When is the patch coming out?

[Nemo]

Originally posted by scientific civ
i just dont understand y they tested the game over and over again an just didnt c that that the corruption was beyond 'a minor problem'. they'd better fix it. i cant play huge map this way!!

...or that the air superiority doesnt work
...or that there is a major memory leak
...or that coastal fortresses dont work
...or that you can bombard anywhere in the world
...or that you can demand $1,000,000 and get it
...or that killing settlers on boats corrupts your saved game
...or that you cant play civ III with NVIDIA drivers (umm, hello?! WTF kinda boxes are you testing this stuff on? Mac's? almost everyone uses an NVIDA card these days...it's THE most popular chipset on the market!)
...or that there are so many things wrong, i am tired of listing them!

i obviously dont understand alot more than just the corruption issue.

so, i highly doubt that they tested it over and over. i think that they each played ONE game in which no one apparently made it to the industrial age, let alone the modern age. Or, if they did test it over and over, then they should stop having the stupid secrataries do the testing, and let trained people test the games!

[FALVES]

Originally posted by gromp
FALVES: Could you please give a few examples ? (Just curious ...)

I can't remember right now, but I'm pretty shure there's a couple of those games.
Anyway, that's not the point, the point is that no game should need a patch, they should be sold COMPLETE.

[Th0mas]

Originally posted by FALVES


I can't remember right now, but I'm pretty shure there's a couple of those games.
Anyway, that's not the point, the point is that no game should need a patch, they should be sold COMPLETE.

...yes and I would like to have £1,000,000 and a hareem full of supermodels at my beck and call....but it's not very likely

There should not be injustice in the world...or poverty. Millitary leaders should always understand logistics, all Lawyers be honest, all Governments efficient, all dictators benevelant....... not only does this never happen it would make a very boring CIV game!

[bahoo]

Re: Re: Re: Back-off DW...

Originally posted by Th0mas
....Take it from me it is not a simple exercise, so please don't be so quick to critise until you are more conversant with the facts.

Hmm....I'm no software engineer, and may not be "conversant with the facts", but Air Superiority works for the computer, how friggin hard can it be to make it work for the player?

Originally posted by gromp
FALVES: Could you please give a few examples ? (Just curious ...)

Ahem, King's Quest!

And I also think King's Quest II and III were never patched either.

[IMA_Petard]

Not everyone running the Nvidia drivers is having an issue...I'm using the latest drivers and they work fine for me...

ok, and name a major release in the last 3 years that didn't get patched???

[Nemo]

Originally posted by IMA_Petard
ok, and name a major release in the last 3 years that didn't get patched???

well, many games have patches, but out of all of the games i own, i NEVER patched any games except CTP and Civ3 (when it comes out) ...these are the only 2 games in which you NEED a patch to play it properly. it is pure BS.
i can list you every game i own, i never patched ANY other game, and i finished most of them.

[Libertarian]

Kings Quest? It is to laugh. Ha!

KQ — at least all before VI — were nothing code-wise but conditional branches setting flags. Civ-type decisions didn't exist. All you had to do was figure out how to make the latest trinket you found work. There is more complexity in a single Civ subroutine than in the whole KQ program.

Not a fair comparison.

As to releasing incrementally, it would be really nice if air superiority were released since you effectively can't play (at least by the set rules) in the modern age. But I've seen other programs, like SWiSH, that do frequent intermittent releases, and they nearly always introduce new problems of their own.

Professional programming is a balancing act. It's more than just pristine coding. You have to consider the company's P&L, or else you'll find yourself coding as a hobby.

[bahoo]

A turn based strategy game should NOT need to be patched. Sure, maybe the AI routines, maybe a few small patches to address the game balance in terms of corruption and unit strengths, but that's it. It should not need to be patched as far as things that are supposed to work just plain working!

Let's face it, all turn-based strategy games are is big board games with more in depth rules because the computer can keep track of things.

Most complex 3-D games don't require patches to be played properly, and they have to deal with such things as cool looking three dimensional stuff and collisions and what not.

When was the last time you bought a Playstation or Nintendo game that had to be patched? You didn't did you?

And don't tell me CivIII is more complex than Tony Hawk or GTA3 or SpyHunter.

The only difference is, computer games CAN be patched, so they figure they can get away with shipping an incomplete product, and they know they'll have a bunch of moles like you people defending them if they do.

And don't give me this crap about different Hardware issues! You give me any computer set up and I will GUARANTEE you that air superiority will NOT work, the city governors will continue to pick your units even if you tell them NOT to, and most other annoying bugs will still exist.

My only wish is that the sellout game review sites that give good ratings because they get ad dollars, had bothered to play the game through and say "Civ III is a pretty good game, but if you got 50 bucks a month to spend on a game, buy something else and get this 3 months from now when it works right".

[Peets]

if we *knew* that we couldn't patch it then you wouldn't have all this talk about it. NOW that the people know it can be better then they'll try to make it better.
A Nintendo game can't be patched, so when it's not so good then the game is BAD. The creators can't make it better, so that the game would suck less. The creators of Civ III can make it better.
Yes CIV III can become even better then it it now

[Nemo]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Back-off DW...

Originally posted by bahoo


Hmm....I'm no software engineer, and may not be "conversant with the facts", but Air Superiority works for the computer, how friggin hard can it be to make it work for the player?

yeah, and have you ever walked by an AI fortified unit? they will attack you, like they should...but your fortified units stand there with their thumbs up their butt, when the enemy walks by.

and i *think* the ai coastal fortresses and SAMs and Star Wars (ICBM protection) auto attack/protect too, like they should, but they dont work for the human player

[Nemo]

Originally posted by Peets
Yes CIV III can become even better then it it now

its not a matter of making it better ...it is a matter of making it WORK properly, first!

A Nintendo game can't be patched, so when it's not so good then the game is BAD.

Well, if that is the logic (which IMHO i dont agree with) then Civ3 is a BAD game.

But, IMO i beleive that consol games are bad cause the feature, or game play suck, but that is not the case with civ3, both of these areas are fine, great even. but you will NEVER find a consol game where you cant kill an attacking monster because of a bug (roughly equivilant to air superiority bug). Why? because it is TESTED BEFORE SHIPPING ...unlike Civ3.

bohoo, while i agree with you, finding a game that was NEVER patched is hard, but finding a game that can be played without a patch is easy (which, btw, Civ3 is a game that cant be played without a patch, like CTP ...oh, yeah, and i am still boycotting Activision for their stunt of producing a crappy game, and never fully patching it, the last patch still had *major* bugs, firaxis/infogrames best not keep following their footsteps. they best patch this thing till it is fixed, playability wise. and no, Civ3 MP is NOT a fu[king patch! so dont try what activision did!).

[wal35]

Originally posted by bahoo

Let's face it, all turn-based strategy games are is big board games with more in depth rules because the computer can keep track of things.

What board games do you play? "Grown up" board games, you know the ones that you don't collect $200 for passing go, often have corrections released later but they aren't bugs they are errata. Plus the fact that they've been out for years and on their nth reprint means that the errata can be included in the rules or board without newbies knowing.

Computer games work in the exactly the same way, but have the added advantage that thanks to the internet its quick and easy to get any patches.

The real advantage of TBS over FPS have with patches is the size of the patch. I bet the Civ3 patch will be in the single MB's at worst and not in the 80Mb+ like most FPS patches.

[DK36]

Why the hell is everyone *****ing???? I'm really surprised that Civ3 was released when it was and not a year after. It's one of the very few games that was released ON TIME AS PROMISED. I remember everyone saying "No, there's no possible way they'd make that date.." But they did! Anyone remember how many times Starcraft was put off until later? Blizzard must have made a new engine at least 3 times!

And do you know why they made the due date? Because Infogrames said so. So, of course, Firaxis had to let a FEW small blunders run past them, such as some of the features in the editor shut off. And Jeff did say that they will patch it this month, what more do you want!!??

Firaxis, you're the sh*t!

[Nemo]

Originally posted by DK36
Anyone remember how many times Starcraft was put off until later? Blizzard must have made a new engine at least 3 times!

yeah, and how many times have you seen people b!tch about blizzard games? it is VERY rare, unlike this fiasco.

And do you know why they made the due date? Because Infogrames said so.

so, if a car manufaturer puts together a car, but didnt yet finish putting in the steering wheel, or the instraments, but the manufacturer says "its time to ship" ...does that mean the car SHOULD ship. although i like the early release date, i would rather have had a playable game. cause as it stands right now, the game is still in production...i cant play it till they patch it, so it is not actually released yet, now is it?

so, how do you like paying infogrames to be a beta tester?

[wal35]

Originally posted by Nemo

so, if a car manufaturer puts together a car, ....

Why do people who complain about s/w bugs and patches always pick cars for their analogy ?

Anyway despite the slight imbalance in the threat to human life haven't you ever heard of "product recalls".
Just last month all Land Rover Freelanders sold in the UK for the last n years had be recalled so a "slight" fault with the hand brake could be resolved, oh and some electrical problems and ...

Its only a game, and its a damn fine game as it stands.
It only cost £34.99 (considerably less in the USA so even less reasons for incessant whining) and the hours of enjoyment I've got from it already easily justify the cost.