843 réponses à ce sujet

[dekkerd]

someone else wrote...
Not familar with the console world so perhaps such issues are a bit distant for me - but I cannot believe that someone with enough discretionary income for an xbox and $60 for games cannot "afford" $5/mo for a gold subscription and I'm not sure why you cant use the free one anyway...and for those without internet connectivity, well that's like saying what about those PC players running linux on a pentium 4 - and can you even register or play the game without Origin or someother client?

I do agree with you in principle,though, but suspect the real answer is its an oversight due to BW cutting content, etc, in rushing the game out the door, and that they're relucant to admit that was the case for a variety of obvious reasons.

Consoles do not need clients or registration. Not everyone has broadband. There isn't a need to hook an Xbox to the internet to play a game. 

Modifié par dekkerd, 02 juin 2012 - 02:12 .

[someone else]

yeah so I was ticked the first time I couldn't play a game without the damn disk in the cd drive,and its only gotten worse not being able to play without being hooked to a client, - i can sympathize with console guys who can't play MP, but much less for those who just "won't"

...and actually there is a reverse problem - if you want to "experience" the worst endings, you need to stop MP for weeks to get your GR down to 50%, assuming you haven't promoted enough to put you over the minimum threshold regardless...

The whole thing is screwed up - MP has so little relation to the main game, BW should just spin it off entirely -

[Gtacatalina]

someone else wrote...


And if for some reason you are a devoted SP fan, there is still NO reason not to play MP - it is an excellent way to sharpen combat skills and experiment with builds - think Pinnacle Station on steriods.

Actually there is a reason I won't play multiplayer and that is I don't like multiplayer.

I don't know why Bioware didn't just concentrate on the ME3 single player, with no TMS, EMS rubbish. Then add multiplayer later to get in the extra cash they so desperately need.

Modifié par Gtacatalina, 02 juin 2012 - 03:09 .

[abaris]

Gtacatalina wrote...

I don't know why Bioware didn't just concentrate on the ME3 single player, with no TMS, EMS rubbish. Then add multiplayer later to get in the extra cash they so desperately need.

Because their owner - yes, their owner calling the shots - thought that multiplayer was the way to go and their real money making machine. Possibly they're right about that, since they're concentrating all their efforts on that aspect of the game. They wouldn't do it if the microtransactions weren't printing money, even more so since they're handing out DLCs for free.

[someone else]

^this - EA's CEO said exactly that - but i will never spend a single bw point on mp, and will eventually lose interest - but its not a bad time waster waiting for BW to put the final "clarifying" kiss of death on the franchise...

Now I like MP but I came to the party with an RPG, but seem to be forced to leave with an MMO - but with BW, like everything else, your prefences don't seem to be a big concern...and the 'free' dlc reminds me of the 'free' smack pushers hand out to street kids...just to get 'em started...

Modifié par someone else, 02 juin 2012 - 04:27 .

[AlanC9]

While I agree that EA had a lot of input, I'm not sure Bio resisted those suggestions too much. It was independent Bio that nearly wrecked NWN's OC with an obsessive focus on MP, and invented paid DLC while they were at it.

[7isMagic]

Note:  This is directed to those who may have intimate knowledge of the very complicated inner workings of the video games we play.   Or to anyone reading this who knows a "very smart someone" in the industry they could ask about this:

I am not sure this has been discussed much, if at all, in this or other EMS threads here... I apologize if I've missed it.

From a purely technical standpoiint (please no conjecture or speculation, just cold hard technical facts) what would it take to fix this EMS problem?  What must go on behind the scenes or under the hood to bring this to fruition?

What technical challenges do the folks at Bioware face when trying to raise the GR percentage or when adding additional war assets (or raising the given amount of existing war assets in the game)?   Are there technical issues that are preventing this or making this extremely difficult to do?  
 
I'm asking this because I am honestly trying to understand what could justify the EMS problem taking so long to get fixed.  

Modifié par 7isMagic, 02 juin 2012 - 06:07 .

[AlanC9]

Almost nothing. The WA points awarded for particular items in the game are set in coalesced.bin.(Which is where Femlob found this data.) Editing them is trivial.

We've seen a lot of people without a registered copy saying that they can get enough EMS. My bet is that they're pirates and their version has already been hacked for more EMS.

Modifié par AlanC9, 02 juin 2012 - 06:08 .

[abaris]

7isMagic wrote...

From a purely technical standpoiint (please no conjecture or speculation, just cold hard technical facts) what would it take to fix this EMS problem?  What must go on behind the scenes or under the hood to bring this to fruition?

Only the particular values had to change. It's very easy on the PC, since all you have to do is edit the coalesced.bin. There has to be something similiar on the consoles, only not accessable to the user.

In short, if some mission is worth value X in the vanilla game, all you had to do was setting said value to X+any given number.

Modifié par abaris, 02 juin 2012 - 06:38 .

[7isMagic]

Many thanks to AlanC9 and abaris for answering my tech questions here. I know nothing (absolutely nothing) about this kind of thing, I'm sorry to say. Could you explain what a coalesced.bin is in layman's terms?

What I'm wondering about - are there issues that rear their ugly head when the developer makes changes - that may affect the overall game. Issues we (as gamers) cannot see, that we may not be aware of since we cannot see under the hood completely?

And, if there are, is this the reason it's taking so long (they have to make sure changed EMS across the board isn't affecting the game as a whole. (And this has to be done for all gaming platforms - which, I expect, have their individual quirks...)

Now, I want to be clear. I'm not looking to excuse Bioware for not getting this done sooner. As I stated in my OP, I simply want to understand what's the under the hood, the technical aspect of this. In as much detail as possible - in layman's term.

Thanks to all who may provide insight. :-)

[tbb033]

someone else wrote...

i can sympathize with console guys who can't play MP, but much less for those who just "won't"

So someone who doesn't like multiplayer should have to play ME3 MP just to get the full ending after already putting 100+ hours into what thus far had been an entirely singleplayer series?

Really?

REALLY?

That's like saying you don't get the last chapter to the Lord of the Rings until you go participate in a fanfic site.

[M920CAIN]

Just edit the war assets and be done with it.

[dekkerd]

M920CAIN wrote...

Just edit the war assets and be done with it.

Just hit the back button and troll another thread. 

[AlanC9]

7isMagic wrote...

Many thanks to AlanC9 and abaris for answering my tech questions here. I know nothing (absolutely nothing) about this kind of thing, I'm sorry to say. Could you explain what a coalesced.bin is in layman's terms?

I'll give it a shot. Coalesced is a configuration file. (I don't know enough about the Unreal engine to know if Bio invented this file or if it comes with the engine.) The file stores information that you figure you're likely to change sometime, so you don't have to go messing around with the code itself. For instance, when you scan a certain planet, the code says to give out award 58. Then the game looks up award 58 in coalesced and finds out that it's the Volus Dreadnought Kwunu, and updates the WA screen with the appropriate strings and the WA and EMS totals with the points it reads in from the file.

Changing these values shouldn't damage anything else unless there's already a bad programming error -- for instance, if some other part of the program is mistakenly looking up the Kwunu's WA point total when it's actually looking for a completely different number. I've seen goofs like that on occasion, but usually it's with data that's closely related to what you were looking for. I'd be stunned if changing WA points broke anything.

Here's the wiki page about what you can change in that file.

Modifié par AlanC9, 02 juin 2012 - 09:56 .

[coolbeans]

tbb033 wrote...

someone else wrote...

i can sympathize with console guys who can't play MP, but much less for those who just "won't"

So someone who doesn't like multiplayer should have to play ME3 MP just to get the full ending after already putting 100+ hours into what thus far had been an entirely singleplayer series?

Really?

REALLY?

That's like saying you don't get the last chapter to the Lord of the Rings until you go participate in a fanfic site.

To be fair, at least with LOTR fanfic you get this gem
www.cracked.com/article_16554_the-5-most-baffling-sex-scenes-in-history-fanfiction.html
(possibly NSFW)

No such amusement with the ME3 multiplayer

[tishyw]

someone else wrote...

the sad part is that mp is a better experience within its own parameters than SP - and its so easy to max out GR, SP EMS is reduced to irrelevance - but since the sp has near-zero replay appeal... this whole issue is irrelevant as well...

And if for some reason you are a devoted SP fan, there is still NO reason not to play MP - it is an excellent way to sharpen combat skills and experiment with builds - think Pinnacle Station on steriods.

I didn't enjoy Pinnacle Station at all, so comparing MP to it does not make me want to play MP!
You obviously enjoy the shooter aspect of the ME series, good for you I'm glad you enjoy it, but I play Mass Effect for the role playing aspect of the series and so the shooting focused MP is of no interest to me.

But hey, thanks for thinking it's okay to force me to play something that I know I don't enjoy, just the get all the options for something I do enjoy.

[Dimensio]

M920CAIN wrote...

Just edit the war assets and be done with it.

Please explain, specifically, how Playstation 3 players may edit the war assets. 

[abaris]

Dimensio wrote...

M920CAIN wrote...

Just edit the war assets and be done with it.

Please explain, specifically, how Playstation 3 players may edit the war assets. 

That's the problem. It only works on the PC and, as far as I'm informed, on the Xbox.

I edited them on my rig and it's really a matter of a few minutes. Which makes the whole issue even worse in my opinion, since all they had to do was releasing an edited coalesced.bin.

[Archer]

abaris wrote...

Dimensio wrote...

M920CAIN wrote...

Just edit the war assets and be done with it.

Please explain, specifically, how Playstation 3 players may edit the war assets. 

That's the problem. It only works on the PC and, as far as I'm informed, on the Xbox.

I edited them on my rig and it's really a matter of a few minutes. Which makes the whole issue even worse in my opinion, since all they had to do was releasing an edited coalesced.bin.

Which is exactly why the only sensible conclusion is that the EMS system is working as intended, and thats why there is zero response on the issue. There is only two ways they can explain it to us- the truth i.e working as intended, or lie to us again.

Im sorry but this isnt a bug. Its another example of yet another lie used to sell this product.

[someone else]

tishyw wrote...
But hey, thanks for thinking it's okay to force me to play something that I know I don't enjoy, just the get all the options for something I do enjoy.

I never said its "Okay" to "force" a player to do something he doesn't want to - just that MP is not the horror people make it to be - and it is at least as irrelevant to the RPG aspects as the fetch quests that infect the game like a bad rash from a hooker.

The RPG aspects of the game are the heart and soul of Mass Effect - it borders on fraud to market MP as part of the ME franchise.  Nonetheless, MP is actually among the better executed aspects of the game (though not a hard bar to clear, obviously)

ME3 SP is a broken game - despite a few flashes of brilliance - from the wholesale shift from dialogs to cutscenes, the endemic disregard of player choice(eg collector base), reintroduction of plot lines which player choice should have closed (eg rachni), the failure to bring forward major themes (eg dark energy), reducing ME2 from virtual to complete irrelevance, day 1 dlc, re-casting Liara as co-star and TIM as arch-villian, sidelining players' LI and Reapers - all this before you reach the jaw-dropping inanity of the Return, and the conversion of all the complex and meticuluously categorized "War Assets" into a single purpose grey goo that has zero affect on the war itself and only enables a variety of choices on the R-RGBR+ menu - options that open to no new gameplay or player consequences, are almost indistinquishable...and leave more questions, doubts and confusion than they resolve.

...and so all the unhappiness with TMS available is just complaining BW didn't provide you a bigger scoop to load the crap onto your plate...yum.

SO - unless BW is playing a very deep game, with ems fixes baked in to a major reveal (IT, whatever..) via EC and/or addtional dlc, SP is really dead.  I believe MP represents BW's vision for the future - whether and what extent the fan base will carry over is of business interest only - marginally important to me.

Modifié par someone else, 04 juin 2012 - 03:45 .

[PlumPaul93]

eveynameiwantisfekintaken wrote...Im sorry but this isnt a bug. Its another example of yet another lie used to sell this product.

I didn't even know some still questioned this lol

[AlanC9]

Just for the record -- and since I like to keep this thread active -- I'm going to completely disagree with this:

someone else wrote...
ME3 SP is a broken game - despite a few flashes of brilliance - from the wholesale shift from dialogs to cutscenes, the endemic disregard of player choice(eg collector base), reintroduction of plot lines which player choice should have closed (eg rachni), the failure to bring forward major themes (eg dark energy), reducing ME2 from virtual to complete irrelevance, day 1 dlc, re-casting Liara as co-star and TIM as arch-villian, sidelining players' LI and Reapers - all this before you reach the jaw-dropping inanity of the Return, and the conversion of all the complex and meticuluously categorized "War Assets" into a single purpose grey goo that has zero affect on the war itself and only enables a variety of choices on the R-RGBR+ menu - options that open to no new gameplay or player consequences, are almost indistinquishable...and leave more questions, doubts and confusion than they resolve.

And so for me the conclusions don't follow.

I'm not personally concerned with the EMS issue -- like I said upthread, all my Sheps so far think the Red ending is morally unacceptable anyway. But I do think it's terrible design. And it bothers me because except for some ending issues I do like ME3 very much.

[AdamJenson]

dekkerd wrote...

someone else wrote...
Not familar with the console world so perhaps such issues are a bit distant for me - but I cannot believe that someone with enough discretionary income for an xbox and $60 for games cannot "afford" $5/mo for a gold subscription and I'm not sure why you cant use the free one anyway...and for those without internet connectivity, well that's like saying what about those PC players running linux on a pentium 4 - and can you even register or play the game without Origin or someother client?

I do agree with you in principle,though, but suspect the real answer is its an oversight due to BW cutting content, etc, in rushing the game out the door, and that they're relucant to admit that was the case for a variety of obvious reasons.

Consoles do not need clients or registration. Not everyone has broadband. There isn't a need to hook an Xbox to the internet to play a game. 

Hah.  It's coming.  Oh yes, it IS coming.  You WILL need to connect to the intertoobs to play in the very near future.  

[AdamJenson]

AlanC9 wrote...

Just for the record -- and since I like to keep this thread active -- I'm going to completely disagree with this:

someone else wrote...
ME3 SP is a broken game - despite a few flashes of brilliance - from the wholesale shift from dialogs to cutscenes, the endemic disregard of player choice(eg collector base), reintroduction of plot lines which player choice should have closed (eg rachni), the failure to bring forward major themes (eg dark energy), reducing ME2 from virtual to complete irrelevance, day 1 dlc, re-casting Liara as co-star and TIM as arch-villian, sidelining players' LI and Reapers - all this before you reach the jaw-dropping inanity of the Return, and the conversion of all the complex and meticuluously categorized "War Assets" into a single purpose grey goo that has zero affect on the war itself and only enables a variety of choices on the R-RGBR+ menu - options that open to no new gameplay or player consequences, are almost indistinquishable...and leave more questions, doubts and confusion than they resolve.

And so for me the conclusions don't follow.

I'm not personally concerned with the EMS issue -- like I said upthread, all my Sheps so far think the Red ending is morally unacceptable anyway. But I do think it's terrible design. And it bothers me because except for some ending issues I do like ME3 very much.

Well, then what you want is the ending mid-way between the green and red ending (it is a nasty brown color): the Geth and EDI are completely okeydokey AND Shepard doesn't commit suicide AND there is no green magic beams to screw up life forevermore.  

Go with the ugly brown color. 

[pmac_tk421]

abaris wrote...

7isMagic wrote...

From a purely technical standpoiint (please no conjecture or speculation, just cold hard technical facts) what would it take to fix this EMS problem?  What must go on behind the scenes or under the hood to bring this to fruition?

Only the particular values had to change. It's very easy on the PC, since all you have to do is edit the coalesced.bin. There has to be something similiar on the consoles, only not accessable to the user.

In short, if some mission is worth value X in the vanilla game, all you had to do was setting said value to X+any given number.

Yeah, I remember when I first heard people demanding that it should be changed, no one gave a really specific problem or solution. It's nice to see someone actually logically thinking about the problem. And I agree, raising the base Galactic readiness would be an easy way to solve it. It would be great for me too since I play alot of MP and you get an EXP bonus when you're at max readiness.