Version 0.600 is out!

[armagan]

Hi,

It took a bit longer than we would like to, but at last version 0.600 is out. As you may already know, the most important development in this new version is the introduction of the sale system. We were going to start selling the game sooner or later and in this case we opted for the sooner. We know that it's not common practice to charge money for games while still in beta but there are a few reasons that led us to this decision:
(a) We have been working full-time on the project and self-financing our development for quite some time now, and although our finances are still strong, we need to see that we can make money out of this project, if nothing else, to build up our self-esteem.
(b) We need to beta-test our sales system, activation system, etc. as well since these will also be critical aspects of the final product.
(c) We'll be able to distribute this new version more freely.

I hope that our beta-testers will stay with us and continue their support for Mount&Blade's development. Now without further ado, here's the list of new features in version 0.600:

* Tracks are no longer seen if tracking skill level is 0.
* Improvements to AI.
* Improvements to ranged combat damage
* Player can loose his/her horse when defeated...
* Horse Archery skill
* Enemy parties can now be carrying large amounts of gold.
* New Sound effects
* Permanent Corpses!
* New Party kind: Sea raider Parties
* New Party kindrisoner Train parties
* Many other small fixes...

I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to the new version with their feedback, ideas and suggestions. Hope you'll like all the new features,
-Armagan

 

[miguyan]

hi armagan

i have buy this game, but i dont know how i get final version of this game?

please give me more information about the full release.

 

[armagan]

Hi muguyan.

The game is still under development and the final version is not ready yet.

You can download the game freely but you can only play until your character reaches level 6. To keep playing after this, you need to purchase a license. When you purchase a license you will receive an email which contains a serial key. You must then run Mount&Blade and enter this serial key. After this, the game will connect to the internet and become activated. Once activated, you can play without any level limit whatsoever.

The serial key you recieve will activate final version of the game too. So if you have purchase it now, you won't have to purchase anything again.

 

[ShadowMoses]

Hi armagan,

I got a bit distracted from playing this game - life is a ***** at times!

anyway, just got the new demo version but got a major crash soon after starting.

After the first tutorial fight (whether i win or loose) the whole computer crashes!
sorry i can't get any error message!

I'm really hoping this is a problem with the game and not my computer!
but i'll test with some other games and try warrider... i mean Mount & Blade again!

BTW, i had just enough time to appreciate the new sword against shield sounds - Very cool! really adds to the immersion!

 

[armagan]

Hi ShadowMoses,

Good to have you back!

The crash could be due to a conflict with your anti-virus program if you are running one. Somebody mentioned such a problem in another thread. Since we moved on to freely distributing the game we thought it wise to protect the executable and that is of course a source for potential problems.

I was very fond of the new sounds too. Until I found a major bug with the sound handling. After fixing that, the sounds became so good that I can't keep myself from playing now just to listen to them. But you'll need to wait for the next version to try that...

 

[ShadowMoses]

I don't use any resource sucking virus protection software!

I've tried it a few more times and still get the error.
I tried just doing the tournament and that seemed fine for a while but then it crashed again.

I played Silent Hunter 3 for over 30 mins without any problems.

I'll keep trying and see what happens!

I'm loving the new sounds! arrows are ace as well!

 

[ShadowMoses]

ok, so i installed an older version and still get the error so i guess there must be a problem somewhere else!

it might be a heat problem...

 

[armagan]

Head could be a býg ýssue wýth the new CPUs. If your mainboard has a temperature monitor, that could help a lot. Also, a quick fix I use a lot is under-clocking the CPU from the BIOS setup.

 

[armagan]

Which reminds me... I need to implement a frame-rate limiter for the game. That could be handy in lots of situations, heat issues included.

 

[ShadowMoses]

Head could be a býg ýssue wýth the new CPUs. If your mainboard has a temperature monitor, that could help a lot. Also, a quick fix I use a lot is under-clocking the CPU from the BIOS setup.

yeah, my cpu and motherboard are pretty cool. I think it might be to do with gfx card memory.

When i first built my comp on boot up the gfx card memory was slightly over clocked and all games crashed so i used a program to clock the card at it's default settings which fixed the problem.

I'm now trying underclocking the memory which so far is working ok but maybe there is a fault with the memory.... i hope not!

 

[Jack]

Before I make some suggestions (and a new thread!). I was just going to ask if there's a thread for things you want to put in, planned features etc, so that when I make suggestions I don't just reiterate what a thousand other people have said and what you are currently working on. So is there? If not my first suggestion would be to make one!

 

[armagan]

Hý Jack,

There is no dedicated thread for suggestions. People make lots of suggestions so such a thread would be filled with hundreds of messages in a short time. Feel free to make a new thread for your suggestions.

On the other hand, it's probably a good idea to make a sperate forum for bug reports, one for suggestions, one for customer support etc. I guess I need to do that.

 

[ShadowMoses]

On the other hand, it's probably a good idea to make a sperate forum for bug reports, one for suggestions, one for customer support etc. I guess I need to do that.

Yeah, thats a good idea! i've got some suggestions waiting!

 

[Balor]

A few minor suggestions:
1. Post changelog each time you release a new version.
2. Post updates as patches in download section, not entire game download. (While it's not THAT big, but not everyone has unlimited broadband, unfortunately ).
Not too much to ask, I hope.
P.S.
And, of course, in case of major changes to the game, it would be feasible to make players to re-download it (if there would be a lot of new/changed content). And you can make downloading patches optional too...

 

[Balor]

Hey, new version is out and nobody rejoices yet??! Thumbs up for Armagan!
A few question to him too, though:
1. Can we see full change log?
2. Can we, humble users of lame (or limp ) dialup, get 'patch' update, or it's impossible for some reason?

 

[sci]

Yeah we need an announcement on the main page..