Patch status

TrentOster

Hello everyone,
As many of you are aware, we are working hard on the new patch, the scope of re-work involved in this patch is far-reaching.
The feature list is pretty awesome:
The new renderer opens up a number of amazing things, such as new UI layouts which were previously not possible. The new render system for the new fonts is brilliant.
We've added a Gui option to scale to full screen or run unscaled at full resolution (previously an .ini option)
The matching service is making multiplayer connection a much better experience, a nice list of games and you are up and running much faster. We've honored the BG development tradition of offensive game naming and we're hopeful any of our beta testers who were exposed to that have recovered.
We've also logged 117 bugs fixed, including that damned Firebead Elvenhair butthole. I hate that guy. A lot.

We realize we've been kind of dark for a while and we are exploring a means to give people better visiblity on what we are working on. We're still working through our ideas, but our goal is to be more open without adding overly to our current maxed out workload.

This sounds all wonderful, but, the build is still in need of additional QA time to ensure a game we can all be happy with. This means the patch and the Android version are not yet ready for release. Hopefully with the added transparency we can expose people to the issues holding us up and get your help solving them.

Best Regards,
Trent

DenimTornado

That's toooo long, but patiionaly waiting for it/ Thank you Trent!!

Hoot

Ok, can I ask one question?

Is the journal fixed in this new patch? Are my quests gonna update properly?

I bought the game on release, played like 3 hours, journal seemed totally broken, totally ruined it for me. Surely (and I don't pretend to know what the hell I'm talking about) it must be possible to make a Journal Entry move from one place to another once a quest is completed?

I honestly don't care about how long it takes, I believe that if you wanna do a good job then you should do just that, a good job. Not a rushed out mish-mash.

EDIT :- Just wanted to say as well that the fact you're actually acknowledging and fixing issues at all is pretty amazing. There are AAA development houses that have far worse after-market support.

Anthedon

Thanks for the update, it's very much appreciated.

Sounds pretty amazing, all in all.

Ulra

Thank you for the info.

Yes, I'm also worried about the journal related bugs. It would be amazing if the notes appeared in the correct order...

Majoca

Cannot wait!

Thalamond

Thanks a lot Overhaul team. This was exactly what I and surely many other people needed to hear. For the past few months we've had to rely on secondary sources (i.e. other players with connections to the team), so this is definitely a nice change. I love how you added in Baeloth as an npc by the way - when I found him, I realized how great you guys are making and especially expanding on this already close to perfect old game.

Hoo

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate your efforts for improving BG:EE series.

The thing what I'd want to request, however, is that let us know the expected date of patch release, roughly. Then we don't need to beg so much.

Messi

Thanks for the update, really appreciate it! Take all the time you need with the patch, rather have polished patch than another Elvenhair.

Akuro

Thanks for this update @TrentOster. Are there any news on *working* translations and soundfiles yet? Do they ship with that patch?

Cerevant

Cleaning up the journal issues is something I have been working on, so I'll jump in and say a few words here. After playing whac-a-mole for a bit (13 tickets / 30 source files), we've come up with an engine change that should make this go a little more smoothly.

I can't promise any new functionality, but what is there should work much more reliably.

Wikkid_Suhn

Is the new patch up yet? It it now?


from this.

O_Bruce

Glad to hear that new patch will be so big, but I have special interest in one feature I doubt this patch will contain.

Adul

A very big thumbs up for the new transparency aims, hope you guys will keep with it and us small folks can learn a lot more of what you're doing in the future.

The patch contents sound pretty sweet as well.

FrancescoT

Thanks for the info and transparency , now if can releast the patch at least in june and have the jurnal fixed I will be an happy customer .

mzorich

Hoo said:

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate your efforts for improving BG:EE series.

The thing what I'd want to request, however, is that let us know the expected date of patch release, roughly. Then we don't need to beg so much.

I second this, is there any way to get even an extremely rough estimate for when the patch will be out? (early June?, by the end of June?, in 2013?)... with the expectation that it is very subject to change and no one can hold you to it. That would at least help me decide whether to wait or start a new game in the meantime

Ineffable

I have been stalking these forums well before release and I have finally created an account (and actually now purchased the game) after hearing this news.

Many thanks, Mr. Oster, for this update; it made me do the aforementioned.

Based on my observations, I have not liked how the game was "enhanced" and how things were being run as seen on the outside, but this little news update gives hope; it also seems to demonstrate the team's dedication for continual support. This is why I have now purchased.

Hopefully, in light of this news, you do not disappoint any longer.

--Regards

Necdilzor

Thanks for letting us know about more details of the upcoming patch!

Regarding your efforts for transparency, I suggest a Developer's Blog. I believe this could be what you guys need.

Again, thanks for working hard on fixing the game!

darrenkuo

End of May = 5/31 then become 6/31?

GodKaiserHell

darrenkuo said:

End of May = 5/31 then become 6/31?

Where did he say that?

darrenkuo

GodKaiserHell said:

darrenkuo said:

End of May = 5/31 then become 6/31?

Where did he say that?

They mention new patch will come on end of May serveral times

We all know they work hard , but if they would like to be a real nice compnay , they must meet their promise and catch up their own plan at least , more polish isn't a reason ,

original realese date - failed

multi-play match - six months pass .. still work ,

full language translation - six monthis .. still work ..

cloudy save - when ?

if the game isn't baldur's gate , do you think people will have this kind of patient for waiting update ?

they have to know , if they are not making baldur's gate , people may leave their game already ,

GodKaiserHell

darrenkuo said:

They mention new patch will come on end of May serveral times

Not in this thread.

darrenkuo said:

We all know they work hard , but if they would like to be a real nice compnay , they must meet their promise and catch up their own plan at least , more polish isn't a reason ,

original realese date - failed

"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."
- Shigeru Miyamoto

darrenkuo said:

multi-play match - six months pass .. still work ,

full language translation - six monthis .. still work ..

cloudy save - when ?

You said in this thread:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/315315/#Comment_315315

darrenkuo said:

If they don't have confident for assure the delivery date , it's better to say nothing

So... When it's ready.

darrenkuo said:

if the game isn't baldur's gate , do you think people will have this kind of patient for waiting update ?

Irrelevant.

darrenkuo said:

they have to know , if they are not making baldur's gate , people may leave their game already ,

Not me.

Palanthis

What the boss means is the new patch will be out before BG2EE. But they're not sure anymore (because actually they're not sure of BG2EE release date anymore).

Cleave

Thanks for the update Trent! I pre-ordered the game last year but i havent even started yet.
I'm waiting for some multiplayer upgrades so I can enjoy the game fully with a friend or two. Multiplayer feels kinda tedious right now and my friend doesnt have the patience to suffer through those little annoyances.. but we both bought it, and we're both happy with the result.

Keep us informed please, we won't hate. I for one am patient as hell. I'm looking forward to this next update!

Have a good day Overhaul

darkkhaine

the upcoming patch seems pretty good, but i thought there was going to be additional content (apart from the "graphical" content described here, which to be honest is kind of secondary to me), like the adventure Y (or X, i don't understand the letter namlng here :-) ). Is this adventure/quest still planned ?

Also, the android version will be coming in the next release, is linux going to be the next platform you will port BGEE to ?

Zeratul

Thank you for the update! This mean that now we will have a real multiplayer without open all the ports?

Seldar

New renderer ? that sounds great no ?!

Silverstar

It's been painfully long now, but thanks for finally updating us. It is appreciated . The patches so far have been really good. It is nice to hear that will be the case with the next one too.

TrentOster said:

including that damned Firebead Elvenhair butthole. I hate that guy. A lot.

Ahahahah!

It truly is hard to find decent folk nowadays, isn't it Trent?

Aasimar069

Thanks very much for these infos, M. Oster and dev team.

Let's just hope it won't bring additional bugs and will fix the ones that appeared in the patch with italian language.

Sese79

Dear Trent Oster,
I just want to ask why the infamous announcement and advertisement got back to the Main Page?
"New Cinematics
All of the Baldur's Gate cinematics have been replaced with beautifully hand painted animated cinematics, directed by Nat Jones"
http://baldursgate.com/enhancements.en.html

It was removed once after our complaints. @Dee agreed at the FAQ topic to come up with this topic at your Team, but we don't see any change regarding this announcement. Please consider our problems with this advertisement:

1) This advertisement is definitely not true and it is able to mislead customers. About half of the original movies are missing. These movies were deleted and nothing replaced them.

2) Some missing movies are causing a game freeze or causing a loop of text appearing at your screen in multiplayer games. For example the movies for sunrise and sunset, close to towns. (We posted many bug reports about this since the release of this edition. We added screenshots and save games. I post the links here if needed. I agreed to Dee to replicate this issue again at the weekend. I will try to reach a near-town Area fast and send a save game to you where you can find this problem again.)

3) The quality of the movies. The new movies are too cold, too short, to static, without the fun and the horror of the originals. There were Polls at this site and you could see it for yourself that the originals got more vote, and for a reason. But everyone can watch the originals on Youtube and decide what he/she likes more. Some time ago some devs agreed with us, even at the Polls. (I can link it if needed.)

4) The reasons for cutting off the original movies. One reason leaked out: this change occurred because the original movies were too big for non-PC releases, they wanted something smaller for tablets and phones. (I can give you the link about this if needed.) This week I received a message from Dee that you are aware of the issues with the new movies, and you are planning not to remove the movies from BG2, they remain there at the release of BG2:EE. I hope this information is true (I can post the message in here if Dee agrees with it). I wish this could be done with BG:EE too (in a mod, in a new patch, with a choose-able option at the beginning of the game: witch ones to watch.)

5) Despite all of this problems the advertisement is still there at the Main Page, misleading new customers every day. (It was removed once a little back.) Most people here are not even aware of this problem, if they didn't play the vanilla version they could think that the game only had so few movies in the original release.

Final words: You placed that advertisement there, so we can assume that this was a planned feature, and we can hope it was a serious announcement. What is your plan about this case then?

A) Leave the advertisement there and do nothing - knowing that this information is misleading and the missing movies are causing problems in multiplayer games. (--)

Remove the advertisement / or rephrase the advertisement but do nothing more. (-)

C) Remove the advertisement / or rephrase the advertisement, and add the original movies back to the edition with the option to choose between them at the beginning of the game. (0/+)

D) Fulfill what you and we dreamed of and what you announced and advertised: replacing "all the movies with beautifully hand painted animated cinematics". And then leave the advertisement there of course. (++)

E) as D) but perhaps announce an apology for everyone who were disappointed or mislead. (+++)

Thanks for reading this and sorry if my English was bad, it's only my third language. I posted this here because I hope that we will receive an official answer from Trent Oster. I am aware of that this post could be seen as a spam because in the last week I posted my concerns about this topic at: FAQ, Patch2014, and to two bug topics (about the missing movies), but please forgive me: this post is more detailed as the others were and I, as a disappointed customer wishes for an official answer after 5-6 months of the release. Please answer to me regarding this topic (one letter is enough if you do not have enough time – A, B, C, D or E). Thanks.

Perhaps this is a good topic for the wished transparency. Perhaps our wish (and as mentioned above, your wish and a planned feature too) can come true with this Enhanced edition. Thanks again.

Dee

@Sese79
We spoke about this privately, but the most likely outcome (at least in the short-term) is B.