where is the patch

[miked489]

still ctd on save games

[Arjuna]

Understood. I hope to release a new build for the testers later this week. If that goes OK, then it will go to Matrix for a new installer to be built. This too will then be tested and if OK it will be released to the public.

[GBS]

THis patch is slower than Christmas. Lots of "program has stoped working must close" messages even when I'm just watching and not doing a thing.

[Sheytan]

Appears quality control slipped on this CTD issue. Frankly that amazes me, and pushes the envelop on what Matrix expects from its customers regarding title releases. The issue really devolves to the following, do we as customers of products sold by Matrix have faith in thier ability to insure a game is "playable" once purchased.

As I posted on the Wargamer I will state here, sadly I am beginning to believe that Matrix is going the way of Paradox.

ORIGINAL: GBS

THis patch is slower than Christmas. Lots of "program has stoped working must close" messages even when I'm just watching and not doing a thing.

[bretg80]

ORIGINAL: Sheytan

As I posted on the Wargamer I will state here, sadly I am beginning to believe that Matrix is going the way of Paradox.

ORIGINAL: GBS

THis patch is slower than Christmas. Lots of "program has stoped working must close" messages even when I'm just watching and not doing a thing.

I hope not. I'm not sure Paradox has learned their lesson yet and if they continue to anger their user community they will be out of business. It would be a shame to see Matrix and Panther slide down this road. I still feel that they will recover from this and make things right. That doesn't mean I'm not very disappointed right now, but I hope to be complimenting them again once they get this first patch out.

[wodin]

Panther are normally very detailed in their Bea testing programme...thats why the game took so long....I'm as suprised as everyone else that the game had a fair few CTD's and other problems like the est editor being unfinished....considering there sales pich for the price was that it would be damn near perfect with regards to bugs...

However I have very faith that it will get fixed...but i also have a feeling Patches will take alot longer to come out than other games as Arjuna is a perfectionist...this I feel may backfire this time as people who aren't used to panthers meticulous approach are going to get very impatient.

[hank]

I have not chimed in on the CTD subject because I haven't experienced it yet. I think its just as important to know why CDT's haven't happened on a system as to why it has.

I play on a :

Dell OptiPlex GX620
XP Pro SP3
Pentium (R) D CPU 3.20 GHz
3.19 GHz 2 G Ram

I have not had one CTD yet ... fingers crossed ... and played through around 20 to 40 hours of game time. Also, I installed it in its default folder under C:\Matrix Games\...

FYI

[Johnus]

Arjuna may be a perfectionist and, normally that is a good thing. But the game was already released in a less than perfect state. A game that crashes to desktop is broken. If the CTD's have been "fixed," a patch fixing the CTD's should be issued NOW.

Perfection was not acheived. Get the game fixed now. Fixing other, relatively "minor" bugs (suicidal HQ's and such) can wait for the patch that gets the game "perfect."

[PirateJock]

Hi hank - now you've done it [;)] ... I may be a cheerful optimist but I have kept quiet on my CTD status as there is a nasty thing called fate and it can be be tempted. Good luck and long may it continue

[Arjuna]

FYI I have just started uploading a new BFTB Build 4.1.231 for our beta testers to work over. If all goes OK this will become the patch 1. This fixes all known CTDs and data content errors reported to date plus it fixes the cribbing Player Attack bug. Other issues will be rolled over for patch 2.

[bretg80]

Nice. Here's to hoping this solves our big issues. Looking forward to playing the game again.[:)]

[TMO]

Will Patch 1 fix the following problem?

Part of the issue here will be alleviated with the fix I have just made to the sighting rules. I had added some code for BFTB that tried optimise the number of sightings made. It did this by testing to see if there were enemyThreats within 3000m and only testing for these if either the enemy had moved, the sighter had moved or the viz state had changed. All well and good but alas I was using the intel location and not the real unit location for the hasMoved test. The result of this foobar was that even when the enemy had moved within 3000m he was not being picked up and hence not being fired upon until he got to withyin the assured SightingRange - ie 50m in daylight. Now this works for both the attacker and defender. It means that attacking tansk won't bve engaging enemy units between 3000 and 50m unless there was a valid pre existing sighting for them. SImilarly the defender would more often lose the sighting at long range and not get another opportunity to fire until they were virtually on top of them. In much of the close country of the Ardennes where detection ranges are short anyway and especially at night this won't have such an effect but in so many other situations it will.

We'll endeavour to get a pacth out asap to redress this.

Regards

Tim

[Panther Paul]

Yes.

This has been fixed as well.

[Johnus]

Patience is not my strong point. It has always annoyed me, when a developer posts that this problem "has been fixed" or that CTD "has been fixed," etc., when, in fact, nothing has been fixed in my game because the patch which "fixes" these problems is not yet issued. If the game release was treated with the same quest for perfection that apparently is going into the patch, the patch would not be necessary.

Rant over. I have supported Panther in the past and plan to continue to do so. I'm just annoyed.

[Panther Paul]

ORIGINAL: Johnnie

Patience is not my strong point. It has always annoyed me, when a developer posts that this problem "has been fixed" or that CTD "has been fixed," etc., when, in fact, nothing has been fixed in my game because the patch which "fixes" these problems is not yet issued. If the game release was treated with the same quest for perfection that apparently is going into the patch, the patch would not be necessary.

Rant over. I have supported Panther in the past and plan to continue to do so. I'm just annoyed.

That's OK [8D]

I'm a game player as well and know how you feel.

It has just been an unfortunate timing issue (Dave going overseas almost straight after the game was released and my starting a new job which has cut into my night time hours). It frustrating as I fixed most of the CTD's (nearly all caused when you play with task timings) weeks ago. But we now have a build being tested and when we are sure we have not introduced any major gotchas we will release it.

I promise!

[Sheytan]

I note a newer release advertised here at Matrix has a demo out, and of course I understand that product may not be so complex and a veritable ferrari.... Really, I admire the work you folks have done with this engine. And the operational premise that it envisions. But I also recall discussions on why the high price of this product was justifed...in that it was the Farrari of operational gaming. Frankly id love someone to rejustify that arguement now...

Yet...sadly not only have you all failed to deliver on a demo...but the game itself is hardly in the ranks of anything even close to the quality control one would associate with a blue chip product, or god forbid, a ferrari, or for that matter a BMW. I frankly would suggest in the future such hype be refrained from as it is a detriment to the company concerned when the product in question fails to deliver on said hype.

At any rate im sure you folks will eventually fix most of the problems people are complaining about in this game in the months ahead, and perhaps address some of the legacy issues from previous versions of this game as observed by owners of the older titles.

I also, to conclude look forward to a more rational reduction of the price of this product in light of the issues that currently plague it.

Respectfully...a old time gamer.

ORIGINAL: Panther Paul

ORIGINAL: Johnnie

Patience is not my strong point. It has always annoyed me, when a developer posts that this problem "has been fixed" or that CTD "has been fixed," etc., when, in fact, nothing has been fixed in my game because the patch which "fixes" these problems is not yet issued. If the game release was treated with the same quest for perfection that apparently is going into the patch, the patch would not be necessary.

Rant over. I have supported Panther in the past and plan to continue to do so. I'm just annoyed.

That's OK [8D]

I'm a game player as well and know how you feel.

It has just been an unfortunate timing issue (Dave going overseas almost straight after the game was released and my starting a new job which has cut into my night time hours). It frustrating as I fixed most of the CTD's (nearly all caused when you play with task timings) weeks ago. But we now have a build being tested and when we are sure we have not introduced any major gotchas we will release it.

I promise!

[michaelm75au]

After working on WITP:AE game, part-time for the last 2+ years, I can understand the fuzzy line between getting it right, not 'fixing' things that weren't broke (which was a line that I felt that kept moving away from me as I thought of better methods), getting a working model that satisfied the Beta testers and finally a workable one for publication (which could be patched in the first round if it was needed after release).

One of the biggest impediments was the variety of machine/OS combinations out there. We had a couple of things that worked fine on my dev box, but not on some of the Beta testers' machines. Problems were solved once I worked out what was different. [&:]

BTW this is not to excuse bugs, just as an understanding of the complexity of the modern game.

[vonRocko]

ORIGINAL: Sheytan



I also, to conclude look forward to a more rational reduction of the price of this product in light of the issues that currently plague it.

LOL! Thanks for my morning chuckle![:D]

[bretg80]

First off - I'm the one who made the BMW - Ferrari comparison and I have since retracted this and called the original release a Chevy. As it stands, it is not worth the asking price and until the first patch is released, they have an Albatross. However, if the patches correct the major issues, there is potential in this title and I would be the first to encourage people to give it a second chance.

I'm still waiting for the patch and I'm sure we'll all know how well it is received as these issues are affecting a number of us gamers.

Oh, and yes. I have learned my lesson. Never go to bat for a Game until you have played it. I jumped the gun on BFTB and was burned. I'll be a lot more gun shy in the future - on any game.

[wodin]

I really enjoy the game and have had no real gamebreaking issues at all.....must be lucky...there are problems and I feel expectations of the engine are really beyond what can realistically be done....I knew what I was getting into as I've played the previous games....I feel within the boundaries of what is truely possible this game gets as close as we can expect.....it will be a fair few titles yet before we get the game that truely replicates warfare in the way the game promises....this is a work in progress that gets a little closer to it's promise with each title.