New Haunted Hollow Farm

It has been claimed that Hallowe'en is the second most popular holiday in the U.S. and one that generates almost as much business as Christmas.  People often decorate their houses more lavishly than they do during the Christmas holidays and the purchase of sweets and costumes is another source of income for businesses.

FarmVille initially released the Lighthouse Cove Farm as an Autumn Getaway a year ago but the new 'Haunted Hollow' Farm is more overtly a 'spooky' farm that is based on Hallowe'en.  As is often the case when Zynga first releases a new farm, there is an 'early' opportunity to unlock the locaiton and to perform special quests that will not be available when the Farm is released free to the general public.

The cost for the 'early ticket' to the Hollow is 35 FC.  Although many players have not 'beat' Jade Falls yet, some have yielded to the temptation to unlock the new Hallowe'en farm early.

At the Haunted Hollow, there is a mountaintop like the ones in Hawaii and Jade Farms that can be upgraded to Level 10. and harvested for items.  There is a Monster Lab, a new option in FarmVille similar to the Dinosaur Lab.

My Potion Shop is the building where Recipes are completed for items that can be traded for Fuel.  New Crops that can be grown only in the Hollow are ingredients in these Recipes.

At Level 1, the Recipes are as follows:

Nightshade Sherbet:
2 Bushels of Zombies
2 Bushels of Tombstones
2 Bushels of Sugar

Pumpkin Pie
1 Bushel of Jack-o-Lanterns
1 Bushel of Green Toadstools
2 Bushels of Wheat

Witch's Brew
1 Bushel of Ghoul Garlic
1 Bushel of Sage
2 Bushels of Red Tulips

At Level 2:

Cauldron Stwe
1 Bushel of Sage
2 Bushels of Tombsttone
2 Bushels of Tomato

Invisibility Potion
1 Bushel of Wormwood
1 Bushel of Green Toadstool
2 Bushels of Aloe Vera

Crystal Cocktail
2 Bushels of Spectre Berries
2 Bushels of Jack-o-Lanterns
1 Bushel of Grapes

At Level 3:

Fire Brew:
2 Bushels of Spectre Berries
1 Bushel of Sage
2 Bushels of Jalapeno

Stink Bomb
1 Bushel of Ghoul Garlic
2 Bushels of Zombies
1 Bushel of Bell Peppers

Lucky Charm:
3 Bushels of Tombstones
2 Bushels of Green Toadstool
1 Bushel of Lavender


The Monster Lab can be harvested regularly for Monster Serum in the same way that the Dinosaur Lab can be harvested for its DNA.

Jade Falls Shipping Licence Requirements

Today, players began to experience prompts with respect to the requirements for earning the Jade Falls Shipping Licence.  These are as follows:

Upgrade Mountain fully to Level 10.
Upgrade Imperial Docks fully to Level 10.
Master all ordinary Jade Falls Crops
Upgrade Tea House fully to Level 5.


FarmVille farming has become more sophisticated with the introduction of each new Farm.  On the original Home Farm, there is only one location where plots can be tilled and Crops grown.  The English Countryside, the second Farm to be released, is no different in this respect, nor is the third Farm in the form of the Lighthouse Cove.  The Lighthouse Cove did introduce a new, rather tiresome option, however, in limiting the number of Plots that can be tilled at any level of expansion.

The Winter Wonderland, which is the fourth Farm, limits the number of Plots that can be tilled at any expansion Level but offers only the snowy ground.  It is when the fifth Farm in the form of the Hawaiian Farm was released that a new option was given in the form of Water Crops.

The sixth farm to be released was Jade Falls where sophistication of Farming achieved new heights, both literally and metaphorically.  Here Crops can be grown on the Main Field, in the Water and in Paddy Fields elevated above sea or river level.  As with all Farms introduced after the English Countryside option, the number of Plots that can be tilled is limited for each of the three different locations at any expansion level.

For the purpose of achieving the 'Beat the Jade Falls' goal and obtaining the coveted Shipping Licence that allows a player to transfer items freely between Farms, 20 different Crops must be mastered fully.

For each Crop, there are three Mastery Levels and each is given a Star.  Full Mastery is 3-Star Mastery.  You will find Crops grown on all three Locations in the list of the 20 Crops that must be fully mastered in Jade Falls.

The Crops that must be mastered do not include the 'Forbidden' varieties and consist of the following:


Azuki
Growth Time: 8 Hours
Location: Main Field
Mastery: 720 (10/260/450)

Bok Choy
Growth Time: 12 Hours
Location: Main Field
Mastery:  450 (90/180/450)

Brown Rice
Growth Time: 12 Hours
Location: Paddy Fields
Mastery: 360 (50/90/220)

Chinese Cotton
Growth Time: 1 Day
Location: Main Field
Mastery:  360 (50/90/220)

Chinese Daikon
Growth Time: 8 Hours
Location: Paddy Fields
Mastery: 370 (50/90/230)

Green Onion:
Growth Time: 8 Hours
Location: Main Field
Mastery: 740 (90/190/460)

Grouper
Growth Time:  12 Hours
Location: Water
Mastery: 180 (20/50/110)

Horse Radish
Growth Time: 12 Hours
Location: Main Field
Mastery: 1080 (140/270/670)

Imperial Rice
Growth Time: 4 Hours
Location: Paddy Fields
Mastery: 1130 (140/280/710)

Imperial Tea
Growth Time: 1 Day
Location: Main Field
Mastery: 360 (50/90/320)

Lemongrass
Growth Time: 8 Hours
Location: Main Field
Mastery: 1490 (190/370/930)

Lowland Ginger
Growth Time: 12 Hours
Location: Main Field
Mastery: 720 (90/180/450)

Prawns
Growth Time: 8 Hours
Location: Water
Mastery: 370 (50/90/230)

Ramen
Growth Time: 4 Hours
Location: Water
Mastery: 1130 (140/280/710)

Rock Cod
Growth Time: 1 Day
Location: Water
Mastery: 380 (50/90/240)

Sesame
Growth Time: 1 Day
Location: Main Field
Mastery: 740 (90/190/460)

Sichuan Pepper
Growth Time: 4 Hours
Location: Main Field
Mastery: 1080  (10/400/670)

Sticky Rice
Growth Time: 1 Day
Location: Paddy Fields
Mastery: 180 (4/66/110)

Watercress
Growth Time: 12 Hours
Location: Paddy Fields
Mastery: 360 (50/90/220)

White Cloud Tea
Growth Time: 8 Hours
Location: Main Field
Mastery: 720 (90/180/450)

Crops that can be grown at Jade Falls are unlocked in the same way that new Crops are unlocked at any other Farm in FarmVille.  To give it the simplest interpretation, it is FARMING that unlocks new Crops.  A player's XP or Experience Level, reflected in the player's general Level  as well as specific requirements in some cases for the Mastery of a specific Crop in a Crop Sequence are included in the requirements to unlock new Crops on every Farm.

In the process of achieving the ultimate goal, one will receive small rewards as one completes each requirement.  Given that the sole requirement for obtaining the Shipping Licence for the Lighthouse Cove is to upgrade the Cove fully, the amount of labour required to achieve the equivalent at Jade Falls is staggering.
 

The cost of purchase for the Lighthouse Cove Shipping Licence is 75 Farm Cash while the cost of purchasing the Licence for Jade Falls is 200 Farm Cash.  It can take a long time to obtain all of the materials required to upgrade the Cove to Level 10 but at least all of the materials are available as Free Gifts.   Where the two construction projects at Jade Falls are concerned, there are two materials that can be obtained only through Wall Posts or outright purchase.  This makes the task even more daunting.  Furthermore, the materials used for these projects have no other function and therefore any excess is waste where the three materials used to upgrade the Cove could be applied to other building projects as well.

Useful FarmVille Recipes for Unicorns and Crafts

Recently, there have been a myriad of new options in FarmVille. Although some of them can be tedious and annoying, others, like the Unicorn Island, are fun, especially for any player who loves fantasy. A list of Unicorns with the Gems they produce may be useful to those players who are intent upon creation of these often dazzling creatures. Quests have continued to proliferate but no longer are restricted to crop growing. Often, a requirement may be the creation of an item in the Crafts Building. Recipes for the items that are demanded most often may be useful as well. Jade Falls is the newest Farm in FarmVille and the Quests for Jade Falls usually involve Recipes. Those recipes will be included on this page as well.

 *************** Unicorn Island: ***************
Unicorn Island must be built, using three different builsing materials in the form of

10 Enchanted Blossoms, 10 Rainbow Clovers and 10 Hearts of Gold.

 All materials can be found in the Free Gifts List. Once the Island is completed, it will render 1 Amethyst to the builder. You then need to stock the Island with at least one Unicorn in order to allow it to produce regularly. The following list gives the Unicorns that can be created using the Gems as well as the Gems needed to produce each. All other Unicorns, if placed in the Island, will yield only Amethysts.

 Note that you must unlock each successive Unicorn by creating the preceding Unicorn in the list. Once all Unicorns have been unlocked, therefore, you will be able to create any Unicorn on the List. The Unicorns require progressively more Gems to create but may not yield more valuable Gems in every case. There are Unicorns such as the Fancy Pants Unicorn that require a prodigious number of valuable and rare Gems to create but, as in the case of the Fancy Pants, only produce Amethysts once placed in the Island.

 ************* Unicorn List *************

 A list of Unicorns with the Gems each produces as well as the Gems required to produce one:

Pink Lemonade Unicorn: Amethyst
     To create, you will need: 10 Amethysts

 Moon Unicorn: White Diamond
    To create, you will need: 12 Amethysts

 Sun Unicorn: Amethyst
 To create, you will need: 6 Amethysts, 8 Diamonds

 Moss Unicorn: Emerald
To create, you will need: 12 Amethysts, 4 Diamonds

Wind Pegacorn: White Diamond
To create, you will need: 9 Amethysts, 5 Diamonds, 4 Emeralds

Princess Unicorn: Emerald
To create, you will need: 5 Amethysts, 11 Diamonds, 6 Emeralds

Emerald Pegacorn: Ruby
To create, you will need: 8 Amethysts, 9 Diamonds, 10 Emeralds

Starry Night Unicorn: Diamond
To create, you will need: 12 Amethysts, 9 Diamonds, 10 Emeralds, 4 Rubies

Icy Fire Unicorn: Emerald
To create, you will need: 10 Amethysts, 12 Diamonds, 11 Emeralds, 10 Rubies

Tiara Unicorn: Ruby
To create, you will need: 11 Amethysts, 10 Diamonds, 19 Emeralds, 14 Rubies

Angel Pegacorn: Sapphire
To create, you will need: 10 Amethysts, 16 Diamonds, 17 Emeralds, 22 Rubies

Fancy Pants Unicorn: Amethyst To create, you will need: 15 Amethysts, 20 Diamonds, 18 Emeralds, 16 Rubies, 10 Sapphires

Lightning Pegacorn: Ruby
To create, you will need: 22 Amethysts, 15 Diamonds, 23 Emeralds, 18 Rubies and 20 Sapphires

Robot Unicorn: Sapphire
To create, you will need  20 Amethysts, 23 Diamonds, 20 Emeralds, 33 Rubies, 26 Sapphires

The final Unicorn to be unlocked:

Phoenix Pegacorn: Sapphire
 To create, you will need: 40 Amethysts, 37 Diamonds, 29 Emeralds, 23 Rubies, 30 Sapphires

If you study the list, you will see that Amethysts can be created from ANY Unicorn, including the Pink Lemonade, which is the first Unicorn you can unlock. The Moon Unicorn is the first Unicorn that will produce a Diamond but you will not be able to produce an Emerald until you create the Moss Unicorn. The first Unicorn to produce a Ruby is the Emerald Unicorn and the first to produce the Sapphire is the Angel Pegacorn.

Unicorns created on Unicorn Island can be placed in Horse Paddocks to produce foals. When placed in Unicorn Island, they produce only Gems. Incidentally, when Unicorn Island reaches 100%, you always should harvest it BEFORE you place any other Unicorn on the Island. Doing so will decrease the readiness instantly to zero, making the operation of the Island different from that of any other Animal enclosure. Ordinarily, when you place a new Animal in any Animal Enclosure, the readiness will decrease only a little. In the case of any Enclosure at 100%, it will be decreased usually to 96%. Trees can be added to Orchards or Groves, on the other hand, without decreasing readiness at all. If at 100% at the time of adding a new tree, the Orchard/Grove will remain at 100% until harvested.

Strategies for obtaining Gems:

 Gems can be harvested from Unicorn Islands, found on Wall Posts or purchased for Farm Cash.

The prices for Gems are:
Amethyst: 2 FC
Diamond: 2 FC
Emerald: 3 FC
Ruby: 3 FC
Sapphire: 3 FC

You can build more than one Unicorn Island on any or every Farm if you have space and patience. This is a far better strategy actually than purchasing Gems that you need to create any Unicorn. If you are willing to spend premium cash on your Unicorns, you are better served by purchasing the Instant Grow option on any Farm with multiple Unicorn Islands. I have found that the cost of Instant Grow for Animals tends to be 3 FC ordinarily, which is no more than the cost of a single Emerald, Ruby or Sapphire.

Building multiple Unicorn Islands can be a tedious affair and however beautiful they may be, they do tend to dominate a Farm if there are too many of them. Nonetheless, any player who is addicted to Unicorns may wish to follow this strategy in order to unlock the entire list at the earliest possible time. Each time you build a new Unicorn Island, it will yield Amethyst as well.

At the start, you may find that you have more Amethyst than any other Gem, but as you unlock Unicorns, Amethysts may be in demand. If you wish to be certain of the type of Gem that you will harvest, place only one type of Unicorn in your Island. In other words, place only Unicorns that yield Rubies if you wish to make certain that the Island will yield Rubies. Unicorns can be moved in and out of Islands, transferred to Paddocks or simply stashed until needed.

Once you have unlocked all Unicorns, you can create any that you wish or move them into Paddocks in order to create Foals.  All the Unicorns have the potential to produce Foals.

Note that there are two Doghouse options in FarmVille that are similar to some extent to the Unicorn Island option.  The Sunshine Doghouse and the Cupcake Doghouse produce Dog Treats and a Player can unlock new types of Dogs in each.  The difference between the two Doghouses is the types of Dogs that each can house and produce.  I am not really a Dog Person, being more partial to Cats in the real world and Cats and Unicorns in the virtual worlds.  I did enjoy the original Dog Training option in FarmVille that allowed me to purchase, raise and train a Puppy to run at my heels and perform tricks and tasks.   I do not know if that option still exists because I never wished to go through all of that again once I trained my original Japanese dog.  I do know that he stays on the Home Farm and will not accompany me on my travels to other Farms.

I wonder if Zynga plans to release a Cattery that will operate in the same fashion as the two new Doghouses.

 *********************** Craft Items and Quests: ***********************

 As previously indicated, Craft Items often are requirements in Quests in FarmVille now. The Items requested tend to be those requiring the least amount of mastery and are as follows:

 ********************* Simple Craft Recipes: *********************
 Farmhand: 4 Cotton Bushels, 3 Soybean Bushels, 1 Cherry Basket

Fertilise All: 2 Manure Bags, 4 Carrot Bushels, 3 Chickpea Bushels

Shovel Set: 3 Jalopeno Bushels, 3 Double Grain Bushels, 1 Lemon Basket

Arbourist: 3 Peanut Bushels, 4 Morning Glory Bushels, 2 Orange Baskets

Animal Feed: 1 Walnut Basket, 2 Sunflower Bushels, 2 Barley Bushels

You will see that any Crafts Recipe usually requires two different types of Crop Bushels as well as a Basket harvested from Trees or an ingredient, such as Manure, harvested from Animals. Cows yield Milk and Pigs yield Manure, for example. Apple Trees of any kind may yield Apple Baskets, while Cherry Trees yield Cherry Baskets and Orange Trees yield Orange Baskets. Another common ingredient harvested from Trees is the Walnut Basket, which is harvested from any Walnut Tree.

***********Hybrid Crops*************

There is one Crop in the Craft Recipes given above that is not an ordinary Crop but is rather a Hybrid Crop.  The Recipe for the Shovel Set requires 3 Double Grain Bushels.  Double Grain is made in a Greenhouse by combining Rice with Wheat.  It ordinarily takes 3 Days to complete, but can be accelerated to be produced instantly for 7 Farm Cash.   As with any Hybrid Crop, only a finite number of Seeds will be 'unlocked' in the Marketplace with any Greenhouse production.  In the case of Double Grain seeds, a player will be able to purchase 100 Seeds in the Marketplace.   When any Hybrid Seeds have been made, a few can be 'shared' by posting to the Player's Wall.  A Player who clicks on a Wall Post for Double Grain Seeds will receive 40 Seeds.

As with any Crops, Bushel yield is not guaranteed.  Certainly the sum of three Bushels needed to complete the Shovel Set Recipe may be difficult (but not impossible) to obtain from 40 Seeds.  As the actual Double Grain Crop takes only 12 hours to mature, a Player can produce another batch in the Greenhouse if he/she fails to obtain the required number of Bushels from the Crop.

******************* Jade Falls Recipes: *******************

Jade Falls is the first Farm to offer paddies as well as ordinary farmland and water crop areas. Any Crop that is planted in a paddy field will not rot and can be harvested at any time after it matures. Ordinary Crops and Crops planted in Water will rot or wither in the same way as Crops on other Farms.

The Hawaii Farm was the first to offer Water Crops. Jade Falls differs in that separate farm tools are NOT required to plant or harvest Water Crops. An ordinary Combine will harvest Crops in any sort of plot in Jade Falls. Note that Jade Falls Recipes usually consist of two Jade Falls Crops and one Crop that can be grown on any Farm.

The Crops from other Farms that are most commonly used are Wheat, Rice and Green Tea. Jalapeno, Pepper, Basil and Ginger are used as well in some of the low grade Recipes.

 At higher grades, you will find requirements for Cabbage, Eggplant, Sugar Cane, Soybean and Coffee.

 Milk Tea: 3 White Cloud Tea Bushels, 3 Azuki Bushels, 3 Green Tea Bushels

 Pho Soup: 3 Jade Bamboo Bushels, 3 Sichuan Pepper Bushels, 3 Jalapeno Bushels

Hamachi Maki: 1 Hamachi Bushel, 2 Nori Bushels, 3 Rice Bushels

Bao: 2 Chinese Daikon Bushels, 3 Grouper Bushels, 3 Ginger

Egg Roll: 1 Edamame Bushel, 3 Azuki Bushels, 3 Wheat Bushels

 Bibimbap: 1 Sticky Rice Bushel, 3 Sichuan Pepper Bushels, 2 Pepper Bushels

Chow Mein: 3 Jade Bamboo Bushels, 1 Sticky Rice Bushel, 3 Basil Bushels

 Ihura Nigiri: 1 Squid Bushel, 2 Wasabi Bushels, 3 Rice Bushels

Oolong Tea: 2 Imperial Tea Bushels, 2 Lotus Bushels, 3 Green Tea Bushels

Kimchi: 1 Jade Peanuts Bushel, 2 Wasabi Bushels, 1 Cabbage Bushel

Hot and Sour Eggplant: 2 Prawns Bushels, 3 Bok Choy Bushels, 1 Eggplant Bushel

Takoyaki: 3 Unagi Bushels, 1 Squid Bushel, 2 Wheat Bushels

Moon Cake: 2 Baby Corn Bushels, 3 Chinese Cotton Bushels, 3 Sugar Cane Bushels

Fried Rice: 3 Scallops Bushels, 2 Sticky Rice Bushels, 2 Soybean Bushels

Thai Tea: 3 Imperial Tea Bushels, 3 Lowland Ginger Bushels, 3 Green Tea Bushels

At Level 5:

Congee: 1 Millet Bushel, 2 Prawn Bushels, 3 Wheat Bushels

Vietnamese Iced Coffee: 2 Sesame Bushels, 3 Jade Bamboo Bushels, 3 Coffee Bushels

Egg Tart: 2 Lotus Bushels, 3 Azuki Bushels, 2 Rye Bushels

Tips on Being a Good Neighbour

These are a few tips I've discovered while playing FarmVille. They do not benefit the player much in some cases, but can benefit his/her Neighbours, especially when they are at low levels, struggling to survive.

Fuel can be difficult to obtain when one is a low-level player. One can purchase craft items from Neighbours but often one lacks sufficient coins. Neighbours who are at higher levels have the option to share craft items by posting to their Wall. Obviously, the item that will be converted into the largest amount of fuel when used is the craft item of the highest level.

There are two ways to obtain the option to share a Craft Item when a player accesses his/her Craft Building on any Farm. The first is by raising the level of any Craft Item that is being made or sold. It is here that other players can help. Whenever a player purchases a Craft Item from a Neighbour, XP points are awarded to the Seller of the Item. Often it can be useful to ask the Neighbour which Craft Items he/she is trying to increase in level. Two different strategies apply.

First, there are those who would like to concentrate on a single Craft Item to raise its level and thereby its value to the maximum. A Player who is interested in pursuing this strategy would prefer that Neighbours purchase THAT Craft Item and none others. It will be the most expensive Craft Item that is offered from any Farm.

Note here that high-level Craft Items require far more XP points than their low-level counterparts. In practice, this means that their level will increase very slowly and that it will require many purchases on the part of Neighbours to raise the Craft Item to the next Level.

In dealing with Craft Items, it is important to understand that they affect a Player's ability to increase the Level of the Craft Building itself. This is where the second strategy in terms of raising Craft Item levels can be preferable to the first.

I believe there are five possible Levels to any Craft Building on any Farm. A Player usually can raise the Level of the Building by using Farm Cash at ANY stage, but the the option to purchase the Upgrade using Coins only will be unlocked when a specific total of Craft Items are raised in Level.

Players who have upgraded their Craft Buildings to Level 5, the highest Level, no longer will care about this aspect of Craft Items as increase in Craft Item levels no longer will affect their Buildings. It therefore usually is the high-level Player who will prefer that his/her Neighbours purchase the Craft Item with the highest Level.

Low level Craft Items will increase in their Level far more quickly than the high-level Items. If a Player wishes to upgrade his/her Craft Building using Coins, therefore, he/she will prefer that Neighbours purchase the Craft Items with the LOWEST Levels.

It is here that FarmVille can be a little complicated, as Craft Items from ALL Farms and Craft Buildings will be offered together when any Player accesses a Neighbour's Craft Items in order to purchase one. Unless one is aware of the status of that Neighbour's Craft Buildings on each Farm that he/she owns, it is almost impossible to know which low-level Craft Item to purchase. Many Farmers do not care that much about these matters but there are others who do. I would suggest that any Farmer who is trying to upgrade a single Craft Item or Craft Building post a note on his/her Wall to Neighbours to request that they purchase a specific Craft Item when this is desirable.

I began this post actually to give a tip to Players who wish to help their struggling low-level Neighbours. The tip is as follows:

Whenever Neighbours purchase any Craft Item, it will gain XP points towards the next Level. When it gains sufficient points to push it to the next Level, the owner of the Craft Building will be informed of this when next he/she accesses his/her Craft Building. An option then will be given to share the improved Craft Item with Friends by posting.

If the Farmer has any low-level Neighbours, even a low-level Item will be appreciated! That is why I often will post a Craft Item, even if its value would not be significant to high-level Neighbours.

The second opportunity to share a Craft Item occurs when a Farmer finishes any Craft Item in the process of being made when the Craft Building first is accessed. If you wish to help your Neighbours, choose the Craft Item of the HIGHEST Level to finish first. You will be given the option to share this Craft Item with your Friends.

This all may sound overly-complicated but it can be helpful to Players to understand how FarmVille works where Crafting is concerned. I have created a separate page on this site for all the Recipes that are available on the various Farms at each Level of Upgrade.

New Facebook Game Data Options

I am writing this because I received absolutely no help from Zynga when both FarmVille and CityVille crashed my Flash plug-in each time I tried to load the game for almost a fortnight. Having played FarmVille for almost two years, the response Zynga sent, which was to copy and paste an elementary list of system requirements, made no sense whatsoever and was unhelpful in the extreme.

The fact that the many advertisements linked now to FarmVille and CityVille ALWAYS loaded easily and only the game itself was unable to load was a clue that the problem lay within the actual games and new options that pertained to the Flash plug-in.

Note here that I am not technically advanced where the internet is concerned. I cannot write software or code and basically can perform only the most basic tasks on my laptop. I had hoped for some expert advice, therefore, but it was not forthcoming.

The Adobe site was my next stop on the internet highway, but 'support' is offered only to paying customers. I then tried to research the problem myself. What I discovered was that one needed to be able to access the Flash Settings Panel. Alas, whenever I attempted to do so, IT crashed instantly as well! I therefore could not perform any actions whatsoever to change the settings.

My research led me to some reports that camera and microphone access sometimes led to Flash plug-in crashes. If I had possessed the ability to go into my Adobe Flash settings, I could have made certain that this access were denied but I could not do that.

Meanwhile, I could not play either FarmVille or CityVille on my own laptop. Note here that I had enabled Zynga to save data for FarmVille and CityVille on my laptop long ago. The worst part of the problem was that I could not send any Crash Report to Firefox or Adobe when the Flash plug-in crashed. Each time it crashed and I attempted to do so, 'submission failed'.

I uninstalled Flash in all of its manifestations and then reinstalled it, but in vain... The problem continued. Oddly enough, I still was able to play Fantasy Kingdoms and Gourmet Ranch on Facebook as well as loading streaming video on other sites. The problem therefore was peculiar to Zynga games.

There is one aspect of FarmVille and CityVille that has changed radically since the games first were released. The amount of data used is tremendous and if you do not allow Zynga to store data on your computer, you may not be able to load these games easily or handily. If the games do not load quickly and 'hang' for any length of time, you need to adjust your Flash settings to allow storage of data. Quite a lot of data actually...

I was able to solve the problem with the two games only after I finally was able to load the Settings Panel without a crash. Firefox has updated itself in the past week so perhaps there was a fix involved in that update. (I could not load the games on Chrome or IE either, however, so it may have required a Flash update of some kind. I always install all the latest updates in any case.)

Perhaps this is a pointless post because I don't have the technical knowledge required to assist any one else, but I wanted people who have experienced the same issue to know they aren't alone and that allowing Zynga the capacity to store a lot of data on your computer/desktop may be part of the solution. Clearing my Cache did nothing but clearing my Cookies may have helped as well.

A Wealth of Christmas Gifts in FarmVille

Zynga pulled out all the stops where Christmas was concerned this year. Christmas in FarmVille always is a magical experience and the holiday celebrations are reasons enough for me to remain a loyal player, despite the other annoyances and frustrations that accompany the game.

For Christmas this year, the first experience at the start of Advent was a new Winter Farm, in the form of the Winter Wonderland, with a magical Railway and frozen Treasures... A new Sweets Shop on the Winter Wonderland Farm allows Players to prepare wonderful traditional Christmas Recipes.

This release was followed by the Winter Hearth closer to Christmas, where a Player's stocking resided and grew whenever others sent Stocking Stuffers. A magical Sleigh yielded Holiday Gifts each day when harvested.

Then came the Twelve Days of Christmas, a little different from last year and at first, a bit confusing to some players who experienced it in the past. This year, the 12 Days Gifts are contingent on the number of players who click on the link and a Player receives only a single item for each day. In other words, for the 12th Day Gift, 12 Friends or Neighbours must click on the link and the Player never receives more than one 12th Day item.

There were Christmas Quests as well but these can be highly annoying as there are FAR too many of them and they require FAR too many Crop harvests of Crops that a player may have no desire or need to grow. I'd rather concentrate on the Crops that can be used in my favourite Recipes frankly. The rewards for completing the Quests can be good or they can be disappointing. Many players ignore the Quests now, and that is a pity. If Zynga had only a single Quest sequence at any given time, it would be much better.

On Christmas Eve, Players were allowed to open the Gifts under the Christmas Tree by moving their mouses over each wrapped Gift. After all Gifts were opened, a little film appeared. Santa and his reindeer were silhouetted against a full moon, then landed on Earth and delivered a huge Gift wrapped in gold paper. It contained one of the most gorgeous winged Unicorns created in FarmVille. What is particularly wonderful about this is that EVERY Player who had a Tree, whether the Tree were large or small, received this glorious Gift. In too many cases with Zynga and other FB game creators, Gifts follow reality in that the rich receive more than the poor...
In this case, however, every Player received the Winter Pegacorn, which sells for almost 40 FV Cash in the marketplace.

The Stockings are an ongoing game. This should have been explained better frankly because I and many other Players did not become involved with the Stocking game until Christmas. There is a sequence of possible Gifts under two headings: Naughty or Nice. Players must receive a specific number of Stocking Stuffers at each level to initiate a vote by their Friends and Neighbours: Naughty or Nice. This determines the actual chain of Gifts one can receive, but there is an opportunity at each level to purchase the OTHER Gift at a reduced price if one wishes.

For the actual Christmas celebrations, I would give my vote to FarmVille for the best Gifts and celebrations. CityVille as always offers wonderful animated items and buildings BUT there are far too many clicks required for almost everything. The concept of four expansions, each of which had its own magical gifts embedded in it, was good but the amount of work (and work on the part of Friends and Neighbours) required to complete any of them was outrageous. It becomes frustrating and actually unpleasant to view the unattainable Gifts each day. Completion of one set of requirements for the first expansion, moreover, initiated ANOTHER level of requirements. In all, there are four different sequences that must be completed in order to unlock the 'Giving Tree' on the FIRST holiday expansion. I still have not been able to complete that, and it makes me very sad. If any one at Zynga reads my posts, I hope they will unlock these holiday expansions for ALL Players before Twelfth Night! Otherwise, (not that my vote carries ANY weight in the Zynga universe), I will vote CityVille as one of the unsatisfying Christmas experiences.

CastleVille should have been wonderful, but alas, many low level players were unable to participate in the St. Nicolas Quests at all. Players were given a Tree only when they had completed Quests. To create the Catapult that sent Gifts to Friends and Neighbours, they had to complete MORE Quests. Gifts only contained a CHANCE of being a desired Item. Very disappointing... in its own way, as frustrating as CityVille.

Fantasy Kingdoms gave every Player one spectacular wrapped Gift in the form of a special Christmas Tower. It was a very beautiful Gift and frankly, I'd rather receive one REAL Gift than the chance to receive however many Items that never materialise. So Fantasy Kingdoms has my vote for being the most reliable and always magical game.

Unfortunately, there are many frustrations that accompany FarmVille still. Although the animated advertisements ALWAYS load and proliferate, the game itself sometimes does not load. Travel between farms is almost impossible. More often than not, the Player is forced to reload the game before he/she can perform any actions on another Farm. This ultimately discourages Players from playing more than one Farm, unfortunately. Zynga, please solve this problem! It is frustrating and time-consuming to be forced to reload.

At least with FarmVille, clicking on links to help other Players is not too time-consuming. In CityVille, on the other hand, it can take ages for a click to reach its goal and very often one receives the message of 'timed out', making the entire process a colossal waste of time. If my Neighbours wonder why they don't receive more clicks from me on their CityVille posts, THAT is why.

As in FarmVille, there are far too many Quests in CityVille, to the point where Players are overwhelemed and either ignore all of them or stop playing altogether. Instead of spending so much time and energy on Quests that should be staggered over the course of months rather than days, the developers should be set the task of working out the glitches and problems in the game! The same holds true for FarmVille.

Why are we asked to become Neighbours with Players with whom we have been Neighbours for months in CityVille? This is annoying not only to the Player who is urged to make the Request but to the Player who receives repeated Requests to become Neighbours to existing Neighbours? Work it out, Zynga!!! Why are we asked to send Requests constantly in FarmVille to Friends who either do not exist (because every one we know ALREADY plays FarmVille) or are people who definitely do NOT wish to play FarmVille??? The splash screen is extremely annoying and when it appears after what should be a simple act of travel to another Farm, almost intolerable.

Despite all of this, it is wonderful to be able to experience a little Christmas magic in virtual realities like FarmVille, Fantasy Kingdoms, CityVille and CastleVille.

New Winter Wonderland Farm

For the Yule season, Zynga has released a new Farm in FarmVille. The Winter Wonderland is a frozen landscape ruled by a northern Winter Season, with special frozen Crops as well as Crops appropriate to Yuletide. With the Farm, http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifa Player will have a rather rudimentary Sweets Shop. The new Recipes that are available both at the Winter Wonderland Farm and at the Home Farm can be found in a little Guide on a new page at:

Winter Wonderland Recipes Guide

You can find links to all my Guides for FarmVille as Tabs above this post and every post.

The Winter Wonderland has some rather creative new options in the form of a railway that can be harvested each day and frozen mounds of various sizes that, when chipped away or melted, reveal Treasures. Treasures in the largest mounds can be uncovered only with pickaxes. Treasures of other sizes are melted by means of hair dryers!

Crops grown at the Winter Wonderland are:

Candied Yam:
Harvest in 4 Hours

Carroticicle
Harvest in 12 Hours

Gingerbread
Harvest in 8 Hours

Iced Rice
Harvest in 12 Hours

Red Iceberry
Harvest in 8 Hours

Holly
Harvest in 16 Hours

Iceberg Lettuce
Harvest in 20 Hours

Mint Candy
Harvest in 1 Day

Frozen Grapes
Harvest in 1 Day

Snow Tulip
Harvest in 1 Day

Gummi Bear
Harvest in 1 Day

Glacial Rose
Harvest in 2 Days