Steam Update Availability

H.F._Mudd · Post by **H.F._Mudd** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 05:04

Like I said already, this isn't the end of the world, but it's damned annoying. I ALREADY spent $50.00 to get this game in a form I didn't want AND I had to install some lame, 3rd party software on my computer to run it.

Now, to add insult to injury, even though I paid the same price the DVD owners paid, I'm treated like a second class customer and made to wait an extra week for my updates.

At this point, it's not about the time, it's the principle.

Honestly, it would have been better to wait two months and get the game second hand on ebay. By then, they'll probably be up to 1.5 and the game will actually be close to finished. I'd have saved $40.00, I'd be able to get updates on time and I wouldn't have had to screw around with a half broken game for two months!

palm911 · Post by **palm911** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 05:56

H.F._Mudd

YOU expresed my points in a matter that i could not. (my english is not that good)

but is that feeling of second hand - no longer important customer that paid premium price ..

thanks for that excellent input.

Btw. i did not knew that i will have to wait longer and be treated like second class custommer when i bought the game. and i simply refuse to pay twice for something i should be enjoyng.

most of my post are in great part to express my frustration.

PaulP · Post by **PaulP** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 06:01

You didn't have to wait months to get the game on eBay. To get it cheaper, yes, but not just to get it. I ordered mine right after release from an eBay seller in Singapore. It's the English version, with an English manual. The price was in AUD, and the price + shipping was equivalent to $40 U.S. It arrived in a little over a week. Came bubble wrapped and in perfect shape (other than the outer packaging being ripped open by customs).

Steam isn't the only option for North American customers.

triangle · Post by **triangle** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 06:10

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but a Steam patch auto-downloads when:

1) You restart the Steam client; or
2) You right click on the game in the Steam window, goto properties, goto Local Files and click on 'verify integrity of game cahe' - this checks the game files against those server-side and will automatically download any patch available if not yet downloaded.

Triangle

FuzzyLightning · Post by **FuzzyLightning** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 06:56

The thing to keep in mind is Steam hasn't been doing cross-published games for very long and hence their systems aren't as streamlined as they could be. The good news is more and more games are going cross published over Steam because it's hands down one of the best online distribution services available. It will improve eventually. Yes, the wait is really frustrating and these are fixes that are necessary to make the game playable in the minds of a lot of people. Perhaps one thing Egosoft might consider in the future is delaying the physical copy patch until it is available via Steam as it looks to me that a large proportion of the player base uses Steam and don't appreciate taking second place to physical copy owners. Although it seems daft to actually say that a patch that people desperately need due to large amounts of bugfixes should have been delayed.

Even so, Egosoft was one of the first surge of developers to start using Steam as a publishing platform and I think it was an excellent move. The game has surely gained more publicity from it.

shrikebtr · Post by **shrikebtr** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 10:41

I personally don't buy that it takes that long to get the patch "verified" etc. on Valve's end. It just doesn't make sense to me. All the supposed testing etc for something they are not ultimately responsible for.
However I openly admit that I have no clue, and likely never will unless Valve chooses to lay the process out for us.

Something worth noting: when you run the *incompatible* manual patch on a Steam install, what keeps it from working is not Steam, but Tages.... at least on the surface. I just find it interesting.

Really the question us frustrated users should be asking is this: do other third party games available in both hardcopy and Steam versions, have this delay in patch availability?

I don't have hard numbers available, but I don't think they do. Take Fallout 3 for example. I am fairly certain it's most recent (thus far only I believe) patch was available for download from the website, AND pushed out by Steam on the same day. Quick research shows there may have been a slight delay, but otherwise both were available on Nov. 6th.

So the question is... why the recurring delays for TC? My theory is it has to do with either size of client and/or client's sales, or simply how high profile the game is.

We will probably never know.

KiwiNZ · Post by **KiwiNZ** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 10:58

There has to be a lot of testing done before you can roll out patches over a huge server network. It isn't a matter of just distributing files. Unlike providing a one-file patch, distributing patches via a live system such as Steam, is a lot more complex. If they crew up, they potentially could face a total server outage across the board to fix things again. This is nothing any company is going to risk ... and nothing you would want. After all, if they were negligent, you'd be seeing downtimes because they screwed up patching a game you didn't buy while others, who haven't bought X3:TC would see downtimes because you preferred to see a fast, half-hearted implementation of the latest patch.

Be sensible folks and lets wait patiently. Patience is a virtue after all.

Big Bad Orca · Post by **Big Bad Orca** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 11:21

The 1.2.1 hotfix was out on a Friday and we only had to wait until monday to get it via steam... I admit, it's far more annoying when we're waiting over the weekend and are more likely to have time to play, but presumably the person at steam who is responsible for getting the patch out to us has the weekend off too.

shinpl · Post by **shinpl** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 12:56

About Fallout 3 'near instant patching'. Now the question would be, did Valve recive the patch before its official release so they could preform all tests before they put it live?

And Verification 'not a big deal'? Ask a few programers how working on live servers looks like... its not 'ooh a patch lets run it' -> 'yay everything is fine'. Its 'hmm ok people, get lots of coffe, we are going to pull a few nights on this one, lets hope *this one* works'

Tages... well ofcourse... Steam is the provider client that uses another application to verifiy authentitiy. Its natural that you separete applications to preform diffrent functions, it provides less compatibility problems, and lots of lots of easier yob when patching the both.

Stay Cool!

GBlair4811 · Post by **GBlair4811** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 13:48

Bah you all hijacked my thread =P Nevermind lol. Im just glad to hear the changes in the patch and looking forward to trying it when steam decides to let me

H.F._Mudd · Post by **H.F._Mudd** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 15:03

Heh... sorry.

In a few days, this will just be a bad memory.

Now we play the waiting game...

...

...

...

D'oh! The waiting game sucks! Let's play Hungry, Hungry Hippos. -Homer Simpson

supakillaii · Post by **supakillaii** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 15:27

Not out yet? ....GAAAH....

Send the patch
TWILIGHT ZONE <-We are here*
Get the patch
DAWN ZONE <-We are here*
Test it
Upload it to all servers
Release it

*Either one of those... dun dun duuuuun

crawlerw · Post by **crawlerw** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 16:29

well think of it this way, we dont need the ****** disk everytime we want to play the game

andrewas · Post by **andrewas** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 16:52

And there is a bright side to this - we would never get patch 1.3 at all if it turned out to break games. Retail customers are beta testing this one for us.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have complexes to build.

Now the state of the complex construction interface, there's something worth getting upset about.

shinpl · Post by **shinpl** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 17:14

Agreed Andrewas... even a nice FCC mod only helps a 'little bit' :/

whosrdaddy · Post by **whosrdaddy** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 20:00

For those who didn't read the 1.3 update thread:

for the very impatient steam users (like me

) you can always install a PART of the patch (scripts and content)

how to do it:

*** WARNING DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK, DON'T COME WHINING TO EGOSOFT OR ME ***

- make a backup of your original steam installation (just to be sure)
- download the normal 1.2.1 to 1.3 patch
- execute the patch, let install in an empty directory (like c:\temp\egosoft)
- go into c:\temp\egosoft (or the directory where you installed the patch)
- rename the 05.cat file to 06.cat
- rename the 05.dat to 06.dat
- copy the xml file, 06.cat and 06.cat files to the steam version path (where you find the other .cat and .dat files)
- copy over the scripts from the patch directory and overwrite those from the steam installation.
- DO NOT COPY the X3TC.exe file and DVM.DLL, they are not compatible with steam

only do this if you really want it! I'm thinking to roll back to the old situation as I don't find enough Xenon to kill now

enjoy!

shrikebtr · Post by **shrikebtr** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 20:27

The glut of "omg be patient!" people amuse the hell out of me.

I assume these people are all holding off on installing the patch all weekend as an exercise in patience, afterall its a virtue!

Please.

As for Steam delays... people keep throwing out these useless nebulous points like "nobody just sends out a patch" and "it takes a lot of work!" and "they have to do all this testing!".

You guys do realize that Valve didn't make the game right? They just own the content distribution network? What you are all saying is roughly equivalent to suggesting that when the New York Times sends each edition to the printer, that the printer needs to sit on it for another day to copy edit it. Guess what, they don't, because it isn't their responsibility.

I am still waiting for any sort of explanation that actually jives with reality. For example "they have to test it to make sure it doesn't crash the network" is completely asinine, as none of Valve's machines execute this code they just distribute it. (To head off the pedants at the pass: sure in theory they have machines somewhere that might test this code, but they aren't using the friggin network servers for this purpose.)

About Fallout 3 'near instant patching'. Now the question would be, did Valve recive the patch before its official release so they could preform all tests before they put it live?

And Verification 'not a big deal'? Ask a few programers how working on live servers looks like... its not 'ooh a patch lets run it' -> 'yay everything is fine'. Its 'hmm ok people, get lots of coffe, we are going to pull a few nights on this one, lets hope *this one* works'

On Fallout 3: I have no idea. If that is the explanation however, then perhaps Ego should be sending the patch to Valve earlier so they can get cracking with all this nebulous "testing".

On verification: What you say here makes sense... to an extent. The work you refer to was what Egosoft did, and it was complete as of thursday afternoon.

Don't forget people, Valve didn't just release Steam out of beta yesterday. They have been doing this for literally years. They probably has CMSs that run on top of CMSs. I strongly doubt they have to go in and write fresh database and server scripts for each new game.

For those who didn't read the 1.3 update thread:

for the very impatient steam users (like me Razz ) you can always install a PART of the patch (scripts and content)

Thank you for this, although to be perfectly honest, I am ok waiting for the full patch, as I prefer an all or nothin' kind of approach. Besides I am looking forward to the performance improvements, which I presume (perhaps falsely) must come with the new executable.

Contrary to appearances, I am ok with sitting back and waiting, at least a few more days. What is irritating are the people who for no reason at all feel the need to justify (as yet unexplained) delays of a third party that they aren't affiliated with. It's silly.

edited to respect Eladan's request

eladan · Post by **eladan** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 20:31

whosrdaddy wrote:ok whiners,

Can I ask that you not use provocative terms like this. All it's likely to do is get people's backs up and turn a discussion thread into a flame fest - which is not particularly desirable from our point of view.

shinpl · Post by **shinpl** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 20:40

shrikebtr im not talking about 'verify if the patch is working' or even 'test if the patch fixes anything'... You first need to update the master copy, preform basic test to the patching process, did it succed or did not. Verify security protocols, so they will accept the updated version, make sure nothing snafu pops up in the way. It can take time, and for Valve games, they designed the system, they can work with there products efficiently. For outside products, you need to test many situations that may or may not create problems in 'release' and not 'product functioning'.

shrikebtr · Post by **shrikebtr** » Sun, 7. Dec 08, 21:28

shinpl wrote:shrikebtr im not talking about 'verify if the patch is working' or even 'test if the patch fixes anything'... You first need to update the master copy, preform basic test to the patching process, did it succed or did not. Verify security protocols, so they will accept the updated version, make sure nothing snafu pops up in the way. It can take time, and for Valve games, they designed the system, they can work with there products efficiently. For outside products, you need to test many situations that may or may not create problems in 'release' and not 'product functioning'.

...Yeah ok when you put it THAT way, it certainly seems like a lot more work

I guess I just feel like it shouldn't take that long, but that feeling is rooted in a gut feeling, not inside knowledge of how they operate, so meh.

Thanks for the thoughtful response Shinpl.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

Steam Update Availability