*** The following is a copy of the letter that was sent to 2k Games on 8/13/07 in hopes that online play for Civ 4 would be fixed ***
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
I am a long time Civ fanatic. I have purchased Civ 1 through Civ 4 including warlords. I love to play online
With other people and your game is the best online strategy available. I am however seriously disappointed
with the lack of perfection in the Civ 4 version for online play.
The problems are :
.
.
1. Often but not always, online players are unable to make a game with any more
than the host and one other player. (Others are unable to connect to the host for
whatever reason. Even if they have multiple slots open.)
.
.
2. On many occasions, games will freeze upon starting or during play and / or go out of sync.
(sometimes, the game will repair itself from a lockup but more often not.)
.
.
3. Several times a week, players are unable to connect to a host and receive error messages like :
(unable to connect to 'PLAYER' or peer or, they end up in a loop trying to connect to peer.
Those 3 items are only symptoms of problems that should have been addressed already.
Warlords and BTS have been released and have better net code and it seems that Civ 4
has been put on the shelf for the progress of those expansions. The problem with that is
that not everyone will want to buy the new expansions and are fully happy playing the
original version. (Please excuse any misconception on my part.)
Many online players are extremely fed up and are blaming Game Spy for the connection
and lockup issues. Despite their disgust with these issues, they still return to play this
version online. (I do as well.)
To sum up this email :
On mine and the online communities’ behalf, I am humbly requesting that you put a very large
effort into fixing this problem as soon as possible. Doing so will thoroughly please most every
online player and solidify your position as a leader in the online strategy gaming genre.
Not tackling this problem asap could result in the continued dissatisfaction of your current users
and, the loss of future customers. (Me included. I am considering a purchase of BTS but, I believe
that Civ 4 vanilla should be repaired before I invest any more money in your company.)
My contribution :
I am more than willing and would be very happy to assist you in your efforts in any way that you see fit.
I know these problems very well and would be able to provide you with answers to questions regarding
these problems. For instance, when they occur, what is happening, what workarounds have users
discovered, etc. I may have information that you can use to pinpoint the source or sources of the problems.
Finally,
Please help us to repair the problems with Civ 4 vanilla despite any financial loss that you may incur from
the effort. We are all counting on all of you to release a patch that will make Civ 4 online play solid and reliable.
Thank you for an outstanding game and your continued efforts to make your releases top notch. You have
brought many enjoyable hours to many of our lives and we all look forward to your prompt response to this question.
Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen,
Rick Smith (Ingot)
-----------------------------------------------------------
*** Here is 2k's response to that letter and our reply. ***
-----Original Message-----
From: 2K Games USA Techncial Support [mailto:take2games_en@mailuk.custhelp.com]
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 4:24 AM
To: ingot@kc.rr.com
Subject: Online Problems [Incident: 070814-000058]
Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 7 days.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.
Subject
Online Problems
Discussion Thread
Response (Christopher Stephenson)
17/08/2007 09.24 AM
Hello,
If you are experiencing multiplayer difficulties over the internet, please ensure you and the other players are using the latest update (current 1.74 patch). Also make sure you do not have any firewalls or antivirus software blocking connections. A great many gamers successfully play online games of Civ IV without problems and so any errors most likely lie with problems with the server or other software on the users system.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yes sir,
All of the afore mentioned things have been done. However, the problems experienced are
intermittent. The users that experience these problems are regular players who have proven
their computer configurations to be sound for playing Civ 4 online. Besides that, the problems are
experienced simultaneously by the entire game lobby. We have summized that these issues are
either caused by erroneous network code within the game Itself or the connectivity provided by Gamespy.
We as a community are requesting with great optimism that your troubleshooters do look
Into this problem fully and, do whatever is necessary to ratify it as soon as possible. Please do not
dismiss this complaint as being related to sloppy configurations, as the writer of this is an experienced
computer gamer and technician with many years of online play. This correspondence was withheld for
quite some time due to faith in Firaxis to provide a panacean solution but, 1.74 came out and the
problems remained.
Thank you again for your prompt attention.
-----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
I am a long time Civ fanatic. I have purchased Civ 1 through Civ 4 including warlords. I love to play online
With other people and your game is the best online strategy available. I am however seriously disappointed
with the lack of perfection in the Civ 4 version for online play.
The problems are :
.
.
1. Often but not always, online players are unable to make a game with any more
than the host and one other player. (Others are unable to connect to the host for
whatever reason. Even if they have multiple slots open.)
.
.
2. On many occasions, games will freeze upon starting or during play and / or go out of sync.
(sometimes, the game will repair itself from a lockup but more often not.)
.
.
3. Several times a week, players are unable to connect to a host and receive error messages like :
(unable to connect to 'PLAYER' or peer or, they end up in a loop trying to connect to peer.
Those 3 items are only symptoms of problems that should have been addressed already.
Warlords and BTS have been released and have better net code and it seems that Civ 4
has been put on the shelf for the progress of those expansions. The problem with that is
that not everyone will want to buy the new expansions and are fully happy playing the
original version. (Please excuse any misconception on my part.)
Many online players are extremely fed up and are blaming Game Spy for the connection
and lockup issues. Despite their disgust with these issues, they still return to play this
version online. (I do as well.)
To sum up this email :
On mine and the online communities’ behalf, I am humbly requesting that you put a very large
effort into fixing this problem as soon as possible. Doing so will thoroughly please most every
online player and solidify your position as a leader in the online strategy gaming genre.
Not tackling this problem asap could result in the continued dissatisfaction of your current users
and, the loss of future customers. (Me included. I am considering a purchase of BTS but, I believe
that Civ 4 vanilla should be repaired before I invest any more money in your company.)
My contribution :
I am more than willing and would be very happy to assist you in your efforts in any way that you see fit.
I know these problems very well and would be able to provide you with answers to questions regarding
these problems. For instance, when they occur, what is happening, what workarounds have users
discovered, etc. I may have information that you can use to pinpoint the source or sources of the problems.
Finally,
Please help us to repair the problems with Civ 4 vanilla despite any financial loss that you may incur from
the effort. We are all counting on all of you to release a patch that will make Civ 4 online play solid and reliable.
Thank you for an outstanding game and your continued efforts to make your releases top notch. You have
brought many enjoyable hours to many of our lives and we all look forward to your prompt response to this question.
Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen,
Rick Smith (Ingot)
-----------------------------------------------------------
*** Here is 2k's response to that letter and our reply. ***
-----Original Message-----
From: 2K Games USA Techncial Support [mailto:take2games_en@mailuk.custhelp.com]
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 4:24 AM
To: ingot@kc.rr.com
Subject: Online Problems [Incident: 070814-000058]
Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 7 days.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.
Subject
Online Problems
Discussion Thread
Response (Christopher Stephenson)
17/08/2007 09.24 AM
Hello,
If you are experiencing multiplayer difficulties over the internet, please ensure you and the other players are using the latest update (current 1.74 patch). Also make sure you do not have any firewalls or antivirus software blocking connections. A great many gamers successfully play online games of Civ IV without problems and so any errors most likely lie with problems with the server or other software on the users system.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yes sir,
All of the afore mentioned things have been done. However, the problems experienced are
intermittent. The users that experience these problems are regular players who have proven
their computer configurations to be sound for playing Civ 4 online. Besides that, the problems are
experienced simultaneously by the entire game lobby. We have summized that these issues are
either caused by erroneous network code within the game Itself or the connectivity provided by Gamespy.
We as a community are requesting with great optimism that your troubleshooters do look
Into this problem fully and, do whatever is necessary to ratify it as soon as possible. Please do not
dismiss this complaint as being related to sloppy configurations, as the writer of this is an experienced
computer gamer and technician with many years of online play. This correspondence was withheld for
quite some time due to faith in Firaxis to provide a panacean solution but, 1.74 came out and the
problems remained.
Thank you again for your prompt attention.
-----------------------------------------------------------
