Star Citizen Megathread v. procedurally-generated deadlines - Games

Unless CIG is actually letting them use some of the secret sauce and it hasn't leaked one bit, no, they test the same thing you and I get to play, just it's more broken and unstable when the avocados get it. CIG QA is who they actually train on internal dev tools and debug builds. A "full" dev build of Star Citizen is like several hundred gigs, and then when the build is moving to release candidate state, an asset exclusion script called Excludibur pulls out everything that doesn't belong in the live build - debug scripts, unfinished assets, spoiler stuff for SQ42, etc. and the result is the ~30GB (so far) build ready to go to backers.

idk why reply is just freezing at loading for me but if you're moderately experienced in graphics programming, you can spot graphics bugs and give more specific information than most users can (e.g, "depth buffer w/ gas giant rings broken, rings always above gas giant"). or with game engine programming, you might be able to spot things like physics and interaction bugs and narrow down on how they happen and why they happen a bit more. Or, you might just be an experienced bug tester who's good at identifying bugs and writing bug reports. I imagine that in most cases, any extra information can help a decent amount and I would imagine CIG did some psuedo-vetting of their testers

CIG chose the Evocati for proficiency and diligence in bug reporting on the Issue Council. They were handpicked for consistently writing clear reports and providing good repro on a regular basis. They're basically unofficial QA interns but they don't get the dev environments. I imagine some are likely actual devs or QA (for other projects/non-games), but that itself is just sugar on top of being good at reporting SC bugs.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/KVbD4wG.png[/img] [i]it begins[/i]

[video=youtube;CTynrGcUI6Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTynrGcUI6Q[/video] [video=youtube;Ie7uMeqlVIQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie7uMeqlVIQ[/video] Monthly report coming tomorrow. [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/16156-Mining-Rocks-October-2947"]This week's lorepost is another Shubin Interstellar newsletter.[/URL] [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/16155-Q-A-Origin-X1"]And the X1 Q&A is up.[/URL]

SOON

Turrets might be [I]better[/I], but they still look pretty terrible for all the reasons you would expect them to be. I could have sworn we already had stabilization too. It was even a toggle option. One mode where the turret turns with the ship and one where it maintains its direction relative to space. If they want anybody to ever get any use of them outside of the novelty factor the first time you try it, I'm almost starting to wonder if they should instead be relative to the target to give you a big aim assist. You still have to account for leading the target but you would have a much higher chance of hitting anything at all. As it is, there will never be a situation where you would want a player in a turret over an AI.

[URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/16158-Monthly-Studio-Report-September-2017"]Monthly report's up.[/URL] [video=youtube;yiPWcsZfLRw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiPWcsZfLRw[/video] [t]https://i.imgur.com/ew6c5bx.png[/t] [t]https://i.imgur.com/zGw3HSu.png[/t] Space Whale! It's under consideration for being added. Also, at the end of the stream, Lando confirmed that the Carrack has entered production on the post-concept ship pipeline. Nothing to show off yet, but work has begun.

When I saw that stream go up I had the urge to go and shitpost in their chat: "Creating a Space Whale. Step 1: Sell virtual space ships for real money." Jokes aside, they've been crunching hard on 3.0, and I'm glad it's finally out to Evocati. When d'you figure PTU might be?

[QUOTE=archangel125;52755013]When I saw that stream go up I had the urge to go and shitpost in their chat: "Creating a Space Whale. Step 1: Sell virtual space ships for real money." Jokes aside, they've been crunching hard on 3.0, and I'm glad it's finally out to Evocati. When d'you figure PTU might be?[/QUOTE] The way they reprioritized bugs to get it out, I'd guess anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to wave 1 ptu

From my understanding there's still, like, [i]heaps[/i] of stuff they're still working on that isn't even close to PTU ready. Unless they're willing to drop super buggy builds to PTU like they are the Evocati, we won't see PTU within the next month [i]at least[/i]. The bare minimum they wanted for the Evocati release was system traversal, there was no mention of weather they wanted any other systems even somewhat working at that point, so for all we know we still have another 2 or 3 months left for them to fix up shopping, persistence, insurance, missions, mission givers, NPCs, as well as all the other features they are aiming for but have not specifically outlined such as the 'cockpit experience' and networking. [editline]8th October 2017[/editline] I mean, we're still waiting on Mission Givers to actually be finished, which has been continually pushed back: [t]https://i.imgur.com/T3l5feI.png[/t] As well as a long list of TBDs which I can only assume they would want to have some kind of nearly finished version before going out to PTUs. [t]https://i.imgur.com/r0pHaEt.png[/t]

It may be, given what you've pointed out, that we'll end up with a pretty feature-barren 3.0 because they're under pressure to get it out fast.

A thread-bare pair of pants is better than no pants at all. I can understand wanting to polish, but let's be realistic. This is 3.0 of an alpha, not a full release, not even feature complete. Essentially a playable tech demo. The sooner they can get 3.0 out to the "General public" the faster progress they can make. Thousand chimps on typewriters and such. If anything, it would be a way, at the least, to shine a bit of hope for people to renew faith in the project. It can be difficult to have it when an update takes this long, again, for an alpha.

I've waited this long, I'd rather give it another month to get more features.

Same here. I want what was promised - if they keep scaling back what they actually deliver on for 3.0, I'll be disappointed. It's supposed to be a big leap forward, after all.

so there is rumor flying around on that StarCitizen alpha 3.0.0 gonna use EAC (Easy anti cheat) ... i'm not sure if i want be sad or just facepalm ...

[QUOTE=Dwarden;52764852]so there is rumor flying around on that StarCitizen alpha 3.0.0 gonna use EAC (Easy anti cheat) ... i'm not sure if i want be sad or just facepalm ...[/QUOTE] I mean, I prefer that over maleware.

[QUOTE=jonoPorter;52764896]I mean, I prefer that over maleware.[/QUOTE] if the rumor is true (because EAC exists in Warface before they had so called Starforce MMOG anticheat) it's just waste of resources on something what's not even best option at market i would prefer them to actually spend it on making the server and netcode architecture more robust but hey what i do know right (laughs and goes back to working on some game(s))

But in using EAC are they committing to only using that software then?

[QUOTE=Gnime;52765013]But in using EAC are they committing to only using that software then?[/QUOTE] well it may mean signing some form of the deal unless it's test period the point is that IMHO it's too early for the product and it's not best either ;) unless it was gained for free (test period) then cost might be steep (not just fixed price but risk of CCUs going thru roof) (burning money too early on things of lesser importance(while there may be even better options)) yet it don't mean they can't switch or abandon the middle-ware usually those contracts are 6-24 months block volume so there is always chance to switch unless they wise and signed some fantastic deal where they can toss it away anytime, which i doubt ...

[QUOTE=Dwarden;52764852]so there is rumor flying around on that StarCitizen alpha 3.0.0 gonna use EAC (Easy anti cheat) ... i'm not sure if i want be sad or just facepalm ...[/QUOTE] Indeed, Punkbuster would be much more effective.

cig should use battleye instead ;)

the thought never even occurred to me that hackers would be in this game. i hope they don't ruin a good thing.

[QUOTE=loopoo;52768225]the thought never even occurred to me that hackers would be in this game. i hope they don't ruin a good thing.[/QUOTE] From what i saw/remember, there was a large influx of hackers when Star marine came out.

[QUOTE=ScottyWired;52768107]Indeed, Punkbuster would be much more effective.[/QUOTE] What is this? 2003?

Is 3.0 out yet?

[QUOTE=Excalibuurr;52770147]I was hoping they would go with the more effective and robust anti-cheats like XIGNCODE, GameGuard, and HackShield.[/QUOTE] nProtect gameguard is dead twice first it was crippleware second theirs whole cloud storages leaked including sources ... anyway my point about the anticheat was simple, if you have the money (which should be case of the StarCitizen) you put the money in the engine, server architecture, netcode and secure clients as much as doable then you deploy the best anticheat on the client (because some forms of cheats can still exist even in 'near-perfect' scenario of secure game) which if the rumor is true, seem to not be happening with SC and that makes me to worry (as i said before) my viewpoint is slightly different from end-users (as gamedev) mainly because of insight about things happening right now plus some yet to come (industry contacts and experience)

[QUOTE=Bradyns;52772397]Is 3.0 out yet?[/QUOTE] Testing Evocati stage

[video=youtube;hGNoDLNkILM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGNoDLNkILM[/video] [video=youtube;cXDjwhhHVZE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXDjwhhHVZE[/video] [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/16167-StarWatch-Fundraiser-Ruckus"]This week's lorepost is another installment of the StarWatch celebrity talk show.[/URL] Regarding the EAC business, CIG hasn't announced anything yet, but going for an off-the-shelf solution like EAC, at least for now, makes a good deal of sense, especially with 3.0 and planets making fps that much more important. However, the integration time is not purely zero, so I'm interested to know how long this has been in the works; if it's another thing where they've been working on it in secret for a year, sure ok, but if it's brand new, it's going to be a while before it's running tidy and doing everything CIG wants. It's worth noting that a good 90% of the negative crap being said about EAC is bullshit from either validly-caught cheaters or idiots who don't know anything about anticheat but hate the idea of being policed. Rust is a good example; many of the "issues" surrounding EAC aren't actually EAC issues at all, it just gets the blame. EAC [I]does[/I] have false positives from time to time but they identify them and clean them up automatically. It's not perfect and it does have a performance impact, but you just can't get anticheat protection for free. EAC should also prevent people from using Cheat Engine to fake-offline themselves or do something like screw with their aUEC (even though that should be synched with the server and impossible to spoof) by bringing oversight on what is trying to inject into the SC process. [QUOTE=Dwarden;52772578]which if the rumor is true, seem to not be happening with SC and that makes me to worry (as i said before)[/QUOTE] Which rumour is this and where did you hear about it? :dog:

I hope people who hack in this game are hit with a permanent ban, no exception. Having people like that fuck up the experience of a game I've been waiting years for is definitely something I don't want.