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Could you retain access to v1.3 for Steam users when 2.0 goes live?

FranpaFranpa Member Posts: 637
in The Road to v2.0
Like list v1.3 in the Beta tab so those that have a game in-progress can continue to play without running the risk of any issues caused by a transition from v1.3 to v2.0? A bunch of game devs have done this, including some AAA Publisher games so I know it can be done. It will also help facilitate regression testing, maybe.

Comments

  • AlexTAlexT Member Posts: 760
    Yes.

    The 1.3 version will remain available on Steam as an opt-in beta branch.
  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    Actually I've been really curious and the answer is consistently dodged; why don't we have access to the patches separately? I've suspected it may simply be about the infrastructure (having a bunch of file downloads available costs resources etc.) but if that's the case, why not let us know? And couldn't 3rd party download/patch sites host the patches?
  • FranpaFranpa Member Posts: 637
    AlexT wrote: »
    Yes.

    The 1.3 version will remain available on Steam as an opt-in beta branch.

    Awesome news, thanks.
  • StoibsStoibs Member Posts: 66
    Oh, *now* I see this thread stating that we can indeed opt to retain the superior 1.3 UI's and game as is. I'm sure I brought something similar to this up many times in my complaints and critiques, nice to see it finally being implemented.

    Oh well, still happy and incredibly lucky to have picked up one of those rare limited GoG D&D enhanced bundle things during the recent insomnia sale for chips I guess.
    Already downloaded them as 1.3 backups in preparation in any case.
  • matricematrice Member Posts: 86
    edited March 2016
    Silverstar wrote: »
    Actually I've been really curious and the answer is consistently dodged; why don't we have access to the patches separately? I've suspected it may simply be about the infrastructure (having a bunch of file downloads available costs resources etc.) but if that's the case, why not let us know? And couldn't 3rd party download/patch sites host the patches?

    Yeah that's been done on war3 (the third party prog), and it was quite usefull (not to mention it was way faster / easier to navigate between various patches than it was with blizzard's systeme)
  • FranpaFranpa Member Posts: 637
    You'll likely find it's simply because it makes it easier for the companies technical support if everyone only has access to a single version. In this instance I think the majority of the userbase is mature enough for this to be not that big of an issue.
  • sffrrromsffrrrom Member Posts: 60
    Franpa wrote: »
    You'll likely find it's simply because it makes it easier for the companies technical support if everyone only has access to a single version. In this instance I think the majority of the userbase is mature enough for this to be not that big of an issue.

    Not sure that's true anymore - Steam allows for really easy management of betas. My second favorite game of all time, Europa Universalis IV, for example, allows you easy access to everything from 1.4.1 to 1.15.1, which is years of patches. This is crucial for a heavily modded game like EU IV, which I only play with the superb M&T mod, where patches would otherwise break save games. I mean I don't think the developers provide any kind of support for issues with old patches, but as far as simply accessing them it is easier than ever now for many games.
  • FranpaFranpa Member Posts: 637
    edited March 2016
    What I mean is that for Technical Support, the official Technical Support department from the game company, can more easily provide assistance when there is only one set of variables (one version of the game) instead of multiple sets of variables (multiple versions of the game), that's why most companies go for not offering backwards support on Steam. GOG afaik keeps older patches but only for a limited time frame so I can, for example, only install the latest version of Age of Wonders III from GOG now, older versions are no longer available.

    I do agree that it is now technically easier to provide patches for older versions of software than it ever has before, especially if a program has its contents packaged in a way that allows for delta patching (A popular patch method in the 90's then it was phased out for patches that require redownloading massive chunks of pre-existing unchanged data *sigh*).

    So I can see where companies are coming from in regards to not retaining access to multiple versions of their products but I also am annoyed that updates aren't released in an archival format (Outside of GOG, I guess) because there are games where I'd rather play a specific version instead of the latest version.
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