Signing up for newsletter deactivates all owned DLCs

[Recondite]

I own all the DLCs except the newest Contact Pack. Upon updating the game and testing to see if the new encounters worked in an old world (they do), all of my DLCs were working just fine. Remembered the Flush cockpit, so I exited to main menu and (re-)signed-up for the newsletter, and then reloaded the same game - and now all of my DLCs are broken; can't select or place any of the DLC blocks (even the ones that are still on my hotbars from before).

No mods.

Tried restarting the game, starting up a new save, switching to creative mode, deactivating then reactivating DLCs through Steam to reinstall them, verifying all game files, and just now finished a fresh reinstall - no change.

All DLCs are all still broken and inaccessible.

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, you may try the pinned Workaround(s), it's all the first things to do when having game problems, also contains solutions shared by players able to fix all sorts of problems.

Start by doing #1 + #2 + #3 to see if that can fix, in that link :

Forum/Community workaround(s) 📌
https://steamcommunity.com/app/244850/discussions/6/3464975177698306889/


___________

+ Report to the SE Devs if you can't fix.

How to have a SE Programmer working for you for free :

-> Click "Submit Bug" or "Request help" on the Support Portal to have a SE Programmer testing the bug for you and be able to chat with you.

https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers/pc
(create "Bug report" or "Request help"(Private) or "Feedback"(Petition) on the Portal)

Ref.:
Support Portal - Bugs & Feedback Pin 📌
https://steamcommunity.com/app/244850/discussions/1/3267935171632912836/

[Recondite]

Already done, as indicated in OP.

[Dan2D3D]

Looks like you will have to contact the ones working on the game if #1 + #2 + #3 from the Forum/Community workaround(s) is not working.

[Dan2D3D]

Recondite, another player having similar problem said that he had to do a fresh installation of the game and he had to use the steps shared in the Forum/Community workaround(s) Pin I gave you :

Safe steps
Try fresh install of the game IF still not working :

1 - Backup Saves and Blueprints, copy/paste to USB storage key or else.
Saves and Blueprints are here :
Hit the Windows key + R and type in : %appdata%\SpaceEngineers
Goes to the SpaceEngineers folder
C: users / your username / appdata / roaming / spaceengineers

2 - Uninstall the game with Steam.
3 - Delete all remaining SE folders/files in the Steam folder.
4 - Delete all remaining SE folders/files in the appdata SE on your C: Drive.
5 - Restart PC.
6 - Install Space Engineers game.

7 - Create a new No Mods/No Plugins world, load to create a new Blueprint (a few blocks will do), save and exit the world.

-> We do so (#7 above) to have the Saves and Bluepints folders created new.

Online World saves goes here :
C:\Users\ (your username) \AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\Saves\ (Your Steam ID)
Local Blueprints goes here :
C:\Users\ (your username) \AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\Blueprints\local

[Recondite]

I've already tried that.

I also installed both Steam and SE on a backup machine that has never had either installed, and the issue persists.

Something about resubscribing to the newsletter must have tried to change the way my account's DLC entitlements are being routed through Steam, and broke something in the process. (E.g. now the client is trying to check that I'm subscribed to the newsletter before checking that I've bought the DLCs, and the first check succeeds - but then prevents the second check from ever occurring).

Definitely a bug.

[Dan2D3D]

Good to know, I will not resub to newsletter, thanks for sharing.

+ Don't forget to let the SE Programmers know right away so we can have the hotfix asap.

[Dan2D3D]

I will paste in the other discussion where the player was able to fix, since the same Bug that you can add in your Portal Bug report to show them it happens to other players.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/244850/discussions/0/4700160821458265746/

[Grave]

Just checking in to say I am another player experiencing this and have also tried steps. Hopefully it is fixed soon.

[Recondite]

Updating with my workaround (not a proper fix) for those others who are experiencing this problem:

---

I have *temporarily* worked around (NOT FIXED) this problem on my own using the following two steps, which together effectively revert the newsletter subscription and then allow the Flush Cockpit to be accessed without it:

1. Edit the SubscriptionReward key within SpaceEngineers.cfg, changing

   <Value xsi:type="xsd:string">True</Value>

   to

   <Value xsi:type="xsd:string">False</Value>

   This effectively un-subscribes you from the newsletter as far as the SE client is concerned. (This is the step that actually provides the workaround to the bug itself. At this point, my DLCs started working normally again, as they had before subscribing to the newsletter post-update).
   
   
   
2. Open CubeBlocks_Control.sbc in a text editor, scroll to the very bottom, and scan up from there (about 5 or 6 lines) until you see the following line listed in the "Flush Cockpit" code block

   <NewsletterSubscriptionNeeded>true</NewsletterSubscriptionNeeded>

   then change its value to

   <NewsletterSubscriptionNeeded>false</NewsletterSubscriptionNeeded>

   
   This allows the Flush Cockpit to be used in-game without subscribing to the newsletter, which is required to use the block alongside the workaround to the bug.

The fact that this workaround is successful is a clear indication that some aspect of the newsletter-subscription-verification or otherwise -implementation process is responsible for the bug.

My initial educated guess is that some additional layer of new DRM or analytics was added to the newsletter subscription, and that addition (whatever it may be) is the root of the problem. My suggestion to the devs is to revert whatever backend change was made to this feature set in the Contact update.

[Dan2D3D]

I think it's worth let them know so go for the Portal Report.

ME = I was lucky.
I waited till today and I did it while in my creative mode world; hit Esc, clicked the "Sign up for the newsletter" buttion, added my Email, checked the 2 boxes, clicked the "Ok" button and the cockpit got unlocked.

[Recondite]

They should have it =) I copied that from the info I just sent 'em in my support ticket.

Glad to hear your DLCs still work!

[Thomas 6376]

I don't have the SpaceEngineers.cfg

[Recondite]

Originally posted by Thomas 6376:

I don't have the SpaceEngineers.cfg

If you've installed and run the game at least once, it should be located in ...users\(your_username)\appdata\roaming\spaceengineers\

(You can copy and paste this into your file explorer path/navigation field to go right there if you want:)

 %appdata%\spaceengineers

[SixXx]

Has this problem been fixed? I wanna grab the newsletter DLC but not if its gonna break my game or make me do a ton of work lol

[Recondite]

Originally posted by SixXx:

Has this problem been fixed? I wanna grab the newsletter DLC but not if its gonna break my game or make me do a ton of work lol

It has not been fixed - nor even officially acknowledged yet. I'd recommend doing the workaround above for now so you can still access the newsletter DLC without taking the risk.