@Sed, thanks for the heads up. I keep an eye on the forums, but I don't have the time to go over everything. There's some really great insight on this thread. I'm getting the team together tomorrow to discuss the next week. I'm going to stress focusing on getting the game stable and ready for phase IV multiplayer testing and opening the beta to all beamdog customers.
Our biggest task at the moment is not fixing the bugs but sifting through all the information and getting good bug reports. We get so many comments and suggestions separating minor tweaks, features quests and bugs takes the most time.
I'm going to stress focusing on getting the game stable and ready for phase IV multiplayer testing and opening the beta to all beamdog customers. .
I realise I may not like the answer to this, but is there any reason Steam customers are being treated like second-class citizens? I know you guys were kind of forced into working with Atari, but it's still revenue, and Steam is the biggest digital marketplace on the PC, so...some love would be appreciated. I've owned 4 different versions of Baldur's Gate in the past, and I wasn't ready to get EE until it was on Steam, because that's where 99% of my gaming now takes place. With some Steamworks features and some faster patch-attention/community engagement, your sales would increase massively, I'm sure.
Don't get me wrong, - this forum is brilliant, and you're doing a wonderful job engaging with customers/fans here, but it's very off the beaten track for a Steam user, and you only have to look in the Steam forum for this game to see how in the dark most of BG-newbies are - It's mostly BG veterans assuring newbies that BG is actually good and worth the learning curve. If it had Steamworks achievements, multiplayer and workshop support, we'd all be laughing: Devs and fans alike, and the guides section has...3 things in it.
I can appreciate a 'Beamdog first' attitude, because that's where your loyalties lie, but come on...it's been a year now and it would seem unsound business at this point to ignore the biggest marketshare in the digital PC space.
Playing Baldur's Gate multiplayer with my Steam friends, creating and checking guides on the community pages, adding mods via workshop, trying to get those achievements by doing unique and crazy things...I can't think of anything I'd like more!
@metalmunki Main problem with Steam is that every little change to a patch must first go through Atari, and then Steam. That means no hotfixes, no quick updates, no open beta.
Once a beta patch would be released on Steam, it would be outdated from day 1. The actual patch (in all its glory) will come to Steam, and hopefully quite soon after Beamdog launch.
In short, Beamdog can't control the Steam version. Atari get all the updates as soon as they are done, and it's in their hands
I totally understand that, but let's be honest - 'beta' is a relative term. Is the beta more advanced than the current retail version? Yes. Will players playing it on Steam know it's a beta or just realise 'hey the game has updated and look at all this fancy new stuff?'
Regardless, I still think a Steamworks implementation would be worth doing (and that has nothing to do with the beta). Steamworks is free for any developer that wishes to use it, after all.
The first thing you must understand is that every patch that gets out (on Steam) MUST be "signed" by steam before its release... And, this is a personal reflection, to get money, Steam probably charges on too much patches (like the X360 does). So only the top patches makes their way to Steam...
On a more personal answer, achievements to me are a total waste of time... Many may like it, I DON'T! It wasn't part of the original Baldur's Gate and I'm very happy it isn't part of the enhanced edition... (I cannot speak for or against multiplayer, cause I don't play BG in multi...).
And, for the workshop, since BGEE is still based on the original (tweaked) engine, it would be a REAL pain in the ... to make the mods compatible... Imagine that WeiDU (modding install software) is still in like a DOS text format...
I know Steam is a "world" of gaming by itself, but I do hate it... (And that's the reason I have no Steam or Origin or whatever account). I find them far too restrictive (and modding/tweaking wise, too much of a pain for nothing.
Maybe already known spells could be marked with a "check" symbol.
This is also a great idea, yes, and probably my preference. Although the best idea would be to have stuff like this optional and possibly customizable through the options menu.
I'm curious: Why would you want this to be optional? What is it doing that you think some would rather it didn't? I realise in a perfect world everything would only be optional, but you can take it too far.
The first thing you must understand is that every patch that gets out (on Steam) MUST be "signed" by steam before its release... And, this is a personal reflection, to get money, Steam probably charges on too much patches (like the X360 does). So only the top patches makes their way to Steam...
Steam doesn't charge for patches, neither does Xbox either anymore for that matter.
@Messi: Well, they still did it once... For me, this is stealing... (I never got in the Xbox games anyway). And about Steam, if they don't charge for it, then it is worth... a little more in my mind...
Nobody knows what's the contract deal between beamdog and Arita , but i believe if i am developers who will try to satisfy all our customers,
To push the beta test through beamdog client is make sense for developers which are limited members ,it's easy to control and maintain game version and can test different configure setting by themselves very quickly ,
If they release unstable version to steam plartform , they may mess up the things again , and lots of people will complain day by day then damage their company prestige very quickly ,
By the way , who know if developers can survive through steam sales ? of course , it's not customer's responsibility , we only can say some people do nothing and make much money from Baldur's gate , obviosly it's not developers or BG fans , it's some IP holder ...
@metalmunki Because there's a good deal of players that prefer the "unknown" scrolls to remain unmarked
If the highlight is removed and a "check" symbol is added instead I can definitely live with that (although I can't speak for others that have voiced their concerns). My wish for it to optional stems from the green highlight, which I unfortunately have issues with.
@metalmunki it's complicated. There's many people and entities involved, it's not as simple as it's a big market so therefore we'll make money. It's way more complicated than that. Believe me, if it was a simple as update the version on steam and we'll make more income it wouldn't be a discussion.
The first thing you must understand is that every patch that gets out (on Steam) MUST be "signed" by steam before its release... And, this is a personal reflection, to get money, Steam probably charges on too much patches (like the X360 does). So only the top patches makes their way to Steam...
As other's have stated, this simply isn't true. The signing process may be present for Beamdog-->Atari, but Developers can update to Steam as often as they wish, no charge.
On a more personal answer, achievements to me are a total waste of time... Many may like it, I DON'T! It wasn't part of the original Baldur's Gate and I'm very happy it isn't part of the enhanced edition... (I cannot speak for or against multiplayer, cause I don't play BG in multi...).
Achievements, have always been optional. If you don't like them, they can just be ignored. However, I rather like them when they are of the 'do something unexpected or secret' variety, as opposed to the 'milestone reached' kind.
And, for the workshop, since BGEE is still based on the original (tweaked) engine, it would be a REAL pain in the ... to make the mods compatible... Imagine that WeiDU (modding install software) is still in like a DOS text format...
There's an override folder intended for mod patches. If workshop support was there, you can guarantee the modding community would use it. It's a great way for modders to give their work visibility. I appreciate there would be some teething problems, though.
I know Steam is a "world" of gaming by itself, but I do hate it... (And that's the reason I have no Steam or Origin or whatever account). I find them far too restrictive (and modding/tweaking wise, too much of a pain for nothing.
That's ok for you, you're already catered for, but Steam users are too large an install base to ignore.
@metalmunki it's complicated. There's many people and entities involved, it's not as simple as it's a big market so therefore we'll make money. It's way more complicated than that. Believe me, if it was a simple as update the version on steam and we'll make more income it wouldn't be a discussion.
Thanks for the response, it's a shame bureaucracy gets in the way.
That should be the way patches have to be managed, in my humble opinion. If you post a file on a forum that fixes the Tethoril bug, it means you could solve it with a hotfix downloaded by the game client.
That's true, how come the hotfix wasn't added to the client?
I can't know for sure, but I think they didn't want to push for an official patch that would cause multiplayer issues caused by different versions of clients on different platforms.
I can't know for sure, but I think they didn't want to push for an official patch that would cause multiplayer issues caused by different versions of clients on different platforms.
It's so simple.. you can't play online without the latest patch. It already happens for other games.
@Heindrich1988 No official info, but I would guess we'll be moving to Phase IV this week, which is multiplayer testing. After that it should be ready to launch. Expect a slight delay for Steam.
"Who has been re-tarted? Sounds awfully painful. I mean to get tarted in the first place wouldn't be pleasant I imagine." @elminster Thank you for this. Reading this thread after a long day at work and had a great laugh which I needed.
Sorry to go off topic there.
Back on topic: Release the patch! Let everyone enjoy, most of the remaining issues are minor/cosmetic.
@Sed I figured as much. Last time I checked with Dee, there was no indication that the Steam version would ever get updated, given what happened with Atari. I hope you are right. It would be a bit annoying if I had to buy the game again from Beamdog just to enjoy the benefit of v1.2, given I already got Vanilla, Steam and IPad versions lol.
@Heindrich1988 We're definitely going to update Steam! It's just a matter of time and bureaucracy. We're not about to leave Steam users in the dust, it's just unfortunately a bit complicated.
And yes I can imagine how messy it must be. I hope the wait won't be too long... I'm hoping to start a new BG EE to BG 2 EE run from late Oct or early Nov onwards.
Had I known the situation, I probably would've just bought BG EE from Beamdog, as I have for BG 2 EE, but now that I already got steam, it would feel very wasteful to buy a 4th version of the same game! lol
@Heindrich1988 We're definitely going to update Steam! It's just a matter of time and bureaucracy. We're not about to leave Steam users in the dust, it's just unfortunately a bit complicated.
I know you can't give us anything exact, but once the patch is finished and officially released, do you think it will be days, weeks, or months before it hits Steam?
I'm interested in signing up for this stage of the Beta. Just wondering. The account I used to sign up with Beamdog is an old one and is due to be shut down. Can I simply use my current e-mail, but just list the appropriate e-mail in the copy/paste message in the OP?
Also does anyone know how I can change my e-mail associated with my Beamdog account? I can't quite seem to find an option to do so on the website.
@RedGuard I used a different email address when contacting @Dee for the beta access so, yeah just tell him your beamdog email. There is no way to change it on the website. Maybe ask him when you email about the beta.
Comments
Our biggest task at the moment is not fixing the bugs but sifting through all the information and getting good bug reports. We get so many comments and suggestions separating minor tweaks, features quests and bugs takes the most time.
Don't get me wrong, - this forum is brilliant, and you're doing a wonderful job engaging with customers/fans here, but it's very off the beaten track for a Steam user, and you only have to look in the Steam forum for this game to see how in the dark most of BG-newbies are - It's mostly BG veterans assuring newbies that BG is actually good and worth the learning curve. If it had Steamworks achievements, multiplayer and workshop support, we'd all be laughing: Devs and fans alike, and the guides section has...3 things in it.
I can appreciate a 'Beamdog first' attitude, because that's where your loyalties lie, but come on...it's been a year now and it would seem unsound business at this point to ignore the biggest marketshare in the digital PC space.
Playing Baldur's Gate multiplayer with my Steam friends, creating and checking guides on the community pages, adding mods via workshop, trying to get those achievements by doing unique and crazy things...I can't think of anything I'd like more!
Main problem with Steam is that every little change to a patch must first go through Atari, and then Steam. That means no hotfixes, no quick updates, no open beta.
Once a beta patch would be released on Steam, it would be outdated from day 1.
The actual patch (in all its glory) will come to Steam, and hopefully quite soon after Beamdog launch.
In short, Beamdog can't control the Steam version. Atari get all the updates as soon as they are done, and it's in their hands
I totally understand that, but let's be honest - 'beta' is a relative term. Is the beta more advanced than the current retail version? Yes. Will players playing it on Steam know it's a beta or just realise 'hey the game has updated and look at all this fancy new stuff?'
Regardless, I still think a Steamworks implementation would be worth doing (and that has nothing to do with the beta). Steamworks is free for any developer that wishes to use it, after all.
On a more personal answer, achievements to me are a total waste of time... Many may like it, I DON'T! It wasn't part of the original Baldur's Gate and I'm very happy it isn't part of the enhanced edition... (I cannot speak for or against multiplayer, cause I don't play BG in multi...).
And, for the workshop, since BGEE is still based on the original (tweaked) engine, it would be a REAL pain in the ... to make the mods compatible... Imagine that WeiDU (modding install software) is still in like a DOS text format...
I know Steam is a "world" of gaming by itself, but I do hate it... (And that's the reason I have no Steam or Origin or whatever account). I find them far too restrictive (and modding/tweaking wise, too much of a pain for nothing.
To push the beta test through beamdog client is make sense for developers which are limited members ,it's easy to control and maintain game version and can test different configure setting by themselves very quickly ,
If they release unstable version to steam plartform , they may mess up the things again , and lots of people will complain day by day then damage their company prestige very quickly ,
By the way , who know if developers can survive through steam sales ? of course , it's not customer's responsibility , we only can say some people do nothing and make much money from Baldur's gate , obviosly it's not developers or BG fans , it's some IP holder ...
If the highlight is removed and a "check" symbol is added instead I can definitely live with that (although I can't speak for others that have voiced their concerns). My wish for it to optional stems from the green highlight, which I unfortunately have issues with.
I have had a glance at the forum and not found the answer, so I'd appreciate it if somebody can confirm that:
1) There is no official forecast or announced release date for the patch. (I guess this depends on the results of this poll).
2) There is no new information on if and when Steam users will get the patch.
Thanks
No official info, but I would guess we'll be moving to Phase IV this week, which is multiplayer testing. After that it should be ready to launch. Expect a slight delay for Steam.
@elminster Thank you for this. Reading this thread after a long day at work and had a great laugh which I needed.
Sorry to go off topic there.
Back on topic: Release the patch! Let everyone enjoy, most of the remaining issues are minor/cosmetic.
Welcome back!
Thanks
@Sed
I figured as much. Last time I checked with Dee, there was no indication that the Steam version would ever get updated, given what happened with Atari. I hope you are right. It would be a bit annoying if I had to buy the game again from Beamdog just to enjoy the benefit of v1.2, given I already got Vanilla, Steam and IPad versions lol.
Ah okay, that's great news!
And yes I can imagine how messy it must be. I hope the wait won't be too long... I'm hoping to start a new BG EE to BG 2 EE run from late Oct or early Nov onwards.
Had I known the situation, I probably would've just bought BG EE from Beamdog, as I have for BG 2 EE, but now that I already got steam, it would feel very wasteful to buy a 4th version of the same game! lol
Also does anyone know how I can change my e-mail associated with my Beamdog account? I can't quite seem to find an option to do so on the website.
Edit: I've been Ninja'd!