Must See Thread Over at the Center...

[Ituralde]

So a patch on release day, huh?

Looks over at Dawn of War 2...

Welcome to Steam, I guess!


In general terms, while I don't mind bugfixes, quite to the contrary they're awesome, I don't hink I'm too fond of the mentality behind it.

[Sir Beane]

So a patch on release day, huh?

Looks over at Dawn of War 2...

Welcome to Steam, I guess!


In general terms, while I don't mind bugfixes, quite to the contrary they're awesome, I don't hink I'm too fond of the mentality behind it.

Unfortunately the 'fix it later' mentality is pervasive throughout the entire PC gaming market. Why release a working game when you can force your customers to download a thing that makes it work later?

At least Steam has the advantage that it auto-updates games, meaning everyone will be on the same page when it comes to updates. And that is pretty useful for MP.

Steam makes it easier to release tiny patches that fix small things. Normally these patches would be awful to try and find and download and not worth the effort but Steam changes that by making it easier to obtain them.

I think that means that if we complain enough about a certain problem it will be fixed quite quickly.

[Ituralde]

I agree that Steam makes it so that you are guaranteed to get the fix, before you play the game. Still it makes it a bit too convenient for the 'fix it later' mentality. This is getting off-topic though.

I don't want to complain if using Steam with Empire Total War will se us get more than the usual one to two patches, though.

[hoom]

because of how awesome steam is, my house hold has to either download the demo and any patches 3 times or just have it on 1 pc. both my housemates and i have ordered collectors editions but neither of them have played the demo cos they cbf downloading the demo and using up to 6 gig of our download limit. yay!

Failure to understand Steam!

Download on one PC, then copy the <Steam path>/SteamApps/<username>/<game> folder onto the others

[ArtillerySmoke]

Great find OP.

I love that they have the first patch ready for day 1 via Steam. My ONLY concern is that some kind of nasty bug makes it's way into the first patch, and because it hasn't been play tested much they miss it and release it like that...and we wind up waiting a while for a fix.

This happened with Dawn of War 2

Anyone know if Steam will auto download/install the patch?

[pevergreen]

You can tell it not to.

[Gaius Terentius Varro]

We only get 2 patches per release anyways, historically speaking

[ArtillerySmoke]

We only get 2 patches per release anyways, historically speaking

Indeed...and this is why I'm really hoping the "day 1" patch isn't a problem. It could be a while before we see a fix. I think it's a little risky to release the patch before it's been properly tested by the playerbase.

We shall see though. /crosses fingers

[pevergreen]

We only get 2 patches per release anyways, historically speaking

Rome: Total War

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

With Barbarian Invasion there was a 1.5 and a 1.6...

[Monk]

Please see this post in regards to the "ONLY TWO PATCHES" worry.

[Monk]

Rome: Total War

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

With Barbarian Invasion there was a 1.5 and a 1.6...

STW had more than that, it had versions all the way up to 1.12.

MI/WE had 3 i think, could be wrong though.

[Gaius Terentius Varro]

Rome: Total War

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

With Barbarian Invasion there was a 1.5 and a 1.6...

1.1 came on release week, 1.2 took ages... the other 2 came out bundled with Barbarian Invasion patches. As I said 2 per release (not title)

[CBR]

1.1 was a MP panic patch because CA had screwed up the server. 1.3 came along with the expansion (BI 1.5) and the expansion patch again had fixes for RTW so it became 1.4/1.6. CA only makes one large patch in between releases.


CBR

[Gaius Terentius Varro]

Patch means pulling people off other projects, so i doubt they will keep a strike team and release lots of small patches, its not how the industry works. Besides CA got away with not fixing the last 2 games so why do you think they will do it now when 90% of the people playing it (till example people who don't visit forums) won't even know that the game needs fixing.

[pevergreen]

There goes my knowledge.

[Fisherking]

I think that means that if we complain enough about a certain problem it will be fixed quite quickly.

Unfortunately that is what it means.

Often, much too often those things are crybaby complaints about a historical condition that the poor little babies see as making the game too tough for them.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease and some of the troop never stop squeaking.

There is too much tendency to fix what isn’t broken and leave the bugs for later. Sometime later never even arrives, but by that time the game is already ruined.

[t1master]

steam lets them release the game in increments. wait six months and you might have everything needed to make an improvement over the last two mp games. maybe it will be cheaper in six months too.

[Mailman653]

I'm still wondering how the game will be less moddable than previously thought. The modding community has already unpacked almost all the demo files and so far most of it seems stright forward.

[Sir Beane]

I'm still wondering how the game will be less moddable than previously thought. The modding community has already unpacked almost all the demo files and so far most of it seems stright forward.

They never said it would be less moddable, they just said it would be harder. For all we know more stuff can be changed, its just not as easy to do so as it was in Med 2. Thats what I am hoping they mean anyway .

[Jack Lusted]

They never said it would be less moddable, they just said it would be harder. For all we know more stuff can be changed, its just not as easy to do so as it was in Med 2. Thats what I am hopingthem mean anyway .

That is exactly what we mean.

[Sir Beane]

That is exactly what we mean.

Excellent! Thanks for the confirmation Jack .

[NagatsukaShumi]

That is exactly what we mean.

I presumed this would be the case, I suspected the quote people were worried about was miconstrued, in reality EVERY TW has been HARDER to modify because the game has advanced, but then they have become more moddable too, not surprised ETW is no different.

[Mailman653]

Wonderful

[knoddy]

Failure to understand Steam!

Download on one PC, then copy the <Steam path>/SteamApps/<username>/<game> folder onto the others

already tried and failed due to steams epic failure.

[hoom]

Well, thats exactly how I got the ETW demo.
I DLed at work, copied onto a USB stick, then into my Steam folder.
When I told Steam to DL, it looked where the game was going to go, found the file already there & just checked its integrity.

I've also used the same method for moving Steam stuff between other PCs/HDDs & Windows installations.

[Murmandamus]

already tried and failed due to steams epic failure.

On a machine with it installed, right click on the game in the My Games list and select "Backup game files"

Copy the backup to the other pc and run the generated installer exe.

You can even tell it to split the backup into CD/DVD/other sized chunks if you need to burn it or fit it on a thumb drive.

[hoom]

Oooh, that sounds like a better way of doing it

[Vuk]

I like the idea of having more options for modding, so that does not worry me. What does though is the fact that 4v4 battles won't be available for SP. I already resolved NOT to buy this game until I get some confirmation that the major problems (esp concerning performance) have been addressed, or some REALLY good mods come out. I am hopeful though that the problems will be addressed, and that I will be able to buy some time in the future, so this is important for me. I loved doing 4v4 custom battles.

[Sir Beane]

I like the idea of having more options for modding, so that does not worry me. What does though is the fact that 4v4 battles won't be available for SP. I already resolved NOT to buy this game until I get some confirmation that the major problems (esp concerning performance) have been addressed, or some REALLY good mods come out. I am hopeful though that the problems will be addressed, and that I will be able to buy some time in the future, so this is important for me. I loved doing 4v4 custom battles.

If they are in for MP I imagine mods will make them available for SP pretty quickly.