Patch Notes - Rev 102535 May 23, 2014

[Silentdarkness1]

Isn't the bug tracker for reporting bugs? They already know it exists, it just needs to be fixed. It's by far one of the largest bugs I've ever seen. Do you know how many time the game has not worked with mods? I don't recall a single instance of mods (which were compatible with the update) not working with the game.

It's for reporting bugs/technical issues. Although this is already a confirmed issue, it still shouldn't be in this thread, I think.

[Madman666]

It's just that this is the first time in the entire development of the game that mods have been this broken. Giving people something that they can enjoy is our goal. So is getting feedback so that we can improve our mod. That can't happen until this gets fixed. This is also memorial day weekend (a three day weekend) in the states, which means more people will be downloading mods and playing games than during the week, and that would normally mean more feedback.

 

I'm not mad at Klei. I'm trying to be as civil and calm as I can here to get that across.

 

I'm just very uncomfortable with the current situation. Why were larger mods not tested to work with an update that focuses heavily on the mod API?

 

 

 

Will do. I don't like unhappy users, at least not when we can't do anything for them.

 

Yeah, I understand that. Its very annoying to deal with. What I am trying to say - just cheer up somewhat) I am sure among those who enjoy your mods most people are understanding and can wait a bit, so all your hard work certainly will not be in vain.

 

And I didn't know that there were 3 day weekend in US... Timing is really bad, I guess

Just keep your spirits up, guys.

[J20hawkz]

It's for reporting bugs/technical issues. Although this is already a confirmed issue, it still shouldn't be in this thread, I think.

It's fine. It would be pointless to start a new thread basically repeating what was said here.

Edit: @Madman666 Three day weekend here in the UK as well.

[DeathDisciple]

Comments about the effects of a patch shouldn't be in a thread made about the patch? Maybe we should start (talking about) sniffing flowers or something... else... then

[debugman18]

Comments about the effects of a patch shouldn't be in a thread made about the patch? Maybe we should start (talking about) sniffing flowers or something... else... then

 

On it.

 

 

That dog is sad because his mods don't work, and now he's sniffing flowers to cheer himself up.

[TheDanaAddams]

You can just say on your mod's page, that its not you fault, that it temporary problem with the main game and redirect those whiners right here (those of them who can read will understand. And those who can't or don't wanna - can go... far away). I mean what was your main goal in making your mod - fame and mod's popularity or giving people something that they can enjoy playing with? The timing is awful, but its not the end of the world and not even the end for your mod. It'll be resolved and everyone will be happy again. Just survive this.

Here's the thing: On Steam especially, users simply don't bother reading.

I have a huge FAQ on my Link mod page, yet people still ask the same questions over and over.

 

Even if I have answered the question in the comments - the last post before theirs could hold the answer, and it wouldn't be read. This is a thing that actually happened to me. I answered something, then the next day, another person asked the same question, without even checking the last reply I had posted in the comments.

 

People are lazy, and just don't want to read. They just want you to solve it for them, since you made it, and why should they care!

[Madman666]

Here's the thing: On Steam especially, users simply don't bother reading.

I have a huge FAQ on my Link mod page, yet people still ask the same questions over and over.

 

Even if I have answered the question in the comments - the last post before theirs could hold the answer, and it wouldn't be read. This is a thing that actually happened to me. I answered something, then the next day, another person asked the same question, without even checking the last reply I had posted in the comments.

 

People are lazy, and just don't want to read. They just want you to solve it for them, since you made it, and why should they care!

 

That's precisely why I said, that those who don't read, can't read or don't wanna read info provided - can all go somewhere veeery far. I am on Steam myself and have a mod there, so I know how it goes. Modders are providing FREE content for the game and do not have an obligation to answer every question some lazy bum is asking because he does not want to take some time and read the info.

[kraken121]

Here's the thing: On Steam especially, users simply don't bother reading.

I have a huge FAQ on my Link mod page, yet people still ask the same questions over and over.

 

Even if I have answered the question in the comments - the last post before theirs could hold the answer, and it wouldn't be read. This is a thing that actually happened to me. I answered something, then the next day, another person asked the same question, without even checking the last reply I had posted in the comments.

 

People are lazy, and just don't want to read. They just want you to solve it for them, since you made it, and why should they care!

 

Could not agree more!

 

[simplex]

Guys, I understand your disappointment (especially those who worked on their mods so hard), but have faith in Klei. I mean they now are down to only SethR alone working on bugfixes. And he is just one human, who needs to sleep and eat from time to time, you know? I am sure he'll fix this as soon as he can. Just be a little bit more patient. Find a way to pass some time before its done. Its not that difficult really.

 

I appreciate the work SethR has been putting into RoG and in the modding API, and I have no doubts it's a daunting task to handle this alone. But while this justifies how a bug like this could slip through the cracks, the fact that the update wasn't rolled back when the issue was discovered is simply unacceptable. It's a slap in the modding community's face.

If Klei is lacking man power to properly test their patches within their intended schedule, then delay that schedule instead of releasing a broken update. Or at least roll it back when it turns out to be broken.

 

It's the fact that an untested (at least properly) patch was pushed through on a Friday, and the work around is not acceptable. If you put out a patch before the weekend that disables a huge portion of the mods for the community, then a rollback should have been performed before going home for the weekend.

This. There are two cases to test: when a mod is loaded directly, and when it's loaded from cache. The second case always causes a crash (even if the mod is "empty", with just a modinfo.lua and nothing else). I don't think it's too much to ask for 2 cases to be tested, but again, since SethR is having to handle everything by himself it's nevertheless understandable this wasn't done; but I see no justification for not rolling back the update.

 

 

He knows how much of an inconvenience this "workaround" is to people.

 

It's not a functional workaround. It won't help any mod doing anything beyond the most trivial, so calling this hardly useful hack a workaround just adds insult to injury, since it creates the illusion the problem can be overcome by user action, when just a few silly cases can.

 

Are you all telling me Don't Starve is unplayable without mods? Because if it isn't why can't we all just wait for the fix. The steam forum is literally being over run with "Help Mods aren't working!" threads. If Don't Starve is unplayable without mods then I completely understand the frustration.

 

This is not about playing the game. This is a PR issue. If a user installs a mod and this causes the game to simply crash, the user is going to blame the mod. And if a user convinces himself a mod doesn't work, they're likely to not give the mod a second chance in the future.

This is both insulting and dismissive to the modding community, making all our mods look like broken pieces of crap. And don't tell me a mod's reputation is a secondary concern, because it isn't. It is on reputation that a mod creates a community around itself, and with it gets more feedback and potential collaborators to help it grow. Klei should know this all too well, since Don't Starve was initially released without adversiting, growing its userbase on word of mouth alone based on the reputation it built with its players.

And we all know most gamers don't care about reading the context. We did post a notice in the forums' download page of U&A as well as in its Workshop page warning users of what the issue is, and that it's expected to be fixed early next week. We've also been replying to many, many comments repeating this statement. This doesn't prevent many users from still being clueless and thinking the mod is broken, and neither does it prevent Up and Away's negative ratings in the Workshop from having doubled in the hours since this last patch went live (though, to be fair, the number of negative ratings is still low, at 3%).

 

I do not doubt SethR's ability to fix the problem nor the magnitude of work that is solely on his desk atm, I just think it was a poor decision not to rollback the patch before leaving for the weekend.

 

Precisely. No one is asking him to do crunch time and fix the issue. Rolling back the update until it's fixed (whenever that may be) is a more than adequate solution.

[J20hawkz]

@simplex your mod is awesome you honestly won't have an issue.

What I'll do is start a new thread in Steam General Discussion forum, basically stating your mod is not the cause for their game crashing or what ever reason they give (with your permission of course) if there is something specific you want me to put in the thread private message me the details.

All you have to do is post my thread link as a reply. Saves you having to repeat yourself and hopefully gets them "Up and Away" from your mod.

[kraken121]

@simplex your mod is awesome you honestly won't have an issue.

What I'll do is start a new thread in Steam General Discussion forum, basically stating your mod is not the cause for their game crashing or what ever reason they give (with your permission of course) if there is something specific you want me to put in the thread private message me the details.

All you have to do is post my thread link as a reply. Saves you having to repeat yourself and hopefully gets them "Up and Away" from your mod.

It would be nice if you said pretty much "all content mods are broken" or something along those lines, this problem affects many of us, luckily we decided to wait for Beta to release our collaboration on steam.

[simplex]

What I'll do is start a new thread in Steam General Discussion forum, basically stating your mod is not the cause for their game crashing or what ever reason they give (with your permission of course) if there is something specific you want me to put in the thread private message me the details.

In the absence of a rollback, that would help a bit, thanks.

(but don't limit the explanation to Up and Away, since it's a general issue with all mods)

[J20hawkz]

I made a thread earlier today just for that.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/219740/discussions/2/522728268763461124/

I'll get rid of the shadow copy in main general discussion (for some reason it doesn't bump when someone posts a comment in the original thread) and have a duplicate pinned thread there as well as in Bugs and Technical sub forum.

Edit: I'll let everyone know in the Five Word Game Thread as well. People will spread the word

http://steamcommunity.com/app/219740/discussions/0/846961716490117342/#p405

[spencer320]

I can say it does suck for the content mods like Up & Away. I planned on downloading the alpha release this weekend so my son could play it. He was extremely excited when I told him it was released earlier this week (we played an earlier version and he loves it). While it sucks to have to wait, it's completely understandable even for an 8 yr old. As impatient as he is, he's content to wait until everything will work fine.

Sorry this happened to you guys!

[ArcticFox789]

Thanks @J20hawkz. This will be helpful to have 'official' confirmation.

[Barbarian]

I haven't really explored mods yet, but I understand the frustration for those of you who use them.

 

But I have to say I'm enjoying playing a game that's so far bug free.

 

Especially happy to see the problem with The Game is Afoot is fixed, though I haven't tried it out yet - I prefer Adventure mode and this was making it unplayable, so thanks for that!

[Deliz Seemack]

I'm so afraid of playing my game now with the 102535 build.

 

I don't use any mod but with the amount of *things* reported like multiple seasons happening at the same time or crashes when you kill a lureplant, I think I might just wait for a few builds

 

I wouldn't want to corrupt my saves.

[kraken121]

um, why was this moved into a RoG bug thread, this is not RoG only, this is all...

@mods (you should know what you are doing, before moving stuff around...)

[simplex]

um, why was this moved into a RoG bug thread, this is not RoG only, this is all...

Yeah, while most of the changes are RoG only, others were applied to the base game. In particular, the mod worldgen crash affects vanilla as well.

EDIT:

@mods (you should know what you are doing, before moving stuff around...)

I'm not sure if the thread was moved by a moderator or by SethR himself.

[XirmiX]

Rabbits still fall down for me, I think! Every time there's an update, I just drop everything, delete my hard work thing and start ALL OVER AGAIN because I've dun goofed! Also, I'd suggest, that Ice cube shouldn't make you Wet to the point of having all your inventory Wet and that the Fashion melon shouldn't take away sanity, because that really makes Summer a season where you not only concentrate if you're getting heat stroke but also on your sanity, which sucks! In Winter you barely get that and the clothing for Winter you have actually GIVES you sanity! Plus the fact that everything burns in Summer: it's just too much for nothing. Barely anything good that you can get comes in summer: The cactus flower you can get in summer is pointless to make, cause why to try and get it for making foods when you can make all other foods, plus by making a vest with it: the vest just spoils making it pointless to make! The other good thing is Dragonfly, but which is a too much of a hard boss for its rubbish loot: I mean 8 meat and one scales that you can use to make only 1 chest or a fireproof armor, that would make any character like Willow, that's just pffft stupid!

 

I think all Giants should drop more loot and summer needs more plusses, so it'd be more like opposite of Winter instead of being freaking IMPOSSIBLE (not really impossible just that nobody wants to play it).

 

I might as well set Dragonfly to more or Lots and disable Summer, how's that, cause summer is a thing I just don't EVER want to play in RoG.

[mitboy]

Rabbits still fall down for me, I think! Every time there's an update, I just drop everything, delete my hard work thing and start ALL OVER AGAIN because I've dun goofed!

 

They drop normally in caves during earthquakes. What's wrong?

 

Also, I'd suggest, that Ice cube shouldn't make you Wet to the point of having all your inventory Wet and that the Fashion melon shouldn't take away sanity, because that really makes Summer a season where you not only concentrate if you're getting heat stroke but also on your sanity, which sucks!

 

I'ts early and mid game items. Eyebrella late game item.

 

In Winter you barely get that and the clothing for Winter you have actually GIVES you sanity!

 

So flowersuit gives you sanity. Also during winter we have long dusk => sanity drain. In Summer we have only several hours of darkness.

 

Plus the fact that everything burns in Summer: it's just too much for nothing. Barely anything good that you can get comes in summer: The cactus flower you can get in summer is pointless to make, cause why to try and get it for making foods when you can make all other foods,

 

That's true. Usually I create new roads, make some items e.t.s

 

plus by making a vest with it: the vest just spoils making it pointless to make!

 

12 reeds 5 cactus flowers and 3 silk - not very much for 1 summer.

 

The other good thing is Dragonfly, but which is a too much of a hard boss for its rubbish loot: I mean 8 meat and one scales that you can use to make only 1 chest or a fireproof armor, that would make any character like Willow, that's just pffft stupid!

 

I agree. But calm down a bit.

 

I think all Giants should drop more loot and summer needs more plusses, so it'd be more like opposite of Winter instead of being freaking IMPOSSIBLE (not really impossible just that nobody wants to play it).

 

Time is gone for new items. At least he can do some balance.

 

I might as well set Dragonfly to more or Lots and disable Summer, how's that, cause summer is a thing I just don't EVER want to play in RoG.

[simplex]

They drop normally in caves during earthquakes. What's wrong?

They only drop normally if you don't save and reload while they're falling. The big issue is that entities should never have a damping coefficient of 1 or larger, but most entities in Don't Starve have a damping coefficient of 4 (which makes no sense, since the damping coefficient in clamped to the range [0, 1], so 4 is the same as 1). This means most entities remain static in mid air, instead of being affected by gravity.

Things like dropping rabbits, then, need to temporarily lower the damping coefficient of the relevant entity, and revert it back to normal once they finish falling (they should, at least, but the game just leaves the lowered value there: why not just make the lower value the freaking default then?!). It is a huge pain getting these things to work across save reloading: some of the most complex and messy code in Up and Away is related to get this kind of Physics juggling working right; but apparently (and more than understandably) SethR didn't feel such a huge increase in code complexity was justified by a gimmicky effect, so they decided to remove this altogether (or at least they meant to), though of course making all damping coefficients be lower than 1 would be a much better solution all around.

[Silentdarkness1]

At this rate, when developing for DS officially ends, there'll be an unofficial patch.

[J20hawkz]

@simplex and @kraken121 this thread is still in the same place it was originally. Maybe it's been moved around a few times today.

[orian34]

Rabbits still fall down for me, I think! Every time there's an update, I just drop everything, delete my hard work thing and start ALL OVER AGAIN because I've dun goofed! Also, I'd suggest, that Ice cube shouldn't make you Wet to the point of having all your inventory Wet and that the Fashion melon shouldn't take away sanity, because that really makes Summer a season where you not only concentrate if you're getting heat stroke but also on your sanity, which sucks! In Winter you barely get that and the clothing for Winter you have actually GIVES you sanity! Plus the fact that everything burns in Summer: it's just too much for nothing. Barely anything good that you can get comes in summer: The cactus flower you can get in summer is pointless to make, cause why to try and get it for making foods when you can make all other foods

Because flower salad is very useful, 40 hp and somes cactus to get it...it's fair..

, plus by making a vest with it: the vest just spoils making it pointless to make! The other good thing is Dragonfly, but which is a too much of a hard boss for its rubbish loot: I mean 8 meat and one scales that you can use to make only 1 chest or a fireproof armor, that would make any character like Willow, that's just pffft stupid!

 

I think all Giants should drop more loot and summer needs more plusses, so it'd be more like opposite of Winter instead of being freaking IMPOSSIBLE (not really impossible just that nobody wants to play it).

 

I might as well set Dragonfly to more or Lots and disable Summer, how's that, cause summer is a thing I just don't EVER want to play in RoG.