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Alas, I had high hopes, as did many players. I was an early buyer, rode through a patch or two, and then left the game in hopes that I'd come back and it would be at least on par with ANW. I just checked the forum to see if I might return and play a mission or two; instead, I find this announcement. Harpoon got to its point through years (yes, gamers can pay attention for whole years to worthy products) of play and revision, play and revision. That was following, of course, its long history as a miniatures game. A game aiming as high as did NW:AC would need the same long-term support. The gamers themselves might carry the torch, but I don't see this product at the point where talented modders would find their time well spent. Maybe; let's hope. And let's hope this does not bode ill for any future modern naval warfare games, including the aforementioned product announced by Matrix.
 
The information I got from the development team was that they did everything they could to reproduce it, but they couldn't. The reasons for this I will not speculate in.
Really? They couldn't? Bjorn, from what you said some time ago it was more like "every game would crash when launching hundreds of planes from 12 Aircraft carriers". So they WERE able to reproduce it (or they didn't even bother to check).
I'm working as project manager for QA and testing in one of the biggest test companies in the world. We are working with multiple companies inlcuding MS, THQ (ok,not the best example) and EA. In my spare time I was able to reproduce the issue on every single platform we have available. Steps to reproduce it in a simple manner was provided. I ensured that the game was freezing even on high specs gaming PCs with low details settings, just to prove it (ok, on the very high end machines with I7 920 and dual GPUs it was crashing less often, but you could get a freeze after few tries). I could easily share the desktop with the dev team if they wanted to see by themselves.
Bjorn, I know that you were doing your best with the data you had at hand, but the devs were aware of issues even during beta stage.
Oh, and in the end it took me and two friends about two weeks to see where the actual issue for freezing bug is. And it just confirmed that my steps to reproduce the issue were correct, which in my eyes means someone didn't even bother to get down to the issue (btw not being able to launch ordnance is connected to the freezing bug).
 
Really? They couldn't? Bjorn, from what you said some time ago it was more like "every game would crash when launching hundreds of planes from 12 Aircraft carriers". So they WERE able to reproduce it (or they didn't even bother to check).
I'm working as project manager for QA and testing in one of the biggest test companies in the world. We are working with multiple companies inlcuding MS, THQ (ok,not the best example) and EA. In my spare time I was able to reproduce the issue on every single platform we have available. Steps to reproduce it in a simple manner was provided. I ensured that the game was freezing even on high specs gaming PCs with low details settings, just to prove it (ok, on the very high end machines with I7 920 and dual GPUs it was crashing less often, but you could get a freeze after few tries). I could easily share the desktop with the dev team if they wanted to see by themselves.
Bjorn, I know that you were doing your best with the data you had at hand, but the devs were aware of issues even during beta stage.
Oh, and in the end it took me and two friends about two weeks to see where the actual issue for freezing bug is. And it just confirmed that my steps to reproduce the issue were correct, which in my eyes means someone didn't even bother to get down to the issue (btw not being able to launch ordnance is connected to the freezing bug).

I am not involved in the actual development process. I can only collect and try to organize the information you provide and deliver it to the developers so that they can take action. I have been feeding them the information given in here, but they were not able to reproduce the issue still.

The game was designed to pretty much let you create as many units as you please. Sadly eternal unit creation would inevitable lead to the game crashing as the memory would run out sooner or later, and this is what I meant with reports of massive use of units were no good. We knew this would crash the game, but it did not explain why people got the issue when playing "normally".

I am sorry that it did not turn out well for everyone and we have been trying to have a dialogue which deem the game unplayable from purchase.
 
I have been feeding them the information given in here, but they were not able to reproduce the issue still.
I have no doubt that they tried, but they did not do everything possible.

When they reported that they were unable to replicate the crashes, there were several:

1) Offers to allow the developers remote access to the players' computers to see the crash process in action
2) Requests for remote access to the developers' computers to show them how to replicate the problem
3) Offer to send in a laptop demonstrating the problem
4) One Norwegian even offered to show the developer the problem at his own home

None of these received a response from the developers. They may have tried to reproduce the problem themselves, but they also refused to let anyone else replicate it for them when they failed. They did not 'do everything possible'. Not even close, IMO.
 
I am not involved in the actual development process. I can only collect and try to organize the information you provide and deliver it to the developers so that they can take action. I have been feeding them the information given in here, but they were not able to reproduce the issue still.

Bjorn - you did what you could - no one is denying it. I was frustrated, because from my experience and test setup I had at hand - I could easily reproduce it and, to be honest, I just couldn't imagine what can be a configuration of the PC that the bug did not show even once.

The game was designed to pretty much let you create as many units as you please. Sadly eternal unit creation would inevitable lead to the game crashing as the memory would run out sooner or later, and this is what I meant with reports of massive use of units were no good. We knew this would crash the game, but it did not explain why people got the issue when playing "normally".

You don't even know how close to the core of the problem you are. The game is build in a client-server architecture (you can even see the network connection in windows resource monitor, where there is a data transfer between ports). Freezing bug is just server part crashing. The client and GUI part will still work. The reason WHY the server part is crashing is pretty simple - most of the time it runs out of memory that's allocated as a buffer to send the data via network connection. My steps to repro were creating an event (multiple planes in the air - 72 to be exact, and trying to assign patrol route) which needed more buffer memory that was available to use. As it couldn't allocate enough - it crashed, leaving client side still running - you have a freeze. For normal games it was pretty similar - buffer was slowly filling up (probably because the network routines couldn't cope with transfer of data and/or poor garbage collection) and then crashing. Sorry I'm not giving you specifics, just simple description, but you should see that the issue could be diagnosed not even being the developer of this game...
I am sorry that it did not turn out well for everyone and we have been trying to have a dialogue which deem the game unplayable from purchase.

Bjorn, you were doing fantastic job with this product and it's issues and I thank you for that.
 
Bjorn - you did what you could - no one is denying it. I was frustrated, because from my experience and test setup I had at hand - I could easily reproduce it and, to be honest, I just couldn't imagine what can be a configuration of the PC that the bug did not show even once.



You don't even know how close to the core of the problem you are. The game is build in a client-server architecture (you can even see the network connection in windows resource monitor, where there is a data transfer between ports). Freezing bug is just server part crashing. The client and GUI part will still work. The reason WHY the server part is crashing is pretty simple - most of the time it runs out of memory that's allocated as a buffer to send the data via network connection. My steps to repro were creating an event (multiple planes in the air - 72 to be exact, and trying to assign patrol route) which needed more buffer memory that was available to use. As it couldn't allocate enough - it crashed, leaving client side still running - you have a freeze. For normal games it was pretty similar - buffer was slowly filling up (probably because the network routines couldn't cope with transfer of data and/or poor garbage collection) and then crashing. Sorry I'm not giving you specifics, just simple description, but you should see that the issue could be diagnosed not even being the developer of this game...


Bjorn, you were doing fantastic job with this product and it's issues and I thank you for that.

Thank you for the kind words niripas!
 
I have no doubt that they tried, but they did not do everything possible.

When they reported that they were unable to replicate the crashes, there were several:

1) Offers to allow the developers remote access to the players' computers to see the crash process in action
2) Requests for remote access to the developers' computers to show them how to replicate the problem
3) Offer to send in a laptop demonstrating the problem
4) One Norwegian even offered to show the developer the problem at his own home

None of these received a response from the developers. They may have tried to reproduce the problem themselves, but they also refused to let anyone else replicate it for them when they failed. They did not 'do everything possible'. Not even close, IMO.

I have to say TT showed an extreme attitude problem towards the community post-release. They never seem to have actually taken the crashing problem seriously, and I see no evidence that they ever actually tried to solve this problem - my guess is they never even tried to solve this issue. The lack of a save-game feature, something so standard for this kind of game that no-one would bother to list it as a feature in marketing material, showed how little effort went into development either.

Instead we received messages telling us that TT were unavailable to address this issue because of personal bereavement, something which no doubt evoked sympathy, but also caused people to wonder whether every member of TT was also unavailable for the same reason and whether really this excused TT not addressing any of the issues with the game. The impression given was that they didn't give a damn about anyone who bought the game.

You also have to wonder about the kind of things TT were saying before the game came out - bragging about how awesome their game was. Since, as Niripas points out, the crashing problem would occur on any platform or configuration since it is written into the architecture of the game, the conclusion has to be that they knew about it before the game released but did not delay release to solve it.
 
Bjorn - you did what you could - no one is denying it. I was frustrated, because from my experience and test setup I had at hand - I could easily reproduce it and, to be honest, I just couldn't imagine what can be a configuration of the PC that the bug did not show even once.

Well, I have never had the freeze problem. I have had the problem with not being able to fire missiles, but when that happens it happens at the very beginning of a mission. Not after running out of memory. I'm not saying there is no problem (for others), and I have not gone out of my way to try and get it. But I have made some pretty hefty missions with about 20 airbases and several douzen ships.

Puter specs are.
PSU: Corsair TX 750W
MB: Asus P8Z68 deluxe
CPU: Intel I5-2500K
RAM: 16GB Corsair Dominator DHX DDR3 1600Mhz
GPU: Zotac Geforce GTX 570 1280mb physX cuda
HDD's: OS & pagefile on Corsair SSD force series 3 90GB , game installs on 2x500GB samsung Sata3 in raid-0 , store stuff on 4x 1TB sata3 in raid-5

If you need info on any other HW just let me know. I have never had a freeze, The game have slowed down for 2-3 sec in selfmade overcrowded missions, then back up to normal speed again. But thats about it.

Edit: BTW: since you say its a server client setup where it send packets between port, could antivirus be the cause? I use EST smart security, just for the record.

PS: I'm not saying there is no problem coz there clearly is, but I have not seen it on my system. And by todays standards my system isn't even very fast.
Oh I have one other problem, I can't get AI to attack airfields, but thats another matter entirely.
 
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What's your OS, Service Pack level? Your PC is in fact slower than 3 machines I got the freeze bug on :)

BTW: Pagefile on SSD? It will kill it pretty fast. If you need it for hibernation purposes, better put it on this RAID0
 
Win 7 SP1.
Nah, the force 3 series is very durable for a SSD. I'm getting 2 new SSD's to replace it soon anyway. So I get OS and page on SSD in raid0. Want C bigger anyway.

I could probably get the freeze if I go out of my way to get it. But why would I? Some of the missions I've made and not got the bug were so big that I couldn't keep up with everything going on in real time speed, and lost airplanes coz I was too busy elsewhere.

Its not really a big issue if you have to provoce the error just for the hell of it.
 
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I have to say TT showed an extreme attitude problem towards the community post-release. They never seem to have actually taken the crashing problem seriously, and I see no evidence that they ever actually tried to solve this problem - my guess is they never even tried to solve this issue. The lack of a save-game feature, something so standard for this kind of game that no-one would bother to list it as a feature in marketing material, showed how little effort went into development either.

Instead we received messages telling us that TT were unavailable to address this issue because of personal bereavement, something which no doubt evoked sympathy, but also caused people to wonder whether every member of TT was also unavailable for the same reason and whether really this excused TT not addressing any of the issues with the game. The impression given was that they didn't give a damn about anyone who bought the game.

You also have to wonder about the kind of things TT were saying before the game came out - bragging about how awesome their game was. Since, as Niripas points out, the crashing problem would occur on any platform or configuration since it is written into the architecture of the game, the conclusion has to be that they knew about it before the game released but did not delay release to solve it.

I agree with all this. TT played the sympathy card to back out of their responsibilities leaving a game prone to crash and without a way to save. I stood up for them many times over and feel used. I will never buy anything that's produced by the members of that team again.
 
My take on the whole thing....

I was a tester and the game ran pretty smoothly on my desktop, there were some minor issues with missiles and stuff like that but it eventually got ironed out.
Its obvious that a lot of people have game breaking technical issues with the game and thats sad. Its obvious that the game is broken.

When I first tried NWAC I was very impressed. The game had despite its simplicity, atmosphere. I thought this could end up as a franchise.
So for the sake of the gaming industry its sad things ended up like they did. And I dont hold any grudge towards the developers. They were a small team after all and I dont doubt they did their best. They could however be better at PR, thats obvious.

If they create more games in the future then I will give it fair consideration regarding purchase just like I do with all games/developers.
 
Well, thank you for the honesty,Bjorn. I was just about to buy this on Gamersgate, not realizing it had insoluble problems and that it had just become abandonware. What a shame, but your honesty is appreciated.
 
Disappointed to see that the game is still being sold through Indiegala, if it's known to be in such a terrible state.

You don't even know how close to the core of the problem you are. The game is build in a client-server architecture (you can even see the network connection in windows resource monitor, where there is a data transfer between ports). Freezing bug is just server part crashing. The client and GUI part will still work. The reason WHY the server part is crashing is pretty simple - most of the time it runs out of memory that's allocated as a buffer to send the data via network connection. My steps to repro were creating an event (multiple planes in the air - 72 to be exact, and trying to assign patrol route) which needed more buffer memory that was available to use. As it couldn't allocate enough - it crashed, leaving client side still running - you have a freeze. For normal games it was pretty similar - buffer was slowly filling up (probably because the network routines couldn't cope with transfer of data and/or poor garbage collection) and then crashing. Sorry I'm not giving you specifics, just simple description, but you should see that the issue could be diagnosed not even being the developer of this game...

This suggests that maybe a user hack similar to the Oblivion/Skyrim script extender and the various plugins for it could be released to fix this, if Paradox allows it. I know they're much more paranoid about their games being hacked than Bethesda, but in this case it could make the game commercially viable again. I remember some plugins for the OBSE hooking all the memory structures such as hashtables and replacing them with more efficient ones, so expanding the network buffer should be feasible by a clever programmer.
 
I am not so sure that some of the issues brought up were actually real, but from a campaign of disinformation and guerilla marketing, as NWAC could have been an ordeal for an indie Naval game that was just commercialized recently and another indie game in the process of being commercialized next year.

Some group of people would torpedo someone else project for the sake of selling theirs.
 
I am not so sure that some of the issues brought up were actually real, but from a campaign of disinformation and guerilla marketing, as NWAC could have been an ordeal for an indie Naval game that was just commercialized recently and another indie game in the process of being commercialized next year.

Some group of people would torpedo someone else project for the sake of selling theirs.

Thanks for calling everyone on the forum a pack of liars. Put simply:

1) Yes, the crashing problem is real and hasn't been fixed.

2) No, the game doesn't have a save-game feature, and players weren't even told this before buying even though it is a standard feature.

So no, this wasn't a disinformation campaign, this was a software house with shoddy work practices.