Anyone think I'm wrong? |
I (like many others) have been waiting for this demo to come out. Checking nearly every other day for the last couple months. I have to say the graphics are outstanding and the music is awesome!
However, I've a bit of a problem. You see, I'm a programmer. Its what I do for a living. So what I'm about to say is based on that experience.
First I realize that the demo version is NOT the release version. Now I'm about to list some things I found wrong in the demo and I'll sum it all up now...Even if all of the things I'm about to mention were fixed, people will still try to play the demo, encounter these errors, and decide it isn't worth the whats it gonna be..50 some dollars? I can tell you I never pay more than 20 for a game because I know the price will drop. Well on to the list of things I've found. If anyone wants to correct me (not flame me) or let me know that the issue is fixed, please do so.
Oh, some of these are more nit-picking than bugs, but this is version FIVE of the game, I KNOW Malfador Machinations can make great games.
* Many Forms accept click-on events when you click on the form in front of them. For example, in the Add Empire Dialogue while on the Empire Identification Tab when Clicking OK on the Select Minister Style form you will change the ship style to the style where the ships have red edging.
* When selecting starting techs for my empire, I set a couple to zero to set others to one or two. When I started, the ones I increased remained the same, but the ones I decreased were put back to their originial values.
* The third time the dominant thing was that I had three warp points in my system. I went tot he first and it was a black hole. I went to the second and it was a normal system. I went to the third...when I warped that time and from then on, no matter which place I warped from I went to the first system, the one that was the black hole.
* The Back-To-List button is enabled, but does not function if only one item in list. Either disable it because the you won't let the user do it or enable it. I fully expect to see a list with one item in it if there is only one item there.
* There are text boxes (like Overall Minister Style in the Empire Identification tab of Add Empires) where there is a button beside it that will pop up a form to pick values from. Some of these look like they should mean something internally, like overall minister style should be either Aggressive, Neutral, or Defensive. If they DO mean something, then they need to be an auto-selecting combo box. If they don't then they should not be given names that leads the user to believe that it would have that effect.
* For both Ordinance Storage and Small ordinance storage they both show up for all tiny units (satelites, drones, etc) and they both have all the same stats except the normal holds 250 and the small holds 50. The same thing goes for supply storage.
* I was in the select race name box, hit escape to exit, and left Add New Empire compeletely,
with the select name box still displayed.
* If you are in view orders, you should be able to delete one or more orders. There's no reason to make the user exit out of the window, cancel all orders then reset all orders hoping to get them all right or have to completely start over.
* After all these versions there isn't a button or fast way to set a tech to research only just enough to get the next level. The user has to click around until .1 or .2 turns are left and then use the plus/minus buttons to get it.
* Warnings before ending turn: It's telling me that I have 100% of intelligence points unspent -> I don't have any intelligence points to spend.
* Warnings before ending turn: It's telling me that I have 100% of intelligence points unspent -> I haven't discovered any other Empires, so I don't have anything to spend on.
* Warnings before ending turn: It's telling me that I have 2 ships without orders -> Those ships have no movement and no orders because I'm moving them myself.
* Hitting space bar to go to next ship w/out orders did not resposition the screen. I had two ships in the same system, both with no movement and the only difference between them was one was 0002 and the other was 0003. I couldn't tell which was the one I was on.
* The first time I tried to play, when I was in Ship Design(you know the first thing you need to do is design your scout ship(s) and colonizer, etc.), i hit ESC to get out of a window and I got an access error (c000005).
* SHIFT+TAB doesn't tab backwards.
* A Control's ToolText should NOT be the same text as it's caption.
You know what, after going back over the list (which isn't even everything I found). I think I can let myself say what I really feel and that is that this demo is a joke, it would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. Hell, this was going to be the one game I was going to pay the full price for cause I just new it would KICK ASS! Battle scenes looking like Starfury!?! I'd have to about clean the happiness out of pants!!! However, if I can't get a demo that won't break I ain't gonna to buy the game.
Okay, go ahead and flame me, I know you wanna.
NevrGivUp
Send in your Bugs/Comments...
Make sure you e-mail your list to MM or else it won't help much. 
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for some strange reason
for some strange reason there is a view orders box and a view orders box, both these are different. the one you get to via clicking the ship and then the ship details button is prety much useless except for... viewing the orders.
the other one is under... other orders or something, one of the buttons in the menu on the right, THIS screen is actualy usefull, you can move orders up, down, del. etc.
also, you can speend all your non existant intell points on defence.
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an se5a is a ww1 fighter, it is also a car.
Definitely email comments to MM!
Definitely, everyone says he responds...
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NevrGivUp wrote:Battle
I have also noticed a
I have also noticed a multitude of bugs in the demo version. It is my experience that MM is really proactive with bug-smashing, and they regularly release patches and the like, so I am not overly concerned.
The thing I noticed most about the demo is the potential in this game. It's a modder's dream, and it's going to have the polish and sophistication required to go toe-to-toe with the heavy hitters like Gal Civ II and SotS.
I have uninstalled my demo version myself. The amount of bugs and the limitations in configuration, tech and turn count make it not worth playing in my mind, particularly as it will inevitably take some of the "new car smell" out of the finished product for me when it is released.
I played SEII and fell in love (I think that was about 400 years ago). I have thoroughly enjoyed every single version since, and a buddy of mine and I are still playing SEIV Gold every once in a while. Every SE game I've purchased has provided literally thousands of hours of gaming bliss, when most games I buy are played out in under 100. This version looks to continue this trend.
I can think of only a few games I've ever played that have entertained me as much as the SE series. Homeworld, Gal Civ II, the Total War series, BF2, NWN, the Sim City series and Planetside come to mind. To be in such company is quite a remarkable acheivement, particularly when the company making the game is so small.
Report the bugs you find, give MM your two cents regarding any interface elements that you think could be polished, and have faith that MM will once again make a great game.
For a one man developer...
Its a long way for one person to go to squash all those bugs and change the way things are implemented. Most my nuiances with the game are user interface problems.
QFT
QFT
I am so not worried about SEV. I defy anyone to get the kind of personalized support one sees from MM with a "real" company such as EA Games. When the big boys patch its to preserve market share; when MM patches it's because they love their work and just want to make it the best game they can.
That speaks volumes and anyone unappreciative of that fact should be sodomoized with a flaming badger.
That said...
* My defense base won't fire weapons in the space combat simulator. Because of this I'm reluctant to actually spend the time and money to build one.
* I can't seem to set-up fleets and TF's in the space combat simulator.
* Please tell me when the real version comes out we have the option to make planets and stars seen. I'm at a loss to wonder how we can see planets in other solar systems light years away now in the 20th century but 400 years hence we can't see planets in a solar system we're physically occupying. Yes, I understand the concpet of sensors and not seeing other ships/units...BUT AN ENTIRE FIRKIN' PLANET!?!?!?! 0.0
* The game crashes when I use sector view. The error mesage reads:
After having to ctrl-alt-del I get:
This is in addition to the bugs mentioned by others that I too have noticed.
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My growth is astonishing!
Can change sight levels
You can adjust various sight options in the game. I don't have the demo - but isn't there some options during game setup that are available as well?
Are you adding supply storage to your bases? They require supplies in SE:V unlike SE:IV.
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All game setup options are
All game setup options are disabled in the demo. Settings.txt can be edited, as far as I know, so you should still be able to make planets visible at range. I'll try it later.
EDIT: Tested, changing settings.txt in the following manner will allow you to see planets at any distance.
Change:
Can See Star At Any Distance := TRUE
Can See Planet At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Ship At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Unit Group At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Asteroids At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Storm At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Warp Point At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Comet At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Monster At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Debris At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Derelict At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Illusion At Any Distance := FALSE
To:
Can See Star At Any Distance := TRUE
Can See Planet At Any Distance := TRUE
Can See Ship At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Unit Group At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Asteroids At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Storm At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Warp Point At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Comet At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Monster At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Debris At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Derelict At Any Distance := FALSE
Can See Illusion At Any Distance := FALSE
Voila!
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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -Jim Elliot
Thanks for the Hint
As they say in a Mexican pr0n film: muchas crotches!
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My growth is astonishing!
What this SHOULD be, is,
The planet always shows the last thing you scanned. If the planet is not currently in scan range, then clicking on the hex will show how old the scan information is. Intelligence updates from other empires should also change the information (so if your ally has just captured an enemy planet, that planet's flag should change in the display).
While I'm on the topic - why don't planets have some sort of basic scan range? That's kinda dumb. All planets should get a basic scanner free of charge. After that it's up to you to upgrade it.
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All that is done before the naked stars is remembered
GRRRR,
I wondered why I could load up a small weapons platform with so many weapons!
Then ordanance and supply components SHOULD BE MANDATORY!!!! DUH!!!!
It should not let you finish a design with weapons if you have not also provided supply and ordinance components.
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All that is done before the naked stars is remembered
And WHERE is this email???
The contact link does not work on this page!
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All that is done before the naked stars is remembered
I see that you are looking
I see that you are looking for the hallowed and revered email of MM themselves. You will find them on www.malfador.com. But be warned, only the most valid and unanswered of questions will be addressed. All other questions will have been answered elsewhere!
NevrGivUp wrote:* For both
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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -Jim Elliot