Firaxis: Patch coming next week

So I emailed Firaxis about the graphics problems, since my 128 m nVidia 5700 LE is way above the requirements and still has all kinds of problems. Surprisingly, they got right back to me, and I sent them some screen shots, and then, this:

Firaxis said:

I sent this onto our lead programmer and we're looking into it. Might be already fixed in a patch we are releasing next week. A lot of tweaking on the movies was done.

me said:

Thanks for looking into it, too. I have to say I didn't expect this kind of responsiveness, given that you guys might be a wee bit busy at the moment...

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We are waaay busy, but our main goal is to get the best patch out
possible, so I'm running around collecting info like yours and making sure
our programmers have it on their to-do list for the patch.

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So, at least we can expect a patch that addresses the most common bugs.

Wow, that is a pretty quick patch. I wonder if this game was tested enough before being released. Did they do a private beta test at all?

I guess it's another example of marketing pushing the developers too hard to release the product. I can relate, being a software developer myself though not in the gaming industry...

SnakePlisskin said:

Wow, that is a pretty quick patch. I wonder if this game was tested enough before being released. Did they do a private beta test at all?

I guess it's another example of marketing pushing the developers too hard to release the product. I can relate, being a software developer myself though not in the gaming industry...

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There where a lot of BETA testers invovled with this game apparently, however there is no way they can test for every system config of which there are nearly endless possibilities.

Unfortunetly in reality, once a game is out there it is the sign of a good developer if they can keep their ear to the ground for any envitable problems and deal with them and offer a solution as soon as possible. Which at the moment at least and too their credit they seem to be doing. Releasing the ATI card fix a week after launch was impressive, and to have the first patch out two weeks after launch is a think unheard of.

They had a patch for Civ III quick too. Now when they release this first one just sit back and listen to all the inexplicible complaints that it needed a patch so soon. There'll be dozens of people actually angry that firaxis is making the game better. ???

balearicrazy said:

There where a lot of BETA testers invovled with this game apparently, however there is no way they can test for every system config of which there are nearly endless possibilities.

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Yea, but there is a lot of config-independent stuff that should be caught even in a short beta test, like the peace treaty diplomacy bug, or the missing tooltip bug. Also, spelling mistakes should be practically non-existent in released games, as that is very easy to catch through a well-managed review process. Then there are complaints which are not bugs, but just gameplay issues, like the unusable Civilopedia, which should also get fixed through a beta test.

Releasing the ATI card fix a week after launch was impressive, and to have the first patch out two weeks after launch is a think unheard of.

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That's not correct. Many games get patched within the first couple of weeks after the launch. For example the first Black & White 2 patch was released on the launch date!

That's not to say that I expected the first patch that early, given the number of reported bugs, but Firaxis isn't the only company that seems to take bug fixing seriously.

Good news!

I usually buy games after few patches so maybe I should hold myself of buying Civ4 until next week? IMPOSSIBLE!

Thank god for that. I bet there was a memory leak issue

tegilbor said:

That's not to say that I expected the first patch that early, given the number of reported bugs, but Firaxis isn't the only company that seems to take bug fixing seriously.

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I didn't mean to imply they where. However, the fact that B&W patch came out on launch date surely suggests that they where not user reported problems they where correcting but problems they had found after it had gone for distribution?

It is impressive to be solving user problems with a patch after two weeks.

It wouldn't surprise me that they were already working on a patch before the game was on the shelves.

Seems to be common practice for game developers nowadays, to get a game on the market and then tweak it to actually make it work well.

One of the drawbacks of the internet. But good to know they are working on it.

Your patch is too litte, too late.

I was having the 'Failed to Initialize' error that so many others have been getting. So I decided to follow the step-by-step instructions provided at the Civ4 website to "fix" this problem...you know, the instructions that tell you to uninstall Civ4 and my ATI drivers and the reinstall them in a certain order.

Well, I got the point where I uninstalled my ATI Uninstall Utility and rebooted. Guess what popped up when windows came back up?

"Hardware has changed since Windows XP was installed on this computer - Please Re-Activate WindowsXP".

..I have no internet at home. And much like Firaxis and their patch - I too am "feverishly" working....to find my WindowsXP package containing the information I need to reactivate.

So, congratulations! You fixed my problem! I need not worry about Civilization 4, because I cannot even reach the desktop!


I will never forget nor forgive what you did. You shipped an incomplete product to your loyal consumers counting on them buying it because it was a trusted brand...and they did. Atari did the exact same crap with Masters of Orion 3. I never got my money back from them, and I doubt I will get my money back from you. Now that you got your cash from our pockets - you will patch the game to completion and hope people forget what you did - or run out of cash and blame low sales for not being able to make the game what it should have been all along. It's ok - Atari did that exact same crap and got away with it, I am sure you can too.

I have serious doubts anything Firaxis does from this point forward will be able to redeem them in my eyes. And be assured, I will tell anyone I see looking at buying your game to stay away.

That's right, let's do the American thing and blame somebody else for our problems.

It's truely unfortunate that this happened, but at the end of the day, the problem becomes you being unable to find your XP activation code. With that in mind, it would have been a better move to wait for a patch. Hindsight, and all that.

I've had similar problems with other bugs in released games (BF1942 specifically) but before changing drivers or hardware configurations, I made sure my video card and Windows software was available. I lost some good media files, but that's my own bad for not backing up my software.

Anyhow, moral of the story here is to always prepare for the worst with computers.

SnakePlisskin said:

Wow, that is a pretty quick patch. I wonder if this game was tested enough before being released. Did they do a private beta test at all?

I guess it's another example of marketing pushing the developers too hard to release the product. I can relate, being a software developer myself though not in the gaming industry...

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Ditto. I'm a developer too, and it's usually the business side of things which push the developers into situations where they have to compromise on quality.

SewerStarFish said:

They had a patch for Civ III quick too. Now when they release this first one just sit back and listen to all the inexplicible complaints that it needed a patch so soon. There'll be dozens of people actually angry that firaxis is making the game better. ???

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There'll also be alot of angry people when they realize that the patch doesn't fix the problems they're having because of their crappy hardware.

Willem said:

There'll also be alot of angry people when they realize that the patch doesn't fix the problems they're having because of their crappy hardware.

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Define crappy hardware please...

Dark Helmet said:

"Hardware has changed since Windows XP was installed on this computer - Please Re-Activate WindowsXP".

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You're blaming Firaxis for something that is so obviously a Microsoft issue? Unbelievable!

Let's get back on topic shall we Willem? So yeah new patch thank christ. Maybe it'll be concentrating on Multiplayer? I seemed to get a synch error when playing games online which is kind of odd really ^^; In fact I wonder how MANY issues they're planning on fixing? Only time will tell

Tsume said:

Define crappy hardware please...

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First and foremost, video cards that don't have T&L support. But also older video cards that make the game run slow, insufficient CPU power, inadequate RAM, hard drives that haven't been looked after or defragmented in 3 years or are simply to full to handle Virtual Memory properly. There's a number of reasons why this game shows poor performance on some machines, but many people seem to think it's strictly Firaxis' fault. And they're going to be very disappointed when they discover that the patch doesn't do much to resolve their problems.

The Civ (and overall, TBS community) is more likely to run older hardware than say, the FPS community where you need to upgrade often.

Civilization has always ran on low-end hardware. With the move to 3D, the minimum specs have gone up dramatically from Civ III. A lot of players are unlikely to know what they have, what they need, how to install it properly, or even the importance of caring for your computer with regular system maintenence. This all has a huge effect on graphically higher-end games.

I urge all people that are having problems and looking to upgrade to take the time, do some research and educate yourselves on what makes hardware good. You'll find yourself saving a lot of time, money and headache when getting Civ 4 to run properly.

Marquis Mark said:

It's truely unfortunate that this happened, but at the end of the day, the problem becomes you being unable to find your XP activation code. With that in mind, it would have been a better move to wait for a patch. Hindsight, and all that.

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Not at all. He followed the instructions on their website and it killed his computer. That is totally unacceptable. He could probably sue them for the cost of buying Windows XP and win.