Family Share issue - improperly resolved by Rare

  • GuybrushCrpWood
    Master
    Insider

    Hello folks,

    I've been having issues using the family share feature (which is a legitimate feature of the Microsoft Store / Xbox service, and allows you to a share a game with members of your family). We can play together, but every fifteen minutes a game crashes for every additional player.

    I set up a ticket, and was told specifically by Rare that we would need to buy multiple copies of the game. This would, in fact, seem to contradict the actual terms made available by the Microsoft Store service.

    I'm curious - is anybody else having this problem, or found solutions? And if Rare continues to ignore the actual service that's supposed to be available to Microsoft customers, who do I report it to next?

    Cheers!

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  • Disease26
    Marauder
    Founder

    @guybrushcrpwood my understanding of the family share was that members of your family could use the xbox live gold features but only if they login on the console designated as the "home" console.
    digital games have a licence for the home console and a licence for the gamertag that made the purchase so I have my wife/ kids login to the 'home' xbox and play, whilst I login to a second xbox and we've had no game crashes.. hope this helps?

  • KELBIN0
    Master
    Insider

    I bought the game digitally on the 24th and have yet to start a session. Mine and my husband's games both freeze on the "Opening Crew Ledger" loading screen or right after we hit 'A' to set sail. I have our old Xbox One set as my home so he has access and I try to play on our brand new One S. It doesn't matter if we try to play together or solo, it keeps happening. I've been hopeful after every update that the issue would be fixed but am always disappointed. I've made over 5 support request tickets throughout this time with no solution given other than a generic response. I finally got fed up and requested a refun today. We're going to try to play together via Game Pass bc people seem to be having more luck. I don't know when they'll get around to fixing it.

    But, like you said, it sucks because the family share is legit, provided by Microsoft, who now owns Rare, I believe... but they aren't too hasty about solving this problem.

  • Disease26
    Marauder
    Founder

    @darnedkelbishea sounds very odd, have you tried playing solo on your home console? would be interesting to see if you can connect at all.

    also have you and husband been able to play other games fine with the sharing feature?

  • KnifeLife
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @guybrushcrpwood I game share and havent had any of these issues what so ever. There has never been a game where i have had to "Buy" it again or my gameshare partner has to play. I doubt Sea of Thieves is the exeption.

    I suppose the only things i can think of are:
    Are you both on console? Im not sure if it works on PC.
    And
    Do you own the game through gamepass or digital copy?

    For me personally, Me and my game share partner both have a console and i bought the digital copy.

  • Cast1IIo
    Seafarer

    Me and my brothers also have this problem, but the funniest thing is, now it crashes for those who have the game purchased on their accounts as well.

    Yesterday my game got grey screen then just closed when I had just finished an skull fort, today again, same situation, about to finish skull fort and out of the blue, grey screen followed by the game closing, no error prompt, and I was playing alone, nobody else using my shared game license.

    We don't know what to do anymore, can't play the game using family share, can't play the game after purchasing it.

  • dyfrin
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    I would need more details to test this out.

    What I have working right now.
    1 purchase of game, 1 gold subscription:
    2 xboxs and PC playing all 3 different accounts.

    My primary account on the non home xbox, the home xbox played by just anyone, and the windows 10 pc being logged in as a member of the family in microsoft's family accounts. They all 3 work at once.

    I will be testing further PC log ins when I get the downstairs pc going.

  • KELBIN0
    Master
    Insider

    I owned the game digitally and my husband and I were trying to play on our Xbox One and Xbox One S. I tried switching around which Xbox I had set as my home... tried playing solo and together and could never get past hitting 'A' to set sail.

    I got a refund the other day so we could try playing strictly on GamePass, sharing my subscription. Just tried this out earlier this evening and still having the same issue. I set one as my home and played on that one with my primary account. I even tried playing with neither set as my home and still nothing. I think we're just going to throw in the towel and try again later down the road. I'm not about to even try paying for two Xbox live and GamePass memberships to play one game with my husband.

  • KELBIN0
    Master
    Insider

    Just want to clarify that I tried playing solo on GamePass without having any kind of sharing allowed and still couldn't get in. This was after I uninstalled and reinstalled.

  • MrBrocksEgo
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @guybrushcrpwood My GF and I have been sharing the game without issues for the most part. Only problem I had was with my computer (where I play) auto connecting to the xbox and signing her out. Once I disconnected that part of it we've had no problems.

    There are however only two of us playing, I'm not sure about the full rules MS has for that but I remember sony used to cap theirs at 3 or 4 people MS may do the same. Maybe at 2

  • GuybrushCrpWood
    Master
    Insider

    @mrbrocksego

    Basically, we've discovered that the system works fine for two. Both on PC, both windows 10, both play together with no issues.

    Add a third or a fourth party, and the game crashes.

    I've been repeatedly told that the system is only designed for two, however a) why does the system allow multiple parties to work (to an extent), b) why is there a reddit thread with multiple people saying they've used the same microsoft share system for other games with up to 10 people, and c) why did a Rare employee get back to me saying they're aware of the issue and intend to update in the future?

    If the system is working as intended (i.e. any more than 2 and you crash), then why is Rare claiming it's a bug and also claiming that they're looking into it?

    In short ... I don't actually think anybody really knows how the system is supposed to work...

  • TtargetPractice

    I don't think the crashing issue is related to the family sharing, unless the crash returns an error indicating that it's due to licensing issues. If there was a license issue I don't think the game would even start. Are you all connected through the same network in the same house?

  • MrBrocksEgo
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @guybrushcrpwood I could potentially see the system on microsofts end defaulting to two people, but the devs being able to alter that number in some fashion since they're first party. It is however probably going to be a bit messy since it'll have to go through the microsoft side (I've heard horror stories of their internet process).

  • GuybrushCrpWood
    Master
    Insider

    @ttargetpractice

    Nope. Me and my brother play from separate houses, and my other brother plays from his own house.

    The game works fine with me and one bro. Add in a third, and they both start crashing every fifteen minutes (almost exactly fifteen minutes too).

  • TtargetPractice

    @guybrushcrpwood When you say crash, do you mean the game closes and they get sent to the desktop with no message or is there an error that comes along with it? Can they start the game right back up with no problem or message?

    Is it correct that you, when logged in to the account which owns the game, never crash like they do? If so, you could maybe try having a brother log in as you, and you log in as him, to see if the problem is account/license related. If it is a problem with the account and not something else, you would crash while logged in as bro and bro would not crash while logged in as you.

  • GuybrushCrpWood
    Master
    Insider

    @ttargetpractice That's a fair point - I'm not sure how they crash, but I'll ask tomorrow. I believe they certainly don't get an error about licensing (otherwise they would have said it).

    I've never crashed so far!

  • TtargetPractice

    @guybrushcrpwood You guys should try swapping accounts to see if the one which owns the game still doesn't crash when logged into the machine of the ones who do typically crash. If you, on your machine, still don't crash while logged in as bro and bro does crash while logged in as you, it's probably not an account or licensing issue.

  • GuybrushCrpWood
    Master
    Insider

    @ttargetpractice I'm presuming at this point that it isn't.

    I opened one ticket, and was told to buy a copy of the game for each account. I believed this contradicted Microsoft policy, so I opened a second ticket stating as much ... Here's what I got.

    'Ahoy there,

    Our Test team is aware of this issue and are working on a solution. We hope to resolve this in a future update, can't provide an ETA.

    Thank you for your report!

    Regards,
    Sea of Thieves – Player Support'

    I take that as implying that issue is something known, rather than just a licensing problem!

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