Battle for Middle Earth - Bugs

[BarryB]

Must be an EA programmer from how he thinks and acts? No wonder all their games are buggy

[Joe Forster/STA]

(Wrong forum, moved.)

To correct the original poster, copy protections are NOT developed by game publishers/developers but by separate companies. Therefore, the time it takes to (further) develop a copy protection does not reduce the development time of the actual game. But, replacing the word "time" with the word "money"... oh, yes, now that is true! As for testing any kind of software - not necessarily a game -, yes, a lot of different hardware and software configuration needs to be used: this is what official testers are for. (See Micro$oft: they started publishing the betas of their OS's for free, for anyone to download and use it for free but, also, test it for free!)

Also, if there are no bugs to be fixed in a game, there will be new features instead, as requested by users, which again boils down to official updates. Today's games are much more sophisticated - in design, programming and game experience - and the deadlines are also stricter than in the old days of microcomputers where, of course, there was no possibility to update the games as 1) they came on floppy disks and there were no hard disks (read: where do you put the updated version of the game?) and 2) there was no Internet (for common people) (read: how do you get the update package?) either.

What needs to be improved, though, is the attitude of game publishers towards bugs/problems found in their games; I wouldn't touch the official support of any game company with a stick anyway because the result would be 1) long delays in replies, 2) improper answers or replies that do not answer the specific question (only give general ideas) or 3) a sad reply that says they cannot help me because of whatever reason (read: the retail versions of games have no proper embedded debug facilities that would output something that lets the developers find the exact reason in no time).

[aquadag2]

here is the seceret number for ea tech support that you cant find nor is it toll free, that should say it all. 1-650-628-1005 and by the way i hope u speak indian because thats what ur gonna need above all else, let me put it to u in a way that your little mnd can handle it, would u like the same programmers working on things for your safety with the same attitude that the game developers have, such as airplane, train controls, and elevators and stop lights i guess when all stop lights turn green at the same time we should call tech support, get a grip stop defending lame money grabbing narcisists and let them know that we have had ENOUGH but u obviosuly are benefiting in some way financially, because like most people anything outside of the 3 foot box around u that contains your life u cannot see. look around quality stopped being an issue in the late 80's now currency is the driving force work in the manufacturing industry u will see quicky that money is first quality second that s why most eu countries won't buy aanything made in amerca it isn't the employees, they are the best, it's the exec's with the i dont care what it takes attitude, i need to look good now i don't care if the company goes belly up when i leave because it was the best when i was there attitude. there isn't anyone here that can say that at least half the people they worked for weren't like this. The wosrst culprit is microsoft, but we all know that. They ahave so many back doors built into their stuff that it is silly. work for the govt and see what kind of deals they have worked out together, alas i digress and say to much. treason sucks

[Joe Forster/STA]

Originally Posted by aquadag2

let me put it to u in a way that your little mnd can handle it, would u like the same programmers working on things for your safety with the same attitude that the game developers have, such as airplane, train controls, and elevators and stop lights

Sherlock, dig a bit deeper and find out how much 1) money, 2) time and 3) help with the design do A) game programmers and B) programmers of critical systems get from the company that ordered the software. With 1) ten/hundred times as much money, 2) several years of (pre-)development and 3) very careful design, design testing and re-designing (and this again and again and again, before a single line of code was written!), ANYONE can implement a(n almost) completely bug-free software/system!

You're trying to compare the manufacturing process of an everyday car with that of a NASA space craft!

And, no, I don't like Micro$oft either. However, 1) no law makes them tighten the security and reliability of their softwares - mainly operating systems - so why would they do that themselves and 2) there are alternatives anyway (hehe, an answer for the previous one: the higher quality of concurrent softwares make them finally build better softwares of their own!)...

[acal3000]

Originally Posted by Joe Forster/STA

(Wrong forum, moved.)



What needs to be improved, though, is the attitude of game publishers towards bugs/problems found in their games; I wouldn't touch the official support of any game company with a stick anyway because the result would be 1) long delays in replies, 2) improper answers or replies that do not answer the specific question (only give general ideas) or 3) a sad reply that says they cannot help me because of whatever reason (read: the retail versions of games have no proper embedded debug facilities that would output something that lets the developers find the exact reason in no time).

I strongly agree with this one i never call/mail the tech support publisher for this.Most of the time they are useless.They puthe worng people and the tech support line and generaly only give general tips crap you already know. i prefer check forums for that. Another things I don't like of some game companies like Atarit.They let a lof bugs without Fix that makes the game unplayable. for example I bought Matrix Path of Neo. The game suffers from a lot of bugs in the osund engine that slowdown the game and the music and voices sounds crap. Atari only relased two patches the second one for the EU version the one I have never was finished I doubt they will do iit by know. The only answers for some Atari employes ins thatsome onboard sound chips have this problem. I don't use onboard sound anymore and have this damn problem- if one see its forums there a re alot of users that have these problems from severall sound card amnufactures since onboard (realtek, soundmac,etc) to creative cards or thers So in this time the game is the buggy thing not the hardware or the drivers Things that usually helps for this problems like reducing or turning down the sound acceleration ,updating or downgrading the drivers don't help either.Bloking the soundcard in the device manager works but all without sound i don't like that. This example of bugs are very common in games ported from consoles they never have decent patches from the publisher. Another examples of very bad buggy games from Atari were Demon Stone, The Temple of elemental Evil and Master of Orion 3 . and at least on the last two a lot of bugs were correct by the commmunity and the modders. They sometimes give solution what the damn publisher must correct in first place. And in a lot of games ported for consoles generally the bugs remain there forever since there are not so many hardcore gamers communty playing them. In the case of Path of Neo I finished uninstalling it and using the space for other games instead because I got tired of not being able to play correctly . So my point The publishers must be more responsable of thei uncorrected bugs they made and fix them

Note that this not a rant Just my point of view

[DABhand]

Ok to answer the guy with no paragraphs...



1. Not every PC game can be fully tested 100% there is many hardware combinations, different motherboards, memory brands, GFX cards etc etc, to cover each combination effictively would infact take a very very long time.

2. As said protections (but not all) are designed and made by 3rd parties.

3. Its not unlawful if a game does not work on your machine spec (and combo of hardware), you do however have the right to a refund within a certain time frame of buying your software.

4. Its daft of you to sign up and make a long winded post about your feelings and announce in the same 1 huge paragraph that your not coming back, errrrr what did you expect? Applause?

Now I know your entitled to your ideas, but when you put out what you think is right, expect to have a debate with others.

5. The legalities is there for a reason, and a good one. You may think its not right for you, but hey newsflash this aint your forum and you dont own it.

Just like when you goto someones house you are expected to behave in a manner the householder presents to you.

6. Aquadag account wasnt banned so why the creation of aquadag2. Its a bit stupid if you ask me.

Your thread got closed you didnt get banned, you asked how to play 1 game on 3 machines, we dont allow that, and by rights the game company could take YOU to court if you did put 1 game on 3 machines, after you agreed to only play on 1.