That's not a bug, that's your iPad running out of memory. Reboot or force shut down background apps, and it'll be resolved.
It most certainly is a bug if the app doesn't realise some of its textures are no longer in memory, it should know to reload them. iOS gives app's low memory warnings handled properly it should be invisible to the user.
That's not a bug, that's your iPad running out of memory. Reboot or force shut down background apps, and it'll be resolved.
It most certainly is a bug if the app doesn't realise some of its textures are no longer in memory, it should know to reload them. iOS gives app's low memory warnings handled properly it should be invisible to the user.
There needs to be free memory available for BG:EE to reload the missing textures. Thus, it's not a bug, but a general problem in iOS, when other apps aren't programmed properly to release memory when asked by the system.
Reboot or force quit background apps. It works, and really, is it that much of a hassle?
@ByteBrain You're wrong. Other apps have nothing to say if currently running app needs more memory and they occupy it - they simply get terminated. And anyways, if BGEE has no free memory for textures, it should detect such case and act accordingly, for example displaying some loading screen/indicator or throwing some error at user, informing them to do exactly what you've suggested here, so the user doesn't have to rely on this forum and your posts. That's assuming devs REALLY can't resolve it in some other way. Hassle or not, it most definitely IS a bug.
So what's the consensus on the patch, people? Should I reinstall this game? Does the framerate still go to **** when I cast spells? Are you able to actually open potion containers that you hold in your inventory? Are there still dialogue issues with the new "premium" content that I paid extra money for?
I would patch the game if I were you. The fixes far outweigh the problems I am encountering, and I'm not sure that these problems weren't already there pre-patch anyway.
- Yes, framerate is appalling when some spells are cast, especially durational spells such as Entangle etc... - Containers can now be opened okay from inventory or shop screens. - Possibly some dialogue issues still. The one I encountered was with Neera's quest that still doesn't conclude, although I wasn't that bothered about it anyway. No idea about other dialogues yet.
The touch-response has been vastly improved though. I no longer have to zoom in and click 20 times to pick up 3GP dropped by a kobold. It can be a bit weird sometimes though, but just be aware that clicking on a piece of open area may cause the touch-locator to move to the nearest touchable thing. It isn't really a problem.
My main issue so far is with AI causing party members to rush into melee with their bows and slings. Best just to switch AI off until that is fixed.
Other than that I feel that the patch has made the iPad version lots more playable, so go ahead and D/L it.
There is one issue that this patch created, which is that missile launchers (bows, crossbows, and slings; not rocket-propelled grenades) are currently setting a hard limit to the wielder's attacks per round based on their Rate of Fire (so a bow gets 2 attacks no matter what, even if you're a level 13 fighter with grand mastery). That should be fixed for the next patch, but in the interest of full disclosure that is something that we're aware of having occurred.
Well back to waiting for me. I had quit playing to wait for the patch but it didn't really do enough so I'm going to wait for the one that fixes the frame drop issues and some of the other problems. Shame. I was hoping the first patch would address some of those issues but I guess they just had too much on their plate to get it all done at once.
Have they said anything at all about when another one may be coming. I'd really like to see the aoe slowdown and a few of the other issues addressed before I start back up again. Just curious really. Not complaining. I haven't been on Twitter or anything lately.
The AoE slow-downs (Entangle...oi vey...) are related to the renderer, which likes to cause problems on the iPad and with certain PC chipsets (cf. Intel). We've got a team of avengers working on rewriting the renderer, which will get rid of a lot of the slow-downs experienced with big area effect spells, and will also help alleviate a lot of the other concerns as well. Unfortunately I don't know when that rewrite will be completed. It won't set back the next patch, however.
The AoE slow-downs (Entangle...oi vey...) are related to the renderer, which likes to cause problems on the iPad and with certain PC chipsets (cf. Intel). We've got a team of avengers working on rewriting the renderer, which will get rid of a lot of the slow-downs experienced with big area effect spells, and will also help alleviate a lot of the other concerns as well. Unfortunately I don't know when that rewrite will be completed. It won't set back the next patch, however.
It's 90% done of course, all programmers will give that answer at any time, it's like '2 weeks' for a building contractor.
Unfortunately, things like renderers are difficult to unit test and can have very 'Interesting' bugs that are 'difficult' to track down. The good thing is that it will probably speed up the rest of their ports.
While most of this information is available other places and/or even in posts on this thread, I wanted to touch base on a couple questions to ensure absolute clarity.
*AOE Spells* - No, this is NOT fixed at this point. The AOE Spells problem is NOT an iPad bug nor is it a BG:EE Bug, it is a BG Bug from the base game. Load up the original disks on a PC and play it and you'll note that the frame rate goes to Shit on the base game the MOMENT you try to do an AOE spell. This was WELL KNOWN at the point when BG was in vogue 15 years ago.
Fixing this issue is NOT a "patch" but a "rewrite" to the rendering engine, a large update to the entire graphics engine driving the game...that is neither simple nor fast. As to it's status or "stage" of re-write? As a previous professional programmer for fortune 100 companies, I can tell you that the answer will always be "we have no idea". Any timeframe I gave you would likely be wrong...and any timeframe I gave you would only make me look bad...see the release date discussions of November for what happens when an application development company gives dates / deadlines / status updates on development issues. (We asked for it).
*Tap / Location Fixes* - There is some good and some bad news when it comes to the updated tap controls of this recent patch. The good news is that tapping near something like a container or a doorway will now appropriately make your characters use that object like you typically want the character to do. The sensitivity for this has been turned up significantly to the point where I am finding it VERY rare that I am unable to pick up or use items in game now...this has been a Godsend to the majority of my game play.
The bad news is the same as the good news, tapping near something like a container or a doorway will now make your characters USE that object or item instead of simply moving near it. As far as I can tell there's now no way to move "near" an object without using that object. In the majority of cases, this isn't a problem...in some cases (narrow interior hallways, etc.) this can cause characters to cycle to a new level (use a stairwell or a door) where you simply wanted to move further into the hall...and at times it is almost impossible to precisely move your characters exactly where you want them due to the "Magic Tap" features in game at this point.
AS ALWAYS you are STILL better off pausing the game in situations where you need fine grained control over where your characters end up. This hasn't changed with the patch. If you are in an outdoor area without interactable objects around, you'll find no issues (as you likely didn't before). If you're hunting for "hidden" doorways in the interface, you'll find the new tap targeting to be wonderful.
Only in a few locations and a few situations during the game will you find a slight bit of frustration with the tap targeting as you try to move a character or your group somewhere near an inter-actable object. In cases like this, you will find it almost as frustrating as before the patch when trying to target containers and objects. The difference in this case is that you will MORE OFTEN interact with the containers and objects than find difficulties positioning characters, so while the frustrations haven't been removed completely from the game, they have been vastly limited...making this a distinct improvement from the prior version of the game.
*Containers* - I'm somewhat unsure of what the complaints with containers are. Yes, several containers (like the gem bag from Neera) had some issues with opening. There have ALWAYS been extremely reliable / reproducible ways of opening these containers time and time again once you understand what the problem is and what the work around is. For the gem bag the best way to open it is to tap/hold on the bag till the description window comes up and then click the upper left corner of the "open" button. It works EVERY time. (And this is the same with many of the bags you will obtain in game).
While I appreciate this might be an extra tap or two to get to what you want, it is neither game breaking nor even all that annoying once you accept this as the process to go through. If the worst complaint we have about the game is that you have to spend an extra 2 seconds to open a gem bag in your inventory because you can't double click it and must tap/hold/tap to open it, I think BG:EE can be considered a success.
Comments
Reboot or force shut down background apps, and it'll be resolved.
Thus, it's not a bug, but a general problem in iOS, when other apps aren't programmed properly to release memory when asked by the system.
Reboot or force quit background apps.
It works, and really, is it that much of a hassle?
You're wrong. Other apps have nothing to say if currently running app needs more memory and they occupy it - they simply get terminated. And anyways, if BGEE has no free memory for textures, it should detect such case and act accordingly, for example displaying some loading screen/indicator or throwing some error at user, informing them to do exactly what you've suggested here, so the user doesn't have to rely on this forum and your posts. That's assuming devs REALLY can't resolve it in some other way. Hassle or not, it most definitely IS a bug.
The fixes far outweigh the problems I am encountering, and I'm not sure that these problems weren't already there pre-patch anyway.
- Yes, framerate is appalling when some spells are cast, especially durational spells such as Entangle etc...
- Containers can now be opened okay from inventory or shop screens.
- Possibly some dialogue issues still. The one I encountered was with Neera's quest that still doesn't conclude, although I wasn't that bothered about it anyway. No idea about other dialogues yet.
The touch-response has been vastly improved though. I no longer have to zoom in and click 20 times to pick up 3GP dropped by a kobold. It can be a bit weird sometimes though, but just be aware that clicking on a piece of open area may cause the touch-locator to move to the nearest touchable thing. It isn't really a problem.
My main issue so far is with AI causing party members to rush into melee with their bows and slings. Best just to switch AI off until that is fixed.
Other than that I feel that the patch has made the iPad version lots more playable, so go ahead and D/L it.
It's 90% done of course, all programmers will give that answer at any time, it's like '2 weeks' for a building contractor.
Unfortunately, things like renderers are difficult to unit test and can have very 'Interesting' bugs that are 'difficult' to track down. The good thing is that it will probably speed up the rest of their ports.
Ralph
*AOE Spells* - No, this is NOT fixed at this point. The AOE Spells problem is NOT an iPad bug nor is it a BG:EE Bug, it is a BG Bug from the base game. Load up the original disks on a PC and play it and you'll note that the frame rate goes to Shit on the base game the MOMENT you try to do an AOE spell. This was WELL KNOWN at the point when BG was in vogue 15 years ago.
Fixing this issue is NOT a "patch" but a "rewrite" to the rendering engine, a large update to the entire graphics engine driving the game...that is neither simple nor fast. As to it's status or "stage" of re-write? As a previous professional programmer for fortune 100 companies, I can tell you that the answer will always be "we have no idea". Any timeframe I gave you would likely be wrong...and any timeframe I gave you would only make me look bad...see the release date discussions of November for what happens when an application development company gives dates / deadlines / status updates on development issues. (We asked for it).
*Tap / Location Fixes* - There is some good and some bad news when it comes to the updated tap controls of this recent patch. The good news is that tapping near something like a container or a doorway will now appropriately make your characters use that object like you typically want the character to do. The sensitivity for this has been turned up significantly to the point where I am finding it VERY rare that I am unable to pick up or use items in game now...this has been a Godsend to the majority of my game play.
The bad news is the same as the good news, tapping near something like a container or a doorway will now make your characters USE that object or item instead of simply moving near it. As far as I can tell there's now no way to move "near" an object without using that object. In the majority of cases, this isn't a problem...in some cases (narrow interior hallways, etc.) this can cause characters to cycle to a new level (use a stairwell or a door) where you simply wanted to move further into the hall...and at times it is almost impossible to precisely move your characters exactly where you want them due to the "Magic Tap" features in game at this point.
AS ALWAYS you are STILL better off pausing the game in situations where you need fine grained control over where your characters end up. This hasn't changed with the patch. If you are in an outdoor area without interactable objects around, you'll find no issues (as you likely didn't before). If you're hunting for "hidden" doorways in the interface, you'll find the new tap targeting to be wonderful.
Only in a few locations and a few situations during the game will you find a slight bit of frustration with the tap targeting as you try to move a character or your group somewhere near an inter-actable object. In cases like this, you will find it almost as frustrating as before the patch when trying to target containers and objects. The difference in this case is that you will MORE OFTEN interact with the containers and objects than find difficulties positioning characters, so while the frustrations haven't been removed completely from the game, they have been vastly limited...making this a distinct improvement from the prior version of the game.
*Containers* - I'm somewhat unsure of what the complaints with containers are. Yes, several containers (like the gem bag from Neera) had some issues with opening. There have ALWAYS been extremely reliable / reproducible ways of opening these containers time and time again once you understand what the problem is and what the work around is. For the gem bag the best way to open it is to tap/hold on the bag till the description window comes up and then click the upper left corner of the "open" button. It works EVERY time. (And this is the same with many of the bags you will obtain in game).
While I appreciate this might be an extra tap or two to get to what you want, it is neither game breaking nor even all that annoying once you accept this as the process to go through. If the worst complaint we have about the game is that you have to spend an extra 2 seconds to open a gem bag in your inventory because you can't double click it and must tap/hold/tap to open it, I think BG:EE can be considered a success.