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Alduin
10-11-12, 11:59
To summarise all the information in one central spot, so players know where to look in case they lose track, we will now aim to provide you with a monthly development update – in addition to the small appetizers via IRC and twitter – starting right here:

The topic of this month's development update is retail patch R#175 along with the issues stopping us from releasing it, the drop of DirectX 7 and a brief glance at our short-term roadmap.


Patch R#175

As you probably know, this patch is not aimed at being the holy grail. Instead it shall be the first of many patches to address known issues, introduce new features and improve Neocron in general.

Although not obvious in terms of gameplay, with R#175 many changes are made behind the scenes. We are migrating to more modern technologies and implementing a new development pipeline. Even then that is merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is going on behind the scenes.

While not prominently covered in the patch notes and not directly related to gameplay, any migration to new technologies calls for thorough testing. Such transitions can always cause unexpected behaviour in the most obscure areas. Therefore, it is essential to test every single inch of Neocron over and over again on the Public Test Server and report problems as soon and as precisely as possible.

We, the Neocron Support Team, can not do this on your behalf. For a task like this, any single team is much too small. We need everyone's help to thoroughly test every single aspect of the game, to identify and fix problems that may have been newly introduced.

R#175 can not be released until it has been thoroughly tested, so it is now all up to you! Login on the Public Test Server, test PvP, go hunt monsters, collect rares, research parts, build weapons, hack outposts, run noob missions, run epic missions, run woc missions and when done, rinse and repeat. Public Test Server progress is not something you can keep of course, but it is far from being a waste of time - you can help greatly in putting Neocron back on track and put some steam on the development pipeline for the retail servers. If you love Neocron and want to help the game and the community that drives it, you know where to go!

Report all problems you encounter (if there is already a thread on the issue in the bug reports forum (http://forum.neocron.com/forumdisplay.php?233-Bug-Reports), chime in and avoid duplicate threads). We need to know whether the issues are reproducible and how they can be reproduced. Reporting kickbacks to the login screen is very important too, as they might be related to server crashes (usually the only thing you will notice in case Vedeena crashes is a kickback to the login screen, nothing more, because Vedeena is set to instantaneously restart). Therefore, please do report those problems, along with information about what exactly you did at the very moment before it happened.


Drop of DirectX 7 Support

As you may have already noticed, during the course of our modernisation efforts, we made the decision to drop Neocron's support of DirectX 7. First and foremost, this was necessary, keeping support for DX7 doubles the workload required to fix some of Neocron's oldest problems. Additionally, it does not support the features we plan to implement to improve the overall performance, as well as visual quality of Neocron in the future.

We are aware of the fact that some people might feel unhappy about this change, since Neocron's DirectX 9 mode still misses some of the DirectX 7 mode's features. Rest assured this will change!

However, the drop of support for DirectX 7 also resulted in a drop of support for older gfx cards, like for example the Intel GMA 9xx series. At the moment we are evaluating possibilities to keep support for older cards which are not fully compatible with the DirectX 9.0c feature set, but for now we are not able to guarantee that there will be support for those cards in the future.


Patch R#176

All in all, we aim at having frequent small patches in the future which address only a hand full of issues at once, instead of overly large updates. R#176 will hopefully mark the start of this undertaking. While still being mostly targeted at fixing bugs, patch R#176 shall – according to current plans – also add some new behind the scenes functionality to ease content creation, continue the modernisation of Neocron’s core and kick-start balance adjustments.

Thank you for all your support! We are looking forward to having some fun testing the R#175 payload on the Public Test Server together with you!

Yours,
the Neocron Support Team

_________
R#17x = Retail Patch #17x
T#17x = Test Server Patch #17x

As the test server's patch level is not strictly bound to the retail servers (Titan, Terra ...) patch level, we use a capital R or T in front of patch levels to denote what version we refer to, please adhere to the same when reporting issues.

IanKett
10-11-12, 14:31
It's great to see progress but I would recommend you don't waste time and resources trying to get Neocron DX9 working with Ancient graphics cards.

Ascension
10-11-12, 16:25
Amazing news guys, I say drop legacy support for older cards, the game needs moving forward and shouldn't be limited by a hand full of older cards. These people should appreciate the value of moving forward and upgrade their machines!

Jameson Clarke
10-11-12, 16:42
Keep up the great work and you'll keep seeing me on the test server. I hope my submissions have helped in some way.

Oh, and about Dx7 support, it is almost 2013. Even the cheapest 200 dollar laptop comes with AT LEAST a Intel GMA 2000 or 3000 that can run NC just fine. If you're a PC gamer, then you understand that technology moves forwards and you must as well.

It is not like you're making us get crossfired Radeon HD 7970s or anything. I bet NC could run on the PS2's hardware if you could rig it up.

Ascension
10-11-12, 17:09
I think an amnesty needs putting out to the community so that everyone understands the need for testing.

As you already said, the more testing the quicker the release, the quicker the release the sooner APU's are rebalanced and viable again!

dWintermut3
11-11-12, 01:06
I'd also like to see a checklist of some kind so once a zone has been gone over by several people we know it's been vetted already and can focus our attention other places.

Haxxor
11-11-12, 01:12
I think an amnesty needs putting out to the community so that everyone understands the need for testing.


Testing the key word here and the test server shouldn't be used for if you fancy a bit of PvP or testing your setups either.

Drachenpaladin
11-11-12, 01:13
Just out of curiosity: Will you implement crash-logs at some point?

Mokoi
11-11-12, 03:32
Just out of curiosity: Will you implement crash-logs at some point?

Repeat after me: Neocron. Does. Not. Crash.




:p




Other than that, any question starting with "Will you implement ..." - the answer is "maybe" until announced otherwise ;)

Dropout
11-11-12, 05:58
Repeat after me: Neocron. Does. Not. Crash.




:p

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
:D

I would love to test stuff out on the TS, but honestly, just leveing my characters on live is a huge hassle, which I barely wants to do.. :(

I do hope that a lot of other people, who has the time do test stuff out!
And as always, thanks for all your work, you are awesome! :D

IanKett
11-11-12, 12:42
:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
:D

I would love to test stuff out on the TS, but honestly, just leveing my characters on live is a huge hassle, which I barely wants to do.. :(

I do hope that a lot of other people, who has the time do test stuff out!
And as always, thanks for all your work, you are awesome! :D

It's a good thing that killing a few rats gets you maxed, talking to somone gives you WoC disks, teleports to get around, all item shops and FSM with no check are there.

Haxxor
11-11-12, 16:08
just leveling my characters on live is a huge hassle, which I barely wants to do.. :(


isnt that part of the purpose of neocron?

Mokoi
11-11-12, 16:37
Please try and stay ontopic.

We do not only encourage you to play on the testserver we URGE you to do it.
Given the participation and activities on the testserver, or lack thereof, I cant stress this enough: We need everyone to set aside a tiny bit of their NC gametime and throw themselves on the testserver to perform random actions ingame.

As outlined above, every single aspect of the game has a chance of being affected (read: broken) by the big underlying updates we made to the build, wether highlighted in the patchnotes or not.
Some issues tend to occur either rarely or only given odd circumstances... and therefor it is absolutely crucial that we get more than the current 2-5 player peaks on the testserver.

We make it as easy as possible for you - you dont have to level, you dont need to work for money or equipment, there are portals for traveling.
If you dont help test, Neocron will not mature or evolve. Simple as that. There is so much we can do as a volunteer team and there is things where the entire community must step up and help.
In this case the task may be broing and simple (play on the server and report any errors), but none the less crucially important.

Do we have to limit access to Titan on a dedicated "Testserver Day" to make a point of how important this is for the future of Neocron (and thus Titan) NOW?
I hope not ...

Kame
11-11-12, 18:00
Perhaps the dev team could do weekly imports of the char DB from Titan to Vedeena, complete with items, XP, clans, etc.

This way I think it would be more accessible for testing to all players. We could stage an OP battle in matter of minutes, and test realistic char setups in action.

Also it might seem like a lot of work for the dev but I think a few hours of dev time versus a few hours for every testers x 250 testers...

Doc Holliday
11-11-12, 18:46
I appreciate the post mokoi and i have yet to actually make a proper client to log on to it. I will look it up on what i need to do and post on our clan forums to ask the guys to do the same. if anyone has a link for the post for the instructions to set up the client this would be much appreciated. thanks again for your efforts.

Mokoi
11-11-12, 19:36
... a link for the post for the instructions to set up the client ...


Here is a quick and simple, step by step outline on how to get on the testserver:
http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?146414-Testserver-relaunched!

Jameson Clarke
11-11-12, 19:41
I appreciate the post mokoi and i have yet to actually make a proper client to log on to it. I will look it up on what i need to do and post on our clan forums to ask the guys to do the same. if anyone has a link for the post for the instructions to set up the client this would be much appreciated. thanks again for your efforts.

Click your NC2 folder. Press Ctrl+C. Press Ctrl+V. Rename the copied folder to something like "Neocron 2 Test". The name does not matter, but it helps you know what folder is for the test server.

Open the renamed and copied folder and locate the "Updater.ini" file inside the "ini" subfolder. (You may need to right click and use "open with->select default" and then select notepad or wordpad)

Replace the contents of Updater.ini with the following:
SERVERIP=176.28.46.113
PORT=8020
PATCHPREFIX=patches\cp
EXE=Client.exe
GAMESERVERIP=176.28.46.113
GAMESERVERPORT=7000
HOMEURL=http://launcher.neocron.com/testserver
FTPSERVER=none
TESTPATCHDIR=/nc2testserver
RETAILPATCHDIR=/
ISRETAILVERSION=0
USELOCALPORT=0
LOCALPORT=42423




Right click the NeocronLauncher.exe in the folder you're using as the test client and do "Move To->Desktop(create shortcut)" to create a shortcut for the test client on your desktop.

Rename the shortcut on your desktop to something like "Neocron 2 Test Server" and then launch it.

There. You're done. Use your login information that you always use.

Ivan Eres
12-11-12, 00:05
[..]Do we have to limit access to Titan on a dedicated "Testserver Day" to make a point of how important this is for the future of Neocron (and thus Titan)?

I think that this is a good idea.

The only other way to motivate a dedicated bunch of beta testers at the moment that I see would be some in game rewards on retail for them, although I don't know what these rewards could be.

Regards

Ascension
12-11-12, 01:22
Perhaps the dev team could do weekly imports of the char DB from Titan to Vedeena, complete with items, XP, clans, etc.

This is a great shout, not sure how hard/easy it would be, but nothing like playing a familiar character to see how things react to changes.

Haxxor
12-11-12, 03:03
Whats the craic with getting implanted on the test server?

Doc Holliday
12-11-12, 07:06
Big Thank you to Mokoi and to Jameson. im cross posting this to our clan forum and gonna see about getting this arranged. My play times are right off of europeak so i might just be the only person on the test server but i will do my best to get some more traffic over there and see whats what.

BlueRobot
12-11-12, 08:34
Please take Titan offline for a day, make a post on the launcher about the Testserver and how to get there, and maybe make a few days +15% xp on titan afterwards. Repeat if needed.

slith
12-11-12, 08:41
Please take Titan offline for a day, make a post on the launcher about the Testserver and how to get there, and maybe make a few days +15% xp on titan afterwards. Repeat if needed.Kinda harsh, but probably the only thing that works. 2 or 3 days of Testserver only vs 4 or 6 days of bonus XP. I don't think people will be upset much about this, as most of us crave for some end-game pvp.

If anyone complains, tell them to STFU.

The checklist thingy might be a good Idea too keep the forums reasonably clean of overhead.

Torg
12-11-12, 12:38
Please take Titan offline for a day, make a post on the launcher about the Testserver and how to get there, and maybe make a few days +15% xp on titan afterwards. Repeat if needed.so you want to force ppl to use the test server, and risk getting them upset? not going to happen, plainly.

CMaster
12-11-12, 13:25
I'm not sure that a retail shut down is a good idea, but I do think more focussed testing is the way forward.
Just telling people "go test everything" is a little vague, and also inclines to leaving a lot of stuff undone. Remember 2.2 test, where the server was full of people raging at GMs that they "needed WoC" to do anything - anything being sitting around in the dueling area occasionally shooting people with all-arti gear.
I'd like to see arranged times with GMs coming on and assisting people to go through stuff. Be it tradeskilling, cave runs, PvP compettions, op wars, etc.
And yeah, maybe offer some retail rewards for those who take part in a lot of these organized sessions.

Ivan Eres
12-11-12, 13:46
so you want to force ppl to use the test server, and risk getting them upset? not going to happen, plainly.

I think that it would be a good way to test everything. I can even imagine this being a regular event before releasing a patch. At least now in the beginning of the "new" development line when some really heavy lifting is being done behind the curtains to modernize Neocron's infrastructure (see database engine replacement or the complete recompile of the server software).

If we don't test this thoroughly we are at risk of having a lot of problems on retail. I think that losing days of leveling because of a database rollback after a problematic patch is worse than investing these days beforehand in testing.

I don't think people will be upset about having to play on the testserver for a few days because on the testserver everybody can do everything they every wanted! They got all resources and there are no restrictions. There are all items, all epics, all FSMs, all rares, and even teleporters. I don't think that this is a punishment.

I've got 2 chars that I've already finished on the testserver and they are ready for PvP and PvE now, a ppu and a tank. I'd especially like to do PvP with my pimped out tank but I cannot because nobody is there.

Everybody says they want Neocron to live and grow but now is the time to do something for it, like testing the patch and all the changes to the infrastructure that have been implemented behind the curtans (especially the new database engine comes to mind).

If all these changes go to retail untested and the server explodes I am sure that then people will be very angry. I think that this would make people really upset if they can't play properly for days and weeks after the patch, having database rollbacks and really losing playtime, levels, items, and money.

Now is the time to prevent this. Of course we cannot find every single bug on the testserver but if we find the most important ones it's gonna be great.

Maybe there are also alternative suggestions how testing can be encouraged.

If it would be possible to earn playtime on retail by doing the testing on the testserver I'd like that possibility too.

Another suggestion would be to "pay" 10-20 really dedicated beta testers with "in game rewards" on the retail server. But I don't know what these rewards could be, and maybe this would also make other players upset because the testers could have an advantage in game because of this.

In German there is a saying that goes "Choosing between the Plague and Cholera". Sometimes there is not a good choice, but only one of the bad.

Problem is, it can't stay like it's at the moment, so something must be done.

I really want the patch and many others want it too. So let's do something for it. Now is the time to really have an influence on the future of Neocron.

Edit:
If we had checklists for things to verify, or as it is called, a "Test Catalogue" that could help people focus on the important things too.

Regards

William Antrim
12-11-12, 14:23
I am game for this. I am willing to loan a ventrilo server to anyone wanting to get together and talk about testing too. I will do all of this set up stuff tonight too. I have very little time to play at the moment but I am up for some testing action for sure!

Netphreak
12-11-12, 15:39
I'm in the same boat as William atm and have very limited time to play, but I'll setup a new NC Test folder tonight and hopefully get on for some testing. Used to pop onto the test server a fair bit back before 2.2.

I do agree, that if at all possible, if you can give us a brief list of specific things you want us to test thoroughly that would help us give you some prioritized feedback.

Faid
12-11-12, 17:33
I said on TS saturday that the only way they're gonna get a lot of people testing is if they shut titan down. But they can't say its being shut down specifically so people will go to the test server, gotta say its for maintenance or something :p

William Antrim
12-11-12, 19:06
I liked Ivan Eres's idea about rewards for those who bother. However I am just going to go on and test and see what happens. I am not fussed about missing a few days rhinoing to help the future of NC.

William Antrim
12-11-12, 20:22
I am currently loving the Test server and all of the patches. I think it will be difficult to go back to retail after this.

nabbl
12-11-12, 20:52
patchnotes T#178 ? :P

William Antrim
12-11-12, 21:20
http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?146582-T-178-PTS-Patch-Notes

Doc Holliday
13-11-12, 07:04
patching up as we speak.

Netphreak
14-11-12, 12:43
Anyone else think that shots from rifles are missing mobs a lot on the TS (much worse when moving)? (you're lucky to hit an aggie if you are moving at all when using a Dissy (with ~220 r-c and 150 wpl))
Also the difference between your aiming position in first and third person seems more than before. (i.e. when aimed at something in third person then switch to first person you are aiming down a lot.

Other than that the TS version seems to run smoother for me. Keep up the good work.

Linear
15-11-12, 16:10
Easiest way to motivate ppl:

Find an unique bug on testserver now - get a GM spawned stuff on real server later!

:)