rec.autos.simulators

Clarifying that - the ICR II patch is currently in QA _at Papyrus_ .  After
that is completed, Sierra will have a crack at it.  Engineering was
completed on the release last week, but the DOS version had not been
through regression tests since the initial release, and the full build had
to be converted into a patch file.

Sorry its not up yet, but all of the sinister suppositions about why it
hasn't been posted yet sound like a bunch of reports on Elvis being seen
walking in Manhattan with Aliens, whereas the actual explanation is much
simpler.

Charlie Heath
Papyrus Design Group

Thanks for the details. Any idea when it will be up?

And yes, people do get rather ***-minded, all sorts of
paranoid, delusive ideas about why it isn't out... but you can't blame
them. Look at the GP2 *debacle*. Maybe Microprose should just have
said it would be out in 1999. I mean, imagine how pleased everybody
would be if it suddenly appeared years early! Instead, we've had
months of ill will and completely anguished fans, tortured worse with
each broken deadline. This patch thing is a little different- I think
people are rightfully confused that Papyrus didn't put a simple fix
out earlier- but now it seems maybe there have been things going on we
didn't know about, regarding the buy by Sierra. FOR ME, the fact it
will not merely be a fix-patch, but a whole upgrade to a different
operating system (win95) at least takes some of the irritation out of
the situation- I'm very eager to have that.

But poor Rick- eager to let us know what we wanted to hear, the patch
was comin' round the mountain, accidentally lit a fuse. I am sure
people will calm down about that  soon as its out, assuming it is out
within a week. But some people are going to be mad for a long time
about the yellow-flag bug sitting for 7 months idle... are they right
or not? well, there will be a lot of opinions on that.

If it weren't a great sim, I don't think anybody would care so damn
much. There really isn't any other place to go, if you want the sort
of realism Papyrus puts in to it's sims. You got us!

Agreed. Simply stated, this has not been a priority of Papyrus since
its initial release in November. Obviously, it was more important to
gain new sales with a Win95/MAC version!

Bye the way, Great Game!!! Can't wait to race with the realism of
yellows!(Read as much sarcasm in this as you like)

<<snip>>

<<snip>>

Yeah...I'm sure Rick didn't intend to light a fuse but rather just let
us know what was going on. What it did was bring all the Sim
development experts out of the woodwork. You know, the ones that
wouldnt have a clue as to where to start but somehow they have all the
damn answers. Yes I want to see the bugs patched, yes I want to see it
soon, but in the mean time, I will continue to use and enjoy the
current ICR2 version (I have gotton more than my $50 worth from it).
All the complaining about the patch delay has probably assured that we
wont receive any future information regarding upcoming patches, and
understandibly so.  We'll probably find out about them when they hit
the streets. It was a mistake to put a specific time on the release
because these sort of delays happen. One would think that people would
be happy to know there is a patch coming instead of doing all this
***ing.

BTW, the above  is simply my opinion so dont bother flaming, I wont
read it.

--------------
Michael Kirton