1.02 Update causing a player-fissure?

(nate.h) #1

While I do appreciate SD’s decision to have the new patch cause old servers to no longer be visible, I think it may be counterproductive. It seems like most (or at least alot) of players still have the old version of ET, and so only see the older servers. Not all of them are as savy as our server admins (or read message/news boards often), and so have no way of knowing that a new version is even out there. I know with alot of mods, the update feature is in a sense viral (“Hmm. I can’t play on this server. There must be a new version out…”). With the mutual exclusivity this patch introduces, it seems like alot of the ET player base has undergone a small schism.

Now, I know there are alot of people who have problems with the 1.02 upgrade, so maybe this isn’t a top priority just yet, but at some point it would be nice to do something so that the average player / casual server operator realizes a new patch is out there.

Mainly, this is just a result of me being very sad, because my usually packed servers have both been very empty ever since I updated. Since the only friends I have are virtual, I am getting very lonely. :frowning:

(Englander) #2

Make 2 installations of ET ,a 1.01 version and a 1.02 version that way you can have your cake and eat it :smiley:

(nate.h) #3

Well, yeah, I suppose I could do that… I just think it’s kinda silly to do that. I’m not so concerned about my play (there’s always someone on the ND80’s :)), so much as the community in general.

I guess I just feel that even if 1.02 were perfect, we’d still have a similar problem (though probably not quite as bad, as more servers would upgrade). I guess I just think having two versions being silently incompatible is not the best way to do it.

(Spookstah) #4

I also have a dual ET install but somehow people dont know about the patch or they dont wanna install it (due 2 the new created bugs?).

3 days ago i did set 1 of our servers to the new version and we didnt get ANY connecting player in two days, so yesterday i did set it back to v1.0.1 and the server whas filled again within 3 minutes.

(digibob) #5

You can’t connect to a 1.01 server with a 1.02 install or vice-versa, so having them visible to each other would be HUGELY counter productive, as it would be very difficult to use the in-game browser due to you being unable to tell which servers you can actually join.

(DrGonzo) #6

why isn’t there an auto-download when opening ur in-game-browser (as done on battle.net) or at least a message sayin: “new patch available”??

(nate.h) #7

I agree, that would be bad. But, then, people with 1.01 would be aware of a patch (as opposed to them just thinking there are fewer and fewer servers as the servers upgrade). I mean, it would be nice if, when connecting to a 1.02 server, a popup just came up saying “Sorry, this server requires ET foo.bar”.

Of course, I understand that it’s kind of hard to retroactively change this. Just my own personal observation.

(digibob) #8

It DOES tell you that, however it would still be incredibly annoying to have to go though the list and find one that was version 1, if you wanted to stick with version 1 for whatever reason, as you’d have to connect to each one in turn to find what version they were actually running.

However…
Those of you running pre version 1.02 should see a note in the welcome text saying that the new version is out now, so i hope that keeps you happy :wink:

(Lekdevil.NL) #9

There was an auto-update feature in RtCW, and we did test it in the pre-release ET beta, but digibob probably broke it… :smiley:

(digibob) #10

:stuck_out_tongue:

It’s just not on atm afaik.

(funkPig) #11

Try using All Seeing Eye. I know that you can set your filter to show both versions of ET. Gamespy Arcade may as well, but I dont know for certain.

(nate.h) #12

Well, I’m not personally complaining. I can play 1.02 or 1.01 just fine. I was just kinda worried that there was no consensus on a “standard” version, which would only be compounded if another version was ever released. It seems in other mods/games, the usual upgrade process is

<Server Op>“New version! I’ll upgrade my server!”
<Player> “Hmm. I can’t connect to this server, because there’s a new version out. I’d better update!”
<Other server ops> “Hmm. Why is there no one on my server? Oh, a new version is out!”
<Other players> “Hmm, there are no more old servers to play on. I’d better upgrade now…”

And thus, the community upgrades.

Of course, that being said, I do understand your arguement, since there is still some debate as to whether or not 1.02 is a “good thing” (due to bugs, etc). I don’t mean to be an ingrate :slight_smile: I suppose the “right” way to fix this would be to have all the servers visible, and to have the version just be a rule that you could filter by (version >= 1.02, etc). But, that has it’s problems, too shrug

(O2.iceman) #13

We’ve definitely noticed a drop-off in players since we upgraded our 10 servers in Australia to 1.02.

It’s a combination of things:

  1. We haven’t got auto-download http configured (yet)
  2. Most new players don’t have cl_allowdownload “1” on by default
  3. Some servers were waiting for the mods (bani/shrub) to come out with 1.02 compatible versions.

Number 3 has now happened, but most people don’t know that shrub has been updated as there’s nothing official on their site and you have to hunt through a forum thread to find the download link.
The new bani ETPro mod (2.0.1) is very fine and will be great for competitive ET around the world. Coming up with common settings for use around the world is something completely different though :wink:

At least there is a better message when people with an old version try to join new servers (or vice versa). Not the old Q3 engine literary genius “protocol mismatch error” - so helpful to noobs.

I guess some noobs though just don’t browse forums or websites so they don’t know how to get the new version.

A lot of players also get punkbuster related problems and simply give up after having their computer crash or lockup after trying to play ET for 2 minutes.

A simple button when you get kicked or can’t connect to a server “check for new versions” would simply check the SD website to see what the latest version is, compare it to what the player has installed, and then report an informative error that “a newer version 1.02 has been released. You only have version 1.00 and you need to download the patch from HERE to be able to play on updated servers”.

Anyway i’m rambling now.