2.9.0 Update and Roadmap
Posted: Sun 03 Feb, 2019 6:11 am
o/ guys!
Ok, lots of changes since the last version of this post came out. As much as I'd like to pontificate, I'm getting pretty tired at this point and I'd rather just cut to the meat.
First off, sorry for going radio silent for about 5 weeks or so. Real life circumstances made it difficult to really sit down and actually work on this kind of stuff. Now that I've gotten back around 2 weeks ago now, I've been abreasted of where we're at and have gotten to work on getting a patch out.
It's been pretty apparent that I can't run this ship by myself nor am I really comfortable being both the balance head and the tech guy at the same time. Honestly, I just don't put the ingame time like I used to and the community is in really dire need of coding more than people with balance opinions. It's much easier when there's a balance head to do that kind of stuff instead.
This is why Adila has been acting balance head for at least the past few weeks. There's no real "official" procedure for appointing balance heads other than just being dubbed thee. Considering myself doubting anyone would really complain with the arrangement, I dub thee Adila balance head.
*insert birthday blower noise*
------------------------------------
Anyway, moving on from that is the patch talk itself.
The goal is to get a full patch out sometime in mid-February. It's pretty ambitious all things considered, but we're really not that far off. In terms of functionality, we're basically at a beta level. Maps and Tooltips still need to be baked into the files but the meat and potatoes that is balance changes is basically done. Tweaks and some bugfixes are all that's left there.
If we really needed to, we can even just roll with what we have for the sake of events. Obviously, we'd try to avoid that but still. Nice to have done the work to make that an option even.
I'm going to link a view-only changelog of my Technical Notes for those who are curious exactly where we are. Additionally, I'll link a copy of the Elite_attrib file that already has all these changes baked in. It's not a full release, so it'll lack all the bells and whistles of it, but it has all the balance changes in and ready to play.
------------------------------------
Let's start with the changleog. Here is the link!
2.9.0 Technical Notes Changelog
The changelog is left to view-only purely because I want to keep my notes as accurate as possible. I'm avoiding a scenario where people want to add changes or suggestions or bug reports and I either never see them in there or mistakenly think they are already fixed.
Also, the changelog itself is a living document. What is in there is what is in the build at that very moment. It's mostly solid, but there might be tweaks as we move through the process. I'll keep updating the log above to match the progress of the patch production.
------------------------------------
Finally, we arrive to the file itself. Here is a copy of the new Elite_attrib.sga file in the event you would like to try out the balance changes ahead of time.
Elite_attrib(2.9.0 Build 5).sga
In order to make this file work, all you need to do is:
1) Go into your game directory. This is usually C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Dawn of War II Retribution or something like that.
2) Go into Elite -> Archives. You should see several sga files in there like Elite_data, Elite_config etc etc etc.
3) Find Elite_attrib.sga and rename it to something you'll easily remember. I prefer Elite_attrib(patch #) but whatever works for you.
4) Download the ^ sga file with an already renamed file. Doesn't matter where, just somewhere convenient.
5) Change your downloaded sga file's name to "Elite_attrib.sga". Place it in Elite-> Archives where the old Elite_attrib.sga file was.
5) That's it. Just start the game from there and the balance changes are in effect.
If you want to go back to regular 2.8.1 Elite, just reverse the process. Rename the files and start the game again.
Also, in case any of you bums accidentally mess with your Elite_attrib.sga files anyway, I'll spare you a reinstall and link the 2.8.1 Elite_attrib as well.
Elite_attrib(2.8.1).sga
------------------------------------
And that's basically all I've got to say for now. Feel free to post any questions, comments, error reports or whatever here, in the Discord server channels or anywhere you feel appropriate and we'll get to them!
Check back every now and then, as I'll be updating both the changelog and the build link as we get closer to launch.
Ok, lots of changes since the last version of this post came out. As much as I'd like to pontificate, I'm getting pretty tired at this point and I'd rather just cut to the meat.
First off, sorry for going radio silent for about 5 weeks or so. Real life circumstances made it difficult to really sit down and actually work on this kind of stuff. Now that I've gotten back around 2 weeks ago now, I've been abreasted of where we're at and have gotten to work on getting a patch out.
It's been pretty apparent that I can't run this ship by myself nor am I really comfortable being both the balance head and the tech guy at the same time. Honestly, I just don't put the ingame time like I used to and the community is in really dire need of coding more than people with balance opinions. It's much easier when there's a balance head to do that kind of stuff instead.
This is why Adila has been acting balance head for at least the past few weeks. There's no real "official" procedure for appointing balance heads other than just being dubbed thee. Considering myself doubting anyone would really complain with the arrangement, I dub thee Adila balance head.
*insert birthday blower noise*
------------------------------------
Anyway, moving on from that is the patch talk itself.
The goal is to get a full patch out sometime in mid-February. It's pretty ambitious all things considered, but we're really not that far off. In terms of functionality, we're basically at a beta level. Maps and Tooltips still need to be baked into the files but the meat and potatoes that is balance changes is basically done. Tweaks and some bugfixes are all that's left there.
If we really needed to, we can even just roll with what we have for the sake of events. Obviously, we'd try to avoid that but still. Nice to have done the work to make that an option even.
I'm going to link a view-only changelog of my Technical Notes for those who are curious exactly where we are. Additionally, I'll link a copy of the Elite_attrib file that already has all these changes baked in. It's not a full release, so it'll lack all the bells and whistles of it, but it has all the balance changes in and ready to play.
------------------------------------
Let's start with the changleog. Here is the link!
2.9.0 Technical Notes Changelog
The changelog is left to view-only purely because I want to keep my notes as accurate as possible. I'm avoiding a scenario where people want to add changes or suggestions or bug reports and I either never see them in there or mistakenly think they are already fixed.
Also, the changelog itself is a living document. What is in there is what is in the build at that very moment. It's mostly solid, but there might be tweaks as we move through the process. I'll keep updating the log above to match the progress of the patch production.
------------------------------------
Finally, we arrive to the file itself. Here is a copy of the new Elite_attrib.sga file in the event you would like to try out the balance changes ahead of time.
Elite_attrib(2.9.0 Build 5).sga
In order to make this file work, all you need to do is:
1) Go into your game directory. This is usually C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Dawn of War II Retribution or something like that.
2) Go into Elite -> Archives. You should see several sga files in there like Elite_data, Elite_config etc etc etc.
3) Find Elite_attrib.sga and rename it to something you'll easily remember. I prefer Elite_attrib(patch #) but whatever works for you.
4) Download the ^ sga file with an already renamed file. Doesn't matter where, just somewhere convenient.
5) Change your downloaded sga file's name to "Elite_attrib.sga". Place it in Elite-> Archives where the old Elite_attrib.sga file was.
5) That's it. Just start the game from there and the balance changes are in effect.
If you want to go back to regular 2.8.1 Elite, just reverse the process. Rename the files and start the game again.
Also, in case any of you bums accidentally mess with your Elite_attrib.sga files anyway, I'll spare you a reinstall and link the 2.8.1 Elite_attrib as well.
Elite_attrib(2.8.1).sga
------------------------------------
And that's basically all I've got to say for now. Feel free to post any questions, comments, error reports or whatever here, in the Discord server channels or anywhere you feel appropriate and we'll get to them!
Check back every now and then, as I'll be updating both the changelog and the build link as we get closer to launch.