their location is world spawn - not expected
PlayerA notes that their player skin is not correct
PlayerA notes that their username is PlayerB (1) - not expected
PlayerA notes that their inventory is empty - not expected
PlayerA notes that their ender inventory is empty - not expected
For all intents and purposes, the second player to join has joined as some sort of temporary ad-hoc player, not the player associated with their Microsoft account.
PlayerB presses start and sees under "Players in <Worldname>": their own username (expected), and the PlayerB (1) - not expected
PlayerA presses start and sees under "Players in <Worldname>" and sees 3 total entries: 2 instances of PlayerB as well as PlayerB (1) - not expected
This sounds the same to me as those explaining their experience with Realms.
Please note - it is expected that the additional split screen players may show as guests with a (1) next to the name and not their gamertag, but they should still have their player data (eg inventory).
If you mean that this is a new behavior which is expected since 1.21.90 all I can say is, that seems like a strange change. Why obfuscate second player’s gamertag? If you mean that this is considered normal behavior, I can tell you it is not based on the last year and a half we’ve been playing on my BDS from Nintendo Switch in split screen mode.
Thanks for your attention on this! Hoping it can be resolved soon.
I can’t tell what may have been fixed in 1.21.93. The original problem still persists on my Nintendo Switch conneting to my bedrock dedicated server. A player who joins via split screen is added to the game as a guest instead of their normal account/character/login.
Our Nintendo Switch 1 recieved the 1.21.92 update today, but the problem persists. The first player connects to our Bedrock Dedicated Server (also updated to 1.21.92) and is correctly logged into their microsoft account, but when a second player is added via split screen, they’re connected as some sort of guest with a name lke first_players_name (1).
Also intersting, the second player’s “pause” screen shows 3 connections all with the first player’s name. The first player’s “pause” screen shows only 2.
I tried resetting the switch from it’s power options menu, which is a workaround for MCPE-190628, but that did not seem to help here.
Also affected by this. We set up a bedrock dedicated server and the boys connect from a single Nintendo Switch using split screen. This was a very cool setup. Symptom is exactly as others have described. The second person, who tries to initiate the split screen view, looks like they’re about to join with the screen splitting and the green loading bar appearing, but the game then reverts to single-player.
In case it’s helpful for finding/fixing the bug, I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Minecraft on the Switch, which fixed the issue for a limited time before the issue resurfaced. Before that I had also tried repeatedly reconnecting the second player which also seemed to work randomly a few times with some persistance.
I don’t think I’ve tried resetting the Switch as others have suggested here, but will try that next since it seems a simpler workaround.
I appreciate the info from GreasyBat. Nintendo Switch is why I'm here, and the information is relevant. It would presumably take quite a few fixes to address the entire scope of problems that this issue documents.
The changelog cites this issue:
https://feedback.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/29937458432397-Minecraft-Beta-Preview-1-21-40-20
I also recently noticed this on the Switch.
It does seem plausible that there’s something different about a split screen login on Xbox vs. other consoles. Minecraft has to associate nintendo users with their minecraft login locally on the device, presumably in the user-specific save data, since there’s no external association between their nintendo account and minecraft account. In the case of Xbox, connecting to online services on the console might be the same thing as logging into their minecraft account. Maybe there’s a whole step for connecting split screen which is skipped in the Xbox case. If true, that seems like a reasonable first guess about where the bug is…