PopUp&Stop:a small thing that make the game quite unplayable

[Orm]

So.... you want a game you can play without actually playing it?

I hope you were being sarcastic.

No I think he meant he wanted a game where he didn't have to have his finger glued to the pause button. And I agree.

 

[crazy canuck]

No I think he meant he wanted a game where he didn't have to have his finger glued to the pause button. And I agree.

you dont.... I am confused.

If things are moving to fast for you then turn down the speed. its good practice for multiplayer.

A BTW he WAS talking about wanting to be able to walk away from his computer.

 

[EUnderhill]

So.... you want a game you can play without actually playing it?

I hope you were being sarcastic.

No, just pragmatic.

 

[coreymas]

You mean that you cannot right click on a message in the message log for a type of event and turn on Auto-Pause like in all the other Paradox games?

Say it aint so.....

Corey

 

[Orm]

you dont.... I am confused.

If things are moving to fast for you then turn down the speed. its good practice for multiplayer.

A BTW he WAS talking about wanting to be able to walk away from his computer.

I do that too. It makes sense during dull periods to be able to leave the game but let it tick on until the next important event happens, I don't have to personally see every day pass by.
Anyway, I asked whether there was a way to set pop-up&pause somehow in the "Ask here."-thread and Mr.T gave the rather cryptic answer "Not at present, no.", which may mean that it's planned to be in the full version. I think it would be strange if the issue hadn't come up during beta-testing.

 

[Scilaci]

I do that too. It makes sense during dull periods to be able to leave the game but let it tick on until the next important event happens, I don't have to personally see every day pass by.
Anyway, I asked whether there was a way to set pop-up&pause somehow in the "Ask here."-thread and Mr.T gave the rather cryptic answer "Not at present, no.", which may mean that it's planned to be in the full version. I think it would be strange if the issue hadn't come up during beta-testing.

Maybe Mr. T is talking about a patch, hence, not yet - but soon? Who knows though, I think the more options the merrier.

 

[unmerged(514)]

You mean that you cannot right click on a message in the message log for a type of event and turn on Auto-Pause like in all the other Paradox games?

Say it aint so.....

Corey

It is so.

 

[Belissarius]

Well, with so much negativity, I thinks it's time for a positive opinion on this. While I understand your complaints, and I do sympathize, I for one never use the auto-pause option. I never play faster than "slow", because I, personally, enjoy games when they last a long time, like history does. I don't like going through decades within the span of minutes. I like to enjoy every minute of my country's history. And also, I found the auto-pause to be annoying. I play all P-dox games with auto-pause turned off entirely. I always pause the game myself when I need it to do so, and when I had auto-pause on, sometimes I'd then hit "pause" and realize I had just un-paused. So, I for one, do not miss this feature, and I will be buying this game on the 23rd.

But you COULD play the game with no auto pause all you had to do was adjust the message settings. You retained your ability to play the game in your style. We have lost that ability. Imagine yourself forced to play the game at max speed and had to deal with auto-pause pop-ups all the time. That is the opposite of how you play the game and from your post you would not like that. Well we are now forced to play how you play the game and we do not like that. This is a subjective preference niether play style is right or wrong, but the lack of an option on how people play the game is wrong.

 

[Orm]

Also very strange that a function that has been in every Paradox game I've played is suddenly gone.

 

[Lucasiewicz]

I too hope that this function will make its reappearance in the full game or later patches! This function is quite vital to a lot of players, including me!

 

[crusaderknight]

It puts less pressure into the gamer, making ti easier for him to concentrate on what is unfolding, instead of constantly checking for many trivial tasks.

Besides, let me stress I don't have any kinf od negativity. I continue to think the game is a classic and the interface is fantastic, only I think this was a serious oversight... that can be easily corrected, I am sure.

But you COULD play the game with no auto pause all you had to do was adjust the message settings. You retained your ability to play the game in your style. We have lost that ability. Imagine yourself forced to play the game at max speed and had to deal with auto-pause pop-ups all the time. That is the opposite of how you play the game and from your post you would not like that. Well we are now forced to play how you play the game and we do not like that. This is a subjective preference niether play style is right or wrong, but the lack of an option on how people play the game is wrong.

I never said I disagreed with you, just that I for one don't miss the feature. I even said that I understand why you guys are upset. Don't misunderstand my post as an "I'm against you complaining losers", because that's not what it was intended to be. Rather, I was merely trying to say that while I understand your complaints, and I do agree with you, I don't miss the feature. And even if I did, I would still buy the game. You have to weigh all the issues. What are you gaining vs. what are you losing. When I first heard that EU3 was going to be in 3D, I was adamantly against this game, because I am not a big fan of 3D games, and I much prefer 2D. And then when I heard that this game was going to begin right after the fall of Byzantium and that I was not going to be able to play as BYZ I was even more of an EU3 hater. But the more I've learned about the things I'm gaining I've been able to say, "So what if I'll never play this in 2D, and so what if I have to mod in BYZ." Because I'm getting so many other cool features, not the least of which are dynamic events and extreme modability. My post was really meant to be a statement countering the idea of "I won't buy this game without that feature" which I think I heard a few times. That's all I was trying to do. Sorry if I ruffled any feathers.

 

[Moltke]

If I'd never had it I wouldn't miss it- but I HAVE had it and I demand it back!

I just fell asleep playing a game as Lorraine and when I woke up it was game over!

 

[Belissarius]

I never said I disagreed with you, just that I for one don't miss the feature. I even said that I understand why you guys are upset. Don't misunderstand my post as an "I'm against you complaining losers", because that's not what it was intended to be. Rather, I was merely trying to say that while I understand your complaints, and I do agree with you, I don't miss the feature. And even if I did, I would still buy the game. You have to weigh all the issues. What are you gaining vs. what are you losing. When I first heard that EU3 was going to be in 3D, I was adamantly against this game, because I am not a big fan of 3D games, and I much prefer 2D. And then when I heard that this game was going to begin right after the fall of Byzantium and that I was not going to be able to play as BYZ I was even more of an EU3 hater. But the more I've learned about the things I'm gaining I've been able to say, "So what if I'll never play this in 2D, and so what if I have to mod in BYZ." Because I'm getting so many other cool features, not the least of which are dynamic events and extreme modability. My post was really meant to be a statement countering the idea of "I won't buy this game without that feature" which I think I heard a few times. That's all I was trying to do. Sorry if I ruffled any feathers.

Again I WONT buy the game because I gain nothing from the game if i don't enjoy playing it. I have started the demo about 3 times before I forced myself to play through once and tried to play twice since and I just don't enjoy having to be hyper alert ready to pause the game. The auto-pause acted as a filter of information. I ignored that which I didn't care about and was forced to react to things I did care about. I no longer have this information filter, the game became "a job" to play. Since I'm not having fun I don't gain anything from all the new features. A game should be first above all enjoyable EU3 isn't enjoyable to me and I therefore will NOT buy it. There is no "counter" to this this is an important statement that paradox needs to know they have a game that now alienates alot of people and its not a content issue is an interface issue. Content is moddable the interface in this case isnt. Therefore its a game breaker for me an a lot of people. Paradox shouldn't lose all these customers and not be aware of why. If they choose to ignore the problem then thats thier choice but at least they know the reason. Many people will simply play the demo and never buy the game and remain silent as to why.

Its paradox's choice on what they want to do but they should know that for many of us this feature is critical for game enjoyment.

 

[Moltke]

I agree, it's important to voice our concerns since the Betas can't possibly encompass an accurate cross section of the whole community. I wouldn't be so hot headed about it really, but the point is valid- it couldn't be that hard to allow the user to turn on "auto-pause." That little feature might appear insignificant, but being a loyal Paradoxian it is a staple to my enjoyment of their products.

 

[frpe02]

For me this isn't a gamebreaker, but it is worrying. I don't know much about programming but shoudn't it be quite easy to add this function? Especially since they had it in their previous games!

And how come a feature like this hasn't been added after months of beta testing? I really hope it is only since they have been so busy fin tuning the ai or something even more important...

However I am confident they'll add this to the final version.

 

[Belissarius]

If I'd never had it I wouldn't miss it- but I HAVE had it and I demand it back!

I just fell asleep playing a game as Lorraine and when I woke up it was game over!

hahaha that is funny. And an actual problem I cant recall how many times in EU2 that I was so addicted to the game I would start to nodd off but refuse to stop playing. Now I had to force myself to give the demo a chance by playing it through. What a huge difference one interface change has made to the game. From hyper-addictive "I cant stop" to "force feeding."

 

[unmerged(38835)]

it has been mentioned in another thread in the way that some of the betatesters i think said that he "has and idea why autopause not being included" but he cannot mention it on the forums.
one of the moderators confirmed that talking about it would break some agreement rules...
so long story short, there is a reason it is not there, so maybe when the game is out we will be enlightened.

i surly miss the autopause for certain events like battles and especially for those days when several popups come up at the same time...but still, i really enjoy the demo a lot and iam going to buy it anyways.

 

[Belissarius]

Once again Single players get the shaft

Here is a quote from MR.T which seems to suggest that paradox is once again screwing over single player for its smaller multi-player audiance. So it appears that this is by design. :wacko:

It is found at http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281886

The fix has to happen exclusive of there being an auto-pause or not because the game has to work in MP where you very definitely do not want autopause*. This means that whatever mechanism is used to address multiple instances of the same event triggering must be independent of pausing.

It should be noted that part of your exploit fears are unfounded since an event will auto-respond to itself (iirc action a is selected if there is more than 1 option) if the player doesn't do so within 2 months. Nevertheless, it's still a potential issue that needs to be looked at.


*Imagine a game with 24 human players that auto-pauses the game every time one of them gets a message window. It would take forever to play and you'd be endlessly stopping and starting...it would really ruin it.

Now Imagine a game that doesnt allow you to play in an enjoyable way just to please a smaller portion of the players who play the game. Imagine that this feature was OPTIONAL so all you had to do was make a second multiplayer install with the auto pause setting turned off, but this smaller community ruined the game for you because they eliminated a vital interface option that was critical for your enjoyment.

This doesnt have to be an US vs THEM issue. I never enjoyed multi-player because I found my play style was incombatable with it. I am a pause and play type of player. I enjoyed multi-player but people didn't enjoy the way i played so I didnt ruin their experience I simply didn't play so they could enjoy their game and I could enjoy mine. But now their wishes have trumpted mine and I left out in the cold. Before these multi-players had the option to remove the auto-pause. Before you could have multiple installs of the game one was often a clean/vanilla verson of the game for multi-player play and another was a modded verson modded to how you wanted the game. So there was always an option to have your multi-player version of the game tweaked to remove the auto-pause pop-ups. It wasn't something you where FORCED to have so why would multi-players FORCE other players to play like them.

Before I was disapointed now I'm annoyed. This was a deliberate choice that is a slap in the face and the worse thing about it was that it never had to be an "either or" situation. If you screw over your single-player population enough times you will lose them as customers. You have lost my money and likely the money of more than one friend that I introduced to EU2. We all play with auto-pause as a "must" have feature. To now know it was a deliberate shaft to the single-players makes me mad.

 

[unmerged(514)]

[...]
Before I was disapointed now I'm annoyed. This was a deliberate choice that is a slap in the face and the worse thing about it was that it never had to be an "either or" situation. If you screw over your single-player population enough times you will lose them as customers. You have lost my money and likely the money of more than one friend that I introduced to EU2. We all play with auto-pause as a "must" have feature. To now know it was a deliberate shaft to the single-players makes me mad.

Take it easy, I would not go as far...

But in fact it seems some *very questionable* design decisions were made by the devs. By taking it off they are upseting a part of their audience, by leaving it on, everything would be allright as single players and multiplayers would play as they saw fit.

For me, with the reserve of being purely speculation, I guess the majority of costumers will play single player games...

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Here is a quote from MR.T which seems to suggest that paradox is once again screwing over single player for its smaller multi-player audiance. So it appears that this is by design. :wacko:

I said nothing of the sort. Try reading and comprehending rather than simply taking a kneejerk reaction to what I post if it isn't exactly what you want to hear.

I said that any solution to the duplicate event triggering issue CAN NOT mandate forcing the use of auto-pause because doing so WOULD TOTALLY SCREW UP MULTIPLAYER AND THUS RUIN ONE CORE FEATURE OF THE GAME. This does not equate to "autopause will never happen". It just means that Paradox has to be careful about how it "fixes" things if it totally breaks something else.

One person's dream is another's poison. The goal is to make things suitable for ALL ASPECTS of the game.


EDIT: and for the record, I am one of those people who very much misses the (current) absence of autopause option because I *did* use it extensively in EU2 SP. I've been living without it for a year of EU3 now and I still miss it and still hope it's put into the game. I don't call the shots at Paradox, so it's not my decision. I don't even know exactly why Johan decided not to code it. There could be a good reason that I'm not aware of, but I can't think what that would be.

Also, for the record, I've never stated one way or another what will or won't be in 1.1 unless Johan has already confirmed it, so please don't everyone suddenly put words in my mouth.