[PSA] Be sure to connect your PSTV online regularly, or it will mess up your trophies!

[Doppelgangergang]

Crossposted from PSForums.

 

Modern Playstations (PS3, PS4, Vita, PSTV) actually have two clocks. One clock is visible and can be adjusted by the user, and another hidden "DRM Clock" that is synced to PSN servers. The hidden DRM clock controls which games and content expire (usually used to expire free Plus games) and controls the Trophy Timestamps.

 

Usually, unplugging a console causes it to fall back onto it's internal backup battery. This keeps the two clocks running. However, the Playstation TV does not have an internal battery and thus both the visible clock and the DRM clock is lost a few moments after you pull the plug.

 

Upon restoring power to the PSTV, you will be asked to set the visible clock. This does not set the DRM clock. Usually, the PSTV signs in and syncs it's DRM clock to the server, but I didn't have internet available at that time so I played EDF 2017 anyway. When I returned home and the PSTV synced, I noticed that a few trophies now have missing timestamps and displaced my first ever Warhawk Trophy.

 

 

 

So anyway, if you care about your trophies having proper time stamps, be cautious of the PSTV. Make sure to keep it connected to the internet, set with the proper time. And if it gets disconnected from the power, make sure to set the clock, sign it in on PSN, then repeatedly sync your trophies before even firing up a game.

 

Because once a trophy with missing timestamps is earned, and it syncs to your account, it stays there forever.

 

[NotAFoxAnymore]

That sucks /: good to know though, thanks for sharing

[DaivRules]

I don't power my PSTV up often, but my usual routine is to sync trophies before playing anyway. I never would have found this out until it was possibly too late.

 

Thanks for the heads up!

[ShadeSplit]

I just started using one. Thank you for the warning.

[Super-Fly Spider-Guy]

I'm using mine now for the first time in a few months, very rarely turn it on. Always sync up my stuff anyways because of the gap between plays. Cheers for the heads up.

[Satoshi Ookami]

This is a very good info. I don't have it yet, but I do plan to get it eventually so this is good to know.

If you always sync before unplugging the Vita TV could this bug happen?

[Doppelgangergang]

This is a very good info. I don't have it yet, but I do plan to get it eventually so this is good to know.

If you always sync before unplugging the Vita TV could this bug happen?

 

It's not actually a software bug, it's a limitation of the PSTV itself. The PSTV doesn't have a tiny backup battery inside it so the clock that timestamps the trophies are lost when you unplug it. The PS3 and PS4 use tiny batteries to keep their clocks, so they are not affected by this issue. (And the Vita has a nonremovable battery, so it never loses the clock)

 

Syncing before unplugging is not going to help, as you will lose the clock you sync after you unplug it.

[StrickenBiged]

I vote to sticky this, as a lot of people care very much about their timestamps and would find OP useful.

[Doppelgangergang]

It seems my Vita has not yet synced to PSN and thus don't have the Missing Timestamp trophies. I put my Vita in flight mode and now retrying to earn the trophies that have missing timestamps.

 

My theory is that I hope earning trophies with timestamp will override the ones without timestamps. I hope.

 

I'll update if anything.

[ScutumMagister]

I'm curious as to what proof there is that this is actually true. I ask because going by this I should have had to reset my clock after plugging my PS TV back in after not using it for close to 2 months, which I didn't have to, and when I unlocked Legendary Gardener in Nier on my original PSN ID the timestamp should have synced to the moment I unlocked it, which it didn't, instead of to the exact moment I synced the trophies with the PSN server as it did.

Edited August 28, 2015 by ScutumMagister

[Doppelgangergang]

I'm curious as to what proof there is that this is actually true. I ask because going by this I should have had to reset my clock after plugging my PS TV back in after not using it for close to 2 months, which I didn't have to, and when I unlocked Legendary Gardener in Nier on my original PSN ID the timestamp should have synced to the moment I unlocked it, which it didn't, instead of to the exact moment I synced the trophies with the PSN server as it did.

 

Did you have an internet connection? the system might have synced automatically.

 

As for the legitness of the issue I described, I did have broken timestamps on my profile after I did what I described. You are free to attempt to reproduce the issue, but only if you are OK with potentially adding Missing Timestamp trophies on your PSN Profile.

 

As for the PSTV having no batteries, you can see the teardown of the front and back of the circuit board. Neither a Lithium Battery or a rechargeable NiMH cell is present.

 

As for the trophies, I managed to pop the affected trophies on my Vita and they have timestamps. Crossing fingers and syncing...

 

EDIT: ARGH. IT DIDN'T WORK!

Edited August 28, 2015 by Doppelgangergang