Beta Test? Whaaaa???

[Kaenash]

I am not sure I believe that anyone in your staff succesfully tested this game, at this stage.

If so, I would suggest perhaps a different job, with less responsibility like selling balloons to small children.

I have a good machine, it works fine for almost all games. I went out and reupdated direct x90c and nvidia driver. I even downloaded the dreaded microsoft media player, which will no doubt cause me all kinds of headaches, because I would much rather use something else to play media files.

That is how much I WANTED to play this game!

I do not believe it is acceptable to put a game out like this one, that is basically unplayable on a rig that doesn't ordinarily have problems. Gary comes from the old school, I suppose. The one where we had to keep seperate config.sys and autoexec configurations for each game we wanted to play, and I remember well adjusting my buffers or files setting in an effort to tweak out actual game play.

I would like to come into your studios and check out your PCs and see if any of you can actually run the commercial version of this game. I don't believe it. I can't imagine what you are doing differently that I am not.

This game so far is garbage. Garbage mainly because I have waited and waited for months and months on preorder to get a turn based game set in WWII, and in exchange I have what is the equivilant of malware.

My PC has crashed so many times, that the hard drive has become corrupted or something, so that now after 5 crashes succesively, I ALWAYS get "The system recovered from a serious error" EVERYTIME I start my PC, even the last time I shut it down normally.

Thanks matrix games!!!


I just want to say, that is a sloppy effort on your part. I could almost understand this need for the latest greatest video cards, if this was a halo2 type game. Its not. hokey 1994 graphics at best. Which would be fine with me, if it actally loaded up.

I crashed everytime I tried to start the first tutorial

Now, If Itry to start the game at all, it sets my graphics to "NFTS4" I believe its called, and then causes me to be unable to see my screen by going all black, I can alt tab but the image is dark.

The other way is it simply crashes after attempting to load past the long red bar.

Garbage.


Going to take a lot to make me a fan again. I totally got burned on this. This game is the equivilant of "Gigli" the movie.

I've uploaded my DXDIAG, but I hate this. I should not have too beg for support when I have a healthy machine.

[Marc von Martial]

Do you have any third party codec packs like "Nimos Codec Pack" or "Ace Mega Pack" installed?
The amazing count of various DirectShow filters on your system suggests this.

Since you use the nForce onboard sound, is the nForce chipset updated?

[Kaenash]

I have installed no codecs or outside video software. I have updated through microsoft's website (which actually seems to think the latest nvidia is not correct, but it is an earlier number). Other than nvidia and windows updates, I do not make any.

I am not sure I follow the logic that suggests even world of warcraft can work fine on this machine, and your game does not.

I read someone else is having the exact same error as me. You've told him everything from uninistall his video drivers and reinstall to basically flash his bios.

I don't have that kind of patience.

I bought this coaster from EBgames, who do not give refunds. I didn't sign on to waste 39.99 on an unplayable game. I didn't sign on to spend hours and hours trying to 'update' a machine that runs everything world of warcraft to city of heroes and in between. Hearts of Iron II worked fine on the system.

The way I see it, this was an evil trick. I see you guys are being nice to him and I probably seem insulting, but this is simply unacceptable. It amounts to a con. "Here by this software it does (this)" and when I get it, its a virus named World at War.

For shame.

I suppose I am venting here uselessly, you are probably convinced this 'game' was ready to ship. I don't believe it.

[Marc von Martial]

You've told him everything from uninistall hi video drivers and reinstall to basically flash his bios.

I have suggested him to update his graphic card drivers and chipset. Not desintall them or Flash his BISO. We finally noticed that the problem was caused by 3rd party open source DirectShow filters. We can´t take responsibility if somebody messes up his system with this kind of not supported 3rd party codecs. A lot of them can seriously mess up your system. As lesson I learned myself.

I can try to help you but I ask for a little bit of respect too. I´m sorry for the problems you have but they´re hardly a problem that can be tracked back to sloopy development or bad betatesting.

[Paul Vebber]

Go to ANY game site. Look at the support boards and you will see...EVERY GAME meets a machine configuration that will not run it without some combination of "troubleshooting the system" - requiring patience on your part, and examination of the software - requiring patience on our part.

OBVIOUSLY the game works on the vast majority of PCs as the vast majority of people are playing it. Its an unfortunate fact of life, given the myriad combinations of hardware, drivers and whatnot means some effort - from all concerned - is required to get a game working.

THis has not changed since the "old school" days you speak of despite marketing hype to the contrary.

It may be issues with the video card - or that card and particular drivers. WE will work with you to fix it , and in doing so help others withthe same sort of problem.

Such is not a case "fraud and deceit" but the realities of PC games...

[Marc von Martial]

That other software runs flawlessly is not an indicator for bad developement or testing or what you call "mallware". I run like 12 different games currently in my setup, among them World of Warcraft. Last week in installed "Brother in Arms", guess what, it didn´t work and crashed my system whenever started it up. I finally worked it out with their support. And yes my machiine was all up to date and "healthy" too.

[Kaenash]

It seems I am beta testing it, my friends because this rig is a good example of a clean machine without third party garbage on it.

I've downloaded "Nforce" drivers 4.57 audio uda, per above, and I have no idea what to do with this folder. It comes with two .exe's that are apparently used to uninstall it. It doesn't appear to be like the nvidia universal driver that figures out what I need and gives it to me.

I can't imagine thats it. I am going to be patient a little bit, because I've no choice. Game company has my money.


Marc let me also point out, that while you found Brothers in arms to give you a crash it is a slightly higher video intensive game, than this one. That "might" be expected. You will have a hard time convincing me though that my system is the problem, and not a robust set up on your end. You would also have a hard time convincing me that I am not part of beta testing.

The only games that I have that crash are older ones that aren't compat with SP2. I've had virtually no problems, and I do not think that what this is, is acceptable.

[Paul Vebber]

I had problems with this game on my Laptop - I ened up reinstalling everything - but that was due to all the Crap (some flakey Codecs may have been among them...[:(]) but with a fresh OS install, and verifying all my drivers are up to date it runs like a champ. I hadn't had any problems with any other software.

The large graphics files in this game stressed it to the point the faults in teh system came to the fore.

Now I ca play the game and all my other software runs a lot faster.

Not having patience, and having a PC do not go together very well...

[Kaenash]

Thats not a good answer though.

I am definitely not willing to format the HD and reinstall fresh windows on the off chance that clears up the crash to desktop bug in your game.

I imagine you are going to see a few more people like me come through here, asking the same thing, because as I told you, I've not installed anything flakey on here, and I should have more than enough horsepower to run this game.


If I were willing to hand over my registration key to y'all, would you give me my money back for this coaster? I've had it.

[Paul Vebber]

We can't change the realities of PC architecture problems becasue you think "its not a good answer" sorry.

We will work with you to get it to work. We can't make you though. That is your choice.

[Kaenash]

So you want me to format my hard drive and reinstall windows, and then reinstall the game?

Even though everything else on the PC has run like a top, continues to run like a top (except now your game does cause a "WINDOWS HAS RECOVERED FROM A SERIOUS ERROR" message now every time I reboot. Thats caused by the game though. I am not sure reinstalling the virus/game will cure the problem.

I take it you guys don't see this as reason to create a patch to make it work, and arent joking. You really expect me to spend the next six hours or so reinstalling every application I own, making backups and so on. To throw the dice that maybe its not the buggy game you created thats throwing the error, and my system's fault.

Fascinating. This is the 'working with me'?

How about a refund?


also, tried to make a short cut to try that windowed mode solution

If Iput in the target "C:\Matrix Games\Gary Grigsby's World At War\WaW.exe"
"C:\Matrix Games\Gary Grigsby's World At War\WaW.exe -w -16" the systems warns me that I cannot do that, and doesn't allow it. I've also tried it from the run menu and it just says it can't find C:\Matrix

[Marc von Martial]

So you want me to format my hard drive and reinstall windows, and then reinstall the game?

No

"C:\Matrix Games\Gary Grigsby's World At War\WaW.exe -w -16"

"C:\Matrix Games\Gary Grigsby's World At War\WaW.exe" -w -16

Depending on your installation path of course.

I've also tried it from the run menu and it just says it can't find C:\Matrix

This sounds like a corrupted installation of the game itself. Did you run a virus scanner in the background when you installed the game? I would suggest reinstalling GGWAW.

[Kaenash]

Okay, I will try the shortcut, thanks for that.

No virus scanner. I got the "Can't find" message from the 'run' dialog box when attempting to run the command line.

I am able to get to the folder just find using windows explorer.


I will uninstall and reinstall the game if this windowed mode doesn't work.

[Vyshka]

This is an April Fool's joke right? If not, I feel for you but it is more likely an issue with your system not the game. Many people are running
it on many different configurations without issue. I myself have run it on my desktop windows system and my laptop.

[TheHellPatrol]

ORIGINAL: Kaenash
I am definitely not willing to format the HD and reinstall fresh windows on the off chance that clears up the crash to desktop bug in your game.

I imagine you are going to see a few more people like me come through here, asking the same thing, because as I told you, I've not installed anything flakey on here, and I should have more than enough horsepower to run this game.

I've been in your shoes on more than one occaision, please allow me to share my experience to help shed some light on your dilemma. Anytime you install, download, re-install etc. you are changing your registry on your computer "muddying the water" so to speak. We all know about viruses and the importance of defragmenting to keep things running smooth but it is impossible to tell, for a non-professional like myself, what damage i could be exposed to from a conflict of drivers, a corrupted download and incompatible software. When i first got my Alienware gaming rig i thought i was invincible but i have been reminded once more just recently that these things happen and i had to re-format my almost new PC due to some unknown error. It might not be WAW that is the problem, it might be the last thing you installed, downloaded etc. To me it sounds like a good re-format and driver update might really be a wise decision. I don't work for Matrix or any other developer but i follow every product they make, and have even had issues with one or two that got worked out in the end, and i am 100% certain it is not the game that's the problem...you owe it to yourself to dig a little deeper[:)].

[ccrow47]

I agree with you, although the price is lower than most games offered on the site. For the wait I would have rather waited another half a year for a bug free game.

[Erik Rutins]

Gentlemen,

Because the game has issues on a particular system does not mean the game is loaded with bugs. From our experience 90%+ of these problems come down to bugs in other software on the system, including drivers. The rest turn out to be game bugs which never show up on dozens of test systems, or interactions of hardware and software specific to one or a rare few systems.

For our testers and all our development machines, this game runs smoothly on a variety of video and sound cards from various manufacturers. I realize this doesn't help you, but we released a game that works perfectly for the vast majority of customers. Some incompatibilities or situations where bugs in other system components cause problems are inevitable in PC development, much as we wish otherwise.

We're working to gather information and try to repeat your problems so that we can get you all up and running as soon as possible. For every person experiencing problems, I should note that there are hundreds who are having no problems at all.

Regards,

- Erik

[milutin_jovanovic]

Well, WaW bugs make my copy unplayable too. I did not really want to complain, until I saw how pretty much everyone piled up on Kaenash. It seems that if the game does not run properly, it is immediately assumed to be user fault. Shame on you! Imagine what, Kaenash paid $40 for something he cannot return, and the last thing he needs is all of you telling him "his machine is at fault".

I have written code for living for 12 years now, and know just about everything about a PC a normal person would care to. I pride myself in keeping everything top notch, updated, and running very smoothly and cool. 3 people run various programs and games on this box, and imagine what, I can burn a DVD, download latest Linux distro, play Silent Hunter III at the same time, and my wife priting from the laptop to the printer attached to this computer. No problems. Well, except WaW.

I have switched off everything in WaW, and closed everything else except the antivirus. Window mode, low res graphics, "-w -16", no animations, no AI combat etc. I start up WaW, I choose to control soviets both movement and production in campaign 1, nothing else, then I start the game. I watch germany's and japanese turns (which I could not until I switched off everything). When my turn comes, I open production screen, click on the soviet flag, then click several times on the arrow down to switch between regions. After 5-15 clicks, game hangs for 10 seconds, then CTD. Every single time.

Well, this has nothing to do with DirectShow filters, or my antivirus or 16 bit grahics. This means it is poor testing. I know because it is so easily reproducible. If you click too fast that the icons for what I cab build do not refresh, it will not happen. If you click slowly, to let it refresh at leasure, it won't crash. But if you find a rythm, to click roughly at the same time as the icons are changing, you will hit it. You probably have a race condition between the UI code and the icon refresh code.

Now, I was going to be patient, and wait for the update (because realistically, you have me by the ^%^$% as I cannot return the game), but at least admit that matrix/2by3 has some part in the blame for such a poor showing. When I give you $40 and the "contract" says I cannot return it, then at least you can listen to a customer complaining, and not tell me that it works on 100 other machines.

This all said and done, I have to thank Erik Rutins for being little more calm and friendly about it. I wish the other administrators piling on Kaenash would take a hint. We customers at least have a little excuse to rant, as we payed $40 and are not sure what we got for it.

Respectfuly,

Milutin Jovanovic.

P.S. And if you ask me nicely to help you do the testers job, instead of telling me to check my drivers, I can detail several other CTD's that are 100% reproducible and that probably have nothing to do with drivers nor codecs.

[milutin_jovanovic]

One more clue. In the production screen, every time you click the arrow up or down to switch regions, 4 threads are created, and they will not finish until I close the production screen. So press the arrow 10 times, 40 threads a la carte. And this happens only when sound effects are enabled. Music or mouse clicks do not make a difference. I am starting to think that disabling the sounds completely might be the solution... Will check that.

Milutin Jovanovic

[willgamer]

This conclusion jumping is rather incongruous with a programmer trained in the skills of logic. [:-]

Well, this has nothing to do with DirectShow filters, or my antivirus or 16 bit grahics. This means it is poor testing.

A much more reasonable assumption is simply that your machine somehow different. [X(]

Somewhere I remember reading something about pride going before...... [8|]