Patch v3.13 change list

[bonafide11]

Argh I'm so bored of BTS and I really want the patch to come out to bring back my passion for the game! When is it coming??

 

[zienth]

<whine> Are we there yet? </whine>

Sheesh, people. There has been no announced release date. It will be released when they feel it is ready to be released. *If* they feel it's ready to be released. If their QA finds a serious bug, 3.13 may not get released and we may get a 3.14 after another round of QA. Or maybe a 3.15, or a 3.22.

I'm a build/release engineer, so I see this all the time. I'm the guy (but not the guy at Firaxis, I work for a different software company) that takes the source code from the developers and builds the "official" build with a version number. I hand the versioned build off to QA and QA tests it. If QA approves it, and management doesn't come up with some other reason not to release (Oh, marketing just decided that they don't like the color green for the FooBar civilzation's borders, it has bad connotations in their culture), then it gets released. If QA finds some ghastly bug that make it crash every third turn on even numbered Wednesdays, then the developers fix it and I do another build and QA starts over.

Since Firaxis isn't up against an external deadline, like getting it out by Thanksgiving, they aren't announcing a release date because they don't want everybody screaming at them if they decide it needs another build/test cycle. The alternative is they announce a date, find a critical bug, and release anyway to avoid getting screamed at for missing the date, and instead get screamed at for releasing a patch with a critical bug. Either way they loose if they announce a date and then find a critical bug. Yeah, the solution is to not have any critical bugs. World peace would be nice, too, wouldn't it?

So can we cut out the "When will it get released?" posts? They're as annoying as a five year old in the backseat saying "Are we there yet?". It will be released when it gets released, and I'm just happy to see the list of changes.

Zienth

 

[Lobsang1979]

I generally agree Zienth: some people are more impatient/excitable than others, such is life. Although I suppose if some people feel the need to vent their frustration then we'll see a few more of these posts yet, and I guess they have every right to do so until a moderator says otherwise.

Sorry JFLNYC I was not comparing a computer program to, say, a snow blower but rather suggesting that practically all products have defects and bugs. Whether or not an individual will experience all such defects is entirely subject to that individual's circumstances. I am sorry for the confusion and suggest that entire posts are quoted rather than select lines of text to avoid confusing others.

My point of view is this, in summary: we expect companies to have a customer support department, therefore we expect (but don't encourage) bugs and errors.

So seeing as this is a thread about the fact of the upcoming patch, rather than a petition to wish the need for it away through a collective consciousness, all I will say again is that I am pleased that so many bugs will be hopefully remedied with one fell swoop. As for whether any other bugs will rear their head in the future is one for The Oracle...

 

[Mesousa]

Inflation no longer increases after the game time limit has been reached

Does this mean that if you play with Time Victory turned off, inflation will keep increasing since there is no time limit?

 

[_alphaBeta_]

Does this mean that if you play with Time Victory turned off, inflation will keep increasing since there is no time limit?

I read this to mean that inflation stops growing at 2050, regardless of victory conditions.

 

[JFLNYC]

I generally agree Zienth: some people are more impatient/excitable than others, such is life. Although I suppose if some people feel the need to vent their frustration then we'll see a few more of these posts yet, and I guess they have every right to do so until a moderator says otherwise.

Sorry JFLNYC I was not comparing a computer program to, say, a snow blower but rather suggesting that practically all products have defects and bugs. Whether or not an individual will experience all such defects is entirely subject to that individual's circumstances. I am sorry for the confusion and suggest that entire posts are quoted rather than select lines of text to avoid confusing others.

My point of view is this, in summary: we expect companies to have a customer support department, therefore we expect (but don't encourage) bugs and errors.

So seeing as this is a thread about the fact of the upcoming patch, rather than a petition to wish the need for it away through a collective consciousness, all I will say again is that I am pleased that so many bugs will be hopefully remedied with one fell swoop. As for whether any other bugs will rear their head in the future is one for The Oracle...

Now I see! (**smacks forehead**) You weren't comparing a computer program with a snow blower. My mistake. You were comparing a computer program to "car repairs, faulty washing machines, dodgy phone lines, etc. etc." I guess any argument which hangs on the subtle differences in reliability between faulty washing machines and snow blowers along with their respective inter-relationships to a buggy computer program is just too much for for my feeble mind to comprehend.

P.S. I avoided quoting your entire 285-word post so as to avoid verbosity when your entire point could be summed up with the maxim in your most recent post: "practically all products have defects and bugs."

 

[Minor Annoyance]

A few pages back people were saying that airships are overpowered because the can't be countered. I must not be good at this game because I didn't think to use them in large numbers. Also, I actually thought siege weapons were too weak before but I guess I was very wrong on that too.
Anyway, what if you could only have one air unit per city/fort until you develop flight? Would that work?

 

[Lobsang1979]

Now I see! (**smacks forehead**) You weren't comparing a computer program with a snow blower. My mistake. You were comparing a computer program to "car repairs, faulty washing machines, dodgy phone lines, etc. etc."

No, again you misrepresent my statements. I did not compare a computer program to anything. I used the car repairs, faulty washing machines, etc. as an example to highlight that most products are faulty in some way. At no point did I compare Civ to any of these products directly.

Your original assertion was that Civ4, Warlords and BTS were released before they were ready. To many people, this is indeed the case. To others, not so much. My post was simply an alternative viewpoint suggesting that it is practically impossible to release a game within the current market that has been quality tested to the point of perfection. It was not meant to be an argument against your own post, but rather simply my own alternative view to your position.

Surely these forums are a way to express our own views in response to the views of others? Is there any reason that an alternative viewpoint requires ridicule, misrepresentation or belittlement?

Oh and as an aside, does anyone remember the days of C64 and Amiga games whose bugs included not even loading or being stuck in a loop that prevented progression beyond the 1st level? Perhaps that is why I am so forgiving of patches, rightly or wrongly!

 

[Ghost Ranger]

Actually, compared to other games, Civ IV is not very buggy. For example, Oblivion (great game btw), has gotten 3 patches, yet still has many bugs.

 

[azzaman333]

Original Civ 4 wasn't stable. It took 1-2 patches for most people to have it in a playable state for a whole game.

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

Damn some computer programmers have been burning the midnight oil lately. Great job, its a shame I left my BTS game back with my desktop at home and I'm stuck at college.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

Original Civ 4 wasn't stable. It took 1-2 patches for most people to have it in a playable state for a whole game.

Its stable now though, Oblivion isn't.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

I really don't understand the sense of this poll. Does it mean "worth to wait to buy it"? Or for those who already bought "Worth to wait to play until this patch is out?" or for those who bought and still playing even without the fixes "Worth to wait to release GotM or HoF-Gauntlet?"

Anyone helps my out of my disintegration problem!

 

[Wolfwood]

"Fixed bug where city air unit limit could be bypassed using Carriers"

Um... does this mean that I can no longer enter a city with my fleet with carriers if the city has 4 bombers in it already?

 

[angeleyes]

This is ridiculous. Bts should have been perfect when they brought it out. Now i should be happy they patched it after several weeks?

 

[Ethric]

I really don't understand the sense of this poll. Does it mean "worth to wait to buy it"? Or for those who already bought "Worth to wait to play until this patch is out?" or for those who bought and still playing even without the fixes "Worth to wait to release GotM or HoF-Gauntlet?"

Anyone helps my out of my disintegration problem!

Seems to me he is asking if people like the changes, and are likely to go "Well it was a long wait, but at least it was solid" as opposed to "Waiting that long for this POS, they didn't fix ANYTHING, and these new bugs, like the elephants being pink, are ridiculous, booh BOOH!". Or something like that.

Of course, the missing variable of the initial question is when will the patch actually be out. I got the impression, from the tone of the OP ("We are done with the patch"), that it was just a matter of wrapping it up and it would be out just over the weekend. So I voted yes. But I guess that was wishful thinking on my part, as it is obviously not the case. The longer it takes the less worth the wait it becomes.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

Seems to me he is asking if people like the changes, and are likely to go "Well it was a long wait, but at least it was solid" as opposed to "Waiting that long for this POS, they didn't fix ANYTHING, and these new bugs, like the elephants being pink, are ridiculous, booh BOOH!". Or something like that.

Of course, the missing variable of the initial question is when will the patch actually be out. I got the impression, from the tone of the OP ("We are done with the patch"), that it was just a matter of wrapping it up and it would be out just over the weekend. So I voted yes. But I guess that was wishful thinking on my part, as it is obviously not the case. The longer it takes the less worth the wait it becomes.

Hmm - under this assumptions I wonder why this poll is up now. It should be asked after the release of the patch, not before. Nevertheless even if someone voted "No" everyone has to wait and everyone will install the patch when it is released...

 

[Jamesds]

This is ridiculous. Bts should have been perfect when they brought it out. Now i should be happy they patched it after several weeks?

Yes, you should be happy ! Some people expect way too much from game programmers..... Civ4 is a complex game, there's bound to be some bugs. Maybe they shouldn't have let so many bugs through at release, but at least they are going to fix them now (what they've done now is a lot of work for 2 months...). Are you going to forgive them?

 

[ori]

Any word on if this patch is backwards compatible with saved games from the current version? I'm in a really great multiplayer game that I don't want to abandon and at the same time not play without the patch.

Gyathaar and Blake have both posted (on another forum) that you will be able to load old saves. Multiplayer usually is password protected so you would have to unlock it prior to patching and relock it in the patched version.

"Fixed bug where city air unit limit could be bypassed using Carriers"

Um... does this mean that I can no longer enter a city with my fleet with carriers if the city has 4 bombers in it already?

There is a bug which allows you to enter a city with a full air unit limit with a full carrier, unload and leave the city with your empty carrier - they probably fixed that.

 

[Arlborn]

Darn, why they keep patching my windows every few days!?!!? And worse, time to time they find one bug which could make people steal important/private data from my computer and I couldn't do anything to stop it!

Microsoft has billions of dollars, why the hell windows need to keep being patched against bugs and exploits?!?!?!

I WILL SUE THEM!!!!!!! Bill Gates, just you wait!