V1.15 BETA Release

[Aggie]

Originally posted by alja
Do I need to have a degree now to play Civ3?

I mean with all the things to keep in mind about placing the city exactly there, in this order, but not before this and that...

I like to play and not sitting in front of the PC using a calculator and a lineal.

If you want to make the game harder, give the AI some more advantages or faster research but dont kill the players who do not have a degree in math and they found a city only because it seems to be a good place not considering the formulas in the background.

They are not killing the players "who do not have a degree in math". The great thing about CIV3 is that anyone with an interest in turned based games can play it. From novice to expert.

C3C came with a number of obvious and very disturbing bugs. A foreign palace was useless, because it gave you more corruption instead of less. Other bugs (amongst others the 'gold per turn bug') were as bad. Not only for the hardcore player, but also for the rest of us.

In the last two months the developers have been adressing these issues and welcomed comments from customers. Some of those customers know the game inside out, others are not that fanatic.

At this moment, with patch 1.15 we have a C3C that is far better than the original 'out of the box'. Also for players like you.

I wouldn't worry if I were you

 

[Jurimax]

Okay, I've waited a long time to give my thoughts about all the different patches, but here they are:

1) The fact that Firaxis really listens to the community is excellent. OTOH, when a fantastic group like CFC can do the testing, there's also some danger involved: People who test the game often want this or that changed in a way that feels very natural for themselves. But herein hides a 'great' danger: the bigger the number of 'beta-testers', the bigger the number of different opinions on what should be 'fixed' and how it should be fixed.

2) The fact that the foreign language versions aren't included in the patches is the consequence of a dilemma faced by the developers (this was already mentioned in a post on one of the previous pages):

quick english beta patches => quick complete patch

OR

slow multilingual patches => slow complete patch

IMHO, Firaxis made the correct decision, but they should have made an official statement for the other language users not to install the beta patches.

Greetz
Jurimax

 

[microbe]

OK folks.

When a game has major bugs, we players are Annoyed . If the patch are coming out and the support is good, we don't need to be Gracious , but not Furious either.

And in the end we hope the game producers are more Cautious wrt bugs.

Agreed?

 

[johnboy]

I have read all threads about patches and now I joined to say what I think.

Genghis_Khev says "I have to agree with Yeti on the whole beta patch debate. If you are unhappy using beta patches then simply don't!"

Normally I agree with this.

This is not normal. For some people Conquests is not ok to play in version 1.0 Maybe there is not a bug that makes you unhappy. How would it be if there is a bug in Conquests 1.0 that made you feel it is not fun to play? You would be unhappy until there is a patch that fixes the problem. Right?

Normally people buy an ok version of program XXX. Then if there is a beta for a new XXX version people have the choice to try the changes and take a chance or to not try the changes and not have new features before release. Conquests is not like this. People have paid for Conquests who are not happy and they are waiting for a fix to make it ok. Lots of them are maybe like me who normally would not try a beta because they want only what works. Some of them try the beta because they hope it is something ok.

The idea "unsupported because it is beta" does not mean much now. There should not be a beta. There should be a release that does not have new features that needs a "beta". Only fixes for mistakes that many people did not like. It is easy to test only fixes for mistakes and then to release. That would be "supported".

To make a long story short you should not tell them that if they are unhappy they should not use the beta. They are unhappy before the beta and the first thing is to make them happy. Not to make them test more things in a beta and then say if they do not like it they can use the thing they already did not like.

Only my opinion.

 

[Zeekater]

O my god, Travis is so nice as to release those beta patches, and some people are whining about it?
They want our feedback, and if you don't want to give feedback, or take any risks, don't download the patch!
Travis specificly said these were to be tested at own risk, what don't you understand about this sentence?
If you are a real civfanatic, dl the patch, if you're just some guy who occasionaly plays, then don't.
And if you were unhappy about another game, which doesn't release beta patches, then what? Then you would whine they don't release patches.

 

[Commander Bello]

well, about "being nice to release patches"....

I very much appreciate that those patches have been released rather soon, no question about this!
But, and this should be taken into consideration as well, by releasing the betas, Firaxis got the best playground which can be imagined. And they got it for free.
Never could a company support that many test hours for a patch as the community of players can do.
So, it is a mutual benefit for both sides (the "win-win-situation").

I applause Tavis for having done so, since we benefit from this - simultaneously it was a clever turn from his side to do so.

And about the attitude to disqualify people being unsatisfied with the quality of a game or a patch as just being "whining"...
With the same right those people could call the others ones "being unaware". Neither of both is helpful in the long run.

 

[Tavis]

Unfortunately, my options are really limited when it comes to patching. I can hold off any release to make it an "official" version, but that almost guarantees that another version will be needed. Why? Because the "official" testers do not come close to understanding the game as the active members in the community do. This isn't about getting something for free or paying for it, its about wanting to have it done right. Even with some top notch fellow fanatics and 20 other full time testers working overtime 7 days a week for 1 month the Forbidden Palace having a negative effect wasn't found! The game was out for 1 week and it was hard to miss that this was a major problem.

The ONLY reason this patch has BETA on it is because I'm holding off on entering into the long, long, long, long, long process of working with the localization team. Not having translations for Play Last World, Enter SEED, Readme Text, Editor Additions, and Editor Help file additions is necessary for a Worldwide Simultaneous "official" Patch Release to take place.


v1.15 includes all of the patch files from 1.12 (all versions), 1.01 & 1.02 (ROW Release patches). If you patch with v1.15 then you will be completely up to date with the current version. New issues introduced in any of the versions should be posted so they can be dealt with.

I included the files that are updated with the patch in response to some requests to include this information in case someone wished to easily switch between the 2 different versions. Considering the BETA status is only due to localizations, I recommend installing the patch.

Expect the "officially localized" next patch at the end of February (a month and a half is high expectations when dealing with localizations!!) v1.15 will be posted on Firaxis.com this week. Due to internal restructuring at Atari I'm not sure how long it will take for it to be posted on their FTP site but I'm working on it!

Thanks for the support!

Jesse Smith
Producer, Firaxis Games

 

[Commander Bello]

Many thanks for the information, Tavis!

I'm pretty sure, all of us will appreciate this very, very much!

 

[Wladislaw]

A big thumbs up to Firaxis for releasing a beta version to the public. As a software developer, I know how hard user testing is. This offers us all a chance to have a better product much sooner than if they get the feedback after a final version is released.

Thanks!!!

 

[USC]

Wow.

I hate to do this -- it's a rather "empty" sort of post that I don't like to do, but...

Great, GREAT communication, Tavis. Thank you.

USC

 

[Nagash]

Thanks Tavis!
It makes me very pleased to be part of such an incredible community like the one Civ founded years ago.

Espescialy the latest developments like the direct interaction with the producers and programmes are from my point of view one of the best things throughout the whole world of computer games.

So we had to be thankfull that there are still a handful of people wich are triing to provide a good job.
And by following this and other threads, dealing with bugs and patches, i come to the conclusion: Tavis&Co really attempt to offer a good product and they did. Many of us plays Civ for years, and i probably will play it for many further years too.

Everyone makes mistakes, and therefore we has to give them the possibility to fix it and make the best game ever, even better!!

 

[Harrier]

Yes, we all have to give a big thanks to Tavis, for what he is doing.

This kind of user participation, regardless of what the usual complainers may say, (they complain just because they can.) will result in a really good final version of C3C. Lets not forget - apart from a few problems - which the developers are trying their best to fix - it is still a great expansion pack.

No other games company have the nerve to do what Firaxis/Atari are doing.

And every one should remember, that it is because of the support and feed back given on this and other forums that we can look forward to C4.

Also remember, it was stated at the very start that the Beta patches were only mean't to be used by players who new the risks they were taking.

So do not shoot the messager, just because you did not understand the message.

 

[eugenemcardle]

"v1.15 includes all of the patch files from 1.12 (all versions), 1.01 & 1.02 (ROW Release patches). If you patch with v1.15 then you will be completely up to date with the current version. New issues introduced in any of the versions should be posted so they can be dealt with. "

I must have been out in the sun too long! Does the above statement mean that I only need to use the 1.15b file (~6mb) with C3C V1 ie vanilla version?

Thats what I've done and it seems to work OK. I dont use PTW, just C3C.

 

[player1 fanatic]

Originally posted by eugenemcardle
"v1.15 includes all of the patch files from 1.12 (all versions), 1.01 & 1.02 (ROW Release patches). If you patch with v1.15 then you will be completely up to date with the current version. New issues introduced in any of the versions should be posted so they can be dealt with. "

I must have been out in the sun too long! Does the above statement mean that I only need to use the 1.15b file (~6mb) with C3C V1 ie vanilla version?

Thats what I've done and it seems to work OK. I dont use PTW, just C3C.

My bet is that 1.12 probably included some RoW files as well.

For example, I made a simple test.

I installed 1.12 in separate folder and files only had 10MB.

If zipped they took 6MB.

Now, since with these new 1.15 betas, these files look to be separated to different patches (for different languages).

 

[eugenemcardle]

Many thanks for your quick response. Also, I downloaded your mod; its excellent!

 

[Salamandre]

I am sorry to bring this here, but Firaxis completely forgot about foreign customers. After installing 1.12, 1.13, 1.15 the game runs in "multilanguage". some civlopedia texts are in english, others in french, and some...in both.


There is not a problem for me, as I dont care while it runs in english or french, but not anyone here is familiarized with english and some luxuries, techs, trades can be painfull if you dont understand what you doing.


And the conquests scenarios are screwed in my french version, the text is showing everywhere except where it should, options are not enabled, I click like a mad on "do not animate moves" and they still animate etc.

One step forward, two steps back.

 

[Commander Bello]

Originally posted by Salamandre
I am sorry to bring this here, but Firaxis completely forgot about foreign customers. After installing 1.12, 1.13, 1.15 the game runs in "multilanguage". some civlopedia texts are in english, others in french, and some...in both.


There is not a problem for me, as I dont care while it runs in english or french, but not anyone here is familiarized with english and some luxuries, techs, trades can be painfull if you dont understand what you doing.


And the conquests scenarios are screwed in my french version, the text is showing everywhere except where it should, options are not enabled, I click like a mad on "do not animate moves" and they still animate etc.

One step forward, two steps back.

Tavis already apologized for that and explained some of the reasons behind, as you may find in this thread

 

[Arrogant]

If my logic is not completely flawed, don't the following two statements (both by Tavis) contradict each other ?

REQUIRES V1.12 - RECOMMENDED THAT YOU HAVE V1.13 TOO

v1.15 includes all of the patch files from 1.12 (all versions), 1.01 & 1.02 (ROW Release patches). If you patch with v1.15 then you will be completely up to date with the current version.

 

[player1 fanatic]

Well, I can say this:

Try following test (with US version).

Install 1.12 in temp1 folder
Install 1.13 in temp2 folder
Install 1.15 in temp3 folder

Compare the files, and you'll see that 1.15 lacks many files from 1.12 (and jgl.dll from 1.13).

 

[Roland Johansen]

Originally posted by Salamandre
I am sorry to bring this here, but Firaxis completely forgot about foreign customers. After installing 1.12, 1.13, 1.15 the game runs in "multilanguage". some civlopedia texts are in english, others in french, and some...in both.


There is not a problem for me, as I dont care while it runs in english or french, but not anyone here is familiarized with english and some luxuries, techs, trades can be painfull if you dont understand what you doing.


And the conquests scenarios are screwed in my french version, the text is showing everywhere except where it should, options are not enabled, I click like a mad on "do not animate moves" and they still animate etc.

One step forward, two steps back.

One of the stickied threads talks about the rest of the world versions of patch 1.15. It's just below this thread...