OMG.. Patch!

[[PS]Venom]

Patch day today, but no test server yet.

All very well but has anyone noticed the last minute addition?

28) The Orbital Strike, EMP Blast and See All Enemies/Friendlies are now functioning on the Command Uplink Device. Take Command!

OMG.

Now all the damn kiddies that want CR just because it's cool will be frothing at the mouth. Ah well.

 

[shatter]

When I logged on this morning I think there was something in the news page about a Test server problem (doesnt make them look too good that eh!) and therefore the patch is now delayed a few days...

I'll take a look later when the boss isnt around and see for sure what it says...

Shatter

 

[[PS]Venom]

On the official site they said the test server was delayed, so they're going ahead with patching without it being on the test server first.

The patch will happen in the early hours of the morning yank time today, so about middayish is when it normally happens IIRC.

 

[shatter]

You are right! Here is what is says....

We ran into some unavoidable difficulties getting a new test server up. Since waiting to finish that would have delayed this patch, we have spent some extra time testing the patch internally and will make it available across all servers instead of first using a test server. The test server will be brought up shortly and will be used to test our continued content updates and feature additions.

Then the patch notes follow:

1) The Skyguard anti-aircraft buggy is now available for use. Enjoy!

2) Hotspot algorithms have been improved. The Hotspots now scale up and down in size so that you can see the relative size of the battles in progress. Additionally, they are much more accurate (there is always a battle there now if you see a hotspot) and they refresh much more often. You should find them much more useful in finding battles now.

3) You can now respawn to a hacked building if you are a member of the owning Empire. Previously, once a building was hacked, the option to respawn there was unavailable. This is no longer the case.

4) The Advanced Hacking certification is now required in order to hack equipment terminals or vehicle terminals.

5) The issue where vehicles purchased at a vehicle pad would sometimes fire from the weapons pad (instead of their muzzle points) causing players unintentional grief when they killed their friends accidentally at the pad, has been fixed.


6) You can now assign keys to the camera in/out functions on the Keymap screen.

7) Errant hotspots no longer show up in corners on the Global Map.

8) You should no longer lose your text input cursor when death messages occur in the status window. (Only happened on a few screens, like the /bug screen.)

9) Command chat works properly again.

10) Because "H" is typically the hotkey for "Help" and because "H" was the toggle for "Hotspots" on the map screen, there was no hotkey for Hotspots that functioned. "Hotspots" now has a hotkey of "O" on the map screen.

11) Missiles no longer move with their shell shape sideways. They fly properly to target now.

12) Waypoint beams now sort correctly against hill bottoms and buildings so that the base of the beams no longer shows through those objects.

13) The HART Shuttle is now visible on the proximity map while inside an Shuttle Building.

14) You can no longer see infiltration suits while your view is zoomed.

15) Spitfire turrets can no longer fire at targets inside a warpgate bubble.

16) The exploit allowing folks to get the stealth effect to "stick" to an incorrect armor type has been sealed.

17) First-time help tab (on your Character Info screen) now shows all completed first-time tasks.

18) Magrider Heavy Rail Beam projectile now fires in the center of the reticul e (instead of slightly above).

19) Players can no longer avoid Phalanx Wall Turret fire by merely strafing left.

20) Fixed an exploit that allowed infiltration suits to equip rifle-sized objects.

21) Fixed an exploit that allowed folks to damage objects while they were supposedly linkdead.

22) You can no longer hack an enemy base if the friendly base connected to that base (on the lattice) is already hacked. In otherwords, if your base of operations is hacked, you can't use that base to link to other enemy bases. Therefore, you can't hack enemy bases until your own rear area is secure.

23) 3000x800 video resolution is now supported.

24) You no longer crash if you exit a vehicle while it is upside down.

25) Pulsar was boosted in damage slightly per shot against soldiers. Also, the AP fire rate was increased to match that of Standard shots.

26) The VS MAX Quasar had its default ammo increased from 40 to 60 shots. It's AP damage is ever so slightly less to compensate, but its infantry damage is the same.

27) The population lock indicator has been changed to show how many slots are left for your Empire on that continent. In otherwords, it now shows a number instead of a percentage. The number caps out at 100, so if more than 100 slots remain on a continent, the indicator will say "100+".

28) The Orbital Strike, EMP Blast and See All Enemies/Friendlies are now functioning on the Command Uplink Device. Take Command!

Time quoted for a patch is Version 1.5 (6/20/03, 5am Pacific on All Servers) which is about 13:00 here in (continental) Europe and around 12:00 over there in (mainland) England.

So, lets hope they have it tested real good! Otherwise we may be reading about a Hot Patch in a few days time...

Mind you it does not mention servers specificaly, so its still unknown if the patch will be to the European Server too!!!!

Shatter

 

[CliffyG]

All servers get patched at the same time.

 

[flownalk]

shame the bomber didnt make it this week =( was looking forward to racking up a ton of gp's

 

[[PS]Venom]

Originally posted by flownalk
shame the bomber didnt make it this week =( was looking forward to racking up a ton of gp's

That bomber will make so many appearances to carpet bomb bases in that time when everyone's milling around doing bugger all.

They should have it in by next week or they won't do what they promised though.

 

[Scouse]

We ran into some unavoidable difficulties getting a new test server up. Since waiting to finish that would have delayed this patch, we have spent some extra time testing the patch internally and will make it available across all servers instead of first using a test server. The test server will be brought up shortly and will be used to test our continued content updates and feature additions.

Nice to see their professional attitude to change control.....not

 

[shatter]

I think the translation is... Enginiering thought they were going to be allowed a test server. But then marketing said... Fuck it the customers can test it because most of them are on 30 day free trial anyway....

Seen it happen at other software firms. The explination of "test server problems" is a white lie (more grey really) to cover something like this up.

If you intend to use a test server, its because you are unsure on the global impact of the changes you have made. What you dont do is change your mind and say "Well the test server kinda didnt work out, so stuff it we'll do it for real just for a laugh..." Not unless you are preasured from above.

 

[shilak]

Originally posted by Scouse
Nice to see their professional attitude to change control.....not

Bearing in mind that the only thing that hasnt been tested on their EXTERNAL test server is the stuff in change #28 of the patch notes I think you are going a little OTT here.

 

[CliffyG]

Just logged off, servers will be down in about 5 mins for approx 90 mins.

 

[DeSlisser]

Servers down now ":/


Patch incoming.. shame i will only be able to play sunday after servers come back up again.. have fun peeps

 

[Scouse]

Bearing in mind that the only thing that hasnt been tested on their EXTERNAL test server is the stuff in change #28 of the patch notes I think you are going a little OTT here.

Where I work if you so much as plug in an Ipaq into your PC on our live network, without being the go-ahead by the IS team, then you'll get the sack.


No if's, no but's, just FUCK OFF.






I love my job sometimes.

 

[bone_idle]

Originally posted by flownalk
shame the bomber didnt make it this week =( was looking forward to racking up a ton of gp's

Lol i thought exactly the same thing when i read about that. I could imaging all the infils running around a base trying to stab people then BOOOM. 400 bombs from its own empire drops on its head

 

[[PS]Mung]

Originally posted by Scouse
Where I work if you so much as plug in an Ipaq into your PC on our live network, without being the go-ahead by the IS team, then you'll get the sack.


No if's, no but's, just FUCK OFF.






I love my job sometimes.

Give me a job there please!
Where I work security is so slack and no-one cares how much I rant about it.
BS7799 be damned!

 

[bone_idle]

We cant install anything onto our computers at work. We are even scrutinised when we use the internet. IE: we get a phone call saying. You used the internet yesterday and went to website blahblah. Why !!!.

Luckily i know one of the internal IT guys and i get let off for going to the Radio 1 and Xfm websites to look for songs etc. We will be given the sack if we look at porn on our comps. No excuses.

 

[CliffyG]

Got quoted as 40 mins to download patch at the start but that has dropped quite a lot now. Still gonna be at least 20 mins which means all you 56k'ers out there will have a long wait on your hands to download.

EDIT

Took about 15 mins give or take a few mins. Bloody servers aren't up though .

 

[mid_Efour]

question for you peeps, are these patches cumulative or one offs
my mates ahs retail and hes just installing will he have to patch the 2 big 40mb PAK files aswell or are they a part of this too if so hes looking at 200mb patches on 56k IE: fucking stupid

 

[DeSlisser]

burn it on cd for yer m8

 

[mid_Efour]

call me a noob what do i need to burn him where can i get a list of all the stuff patched "so far"

 

[Galewyr Dark]

i'm on ISDN..the enitre patching proccess...from original cd to 1.4 took about 30mins

it works like t2 patchs editing the code afaik


at werk atm so don't know about the 1.5 patch

 

[flownalk]

OS = 3hour timer

got me 1st kills with it at a tower in hossin tho

emp = 20mins

I like the way its been done

 

[Cdr]

Originally posted by flownalk
OS = 3hour timer

got me 1st kills with it at a tower in hossin tho

emp = 20mins

I like the way its been done

What the fu.........What code are you talking there? I'm sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

[flownalk]

Originally posted by Cdr
What the fu.........What code are you talking there? I'm sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

OS = orbit strike

emp is the emp blast... didnt think it was that hard to work out

 

[Cdr]

I'm stupid

 

[the_smurflord]

Originally posted by Cdr
I'm stupid

^
|
|
|

I'm with stupid

 

[Cdr]

har har