Patch Betas on Steam

[BAdler]

Patch Beta Testing

From now on, we will be allowing folks to play our beta patches on Steam. This has a two-fold benefit:

• Players get new fixes a bit faster and can check out the new changes that will drop in the next patch.
• Developers get access to information about new bugs that may have slipped into the patch. This will reduce the number of hotfixes for future patches.

We will make a formal announcement to the community when we are going to put the latest patch up for beta testing. We are starting this process with the 1.04 patch.

 

Limitations

• Right now we are only running this beta on Steam. The reason is that Steam provides a simple way to get folks into the beta. If any players know of any games that ran betas on GOG, please let me know so I can investigate.
• These patches may be unstable. We will be doing work on the patches and they haven't gone through a full QA cycle so unexpected things can happen. To be safe, I would avoid using any saved games that you do not want to get corrupted. If you do want to use those saved games, it is at your own risk.
• These patches may stay the same over the entire testing period, but that is unlikely. There might be frequent build changes, so expect to have to download multiple builds over a testing period.

Bug Reports

More than likely you are going to find bugs in these patches and you will need a place to report them. You can report these bugs by going to our new forum for patch beta bugs and support. One thing I ask is that you only report bugs that are specific to the patch beta. If the bug happens in the currently patched base game you should report it in our regular tech support forum.

 

For information on how to report bugs, please look at this post.

 

So, how do I get started?

It's actually pretty easy.

1. Completely quit out of the Steam client.
2. Restart the Steam client and navigate to the Library tab.
3. Right-click on the Pillars of Eternity entry and click on Properties.
    
4. Navigate to the Betas tab in the Properties menu.
5. Enter in the code "BETAPASSWORD" (remove quotes) and click on the Check Code button. 
    
6. Click on the dropdown list and select the "beta" branch. Once selected, close out of the Properties menu.
    
7. You should notice that your Pillars of Eternity game will now have "[beta]" after it. This means that your game is in the beta branch. Steam should queue an update for this branch.
8. You can now play the new beta branch of the game.
9. If you would like to switch your branch back to normal follow steps 3 and 4 to get back to the Beta tab in the Properties menu, then choose "NONE" as your branch. This should revert you back to the release version of the game.

 

Thank you to all of the folks that decide to play the patch beta and help report issues. Your help is invaluable and we really appreciate your dedication.

[BillyCorgan]

Thanks !

Are the STEAM succes always "running" with it ?

[BAdler]

Thanks !

 

Are the STEAM succes always "running" with it ?

 

I am not sure what you mean? Are you asking if the patches will change frequently?

[Larsenex]

As a user of 'beta' patches for Gal Civ III, once you Opt in to Beta pacthes you will always get them. This is a great idea, thanks!

[BillyCorgan]

Excuse, my poor English i guess.

 

I asked for STEAM Achievement ("succès" in French).

Edited April 9, 2015 by BillyCorgan

[BAdler]

Excuse, my poor English i guess.

 

I asked for STEAM Achievement ("succès" in French).

 

No worries. I just wanted to make sure that I answered your question properly.

 

The achievements should be running in these builds. It is possible that we might introduce an exploit that would allow a player to cheat achievements, but it is unlikely at this point.

[BAdler]

As a user of 'beta' patches for Gal Civ III, once you Opt in to Beta pacthes you will always get them. This is a great idea, thanks!

 

Yup. Once you do this process you can jump between the beta patches and your normal game no problem. We actually use this same process to distribute QA builds to people around the world (and in the office).

[Katarack21]

 

As a user of 'beta' patches for Gal Civ III, once you Opt in to Beta pacthes you will always get them. This is a great idea, thanks!

 

Yup. Once you do this process you can jump between the beta patches and your normal game no problem. We actually use this same process to distribute QA builds to people around the world (and in the office).

 

This is pretty awesome. I loaded the beta just now; I'll be playing it later tonight to check things out. I'm hoping the save/load times will improve. Thanks for the opportunity!

[ruzen]

Nice to see, using steam features efficiently but on a side note: while Its cool to still get the support about bug, features, polish, etc... but please dont change the balance too much, because I feel that my extremely hard playthoughs (calculated to extreme stats chars) are going to waste once It gets out.

Paradox games(EU4, CK2) offer patch rollback on Steam. Perhaps Obsidian could do the same? So when a person feel like ready to patch he/she can easly switch to It.

Edited April 9, 2015 by ruzen

[Cluas]

Thank you, updating

[LadyCrimson]

Pretty cool. 7DtD uses the opt in and players can go back and play older versions of that alpha if they wish etc. It's a nice feature.

[GrayAngel]

As i like it there is one thing that need to be sad Like Freaking Really?

[mclemente]

Are there patch notes for beta 1.04? If not, how should people be looking for changes in the new patch?

[BAdler]

You can find a copy of the 1.04 patch notes here.

[piezo]

My steam now shows [beta], but when I launch the game, I see 1.03.0533 in the menu screen.  Should this be 1.04 ?

 

If it turns out I AM in the beta...I'm disappointed, because the reckless assault stacking bug is still in effect, making me not want to continue playing anymore :/

[Marceror]

A sound practice. Happy to see Obsidian taking this route. Ravenous fans get the patches early. Obsidian gets some larger scale beta testing. More cautious or casual fans get more solid final patches.

 

Win, win, win!

[hayt]

Not sure if this is the right place but since using the beta patch I've noticed a bug (can't pan the view at all while paused)

[Deim]

Where we can send any reports?) i mean when testing beta version.

[ruzen]

Not sure if this is the right place but since using the beta patch I've noticed a bug (can't pan the view at all while paused)

 

 

Bug Reports

More than likely you are going to find bugs in these patches and you will need a place to report them. You can report these bugs by going to our new forum for patch beta bugs and support. One thing I ask is that you only report bugs that are specific to the patch beta. If the bug happens in the currently patched base game you should report it in our regular tech support forum.

 

For information on how to report bugs, please look at this post.

[Plazmid]

Here is an interesting observation. I don't have the beta option for my version. The only beta option listed on the beta tab is "none"

 

I have the "Royal Edition" installed. Core OS is Windows 7 x64 Pro

 

How can I start using and testing with the beta builds?

[Flow]

Here is an interesting observation. I don't have the beta option for my version. The only beta option listed on the beta tab is "none"

 

I have the "Royal Edition" installed. Core OS is Windows 7 x64 Pro

 

How can I start using and testing with the beta builds?

 

Step 5.

 

You probably haven't entered the password.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Flow

[draek]

Beta testing will probably be possible in the future when GoG Galaxy is released.

Right now its still in alpha.

 

http://www.gog.com/galaxy

Edited April 12, 2015 by draek

[Evange]

Any idea when will 1.04 be officially released???

[lightblade75]

So does any of you have any idea how many days a new patch will take to be in the game and not beta anymore? Do you think this open beta patch thing does speed up things?

[PrimeJunta]

Any idea when will 1.04 be officially released???

 

My guess based on past patterns: they wanted to release it on Friday but the build didn't pass QA. Then weekend happened. I would expect it Real Soon Now, with 1.05 not too far behind.