Created by a backer, for the backers and CIG employees, the Session Council is for use with Star Citizen and other products by CIG.
The Session Council was created separate from CIG. Additional forms may be added in the future.
The main purpose in this is to help make life a little bit easier for the backers and CIG to keep track of bugs. Reports created here go directly to the recipient that submits the information and can be referenced while reporting issues on the Issue Council, the PleaseFix site, and any other forms provided by CIG.
The Session Council form is available on its own page on this site and as a separate page.
Expand the sections below for more information.
The Issue Council is a useful tool for reporting individual issues. There was a need to be able to record multiple issues within a single session, so the Session Council was created with the purpose of being used as a supplementary tool alongside the Issue Council.
The Session Council provides a guided method of compiling information and steps surrounding any or all issues encountered in one session. The Session Council is an Issue Session Container, in that issues for a session are contained, to be followed with creating reports or contributing to existing reports using the Issue Council.
While the Issue Council may be the internal working engine of the reporting process, the Session Council may be seen as an external containerized conduit from which issues may be gathered and then transferred to the Issue Council for CIG.
Defining one session:
For the purposes of Session Council, one session is defined as containing any of the sections listed below that pertain to the components of products being tested at one time. This could potentially include everything from the websites and web apps to the RSI Launcher, deploying into AC, launching into the PU, any or all of the activities in those modes, and the different ways of exiting from those environments, either intentional or via crash.
It is important to note, and this will be reiterated throughout the form:
Skip anything that does not apply to the current session.
The input provided in Issue Council may include details like system specs, peripherals, and versions of software. There is no need to include most of those details in Session Council submissions. Screenshots and videos still need to be submitted via Issue Council. Session Council is simply a complimentary resource.
The Session Council is organized into sections, from preparing for a session to summarizing it.
Each submission is intended to be completed and a new one started each time there is a crash or relog.
To reiterate, skip any parts of any sections that do not apply to the current session.
Session Council Sections:
Section 1: Prepare for the Session - tips to assist with the session
Section 2: Initial Session Information - for reference later with Issue Council
Section 3: Website & Launcher - web pages, web apps, RSI Launcher
Section 4: Menu & Launch - SC menu, launch environment (LIVE, PTU, etc.), then PU or AC
Section 5: Session Activities - activities in either the PU or AC
Section 6: Type of Exit - method of exit from environment and launcher
Section 7: Summary of Session - additional information, final input on session
Some sections contain a lot of information, so each has a separate page. The Next and Back buttons may be used to navigate the form as needed.
Keep in mind that CIG may change any products at any time. An "Encountered other issues" option is available and especially useful for issue categories not already listed and for when CIG change products. Please refer directly to CIG and the RSI site for those updates and take them into consideration when using the Session Council.
Basic Steps:
Select features/content presenting with issues during the session.
Input reproduction steps, what happened and should have happened, and workaround.
Skip anything in the section that does not apply to the current session.
There will obviously be some redundancy between Session Council and Issue Council, in that reproduction steps may be entered twice. It is necessary to compile the information and record it in one Session Council report prior to creating or contributing to one or more Issue Council reports.
The way in which the information is recorded in the Session Council is entirely up to the user. The reproduction steps may follow the same format or simply be a brief summary of what happened with each issue to serve as a reminder for when it is time to post in the Issue Council.
To reiterate, several parts of the Session Council may be skipped. Only record encounters with issues.
The sections allow for covering all the bases, so only the relevant ones are needed per session.
If experiencing a crash or need to relog, complete the form, then start a new one before going back in.
Detailed Steps:
Provide an email address* to receive Session Council reports.
Proceed to next page, tips are provided to prepare for the session.
Next page, provide initial session information for reference later.
Next, select options that present with issues during the session.
Input reproduction steps, outcomes, any applicable workarounds.
Skip anything that does not apply to the current session.
Repeat steps 4.-6. for all relevant parts and sections of each session.
If crash or relog, complete report, start new one for the next session.
Check email for completed Session Council report(s).
Refer to each report to create or contribute to Issue Council reports.
The steps are optional. Ultimately, it is up to the user in how to use the form.
*An email address is required so the completed reports can be delivered. If opting to not receive reports, a fake email address may be inserted. Services are available online that generate fake email addresses. In this case, navigate with the Next and Back buttons to refer to the details while using the Issue Council. Unless signed in via Google, which is not required, input will be lost after closing the tab or window.
Issue Council advanced search options:
After completing a Session Council report and while checking Issue Council for existing reports, it may be easy to miss related Issue Code (IC) reports. For that reason, it will help to use the available Issue Council advanced search features to determine if it will be necessary to contribute to an existing report or to create a new one.
From the Issue Council search page, setting the "Status" filter to "Open", "Confirmed", or "Under Investigation" will omit archived and fixed ICs*. If a report already exists but it was created during an older version or a different environment, do not create a new report; contribute to the same report and specify the newer version and environment.
*Regarding fixed ICs, CIG staff posted a topic addressing communications and status updates in Spectrum. The post mentions backers still experiencing issues after ICs have been marked as fixed and explains that the issues have been fixed, although the fixes may not have been merged into recent builds. The post also mentions that it is unknown which future patch will contain the fixes, and that CIG staff are working on refining the pipeline.
The following information comes from the RSI Knowledge Base (KB).
Search operators:
Name: Exact
Character: Quotations
Symbol: "
Example: "ship"
Description: This shows reports that specifically contain the exact term at least once.
Name: Exclude
Character: Hyphen
Symbol: -
Example: -ship
Description: This only shows report that do not contain the term.
Name: Prefix
Character: Asterisk
Symbol: *
Example: ship*
Description: This shows reports that have words in them that start with the term.
Name: Variation
Character: Tilde
Symbol: ~
Example: hanger~
Description: This shows reports that contain terms similar to the term.
Name: And
Character: Plus
Symbol: +
Example: ship + destroy
Description: This shows reports that contain both terms.
Name: Or
Character: Vertical Pipe
Symbol: |
Example: ship | vehicle
Description: This is a more explicit way to ensure each term on either side of the operator is checked for.
Name: Prioritize
Character: Parenthesis
Symbols: ( )
Example: (ship | vehicle) + destroy
Description: Used to determine order of operations.
Searching Issue Codes and builds by unique identifier type:
STARC-5* IC numbers refer to reports submitted by backers.
STARC-1* IC numbers refer to reports CIG staff have determined to be duplicates.
"9201935" (or another build number) with Fixed filter should list related reports.
The RSI KB article provides steps on what to include in the search:
Item, asset, or person affected. Example: ( ship* | vehicle* | "spirit" )
Event that occurs. Example: ( explo* | destr* )
Where and/or when it occurs. Example: ( hangar~ | land* | tak* )
Combine all 3 parts with the plus symbol to create the query:
( ship* | vehicle* | "spirit" ) + ( explo* | destr* ) + ( hangar~ | land* | tak* )
Search
The query may return a report title similar to this:
Spirit C1 exploded when trying to land in a hangar
Search query simplified: thing(s) + event(s) + where/when.
The RSI KB has more information on Searching the Issue Council.
Spectrum:
After using Session Council and submitting reports through Issue Council, additional information and discussion may occur on the RSI website Spectrum application using the chat channels and forums. Prior to posting a new topic in a forum, search the forums for an existing topic that covers the same or a related issue. More information and workarounds may be found in Spectrum that may not be currently available in the Issue Council reports.
The following forums may cover relevant topics for different issues.
Issue Council (requires signing in to read posts, this only contains posts from CIG)
The above forums generally receive responses from backers rather than CIG staff, although staff members occasionally comment on some of the topics.
Refer to the Dev Tracker for responses from CIG staff.
The following forums are specifically intended for receiving help from backers in the community.
Disclaimer of Liability: Under no circumstances whatsoever shall any individuals associated with this Session Council website be responsible to other parties for any incidental, special, consequential, or indirect damages of any kind whatsoever; any negative outcomes from any assistance provided by anybody within the Spectrum forums and chats linked above, as with but not limited to technical or related support, are the sole responsibility of the recipients of said assistance and the recipients accept said assistance at their own risk.
Having stated the disclaimer, input from the community forums and chat can be helpful, just take it with a pinch of salt.
More severe issues:
If encountering issues that are more severe than others, then in addition to submitting reports and checking Spectrum, submit a ticket directly with CIG support with a clear description of the issue and attempts to work around it. Provide links to the related reports and forum topics to show that those steps have already taken place, as the support staff will otherwise redirect you to them anyway. Provide information in a CIG support ticket and ask them to pass it along to the appropriate dev teams.
Provide CIG with the following:
DXDiag file
RSI Launcher log file
Star Citizen log file
Crash Handler log files
Process List
Steps on how to gather this information are below. These steps have been provided by CIG support staff in response to previous support tickets.
DxDiag:
The DXDiag provides a deeply detailed report for your computer. This generated file gives a view into what your system has installed including hardware, OS, drivers, and peripherals.
Press Windows⊞ + R to open the Run window.
Type "dxdiag" into the run prompt and click OK.
Click No if dxdiag asks to check for digitally signed drivers.
Wait for the bar to fill in the bottom left.
Click Save all information and save the file to an easily accessible place like your desktop.
Attach the file to the ticket.
Please don't edit this file. Every bit of information helps!
RSI Launcher log file:
The Launcher has a log file that generates new lines of actions (added to the end of the file) every time you open the Launcher. It tracks setting changes, updates, installs, authentication, and any errors that occur.
Press Windows⊞ + R to open the Run window.
Enter and run %appdata%\rsilauncher\logs
A folder view opens.
Attach the 'log.log' file to your ticket/email reply. It may just be named 'log'.
Star Citizen "game.log" file:
As you click Launch Game, the game.log begins generating. It tracks computer stats, authentication, game mode selection, accessing the server, loading items, and much more. If any issues occur, it also captures those errors.
Press Windows⊞ + E to open File Explorer and find your Star Citizen installation folder. The default location is:
C:\Program Files\Roberts Space Industries\StarCitizen\LIVE
You can find out where Star Citizen is installed by opening the RSI Launcher and checking Settings > Library Folder.
Locate your "Game.log" file and attach it to a response to the ticket/email.
Crash Handler log files:
When your game crashes, all information is generated and saved into a series of files in a folder. This folder will not exist if Star Citizen has not crashed. You may see a message on the screen that the crash handler has completed sending files. When [CIG staff] investigate tech issues, [they will] ask for these files to be zipped and sent.
The files include a saved DXDiag, game.log, gpu_error.log, and other files generated at time of crash.
Press Windows⊞ + R to open the Run window.
Type the following and click OK: %localappdata%\Star Citizen
Select the Crashes folder, right-click, and select Send to > Compressed (zip) folder.
Attach the resulting file to the ticket/email.
Process List:
For some issues, [CIG] may require more in-depth information to look for any possible driver problems, software conflicts or performance issues. This file provides detailed information about the software environment and the apps currently running on your PC.
Press Windows⊞ + R to open the Run window.
Enter msinfo32.
Once the window loads, go to File > Export.
Save and attach this file to your reply. This may take a while!
[CIG will] review the files in order to provide additional steps so that [they] can try and resolve your issues.
The above information along with changing DNS settings have also been provided by CIG support team members, although practice caution if considering adjusting those settings. The disclaimer on this site also applies to the steps provided by CIG support staff. The steps provided by CIG are included below.
If you have access to a VPN, try changing the region or location and seeing if that works. Changing DNS has also worked for some players.
Changing DNS server settings on Windows 10/11:
Go to the Control Panel.
Click Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings.
Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS.
For example:
To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, right-click the Ethernet interface and select Properties.
To change the settings for a wireless connection, right-click the Wi-Fi interface and select Properties.
Select the Networking tab. Under This connection uses the following items, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then click Properties.
Select Use the following DNS server addresses. If there are any IP addresses listed in the Preferred DNS server or Alternate DNS server, write them down for future reference.
Replace those addresses with the IP addresses of the Google DNS servers:
For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4
If this one does not work, try 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.4
Disable IPv6.
Restart your PC.
You can find the full steps here.
Provide additional information when creating or contributing to reports in Issue Council:
In response to ICs addressing server/client desync or similar issues, CIG staff members have asked for additional information.
Provide the following:
The shard ID (e.g., pub_euw1c_9285741_050)
Add a contribution with evidence (screenshot with displayinfo 3 [or 4] and displaysessioninfo 1)
Mention the location you're at or attempting to load into
Also do this if you did NOT encounter the issue while others did experience it
That is the end of that information that has been provided in CIG support tickets and CIG responses to Issue Code reports in Issue Council. Some of it is also available on the RSI KB, along with the Issue Council search features covered at the top of this section, and more information can be found in various locations across Spectrum and the RSI website.
Always reference the RSI site for the most up-to-date information, as the information here may become outdated.
This site and its forms were created by Zylek of Cloud 9.
Please send questions via direct message in RSI Spectrum Chat or in the Cloud 9 Chat server.
Feel free to bookmark and share this with other people.
Original site link:
https://sites.google.com/view/sessioncouncil
Easy to remember link:
Direct link to the Session Council form, it uses Google Forms:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemVg71Vsi0IdBFxLzm8lXEFH2_bl2pGMYnFklvmcXmTEOGPg/viewform
Formula for equally sharing profits in the 'verse:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TcSX4njNevZdp-oxMHbDyweiiQXVSzUQ-qLnL09P7_o/
The formula in the spreadsheet linked above takes into account the 0.5% service fee that is applied every time credits transfer from a sender to a recipient and ensures that the sender and all recipients pay the same tax after completing all transactions.