ETA on First Patch

[Valdarez]

Can anyone from Atari give the players out here an idea when a patch will be available, and perhaps a list of items that are being addressed in the patch?

It doesn't have to be 'official', but it would be nice to have a general idea when one is going to be available and how many problems are going to be solved.

I would really like to hear that we are going to get a patch before the new year. Think of it as a Christmas present for all of the folks that spent their hard earned cash on the game.

(Nothing like asking a development team to deliver something right before Christmas, is there???) <grin>

- val

[Groovyfishguy]

/bump :D

[Valdarez]

These have been sent to support, but here are some general fixes that I would like to see (in no particular order).


Fix Game Crashes (due to various reasons, code related, driver related)
Fix incorrect Disconnect Errors/Ratings
Fix graphical display problems (flashing screen)
Game Pause Problem
Limit number of Game Pauses, and pause time during game
Improved connectivity detection (people showing green simply aren't staying connected - does hosting a game require a more powerful PC???)
Provide more Information on Altered Game Settings during online play (show the background a shade of red to warn players)


What other items would people like to see fixed?

[Groovyfishguy]

I'd really like to see the unit limit raised....

[Valdarez]

I wouldn't mind seeing the unit number raised, but not by much. 24 units would be a nice round number, as you could have 4 division of 6 units each.

[TG_Nordramor]

No ETA available on the patch just yet, but keep the suggestions coming.

[Valdarez]

No ETA yet? Sounds like the patch scope has yet to be identified, and/or the hard bugs have yet to be solved. My guess is this puts the patch well into the first part of next year, probably February, as most development staffs take of the last part of the year (assuming atari/timegate are no different).

Looks like Santa's not going to have anything under the Christmas tree for us this year. :(

[ago1000]

I would like it if the game allowed you to participate in battles in which you have troops on allied territory. I had three armies on English soil and I had to watch an RTS battle and could not help. The Quick Resolution resulted in the loss of England and the game ending on turn 5 (Russia fell in Turn 4). The RTS battle went on for hours. England had Germany on the ropes but the AI did not extend its supply lines. Germany eventually won. I watched for about 2 hours and then popped in to see the action periodically. It took about 7-8 hours to complete. I was hoping that the RTS battle would have resolved differently from the quick resolution. If I could have participated, England would not have fallen. If this is not possible, then at the very least change the victory conditions so that all three allied capitols must be captured. Then if England and Russia fall, you still continue to play.

[zaz]

I do hope this patch comes out before Christmas as there are a number of things this game needs fixed. Having a patch out as new players unrap their gifts will help the multi-player community.

[Wisler]

wait ago1000,i dont have the game yet, u mean if one capital of either axis or allied is captured, then that team loses?

[Wisler]

wait ago1000,i dont have the game yet, u mean if one capital of either axis or allied is captured, then that team loses?

[zaz]

That is in keeping with traditional Axis and Allies rules. It makes defending your allies important. It does not play as well in this RTS game since you can't participate in defending battles when you have units defending an ally who gets attacked.

The WWII mode of the game seems to be able to end very quickly and that's quite a dissapointment.

[ago1000]

The World War II game has a major balancing issues. As Germany I can defeat USSR in 3/4 turns and take Britian by turn 6 game over. Playing the US, you have no choice but to be on European soil by turn 4 pushing the German's back or the AI will defeat you by turn 5. I've played it 6 times already with the same result. Japan decimates Russia from the East and Germany from the West. Germany is in London by Turn 5 while I have 3 armies sitting there watching. I also tryed running the RTS battle instead of quick resolve to see if the English would fair better. Did this only once. I thought the German's had won, but to my surprise the battle is still playing out. (27 hours and still going) The AI both have thier troops to MAX and so much coin that once a division is destroyed it is built up immediately. The AI is good at destroying extended supply lines but weak at setting them up. The AI continually withdraw troops so they are not destroyed.
I enjoy playing the RTS battles and avoid rush attacks. The AI takes a few minutes to build up but once it does it sure is challenging. My 9 year old loves playing the RTS battles and loves the rush attack. He builds up 4 or 5 infantry squads early on and noticed that the AI always sends a recon squad from the HQ to capture a city. He notes the direction it comes from and then pounces on the HQ before they can build up troops. It works almost always.

[Wisler]

well, thats actually interesting, because in real life germany did pounce on russia from the west and japan could have if the allies didnt start drawing their troops to the pacific. germany also came very close to executing the invasion of britain, codenamed sealion. So im geussing that as the US you must start to take pacific islands as fast as you can to take away japanese IPCs which gives russia some time to get their land back. Also maybe as US take over some of Africa and maybe even try to land on france or italy.

[ago1000]

Actually No. You need to move some armies as fast as you can to England and invade Europe or you are toast.

Axis victory requires only 2 of 3 capitals (US, Russia, England) while Allied must capture both Germany and Japan. By turn 6 its over. I attacked the Pacific moving Japan back. Also brought 3 armies to England hoping to help the British out. Unfortunely Russia is out of the picture by turn 3 and England is gone by turn 6 game over. You want to move the Germans back so they can't attack England. I'll try attacking from Africa when I get a chance to play again. I'll let you know if the German forces respond by staying away from England.

[Viceroy]

Has ANYONE heard ANYTHING about the patch from any OFFICIAL source
?

any idea what it will cover or when it will come out, and if it will address improving the AI in either or both the campaign mode or in rts battles themselves?

[Valdarez]

Nope, but they need to get a patch out fast. After the 'upgrade' to the servers a week or so ago, players are having a difficult time joining games. It's gotten to the point that players are not wanting to play multi as it takes longer to find a game that they can join and play then it takes to play the game itself.

In addition, there are problems with the buddy lists as well. Players are not showing up in the lists, even though they are online.

It's been nearly 6 weeks since this game was released, and I'm sure it went gold several weeks before the release date. That's nearly 2 months to work on a patch. Give us some info Atari/Timegate!!! When are we getting relief???

[Valdarez]

This thread is obviously getting a lot of views. Everyone speak up and let Atari hear that you want a patch. The squeaky wheel gets the grease... the quiet wheel gets ignored.

[Groovyfishguy]

/bump
;)

[CPTBrown]

Gimme a P!
Gimme an A!
Gimme a T!
Gimme a C!
Gimme an H!
What's that spell?...PATCH!!!
Get the picture TG/Atari?

[tellgar]

Originally posted by TG_Nordramor
No ETA available on the patch just yet, but keep the suggestions coming.

I think that was your official source. Can't get any more official than word from the developers.

[Toonboy]

This is getting frustrating now....... can't host games can't join them.....Multiplayer is the only good part about this game and its not working very well at the momment. If it works at all.

[MarkJohnson]

well, I'm at version 1050AA. Is there a newer one. I don't remember the game getting one. and when I hit the update button I have never gotten one.

What exactly needs updating?

I do have a friend that can't get onto gamespy to play. It starts to load the page, but can't get past the chat section and times out. and when we try the LAN mode to connect over the internet direct to each other, the game locks up and so does his modem? He does play other online games no problems though. so maybe it is the game or his emachine or the two in combination.

[Valdarez]

Originally posted by MarkJohnson
What exactly needs updating?


At the very least, players need to be able to join games in multi player. There are also other players, that have purchased the game, that can't even launch the game. Atari's only answer to this seems to be to make sure you meet the minimum requirements.

http://www.atari.com/us/support/newfaq/axisallies2004.php?browser=1&issueNum=2072&osType=WIN2K&pageDisplay=MAIN#faq_prodissues

[zaz]

Originally posted by Valdarez
There are also other players, that have purchased the game, that can't even launch the game. Atari's only answer to this seems to be to make sure you meet the minimum requirements.


TimeGate has asked folks with hard crashes to send in DXDiag reports and other information to help troubleshooting the individual hardware problems.

The game engine is used for multiple games currently supported by TimeGate so it should get a fix before long. I expect mid January since they missed a Christmas patch release date and crushed my plans for a mostly bug-free A&A Christmas :)

[zaz]

Originally posted by Valdarez
The squeaky wheel gets the grease... the quiet wheel gets ignored.

And sometimes they just throw the squeeky wheel in the trunk and re-use it as a spare when the quiet one goes flat. :)

[Valdarez]

No kidding zaz. Sometimes, they just junk the car, which is what I'm about ready to do with this game, if a patch isn't released soon.

[TexasDevilDog]

If they change the unit limit number in the RTS to be similar to what is on the map, then taking a capital and knocking off a country would be much harder.

A unit on the world map should not only be the unit type capable of being produced but also represent a unit level amount, such as 5 regiments for an infantry and mech, 4 for an armor unit.

You could either help directly in the RTS with allies or your units on the map add to the unit limit in RTS for the AI.

I would like to start with more Corps HQs when I bring a bunch of units, not just when I bring two infantry units. How about one Corps HQ for every two units. That would help protect capitals too. Not only would the capital side have a big unit limit it would have many starting HQs.

For our sake, make the air assets for usable. No cost to attack, just raise the initial cost and or support cost.

[Valdarez]

No patch in two months... and counting....

[KingJT1955]

Hi - I like the Game, but hate the crashes as well. Since I have Windows Xp, I went to the support site (http://www.atari.com/us/support), and found a method to eliminate, if not minimize the crashes for the game. To summarize, the article it says to:

1) Get your Latest Video and Audio Drivers.
and
2) Temporarily close your user process services via the Task Manager. This involves using CTRL-ALT-DEL and while using the processes TAB to sort by your user name, then deleting all your processes EXCEPT explorer.exe and taskmgr.exe
--
I created a BATCH file to do this in mass, if you are familiar with creating a BATCH file and using it in the command prompt window, or creating a shortcut to it on your desktop, then this will save you time.
-
You can see a listing of your current task processes, by typing the command
'TASKLIST' at the command prompt, this will also give you the PID #, but
this number changes per user session.
-
The BATCH file code I used is as follows:
-
@Echo Off
taskkill /f /fi "USERNAME ne LOCAL SERVICE" /fi "USERNAME ne NETWORK SERVICE" /fi "USERNAME ne SYSTEM" /fi "IMAGENAME ne explorer.exe" /fi "IMAGENAME ne taskmgr.exe" /fi "USERNAME ne cmd.exe"
-
This kills the task in one action.
--
additional information about my computer.
----
Intel PIV 3000mgz (stock)
ATI 9600 Radeon (stock)
1 x WD 200G
Asus P4P800 SE
Princeton 21" Flatscreen Monitor

[KingJT1955]

To see your user name, at the command prompt, type in 'NET USER' . You can also see a listing of your current task processes, by typing the command 'TASKLIST /fi "USERNAME eq [Your User name]" ' at the command prompt.

[Valdarez]

It appears they have fixed the NAT Negotiation Failed error, which is one of the major problems that I have had with the game so far. It was very frustrating when you see a ton of open games, but you can't join to play one.

[Valdarez]

Any word on the patch guys?

[Valdarez]

Can someone, anyone from Atari/TimeGate tell your customers, who spent their hard earned money on your product when you are patching this game?

A little support/information on the patch would be nice. You (Atari) sure pumped the heck out of the game before the launch, please show some integrity and support it afterwards.

[MarkJohnson]

Originally posted by Valdarez
Can someone, anyone from Atari/TimeGate tell your customers, who spent their hard earned money on your product when you are patching this game?

A little support/information on the patch would be nice. You (Atari) sure pumped the heck out of the game before the launch, please show some integrity and support it afterwards.

dude, there is going to be no patch, it's been six months. It seems they can't talk to anyone here, but they went out of there way to delete my message. - lol

I guess I learned my lesson about Atari. Hope they can stay in business with these kinds of practices.

-=Mark=-

[Valdarez]

If they don't plan on patching the game, then they should tell us. That's not a lot to ask. A guy from TimeGate said they were working on a patch way back in December, but no word from either TimeGate or Atari since then. :(

[9-scott]

I wonder if the game developers got abducted by Aliens. It just sucks the way these companies continue treating there customers and I fear its only going to get worse.

[Valdarez]

I haven't purchased a single Atari game in 2 years now because they never supported this game.

[TexasDevilDog]

I forgot all about this game, that could have been better. I get an email, cause you guys stirring up the pot. Now I am upset again. :cry:

[Valdarez]

lol... I don't think there's anything in the pot to stir. I even offered to write a stats reporting engine/website for them to report online statisticts and got ignored. They ignore they games and worse, their community.