Please make previous version accessible on Betas tab

[SpreadsheetGamer]

Bugs have made the game unplayable at the moment. It would be handy if, like other Paradox games, we could roll back to the previous version on the Steam Betas tab. That way those of us who were mid-game can continue our game while a hot-fix is being developed.

 

[OxfordNik]

Does the game still work if I don't install the newest update, I wonder? (/hope!)

 

[OxfordNik]

Does the game still work if I don't install the newest update, I wonder? (/hope!)

The answer, it would seem, is 'no'

Seriously, how could a 'patch' with all the known issues that are listed in the patch notes be released, without giving the users the option of rolling back to a previous version?! Paradox should really have learnt better by now...

 

[Stuckenschmidt]

This feels, as if we are back in the golden days of "Gettysburg : Armored Warfare"

 

[jztemple]

Yup, I'd like to go back to the previous version as well, this is really a mess.

 

[Ludwiś]

Cześć, czy można wrócić do poprzedniej wersji gry, bo aktualna uniemożliwia mi granie?
Nie mam nowego dlc, a 90% modów przestało działać z powodu aktualizacji?

Good luck in making more dlc

regards

(Google translator)

 

[Aiwyth]

Bugs have made the game unplayable at the moment. It would be handy if, like other Paradox games, we could roll back to the previous version on the Steam Betas tab. That way those of us who were mid-game can continue our game while a hot-fix is being developed.

Hey @SpreadsheetGamer

Thank you for sharing the suggestion! I completely understand the sentiment, especially that some other PDX games allow to do the rollback. Unfortunately, from our perspective setting up and managing an extra branch on Steam right now, takes away resources and time that can be used to improve the quality of the expansion and the free patch for players on all the platforms. I'm afraid we cannot commit to enabling the rollback on Steam at the moment.

 

[SpreadsheetGamer]

@Aiwyth Thanks for the honest communication. I understand setting that all up retroactively doesn't feel very productive as a developer.

In that case, it is extra important to get the bugs affecting previous save games working. I saw the update about the hotfix coming Monday and I'm hopeful it all works out well. Asking people to just start a new game is not ideal given the time investment in some games. Quite bad PR for any Let's Plays that are in progress as well.

But for any future updates or DLCs I would still encourage branching and making that a standard part of your release management process so that its easy and consistent.

 

[helix427]

Hey @SpreadsheetGamer

Thank you for sharing the suggestion! I completely understand the sentiment, especially that some other PDX games allow to do the rollback. Unfortunately, from our perspective setting up and managing an extra branch on Steam right now, takes away resources and time that can be used to improve the quality of the expansion and the free patch for players on all the platforms. I'm afraid we cannot commit to enabling the rollback on Steam at the moment.

OK, well let us know when it becomes possible, even if it happens several years from now. It might also be a good idea to give users the option to manually update the game, so that we can finish our current games first before the next update makes them possibly unplayable. I currently am in the middle of a game game that is now broken since the last update, possibly because one of the mods on it no longer works. Is there at least a way to manually switch disasters on and off? I have a cold wave that is now on permanently. I assume there is some Boolean value in the code that is stuck on "true" given that the cold wave is now permanently on.

 

[Th3ories]

OK, well let us know when it becomes possible, even if it happens several years from now. It might also be a good idea to give users the option to manually update the game, so that we can finish our current games first before the next update makes them possibly unplayable. I currently am in the middle of a game game that is now broken since the last update, possibly because one of the mods on it no longer works. Is there at least a way to manually switch disasters on and off? I have a cold wave that is now on permanently. I assume there is some Boolean value in the code that is stuck on "true" given that the cold wave is now permanently on.

It shouldn't be that long and honestly should already be a thing like all the other PDX games. I understand they want to focus on bug fixes for Monday's patch but they shouldn't have to 'take away resources' to 'set up and manage' an extra branch. A developer SHOULD keep rollback copies of the branches/versions of a software they develop and maintain as things like this happen with coding from time to time. - Testing in Dev instead of testing in a closed environment is a poor industry practice that needs to stop - Presumably; all they'd need would be what equates to a password-locked file folder and the most previous known good version of the game saved inside it and it could be accessed just like any other PDX rollback-capable game. Maybe I'm oversimplifying it some, but that seems to be how the other rollbacks work. As for 'managing' it; nothing to really manage on a working version of the game that had very little to no issues and had been doing fine until the forced update.

 

[fasquardon]

Hey @SpreadsheetGamer

Thank you for sharing the suggestion! I completely understand the sentiment, especially that some other PDX games allow to do the rollback. Unfortunately, from our perspective setting up and managing an extra branch on Steam right now, takes away resources and time that can be used to improve the quality of the expansion and the free patch for players on all the platforms. I'm afraid we cannot commit to enabling the rollback on Steam at the moment.

This, together with the utter shambles of the expansion and the associated free patch, really makes me wonder just how much of a shoestring affair the team working on Surviving Mars is. What exactly is involved in enabling a rollback on steam that makes it so hard?

If Abstraction Games can't dedicate enough time and manpower to its Surviving Mars team to ensure a quality product is released and can't allow players to opt out of getting bug ridden "updates", the company should redirect its attention to the projects it can do quality work on. While I would love to see well made extensions to Surviving Mars, which does have a rather dull late game, I would rather see the game be neglected rather than burdened down with poorly thought-out and poorly executed expansions. Especially if the poorly executed work were to continue to be forced onto the customers.

Also, fixing the free patch won't bring back mod compatibility, and since many modders moved on in the long hiatus before Abstraction Games started to release content for Surviving Mars, I don't expect the updated Surviving Mars will ever support my current in progress saves. As exciting as the improvements that the free patch promises (once it is stable for those of us on Linux systems), it would be much appreciated if the team can find the time in the coming weeks to allow players to go back to the old version of Surviving Mars.

fasquardon

 

[AndrewT]

It might also be a good idea to give users the option to manually update the game ...

Steam do not offer that option. Your only options in Steam is for patches to apply soon after they are released, or when you next start the game.

 

[ThereWillBeBugsToOvercome]

Hey @SpreadsheetGamer

Thank you for sharing the suggestion! I completely understand the sentiment, especially that some other PDX games allow to do the rollback. Unfortunately, from our perspective setting up and managing an extra branch on Steam right now, takes away resources and time that can be used to improve the quality of the expansion and the free patch for players on all the platforms. I'm afraid we cannot commit to enabling the rollback on Steam at the moment.

Everyone appreciates that you wanted to give us new content. That's a lot of points in your favor. The situation caused by Abstraction's apparent incompetence is really unfortunate, but you're kind of caught in the middle of them biting off way more than they could chew. However, you have complete control over making this right, and you're not... and for a lot of people that's a lot of points against you.

I understand that ideally Abstraction would just fix all the bugs and everyone would be happy, but some of us are losing faith in them to fix this in any reasonable timeframe. They've been working on it for the better part of a month now, and I've seen three issues highlighted that are scheduled to be fixed Monday. That's like an issue a week. I'm sure there are other minor bugs that will also be fixed, but given the sheer number of problems from the Below & Beyond update, plus the issues that still haven't been fixed since the Tourism update... at this rate it's going to be years before everything is fixed.

You really need to have all your customers' backs here, not just the ones buying the latest DLCs.

 

[Fiatlux]

I am sure that it's all the errand boy's fault !
Developer told the errand boy to pop over to Paradox Interactive with the code for the game update and the DLC and tell Paradox Interactive that it was all ready for Beta release.
However the errand boy , who is obviously an intern got it wrong and told Paradox Interactive that it was all ready for release.
So the way I see it then it can not be the developers fault if Paradox Interactive has uploaded all the Beta release ready code as plain release code.
What we need is to get the previous game version back and then have the new update and the new DLC uploaded to Beta channel for testing as should have been in the first place.
So I find the request to have a roll back to the previous version on the Steam Betas tab completely wrong cause that's where the new 'update version' belongs and the previous version ought to go back as standard install version until all the bugs has been ironed out of the Beta .
I am sure that that's also what developer meant to do , only the errand boy screwed it up for them !
So please stop all that negativity towards the developer and let them do their Beta testing of the Update and the DLC over at the Beta channel as soon as Paradox Interactive has punished the guilty errand boy and gotten the previous game version back as standard install version over at Steam.
Thank you !

 

[Mohreb]

Steam do not offer that option. Your only options in Steam is for patches to apply soon after they are released, or when you next start the game.

wich is an issue, we (gamers) noted countless times to Steam, but it might help if publishers tell them too that we don't need those auto-update sheanigens ...

 

[SpreadsheetGamer]

Steam do not offer that option. Your only options in Steam is for patches to apply soon after they are released, or when you next start the game.

Sort of. Steam forces updates for branches (what it calls betas). But if a branch is a version then it inherently wouldn't be updated. To be clear; I am currently on the EU4 1.29.6 branch since 1.30 landed. I was not forced to update when any of the 1.30.x hotfixes or 1.31 updates landed, which makes total sense.

wich is an issue, we (gamers) noted countless times to Steam, but it might help if publishers tell them too that we don't need those auto-update sheanigens ...

I think Paradox does it best by using the betas system to make historical versions available. It's totally workable.