Mac 1.21f Beta Patch Info

[Daelda]

The following is an excerpt from an e-mail I received today regarding the Mac 1.21f patch. It may be of interest to some of you out there.

*****

I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for taking the time to contact
us in regard to Civ III Mac. I can appreciate your concern about the release
of the 1.21 patch. I just want to assure you that we are working on it. In
fact, we are now beta testing the patch and hope to release it very soon. If
you would be interested in helping to test the patch, you can contact our QA
Lead at jrobrahn@us.infogrames.com.

*****

I wrote the stated e-mail and am currently downloading the beta patch which I will be beta-testing as much as possible until the official patch comes out. The response from the Beta Test Project Leader was very fast. I will try to let you know how the beta plays and if it really seems to make a big difference in game play.

 

[dojoboy]

Thanks, ferretloverdc. Of course I, like probably everyone else, inquired about beta-testing the patch also. You knew this would happen, didn't you. You gotta a score to settle w/ 'em?

 

[Sid]

I also wrote to MacSoft about their support for the Mac community. I received a charming (yep, charming) email from Al Schilling, their Project Manager which included the offer of Beta testing of the patch.

He advised that the Editor would get back on track as soon as the patch is out there--which we all knew from Brad (notice that Brad has a new project for Aspyr on his plate…Star Wars: Jedhi Knight II. I'll be further indebted to Brad as soon as I can get my hands on SW: Galactic Battlegrounds in Australia).

As far as the PtW expansion is concerned, he said that negotiations still had to take place with the rights holder. I feel that this depends on the numbers of Mac sales, so I hope our community expands 'top-down' through better support from MacSoft + 'bottom-up' through the great work that we are doing as a community (my thanks to Brad and those of you who contribute to these forums, and of course, our hosts--CivFanatics).

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by Sid
I also wrote to MacSoft about their support for the Mac community. I received a charming (yep, charming) email from Al Schilling, their Project Manager which included the offer of Beta testing of the patch.

Hi Sid,
The letter he sent out is a form letter that he must have devised after many e-mails from the Mac community, as I received the exact same letter.

 

[Sid]

Hey-ah, David. I've seen your posts elsewhere. The main point is that we can be active as a community to achieve more than we would as isolated 'customers'. I'll look forward to the feedback from those lucky enough to be testing.

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by dojoboy
Thanks, ferretloverdc. Of course I, like probably everyone else, inquired about beta-testing the patch also. You knew this would happen, didn't you. You gotta a score to settle w/ 'em?

*chuckle*

Well, not a score really.... I knew that would happen. I just figured the more mac gamers that play-tested it, the quicker any bugs will be found and thus the quicker that a final patch will be out. See? I was using *some* logic here....

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by Sid
Hey-ah, David. I've seen your posts elsewhere. The main point is that we can be active as a community to achieve more than we would as isolated 'customers'. I'll look forward to the feedback from those lucky enough to be testing.

Yes, we can do more as a community than as individuals. Oh, and as to "feedback" on the patch...so far it works just fine. I am trying a Huge, Continents map with eight other civs (Chieftain difficulty). The only notable thing so far is that the workers make sounds now. I never heard sounds with them before, but now when they dig, you hear a shovel going into dirt. If they cut down a forest, you hear the trees fall. Kinda cool I think. I have only played the game for about a couple hours so far. I am not past the Middle Ages yet.

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by Sid
Hey-ah, David. I've seen your posts elsewhere.

Hey Sid,
Where have you seen me? You aren't a Harnian by chance are you? Or are you on comp.sys.mac.games.strategic? Just curious.

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by ferretloverdc


You aren't a Harnian by chance are you?

Okay, what is a Harnian? Do I need to know this inorder to be ?

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by dojoboy


Okay, what is a Harnian? Do I need to know this inorder to be ?

Okay, okay... I won't make ya beg.... A Harnian is a person who plays Harn. Oh, you want to know what Harn is? Well, Harn is a Role-Playing Game that I *love*! It is a paper & pencil RPG. The world is extremely well detailed and realistic. I have played Harn for about 18 years now and while I have tried other games, I always come back to Harn. It has no "levels", no "character classes", no "hit points", no "experience points" or any of that artificial junk. Oh, and mages are encouraged to create their OWN spells! Yes, I am a gaming addict.

And yes, only the coolest people are Harnians (*chuckle*).

 

[Trabpukcip]

Sorry to make your bubble explose but the coolest people are those like Brad who works for free to give me better games...

By the way what kind of rpg is Harn? I tried douzens of rpg from dungeon to to vampire going trought shadowrun and I never, never heard of a game called Harn??? And if it is so cool then please give a link where I can find some kind of information about it...

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by Trabpukcip
Sorry to make your bubble explose but the coolest people are those like Brad who works for free to give me better games...

By the way what kind of rpg is Harn? I tried douzens of rpg from dungeon to to vampire going trought shadowrun and I never, never heard of a game called Harn??? And if it is so cool then please give a link where I can find some kind of information about it...

Yes, Brad is *ultra cool* (and nice to boot). I wouldn't be surprised to find out he was a Harn player. javascript:smilie('')

Harn is a fantasy RPG (low-fantasy, but that is so that GMs can adjust it to their own play style). The world is extremely well detailed and realistic. You can check it out at:

http://www.columbiagames.com/HarnPage/index.html

A great introduction to the world of Harn is located at:

http://www.columbiagames.com/HarnPage/Generalintroduction/Robinharnintro.html

Also, a small not on my play-testing of the patch: In combat some units have new and improved sounds (Using the Iriquois, I could actually hear the sound of their bows shooting). I have reported a couple very minor bugs to the company - so far, so good.

 

[Sid]

It's now daylight in Australia, and Yes, David, I am a player of your Harn mod (how quickly they forget in cyberspace--I'm the Atlantean). It works really well, except that I can't do full justice to your huge map because it just clogs my little iMac right up. Did play some enjoyable games on small maps and got done at Regent level. Yep, I know, I really have to take a look at myself.

Well done for helping to get the patch out!

 

[josephtate]

I'm anxious to hear an update from those who are testing the 1.21f Mac beta patch. Any word?

jody

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by josephtate
I'm anxious to hear an update from those who are testing the 1.21f Mac beta patch. Any word?

jody

Hi all,
Well, I have been testing the 1.21f Patch and have found a few minor bugs, but nothing major so far. It is stable - no crashes yet. Hopefully they will patch up those little bugs and get it in your hot little hands soon.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by ferretloverdc
Well, I have been testing the 1.21f Patch and have found a few minor bugs, but nothing major so far. It is stable - no crashes yet. Hopefully they will patch up those little bugs and get it in your hot little hands soon.

Can you e-mail me (bradman@pobox.com) with details on those bugs?

Brad

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by Brad Oliver


Can you e-mail me (bradman@pobox.com) with details on those bugs?

Brad

Sure Brad. They are on the way. I have sent them to the Beta Test coordinator and haven't heard anything back from him yet. Hopefully he got them and brought them to somebody's attention.

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by josephtate
I'm anxious to hear an update from those who are testing the 1.21f Mac beta patch. Any word?

jody

Hi,
They definately have a little tweaking before the patch is released. I have found a nice little bug tonight. I sent the saved games to the Beta team and Brad. I like the bug, although it is not supposed to be there.

Ok, I have a treasury of 309 gold. I have no cities producing wealth. My income is -100. Okay, in MY little part of the USA, 309 minus 100 equals 209, right? Well, the next turn my treasury was 524 gold. Ummmm....where did that 215 gold come from? 315 if you take into account the 100 I was supposed to be losing...... This is not an isolated error. It has been happening continuously in the latter part of the game.

Hopefully they can figure out what is going on. Are all my citizens turning "tricks" on the side to make up the loss? Maybe my accountants are from Arthur Anderson <g>.

 

[josephtate]

Thanks for the updates. Sounds like it'll be a while yet.

jody

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by ferretloverdc
Ok, I have a treasury of 309 gold. I have no cities producing wealth. My income is -100.

It doesn't appear to be a bug. Your income is actually decreasing - check your treasury at the end of your turn and again at the beginning of the next and you'll see the decline. From what I could tell in your saved games, you were completing a number of improvements each turn that were increasing the treasury in the interim. If you were to stop building stuff, you'd see your treasury decrease as you expect. It behaves this way on the PC 1.21f build, so as far as I'm concerned, it's a "feature".

Brad