State of the Build - v1.16 Coming Soon!

[IainMcNeil]

Hi guys,

v1.16 is coming soon! And we'll initially release it as an Open Beta on Steam so that you guys can have access to it whilst we wait for the iOS certification process. Hopefully this week!

Current change notes below:
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Changelog 1.15 - 1.16
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Game features added:
- New Real Time multiplayer system. Quickly pass turns back and forth and get alerts when you have turns to play
- Mulitplayer Notifications in Single Player and Multiplayer menus and games in progress.
- You can now resign and claim Multiplayer games in the game list menu.

Game fixes:
- AI improved.
- Fixed a lot of multiplayer desynchronizations that caused the game to freeze.
- Fixed AI stuck on replacements phase bug.
- Breakthrough from 2 different tiles in the same turn should no longer cause unwanted behavior.
- Overall improvement of game stability.
- Victory Points are now loading correctly in both Single Player and Multiplayer.
- You should no longer be stuck with History / Help menus in iOS.
- Fixed an issue where changing the language to Japanese and changing it back to English could cause game crash.

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[zakblood]

thanks for the quick fixes and support as ever

[Shards]

Hi All,

I've updated the changelog above with some of the updates that we've implemented in the last few days.

Our plan for updates going forward is that we'll be maintaining deploying builds to three places. Firstly, we'll be using our Beta test community on these forums to give us some feedback on iOS and PC. Secondly, we'll be using Steam to run Open Beta's once the Beta community have given things a once over. We'll then push patches live to our Slitherine/Matrix stores, Steam and iTunes simultaneously.

The first build should be available to iOS beta testers very soon.

We really value your feedback and opinions on our games and hope to keep improving Battle of the Bulge and the rest of the CiC series.

Thanks,

[Shards]

Hi,

A quick update for everyone.

We release the closed iOS beta yesterday night with 90% updated UI for iPhone and optimisations for all iDevices.

We'll publish the PC build to our closed beta testers either today or tomorrow.

Once these groups of testers have had a chance to play and give us feedback we'll create our full v1.15 build that will go into Apple submission. As you'll know, that can take up to 10 days, but rather than making our PC and Mac users wait, we'll create an Open Beta in Steam which you can sign up to if you want to get in there and check it out early. We'll then publish the new patch to all platforms once we're through Apple review.

As always, we value your feedback at every stage of this process

Thanks!

[zakblood]

thanks Shards, away for a week so will be missing in action on the first wave

[elmo3]

Any ETA on the beta update? Thanks.

[Shards]

Any ETA on the beta update? Thanks.

Hi Elmo, the game is in closed beta now on PC and iOS and the team are responding to feedback and polishing up some last changes. I don't want to give a definite date for the open beta, but there's a chance that it could be as soon as next week,

Thanks

[elmo3]

Well "next week" came and went and now "this week" has come and gone too. Any chance of a patch before the end of the month?

[Shards]

Hi Elmo,

Apple have now signed off on the iOS version and I have the PC and Mac master files right here. So, this week certainly

[elmo3]

Good news. Thanks.

[Shards]

Hi All,

v1.15 will be releasing on Monday or Tuesday next week!

Thanks!

[zakblood]

good news, thanks

[Shards]

1.16 update posted!

[BlackAda]

Have downloaded the open beta from steam and it won't start. Although steam status is "running" no window opens. Moving the mouse pointer over the icon in the task bar shows the application is not responding.
Windows 7 64-bit system, Battle of the Bulge configured to run in a window.

[Shards]

Have downloaded the open beta from steam and it won't start. Although steam status is "running" no window opens. Moving the mouse pointer over the icon in the task bar shows the application is not responding.
Windows 7 64-bit system, Battle of the Bulge configured to run in a window.

Hi!

Sorry that this isn't working first time for you. Can you try the below for me?

In your Steam Library, right-click on Battle of the Bulge [beta] and select Properties. Select the Local Files tab and select "Verify Integrity of Game Cache". This will prompt steam to double-check that it hasn't missed any files in the switch over to the Beta branch. The BuildID at the bottom should say 873271 as well. Let it finish downloading before running the game again.

If that still doesn't work, from that same Local Files tab, select "Browse Local Files" and try running autorun.exe from that folder. If that doesn't work, try running bulge.exe.

Hopefully at least one of those will get you running. If not, please do report back here as there may be an underlying issue with the launcher that we'd love your help to diagnose

Thanks!

[BlackAda]

Hi,

"Verify Integrity of Game Cache" completes with "All files successfully validated". The BuildID is 873271.

Browsing the local files and running, neither autorun.exe nor bulge.exe works. Windows Task Manager shows one process of autorun.exe and one process of bulge.exe when running v1.15, but three processes of each with v1.16. As these processes cannot be terminated from Windows Task Manager, a reboot is necessary to get rid of them. Is it a coincidence that I have a multi-monitor system with three monitors?

[davbenbak]

I've played the open beta on Steam and the AI seems to be worse now than it was before. The Allied generals are particularly awful, loading up units in areas that are sure to be surrounded and completely abandoning prime objectives such as Verviers and Liege for no reason whatsoever.

I know that making an AI isn't easy, but these don't understand the supply rules, value defensive terrain, or know how to make sensible gambles when attacking at all.

[elmo3]

So is 1.16 officially live now? I had to update the game before it would let me do my PBEM turns. Also, after taking my turn a message came up saying "Waiting for opponent..." and I had to manually end my turn from the main menu. It never did that before 1.16.

[Shards]

So is 1.16 officially live now? I had to update the game before it would let me do my PBEM turns. Also, after taking my turn a message came up saying "Waiting for opponent..." and I had to manually end my turn from the main menu. It never did that before 1.16.

Hi Elmo, that's part of the new Live PBEM system. If your opponent is available and making their turns at the same time as you, then you can stay in the battle and receive the new turn as soon as they post it!

If you want to change between multiple PBEM games, instead of going back to the menu, you can click on the envelope on the left hand side and it will bring up a list of your games that are awaiting your moves!

We really enjoy the speed of MP in Bulge so wanted to give you all a system that would help you to play your games quicker and have more fun

Thanks!

[BlackAda]

v1.16 is less stable than its predecessor! So far, playing the allies against axis computer opponent, I've not been able to complete the "Bitter End" Scenario before the game freezes up.

Attached is a zip file containing nine frozen games in the Autosave slot.