Does Firaxis even test before shipping?
- Thread starter komodo
- Start date
Neon Deon said:
There are a lot of different hardware configurations. Retail software development companies should expect to have to support a lot of different hardware configurations.
I think a lot of the frustration directed at the publisher/devloper stems from the fact that they can't identify what the problem(s) is(are).
My symptoms:
serious lag when playing on Tiny maps. I don't even have to take a turn to see it. Just start the game and wait w/ the worker/settler selected for a minute or so.
The suggestions to me so far:
1. Defrag your hard drive...great it's 1% fragmented.
2. Run msconfig and disable EVERYTHING...did that already
3. Deleted all the files from %temp%...well, ok. But there was stuff I was using there...good think I know what I'm doing.
4. Reinstall the game...no, really. How is that supposed to help? If there's a possibility the installer didn't lay down all the files, tell me what they are and I'll look for them.
I've been building my own machines since '91. I'm not on the top of the hardware curve right now, but my machine SHOULD be able to handle this game with no problems.
The support staff SHOULD be able to tell me why the game isn't working. If it's because some piece of my hardware is incompatible, I can deal with that. What I can't deal with is the great unknown.
Natronomonas
Warlord
Metzen,
Try the INI changes described in the "unofficial tech support FAQ" - CTD fix.
Also Harkonnen's patch reduces memory usage.
Yes, it sucks doing it this way, but the word is the next patch is focussed on delivering much lower memory and CPU consumption.
All that defrag stuff might deliver some small gains for people that have no idea that "defrag" even existed but for most they're just a waste of time. It's CivIV that needs tweaking, not the PC in general in most instances.
Try the INI changes described in the "unofficial tech support FAQ" - CTD fix.
Also Harkonnen's patch reduces memory usage.
Yes, it sucks doing it this way, but the word is the next patch is focussed on delivering much lower memory and CPU consumption.
All that defrag stuff might deliver some small gains for people that have no idea that "defrag" even existed but for most they're just a waste of time. It's CivIV that needs tweaking, not the PC in general in most instances.
I can't believe what I'm reading. I don't know how the laws concerning sales works in the rest of the world, but here in Sweden when a customer has paid for a product/service and it fails to meet expectation, the customer has by law the right to recieve compensation in one way or another(if only to make the product work properly).
In my opinion is every persons duty to complain as loud as they can, because in the end, it is the market that has to govern wether the product is good or not. This is what's wrong with the whole computer-scene, Everyone knows that there's going to be trouble, and those responsible try in every way to elude responsibilty. This way people spend their money, but recieve little or no value.
Of course, I don't think Firaxis is a lousy company, quite the contrary, I think their great. But money is money, and the customer should always get what he/she is paying for.
In my opinion is every persons duty to complain as loud as they can, because in the end, it is the market that has to govern wether the product is good or not. This is what's wrong with the whole computer-scene, Everyone knows that there's going to be trouble, and those responsible try in every way to elude responsibilty. This way people spend their money, but recieve little or no value.
Of course, I don't think Firaxis is a lousy company, quite the contrary, I think their great. But money is money, and the customer should always get what he/she is paying for.
azzaman333
meh
Mine crashes sometimes, but most of the time it runs without a problem. Especially after i dissabled all movies and downloaded Harkkonen's patch. There are still some major issues, but overall it is a very good product. When it is fully patched, it will be one of the greatest games ever (personally).
fung3
Warlord
Neon Deon - You seem very defensive of the Firaxis position. The bottom line is that lots people have spent their hard earned cash on a game that will not run correctly on their machine, machines that exceeds the stated minimun requirements.
Personally I have played a bunch of games and I think it is a great game (best in the series). I have a mid-spec machine ( far exceeds min. spec) but I can only play on smaller maps. If I run big maps and 6+ civs it all gets horribly slow in the modern age.
The truth is that the game is NOT READY FOR RELEASE. When people spend their cash they should get something that works straight out of the box. I tweaked, fiddled , bought a new grafix card, set the game to run on low res with no animation and the result is I can get a decent game.
Frankly, for a PC game product in 2005 it is nowhere near good enough, not even close.
It is an appauling effort by Firaxis and 2K. Simply put $50 should buy a game that work correctly for almost all users with machines that exceed min spec. out the box. Many folks don't have the skills to change all their setting prior to playing.
These forums and others like them are stuffed with punters who have a sh1t product and are not happy with it.
Personally I have played a bunch of games and I think it is a great game (best in the series). I have a mid-spec machine ( far exceeds min. spec) but I can only play on smaller maps. If I run big maps and 6+ civs it all gets horribly slow in the modern age.
The truth is that the game is NOT READY FOR RELEASE. When people spend their cash they should get something that works straight out of the box. I tweaked, fiddled , bought a new grafix card, set the game to run on low res with no animation and the result is I can get a decent game.
Frankly, for a PC game product in 2005 it is nowhere near good enough, not even close.
It is an appauling effort by Firaxis and 2K. Simply put $50 should buy a game that work correctly for almost all users with machines that exceed min spec. out the box. Many folks don't have the skills to change all their setting prior to playing.
These forums and others like them are stuffed with punters who have a sh1t product and are not happy with it.
azzaman333
meh
If Take Two hadnt lost San Andraes from the shelves, Firaxis would've had more time to prepare the game. but since money is the most important thing in the world, Firaxis had to rush the game. And even though we hear all of the people complaining, we dont hear the people who are enjoying their game, because they arent looking for fixes. Yes it does have problems, but most people dont understand how much effort is put into a game such as Civ4, which is very complex.
Complex or not, I don't try to repair my car, because I'm not a mechanic. They can't make a game, but they want us to buy it. Lamborghini Diablo, or any other "cool car" is very complex too, but it works as it's supposed to. Why? Because guys who made it knew what they were doing. They wanted to make super complex game, while they lack the skill to make proper memory management (MM is one of the first things you [should] learn when you study computer science). The game crashes it many, many points in the code, but it crashes less when you don't do anything fast, or better yet - when you do nothing. It seems to me that they have some kind of asynchronous loader, but they don't confirm properly that the requested thing has in fact been loaded (that would explain why the game crashes in many places in the code). I'm a hobbyist coder/programmer and I don't make such trivial mistakes. This means that there is something wrong with employees in the company, or the company didn't make any testing because they wanted to release before xmas.
Natronomonas
Warlord
ti_mo_n... some people have crashes when they do nothing : )
Azzaman... yes, lot of people are enjoying the game, including me now i've done the INI tweaks, but a game just should not hit the shelves with so many problems - period. I work on complex stuff but we make sure it's all OK before releasing/publishing - there's such a thing as reputation and respect from others who use your output.
Fung3 - i agree with your comments completely - it does seem to be the best in the series, I'm really loving it, but it _is_ 2005 - the OS is stable, most people have decent PCs and still there's the slowdowns, crashes etc... it's not on.
Azzaman... yes, lot of people are enjoying the game, including me now i've done the INI tweaks, but a game just should not hit the shelves with so many problems - period. I work on complex stuff but we make sure it's all OK before releasing/publishing - there's such a thing as reputation and respect from others who use your output.
Fung3 - i agree with your comments completely - it does seem to be the best in the series, I'm really loving it, but it _is_ 2005 - the OS is stable, most people have decent PCs and still there's the slowdowns, crashes etc... it's not on.
Maxfrrr
Chieftain
why we don't have so many problems with 2 and 3? They problaly skip the Test fase, they didn't send the game to user try on their machine, but they had money to advertise in TV Station, Magazine?
TSGracchus
Chieftain
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2005
- Messages
- 4
Neon Deon said:
How about EQ, EQII, and World of Warcraft? Sure, they crash occasionally. They also have easy ways to report bugs. And they deal with reported bugs. Apparently Firaxis hires programmers for their kissing talents.
ClockExplosion
Chieftain
Wow. I really can't understand what I'm hearing.
Maybe it's your copy? Has anybody in here try to return it and get a brand new copy?
It could be a printing issue. A couple of versions of Radiohead's Kid A album are flawed in the fact that it has the end of a Pearl Jam concert on the very first track, and the actual first track begins midway through the song.
All I know is that my copy works flawlessly (I must note I did disable Autosaving and used that memory fix), without any patches (or so I know. All I know is that it doesn't have patch 1.59, and I can't download it.) My computer is a 1.3 GHZ Sempron with a Radeon 9550 and 630 MB of RAM, using Windows 2000. I tried service optimization using an archived copy of BlackViper's website.
I have only endured one error, which was the diplomacy screen took a long time to load, and afterwards eveyrthing was dark. This had only happened once. Closing and restarting the game worked.
My advice? Go return your copy, get a new copy. Already did that? Well, try going to
Black Viper's Website and do some service optimization.
Also make sure all non-MS and non-important services are turned off. Adjust your graphics in game and out game.
Or you can sit here, bieng productive, and complain.
Maybe it's your copy? Has anybody in here try to return it and get a brand new copy?
It could be a printing issue. A couple of versions of Radiohead's Kid A album are flawed in the fact that it has the end of a Pearl Jam concert on the very first track, and the actual first track begins midway through the song.
All I know is that my copy works flawlessly (I must note I did disable Autosaving and used that memory fix), without any patches (or so I know. All I know is that it doesn't have patch 1.59, and I can't download it.) My computer is a 1.3 GHZ Sempron with a Radeon 9550 and 630 MB of RAM, using Windows 2000. I tried service optimization using an archived copy of BlackViper's website.
I have only endured one error, which was the diplomacy screen took a long time to load, and afterwards eveyrthing was dark. This had only happened once. Closing and restarting the game worked.
My advice? Go return your copy, get a new copy. Already did that? Well, try going to
Black Viper's Website and do some service optimization.
Also make sure all non-MS and non-important services are turned off. Adjust your graphics in game and out game.
Or you can sit here, bieng productive, and complain.
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