Even if there're other examples of patching products long after they have been released, @elminster 's point still stands
So, basically it means that whatever example I can give you - it will be not enough? Nice. I believe that by it's own nature BG:EE must not be compared with 'common behavior' games. It's not a game of it's own, it's an enhanced edition. It wasn't build by modern standarts. The whole point was to fix and to improve. I personally (as an enterprise and manufacture developer myself) think that the price was not adequate for an efforts that was made with BG:EE 1.0. I think about it as a support for good guys with great plans for great games. Sadly, I found that good guys are cagy and their community policy, about ETA, Kits and stuff is not for my liking, so I can't look at their patch policy as if it was 'oh, thanks for that silence, thanks that you decide what component of TobEX I need for me' and etc. Nevermind me.
All right, I must admit and sorry for that... but refusing to play the game because there is lack of ONE feature from ToBeX is something that I struggle to understand for a long long time. I tried to put myself in position of those who feel that way, but I didn't help at all.
Is it really so important to put two splendid games on shelf because of its absence? I mean, REALLY?
@subtledoctor: Technical support isn't the way to keep the games alive, though. There's a reason content mods outnumber fixpacks by a ridiculous margin; the way to maintain/reinvigorate BG over an extended period of time is to add new material to the existing games, whether these are kits, quests, NPCs, whatever. That's never going to happen if the best Beamdog can manage is annual updates (and that's with three games in rotation; adding a fourth won't make the process any smoother).
I wonder why all TobEX features weren't implemented in the first place. Is it because: a) Ascension64 was such a magician that with his absence devs cannot manage to implement missing features themselves (highly doubtful IMO) b) Devs decided that these features can alter original content of the game too much (and they were/are legal matters to prevent their application) c) They decided that fixing things and creating new content/games is more important d) Their human resources are too thin to put them to this task.
Anyway, as it seems there is a rather significant group of players that cannot even play without these features, so I guess they should put some guys to implement them to the game. Especially, if some talented modders could benefit from it.
While we are at it, the description of the IWDification mod tells the the Cat's Grace spell is unavailable if the TobEx is not installed.
But this spell works excellent in IWDEE. I wonder 1) if this spell can work in BGEE/BG2EE? 2) does the fact that this spell works in IWDEE mean we're getting closer to implementing all of the TobEx features into the EEs?
It would be very helpful if someone put (and pin the topic) detailed list of TobEX features that were already implemented to EE's and that are still waiting to be implemented. I think modders would be grateful for info what they can and what cannot do, without the need of experimenting. At the moment one have to search over G3 and SHS forums (mainly G3) to find any info related go EE stuff. I watch regularly discussions in SR and IR topics at G3 and their authors often need to experimenting a lot only to find out that they cannot use some TobEX feature on EE version because it wasn't implemented yet. As I see it can be very frustrating to them.
I think the real secret there is, what keeps games alive is neither technical support nor official DLC, but mods.
Mods aren't the purview of the game developers, though. And BG's fanbase isn't made up exclusively of modders - you talk about TobEx features like they're self-explanatory, but that's really not the case. You can't market TobEx the way you would "New drow companion", "New classes" or "New storyline".
Hope they read this and try to implement TobEx features in the EE games. I know this has prevented some of my favourite mod components from being installed currently. Would be a nice addition
I would just like to add that modding Baldurs Gate is not the reason for its poluarity. Very few articles that mention it do so on the merits of it's mods (ala Neverwinter Nights) Baldurs Gate is recognized for it's deep story, setting and unique gameplay which was at best poorly replicated elswhere.
By stating that a modding community might be upset due to a number of mod options that were not included should have little bearing on the vast public who just wanted to play one of the greatest rpgs of all time.
I for one was SICK of modding with the poor characters, fan fiction, bugs, reinstalls, etc. the only mods I started to install were ones that fixed the game for modern computers and the majority of friends I grew up with which played Baldur's Gate religiously hardly knew there were mods for them.
The EE editions have merit for at least creating a working copy of the game on modern computers and deserve my money for doing so. Everything else is a happy bonus.
I take it almost all their current focus is on the Adventure Y: some members control the VO work. some members do the QA.
At the same time some part of the team are definitely monitoring bug reports and fixing bugs. I think that while they're not ready to announce the Adventure Y, they won't be able to release a patch to BG1EE and BG2EE that has been thoroughly tested. And they've made it so that now only thoroughly tested patches can be released.
The devs have said that BGee will be patched around the same time that SoD is released, so as to include the new features (updated UI, a new character class, etc.) It's a safe bet that this patch will also include the next round of bug fixes, and it'll very likely be called the 1.4 patch.
Timing remains uncertain. They implied (but no more than implied) that they were originally aiming to release SoD (and therefore also the 1.4 patch for BGee) in late 2015, but stated clearly that their priority was quality rather than speed. It's now fairly clear that it'll be 2016 when it comes out, but we can still hope that it'll be fairly early in 2016.
Whenever we plan a patch, one of the first things we look at is the current bug list. It's a good bet that when the patch is released it will contain fixes for many/most/all of the reported issues, although that also depends on available resources and scheduling.
@Etamin - patch 1.4 will be the SoD-compatibility patch for BG1ee and BG2ee, and will be released approximately-simultaneously with SoD.
They did hope to release SoD and both patches in late-2015, but it's now obvious that it's not going to happen until 2016. Such is the way of development, some things turn out to be more difficult and time-consuming than originally realised, some bugs aren't found until late in the process, and so on.
Comments
I believe that by it's own nature BG:EE must not be compared with 'common behavior' games. It's not a game of it's own, it's an enhanced edition. It wasn't build by modern standarts. The whole point was to fix and to improve. I personally (as an enterprise and manufacture developer myself) think that the price was not adequate for an efforts that was made with BG:EE 1.0. I think about it as a support for good guys with great plans for great games. Sadly, I found that good guys are cagy and their community policy, about ETA, Kits and stuff is not for my liking, so I can't look at their patch policy as if it was 'oh, thanks for that silence, thanks that you decide what component of TobEX I need for me' and etc. Nevermind me.
Is it really so important to put two splendid games on shelf because of its absence? I mean, REALLY?
a) Ascension64 was such a magician that with his absence devs cannot manage to implement missing features themselves (highly doubtful IMO)
b) Devs decided that these features can alter original content of the game too much (and they were/are legal matters to prevent their application)
c) They decided that fixing things and creating new content/games is more important
d) Their human resources are too thin to put them to this task.
Anyway, as it seems there is a rather significant group of players that cannot even play without these features, so I guess they should put some guys to implement them to the game. Especially, if some talented modders could benefit from it.
But this spell works excellent in IWDEE. I wonder
1) if this spell can work in BGEE/BG2EE?
2) does the fact that this spell works in IWDEE mean we're getting closer to implementing all of the TobEx features into the EEs?
Just my two cents.
I would just like to add that modding Baldurs Gate is not the reason for its poluarity. Very few articles that mention it do so on the merits of it's mods (ala Neverwinter Nights) Baldurs Gate is recognized for it's deep story, setting and unique gameplay which was at best poorly replicated elswhere.
By stating that a modding community might be upset due to a number of mod options that were not included should have little bearing on the vast public who just wanted to play one of the greatest rpgs of all time.
I for one was SICK of modding with the poor characters, fan fiction, bugs, reinstalls, etc. the only mods I started to install were ones that fixed the game for modern computers and the majority of friends I grew up with which played Baldur's Gate religiously hardly knew there were mods for them.
The EE editions have merit for at least creating a working copy of the game on modern computers and deserve my money for doing so. Everything else is a happy bonus.
At the same time some part of the team are definitely monitoring bug reports and fixing bugs. I think that while they're not ready to announce the Adventure Y, they won't be able to release a patch to BG1EE and BG2EE that has been thoroughly tested. And they've made it so that now only thoroughly tested patches can be released.
http://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/639634/#Comment_639634
Just like the Black Pits were called the Adventure X.
Timing remains uncertain. They implied (but no more than implied) that they were originally aiming to release SoD (and therefore also the 1.4 patch for BGee) in late 2015, but stated clearly that their priority was quality rather than speed. It's now fairly clear that it'll be 2016 when it comes out, but we can still hope that it'll be fairly early in 2016.
They did hope to release SoD and both patches in late-2015, but it's now obvious that it's not going to happen until 2016. Such is the way of development, some things turn out to be more difficult and time-consuming than originally realised, some bugs aren't found until late in the process, and so on.