Slitherine

This new version brings many of improvements and bug fixes for every platform!

For instance now Isolated Units no longer lose strength overnight if the tile is not contested and the AI has been refined in order to better adapt to keep better supply lines!

But the changes are many so don’t miss the list here!

You can download the patch from here (PC) and here (Mac)

Grab the game here!

On my Mac OS X the steam system fails to find the executable and aborts with a 'Failed to start game (unknown error)' message. Meantime I figured out that there is a 'BuildSteam' executable in '~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Battle of the Bulge/BattleOfTheBulge.app/Contents/MacOS' which starts the game.

Thanks for the feedback TeTeT, we're investigating now!

In the original version, there was an option to keep playing a game against the AI (p.ex. Luck of draw), even after you had won on points (and not just the Bitter End scenario).It hope that you reintegrated this function in the next patch ,thanks

TeTeT wrote:On my Mac OS X the steam system fails to find the executable and aborts with a 'Failed to start game (unknown error)' message. Meantime I figured out that there is a 'BuildSteam' executable in '~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Battle of the Bulge/BattleOfTheBulge.app/Contents/MacOS' which starts the game.

Hi TeTeT, it seems to be working okay on my local Mac. Can I ask if you can verify the game cache? From the Steam Library, right click on Battle of the Bulge -> Properties -> Local Files -> Verify Integrity of Game Cache.

We did have a problem with the app earlier in our test cycle and it may be that a dodgy file is hanging around on your local system.

Thanks!

I verified the local game cache and there were no errors or files in need to be transferred. I can de-install/re-install the game, but in case you want to investigate I leave it at its current state for a while.

TeTeT wrote:I verified the local game cache and there were no errors or files in need to be transferred. I can de-install/re-install the game, but in case you want to investigate I leave it at its current state for a while.

Hi TeTeT, one last thing, that I'm sure you've probably tried already, but can you close and re-boot Steam?

Ta!

Haven't tried re-starting steam before, but it changed nothing

Here's the startup process on iPad 2:

Launch game - pause 2-3 seconds
Startup screen with 'Loading' text, 3-5 seconds
Black screen, 5 seconds
Video intro, tap screen
Black screen, 3 seconds
Startup screen with 'Loading' text, 20+ seconds
Map board with no units, 3-5 seconds
Map board reflecting units/position of the last local game played, but prior to last turn played, requiring last turn to be replayed complete the game
Victory / defeat screen, tap main menu
Title screen with 'Loading' text, 3 seconds
Finally the main menu

Yep, programming an app to boot directly to the start menu must be really difficult!

Hi - The Mac link is dead for me.

My hanging PBEM Game hangs, so nothing changes for me.

Problem is the following as described:
"I have more or less the same Problem - Opponet Rauha is Allies and his turm has two conficts, the first works fine, than the Continue comes and after that the second conflict. Now it can't be closed and the game hangs."

The Conflicts are in the wrong order.

And the PBEM UI is no better than before. Process is launch the game, wait forever through the launch sequence described above, select online play, log in, wait, find your active game, select it, wait, game load fails, start over, finally get to make your move, then get booted out of the game after you move, then wait for an email, then go through the whole process again. Actually the worst multiplayer game interface I've ever seen.

peterjfrigate wrote:Hi - The Mac link is dead for me.

Hi Peter, sorry, there was a typo in the link, it should work now

Thanks

sa_gibson wrote:And the PBEM UI is no better than before. Process is launch the game, wait forever through the launch sequence described above, select online play, log in, wait, find your active game, select it, wait, game load fails, start over, finally get to make your move, then get booted out of the game after you move, then wait for an email, then go through the whole process again. Actually the worst multiplayer game interface I've ever seen.

Hi! Thanks for the feedback. We are currently working on the 1.16 patch which is focusing on making this experience much more efficient!

TeTeT wrote:Haven't tried re-starting steam before, but it changed nothing

Hi TeTeT, can we ask which Mac OS you're running?

sa_gibson wrote:Here's the startup process on iPad 2:

Launch game - pause 2-3 seconds
Startup screen with 'Loading' text, 3-5 seconds
Black screen, 5 seconds
Video intro, tap screen
Black screen, 3 seconds
Startup screen with 'Loading' text, 20+ seconds
Map board with no units, 3-5 seconds
Map board reflecting units/position of the last local game played, but prior to last turn played, requiring last turn to be replayed complete the game
Victory / defeat screen, tap main menu
Title screen with 'Loading' text, 3 seconds
Finally the main menu

I've just tested the appstore version on Ipad2 with IOS9 , the transitions are there but they're not nearly as long as you've said. Loading the map took 7 seconds (with a clock in hand). Also the transitions between the intro video and to intro video are 1.5s at most. While I agree they're noticeable there's hardly anything we can do about them.
Also please remember that Ipad2 is the absolute lowest device that can run this game, so some longer loading screens are to be expected.

Regarding iPad2, bear in mind that I was playing this game on this device before Slitherene changed it. I would not be complaining about the load time and these transitions if it was not dramatically different than it was before the rewritten version. And the transition times do vary, sometimes better and sometimes worse.

Will no one at Slitherene take responsibility for the poor state of this product launch? It's Shenandoah's fault because they went bankrupt. It's Apple's fault because they change things all the time. It's the beta testing public's fault because they didn't volunteer to test it for free. It's the customers' fault for having old devices.

Shards wrote:

TeTeT wrote:Haven't tried re-starting steam before, but it changed nothing

Hi TeTeT, can we ask which Mac OS you're running?

I'm still on Yosemite 10.10.5. Feel free to send me an pm if you want more system related information.

sa_gibson wrote:Regarding iPad2, bear in mind that I was playing this game on this device before Slitherene changed it. I would not be complaining about the load time and these transitions if it was not dramatically different than it was before the rewritten version. And the transition times do vary, sometimes better and sometimes worse.

Will no one at Slitherene take responsibility for the poor state of this product launch? It's Shenandoah's fault because they went bankrupt. It's Apple's fault because they change things all the time. It's the beta testing public's fault because they didn't volunteer to test it for free. It's the customers' fault for having old devices.

Hi,

If we were to do this product launch again, we would definitely have changed our release approach. Coming to market with a new product on PC, Mac and iOS is hard, but when one of those markets already has an excellent version of the product? That was a mistake that we're dedicated to rectifying.

Our plan is still to bring as much of the fantastic Shenandoah back catalogue to as broad an audience as possible but we have shifted our timescales to spend extra time with Battle of the Bulge to bring the game up to a more satisfying standard. This will push back releases of Road to Moscow and Desert Fox for PC/Max, but we've learnt our lesson here and are changing our approaches to multi-format releases in the future.

Believe me, we all really love the CiC games and want to see them being enjoyed.

Thanks