News 3.3 - Chapter Four - Beta End Date
- Thread starter Edward Lewis
- Start date
Is there going to be another bug fix patch this week before beta ends, or will the next set of fixes come with the live release?
From what I gather, all of the BGS gurus have abandoned BGS testing in beta because nothing is working, and Wars are currently untestable in any case. If you guys want people to come back to testing, it might be a good idea to post details on server side fixes to the Beta that will allow for testing. Multiple bug report have already been filed on these issues.
Can we have more details ? [big grin]:x
As a PS4 player I’ve been watching the beta unfold via YouTube and the live streams and can’t wait to get my hands on it.
I think you might like it...
It is sad that Console gamers are unable to 'join in the fun' as there would have been even more useful bug finding/feedback in the forum beta posts.
The changes to exploration/mining are giving much more gameplay, both new ships have their positives and the lighting 'makeover' (aka Darkness!) does add to the atmosphere when SRV'ing on 'the dark side'. I hope you get as much enjoyment in playing C4 as I have had from the beta
Week 4 beta VR greatly improved
I've spent the last few days just system hopping in VR (Rift) and have to confess that the fixes applied (I've not been mining) as far as exploration is concerned have made play as good as the current Live, but with the added benefit of lighting changes and a new exploration mechanic (I don't particularly like the 'flat' FSS screen, but at least the obvious bugs were hammered out and as it stands is still easily useable) that has enabled me to find many POI's that I would never have done in the current version. (Incidentally - I visited a planet in Live that I'd found brain trees in beta, yes they were there in Live too - and this on a planet I'd already landed on & driven around for an hour or so pre-beta!)
This is my first participation in a beta and it has been fascinating seeing the weekly updates fixing things. Thank you to the Developers for making it open
I've spent the last few days just system hopping in VR (Rift) and have to confess that the fixes applied (I've not been mining) as far as exploration is concerned have made play as good as the current Live, but with the added benefit of lighting changes and a new exploration mechanic (I don't particularly like the 'flat' FSS screen, but at least the obvious bugs were hammered out and as it stands is still easily useable) that has enabled me to find many POI's that I would never have done in the current version. (Incidentally - I visited a planet in Live that I'd found brain trees in beta, yes they were there in Live too - and this on a planet I'd already landed on & driven around for an hour or so pre-beta!)
This is my first participation in a beta and it has been fascinating seeing the weekly updates fixing things. Thank you to the Developers for making it open
Glad to hear the news. Since I have only seen a handful of videos from 3.3, I do hope getting in the live build will be a treat.
Ziljan has nailed it, currently the BGS gurus have looked at it and it doesn't work as expected. Adam B-W has said on the BGS discord that expansion has been rolled back to 3.2. So FD what do you want tested? the BGS is a major part of the living ED galaxy, and is huge. So what do you want tested? Wouldn't it be an idea to have a Beta CG? Raise a factions influence in system X, create a War in system x, I don't know what would FD like tested with the BGS, because currently the BGS guys & gals are waiting for it to go live.
Tell us what currently works and what you want tested
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It was always my opinion that efficient testing - if you already refrain from the help of professional testers - bidirectional feed back is an absolute minimum requirement. And this doesn't only go for BGS testing. No wonder why so many bugs persist over such a long time, a clear sign that something is fundamentally wrong with the methods of beta testing, what more and more 'testers' perceive as nothing but a waste of time.
Beta testing could be much more fruitful if it only were structured and focused as Lee Ti above implied. That would be a good start. I can't believe that a blind 100000 thousand apes coding theory would lead to anywhere, not for coding and neither for proper beta testing.
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You have a valid point but focussed bug testing has its own weakness in a basically unstructured game like Elite, you will get good testing of the areas you focus on but next to nothing on the rest of the game.
This is an issue because we all play differently and many of us do the weirdest things whilst we play (won't play missions but will do CGs almost all the time really?).
Agreed, and generally true. But the game has some very structured aspects and the BGS is a prime example to it IMO. If no one really knows anymore if a given effect is the result of a bug or some unknown mystics it's high time to go back to more strictly methods with bilateral feedback.
Then you get someone like me... I do missions I see and think I would enjoy, each must affect the BGS in some minute way but as I honestly have no idea just how the BGS works I would be at a total loss to play in any meaningful way to test if BGS is working correctly as I wouldn't know what to look for!
I am taking more of an interest in seeing how my actions affect the parties involved in missions but have a very long way to go before I'd be familiar enough to use my actions as a BGS tool.
That isn't a criticism of the way things are, just that to date I've not given BGS any real thought.
No, it says chapter 4 beta will end not beta 4.
Really? Are they going to back date everyone's CODEX to time zero of when they first lurched out the station in a sidey? That would be pretty damn awesome if so but I wouldn't have thought they could go that far back? I'd love to be wrong on that.This was (is) a very detailed and fun beta! I look forward to the live build and to see what my codex looks like after all these years of bumbling about.
Seeing FDEV's track record of releases that need at least 3 patches post-release I would expect them not to hamper this by releasing on the 20th. I expect a release on the 11th of December. That should give them enough room to do 1 or 2 patches before the Christmas/New Year break.
On the other hand, with my luck, they'll wait until after Christmas to release when I am NOT off of work.