Official Patch for Nascar-4

Will there be an official patch from Papyrus to fix all of the AI problems? I haven't heard mention of one, but I have heard they acknowledged the AI problems. Thanks, Sal

They are being quite rude, especially to their to loyal, early-adopting clientele here in r.a.s. Admittedly, the public patch process for N3 was a fiasco, but to say nothing regarding an (absolutely essential) upcoming patch after releasing a product with AI as embarrassing as N4 is a low point for Papy. I have not seen mention of it on he Sierra N4 boards, either. Marc. "Sal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:sT9m6.12082$[email hidden]... > Will there be an official patch from Papyrus to fix all of the AIproblems?

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> I haven't heard mention of one, but I have heard they acknowledged the AI > problems. > > Thanks, > > Sal > >

On Sun, 25 Feb 2001 19:30:07 GMT, "Marc Collins" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>They are being quite rude, especially to their to loyal, early-adopting >clientele here in r.a.s. Admittedly, the public patch process for N3 was a >fiasco, but to say nothing regarding an (absolutely essential) upcoming >patch after releasing a product with AI as embarrassing as N4 is a low point >for Papy. I have not seen mention of it on he Sierra N4 boards, either. > >Marc.

The game has only been out for two weeks. Some teams take a much needed beeak after a new game is released. They work very long hours towards the end of a project. I don't know if that's the case here, but it could be. There will be a patch, it's just a matter of when.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

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> On Sun, 25 Feb 2001 19:30:07 GMT, "Marc Collins" > <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >They are being quite rude, especially to their to loyal, early-adopting > >clientele here in r.a.s. Admittedly, the public patch process for N3 was a > >fiasco, but to say nothing regarding an (absolutely essential) upcoming > >patch after releasing a product with AI as embarrassing as N4 is a low point > >for Papy. I have not seen mention of it on he Sierra N4 boards, either. > > > >Marc. > > The game has only been out for two weeks. Some teams take a much > needed beeak after a new game is released. They work very long hours > towards the end of a project. I don't know if that's the case here, > but it could be. There will be a patch, it's just a matter of when. > >

I personally know for a fact they are working on a patch. They said as much to me in person. They did not say what was being worked on, but they are working on one.

Well, let's hope the teams took a nice break after the game was completed and sent to the publishers. I would assume it would take quite a few weeks to produce all those CDs. Now they can get to work on those patches. It is a great sim, but will doubtless need several patches. One thing I haven't seen mentioned - as cars cross the start finish line the F2 screen shows those in front as a lap ahead for a few seconds. Related to this, if the leader is behind you at the finish, the spotter tells you it is the white flag and then the checkered 1 lap early. Sure someone almost a lap down might see the checkered flag, but the spotter would not tell a driver that was the end. A minor thing, but I would still call it a bug. JTRIV Jagg wrote:

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> On Sun, 25 Feb 2001 19:30:07 GMT, "Marc Collins" > <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >They are being quite rude, especially to their to loyal, early-adopting > >clientele here in r.a.s. Admittedly, the public patch process for N3 was a > >fiasco, but to say nothing regarding an (absolutely essential) upcoming > >patch after releasing a product with AI as embarrassing as N4 is a low point > >for Papy. I have not seen mention of it on he Sierra N4 boards, either. > > > >Marc. > > The game has only been out for two weeks. Some teams take a much > needed beeak after a new game is released. They work very long hours > towards the end of a project. I don't know if that's the case here, > but it could be. There will be a patch, it's just a matter of when.

"Marc Collins" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:33dm6.227116$[email hidden]... > They are being quite rude, especially to their to loyal, early-adopting > clientele here in r.a.s. Admittedly, the public patch process for N3 wasa > fiasco, but to say nothing regarding an (absolutely essential) upcoming > patch after releasing a product with AI as embarrassing as N4 is a lowpoint > for Papy. I have not seen mention of it on he Sierra N4 boards, either. > > Marc. No not rude Mark. But think of this....The Heat team has been working on the second patch for about 5 months....This should give you some idea of the complexity involved in adjusting AI behaivior. If we start carping and screaming for an immeadiate patch, then what we'll get is a half-assed effort. Papy rarely works quickly, this ain't ID so don't expect anything sudden. dave henrie dave henrie

Dave Henrie wrote:

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> > No not rude Mark. But think of this....The Heat team has been working > on the second patch for about 5 months....This should give you some idea of > the complexity involved in adjusting AI behaivior. If we start carping and > screaming for an immeadiate patch, then what we'll get is a half-assed > effort. > Papy rarely works quickly, this ain't ID so don't expect anything sudden. > dave henrie > dave henrie

I sympathize here (no sarcasm). To take one example at random (okay my personal pet peeve ;-) oftentimes when trying to pass an AI car coming out of 2 at 'Dega or Daytona (probably also at Indy and MI), I use my 'drift up high in the apex of the turn then drop down for extra momentum + slingshot' trick to pass them. I think the AI 'sees' me hanging back there high and figures 'ok he is going to try to pass me high so I'll hang low', which means he is blocking me when I drop down. Or the AI just flips a coin to decide which backstretch groove to drive in, regardless of what I am doing. The point is that yes tweaking one aspect of the AI can lead to other things going gang agley, so I guess we will have to be a little patient (turning blue)... John DiFool

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> I sympathize here (no sarcasm). To take one example at random (okay > my personal pet peeve ;-) oftentimes when trying to pass an AI car > coming out of 2 at 'Dega or Daytona (probably also at Indy and MI), > I use my 'drift up high in the apex of the turn then drop down for extra > momentum + slingshot' trick to pass them. I think the AI 'sees' me > hanging back there high and figures 'ok he is going to try to pass me > high so I'll hang low', which means he is blocking me when I drop down. > Or the AI just flips a coin to decide which backstretch groove to > drive in, regardless of what I am doing. The point is that yes tweaking > one aspect of the AI can lead to other things going gang agley, so > I guess we will have to be a little patient (turning blue)...

I agree with this. However, making the AI cars see each other seems like a no brainer. Also, the cars failure to line up on a yellow and the spotters inaccurate information about where to line up seem very fixable. These are not behavior changes, they are bugs. We also need AI improvements in passing. There is much too much follow the leader stuff going on. I can live without this fix for much longer since this is a game experience enhancement. We have waited for years for a decent AI and I was sold on the statement that N4 has an "improved" AI. So far, it does not. /TomH

No one said it was easy or fast. There should be an official acknowledgement that the AI will be fixed in an upcoming patch. Yes, saying there is a patch coming will generate a few hysterical pleas to confirm the exact date that it will be published, but saying nothing about the patch is worse. We all know/presume, based on our history with Papy, that there will be patches, but what does the casual purchaser think? If I wasn't plugged into r.a.s., I would have absolutely no idea that the publisher of this title thinks there are patch-worthy problems with it. I would, however, be able to tell within 5 minutes of use that the AI is an embarrassing mess. Marc. "Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:clkm6.474785$[email hidden]... > > "Marc Collins" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:33dm6.227116$[email hidden]... > > They are being quite rude, especially to their to loyal, early-adopting > > clientele here in r.a.s. Admittedly, the public patch process for N3was

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> a > > fiasco, but to say nothing regarding an (absolutely essential) upcoming > > patch after releasing a product with AI as embarrassing as N4 is a low > point > > for Papy. I have not seen mention of it on he Sierra N4 boards, either. > > > > Marc. > No not rude Mark. But think of this....The Heat team has been working > on the second patch for about 5 months....This should give you some idea

of > the complexity involved in adjusting AI behaivior. If we start carpingand > screaming for an immeadiate patch, then what we'll get is a half-assed > effort. > Papy rarely works quickly, this ain't ID so don't expect anything sudden. > dave henrie > dave henrie >

Yeah taking two years to copy GPL mustve been a real hassle (j/k) JTRIV <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Well, let's hope the teams took a nice break after the game was completedand