Major UT3 Update Details

[GreatEmerald]

Originally Posted by BooGiTyBoY

So the game was released last year and they are finally getting round to adding/fixing things that should have been in the game in the first place and they expect us to be happy and "YAY EPIC" about it.

Specially when half the list is menu/interface related which has no bearing on the crappy gameplay at all.

ugh.

YAY EPIC

Originally Posted by FuLLBLeeD

Let me guess, you thought UT2004 was the best in the series. D:

What, it still is the best in the series. It won't be only after all the packs are released.

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

Aren't Tom's Hardware patrons mostly Windows users? In other words, why would they like something that comes from Unix?

I used to do this, but I never used to reinstall Windows because no matter how you lay it out, it's still a huge pain. Actually, Steam has made this much nicer (as you can just link back in your steamapps folder) but for most things you end up reinstalling them anyway to fix registry problems and such. Now I just have one large partition and that works just fine.

The game doesn't need to install anything to the C drive, the only things it puts there are the PhysX platform drivers (which are a DRIVER and belong on the Windows drive) and the DirectX and MSVC++ 2005 runtime files (which are SYSTEM files and should be on your Windows drive). Well, it also puts your config files there, but that's only a few kb.

What are you talking about? That article in on physics, not Unix.

Yes, reinstalling Windows is hard, but it really boosts your performance and clears the disk from any unnecessary files you have. Working on it for a few days to get an increase like that is something I agree to do. And yes, having one partition is what MS expects us to have - but, of course, this set up is not even near good if you want to have 3 OSs.

And like those guys over at Tom's say, UT3 doesn't need the PhysX files on C:. However, I agree that it might overall need PhysX files that are in its program folder.

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

FYI guys, Epic is calling this patch v2.0, not v1.4.

So, this is officially a patch? So the expansion is unrelated? I thought they were going to release both at once... But at least we will get a part of what we want earlier this way

Originally Posted by Bishop gantry

So will we get any classic weapons in the patch, something like that would indicate to me Epic heading in the right direction.

Dispersion pistol +uppgrades, AutoMag, Ripper, Assault rifle, CAR, Lightning. 1 Weapon from each Unreal title would be a nice idea like from Unreal, Unreal2, UT, UT2k3, Ut2k4.

No. It's a patch. You don't get additional features in patches, only bug fixes.
And no, having one weapon from each game wouldn't be a good idea. For example, look at UT2C. It's a terrible mix of different games that is not near fun to play. However, if they included an option of using the weapons instead of the usual ones, I would like it. However, I guess this is why mutators are for.

[Sir_Brizz]

Originally Posted by GreatEmerald

What are you talking about? That article in on physics, not Unix.

Yes, reinstalling Windows is hard, but it really boosts your performance and clears the disk from any unnecessary files you have. Working on it for a few days to get an increase like that is something I agree to do. And yes, having one partition is what MS expects us to have - but, of course, this set up is not even near good if you want to have 3 OSs.

1) I've never had it boost my performance enough. For all intents and purposes, the performance benefit typically comes from clearing out your registry, however restoring parts of your registry is also the most difficult part of reinstalling.
2) I have three drives each with their own OS and each a single partition and each accessible from each other

And like those guys over at Tom's say, UT3 doesn't need the PhysX files on C:. However, I agree that it might overall need PhysX files that are in its program folder.

This is true, however the problem with relying on the driver in the UT3 folder is that it will quickly get out of date. Newer platform drivers have performance tuning and fixes that may be necessary for getting the game to operate properly on some systems. As one example (where true PhysX is used) in Mirror's Edge, the platform drivers that came with it had terrible performance, but the latest platform drivers double or tripled that.

So, this is officially a patch? So the expansion is unrelated? I thought they were going to release both at once... But at least we will get a part of what we want earlier this way

Well, if you read Steve's original post, they were intending to release them together, but it looks like it is likely that the patch is either (way) ahead of schedule, or the Expansion is (way) behind schedule or they just decided that getting a patch out now was important so they could release another bug fixing patch with the expansion.

[shoptroll]

Originally Posted by GreatEmerald

So, this is officially a patch? So the expansion is unrelated? I thought they were going to release both at once... But at least we will get a part of what we want earlier this way

The "expansion" got split into two parts (that we know of currently). The 2.0 patch is one part, the Titan pack is the other. Nothing has been publicly said about timing but my guess is that they would be foolish to hold the patch off until the Titan pack is released. I say get the patch out first since people will be able to get a better feel of what's changed when used on the existing maps.

[fife_tapette]

Is it me or they didn't mention that they fixed all the problems surrounding the fact that the announcer is almost always delayed whenever he has to say more than 1 thing at once? (you know, when you get a double kill and killing spree at the same time, he will say both double kill and killing spree, resulting in a sort of god damn annoying delay)

[Quaglax]

If anyone still bitches about UT3 you deserve to be shot in the head. I cant wait for this...there is absolutely NO reason to bitch about this game anymore NONE. Bitching phase is over. If you still have something to possibly whine about...please just uninstall the game and stop playing. I havent been to these site/forums in about 4 months due to the fact that Im sick of everyone bitching.

[JaFO]

At least they are going to release a patch the game which is more than can be said about other games (didn't the Crysis patch get cancelled in favour of the Warhead-expansion?).

Heck ... only Burnout Paradise has been doing a better job at post-release support.

[MonsOlympus]

Yeah Im actually really surprised to hear of something like this but unexpected news doesnt have to be bad news at all

I think Epic is making a smart move continuing support instead of dropping the game, I must admit in the months following the release I was really worried they would drop it. The announcement of GoW2 not coming to PC only cemented that in my mind, Im certainly glad Ive stuck around and kept modding thats forsure.

Going over the full list of changes there is alot in there Im happy about, I could list about 1/4 of the change log as all good and important things for me personally. Im really finding it hard to believe poeple are finding the bad out of all this, this aint no troll food

[shoptroll]

Originally Posted by JaFO

Heck ... only Burnout Paradise has been doing a better job at post-release support.

Pretty sure Blizzard has them beat with the continually patching Starcraft has gotten. Diablo II had a very impressive 1.10 patch which overhauled the skills system in that game among other bugs.

[Severin]

There is a lot more work than 2 months worth put into that patch, especially considering thats coming along with a giant expansion. And it hasn't taken them 2 years to make this patch, its been what 4-6 months since the last patch was released?

Maybe but its 14 months after release and most of the short commings and bugs it fixes should never have made it past QA prior to November 07. So no YAY Epic from me either.

[SirYawnalot]

Originally Posted by Bishop gantry

So will we get any classic weapons in the patch, something like that would indicate to me Epic heading in the right direction.

Dispersion pistol +uppgrades, AutoMag, Ripper, Assault rifle, CAR, Lightning. 1 Weapon from each Unreal title would be a nice idea like from Unreal, Unreal2, UT, UT2k3, Ut2k4.

It'd be awesome to have something like that in a third-party mod - I think there were a couple of UT1 mods which restored the original Unreal arsenal, you could mix-and-match the arsenals from both games.

It'd be a bit different this time around though, all the weapons would have to be reskinned to be vaguely consistent with the UE3 look.
I like the idea of adding dispersion pistol powerups to reward long-living players.

[elmuerte]

Originally Posted by dirtyharry

OK, now that we have a name (2.0), any chance we can get a tentative release timetable ?

Not a chance, what would you need it for anyway?

[shoptroll]

Originally Posted by elmuerte

Not a chance, what would you need it for anyway?

To find something to complain about?

[MonsOlympus]

Originally Posted by elmuerte

Not a chance, what would you need it for anyway?

As a guess Id say oh around the fortnight mark

[Dark Pulse]

I, for one, am extremely glad about the news of this patch, as well as the expansion. Truth be told, I wouldn't have disagreed with Epic if they decided simply to make the expansion purely a standalone product, a la 2k4.

The fact is, we're getting it for free. For a game that, before the announcement of the patch, few people cared for and even fewer played.

We put a new poll up on the front page about 36-48 hours ago. 174 votes currently - not much, I know, but here's the key factor: Of those 174 votes, 78% say they will give the game another try.

I'm no mathematician - it's my worst subject in fact - but that still means nearly 4 out of 5 people are willing - through all the bitching, whining, problems, and hangups they've had with the game - to give it another chance. That's loyalty.

For some, it might still be "too little, too late" or "should've been this way in November '07" but it would've been very easy for Epic to charge for this expansion, or even not do an expansion at all. The fact is, even though they didn't say it - they listened. And people hated not hearing anything, because their prejudice and hatred to Epic for "wrecking" UT3 made them assume silence = deafness. It's not.

And that's a lot more than some developers would do. Crysis had a patch cancelled so Crysis Warhead could be developed. COD5 is being made by developers who also made what some fans consider the weakest games in the series.

And yet... here's Epic Games, proving that they listen, that they heard your criticism, and, even though it could've been done sooner, they'll at least make UT3 to how they want it to be - and are still willing to give us extra content for free, a rarity in these days.

If that's not good enough for you, then that's fine, but rather than waste your time complaining about "how it should've been sooner" you should either stop complaining or go do something else that you find actually fun.

For 4 out of 5, UT3 was fun enough to be worth a second shot. And through the last 14 months of whining and complaining, that means that if it weren't for the bugs, a lot more people would've stuck with the game.

Throw in the fact that it's now dirt cheap and there's more computers with hardware that can run it, and that's a plus.

And if the Retail copies can get the Steam stuff, like achievements? Holy ****, look out.

Now, nobody should expect miracles - the UI won't be like 2k4's and (unfortunately) not UWindow2, Gamespy will still likely be the master server, and it might not even have every single thing you want in this patch. But the simple fact is, this patch will make 95% of the things people complained about, from lack of settings to silly bugs a complete and total thing of the past. Is it going to please everyone? No, of course not. But if you liked UT3 before, once this patch comes out, you owe it to yourself to give it a second shot, and if you were one of the few and proud who have stuck it out during these dark days - well, simply put, I feel vindicated.

Epic has listened. Epic will deliver. It's time to stop squabbling on why UT3 does or doesn't suck, and simply play the game and enjoy the hell out of it.

[GreatEmerald]

Originally Posted by fife_tapette

Is it me or they didn't mention that they fixed all the problems surrounding the fact that the announcer is almost always delayed whenever he has to say more than 1 thing at once? (you know, when you get a double kill and killing spree at the same time, he will say both double kill and killing spree, resulting in a sort of god damn annoying delay)

True, that's quite annoying. Try to go into god mode, loaded, and shoot redeemers everywhere. You will never hear the end of the announcements...

Dark Pulse, nicely said, and thanks for reminding to vote

[hi-ban]

so the demo guy bug has been fixed...

[dirtyharry]

Originally Posted by shoptroll

To find something to complain about?

I rarely complain, just figured they got us all excited, so timing would be nice...

[H3D_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Dark Pulse

I, for one, am extremely glad about the news of this patch, as well as the expansion.

.... (Condensed Version)

Epic has listened. Epic will deliver. It's time to stop squabbling on why UT3 does or doesn't suck, and simply play the game and enjoy the hell out of it.

*Bows

Very well put. I've never stopped playing since it's release. Our head server admin has worked very diligent to keep our servers running, through all the bugs. He's even worked closely with some amazing coders to write mutators to keep the server up and quit disconnecting players after each map.

I'm just hoping that the whole seamless travel bug is finally fixed. This was supposed to be fixed with the last patch. The other 75% of the fixes and tweaks are just bonuses.

[Leak]

Originally Posted by hi-ban

so the demo guy bug has been fixed...
*tombstone'd!*

Nice one...

[Grobut]

Originally Posted by Dark Pulse

We put a new poll up on the front page about 36-48 hours ago. 174 votes currently - not much, I know, but here's the key factor: Of those 174 votes, 78% say they will give the game another try.

To be fair, the poll is not worded very well, it is asking us to make a choice on the upcoming patch and upcoming Titan expansion at the same time.. but we don't know what the Titan expansion is, only what the next patch is, so how can we honestly say yes or no?

Objection! assumes facts not in evidence!


Personally, this patch wont make me reinstall the game, it does fix most of the things i find annoying about the game, but it does not add back some of the things who's ommision has been a show stopper for my enjoyment of it.

But i don't know what the next patch will do, or the expansion, so i cannot honestly say i wont play by then, maybe thouse will be the ones that makes the game for me, i don't know, how could i?