Always wanted to be part of a beta

Hey everyone, this is a very exciting day... This is the first beta I will have participated in, and I can remember the first time I ever heard about this "beta" concept was when I was twelve or so (I'm 25 now). I remember absolutely dying to play unreleased games before everyone else and get to have a part in bug-squashing, fine-tuning, etc. I think it was right about when Sierra's games started to have lots of bugs (QFG4, SQ5... that era) that would completely screw up my gaming experience, and make me spend painful hours trying to figure out how to complete the quest w/o triggering a fatal bug... this was the same time I first remember realizing that programs (games) need to be "patched"...

Anyway, I'm very excited to be at this moment DLing the beta of Dark Avatar. But I have to say I have no idea what precisely my role as a beta-tester is. I've looked for a FAQ or something w/o success, so if all my answers are in a simple place, please direct me there

So what am I supposed to do when I encounted a bug? How do I geneate a debug report (or whatever)? Should I install this SmartException thing?

So, basically what I'm wondering is: what is most desired of me as a beta tester: generating these cryptic error debug reports when things go wrong, or going on the forums and discussing things like "It's too hard to manage fleets" or "AI is handling asteroids terribly (with screenshots, etc.)... Is this a largely computer-automated process of me generating error logs through "running" the program, or is a discussion between me (us) and the developers about our experience of the game?

Sorry this has gone on a while, maybe if some of you can just give me examples of how you go about beta testing. I don't mean to make it sound like I'm trying to turn this into a chore; I fully intend to enjoy playing this game, and feeling special about getting to play it before lots of other people

, but I also want to be as helpful as I can. So any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

Anto

PS Download finished while I was typing

I'll check back in with ya'll in... oh... 6... 7 hours... or so...

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1. Install Smart Exception. If you get a crash follow the instructions and email the file to Stardock with as much detail as you can think of. This helps stardock to nail any stability issues.

2. If you see weird behaviour such as graphical weirdness or your treasury behaving oddly, then screenshot it and come to the forum to discuss it. Look for an existing thread about the same/very similar issue and post to there, if you can't find anything start a new thread. This is bug hunting, you are watching the game for things that are broken.

3. If you just plain don't like a new feature or think you can see a better way of doing it, come to the forum and say so. Are the sliders too twitchy? Economy too easy? All the things that aren't actually broken but could be implemented better - feedback. By the sounds of it gamebalancing hasn't really been done much on the first beta build so don't be too picky if a structure is too cheap atm, it's probably just using place holder values.

Otherwise have fun.

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