[Feedback] An update from the “The Settlers Online” Team

[BB_Trafffer]

i want to update you on a few buggs

i have a couple of -- Yes this is a know error, the team is looking into it
and a few -- that is allready know, we are working on it
as well as -- this has allready been reported and we will look into it

maybe i forgot some but they are almost all sounding like the same answere

Yes, but… that's the reality.

We monitor forums, social media, in-game chat, and our moderators also report issues to us, so we're aware of (I hope) every issue.

Each report matters because it gives our development team many more "sources" to find and fix the core of the issue.

I know some issues are too long with us, but it's only because the fix is not as easy as it may seem and requires doing some "other" things first.

The next update is coming! More on that soon.

[Nogbad]

Dear BB, Unity was obviously a poor choice, Ubi have had problems with that engine since at least Might and Magic X Legacy and never addressed the issues then, it overloads different brands and models of GFX cards with seemingly no rhyme nor reason as to which ones are affected worse, and adjusting down detail levels etc... made no difference.

However, there is something you could try in the meantime.
Produce a custom browser similar to the "slim browser", but have it set up to use OpenGL to render, rather than DirectX.
Even if it has no effect, it will at least rule out/in certain possibilities.
TSO was developed over 11 years ago, since then Micro$oft have completely changed the DirectX API and games that ran fine on previous versions no longer work under DX10 and 11. Pool of Radiance II - Ruins of Myth Drannor being a typical case, it's in the Ubi back catalogue if you want to check.

I was playing Eschalon Book1 the other week, and surprisingly it slowed down as more trees appeared on screen, tis has also happened on later versions but Book I was old enough not to suffer that problem, so maybe it doesn't like the ATI card in this laptop as much as other ATI models, or NVidia ones. However, selecting OpenGL instead of DirectX in the game launcher fixed this issue, and it flew along no matter how heavily forested the game screen got.

Finally, WebGL works natively with OpenGL so much better than DirectX, not surprising really, they both come from the same Open Source stable, not the locked in proprietary one.

Even if this just reduces load times for maps, this will be a huge improvement to our lives.
However, rendering is only 1 of many issues, how you managed to mess up the quest log is beyond me, and no wonder all our computers are struggling, the game now seems to hold all previous screens in memory (maps, star menu etc...) and redraws them again when moving or reopening, and then tries to redraw. What a mess.

The obvious "fix" is to make the Client official again until significant progress is made on sorting out this mess, it may have been clunky but at least the game was playable, unlike the last 2 events which were a nightmare. Becoming pretty obvious that the only people who "enjoyed" them were those who have reverted back to the unofficial client version from the Wiki instructions.

We still have all the same issues reported ad nauseam from the test server, some even worse, abandoning the client in the face of our reports was a very poor decision.

[Norton_C]

I like it when somebody puts details up like you @Nogbad. It's a fresh air compared to our ignoramuses "help, the game does not work" and BB's equally qualified response "we know, we are working on it". Keep it coming Nog. From you I learned something today.

[Kotugo]

Going back to the old client makes sense, but it requires paying Samsung for a license.

Saving money is more important than playability for whoever makes the money decisions (someone who doesn't play the game obviously).

Sticking to their guns has probably lost them too many players at this point.

Don't expect a useful reply from Bluebyte, the developers seem to be hidden behind several layers of "managers" with each layer using telephone/chinese whispers to communicate.

[JustDman]

Id rather they skipped an event and focused on making game playable, like most I join for event as want the new stuff. It not fun and painful to do most the stuff due to the many issues. I know that slows money from gem sales as you always have some that complete event buying via gems. But if they actually fixed game people might be willing to spend gems on stuff again to improve island, remove rocks etc

[Qualan]

Id rather they skipped an event and focused on making game playable, like most I join for event as want the new stuff. It not fun and painful to do most the stuff due to the many issues. I know that slows money from gem sales as you always have some that complete event buying via gems. But if they actually fixed game people might be willing to spend gems on stuff again to improve island, remove rocks etc

1) The event impact on dev team if fairly minimal, esp on the programmers as it is just the cookiecutter mold from last year with reward changes and some other slight adjustment so impact on programmers who make a difference on bug fixing isnt too big
2) kill events for 6 months or longer and expect the old hands to retire en masse as they have nothing to look forward except a year of bugfixing

The balance to get is not easy but most likely, killing off events would not be a better choice for BB

[hotspot888]

.

[tiger7]

am so gratefull to BB, didnt think it possible to make game even worse, but xmas morning, tried to do nords adv, hard because cant transfer to adv isle.as have to restart again.
restart takes its usual 30 to 60 mins Ho Ho Ho.

[copycat71]

BB did not do anything, it got worse on it's own

[Max_turtle]

tso is runing on a 2 year old version of unity 2019-3- something