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Question re: non Beta steam build


lemmy101

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Hey all, we're talking the ACTUAL Steam build not the beta, so this applies only to anyone using that (or potentially otherwise if it turns out no one's using that because it's broken :P). We know this isn't particularly stable, and the idea occured to us to possibly downgrade to the Desura build and just not have the Steam integration in it, with the hope it'll buy us a little time until the beta build is sorted. We'll detail it more later, but obviously the danger of doing this is it would nerf up people's saved games.

 

However the question is, are people's saved games being frequently nerfed as it is like the beta has, or is the ACTUAL Steam build's saves quite stable even if the version it self is not?

 

Basically want to figure out if we're better off leaving the steam build as is, or downgrading to desura (leaving the new build on beta) until we get crap in order?

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My steam version seems quite stable- I started a new game on it and didn't try to continue an existing one.

 

The improvements in 1.7 so far outweigh any bugs I have encountered.

 

If it does get unstable I still have it on Desura anyway so I can just go back to 1.6 can't I?

 

I see no need to spend time downgrading the steam version.

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Got the BETA on Steam activated and didn't even try the non-beta release before, BUT its stable and it didn't crash even once. Played for exactly 24H since I added it on steam and as I said. No crash in the entire time. Maybe change the Steam version to use the current Steam BETA as default instead? It really seems pretty stable.

 

Running the game in Fullscreen @ 1440x900 @ Win7 64-Bit - Java Version 7 Update 40 (Build 1.7.0_40-b43)

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Depends...

 

If you want to open steam to the public asap then you should go back. Because the .17 has some rough edges that could spoil the fun for new players I imagine you want to give them the feeling they bought into something cool. They know it's still alpha, but they shouldn't be disappointed.

 

If you can hold off opening steam then you should just iteratively crunch the bugs until you're absolutely stable and polished, no new features untill you're there. Because the .17 has so many awesome features added, it's really a huge improvement.

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Since the Steam Beta version is pretty stable, the only thing that could spoil the fun for newer players imho is the "Horde-on-your-doorstep-after-3-days"-thing since you cannot lure them away or otherwise get rid of them. 

 

Another nice-to-have thing would be a notification like a pop-up in windows that tells you to upgrade/install your Java in case the game fails to start due to that.

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Steam version is quite stable, except if you load any previously made saved games. For that particular point, the version won't be able to deal with any old saves (at least, for me), however, I don't really consider it as a an important issue, since I can create a new game whenever I want, with some additionnal features. So, according to me, steam version is fine for the moment.

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So everyone, new question:

 

Beta and Non-Beta. Which is better?

 

Should we non-beta the beta build, or keep the steam build as is. I watched twiggy streaming the beta build and saw a ton of cringey things, but have to confess I'm slightly less clued in on the state of the proper steam build at this stage with all the dev that's gone on since then.

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I didn't play around with the non-beta Steam build very long (needed to have zoom functionality) but from the perspective of a completely new player, the beta build doesn't seem that buggy to me minus the spawning/meta bug(s) that are constantly dropping hordes of zombies into your lap. That's the only potential issue I could see turning off a new player; it can feel a bit gamey when you round a corner and a magical zombie flash mob that wasn't there 30 seconds prior tears you to shreds.

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I wouldn't just go live yet. The game is playable and fun. But there's definitely issues.

 

Zombie on your doorstep issue is one,

 

But also don't rule out the "zoom out untill the screen goes wonky" bug, It's not a game killer, but it just looks bad. And should be easy enough to fix, just don't allow the player to zoom out that much and fix it at your leasure later on.

 

And there's the lag issues some people seem to be having. It might be a result of the spawning bug, (Many zombies a-starring their way through the level) Because I've seen clear degradation of performance myself in crowded areas.

 

Having people unable to play a game they just bought is something you should try to avoid at all costs. That is one first impression you can live without. The intel graphics card bug seems to come back a lot.

 

The invisible walls are gone, and I haven't seen any total crashes in weeks.. It's definately getting there!

 

When you release on steam, you're going to get like 10 thousand new players. If there is a noticable bug, they're all going to come to this forum, report it and complain about it. Be sure you and your mods are up for it so you can handle them as smoothly as possible.. Or better yet, don't have any clearly noticable bugs!

 

Just keep in mind that there are 10.000 people going to come and get a first impression. And they're going to tell their friends about it, so you'd better try to hit a homerun. If you have the choice to release when you like. Make sure you're ready.

 

No pressure dude :)

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As a new player to the game and after watching many LP's from earlier releases to see how the game has developed to where it is now, I can honestly say that going back would be a mistake. I have had no issue's at all with the steam version and think the only thing to do for the steam version right now is to either reduce the amount of zombies that can be spawned or find another way to stop the zombies from over running your position after a few game days.

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Erm, Willow, we're not talking about opening up for Early Access sales right now. The issue being there may be a bit of a delay before TIS can get bug fixes out for .17 (aka we may have a week or so without an update) so he's trying to figure out if it's better to downgrade in the mean time or stick with the somewhat buggy releases we have there.

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I wouldn't necessarily downgrade the game in any way if we're talking days here, even a few weeks. I think both are playable but of course have some flaws and bugs, but for pete's sake this is an alpha game. What I think should be done rather is to invest some space on the main site and why not the forums, to emphasize the fact on what condition this game is. As I've seen there's a lot of people who don't do any research on what condition the game is and frankly all people don't even know what an alpha stage is.

 

As to my knoledge that's the main reason many alpha games have gotten negative publicity. You might even want to add a tab "what is an alpha game" just to be clear on where we're going. Not all are going to see/find this but it would also be a good reference for the mods to show people to.

 

As to actually answer the questions :mrgreen: I've had only one broken save when upgrading from the Desura build to the actual steam build. Never in one version. I like the fact that the beta is more fresh as it does help me see what the stable game is going to be looking like in the future.

 

Those are just my opinions and shouldn't be taken that serious. ;)

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Erm, Willow, we're not talking about opening up for Early Access sales right now. The issue being there may be a bit of a delay before TIS can get bug fixes out for .17 (aka we may have a week or so without an update) so he's trying to figure out if it's better to downgrade in the mean time or stick with the somewhat buggy releases we have there.

Ah okay, that's good then, it wasn't clear to me in Lemmy's posts. Change my vote to : Just keep it as it is now,

 

Even the beta is stable enough to play. The spawn bug is the only thing that bothers me. I'm playing the tourist untill that is resolved. I haven't seen any crashes or save game corruption.

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It's been pretty good to me, as well. The spawn thing won't be going away until other things are resolved, so the build doesn't really matter for that. 2.9.9.10 worked the same way, it was just our perception of how it worked that was different  (tophat)

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I have tried a few other betas on steam, and Zomboid is closer to an alpha than some others that claim to be "complete". Almost any Total War at release was junk and these are huge companies. They are bugs, but no way are they fun killers. Reload save bugs are a bother, but still the game has come extremely far. I'll deal with the little stuff, to have the game as it is now.

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I kind of feel EnigmaGrey staring at me while I ask this (again), but have the developers still no plans to bundle the JRE with the game and start the JVM from the launcher instead of insisting on having Java installed on the system (for the Steam build) ?

 

My curiosity hasn't been sufficiently answered yet - That not understandable "why".

The "workaround" of creating my own .bat "launcher" which I already knew about doesn't count (and may not be applicable for the Steam build) and Desura is out of the question for me.

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I kind of feel EnigmaGrey staring at me while I ask this (again), but have the developers still no plans to bundle the JRE with the game and start the JVM from the launcher instead of insisting on having Java installed on the system (for the Steam build) ?

 

My curiosity hasn't been sufficiently answered yet - That not understandable "why".

The "workaround" of creating my own .bat "launcher" which I already knew about doesn't count (and may not be applicable for the Steam build) and Desura is out of the question for me.

You know what I'm going to say.

This isn't the place to ask it and your curiosity isn't sufficient cause to place it here.

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I vote for latest beta. Steam players buying into the greenlight / early release games are going to be prepared to test this game. It's fun as it is even with the bugs, especially since you can get back into the action pretty quickly. My biggest gripe is the lack of npcs, even when they were just running around like idiots, they added nicely to the atmosphere. Also, besides the save ruining fire bug I'm not encountering any game-breakers with latest build.

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The standard steam version didnt work for me. Black screen on save games.

The beta activated version works great to the except for major fps drop and fire crash. I still never touched the desura build again.

So from my perspective it would make sense (as it was before) to have one stable version and for the brave have the in progress updated version.

And as steam provides the possibilty to choose from two versions this seems the way to go.

Ps: i find it nice to have the newest version withought all the copying and folder managment.

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