Help/Support Game Center Issues on Sideloaded Apps With Paid Developer Account

fuseli · April 16

There have been several threads on this topic, but they have been buried without a resolution.

I am on an iPhone 15 Pro Max on iOS 17.3. I am using a paid developer account.

The short of it is Game Center does not appear to be working properly. The game I am testing with is Survivor!.io. When attempting to sideload via Sideloadly, I get an error about the bundle ID not being available.

I was able to sideload using eSign and it appears to have the correct bundle ID when sideloaded. When I open the game, sometimes I see the popup at the top where it shows I have signed into Game Center, however my progress is completely gone. Uninstalling the sideloaded app and reinstalling the app from the app store restores all my progress.

A few other threads over the past week have also complained about game center issues in various games. I enrolled into the developer program based on the advice regarding Game Center Progress from the Sideloadly Sideloaded Apps & Game Center Save Progress thread, so it's pretty disappointing to shell out $99 and still not be able to use game center on sideloaded apps.

I am willing to help test any potential solutions.

Thanks.

Laxus · April 16

@Rookthought?

Rook · April 16

4 hours ago, fuseli said:

The game I am testing with is Survivor!.io. When attempting to sideload via Sideloadly, I get an error about the bundle ID not being available.

Are you sure you’ve been activated? Does Sideloadly state something like “paid Apple ID detected, unmangling bundle ID”?

fuseli · April 16

4 hours ago, Rook said:

Are you sure you’ve been activated? Does Sideloadly state something like “paid Apple ID detected, unmangling bundle ID”?

Yes, it says that. If I use automatic bundle ID, it says paid Apple ID detected, unmangling bundle ID, but then it mangles it anyway. If I set the bundle ID anyway, it says the bundle ID is not available.

I’ve been able to use eSign with my certificate (which include Game Center entitlements) to sign the app and it appears to use the correct bundle ID but Game Center progress is not restored. I don’t know if there’s a way to verify if it’s actually using the native App Store bundle ID, but it seems like it is.

I’m happy to provide any sorts of logs or anything that may be useful in narrowing down the issue.