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I found this on the Sierra Boards...
So, how did we get to where we are?
Eric Busch (Developer) - 12:08pm Aug 13, 2003 PST
Papyrus / NASCAR
That's an excellent question, and one that I still don't have a complete answer for, but I'll try...
For starters, the patch has admittedly taken a backseat to other development efforts, so fixes were worked on as time permitted. Interim patches were sent to QA for testing, but unfortunately QA is swamped with other work. The patch was at their lowest possible priority, so it literally sat there for weeks before any one even had a chance to look at it. During this time additional fixes and enhancements were made, and updated patches were resubmitted. We are now finally satisfied with the current state of the patch, and the testing it has received. To date no new issues have been found in 1.1.0.2 that would warrant further delays in the patch release.
However before the patch could be released, Sierra and VUG wanted to ensure that the multiplayer component was working, so they decided to organize a group of beta testers to whom they would send the patch. There were severe communication lapses in this process, and in fact the only reason I was aware of the testing starting was when someone reposted the beta invitation they had received. Despite repeated warnings from myself that the patch had not yet been validated online, someone decided to proceed with this test anyway. I'm not clear if the validation simply wasn't done, or it was done incorrectly and not tested, but the multiplayer login obviously didn't work. Let me be perfectly clear on one thing: THIS IS NOT DUE TO A BUG IN THE PATCH! The multiplayer component of the patch is 100% working, it's just that the Authentication Servers that process the CRC check during the multiplayer login have yet to be properly configured. This will hopefully be rectified shortly without the need for any changes in the patch.
Then to make matters worse, the patch inexplicably was put on the public FTP not once but twice in the past week, and of course anyone and everyone started to download it. Again there were communication lapses, and I was not made aware of the leaks until seeing it posted on our forums. There was really nothing in the filename or documentation to indicate that this was not official, and the patch was quickly mirrored on other sites as an official release.
Afterwards several of the forum moderators felt the need to chime in and give updates on the situation. First off it is really not their place to do so, and secondly the information they were giving was wrong. There were no bugs found in the patch that were preventing the release. I don't know if that was the party line handed down to them from Sierra, but it's simply untrue. The patch was taken down last night because it never should have been on the public FTP site in the first place. The beta testing was suspended because no one had thought it necessary to check the multiplayer login prior to the start of testing, and without it working there wasn't much of a multiplayer test to be had.
So in conclusion, the 1.1.0.2 patch is the real deal, and is with 99.99% certainty the final version of the NR2003 patch. At this time it could be considered to be an unsupported "open beta" and should be working online in the coming days. There will surely be an official announcement at such time that it is officially supported and publicly available for download.
I'm not trying to make any excuses, and I'm the first to admit that it was a complete and utter debacle on nearly all levels. I don't want to publicly point fingers and lay out blame, but the patch has been out of Papyrus' hands for quite some time. In the end it really boils down to a simple lack of communication. |
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