FarmVille: Mozilla Developers Thank Zynga for Firefox Fix

Firefox and Zynga: Connecting the World Through Games
Mozilla's Firefox 3.6.4 came out last week on June 25th, with the team excited about a new crash protection feature meant to "reduce the number of Firefox crashes experienced by users who are watching online videos or playing games." Ironically, this crash protection ended up crashing most of Zynga's games (including FrontierVille), leaving a gray error screen, and the message, "The Adobe Flash plugin has crashed."

FarmVille Freak published a help guide for its community yesterday, shortly after the problem was officially recognized by Zynga. Players who hadn't updated their Firefox browsers, or who use Internet Explorer were unaffected and unaware of the issue. But the multitudes who had to deal with the downtime made their voices heard, and Mozilla itself has recognized Zynga's help in getting the Firefox browser speedily updated.

    We would like to thank vendors, such as Zynga, for working with us to ensure that Firefox continues to provide the best user experience for our shared users. [Source: The Mozilla Blog]

Mozilla developers reported that the crash protection feature was tested on "a beta audience of close to one million users." But it seems the browser's true testing ground was FarmVille's nearly 64 million monthly active users.

    Although complaints about Firefox's quick killing of hung plug-ins were not limited to Farmville, that game was the squeaky wheel that got the update grease.

    "A lot of people play Farmville. To ignore those people for any length of time could have a significant effect on Firefox's share of browser users," said Firefox user Jeff Rivett on Bugzilla Sunday. "The problem already existed, but the perceived impact suddenly changed, giving it a much higher priority." [Source: Computer World]

FrontierVille Fox
Speaking of which, one of those 64 million MAUs is gonna go chase some 'real' foxes off her FrontierVille homestead now. :)

FrontierVille Cheats & Tips: Instant gifts & energy cheat

frontierville cheats
Update! Sorry folks, this cheat has been totally killed by Zynga. To those who were able to use the cheat, it was sure good while it lasted. Sorry to those who missed out on all the free items. Again, this cheat no longer works.

Hello Frontierfolks, it's Mr. Cheats here with the down-low on the things you shouldn't know. Today, I'm here to teach you a sneaky new FrontierVille gifting cheat that will instantly earn you tons of energy and items in FrontierVille.

Are you always low on energy? Do your neighbors not send you enough free gifts? Or are you sick of them sending you the wrong ones? This FrontierVille cheat aims to remedy all this by letting you choose the gift you receive. Not only that, the gift you choose will be delivered instantly, no additional clicking!

And, although it looks complicated, our step by step instructions make it remarkably simple. You'll be FrontierVille cheating in no time.

Continue reading to find out how to instantly receive the free items of your choice with our FrontierVille cheat.

frontierville cheatTo use this FrontierVille cheat, follow the following instructions:

1. Accept a FrontierVille gift from a friend.

2. The next screen should ask, "Do you have more gifts to accept?" Here, look at the long URL in the top of your browser.

3. In the jumble of numbers and letters you should see the following:

&gift=(gift code here)

Replace the gifted item code with the code for the item you want. Codes listed below.

4. Once the url has been changed, press Enter and instantly get a second gift!

5. Continue to change the url and receive more gifts until you have everything you need. Then receive the process with the next neighbor's gift.

Note: With this FrontierVille cheat you cannot receive two of the same gift from one neighbor's gift.

The Item Codes are as follows:

Item Codes

Code - Item
meal1 - Light Snack
meal2 - Breakfast
meal3 - Lunch
meal4 - Dinner
slate - Slate
ink - Ink
pen - Pen
spitball - Spitball
chalk - Chalk
ribbon - Ribbon
pig - Pig
cow - Cow
ox - Ox
goose - Goose
chicken - Chicken
sheep - Sheep
gift_mystery1 - Mystery Gift
gift_mystery2 - Mystery Gift
gift_mystery3 - Mystery Gift
gift_mystery4 - Mystery Gift        
Item Codes courtesy of our commenters

Code - Item
hammer - Hammer
paint_bucket - Paint Bucket
hand_drill - Hand Drill
bricks - Bricks
nails - Nails
smallflowers_blue - Small Blue Flowers
flowerbed_small - Small Flowerbed
smallflowers_yellow - Small Yellow Flowers
flowerpot_round - Round Flowerpot
pearfront - Pear Tree
applefront - Apple Tree
peachfront - Peach Tree
cherryfront - Cherry Tree
apricotfront - Apricot Tree
pinefront - Pine Tree
feast_roastturkey - Thanksgiving Feast Roast Turkey
feast_cranberrysauce - Thanksgiving Feast Cranberry Sauce
feast_pie - Thanksgiving Feast Pie
feast_sweetpotatoes - Thanksgiving Feast Sweet Potatoes
carepackages - Care Package
garland_fence - Fence with Garland
winterdecor3_largewreath - Large Wreath


FrontierVille cheat example:

I accepted a Breakfast a neighbor sent to me. The url on the "Accept more gifts" screen read:
frontierville cheats
I changed &gift=meal2 to &gift=meal4 and instantly received a Dinner:
frontierville cheatsfrontierville cheats
May the always ethical Mr. Cheats remind you, this is a FrontierVille cheat, so choose to use or abuse it with that in mind. Hope you enjoy this FrontierVille cheat should you choose to use it.

Thanks to Martin for the tip.

Pinsrj's Troubleshooting Guide:
Sometimes it's necessary to change another section of the URL as well. In addition to the change discussed above, towards the end of the URL you'll see something to the effect of

=gift&crt=meal2&

Sometimes you may need to change this to:

=&gift=meal2& or whatever gift you want.

Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here.

FrontierVille Timed Mission Storage Space II now available

Last week, we brought you the news surrounding the new FrontierVille Storage Shed expansion. At the time, this was just a single timed mission, that would allow you to expand your Storage Shed to have five extra storage slots. We knew that two other missions would be coming behind this original launch, but we didn't know exactly when those missions would launch in full.

Luckily, partners, you can now expand five additional spaces via this afternoon's launch of the Storage Space II mission, a timed mission that must be started on your account before December 21, and completed within three days thereafter.

The mission has three steps, which are to:

Have or Craft 6 Sawhorses
Have or Obtain 15 Nails
Get 15 Cardboard Boxes

Interestingly, the leaked information concerning this mission before its release has now been proven incorrect, as you need to have 15 nails, rather than six, as was first believed. Either way, you'll earn these by asking friends via individual gift requests. The Cardboard boxes are gathered by posting general wall posts asking for your friends to help you, and you'll have to create the Sawhorses within your barn.

A single Sawhorse can be created using 5 Planks and 2 Tools. Remember, Tools can be earned by having your friends hire you on their homesteads, and then posting the Tools as a wall bonus afterwards. Planks are created in the Wagon, using 7 pieces of wood and 250 coins for each Plank.

Unless you already had a few Sawhorses or lots of Tools on hand, you may find this quest to be a bit difficult, especially considering the three day time limit. However, with a little effort, and perhaps some persuading of friends to hire you, you too can add five more storage spaces to your Storage Shed. In addition, you'll earn 300 XP and 500 coins for finishing the quest.

Facebook Friend Guide: How to find neighbors to play games with

Playing Facebook games is a lot more fun when you have friends who are playing alongside you. Couple this with the fact that many games incentivize you for having more neighbors, and it can make for a pretty terrible gaming experience if none of your friends want to play. Facebook isn't really designed to allow you to meet new people; Facebook's core intentions were to connect you with the people and acquaintances that you already know. This can make it challenging to find new friends to game with on Facebook, so we have a few tips that will help you get more friends on Facebook to play games with you.

Official game message boards

One of the best places to find other people to game with is on the game's official message boards which are maintained by the developer. On these forums, you can register and post in "add me" threads where other players will find them. If you go this route, remember to include a link to your Facebook profile otherwise they will not be able to add you as a friend. You also should ask them to put in the friend request what game(s) they play, so that you know who they are when they add you as a friend. You should be able to look through the threads and find friends to add as well.

On the wall of the game's fan page

If you go to the fan page for the game that you wish to find friends for, you can comment on the status messages, wall, and review page with "add me". You will see many other people doing this as well, so you can feel free to add them as friends. This is probably the fastest way to find friends. Sometimes, simply clicking "like" on a game's wall post is enough to cause a barrage of friend requests to fly in from all angles.

In "Add Me" groups

Most games (at least the popular ones) on Facebook have various "Add Me" groups that you can join to find other people to play that game with. You will have to join the group, but once you have joined you have unlocked a ton of people who play the game game as you. It's a nice way to exchange tips and tricks on the games too. See FarmVilleAddMe for an example of this.

On Games.com!

Another perfect way to find friends to game with is by commenting on this post! Leave a comment with your Facebook profile link and tell others what games you play. There's a good chance you'll find plenty of friends this way!

General Tips and Warnings:

    Remember that if you post on forums and external sites, you will have to delete your posts in the future if you want people to stop adding you as a friend.
    When you're adding strangers, it's best to make a special Facebook list/group for them and do not share any personal information or non-gaming status messages with them.
    It is possible that spammers will add you, so use careful consideration when accepting friend requests.

Do you have any other tips for finding friends on Facebook? Share them in the comments with our readers!

FrontierVille Pony Express Goals: Everything you need to know

Along with the new Pony Express building that was released in FrontierVille just this afternoon comes the launch of five equally new goals in the Pony Express Goal Series. This set of goals will have you not only building the Pony Express on your Homestead, but will also have you collecting quite a few items before all is said and done. As usual, coins, experience points, and even a free tree are up for grabs by completing this mission set, so let's take a look at what they contain, shall we?

First things first, you must be at a point in FrontierVille where you are already married to your in-game spouse in order to have access to these new missions. That technicality out of the way, the first goal asks you to simply place the Pony Express building on your land. This can be done by purchasing the building from the market for 665 coins and 8 Wood.

Place Pony Express on your Homestead
Hire 3 Neighbors

It should be noted that you don't have to actually finish the Pony Express's construction in order to pass this goal, but you will need to for future goals, so it doesn't hurt to get a head start on asking for the necessary building materials. For a full look at how to complete the Pony Express, check out our guide. Your rewards for completing this first goal are 75 experience points and 250 coins.

Meet us behind the break for a full look at the other four goals in this series.
Part II of V will have expected you to finish the construction on the Pony Express, as one of your tasks is to customize your newly formed building.

Customize the Pony Express
Visit 10 Neighbors
Harvest 15 Apple Trees

By this point, you should have 15 Apple Trees on your own Homestead, but if not, they can be purchased from the market for 800 coins each. Luckily, they can be watered every 30 minutes, so even if you don't own 15 of them, this still won't take you that long to complete. Those tasks finished, your two rewards are 150 XP and 1 free Apple Tree.

Part III of V will introduce you to the new feature accompanied by the Pony Express - that being the introduction of Special Delivery satchels in the game. You'll also have to collect a few items before calling this Goal finished.

Collect 10 Stamp Rolls
Collect 2 Daily Deliveries from the Pony Express!
Have 1,500 Food (used at the end of this mission)

Daily Deliveries can be received by collecting your Daily Bonus from the Pony Express once per day. A rider will come by your homestead and drop one off to you, which can be opened for prizes. Once you finish Part III, you'll receive 100 XP and 100 coins. You'll be able to share 50 Food with your friends as a gift.

While Part III introduced you to the easiest method of receiving Special Delivery packages, Part IV of V alludes to the other - that being reaching the "Insane" level in the game's Bonus Bar (as you pick up items like coins, experience points, wood, and food). You won't have to reach that high of a level though.

Reach "Excellent" on the Bonus Bar
Click on 40 Bonus Objects
Tend 20 Animals

The tending of animals must be completed on your own Homestead, but that's all well and good, because you'll be able to click on all of those coins, experience points, and collection items to count for your 40 Bonus Objects, and to reach the Excellent level (presumably even higher) on the Bonus Bar. Once you complete these three steps (which shouldn't take you anymore than a matter of minutes), you'll receive 50 XP and 150 coins as a reward.

Finally, Part V of V brings in the other method of collecting Special Deliveries, as you'll need to chain together quite a few tasks to release a large sum of Bonus Object at once.

Reach "Insane" on the Bonus Bar
Collect 10 Envelopes

Envelopes can be earned by asking your friends for them, while the Insane level on the Bonus Bar can be reached by completing any number of tasks in immediate succession - harvest a series of crops or trees, feed all of your animals, collect all of your Daily Bonuses - you get the idea. Your final reward in this quest set is 400 XP. You'll be able to share 150 XP with your friends.

We'll make sure to bring you more images of this quest set as they become available. As usual, this feature is being released on what looks to be a very slow rollout, so don't be discouraged if you don't have access to these missions on your Homestead right away.

FrontierVille: Silver & Gold decorations now available

While the phrase "Silver and Gold" might take you back to Christmas, it seems as though Zynga is hoping they'll put you in the mood for Spring in FrontierVille - or at least tide you over until actual Spring-themed decorations can be released (which is more likely), as 12 new decorations have been released in the game - six each in silver and gold.

The six gold items are:

Huge Gold Font - 60 Horseshoes
Gold Font - 40 Horseshoes
Gold Chest (a gold version of the Hope Chest) - 6 Horseshoes
Gold Tend Here (sign) - 14,250 coins
Gilded Fox - 8 Horseshoes
Golden Still - 33,250 coins

Meet us behind the break for a look at the silver items.

The silver items, if you look closely, do contain two items that are identical to the gold set. The prices, however, are much different (cheaper) for the silver items, so make sure to take special note of that if you choose to purchase one or the other.

The six silver items are:

Silver Bench - 66,500 coins
Silver Carriage - 475,000 coins
Huge Silver Font - 40 Horseshoes
Silver Font - 30 Horseshoes
Silver Picnic Table - 9,500 coins
Silver Samovar - 14,250 coins

For those that are unfamiliar, a Samovar is a metal container found in and around Russia or other European countries that is used to heat or boil water. We doubt this was released as a reference to any new theme in the game, however, as it is likely just available due to the fact that it looks pretty. We'll be sure to let you know if that changes.

All of these items seem to be permanent additions to the game's store, as they haven't been labeled as "Limited Time" items. With the release of the storage shed expansion missions just this afternoon, it looks as though Zynga is already giving you items to fill it with, and we really can't blame them. We'll make sure to let you know if more gold and silver items are released in the game in the future.

Do you like this new set of silver and gold items? Which color would you be more likely to purchase?