Well it is about time for some news regarding Soldat 1.5.1.
As the title suggests, I have decided that Soldat 1.5.1 will be a Public Beta.
Despite the semi-failure of the 1.5.0 Public Beta (hey, it could have been worse), I feel that the number of fixes/changes/additions still really does need to be tested before hitting the highway. The private alpha F&F beta testing turned up very few new bugs, so things are looking smooth.
I know many people disliked the previous Public Beta, so I would like some feedback from you with any suggestions or improvements you may have regarding how to run this upcoming Public Beta compared to the previous one. Leave a comment in this post.
The Bug Tracker @ http://bugs.soldat.pl will be the primary bug report method. I will only allow BUG reports, and improvement suggestions for the stuff contained in the change log. For example, if the change log contains “-modified A is now B + 10%” , you may suggest “make it B + 5% +(B divided by A) because <explanation here>”. Presuming you supply reasoning. Full new suggestions will not be handled at this time, as they will only drastically slow down the release. The Official Soldat Forums will not have a public beta forum this time. The current content of the bug tracker will be cleared prior to beginning the public beta, so don’t bother posting stuff on it right now. When will the beta begin, you ask? When its ready™
The change log is not yet finalized, so I won’t post it early or give any specific details still. By now the only thing on your mind is probably “What about Access Violations in Demos?”… Well, I can’t really provide a definite answer to that at the moment. Recent testing has confirmed this problem to be triggered only in BattlEye enabled servers, so Sable, BattlEye’s Developer, is currently investigating it on his side.
Soldat 1.5.1 will introduce some fancy bits and pieces, such as the ‘Death of Spying’, extra map features to provide exciting new gameplay elements, vastly improved interface customization via server-side scripting, truckloads of new Script Core features, and much much more.
If you have ever considered registering your copy of Soldat, now is the time to do so. And if you use a shared/stolen key, you will also want to consider purchasing your own right now. Heed my words :)
You can now get super fast delivery of your own personal Registration Key via PayPal, as well as dozens of other payment methods. Support Soldat, Click Here for more information on registering.
A new server rental special has been added for European Soldat Server rentals, specifically for clans. The coupon will allow you to purchase a 12 slot private for €6.00 EUR per month! Including 2 Subuser accounts so you can give other people access to your server via the PHP-Commander Control Panel. Free Teamspeak access is also included in this deal. The code may be used by new and existing customers, and the monthly price will never expire! But the code itself can expire, so order yours fast! Remember that supporting [eC] server rentals directly supports Soldat development, so don’t be fooled by the other lower quality hosts that try lure you in with dirt prices.
The Coupon Code is: CW12 (Click Here to order using this code)
That is all for the moment, so please leave a comment with any kind of feedback or suggestions regarding how you would like to see the next Public Beta be run. Abusive or inappropriate comments will be removed.
EDIT: Just because I don’t talk about bugfixes does not mean there aren’t any.
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Too bad he doesn’t accept any new suggestions. My favorite would be to resize the cursor. On high resolutions it’s really tiny, which is my excuse to suck so much with my new monitor :3 so I could really use a setting for this.
Or the menu could be a little more interesting.
What do you mean “if you ever considered purchasing, do so”. Is the price going to increase? I can’t see how increasing the donation price will help with popularity.
Things that would make Soldat better:
- !!Higher resolutions!!
- NEW menu interface, sorry to say, but the old one looks like crap.
- Leave servers fast, right now when I leave a game, Soldat kinda minimizes, then pops back up, taking 5 seconds, which becomes annoying.
- Ingame chat improvements
- More options to style your Soldier?
Looking forward to Soldat 1.5.1
Will we be able to install the beta without overwriting 1.5?
Create a new installation/folder for the beta.
Yeah looking good, I hope we get some sort of changelog or some indication of what’s going on some time soon. EnEsCe, nice work fixing the bugs etc. I’d just like to see the progress thats being done.
That should of course be .3% >__>
“What the …, nobody ever told me about that bug (if its true)… Sheesh.”
I just did. :)
And as far as I know no one was aware. At least the people I asked were surprised… But able to get the same result, so its a bug alright.
The refreshx packet does have max players/spectators which at least I haven’t changed in 2 years. And what’s another 3% traffic? :)
The principle is right but is the 18000 less bytes an hour (at the most) worth not including all the vars?
Adding ‘SVVARS’ or similiar might be useful but if you do, please have prefixes for the different stuff.
@SpiltCoffee
“Oh, and release the dedicated server for the next version as well”
It will be released with the client this time.
@illu
“change the poll”
When I think of a new question, I will.
@Phob
“Too bad nobody is using lobby chat.”
Indeed, the chat lobby is indeed a complete fail and has been exterminated since it takes up a great deal of resources.
@Snow
Yeah I do want to do a survey sort of thing, but setting up such a system would take a fair amount of time, time which is not available right now.
@Bloo
Rushed work will just end up messy and full of more bugs than ever. And yes, 1.5.1 was meant to be bug fixes only, originally I fully intended it to be that way, but when the Soldat Forums decided to be dickfaces towards me for many weeks (and probably still going on), things changed. Could you sit for 5+ hours every day, only fixing bugs, knowing that the people you do it all for are just bitching about you behind your back? No, you’d go and do something fun, explore ideas and possibilities to create new features. That’s how 1.5.1 became what it is now. Bugs are being fixed now though (Most recent one being access violations in demos, which is now fixed in 1.5.0 live too. Old demos still wont work though)
Soldat’s main problem right now is cheaters, and 1.5.1 will greatly help the fight against cheats.
@Boblekonvolutt
““passworded” byte (is always 1)”
What the …, nobody ever told me about that bug (if its true)… Sheesh. I’ll look into it. But as for those extra variables, they wont be added because refresh packets are meant for values that change often, not stuff that the admin client would only need to know once and never request again (server game settings). Since refresh is called every x seconds, it is a great waste of bandwidth. Know what I mean?
Perhaps a ‘SVVARS’ message for that sort of thing, that admin clients can request just once upon connecting… hmm
A couple updates to the refreshx packet would be nice… Fixing the “passworded” byte (is always 1), adding FF/vote%/respawn time/max respawn/bonus, etc…
Sounds pretty sweet, waiting on the new Scriptcore elements… Hope it released in a reasonable ammount of time.
“Soldat 1.5.1 will be a Public Beta”
ok, but when?
My only suggestion would be to get it done quickly. Yeah, new scripting core and map features are great for all, but there are just too many bugs and they need to be fixed (I have a rather large list that I’m waiting to add to the tracker for the public beta). 1.5.1 was supposed to be a bug-fix only release from what I remember and it shouldn’t have taken this long. Fix bugs now so the people that play the game can enjoy it, then add stuff to the scriptcore/maps/interface/whatever later so people can enjoy those without the bugs that have plagued Soldat for years.
You guys should think of a way to get the word out that soldat is “the shit”. I don’t like to nag but, if the graphics and animations were spiced up even a little bit, alot of people would not have a bad first impresstion of the game and totally disregard playing.
I forgot to mention, if you should do surveys or questionnaires, using links to online forms is best. Sometimes people forget to state which question they’re answering, and if people are emailing their results, it gets messy fast. With online forms, you can nice and neatly collect answers and .. well my html is very rusty, but you should be able to organize them in any way you want.
My suggestions:
Advertise the beta (was suggested before I know)
Strict start and end dates.
Multiple testing sessions could also be effective, like “1st round of testing will commence Sept 28 12:00pm GMT to Sept 30 8:00pm GMT.”
2 surveys – one for strictly bug tracking, the other for overall testing/satisfaction. Both surveys are short and simple, such as:
Bugtracking report:
Type of bug: eg. gostek suddenly dies at x spot on x map.
Frequency:
Forgivable or ruins gameplay?
etc, etc.
________________________________________________
Soldat 1.5.1 testing and satisfaction survey:
Did you look through the changelog and was there anything you liked/disliked?
What was the best new feature?
Was your gameplay smooth or buggy?
If buggy, please state what system you were using (processor, ram, version of Windows).
How many bugs did you encounter?
If the bugs were new or hampered gameplay – please fill out a bugtracker survey by clicking on this link: enesce.com/bugtracker/1.5.1
etc. etc.
Many people hate surveys, but if it is short and testers are playing through the beta for hours, I’m sure that if they are dedicated to testing, they’ll fill them out. Not only that, but this is one way to gauge beta participation.
Also having short and concise surveys, you can very quickly tab the results and see who’s having problems with what. Major bugs will be recurring throughout the surveys. If there are enough testers and a particular type of bug only occurs with a particular type or brand of graphics card, it will show up.
Well I guess now the lobby chat could be a great place to advertise the beta and later discuss about bugs and stuff.
Too bad nobody is using lobby chat.
Everybody help advertise the game more. More people knowing about the new public beta will help find new bugs etc. We need more people helping with creating the new version! Please post up some more new features and stuff you will be changing. Maybe a changelog?
1. good servers for 1.5.1
2. Easy way to report the bugs
3. Advertise, so everbody knows there is a public beta and you need their help.
All that was missing for me in the last public beta.
change the poll
Just need to get more people involved with the public beta.
Oh, and release the dedicated server for the next version as well, so people can host beta servers. :D
Can’t wait!… Well, actually, I probably can…
Its bout fuckin’ time bitches. Now get off your lazy asses and release it already.
As long as the ded server is released at the same time as the client I am happy :)
What kind of mapfeatures will it be? and why clear the bug tracker or are all the bugs reported there fixed?