Patch: 2 weeks (11/25/2005)

[Vir4030]

Just got word from tech support that the patch will be available in approximately two weeks. Obviously, that's not very definite, but it's better than nothing. This puts it at approximately November 25th.

[Ramsses]

Why did they said in the first place that there would be a patch this week?

[eljeffe]

"They" Didn't. And I might add that "They" did not say it would be out by the 25th. All we've had so far are people quoting tech support staff, and as someone who has served as tech support, tech support don't know anything either. They hear rumors from the devs and pray for a quick patch just like we do.

[cucu hara]

Obviously, it depends on whom you talk to. Just sit back, relax, and give them some time. I would rather they release a solid patch little later then just rush something out quickly.

I am sure it takes a while to get a good handle on what is causing all these problems with Civ4. They have to prioritize what gets fixed first and (hopefully) test it well before they release it. The first patch may not even fix all the problems.

I only wish Firaxis would consider beta testing this patch with interested users. That would ensure that it will work not only in the Firaxis test lab, but also on the affected PCs.

[marvinkosh]

I agree that some community involvement with the patch effort would be a good save, and having immediate feedback about known problems would be a plus for the patch effort.

However, if there was a pool of testers trying out a beta patch, don't you think they would be told to keep quiet about it.... you know, so that there aren't unwanted leakages about fixes which aren't 100% completed yet?

Assuming they do exist, but they're conscientious enough to keep mum while they assess the tweaks and fixes, are they numerous enough to be an adequate test bed for a patch?

I could go on for hours entering more assumptions and you can see that the idea of involving the community in testing is good in theory, but it conflicts with any policy of first sending the new patch over to the QA team.

[Glostakarov]

Generally any fix that would be included in a beta test patch is very likely to make the final version of the patch, so there's not much danger in the spoiler element of letting people play with it. More important by far is making sure that the patch does not introduce new bugs.

[cucu hara]

Companies certainly have the right to decide how they want to test their software. I have no problem with Firaxis doing alpha testing internally within their QA group. That's fairly standard. But I do think they would benefit from extending the beta testing to a larger group of testers (if not making it a public beta).

In my opinion, they could not have released Civ4 if they knew about the problems it was going to cause for so many users. Thus I would attribute this failure mainly to insufficient testing. I think it would be a bad mistake to allow the patch go through the same process that let the initial release of Civ4 get out.

[joncnunn]

In my opinion it depends upon what the patch is supposed to fix.

It's its entirely bug-fixing with no other changes, then it should be done internally.

With minor changes then a few private beta testers are called for as well. (AI tweaks)

And if it's a major change (The FP changes in Conquests), then a public beta is called for.

[marvinkosh]

Well all right, but you know they're not going to consider it unless you can get together a large and organised group, and a proposal document wouldn't go amiss either. I think if you have that then at least you might get an answer one way or the other.

[Vir4030]

We're almost there now! I can't wait to play it on my own computer

[uglyduck]

Originally posted by Vir4030
We're almost there now! I can't wait to play it on my own computer

You will have to wait a while longer. The Patch was released and then very quickly taken down again because of bugs!

[uglyduck]

..... b ut if you really cannot wait and are willing to take the risk then go here:-


http://files.filefront.com/Civ4Patch108exe/;4384947;;/fileinfo.html

[ikajaste]

I also now host the withdrawn patch at my Black Terrain -site.

[Bill3000]

Eh, two days from the predicted date ain't bad.

[Vir4030]

Is the v1.09 patch official? How come it's not on civiv.com?