Online ID change on PSN feature officially launches later today

[Jawmuncher]

Reading through the notes, this is REALLY made in mind with "you've only been playing on PS4". I'm surprised they didn't try to do something with the PS3 and Vita side of things. Straight up just having no access to stuff you bought is too much personally. I could get resetting of save data.

 

[TheChamp]

Should of just waited until PS5 honestly and allow you to set a PS5 ID on your PSN name

 

[Deleted member 12317]

List of games (so far) with "critical issues":

• Disc Jam
• Everybody's Golf
• Just Dance 2017
• LittleBigPlanet 3
• MLB The Show 14, 15, 16
• Onrush
• The Golf Club 2
• Worms Battlegrounds

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Onrush was released in June 2018, they say that games released after April 2018 should be fine, so one must be careful as some non-tested games published after that date might still have issues with ID change.

 

[Transistor]

Onrush was released in June 2018, they say that games released after April 2018 should be fine, so one must be careful as some non-tested games published after that date might still have issues with ID change.

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They probably built it with an older SDK or something. Likely a fringe case

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Wait wait wait wait, what's that about trophies?

I don't wanna lose my 123 platinums!

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You don't lose trophies you have earned, that's on Sony's PSN servers which they have changed to work with this feature.

You may get glitches with save files or trophy progress counters in games in games you haven't finished.

 

[L.O.R.D]

"Bloodborne™ (Issues Identified*)"

uhhh...NOPE

 

[AxeVince]

The drawbacks are so huge I don't see myself ever doing it, and I have wanted to change my name for the last 3years at least.
I can't understand how that is the way they chose to implement it.
An "umbrella" account that would have added a layer to have a "display name" would have probably needed more work but less problems with it.

 

[AngelOFDeath]

Those risks were always going to be the case due to the way the infrastructure was built. Sony explained this for years but the amount of pressure they got from people probably forced their hand and this is what you get.

Anyone who works with Windows NT Infrastructure should also be familiar with the way UPN/Aliases work and how a lot of systems don't like back-end/infrastructure changes when it comes to usernames.

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You sound like you know what you're talking about, could you further elaborate this? I don't care about name changes, I am just curious as to why this could break stuff

 

[Bright-Light]

We need a brave resetera pioneer to test this out and tell us what goes wrong?

 

[Bigkrev]

The MLB The Show games being on the critical issues list doesn't really surprise me- I'm guessing it has to do with the Road to the Show mode, where you can take your character created in one game and move it to the next years game. It's also something I doubt Sony has any intention of fixing- updating old sports games just isn't something that happens. The servers were shut down years ago (They usually keep MLB servers up for 3 years)

Everybody's Golf is depressing though

 

[cyba89]

Why does Onrush have critical issues when all games published after April 2018 were developed with that feature in mind?

 

[Netherscourge]

OK.

Now, can we get PSN account MERGERS since a lot of people went and created new accounts to change their names in the past? So we can combine our libraries into 1?

 

[Scarlet Spider]

We need a brave resetera pioneer to test this out and tell us what goes wrong?

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I'll do it.

 

[Kilic95]

You don't lose trophies you have earned, that's on Sony's PSN servers which they have changed to work with this feature.

You may get glitches with save files or trophy progress counters in games in games you haven't finished.

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ohhhh, awesome! thanks for clarifying!

 

[Sedated]

Those known issues are probably more of covering their asses in case something happens. Most people might most likely wont face issues. Lets see

 

[GJ]

I need to know what's up with BB, DS2 and DS3 before I jump in. Why don't they just tell us what the issues are per game?

 

[Transistor]

You sound like you know what you're talking about, could you further elaborate this? I don't care about name changes, I am just curious as to why this could break stuff

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I know you weren't talking to me, but I figured I'd try to answer anyways :)

Basically, every database has a primary key. A unique identifier for that row's information. Sony built the original PSN with the username as the primary key. So any game / save file / trophy that pulls up that user's stuff from the database uses the username to find it.

Now imagine you have an old save file that looks for your username and they've gone and changed your username in the database. That save wouldn't find it, wouldn't attribute it to your account, and wouldn't sync progress / trophy unlocks.

A smart DBO would have built a generic number as the primary key (which most databases actually do by default), and left the username as a generic (but unique) field that could be updated without issue. So the game would look to that user ID number and then just pull in the username from that field in the row.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Does it not work on mobile?

 

[Couscous]

Issues with Bloodborne doesn't sound good. :(

 

[AudioEppa]

OK.

Now, can we get PSN account MERGERS since a lot of people went and created new accounts to change their names in the past? So we can combine our libraries into 1?

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This would be nice.

 

[RoKKeR]

Gotta love that changing your name is like a game of Russian Roulette here.

 

[wideface]

Sure, I'm liking the odds.

 

[Transistor]

OK.

Now, can we get PSN account MERGERS since a lot of people went and created new accounts to change their names in the past? So we can combine our libraries into 1?

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I'd kill for that feature. Granted, of course they'd only allow it if the account was from the same region, but it would still be an amazing change.

They'd have to put in a lot of security measures, though. Otherwise that would be the new thing that account thieves would do.

 

[JigglesBunny]

• You may lose progress within games, including game saved data, leaderboard data, and progress towards Trophies.
• Parts of your game and applications may not function properly both online and offline.
• You may lose access to content (including paid-for content) that you may have acquired for your games including content like add-ons and virtual currency.

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Are you shitting me? Guess I'll stay xBattlefieIdx for another few years, not putting my data on the line just to get rid of an MLG Mountain Dew 360 no scope ass name.

 

[spindashing]

I have been waiting for this feature for years but there is no way in hell that I will do this with all the issues that relate to it.

 

[Remo Williams]

There are those who said this day would never come. What are they to say now (and what are their new PSN IDs)?

Seriously, both the old and the new system seem half-baked. Potental issues in some games aside, both your new ID and your old ones remain reserved? So you can basically reserve an unlimited number of IDs, providing you're willing to pay for them? People will have to get really creative with their IDs in the future.

 

[OrdinaryPrime]

The web browser doesn't work in Italy, there's no edit button.
EDIT: No option on PS4 too. Before announcing the option is live, they should just check the thing is really online.

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It doesn't launch in Europe until tomorrow.

 

[60fps]

LOL no fucking way am I risking this

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Yea. Glad I chose a proper name from the get go on PS3.

 

[Deleted member 18742]

Does anyone know what they did to their database to allow the name change? I would assume they added another column that stores the new ID lol? Since changing the primary key would cause catastrophic failure.

 

[Angst]

PS3 games aren't affected. The name change is only for PS4. PS3 and Vita online IDs remain the same as before

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wait is this true? Does that mean I can play my old PS3 games without worry? Im trophy hunting on PS3 right now.

 

[Kyuuji]

Anyone tried Apex Legends for losing micro transactions?

"Bloodborne™ (Issues Identified*)"

uhhh...NOPE

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Issues with Bloodborne doesn't sound good. :(

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They're not save issues fwiw:

• Previous online ID(s) may remain visible to you and other players, or the online ID is no longer visible in some areas in a game title (in-game rankings, leaderboards, etc). For some game titles, the online ID will automatically update if you sign out and then sign back in to the game or when various gameplay activity is performed after sign-in.
• User accounts on PlayStation may be unlinked from game accounts. Linking accounts again may restore the original linkage; and;
• Certain game settings may be initialized to their default state (audio setting, controller setting, etc). For some game titles, settings may be recovered if you sign out and then sign back in to the game.

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[Gradon]

wait is this true? Does that mean I can play my old PS3 games without worry? Im trophy hunting on PS3 right now.

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No, the name change is reflected in PS3 and Vita games:

For those asking about PS3 and Vita - the name change appears on them and in PS3 and Vita games too. I've yet to play a game that has shown my old PSN.

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Someone asked before if P.T. was lost. It is not.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

LOL no fucking way am I risking this

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This list should be in the OP.

 

[Transistor]

Anyone tried Apex Legends for losing micro transactions?

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Apex was released this year, so it will have zero issues

 

[klastical]

I don't see why name changes are so important/requested, other than specific circumstances.

Other than that, people should live with the shame of their all IDs.

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Because people who made shitty names when they were 13 are now young professionals and dont want to tell there coworkers that there username is bonerjamz69.

 

[show me your skeleton]

i wonder if there's any way forward from this, do new accounts use some other, better database structure that means they won't run in to issues in the future? i wonder what changes they made to their sdk to 'ensure' games after 01/04/18 would work? i'm fascinated, not that i'll understand any of it.

 

[.exe]

I can't wrap my head around why they didn't implement it as a display name versus login name, just like Nintendo and Steam accounts. There must be a good reason they don't disentangle the two, right.

 

[Porky]

You sound like you know what you're talking about, could you further elaborate this? I don't care about name changes, I am just curious as to why this could break stuff

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I know you weren't talking to me, but I figured I'd try to answer anyways :)

Basically, every database has a primary key. A unique identifier for that row's information. Sony built the original PSN with the username as the primary key. So any game / save file / trophy that pulls up that user's stuff from the database uses the username to find it.

Now imagine you have an old save file that looks for your username and they've gone and changed your username in the database. That save wouldn't find it, wouldn't attribute it to your account, and wouldn't sync progress / trophy unlocks.

A smart DBO would have built a generic number as the primary key (which most databases actually do by default), and left the username as a generic (but unique) field that could be updated without issue. So the game would look to that user ID number and then just pull in the username from that field in the row.

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To add to this...

In Windows NT/AD - the user has a UPN (primary key) and an Alias. When the account is created, these are normally the same. However, if a user was to get married/divorced etc. and requested their name to be changed, Windows does not like changing the UPN as permissions/security groups/DLs are all attached to that so usually SysAds will change the Alias.

However, the user still will normally have to log in/authenticate using their old UPN.

With this announcement, PSN is most likely not changing your username but granting it an Alias. Which means, depending on what the game does with your PSN ID in terms of profiles/saving/progress etc. they will behave differently upon encountering a mismatched Alias/Primary Key.

Hope that makes sense - I had to mix together some terminology.

 

[Angst]

You don't lose trophies you have earned, that's on Sony's PSN servers which they have changed to work with this feature.

You may get glitches with save files or trophy progress counters in games in games you haven't finished.

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You're 100 percent on this yes? Even with old PS3 titles? I really don't want to lose my PS3/Vita trophies :/

 

[Syysch]

This list should be in the OP.

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The list of identified games with critical issues is surprisingly small. You're not going to run into that stuff for the vast majority of games.

 

[Butterworth]

Finally

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

The list of identified games with critical issues is surprisingly small. You're not going to run into that stuff for the vast majority of games.

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Interesting. Any issues with big name titles yet? Fortnite/Apex microtransactions, etc?

 

[Art Vandelay]

Kinda lame your old online ID will always belong to you. There are about to be no available names lmao. Decent names are already scarce.

 

[Angst]

I basically never play online and am mostly concerned about losing my trophies or being unable to earn new trophies from older games (dont care if I have to delete a save)

Do you guys think I'm safe to change?

 

[Deleted member 1627]

Tomorrow for Europe.

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Welp that explains why I can't find the option. My name will likely be taken by then :(

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Also, what time will this be available? No edit button on my profile yet.

 

[Magicraft]

I was really waiting for this feature and I'm very excited to change my name finally but the potential save/trophy loss is really making me hold back. I think I'll do the wait and see approach.

 

[Syysch]

Interesting. Any issues with big name titles yet? Fortnite/Apex microtransactions, etc?

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No, there's only potential problems for games that released before april of last year. Everyone since then has been following new guidelines to not encounter these problems for when Sony made this change.

 

[Yu Narukami]

This is a good opportunity for idiots to spoil Avengers.

 

[Montresor]

Wow with the risks that are outlined you may as well say that name changing doesn't exist then.