Playing on multiple different consoles at the same time

[xnclout]

Hi, looking for some clarification on the Playing Multiple Consoles rules in the flag list.

 

It mentions the following is flaggable:

Using multiple PlayStations to simultaneously play a single [one] game title, at the same time, on the same PSN account. This includes:

• One person launching the same game on multiple PlayStations and earning trophies in an impossible manner, if compared to a single console.
• Multiple people "teaming" together at the same time on a specific game title, all under one account, if compared to a single person.

 

And the following is Not flaggable (currently allowed):

Playing Multiple Consoles* - Playing on multiple different consoles at the same time, as long as they’re different games, is allowed (e.g. you can play a PS4 game and Vita game simultaneously).

 

 

Usually I play multiple consoles simultaneously, with one game on the PS4 (normally Gems of War, sometimes Genshin depending on what other games I'm working on), and something else on the PS5. Since this comes under the different games rule, I don't see an issue with doing this.

 

What I'd like to know is: I was thinking of doing "Life is Strange: True Colors". Normally I'd play the PS5 version before the stacking the PS4 version on a speedrun. But due to the nature of this game, if the previous games in the series are any indication (the slowish pace, amount of cut scenes, waiting around etc.), to save myself time, I was thinking to primarily play the PS5 version on the PS5, and the PS4 version at the same time on PS4 mimicking whatever I did on the PS5. Would this be flaggable or not? Given it's 2 different versions of a game. I did also see in the Reporting guide that PS5 games are currently not reportable, so dunno how that also affects this scenario.

 

I suppose more generally, if a game has multiple trophy stacks, due to different console versions, regions, etc., then do titles with different stacks count as different titles/games, and that is sufficient to come under the Not Flaggable rule?

[NamoPh]

The intent of the rule is specifically to forbid situations where for example you would run several playthroughs at the same time of a game that requires multiple playthroughs. Like running the good and evil playthrough of Infamous to half the completion time. Different stacks of a game that don't interact with each other do not fall under the rule.

Edited March 28, 2023 by NamoPh

[Smashero]

49 minutes ago, xnclout said:

What I'd like to know is: I was thinking of doing "Life is Strange: True Colors". Normally I'd play the PS5 version before the stacking the PS4 version on a speedrun. But due to the nature of this game, if the previous games in the series are any indication (the slowish pace, amount of cut scenes, waiting around etc.), to save myself time, I was thinking to primarily play the PS5 version on the PS5, and the PS4 version at the same time on PS4 mimicking whatever I did on the PS5. Would this be flaggable or not? Given it's 2 different versions of a game. I did also see in the Reporting guide that PS5 games are currently not reportable, so dunno how that also affects this scenario

That's totally fine. Did it many times with Japanese VNs "playing" on PSV and PS3/PS4 version at the simultaneously to save the time, while using same guide.
@NamoPh explained which case is flaggable. 

[xnclout]

That sounds great, thanks for explaining

[DaivRules]

5 hours ago, xnclout said:

I was thinking to primarily play the PS5 version on the PS5, and the PS4 version at the same time on PS4 mimicking whatever I did on the PS5. 

For clarity for people later:

 

“at the same time” should be read literally. Two consoles on, with the controllers going simultaneously, not the way you’d be playing: switching back and forth between consoles. 
 

[maisie666]

On 3/28/2023 at 3:57 AM, DaivRules said:

For clarity for people later:

 

“at the same time” should be read literally. Two consoles on, with the controllers going simultaneously, not the way you’d be playing: switching back and forth between consoles. 
 

Hi Daiv, another qn, what about using a 2nd vita to make a second backup file as well as the ps+ cloud save?

 

I d be saving to Cloud from Vita TV, then transferring save file to Vita handheld.  Then using cloud to scumsave my vita tv save file, and once its the way i like it, tranferring the vita handheld data back to cloud to use as the cloud save file.  No trophies would be popped on the handheld, as its just for storage.  Then start popping trophies from Vita TV data, followed by downloading from cloud to do a different trophy.  Normally i d just use a usb drive to get a 2nd save file on ps4, but its not so easy on Vita.

 

There are no sequential trophies so nothing will be out of order, but it might look odd as it uses more than one Backup save.

 

Would it run afoul of this?  All trophies would be popped, and all save data generated on the Vita TV.  

 

Timestamp Synchronization Manipulation

Trophies should appear on your profile as they would “if they immediately synced to the PlayStation Network.” Do not manipulate timestamps by:

• Deletion of un-synced trophies earned, via a PlayStation System Restore (formatting data), followed by using your backed up save-game data. 
• Transferring save-game data between multiple PlayStation systems without synchronizing data on them before resuming play.

I might be being overly cautious, but i don t want to make a mistake and have to hide a game.

 

thanks

[DaivRules]

14 minutes ago, maisie666 said:

what about using a 2nd vita to make a second backup file as well as the ps+ cloud save?

Save scumming is fine, even between Vitas/Vita TVs, as long as you sync any trophy pops as they happen. The part you bolded is saying don’t pop trophies on a save, not sync the trophies, then load the save on another console to pop the trophies. That’s Timestamp Synchronization Manipulation. 
 

[J-S_93]

4 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

Save scumming is fine, even between Vitas/Vita TVs, as long as you sync any trophy pops as they happen. The part you bolded is saying don’t pop trophies on a save, not sync the trophies, then load the save on another console to pop the trophies. That’s Timestamp Synchronization Manipulation. 
 

It seems save scumming can be a very fine line flagging wise, and I fear there will be flags for this harmless practice if someone deems something out of order that they haven't researched properly, and something that can easily be explained.

Example, InFamous Second Son.  Years ago, I had a hard mode save that I initially started the game on; went in RAW straight away, but found it difficult at a certain point, so played the game on a new second easy save and started again, with the hard mode save backed up to USB or Cloud; I forget, so I could play the game again casually to learn the game at an easier pace, and did the good and evil stuff out of order depending on how I felt, so not playing by just good or evil play-through norms, and went totally bi-polar with it, and maybe missed a Trophy or so for that, and then went back to clean it up at a later time - and, I'm sure there are many games and gamers with situations like this where someone could unfairly be flagged for a normal way to tackle a game.  I did the game over a long period of years, so it took me a long time to finish it -- but I'm just curious what happens in situations like that? I wasn't flagged, but I'm curious if something similar has ever come up before, where someone got flagged because they tackled a game in the way that they wanted, which can easily be explained for being out of the typical order?

[DaivRules]

1 minute ago, J-S_93 said:

situations like this where someone could unfairly be flagged for a normal way to tackle a game.

That’s not a situation that would get flagged. People could try and report it if they don’t understand, but the Cheater Removers know enough about what you’re describing that they don’t convert those reports to flags. And if one slipped through, all someone would need to do is dispute and there’s plenty of people who would post in support pretty quickly that it’s possible. 
There’s only a couple disputes I can think of with some low player count games where what you’re describing would apply and the flags were lifted after someone explained how the timestamps were possible.