2.03 is out (includes a link to the 2.03c beta patch)

[ElVince]

From what I read I will wait until next patch to be able to restart a campaign. But let's be honest I don't understand this patch...
1- naming is confusing as hell, being a release it should be 2.1. 2.03b being a different patch than the 2.03beta, with "minor changes" makes no sense. the minimum if not to call it 2.1 should be to call it 2.04.
2 - it is a clear programmer's mistake, I can hear the programmer who merged his code say " but it works on my computer"...
3 - there were too many reported issues for the beta to be validated to even be a release candidate

Now:
- I love King's honesty when speaking with us
- paradox is a small company
- I love paradox games in despise of the infamous eternal buggy state of their games. it is a problem that is easier to fix than having poor game designers.
- I'll go spend 2 weeks at the beach, come back and get the fixed patch

 

[Gargoyle]

From what I read I will wait until next patch to be able to restart a campaign. But let's be honest I don't understand this patch...
1- naming is confusing as hell, being a release it should be 2.1. 2.03b being a different patch than the 2.03beta, with "minor changes" makes no sense. the minimum if not to call it 2.1 should be to call it 2.04.
2 - it is a clear programmer's mistake, I can hear the programmer who merged his code say " but it works on my computer"...
3 - there were too many reported issues for the beta to be validated to even be a release candidate

Now:
- I love King's honesty when speaking with us
- paradox is a small company
- I love paradox games in despise of the infamous eternal buggy state of their games. it is a problem that is easier to fix than having poor game designers.
- I'll go spend 2 weeks at the beach, come back and get the fixed patch

Very well put.

The way I see it, paradox is shooting to put out the best game they possibly can. In doing so, they aim high, and struggle to perfect the "beasts" they create.

We, the players of their games, see these games as the best there is in the genre from the perspective of concept. We are disappointed that they are not nearer to perfection than they are.

Most of us are fair minded, and can excuse falling short of such lofty goals. Yet I do feel, after a series of false starts, Paradox needs to make their next effort count.

So here is to the next patch - may it be the one that reestablishes your reputation, Paradox.

 

[unmerged(203997)]

I've seen many posts which contained words like perfect, awesome and such of this patch but I wonder if they tested it at all
Writing nice things will just result in Paradox not fixing the bugs in this patch!!
If everybody is happy with the current patch then what's the point of creating another one?:wacko:

 

[JAF1327]

What I find to be the worst thing about this latest patch, is trying to convince folks I know to buy the game.

They hear me talk about how much I enjoy playing HOI3, but when showing off the game to someone who has never played a Paradox game and then having TEXTTAG_30 or some such thing pop up instead of the words that should be there, or any one of the other numerous quality control bugs.

I have been messing around with computers since the early '70s, and find mucking around inside the LUA files and/or saved games enjoyable, but folks who have only played PS3 or XBOX games think I am crazy to play a game like this.

For these folks I do not even attempt to show off HOI3 but show HOI2 Armageddon.

While 2.03b is not game breaking for me, it is a disappointment.

The game plays really well on my computer, an i5. Load time is fast, the lag folks talk about I do not experience, even the bubble problem is not there.

The current version of HOI3 SF 2.03b is kinda like buying a new radio that is scratched or dented. It works, and works well for me, but just does not look as nice as it could.

 

[Ruthlesssamuria]

Your still ignoring supply issue and other's

You continue to ignore the supply issue for example USA cannot draw it's own supplies in allied provinces The USA always shipped it's own ammo, food, etc... around the world their allies cannot supply USA forces and so they do not supply them example USA in an Allied Vichy France, Belgium, and Holland. Trading supplies and fuel to them does not mean they will give it back to you and many times they reject trades due to their lack of cash.
Time and again a US invasion fails do to lack of supply whether it is AI or human. All nations should be allowed to draw supplies from their own sources as in real life not from Allies while in allied countries or provinces. Their is still no Kiel Canal so German navy can still get out of the Baltic If the allies have control of Denmark. Closing the Panama or Suez Canal should only require control of 1 province on either side of the canal. I'd like to see anyone try to send ships thru them in real life example Egypt and Israel after 1973 War while enemy is on 1 bank of the canal. Coastal forts do not double as sub pins and fighter units still do not reflect what each nation actually had in guns ME 109E did not have just 2 7.92mm on them in 1939. :wacko:

 

[Raptor83]

I work as corporate IT tech support and I can tell you that if our developers released such patch (which clearly wasnt tested at all) and told our customers that all programers are on holiday so even start working on patching this mess will take several weeks I can assure you that entire department would be fired next day!!!!!

 

[ThomasH]

I work as corporate IT tech support and I can tell you that if our developers released such patch (which clearly wasnt tested at all) and told our customers that all programers are on holiday so even start working on patching this mess will take several weeks I can assure you that entire department would be fired next day!!!!!

Well hopefully they fire you tomorrow -

 

[Javaslinger]

Folks, let's settle down a bit, please. If you really, really hate the official 2.03 patch, there's an easy remedy, which is to reinstall the game from scratch, plug the 2.03b beta on top of it, and go your merry way. It's virtually identical to the release patch anyway, and it has none of the problems that crept in mysteriously between that version and the official one.

I've seen bugged releases of "official" patches from Matrix's delvelopers, Firaxis, everyone. Sh*t happens. It's not the end of the world, and it will get fixed once the entire team is back in harness.

Sheesh . . .

I am quite understanding about accidental bugs and buggy releases. I just can't stand the attitude that were supposed to just suck it up until they get around to it. Really, this vacation BS is annoying. We all take vacations, but to tell me that their basically shut down for going on two months???? And then, when a certain monarchical figure in paradox gets pissed because were complaining too much for his taste????

I appreciate the fact that paradox patches so extensively and understand that they will eventually get it done. But I don't like the 'when we get around to it' attitude...

 

[Exterous]

I work as corporate IT tech support and I can tell you that if our developers released such patch (which clearly wasnt tested at all) and told our customers that all programers are on holiday so even start working on patching this mess will take several weeks I can assure you that entire department would be fired next day!!!!!

Thats great. I also work in corporate IT and can tell you that our developers released a very buggy piece of software that requires a reinstallation for Vista users about every other week and numerous other issues across platforms. Several of them have gone on vacation since the software was released 3.5 months ago and the issue has not been resolved. All are still employed

 

[xtfoster]

I am quite understanding about accidental bugs and buggy releases. I just can't stand the attitude that were supposed to just suck it up until they get around to it. Really, this vacation BS is annoying. We all take vacations, but to tell me that their basically shut down for going on two months???? And then, when a certain monarchical figure in paradox gets pissed because were complaining too much for his taste????

I appreciate the fact that paradox patches so extensively and understand that they will eventually get it done. But I don't like the 'when we get around to it' attitude...

From your profile you are from Virginia, USA. In the USA vacation (When, How much, etc.) is a benefit given by your employer. In Sweden that same vacation is a RIGHT that the employee has and the employer has very little to say about it.

 

[Exterous]

I am quite understanding about accidental bugs and buggy releases. I just can't stand the attitude that were supposed to just suck it up until they get around to it. Really, this vacation BS is annoying. We all take vacations, but to tell me that their basically shut down for going on two months???? And then, when a certain monarchical figure in paradox gets pissed because were complaining too much for his taste????

I appreciate the fact that paradox patches so extensively and understand that they will eventually get it done. But I don't like the 'when we get around to it' attitude...

The vacation thing is cultural and I don't see it changing any time soon. The impression I got wasn't so much 'When we get around to it' as 'I am not sure and do not want to make false promises'

While some may argue that it is 'part of the job' I can certainly understand his annoyance at the 'holier than thou' attitudes of some of the posters in this thread

 

[unmerged(148443)]

...
I appreciate the fact that paradox patches so extensively and understand that they will eventually get it done. But I don't like the 'when we get around to it' attitude...

Or maybe you just cant really appreciate real world contraints..
Like resources limitations. Human resources included.

As long as there is no penalized deathline given by contract, there is really no real way around this, especially at vacation season.
Get real people, you are not the only one that deserves or needs vacation..
FYI: i work in SW development too, projects worth millions of € for goverments typically - so we even have to count with political influences in addition to corporate ones...so i kinda know what i talk about

 

[crjs1]

Why release a patch when all programers are on holiday anyway? It just screams RUSHED.... Surely the patch should have just been delayed until staff were there to test and fix it properly. Also its a shame that the latest events that have been worked on etc have not been included, again it just seems so rushed..... (still love the game though )

 

[Kriegsspieler]

Why release a patch when all programers are on holiday anyway? It just screams RUSHED.... Surely the patch should have just been delayed until staff were there to test and fix it properly. Also its a shame that the latest events that have been worked on etc have not been included, again it just seems so rushed..... (still love the game though )

There was nothing rushed about the beta patches that came out up until this most recent one. They were all tested by the betas first, then posted on the forum, where feedback was collected, and so on. Then things went into a lull for about three weeks, because - SURPRISE! - they were about to go gold with Vicky2. The 2.03 beta patch was playable, although not perfect, and Lothos and I were continuing work on the LUAs and events.

 

[SAS]

to be honest, i find it rally hard to understand why the battle percentages are the worst of the problems... Sure, the patch is messed (probably because the last programmer that worked on it went to vacation, and you wanted to have the patch before that, so they had to rush it), but imho the completely screwed localisation is much worse

+1

 

[Jazzlvraz]

Why release a patch when all programers are on holiday anyway? It just screams RUSHED.... Surely the patch should have just been delayed until staff were there to test and fix it properly. Also its a shame that the latest events that have been worked on etc have not been included, again it just seems so rushed..... (still love the game though )

They may've released the patch because Vicky 2's coming out 13 August and that'll consume a lot of this small company's resources. King's made it clear they don't have the staff for work on multiple fronts at the same time.

King, please just keep us updated as you can, and don't give up on us. Impatience leads to many difficulties .

 

[ElVince]

I've seen many posts which contained words like perfect, awesome and such of this patch but I wonder if they tested it at all
Writing nice things will just result in Paradox not fixing the bugs in this patch!!
If everybody is happy with the current patch then what's the point of creating another one?:wacko:

if more people bought their games instead of bitching, they would have more programers to fix these bugs... go register your copy

 

[grunt11]

I don't know why people get so worked up over HOI 3 being such a complicated game and making it an excuse for the game's issues. Take a large developer, for instance Bungie. They make Halo, which on the surface does not seem nearly as complicated as HOI 3, but it took them 3 years and a staff literally in the hundreds to make Halo: Reach. Seems like a pretty complicated affair to me, it wouldn't make sense for them to need so many employees and time if making non-grand strategy games was so easy as many people around here like to assert. PI doesn't have to deal with graphics or cutscenes of any sort in HOI 3, nor an online matchmaking system that uses extremely complex formulas to rank each player and to match them up with people of their same rank, and I'm not even going to talk about stability. I'm not saying that making HOI 3 was a walk in the park, but the 'game is really complicated' excuse is old, tired and wrong. All software development is tough.

The fact is that PI comes up with some great ideas, but consistently fails to execute on them due to poor planning (i.e. not having enough money to finish the game) or poor testing. This last patch is more evidence of that, and while they thankfully have tried to fix things, they always seem to break more things as they go along. I don't know what that means, but as a player who bought the game it just gets old and frustrating to have to constantly come to the forums to see if this or that feature is actually working or how to get around this or that CTD or bug.

/frustrated rant

Anyway, I am happy to report that this patch seems to have fixed a lot of the CTDs I was having before it. Thank you PI for fixing that issue, yesterday I played a game to 1947 and pre 2.03 I hadn't been able to get past 1942!

 

[unmerged(148805)]

While I appreciate PI trying to get the patch out with vacations and the up coming Vicky 2 release. And I really appreciate King's honesty with regard to the situation (a refreshing change from many other companies I have often had the "pleasure" of dealing with!).

What I don't understand is why more content was added to the existing beta patch (which was working pretty well) and then released as the official 2.03b patch without testing it first.

My guess would be that PI were trying to give us more than was expected, and while this is an admiralble philosophy in most cases, it's a recipe for disaster if something goes wrong with the untested content if quick support is not available as has happened here.

 

[steveh11]

Chill, folks.

I'm just going to retire HOI3 for a while and play the Vicky 2 demo.