A question for armagan...

[Oddball_E8]

why does every new patch have to overwrite the textures and sounds in the game?
its bloody annoying for us who have modded some of the game textures and sounds...
is it absolutely necessary to do it every single time you patch the game?

 

[sheek]

Yes it's necessary because the game engine changes. There's no way to avoid it. If Armagan's first priority was save games compatability then the game would never advance, features we have now wouldn't be possible.

You must have known when you got the game that this would happen because it is a developing game. And if you want to continue your old games it's easy - just stick to the old versions.

 

[Oddball_E8]

wow... you really didnt read what i wrote did you?

it overwrites the sound files and texture files EVEN THO THEY ARE THE SAME...

it has nothing to do with engine changes or savegame compatability...

im fine with starting a new game every time a patch comes out... but im getting tired of installing my soundmod and texturemod every single time because the textures and sounds are overwritten even tho they havent changed at all..

 

[Slyloki]

If they are the same, then indeed it makes no sense as it would just mean people on dialup have to download more than is really required...
Are you sure there are not minor tweaks to those that aren't noticable at first?

And even if there are minor changes to things like textures, i would suggest making them into a seperate optional download, myself for instance is quite happy with the textures as they are until final release... the important thing being gameplay updates...

 

[DaLagga]

I was wondering the exact same thing. I use some custom textures, and have to reinstall them with every new version even though the previous didn't change. At the very least it should make for a much much smaller download. The .704 patch is 23mb, but given what little changed in that version shouldn't it be more like a few kilobytes? (although i know nothing of programming and game design).

 

[Lhorkan]

I lost my changes to Praven for the Project Detail Props mod that way. :'(

 

[armagan]

Currently patches are supposed to upgrade the game from all earlier versions; not just from the most recent version. Maybe I should change that policy...

 

[Rathanax]

Maybe make two patches? One that upgrades from the most recent version and one that updates from the first version?

 

[okiN]

Nah. Just make an incremental patch that contains all changes with regard to the last version and a full install. If you're two versions behind you can still download both patches, any farther behind than that and you're better off uninstalling and downloading the full install. If you have some mods that are still compatible, such as edited scenes, you can always backup the related files and replace them after installing.

 

[catsoup]

Indeed, armagan, imho it doesn't make much difference if one downloads 25 or 30 megs, so imho you could leave the patch you are currently hosting completely out and, instead, make a patch with minor changes which would fit only for the last few versions.

 

[Oddball_E8]

yup... minor patch with minor changes... whats the point of having a patch if it patches from the first and earliest version? might as well download the complete game then...

 

[Slyloki]

Currently patches are supposed to upgrade the game from all earlier versions; not just from the most recent version. Maybe I should change that policy...

Armagan, don't be too worried or confused, No-one is saying you stuffed up or such, we just couldn't understand why the patch was 66% of the full download...
It could probably be rethought as per some suggestions here, but seeing how impressively small the full game is, it just makes little sense for such a big update, imo that should only really happen when going from .7xx to a .8xx for example...

On the flip side you don't want to get into a confusing mess like some games where you have to "install patch 1.01, then patch 1.02, skip patch 1.03 coz it's included in patch 1.04, and finally install 1.05......." you get the idea, game patches like that are a nightmare...

While i remember, Keep up the good work of showing the gaming industry that an excellent game does not need to be 2 dvd's full of crap...

 

[Can O Soup]

However Armagan wants to patch it is fine with me. The original sounds and textures don't bug me so I leave them.

 

[mfberg]

I save my modded files in a separate folder. Then I can do my upgrades, replace the upgraded files with the modded files and see if the game works. If it works good, if it doesn't I get to re-modify my game.

mfberg

 

[Kamamura]

How about backing up your modified version prior to patching? It makes sense anyway. But then you have to merge the versions, of course...

 

[Oddball_E8]

you guys dont get it... i have the mods in zip files... theyre backed up already... im just getting annoyed at having to install them again with every patch even tho none of those textures and sounds need to be replaced since they are the exact same sounds and textures...

 

[Ryuta]

It's true to say that it's annoying to re-install your texture again (I'm the one who's doing this all the time). I have so many texture back-ups (6, 7?) made for each up-grades that I don't know what is where anymore.

However, I'd welcome current patch scheme. It stop makes me wonder whether it is possible to patch from 0.701 to 0.704 and stops me from re-installing everything again. I consider this as necessary pain.

By the way, Armagan actually did change texture when he released 0.700. All previously .jpg files are now .dds files. Also charger has now beautiful skin.

 

[Nairagorn]

im just getting annoyed at having to install them again with every patch

So don't. Extract the patch to your desktop and delete the texture and sound directories, then drop whats left into your M&B dir. Easy. I've been doing it for the past few patches and haven't had to worry about my custom sounds or textures.

 

[Juicy_jae]

but im getting tired of installing my soundmod and texturemod every single time because the textures and sounds are overwritten even tho they havent changed at all..

You speak as if you have difficulty copying and pasting....

 

[SimonForsman]

I wouldn't consider re-installing texture mods a big issue , the download size is a much bigger one imo . there really is not good point in downloading a patch that is nearly as big as the full install. and if you are on dialup it can be really annoying. (im not really affected by that though, but some people are)

The best thing would probably be to have 2 patches or 3 perhaps, one that works for any version, one that works from the last 0.x version (such as 0.7x -> 0.704) and one for the latest version (such as 0.703->0.704). this way people wouldn't have to download more than necessary.