Patch Information & Plans

[Tavis]

I wanted to apologize to players who have been encountering problems or confusion due to the release of the beta patches. It was not my intention to confuse anyone or create an unstable gaming situation!

I am focused on releasing an official version of the latest code (v1.15) that fixes the Localization versions so that they work correctly. Obviously I wasn't thinking when I included the English version of the Conquests. If you install v1.15 it will overwrite your Conquests and Text files to the English versions which will break your game! I'm VERY sorry for this oversite and am working on providing a solution ASAP.

This patch will be an ROW Localization Version for 1.15 that will still be considered BETA. After this release there will be no more BETA patches. A full release will be made available at the end of February that includes fixes for many of the issues that you are encountering.

At that time plans for the next release will be posted. I appreciate your taking the time to write on the forums your problems, comments, and concerns. It greatly assists me with developing a patch that will hopefully solve all of your problems.

Sadly there is no substitute for the kind of stress a games code gets once its on the market. In a very short time the amount of hours logged playing exceeds the combination of all hours in the test cycle combined!

Thanks for the support!!

Jesse Smith
Producer, Civilization III: Conquests
Firaxis Games

 

[Civrules]

Jesse, I also want to thank you for actually making an announcement about what really is going on with the patches and what plans you have for them as a producer of the game. This alone tells many of us that what problems and issues are occurring in patches, you obviously did not intend. Basically what I’m saying is that not many game producers will stand up and talk about problem patches.
Thank you for all the information you have been giving us.

 

[Commander Bello]

I agree with Civrules

 

[Adam7Eight]

It's a shame more developers/programmers/producers aren't more involved with "their" gaming community as much as Jesse and the gang is with theirs. I have never seen this kind of support for a game ever in my life. Hats off to ya.

 

[lbhhh]

Thanks for the info Tavis, that clears up a lot of questions!
It's nice to see Firaxis cares enough about the product to constantly strive to make it better

 

[Turner]

Agree with Low here. I think Firaxis/Breakaway/Atari has been very 'in tune' with their customers wishes, expectations and comments. This is creating strong customer loyalty with at least me, and I'm sure others.

I've played other games and seen the fan sites, and while the developers may read what the fans are saying, usually it's only on their company-sponsored boards, and rarely outside that. I have personally seen Firaxians on two different sites (one of them currently closed down) and Atari & Breakaway on this site. I'm sure that there is also a presence at Apolyton, but as I don't read those boards I don't know for sure. But it would suprise me if there wasn't a presence there.

So kudoes, guys, for keeping us in the know. I think that the response for C3C has been so much greater because of this. We know you're listening, and you know we'll comment honestly. A win-win for everyone.

 

[Black Waltz]

I agree. Naysayers may say that it's "expected" this level of customer support. But we all know that most other developers would not put so much effort into patches, etc. Bugs would simply be left in the code with no real rush to fix them.

Thanks very much for clarrifying the BETA situation too. Just curious. Will the new Febuary Patch be able to be added onto any of the BETA patches (V1.13-1.15)? I'm just worried that I may have buggered up my game so I'll have to re-install.

 

[Mercade]

Originally posted by Black Waltz
Thanks very much for clarrifying the BETA situation too. Just curious. Will the new Febuary Patch be able to be added onto any of the BETA patches (V1.13-1.15)? I'm just worried that I may have buggered up my game so I'll have to re-install.

In principle I'd say that the formal patch modifies at least the files modified in the beta patch, so it shouldn't matter much whether you stack if onto 1.00 or a later beta patch. Basically the main EXE is modified, perhaps a DLL or two and some text and graphics files. There are no relative binary changes to those files. All files are simply overwritten with a new version.

 

[Turner]

Originally posted by Black Waltz
...Naysayers may say that it's "expected" this level of customer support.....

Well, speaking for myself and knowing the standard of 'support' in the bizness, I'm much more inclined to go with a firaxis/breakaway/atari product now than a couple of years ago. Yes, it may be expected, and it was certainly the way I was trained in customer service. . .but considering that I can go somewhere else and have iffy support or go with F/B/A and know they'll seriously listen (and not have my CS call show up on a blog in a couple of days) I'm more inclined to go with their product.

In any event, and compound sentances aside, I can't say enough about how great F/B/A has been. . .

 

[Aggie]

Tavis, thank you and the entire development team very much for your efforts and your good intentions.

I must say that I found the constant flow of beta patches confusing, but from the information that you gave us it was always clear to me that you cared about a good product, our involvement through discussion and ultimately customer satisfaction .

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

I too wish to thank Firaxis and especially Tavis. The effort has obviously been above and beyond the call of duty.

I may be one of the whiners at times, but it comes from frustration with the industry as a whole and is usually tempered once i vent

 

[Yeti]

Thanks for the heads up Jesse!

It's unfortunate that our foreign language using friends were negatively affected by the latest beta patches, but they ARE beta patches after all, and I really appreciate having earlier access to changes and an opportunity to provide feedback. 1.15b is looking pretty good too - very playable

Thanks!

 

[rdomarat]

Originally posted by Tavis
I am focused on releasing an official version of the latest code (v1.15) that fixes the Localization versions so that they work correctly.

I'm glad to see you realize how much a status report on what is going on is a huge moral booster for everyone on the boards. I wish more software companies realized how important communicating information to their customers was.

Originally posted by Tavis
Sadly there is no substitute for the kind of stress a games code gets once its on the market. In a very short time the amount of hours logged playing exceeds the combination of all hours in the test cycle combined!

I couldn't agree with this more. I really hope that the complaints from the minority of people on the board who moan and whine about how buggy C3C is aren't bothering you. I'm sure by now you realize that for every vocal negative person there is likely thousands of satisfied users. To produce a game as complex as C3C and only have a handful of problems (which may be a little annoying but in no way prevent you from playing the game) in the initial release is a huge accomplishment for the Firaxis/BreakAway developement and QA teams IMHO.

 

[varyag]

Tavis,

As I understand many people, me including , customize their games so it woud be nice if every new patch:

1. List all files it will overwrite
2. Create subdirectory with name of the vesion that patch is over where all files that patch overwrites are copied in their directory structure (shouldn't be hard - we can uninstall patches so you are saving this info anyway, just make another copy available to users to play with). You can even go as far as providing a user with the ability to choose on the starting page which of the installed version he/she wants to play.

============================================

Here is some wishful thinking:

1. City Specialists abilities should imrove with tech advances / city improvements. (Also they should be affected by the civ type)

2. I added great many units (cretated by other people ), but two had especially good effect on the dynamic of the game (AI made an excellent use of them):
a) Spy unit - available with espionage, cost 90, 3/2/2, all terrain as roads, enslave (create another spy), invisible, detects invisible units. Also add the ability to your current "diplomatic" spy to reveal all spy units for one turn.
b) Attack Helicopter - LAND Unit, Advance Flight, cost 180, Oil, Rubber, 18/8/4, ignore penalty on all terrain, blitz, airdrop with the radius 6 (to "fly over" small channel or other units), can carry two missles, defensive bombardment 10.
Power of these units is balanced by their high cost. They contribute a lot to the game's dynamic.

3) I added 50% luxuries bonus with Coliseums. Makes them worth while.

============================================

At the end - something I wanted to say for a long time: what country is mentioned more than others in the international news? What country existed way before Great Roman Empire and was re-created in the modern age. What people made a huge contribution in all areas of our life? Yes, you guessed it. It just doesn't feel right that among all include civs you could not find place for Israel. Please consider including it in the next version (IV) of your great game.

 

[varyag]

One more thing, there is a hard limit on the number of links to units that can be created with the given resource in civilopedia. Put a list with a scroll bar there and remove the limit (or increase it substantially) so all entries are readable, and users don't receive that silly warning. Also putting scrollable control for description and effects part of civilopedia would be a good solution for large entries.

 

[Civrules]

Originally posted by rdomarat

I'm glad to see you realize how much a status report on what is going on is a huge moral booster for everyone on the boards. I wish more software companies realized how important communicating information to their customers was.

Right, I agree 100% here. It shows that speaking and communicating with customers works. Imagine this: You buy a game from another company and you realize that it is messed up. Most companies refuse to talk about what is really going on *after a product has been released* which in the customer's head it looks like the company rushed the product and did not care for what the results will be. The problem here is that most companies are afraid to speak the truth. Here we see that speaking the truth actually makes it evident that Firaxis did not intend to rush the product and really means to improve it in any way possible.

I don’t know about you, but I would not be very happy to see all these beta patches come out without some clarification.
This should be a wake up call for some software companies to communicate after a product’s release. It helps a lot as we see here.

Once again, thanks Firaxis!

 

[Frimlin]

I'm in agreement -- thanks Tavis and the team! I haven't spent as much time in our own game's forums since I arrived at the studio last year -- my previous job included moderator of the company's forums, and I guess I've just wanted a break from it all. I admire all games dev'ers who are prepared to face their customers directly. It's often raw and brutal, and can hurt, but every now and then you realise there's a lot of people who are still enjoying the game, and having no problem great enough to say anything much about.

 

[planetfall]

Tavis,

Thanks for the updates as the game business model changes and changes. Please keep up the good information flow.

== PF

 

[Gogf]

I agree with Civrules, and Frimlin. That's whats so great about Firacxis (two things): they made Civ3, and they don't just ditch you after they release it. They are such a great company becuse of this, IMO. Thanks Firaxis!

 

[aeldrik]

@ I can agree mostly, having someone here writting one in a while is great, even if I'd hope for more messages of the kind: we know this problem and are working on it,.. But as I said, I think the reason CIV is so popular and has so many loyal fans is also because of the great support Firaxis has been providing.... as long as this happens, we don't feel too bad about the bugs...
It is just a pity so much engergy and time from Firaxis has to be concentrated on correction bugs, instead of just improving the game...