lt411

Join Date 02/2008

Too Long with No Patch

1.05 was May

Hello,

I've got this spiffy Stardock Central installed and it's supposed to make it easier for me to get patches.

I downloaded 1.05 back in May and have been checking back monthly, but there still aren't any new patches.

It's been over 5 months. Why should players have to wait more than 3 months to get a few bug fixes and minor improvements?

I'm not really interested in beta testing. I'd rather get an official patch that's been tested and won't crash halfway through the game.

I'd like to play an updated version of Sins again and am getting tired of waiting.

Is there an ETA on some kind of an update?

Thanks for the info,

P.S. Gal Civ II hasn't been updated since June. I'm thinking about uninstall Stardock Central since it isn't doing anything for me.

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awmy, someone tries to make an impression of threatening Stardock with a potential loss of about $10 in its financial circulation for '08. I'm sure they're scared.

Now really, everyone would prefer to play an officially patched game instead of fooling around with betas and crashes and the like, but for your information: to release a good patch you have to TEST it and to test it someone has to PLAY its beta version first.
So if you're so much about anticipating a patch without any will to actually help it come out, at least keep it to yourself.

As for the patch itself, look into the Beta Feedback section and you will see that 1.1 is somewhere near its final tests, so unless you wanna help... you have to wait sum more.
Need a hanky?

-----------

As for "why sohuld players wait 3 months for a patch?", I tell you this: Medieval2 was released with utmost idiotic AI (look through my posts on TWCenter.com's M2:TW subforums and you'll find some feedback on them) and the AI NEVER received any tweaking. And I'm not talking about making it ingenious. I'm talking about pathing AI issues and combat AI issues like units taking a longer route to the target instead of the most obvious one, or a single light cavalryman rolling over heavy pikemen without any reason like some M1 Abrams at full speed.
This is the industry - release, take the money, go ahead. Maybe you needn't kiss their hands for it, but at least notice that the devs of Sins are actually doing more than many other game developing companies.

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The new 2.0 patch for Gal Civ II has just been released.

I don't know about you, but I prefer a well tested patch which fixes a lot of issues rather a patch here, which does only minor improvements, and a patch there, which does not rock the day...

Let the guys from Stardock and Ironclad do their work and you'll be presented with sth good when it is ready. Won't be long anyway...

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Hi, lt411.

GalCivII was just updated Wednesday (11/5) to version 2.0, but you need Impulse to get it. There was a thread in the GalCiv2 forums here where Seabass and Frogboy indicate Stardock Central isn't going to have updates for GalCiv2. I believe that Impulse is the way to go for updates and expansions in the future (don't shoot the messenger, just trying to help). If you want impulse, you can get it for free, here.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

SDC Update support for games has been mostly discontinued. Its replacement, Impulse, has had beta updates available for Sins throughout the summer and is now very near the final 1.1 release; as noted by others, GC2's 2.0 update just went final this week (beta for that earlier this month).

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n3Rull,

Yada yada yada. My original point is still true. They should have had a patch out by now. Good to hear it's "almost ready". We all know what that means.

for (weeks = 1 to 1000)

{

JustAFewMoreBugs()

}

One more point. When the game first came out, I balanced it, created a mod, and published a detailed list of suggested improvements here: http://letosilvermane.googlepages.com/home. This was a lot of hard work over several weekends (although not five months). So I feel I've done my share to contribute to the community. Now, I'm looking forward to seeing what the dev's have come up with.

GHenrikG,

You say it's better to wait for a bigger patch. How about 2 years? Surely there must be a point where you'd rather stop waiting and just get the patch already?

Punter17 & Kryo,

So, Stardock Central is dead? Long live Impulse. That's good to know. Thanks for the info. I'll give that a try. I could play GC2 2.0, but I'd rather enjoy the intense fleet battles and awesome visuals of Sins. Perhaps by Christmas?

Cheers,

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The beta is not so bad. Its not terrible like other betas I have played for other games. The only thing that sucks is the AI spams carriers and mods don't work with the beta.

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Quoting lt411,

reply 5

[...]
GHenrikG,

You say it's better to wait for a bigger patch. How about 2 years? Surely there must be a point where you'd rather stop waiting and just get the patch already?

[...]

Yeah, of course, I would be more than happy if the patch would have been released a month ago, the first expansion a week ago, the second expansion yesterday and the third one tomorrow. I agree, that it has been quite a while. However, there is a reason that the patch has not been released yet. What could this reason be? Well, the patch is not done yet! I rather wait longer then getting a bad made patch.

Just my two cents.

Cheers,

GHenrikG

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Although I haven't played the beta, the 1.1 patch seems pretty major, which explains the long wait (how many small patches have 3 rounds of beta?). Also, they've been working on Entrenchment and the unnamed diplomacy pack, so its no surprise that it's taking a bit longer. And, since everything has to work with Entrenchment and not unbalance the game, it would probably have to wait until most of the code was finalized for Entrenchment even if it were a bit smaller. We'll probably see it around the same time Entrenchment comes out (in other words, with any luck in the next week or two).

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One more point. When the game first came out, I balanced it, created a mod, and published a detailed list of suggested improvements here: http://letosilvermane.googlepages.com/home. This was a lot of hard work over several weekends (although not five months). So I feel I've done my share to contribute to the community. Now, I'm looking forward to seeing what the dev's have come up with.

Sorry, but what does that have to do with anything? The beta needed testing; you didn't help test. Making a mod 5 patches ago doesn't help a major patch being developed now get released.

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I have a legitimate complaint against StarDock and IronClad for failing to patch their defective product in a reasonable amount of time. I paid $50 for Sins when it first came out and still haven’t received the enjoyable game-play experience I paid for. The game was poorly balanced, poorly designed, crashed frequently, had feeble AI, and many features did not work correctly. When I played the game, these spoiled my fun, so I created the HeavyNova mod. This made the game more enjoyable to me, but the tech tree and anti-matter abilities still needed an overhaul. This, plus the graphics improvements is what I’ve been waiting for in the official patch.

StarDock has been putting out a lot of hype about the gamers bill of rights but actions speak louder than words. They never invested the resources they should have to correct their defective product and provide real-value to gamers. Instead, they moved right on to their next project, a paid expansion. That’s no better than any other game company. If they had devoted even a single programmer, half-time, to a Sins patch, they could have had a significant patch out in three months that addressed most of the initial problems with the game. Look at all the modders have accomplished. It didn’t take them six months and they were working part time for free. If this sole half-time programmer were lazy, all he had to do is take the best ideas from all the mods, incorporate them into the game, and run the whole thing through QA. That still would have produced an awesome patch in three months.

Instead, the produced Impulse. That does nothing to provide the enjoyable game experience I paid for. It’s just a way to force gamers to install their ad-ware and spy-ware on their computers in order to get patches. I never had a problem with CD Keys or downloading patches. So, as a customer, I give them no credit for Impulse.

I shouldn’t have to pay for the privilege of beta testing their next paid expansion and I shouldn’t have to wait 6 months for a significant patch to Sins. In my opinion, StarDock is exploiting gamers and delivering hype.

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Alas.

Since never crashed once for me. Funny yes? Don't always blame the software first, take a serious look at your system and how you most likely fucked it up in some incredibly non intuitve way.

I play sins ever since i got it in a nice 8 man ffa with my pals. the sessions usualy last 2 evenings. its a blast every single time.

I'm happy stardock actualy makes the effort of having players test the changes to balance before they release some form of frankenpatch.

If you don't like the game or the service, simply resell your game or bring it back to your vendor. Stop ranting in forums on how awful it is for a company to actualy care about their products.

btw: mods are a two edged thing. Some people simply do not like the overabundance of stuff they "offer". Making them compulsory via patch is stupid.

Also, there that funny thing called reading up about something. Instead of instantly buying everything, wait a week and look for reactions. Many of your problems could have been avoided by using common fucking sense.

Impulse is as evil as steam is. or itunes. or any other service for that matter.

The world evolves, that includes digital distribution so you have to move on.

Of all DRM measures that are around, impulse and steam like services are by far the least offending ones. I take those over hidden rootkits and systembreaking securom shit anytime.

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@OP

You talk a lot of shit buddy.

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Quoting Haree78,

reply 12

@OP

You talk a lot of shit buddy.

Whoa

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

If they had devoted even a single programmer, half-time, to a Sins patch, they could have had a significant patch out in three months that addressed most of the initial problems with the game. Look at all the modders have accomplished.

Programming is a heck of a lot more complicated than modding, and Ironclad has had people working on 1.1 all along.

Instead, the produced Impulse.

Impulse is developed by our own .NET people, while Sins is developed by Ironclad; two separate teams, two separate companies, two separate budgets. And it is neither ad-ware nor spy-ware.

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I wonder how many times you used backspace kryo to write that post in such a peaceful manner.

Or how much tranquilizers you took

I certainly would need a truckload of them.

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Thanks for the reply Kryo. I know my complaint was just that, a complaint; but I've been patient for five months and my patience finally ran out.

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I must say, Sins probably hasn't had another patch because it has what? 9 programmers? Been a little since I checked, but since they're making 3 micro expansions at the same time, that might require more time then making a patch that will be obselete when the expansions come out anyway. I have had very little trouble playing my Sins, and it has never crashed on me except for when my brother had 16 Gigabites (I shit you not, 16 Gigabites) of stuff in my recycling bin.

And might I add that nowhere does it say the game developers have to release patchs. In fact, some don't ever release patchs. Modding, you just change around features already in the game. With programming, you write the whole program the modders later edit.

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Thanks for announcing the release date of the patch. I take back everything I said and would delete this thread if I could.

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9 programmers? Sorry less than that We are as anxious as anyone to get this out, but these are some major changes and they require time. We are happy to provide a lot of new content for free, but we also need to plan ahead so we are sustainable as well.

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