Patch 1.2 Release/Delay Discussion

[Discoman]

Geez, I've been waiting since they first announced the new patch. It's sad to see that I need to install the patch to isntall the game. RTW was nice and ready from the get go, honestly the 1.2 patch for it had like 3 minor fixes. I can't say I'm not angry about this, honestly it's like getting a gift early then having the giver saying you can't open it until they say so, the only think you can do is peak inside and see the potential of what could be.

[FactionHeir]

If thats true (I am hoping your smiley face is an indication you are joking) thats perhaps the most disturbing thing I have heard regarding MTW2 in some time.

However, there is nothing official from CA or Sega, except that the patch will be released today. Until I see something from them Im not banking on the word of a few misc posters.

There was a post about it from a reputable source (was it Lusted?) in an older topic discussing the shield bug and how it was missed.

[sapi]

Odin, I agree with you there - we've just got to wait for an official response before giving credit to the rumours.

I really can't see how a bug like this could have been missed in testing, so maybe it is only a localisation issue as has been suggested.

EDIT: @FactionHeir - that was different. Somehow

[alpaca]

There was a post about it from a reputable source (was it Lusted?) in an older topic discussing the shield bug and how it was missed.

The shield bug is far more subtle than a CTD though. You only notice it first as a balancing issue.

Anyways, gamestar.de (the site of the magazine that first had a preview for Kingdoms) also claims that the patch will be delayed, so I guess we'll have to wait another week.
Oh well, back to modding then

Edit:

Aus dem Oster-Update wird ein Nachoster-Update: Publisher Sega hat uns gerade darüber informiert, dass der angekündigte zweite Patch für Medieval 2 heute nicht offiziell veröffentlicht wird. Die Testabteilung hat nach intensiven Tests einen schwerwiegenden Fehler gefunden, der dazu führt, dass das Spiel unweigerlich abstürzt. Jetzt müssen die Programmierer erst einmal auf Fehlersuche gehen. Deswegen gibt es auch noch keinen neuen Termin für den Medieval-2-Patch. Da die Warnung jetzt recht kurzfristig gekommen ist, kann es sein, dass der fehlerhafte Patch auf einige Webseiten gelangt. Man sollte ihn aber wegen des Fehlers nicht installieren.

Translation (freely translated by myself):
SEGA just informed us that the promised second patch for M2 won't be officially released today.
After thorough testing, the QA department found a fatal error that leads to an inevitable crash. Now the programmers will have to look for bugs first, so there's no new deadline for the patch. Since the warning came at very short notice, it may be that the erroneous patch will be available at some websites. Because of the before-mentioned bug, you shouldn't install it, though.

[FactionHeir]

I second that alpaca :D Back to figuring that campaign_db_ai

[Andres]

In the mean time, I'm sure none of us here want this thread to mirror the .com in tems of CA bashing ~

Well, I think you know me as a calm and friendly personality by now, but it is getting really really hard to resist...



On a positive note: I'll be able to enjoy our week-end in the Ardens now, since I wont be walking around thinking about playing the finally fixed M2TW. My wife will be very happy. Thank you for making my wife happy CA

[pike master]

i would say that it is fixed but the entire game was balanced around it so the shield units wouldnt be overpowered. only way to find out is when the modders work with it.

[FactionHeir]

i would say that it is fixed but the entire game was balanced around it so the shield units wouldnt be overpowered. only way to find out is when the modders work with it.

Makes you wonder what they'll do to demi lancers or broken lances then who due to fixing the shield bug would be utterly useless especially as a late game only unit.

[Stig]

In the mean time, I'm sure none of us here want this thread to mirror the .com in tems of CA bashing ~

I try to learn the kids some lessons, but they won't listen

[sapi]

I know - I'm reading the thread

The only time I'll ever bother reading the .com

[Odin]

I really can't see how a bug like this could have been missed in testing, so maybe it is only a localisation issue as has been suggested.

I suspect your correct, all the info coming into the offical forums is related to a german release of the patch.

[Durallan]

well its 10pm here in South Aus, so I'd say that the CA guys are getting ready for bed, or still in their office code crunching. Either way I hope they and everyone else has a good easter break :)

[frogbeastegg]

From the .com:

Hi all.

Well, what an interesting 12 hours we've had!

You've seen threads and word is spreading that there is something going on with the patch. So, here's the official word.

We've been testing the life out of this patch for days and days and at the eleventh hour some bugs have come up that we simply cannot fix in the time allowed.

After extensive testing of the patch, the Sega QA department discovered late last night that there may still be some unresolved issues in the final build of the patch. Specifically we are focussing on the Battle AI causing us concern under certain conditions. They are also investigating a potential crash bug that may have crept into the code, that is as yet, unverified. QA have requested extra time to verify this with the CA team in Australia; so we can fully regress the bugs in tandem with their QA department and rectify any issues with the code.

Given the level of chat and comments that you guys are good enough to send us, we are aware of the anticipation you guys have but we would consider it unforgiveable if we were to release a patch knowing that there are a number of potential issues with it.. Therefore, given the choice of two evils, we've taken the one that we hope will at least indicate some sensitivity to you guys and your expectations.

In conjunction with this we've also seen that a version of the patch is doing the rounds. This is a good old fashioned leak - we've tried to plug all gaps but owing to a less than secure url being held by one of our file mirrors, some of you guys have been clever enough to find a backdoor and grab the patch.

Kudos to you for your ingenuity, but be aware that this is not the release patch and CA and SEGA are not supporting this. This is not an official release and it is the very same patch that has the bugs mentioned above.

We're wise enough to know that this file is being distributed and how futile it would be to try and stop it. Canute couldn't stop the sea and we can't stop the internet, so we're not silly enough to think that we can stop it's spread.

So, well done to those who found it but please recognise that we think there are problems and we cannot support it.

If you feel inclined to grab this file, it's up to you and if you have feedback we'd be silly not to listen - but keep in mind that we think it's flawed so make your own decision.

We want to apologise - we've been wiping egg off our faces all morning and so we throw ourselves at the mercy of you guys in the hope that you'll understand. We understand your disappointment - we're disappointed too - so stay with us while we try and fix things.

[sapi]

You just beat me to it

A pity, but at least there's been an official response.

Originally posted here

[Odin]

thanks frogbeastegg, its to bad it went down like this for them, but given thier choices im glad they wont be releasing the patch if it causes problems.

This is one of the problems when you give dates to people you raise thier expectations, CA/Sega made this problem with a drop dead release date, I hope they learn from this and never again post a definate date for a patch.

[_Tristan_]

the good news is I cazn on Esater break without taking my PC...


But nevertheless I want to

[FactionHeir]

*wonders how many crusades/jihads will now be called against CA headquarters* :D

Oh well, better than having us as beta testers again (i.e. as it was with the initial release)

[TB666]

This is one of the problems when you give dates to people you raise thier expectations, CA/Sega made this problem with a drop dead release date, I hope they learn from this and never again post a definate date for a patch.

Well the date was to calm people down.
As I said on TWC, I'm happy that they pulled the patch instead of releasing it.
Atleast that is a refreshing thing to see since most companies seem to have no trouble releasing a buggy patch.

[frogbeastegg]

Sapi, how did you get the url for the link? The only address I ever get on those new forums is http://www.totalwarforums.com/. That's with Firefox and IE, and no matter where I go inside the forums. It's impossible for me to link to a topic.

[Carl]

@Sapi: Thanks for that. I thought the "4 Torrents" refereed to the number of people that would be accessed, not the search programs that look for the people with the files.

Thanks again for the explanation.

Considering the 2-hander bug is animation based and CA have confirmed animations have no effect in auto-calc, so to check their handy-work they would have to play some actual battles. But they probably only did siege battles when they altered something that specifically effects siege battles. SO it could easily have been missed if they did all the siege changes first.

EDIT:Thanks FrogBeastEgg for that quote. Any idea how long it's going to be delayed yet then?

[alpaca]

Sapi, how did you get the url for the link? The only address I ever get on those new forums is http://www.totalwarforums.com/. That's with Firefox and IE, and no matter where I go inside the forums. It's impossible for me to link to a topic.

There's a tiny "[url]" button on the top right hand side of the post that'll generate the URL for you.

[sapi]

@frog - I just copied the url from the address bar

[Odin]

Well the date was to calm people down.

Maybe thats true, but it was a disaster because they made a promise they couldnt keep, bad business really. Never put a drop dead date on a patch in the PC world, because if you cant make it it kills your credablity going forward.

[fenir]

CA + SEGA



Ok i could/am.......very upset by this development.


But all credit to CA, atleast they are giving us an honest reason, telling us what happened and why.

If i can wait 6 months for a patch to fix a game that probably shouldn't have been released in it's orginal capicity, then i can surely wait another 7 days for the patch to fix the long list.

PS: as long as you put more units in game, and gave the Romans musketeers

So thank you CA.




DAMNIT.......4 day weekend............and i have no patch!!!!!


but i'm ok............


DAMNIT


* happy thoughts*..............* happy thoughts*......................* happy thoughts*..............* happy thoughts*......................* happy thoughts*..............* happy thoughts*......................* happy thoughts*..............* happy thoughts*......................

[fenir]

Oh Happy thought!!!!!!!!!!!!



Alex Friend.....that should be fiend? shouldn't it?



might have to look in to that one..



fenir

[Durallan]

I have 4 days that I can't play Med 2 on aswell, like me you will just have to cope and find something else to do :P I'm not entirely fussed but I must say I was looking forward to it. Anyway happy easter all! back to my Denmark campaign.

[Midnight]

No, this is good - given what they found, this is the best response. Thanks to them for keeping us all informed, and it'll be good to have a thorough patch

[Stig]

Sapi, how did you get the url for the link? The only address I ever get on those new forums is http://www.totalwarforums.com/. That's with Firefox and IE, and no matter where I go inside the forums. It's impossible for me to link to a topic.

That's because you use the link on http://www.totalwar.com to get into the forums

The official Ezboard link was: p223.ezboard.com/bshoguntotalwar and when you use that you get to the forums as well, but you can link to every thread.
Since dotcommie is on Yuku now you can also use: shoguntotalwar.yuku.com

[frogbeastegg]

@frog - I just copied the url from the address bar

Hmm, really? Odd. The address is permanently the same for me. That's probably why I keep being dumped back at the main page each time I try to refresh.

here's a tiny "[url]" button on the top right hand side of the post that'll generate the URL for you.

That works, thanks.


I was hoping to install M2TW on my shiny new PC and get playing again. Thanks to my old desktop slowly dying, and then the time necessary to replace it, I have barely touched the game since before the last patch! Curses!

Oh well. Better a working patch than a broken one.


EDIT: Thanks, Stig. Seems a bit of an odd set up.

[frogbeastegg]

(trying out the link thing. Sorry for the double post; it's marginally easier this way)

Alex on the timeline for getting the patch out

Hi Chaps,

As for new launch dates, our QA team here are laising with the QA team in OZ to gauge what we can fix and how long this will take. Hopefully I will have a timeline for you soon, but until I hear from the QA guys I just can't say and I don't want to get it wrong!

EDIT: Another quote people may like to see:

Agree completely. We should have known about the issues sooner. It was a moment last night where I reached for my spare pants as I had no idea about this. Hopefully in future we can make sure we are 100% before we go. I suppose this oprves a few things to you though. We keenly felt the pressure from the community to deliver, your voices are heard. Secondly, the decision to pull was not tkane lightely and not until myself and Snesei had been consulted. This is also a big plus considering we are in charge of the community at CA/SEGA. This means that senior figures asks our opinion of what you guys would think, that is a big step in understanding how important you guys are. We may not always be on here for every reply, we could never do that, but you are of vital importance to us and we know that.

(Link)