Everyone Take a DEEP breath.....

[Rocky Top]

First off, I know that what ever I say, unless it is a fix for your problem, is going to fall on deaf ears. I also understand everyone who is experiencing problems are extremely frustrated, I have been there done that on other games. However, screaming, cussing and acting like the game is a waste of time and money is not productive.

These issues will be resolved as quickly as possible and I am speaking from experience. Until then, take a deep breath, clear your head and let the techies research the problem. When you get your fix for the problem, you will be treated to a game that is going to give you months & months of entertainment. Just relax and stop with all the childish name calling and ranting! It is doing NO ONE any good. If it makes you feel better to return the game, then have at it. You will be headed back down to your local game store as soon as these issues are repaired and buying it again. The game is absolutely next level, at least from my first impressions. (about 8 hours worth)

Hang in there and don't be so willing to throw the baby out with the bath water. Better days are ahead for those who are having issues...count on it!

 

[XF Clohvn]

I concur.

After playing for a few hours, I was shocked by the response here I sympathize with those who have tech issues (done it many times before, believe me ), but I'm sure they'll be sorted out soon enough.

 

[imagod284]

Right, this is no World War II Online (anyone who lived through that experience knows what i'm talking about). That game needed a 70 MB patch out of the box to stop it from CTDing when you FIRED YOUR FREAKING RIFLE(and it was a first person shooter)!!

 

[bman003]

I remember WWII online, LOL. I was much more sad about that. Except I struggled with this secretly inside for 2 months!

 

[IATyco]

From what I heard, the initial release of Civ III also have many problems and many complaints about it.

Although I sympathize with those having problems, I do not agree with the hostility displayed by some people, and I am shocked to find this type of behaviour here on what I regard as one of the most friendly game community. Although it most likely will not happen, I do not wish this place to be blacklisted by other people or even by the developers (yes, game sites had been blacklisted by developers before not for illegal activities such as providing hacks, but for hostility display towards the developers such as boycott threats).

Maybe things will settle down after a few weeks. The game was only released for a few days, after all. Given time, things will most likely be fixed. People may scream and shout now, but, given my experience with other game communities, once a fix is release, everyone will be happy once more.

 

[alfeas]

No offense to the funshine happy days original poster, well, maybe a little, but I think it is valid to steam and rant over this.

How on earth could a decent Quality Assurance run miss the fact that this doesn't seem to work on what seems to be at least half of the ATI cards out there? Two possibilities as I see them: Most likely they skimped on QA and pushed for an early release. Or, as a conspiracy theorist might deduce, they knew about this problem at some point before or during the QA sessions, needed to print to meet the holiday sales rush, and decided it was a calculated business decision, knowing that they'd be able to release a patch for it at some point. If the second possibility is correct, it is possible that firaxis is just posturing with their patch to make it look like it was a new and unexpected discovery. (Note, I have no idea if this is true or even vaguely possible, just jumped into my head as a possibility).

Either way, someone somewhere screwed up, and when someone screws up, I don't see anything wrong with griping about it--in fact, I'd think the gaming community ought to recommend more ppl gripe about what gaming companies get away with. This sort of shoddy release has become commonplace in the industry. I don't doubt that it is a difficult task to get a pc game functional on so many platforms, but, in the immortal words of Jimmy Vahlmer, come on.

In the end though, this really is my fault. I'm the consumer, it is my choice whether to buy the product, and in the end, I will live with the consequences. I remember vowing to myself after I purchased Civ3 Conquests and that there was a bug in the actual code that made epic campaigns unplayable for like 2 months, that I would never give another dollar to Firaxis. What I really should have vowed is to go out and create a better game than Civ4, ship it two weeks before Civ4 came out, put the right labels on the right cds, paid a reliable QA team to find these bugs AND address them if they were game-breaking, and then put out the product that would have buried Civ4.

 

[ceiph]

if it doesnt work go read part 3 of sullas walkthrough

 

[Coky]

Speaking as one of the people who this game worked for, We don't want to hear people say "Firaxis sucks, you have 24 hours!" and "years and years .. for this?!". We absolutely understand that it would be extremely terrible for the game to not work on our machines and we fully support you all, will do our bests to help, and so will firaxis. If you explain your issues, in detail, in the bugs forum, it would help a lot more than filling General Discussion with threads of spam and hate. I think it's fair for you to let out steam, but pretty soon I will have to too at all the people who are just yelling and screaming pointlessly and filling our general discussion with spam.

If I could offer you over for some hotseat, I would.

 

[ThERat]

I am shocked to find this type of behaviour here on what I regard as one of the most friendly game community.

don't forget that we got a ton of new members just recently and they might not represent this community at large. I think I would be the last to blame Firaxis. reading Sullas introduction, I realized how concerned Firaxis is about us. We all want Civ4 to rock and Firaxis to make enough money to keep this series alive. However, the publisher does care about money I guess, pressed for early release, causing the usual problems.

 

[Rocky Top]

Good post by most but I would like to address alfeas post.

I certainly have no intention of getting into a 'flame fest' with you. I was merely pointing out that those with problems need to give the developers more than a few hours for a patch before you start your childish name calling and hollow threats. I never once suggested you be pleased with the issues nor did I suggest you not voice your concerns.

Actually, you should be pleased you have a forum where you can go that is sensitive to your problems and has the support from so many trying to solve these problems. PC games have come so far with avenues for sloving these problems but it never fails, there are always a few that run around half cocked with their hollow threats and demands.

As far as my "funshine happy days" thoughts, I am sorry you feel handeling a problem in a more mature and productive way is wrong. I happen to solve problems for a living. I am hired to find solutions to others problems in the business world and I have never been successful in whining, crying and calling everyone names while searching for solutions. It does not work that way in the 'real world' but if you feel that serves your agenda best by doing so, have at it.

Just a word of advice...the next time you need help in solving a problem that is troubling you try being a bit more mature and looking at ALL sides of the equation instaed of pissing & moaning as loud as possible. I believe you will be pleased with the results when using your mind to solve problems instead of letting your emotions run amock.

By the way, how are your spam filled rants helping solve your problem?

 

[KymeraTX]

Speaking as one of the people who this game worked for, We don't want to hear people say "Firaxis sucks, you have 24 hours!" and "years and years .. for this?!". We absolutely understand that it would be extremely terrible for the game to not work on our machines and we fully support you all, will do our bests to help, and so will firaxis. If you explain your issues, in detail, in the bugs forum, it would help a lot more than filling General Discussion with threads of spam and hate. I think it's fair for you to let out steam, but pretty soon I will have to too at all the people who are just yelling and screaming pointlessly and filling our general discussion with spam.

If I could offer you over for some hotseat, I would.

I agree 100%, but ppl do have a right to complain but they ALSO have a choice to buy the game or not.

 

[SlayerofDeitys]

Hear, Hear! I find that jumping to conclusions when your upset will not only anger the people who are trying to help, in turn making them not want to help you, but sometimes the answer is something other than what it originally appeared to be. Of course then the oldage about assuming comes into play...

 

[Shigga]

The "I'm looking down my nose"-attitude does not help, either.

Some people are ranting AND trying to get their problems fixed, imagine that. So much for generealization.

This forum needs a great bit more tolerance. So why not be nice to each other, one side complaining in what is a mature manner, the other trying to be helpful and understanding. Love and Peace

 

[Bast]

This is causing me stress and damaging my health.

 

[stumben]

A few things I have learned throughout my life dealing with Gaming addiction

1. Never never NEVER re-arrange your life schedule around a release of a computer game! NEVER! Every time I have done this I have been royally bitten in the rear. The game would be late, wouldnt run, something would just mysteriously go wrong so I wasted vacation days, couldnt play the game, then come back to work and have to work huge overtime to catch up!! The frustration of your game not working is 10x as bad in this scenario.

2. Any version of windows is basically shot after a year of heavy use. Reformat once a year minimum. Period. I am amazed everytime how a fresh install runs - epsecially being someone that installs/uninstalls tons of crap. Todays world of spyware, viruses spam, even with the best firewall, spam protection... computers are getting attacked all the time with garbage from the web. Plan ahead for your anticipated game release - backup and reformat, dl all latest drivers.

3. Its just a game. seriously. Just a game. And they will patch it , and a week or 2 from now when your enjoying the game... youll think how silly you were for giving yourself an ulcer because the game didnt run at first.


I am surprised how many glaring problems people are having, its frustrating, someone screwed up or didn't test enough for sure. People need to rant thats fine... I know I have before. I have seen much worse forums than these. World Of Warcraft works great, and those forums are a cess pool of flames.

 

[THARN]

I would like to point out that these days most game programmers at least make sure that nvidia and ati cards have no issues running their game (out of the box) partially why they have beta testers with different hardware.
I'm not saying Firaxis should be boycotted or anything of the sort. It's just a fact.
On the other hand- It pains me to see other posts from people who haven't upgraded their computers in 4 years expecting things to run like a charm- Wouldn't be surprised if they never defragged the HD either.

There will be a few patches to get the game up to what it should be for everyones enjoyment- thats just the way the game industry is these days. When my civ 4 comes in the mail I don't expect to have many issues, but if I do - I'll just wait patiently to get em resolved.

 

[THARN]

Stumben- looks like you were posting same time I was..
I agree.

 

[megabrainz]

I think it's pretty reasonable for people to complain, and bitterly, if they have been sold a product that doesn't work. Sure, it's pretty futile, and possibly annoying to those who want to think the game is perfect. But you don't have to read other people's rants, do you?

I'm just glad that I haven't (yet) got a decent enough machine to run it, so didn't get caught in this way. Commiserations to those who did.

 

[stumben]

I think it's pretty reasonable for people to complain, and bitterly, if they have been sold a product that doesn't work. Sure, it's pretty futile, and possibly annoying to those who want to think the game is perfect. But you don't have to read other people's rants, do you?

I'm just glad that I haven't (yet) got a decent enough machine to run it, so didn't get caught in this way. Commiserations to those who did.

The frustration is totally understandable.

But, try to look at it this way. Civilization IV is one of the few amazing games to come out - but it shipped with some major bugs ( be it firaxis fault or ATI or directx or all of the above ).

Compare that to all the average or just plain crappy games that also ship with bugs.

Be happy there are still companies that make amazing games that you will be able to enjoy for months and months.

It will all be fixed.

 

[Rocky Top]

Stumben, excellent post! I agree, with most of the crappy games that are released now a days it is really good to get your hands on a game that has so much depth. Even with the bugs that have been found thus far, I think CIV has endless possibilities, both single player AND multiplayer. That is a rare combination that is found in only a few games per year...if that many.

I have a heavy heart for those that were looking forward to playing the game only to find their rig would not allow them. I would be upset as well. The true test for developers is how they react to these issues. If Firaxis is a dedicated to their customers as I feel they are, this whole thing will be handeled with professionalism. It just takes a little time to recreate these problems and to find a universal fix.

Here is hoping the issues are repaired soon and we all can get back to conquering the world.