Released premature

Hoss420

Join Date 05/2005

Released premature

This game should not have been released, it is full of bugs! I have had problem after problem running the game; corrupted saved game files, the game starting automatically on windows startup, the repeating sound effect glitch, the numerous ship designer glitches, and too many others to list. Come on guys, in your rush to meet your release deadline you sold us all a beta for 40 bucks!
This "we'll fix it later" mentality has got to stop! Take a page out of Civ4s development and release games that are free of frustrating bugs when they hit the shelves. In the end, it only hurts Stardocks reputation. Updating game content and fixing minor bugs with patches is great, that's the way it should be done. However, you released a game that was barely beta quality and crashes almost once per every game hour (or more often). That is ridiculous. Whatever happened to the 'good ol days' when a game ran nearly perfectly upon release and the developer released one or two patches?
GC2 is a VERY good game at it's core, but you (devs) need to think about the frustration you cause the consumer by releasing such a flawed piece of s....... software. Word of mouth (especially negative) is very powerful advertising. Please, take some more time to get it right next time.

Hoss

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Game decides to auto-run itself......
Civ4 is a shining beacon of a bug-free release.......
Battlefield 2 perfectly.....
Windows XP behaving itself.......
All this over a corrupt install.....
Psio comparing million dollar point-and-click VB programming for a pristine government system to $40 game development for the personal computers of the masses.....

*head explodes*

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I work as tech support for government...
Dont tell me that there are no bugs / issues with the applications that you sell Psio...
Even controlling the configuration of the computer systems in government computers, there are some variables that just can not be found until release.

It makes me laugh whenever I see people say they release bug free software.
There is no such thing, the only difference is the quantity and quality of the bugs and how much it messes the user up.

The number one issue though - 1D10T errors

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Again you all seemed to have missed the point. This is about customer service. It's about business. Of course software will always have it's glitches. What the poster is saying is that the game should have been more thoroughly tested for compatability before release. That's all.
There is a latent air that the game was premature in it's release.
I can compare the software programs I sell with any company that produces software for profit becasue it's about customer service and dependability of the product they collected a fee for.
In any other industry submitting a product to market that has not been thoroughly tested is unacceptable. The quippy smart-ass comments that most of you have undoubtedly honed over your years does nothing to negate the fact the game, (as shown by the posts in this forum) Has an unusually large amount of problems. I beta tested Roma Victa and our forum doesn't even have this many posts about bugs.
The point is the game was sold retail, so inherently the consumer believes it should be relatively free of defect. This is the only game, and I do an incredible amount of gaming) I have ever installed that gave me this many problems. While I appreciate your loyalties to Stardock, perhaphs it has made you blind to the regular joe consumer's point of view when he/she buys a product and expects it to run properly.

Psio

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The poster's comments were rife with ignorance. Intense compatibility testing -was- done prior to release -- but that's honestly never enough. Computers are far too varied in configuration to cover all bases. Add to that the practically infinite combinations of software installed on the system that might interfere with the game's stability and you have a no-win situation.

The game upon release was quite stable, so long as one has a system that is relatively clean and has the latest drivers installed. The next couple patches fixed the remaining game-related stability issues.

The latest patches were clearly advertised as beta patches and announced as unstable. The game itself is not in beta and hasn't been for quite a while. The latest patches are. If anything Stardock Central should default to not showing the user beta patches.

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Hmm, This game has run almost perfectly for me - even the 1.1 beta versions. Yes, there are bugs - but none that cause any crashes or system instability. I can't say the same for civ4 - I have yet to be able to play that game (through 1.52) without a crash; in fact I uninstalled it because it was causing frequent BSOD's and affecting my system stability.

What's the point? Software crashes systems sometimes - just because it crashes yours does not mean there is a problem with the software - and it also does not mean you have a crappy system, just that your configuration does not play well with the software.

There are no widespread crashing issues regardless of what the many hairy little folks who live under bridges say - - those with legitimate issues that have posted their debug logs in most cases have had old drivers, or some other issues - and StarDock support HAS helped most of them out; or at least told them to send more info so they could help. Those others that do not post debug logs in my view come across as whiners or worse, (remember that 'sweet' company in Russia that posted torrent steams a while ago ) and are ignored.

The level of support from StarDock is tremendous. Thier customer service is great - despite the many trolling posts to the contrary.

Call me a fan boi - actually man, since I haven't seen the other side of 25 for decades - but I know a good company when I see one - and Stardock is a great company that has put out an excellent product.

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Okay all, everyone take a chill pill. I didn't mean to start World War III by voicing my opinion. Many of you are right about many different things that could be causing my problems. It could be any number of things: bad install, my particular configuration (although my configuration is pretty common), other programs conflicting. I wasn't trying to make a bug report, and I am not the only person who has had problems with the game. Just because most of the rest of you didn't enounter the same bugs doesn't justify jumping to conclusions about the problem or personal attacks. You are all entitled to your opinions, no matter how immaturely some of you have expressed them.
Several of you took it as if I insulted your mother; calling me ignorant, wishing my computer would blow up, saying I need a priest, saying my system is crap, etc. GROW UP! Seriously, if you can't argue your opinion intelligently and maturely then perhaps you should get a hobby other than flaming. Props to you Psio, you expressed my sentiments way better than I did originally, and in a much less inflamatory way than I did. Thanks to all the others who offered constructive advice; I was able to uninstall through Stardock afterall and I did think about the other possibilities some of you suggested. I was intending this post for the devs, since I believe if you have a complaint with a company's customer service you should always speak your mind.
When one drags down a mature discussion with childish namecalling it only reveals their poor social skills. Show some class and don't get so personal. I really hate causing negativity. So to all of you who took my posts so personally, and to the others who were attacked agreeing with me, I'M SORRY! LET IT GO! May this be the last comment on this post, PLEASE!

Hoss

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