1.03 experience

from Sins Forums
 So i tried out this new patch that was supposed to fix a few issues :

- black market : exploit fixed, but it now unbalances trade ports, once you mass trade ports you can simply buy infinite resources and build/rebuild your fleet easily;
- multiplayer issues : client crashes still reported. out of the 10 people in the lobby in ico, half report client crashes (but there are no client crashes. It's just our imagination);
- migrating still not working. either completely bugged or for some reason always tries to migrate to that one player who can't host (highly unlikely);
- ai does not surrender at all. we just had a 2vs2, the host left, game went migrating, everyone dropped but my friend who was designed server (he of course cannot host due to router issues, i instead could host). He just killed all planets of the last ai in game, and this ai doesn't surrender. We don't know if it's just bugged or if the ai is running somewhere with a colony ship. Ok here's the result : one AI seemingly surrendered but my friend had to kill all his planets too.
-disappearing sound still in, sometimes the game has no sound. Happens randomly.
-difficult to find any games, not talking about good games at all. Low population being the main cause, people stop playing mp because of all these bugs.

The reason people don't play MP is not that they like single player more, it's that it's impossible to play. Please for the next games, do some beta testing. Just a little is enough.
28,860 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
I haven't had any problems playing multiplayer.

I have had several enjoyable games.

Every time I host a game, it tells me that people won't be able to see my game but they can and they join and we have a great time.

The AI won't surrender if it is allied with a player that is still active.

My take on the disappearing sound is that sometimes certain sound effects don't trigger, but I think it is because another sound effect is in progress or perhaps your focus (zoom in) is such that the program has you 'listening' to those sound effects and the others don't play.

If your sound problem is that the sounds stop completely, I have not experienced that and my machine doesn't even have a dedicated sound card.

Admittedly, all of my games online have been 1v1, but again, I haven't had any problems.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
As for multiplayer popuation in ICO...

Can you play this game on Xfire (etc)? And can you directly host without going through a service? If so... that could explain it. I think most people would rather play a game of this type with friends they know they can get a good game out of, rather than with players of unknown quality who quite likely just want to frigate rush you and get another tick mark on their victory chart as fast as possible.
Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Please for the next games, do some beta testing. Just a little is enough.
End of quote


Obviously you dont really know what your talking about... Many of us on this forum have been a part of ICs EXTENSIVE, year long, open, beta process. im not saying i like the way things are. I personally cant host either, wich sucks. But do alittle research befor making a smart ass comment that makes your whole post look un-credible...
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
I don't think you really beta tested. Maybe you played it, probably using lan or something without any real testing in the conditions the game is being used. Free beta testers are good to test how a game does with many people, but usually there's some (payed) QA going on trying to find these bugs.

These crashes, game freezes (i'm writing and i'm in a ffa the game just froze for everyone, for no reason. Network screen doesn't say lagging or anything), migrating bug, market bugs, are easy to get in a beta. I mean i can play 2 hours and find a long list of bugs to report.

Edit : Just had a minidump crash myself. Took 5 minutes into the game to crash. And no i don't use mods, i don't know if others use mods, i don't use vista and i don't have nvidia.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
So just to be clear, you're suggesting that no game that's had even a little internal beta testing could possibly have any bugs? My god man, have you ever played anything published by EA? Or anyone else, for that matter? I'm sure

Don't patronize the developers. They've made a terrific game here. Yes, there may be some balance issues, and yes, it has the occasional crash bug. However, there has never, ever been an RTS that didn't have balance issues at launch, or even after a few patches, and the odds of making a PC game that runs flawlessly on every Frankenstein PC out there with god-knows-what crap software running in the background are probably literally close to winning the lottery. How about a little respect?

Quit complaining, enjoy the game, and give some positive feedback for 1.04.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
It's amazing to me the devs even come here. I wish the whining and bitching would just STOP.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

It's amazing to me the devs even come here. I wish the whining and bitching would just STOP.
End of quote

Hehe...the criticisms are great, but yeah, the whining, duplicate posting and extreme exaggerations do waste our time in getting to the real issues. I think people forget that the forums are also here to help promote the game, not just deal with concerns. Nothing new for a game forum though  :( 

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
It's sad, a lot of the beta testers don't even bother posting here anymore :P
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
The game is great! Please keep improving and many(most) of us will stay loyal customers and keep supporting Stardock and Ironclad. :D
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
It does seem like a lot of the posts lately are a little less than constructive. It's hard to tell if people are angry about any real issue with the game, or if they are just angry in general, and looking for someone to take it out on.

This is a solid game. It has obviously been well beta tested. The only "bug" I have experienced with this game was actually caused by Vista- and I found a fix for that problem on this forum.

As far as the balance issue goes- changes that enhance the single player experience appear to upset people who prefer multi-player, and vice-versa. Creating a game that pleases both crowds is a challenge. I think that Stardock/Ironclad has come as close as anybody in achieving this.

I think the problems with the multi-player experience that some people are complaining about in this game exist with most games on the market. This subject has been discussed in numerous forums, at length.

As for me, I don't play multi-player because I do enjoy single player more. If I did play multi-player, I would only play with other people that I knew- so it wouldn't really matter how many people happened to be in the lobby.

I play about one game per week, if I'm lucky to have that much free time. I look forward to playing a single-player game this weekend with the new patch. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, like I have every game I've played so far.

Keep up the good work.
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
Yea without a doubt I'm a huge fan of the single player but an even bugger fan of MP. But unfortunatly, the new market system amkes it less interesting in both SP and MP to be anything other then TEC. And the MP needs considerable tweeking. But I'm sure the devs will get to it soon enough. Until then I'm perfectly content playing SP with TEC until the next patch. It is a great fucking game.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
The reason the posts aren't constructive is that most of the MP game sessions aren't as well. Just had a huge game ruined by a minidump crash. Of course i like this game (or i wouldn't be playing it), and the more i like it the more these little bugs get me upset. Especially if it's stuff that everyone experiences frequently, that usually gets caught by testing.

I also see the devs using statistics or i don't know what info, maybe giving them some input on what happens on ICO and in multiplayer games gets some attention on issues they would not know of otherwise.
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
For such a complex game, I think it is holding up quite well. The interface is utterly fantastic, and that alone is a major accomplishment. The balance issues will probably take a while to work out. The game hasn't been out that long yet. There will need to be some experimentation with balance tweaks. Personally, I think they went way overboard with the siege frig nerf, but I'll keep playing for a while and see how it all works out. It'll probably get changed again for 1.04.

Hopefully they'll also be able to deal with the hosting issues and some of the other bugs that are still around. Given what they've accomplished so far, I have a great deal of faith in the devs' ability to handle these issues. :)