Firaxis: Patch coming next week

[Flak]

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.

I bet you're going to be one pissed off customer if they've gone ahead and fixed the T&L stuff in this patch. You probably won't ever let that go. People will be posting in happiness here and you'll hunt down every merry thread and say "Well, they shouldn't have had to patch anything! It's your fault!". That would actually be entertaining I suppose. You're probably going to be furious if they've fixed their memory leaks and the game actually runs respectably well on anybody's machine with 256 Mb of RAM.

Anyway, my personal hopes for the patch:

1. Memory leaks
2. Graphics Card fixes
3. The Diplomacy bug
4. And most the minor grahpics bugs seemingly related to specific configurations.



This would be a nice list of things to get straightened out for a first patch.

 

[mweather]

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.

He can't sue them for buying Windows, because if he has no original CD, he has no proof he ever owned it.

Besides, plenty of people have had the fix work just fine. Obviously there is something unique to his system or software that caused it. Either that or he just plain fudged the instructions.

 

[Zombieboy]

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.

Hey, I've got the game up and running after much tweaking, but I DON'T have crappy hardware. I exceed the reqs and recommended, I have the right kind of card, and it still took tons of reconfiguring to run this game. I'm having a great time with this game now, it's fun, and I'm sure there are people trying to run it on systems that are too weak, but if you buy a game and it doesn't work when it SHOULD, there's a problem. I just think it's funny that there are so many Civ fanboys who are in complete denial; Again, I'm really enjoying this game, but it was released way too early. I'm still encountering weird random bugs here and there, and there's no excuse for how difficult it was to get it to this point....

ANYWAY, good news about the coming of a patch. Hope it addresses some of these issues. Thanks for the update Snackwell,

 

[TheDervish]

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.

99%+ of games released today have EULAs you must click agree for to play the game, and it typically says "We are not responsible for damage to your computer" and things like this.

 

[rastak]

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.

If I run into any of them I'll tell them otherwise. I've yet to meet a Firaxis game I didn't like.

 

[loler]

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.

It's not firaxis' problem that you cant use your computer

 

[Karnak]

Dark Helmet,

Well, I change hardware configs pretty often (actual hardware, not uninstalling drivers) and I have never had to re-authenticate. Only when I install XP on a blank system do I need to do that.

In short your story does not add up.

 

[mweather]

Hey, I've got the game up and running after much tweaking, but I DON'T have crappy hardware. I exceed the reqs and recommended, I have the right kind of card, and it still took tons of reconfiguring to run this game. I'm having a great time with this game now, it's fun, and I'm sure there are people trying to run it on systems that are too weak, but if you buy a game and it doesn't work when it SHOULD, there's a problem. I just think it's funny that there are so many Civ fanboys who are in complete denial; Again, I'm really enjoying this game, but it was released way too early. I'm still encountering weird random bugs here and there, and there's no excuse for how difficult it was to get it to this point....

Why is it people get upset and call people fanboys when they state that hardware that doesn't meet the requirements shouldn't be expected to work?

Hell, you don't even have that problem and you still called him a fanboy, despite him not even mentioning problems like yours.

 

[Al Fredo]

...and then it made me spill my hot coffee on my pants. NO ONE TOLD ME THE COFFEE WAS HOT. And that it would burn if I poured it on myself. My girlfriend left me cause I cheated on her....WTF FIRAXIS?!?!?

 

[Mercade]

... 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.

I seem to recall that Play The World was patched before it was released.

 

[bayareastank]

Don't foget civ4 was moved up and rushed to completion. There's no doubt the games' got issues. I expect there will be a bunch of patches come out to fix the problems generated from a last minute timeline rush.

 

[Willem]

I bet you're going to be one pissed off customer if they've gone ahead and fixed the T&L stuff in this patch.

No, I actually hope I'm proven wrong and that all those people with nothing but an Intel 8xxx card in their machine can play the game. I'm not trying to be an ogre on this issue, I'm just telling it as I see it.

You're probably going to be furious if they've fixed their memory leaks and the game actually runs respectably well on anybody's machine with 256 Mb of RAM.

Why on earth would I want to do that? You obviously have a twisted notion of what kind of person I am that's not in the least bit accurate. I would have liked to see the game run flawlessly on everyone's machine from day one, but I'm enough of a realist to understand this is impossible with a computer game today.

And incidently, anyone with even a little bit of computer knowledge should know that Windows XP uses up about 256 meg of RAM all on it's own. That leaves any other program/application to run on Virtual Memory if that's all there is available. That's always going to be slower than using physical RAM, and in some cases quite a bit slower. Terribly sorry for telling it like it is, I guess some people just can't handle the truth.

BTW. Congratulations, you just made my ignore list. Your attack was completely uncalled for.

 

[Dark Helmet]

"Dark Helmet,

Well, I change hardware configs pretty often (actual hardware, not uninstalling drivers) and I have never had to re-authenticate. Only when I install XP on a blank system do I need to do that.

In short your story does not add up."

Let me be sure and tell my computer that, apparently it will be the last among us to know.

I knew the legetimecy of my WindowsXP would be called into question. I purchased it for roughly 280$ at a BX PowerZone in Germany while I was stationed there. I installed it 2 years ago, and since then has probably buried itself in some random box I packed my stuff into since moving. That is my fault, and I will accept that. Of course, you do not have to believe me, but it really doesn't matter whether you believe me or not, does it?

I am not blaming Firaxis for this piece of crap "feature" Microsoft calls Windows XP Activation - that is Window's fault. I am blaming Firaxis for the fact that had they not done a half-assed job I wouldn't have ever have had that problem with Windows XP in the first place.

And no, I did not mess up the instructions. I didn't download the webpage with instructions to my flash drive so that I could go home and try it blind-folded.

More than anything I am just frustrated and disapointed. I really do not have unrealistic expectations. All that was required to make me a happy customer was to be able to play the game...and they can't seem to meet that expectation. Am I being unfair? I do not think so.

 

[ritterpa]

People who say "this should have been caught in beta" don't understand intellectual property security and basic limitations.

By nature, beta testing for a "hot commodity" such as a new Civ game has to be limited. The more people who get on the inside, the higher a chance someone leaks the game to, say, bit torrent. Then you have the game available, and even people who plan to pay for it when it comes out are tempted to instead download it, do so, then never buy it.

It happens with music all the time (pretty much every CD gets leaked before release), it happens with movies before they are released (you can get bootlegs of everything in the theater and stuff that isn't even there yet), and it happens with games (AOE III was leaked, for instance). It's particularly damaging to games compared to those other industries (who can survive with piracy), however. Game sell fewer copies at higher prices, making each individual pirate a lot more damaging to success. Moreover, game producers don't have movie theaters and concert tours to generate revenue. All they have is their retail product, so if that gets compromised, they have nothing.

Beta teams will try to run on many configurations, but they are more concerned with getting the gameplay right (and I approve of that). They aren't going to purposely go out and get borderline systems or systems with problems to test on, as that would impair the ability to test the actual game. They are going to get a decent mix of systems and make a good faith effort to fix problems.

Then, when it gets released, there is going to be that 1% of people who can't run it or can't run it well (and yes, I believe it's that low--people who are running the game aren't complaining. I know 15 people with the game and 0 fatal problems). That's what the first patch will address. It is entirely unfeasible to expect a beta team to catch everything.

Trust me. They want to. It helps sales (are you going to buy an expansion or their next product if Civ IV won't run on your machine?), but it's just not feasible.

 

[wilebill]

Even Microsoft releases games that need patching soon after release. And Blizzard, and everybody else. As releases go, this one is better than most.

 

[Urederra]

Dark Helmet,

Well, I change hardware configs pretty often (actual hardware, not uninstalling drivers) and I have never had to re-authenticate. Only when I install XP on a blank system do I need to do that.

In short your story does not add up.

Me too, I don't believe that story.

 

[MajorCyco]

If I run into any of them I'll tell them otherwise. I've yet to meet a Firaxis game I didn't like.

I have to agree with you here. On their bad days they score an A-. That says a lot...

 

[MajorCyco]

In spite of some of the critical comments from some players, I can say that after having just completed my third game... no bug issues. I guess that must make me a fanboy.

Whatever, game #4 starts tonight.

 

[Hypus]

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...

This is a growing trend with new games not just CIV4.

 

[Venger]

Anyone who says "crappy hardware" is a clueless malcontent. The box CLEARLY states the requirements for this game, and if they are MET or EXCEEDED, then the expectation that the game should perform is clearly stipulated. People throw phrases like T&L around as if they have the first clue what they are - the GF2 has a T&L engine for crying out loud, there are people out there with GF4, 5K, and 6K having issues, not to mention the outright embarassment of the ATI issues.

This game is clearly not ready for prime time - which is too bad, because it is quite fun once you fight through the excessive memory requirements and touchy rendering engine to actually play the game. Oh - and yes, I have all sorts of problems on my "crappy hardware" - 1GB of RAM, Dual 2.2Ghz Athlons, 5900XT video card - FAR and AWAY in excess of the recommended specifications.

Venger