PATCH IS NOT COMING - and please BLAME SPICY HORSE

[Caiobrz]

Ok people, I know some of you have issues, but here is what Spicy Horse has officially to say (bold was added by me so you BELIEVE what your eyes are reading)

I'm afraid that there is a misconception here.

Who created the code for A:MR? Spicy Horse did.

EA is not Spicy Horse and does not employ any of the same programmers. They are just as "lost" as anyone who did not make the game directly.

It is their prerogative, however, to fund any patches.

HOWEVER.

We have to see a problem on a particular scale before a patch is justifiable. We haven't seen this yet.

On the topic of EA sending people to our forum...

You should be honored. EA does not have some magic "know how to fix it" wand that spontaneously tells them how to fix a problem. They have to figure it out the same way everyone else does, and how many games do they support? More than just A:MR, lemmetellya.

YOU amazing folks have found what's broken AND figured out how to fix it without anyone holding your hand. That puts you in a position to show other people how to do it.

EA is not going to support you forever (if, indeed, at all, depending on what problem you want solved). You already know this, so why get bent and offended why they recognize your value as the community in the first place - and then ♥♥♥♥♥ about their quality of support? Have it one way or the other, but not both.

Oh, yes, and there is more:

It's not that dissenting criticism isn't allowed, it's that it doesn't do any good after a while, and a lot of times, it distracts people from realizing that they have their OWN POWER to fix the problem.

Note: yes, Spicy Horse's spokesperson/forum admin used the word ♥♥♥♥♥ to address the users. Cute.

So:

1. No patch coming because they don't think there is any bug worth fixing

2. The bugs that exist can be fixed by YOU, all you need to do is THINK and DO IT YOURSELF! ... just learn coding if it can't be fixed on the .INIs

Time to stop praising Spicy Horse.

source: http://www.americanmcgee.com/forum/index.php?topic=3277.0

[Merovign]

Well, good thing you found this before I bought the game.

Given the complexity of modern games and the variety of PC configurations, without good support buying a game is just flushing money down the toilet.

[Ghostbreed]

Okay, this was the first and last game I ever bought from Spicy Horse!

[mathesar]

We've played through the entire game on 2 different PC's here without any issues. Is there a common / major bug that im unaware of?

PC 1: i7 920 @ 3.6ghz / 6GB / EVGA GTX 480 / X-Fi audio / Win 7 64bit (used PS3 controller to play)

PC 2: AMD X2 4800+ @ 2.5ghz / 2GB / EVGA GTX 260 / onboard Realtek audio / Win XP 32bit (used Mouse + Keyboard)

[Ghostbreed]

The major problem with this game is that it lags like crazy on whatever setting you use. And trust me, my PC is good. I can play almost any new game on max settings without any drops in framerate. But this game ♥♥♥♥ing murder my PC man!

[Caiobrz]

Ghostbreed: if your PC can't handle the game, it's not the game's fault. It plays nicelly on my Core 2 duo 2.93 / 9600GT. The fact is that this game has PhysX for PC, while most new games are *ONLY* optimized for console. If you want to compare Alice with other new games, disable PhysX and you will get your high FPS (no, there is no PhysX on PS3/XBOX)

mathesar: You want common/major bugs?

+ Umbrela won't work in some cases, specially if you rebind the key to other than E
+ In some systems, the game won't create a profile nor save games
+ Giant Alice won't stomp in some cases, specially if you rebind the key
+ Sometimes the game won't trigger the animation/continue at Queensland after the Executioner appears
+ The game was developed for wide-screen monitors. If you play on 4:3 you get jagged edges and distorted content
+ The Pepper grinder mouse control is buggy at best

I had none of the above bugs, but browse the forum once and you will get the picture, a lot of people have them, and it's not everybody that dares tweak the .INI to TENTATIVELY fix SOME bugs. And while I had no bugs, it pains me that if I had, Spice Horse would basically tell me to STFU

Oh and GZ on your PC's

[Dave3d]

yeah, I have the issues:
Umbrela won't work in some cases, specially if you rebind the key to other than E
Sometimes the game won't trigger the animation/continue at Queensland after the Executioner appears (have had this bug at a lot of places. have to close the game, and restart, sometimes a couple times, for the game to give me the correct animation to continue the game)
The Pepper grinder mouse control is buggy at best

[bl33dym3ss]

Haven't bought the game, but going to take a random stab here... does it have something to do with them not totally testing ATI cards?

because this seems to be the worlds most common problem.

[Caiobrz]

No it runs fine on ATI, only will need a better CPU than the one on recommended list to play. The bugs are not related to the video card but probably due to poor console porting

[PrivateCowboy]

The bugs in the game are negligible. Hardly game breaking as people claim. I can jsut tell that moderator was fed up with all the annoying nit picky complaints.

[Zorlond]

Still, moderators should realize that they are in a position to speak for the company, in appearance if not legaly. Statements as this moderator made paint Spicy Horse in a decidedly poor light, that of complete disdain and/or apathy to their PC customers.

I'd expect that they won't remain in business for long if this continues.

[Caiobrz]

The bugs in the game are negligible. Hardly game breaking as people claim. I can jsut tell that moderator was fed up with all the annoying nit picky complaints.

Yes, the bugs are very few and negligible, for you or me who didn't come across one that is game breaking.

Way to go for all the egoistical people out there.

[PrivateCowboy]

Its fairly egotistical to assume that one forum moderator is the ultimate diplomat of a very large company.

[turtlesoup]

Still, moderators should realize that they are in a position to speak for the company, in appearance if not legaly. Statements as this moderator made paint Spicy Horse in a decidedly poor light, that of complete disdain and/or apathy to their PC customers.

I'd expect that they won't remain in business for long if this continues.

quite the contrary, when they do business in markets that favor corporate rights over consumers, they will continue to be generously rewarded for this kind of behavior. completely ignore any issues that aren't gamebreaking for >x% of consumers, to maximise profits and save money on development for the next project. extended support is simply an added expense to them, one that they would of course like to skip at any and all cost, unless it's required by game features or important to continue selling copies.

the idea of blaming spicy horse for our problems is terrible imo, they are completely powerless in this situation. even if they wanted to issue a patch, they have no control over distribution whatsoever, and they aren't getting paid for it. it's ea's perogative to commission extended support through the proper platforms (xbl/psn/origin, the internets, whatever), if they so choose to. they basically just want to get paid for their work and be left alone, and have a forum for good pr, not bad pr. so damage control at work here, obviously rubbing unsatisfied customers the wrong way.

[AeddGynvael]

I'm sorry, but as far as I know, this Lilith doesn't actually WORK for Spicy Horse as an employee in a department, related to the development of the game. Forum moderator/administrator/whatever and employee, who is part of the development team are two vastly different things, so while she CAN run her mouth in such an unpleasant way, it is hardly fair to claim that this is what all the people from Spicy Horse, who actually worked on A:MR and have experience with videogames(unlike her) think.



Addendum:
If you didn't know, EA OWNS the rights to the game.Not SH, not American McGee.

Therefore, until THEY decide to greenlight a patch, SH can't do anything at all.
Which they won't, because that will cost them money and they can't be arsed to care about the player's enjoyment.They can always justify that by saying there's no reason to patch a game if not everyone has a problem with it.
This is EA we're talking about, after all.

[desekoro]

As totally bummed out I am about no patch coming, its not the end of the world. OP is a bit of a fox news type sensationalist. Both sides have a point though. Its great to have support and forums to fix problems (which so far too many have had to do). But its great to have patches so its working as intended.

On another note though.. the following EA forum post...
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7372195.page

"Any retailer can sell our games, but we take direct responsibility for providing patches, updates, additional content and other services for the individuals and communities that play our games."

So? EA? how direct is it? Either way put out a patch. Silence the trolls, please the loyal fan base etc.

[Caiobrz]

You fail to realize that for the developers of the game, it should take no more than 1 hour (TOPS, being lazy) to come with a auto-patch to fix the most well know issues (which as said lilith70 pointed out, can be fixed by simply properly configuring the .inis for PC, since they left out a lot of binds midway thru console/PC).

It's as simple as this:

1. Check which bindings and options should be patched (should take 5 min browsing thru the foruns)
2. Change a standard PC install .ini to fix the issues (should take 1 min)
3. Use Winrar (that's right, freeware winrar which I doubt they don't have, if not, add 5 min to download and install) to create an auto-patch executable file. Should take 5 min
4. Upload said patch to their servers (1 min?)
5. Add the download option on their download's pages (1 min to edit, 1 min to upload, supposing they don't use a CMS)
6. Post the news on the forums, tell EA to direct people there if they run into a problem.

There, 25 min when you are bored, and most issues solved.

Having the game source files, they could also easily add the missing texture references to chapter 4 in like 5 min and include in the patch.

So, question: do they WANT to create a patch and fix the most common bugs, or NOT? because seriously, the bugs that annoy so many people are so CHEAP and EASY to fix, that even their PR can tell us to DIY.

Case settled.

[XaresAssassin]

You fail to realize that for the developers of the game, it should take no more than 1 hour (TOPS, being lazy) to come with a auto-patch to fix the most well know issues (which as said lilith70 pointed out, can be fixed by simply properly configuring the .inis for PC, since they left out a lot of binds midway thru console/PC).

It's as simple as this:

1. Check which bindings and options should be patched (should take 5 min browsing thru the foruns)
2. Change a standard PC install .ini to fix the issues (should take 1 min)
3. Use Winrar (that's right, freeware winrar which I doubt they don't have, if not, add 5 min to download and install) to create an auto-patch executable file. Should take 5 min
4. Upload said patch to their servers (1 min?)
5. Add the download option on their download's pages (1 min to edit, 1 min to upload, supposing they don't use a CMS)
6. Post the news on the forums, tell EA to direct people there if they run into a problem.

There, 25 min when you are bored, and most issues solved.

Having the game source files, they could also easily add the missing texture references to chapter 4 in like 5 min and include in the patch.

So, question: do they WANT to create a patch and fix the most common bugs, or NOT? because seriously, the bugs that annoy so many people are so CHEAP and EASY to fix, that even their PR can tell us to DIY.

Case settled.

They could use the freeware 7Zip to create an executable patch. But winrar is trialware.

But yeah, they need to make it clear whether they really want to make this patch or not.

Someone could always make an unofficial patch just like Killaps for Fallout 2

[sim_said]

I think they have already made the patch but are waiting until they release it on origin to apply it.

[Nampo]

Sorry this is a cross post, but I think it won't hurt.
Hope it can be of some help:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17468816/Alice_Madness_Returns_-_How_to_fix_input_and_change_key_bindings.txt

[BeLGaRaTh67]

I might have bought this game if it wasnt for this thread, maybe spicy horse should have stuck to making crappy ipod games and then we wouldnt have to put up with their ♥♥♥♥♥y admin ♥♥♥♥♥ing about the public ♥♥♥♥♥ing to them ... wow a lot of ♥♥♥♥♥es there ...

[Chronicle17]

Okay, a patch is not coming yet. That post from that forum moderator (not dev, big distinction) does not in the least imply that there will never be a patch.

But even if we never get one, I will not blame this on Spicy Horse. I know how EA works. There is a reason why in the old Ultima games the symbols of evil were the cube, sphere and pyramid - it was the EA logo at the time.

[Pandanapper]

As totally bummed out I am about no patch coming, its not the end of the world. OP is a bit of a fox news type sensationalist. Both sides have a point though. Its great to have support and forums to fix problems (which so far too many have had to do). But its great to have patches so its working as intended.

On another note though.. the following EA forum post...
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7372195.page

"Any retailer can sell our games, but we take direct responsibility for providing patches, updates, additional content and other services for the individuals and communities that play our games."

So? EA? how direct is it? Either way put out a patch. Silence the trolls, please the loyal fan base etc.

God hates fanboys, just fyi.

[alex8337]

Potholes in roads can be 'negligible'.
Bugs in a video game that make the game unplayable are 'negligible'. According to Spicy Horse that is.
I love Spicy Horse & EA's way of thinking.
(EA's logo is on the front of the game so they're also responsible for the quality of it)
Btw, here's some 'perspective' for Spicy Horse and EA...

EA & Spicy Horse need some 'perspective' into the customer service side of their business because it is appalling how they treat them.

We are the ones that drive your business. We are the ones that recommend your games to drive the sales. Peeve us (the advanced gamer) off and face the consequences. The consequences are mainly a loss of sales. That loss of sales does not show up with any kind of statistical information.

I work in a store that sells video games and I have made sure that anyone that's taken 'Alice: MR' to the counter has taken it back and purchased something else. That's probably a few thousand dollars worth of sales I've intentionally undermined.
If the game actually played well on my beastly computer then I would not have done this, I would have encouraged the sale of the game. For the record I have two 6970's and a 6 core AMD Phenom.
I will continue to undermine the sales of this game until a patch is released to fix its hardware optimization issues and the many other issues other customers on this forum are complaining about.
We are gamers not programmers. I would not buy a new car that runs badly and be expected to fix it 'because I can'. Get some perspective.
I will continue to talk down this game to my fellow employees and the other people that work in my industry via word of mouth and the many accounts I have on gamer forums.

Fix the product we are paying money for. Money that drives your business.
I'll guarantee thousands of dollars worth of sales from my store if you do. If not I'll just continue to intentionally undermine those sales.

[AeddGynvael]

Potholes in roads can be 'negligible'.
Bugs in a video game that make the game unplayable are 'negligible'. According to Spicy Horse that is.
I love Spicy Horse & EA's way of thinking.
(EA's logo is on the front of the game so they're also responsible for the quality of it)
Btw, here's some 'perspective' for Spicy Horse and EA...

EA & Spicy Horse need some 'perspective' into the customer service side of their business because it is appalling how they treat them.

We are the ones that drive your business. We are the ones that recommend your games to drive the sales. Peeve us (the advanced gamer) off and face the consequences. The consequences are mainly a loss of sales. That loss of sales does not show up with any kind of statistical information.

I work in a store that sells video games and I have made sure that anyone that's taken 'Alice: MR' to the counter has taken it back and purchased something else. That's probably a few thousand dollars worth of sales I've intentionally undermined.
If the game actually played well on my beastly computer then I would not have done this, I would have encouraged the sale of the game. For the record I have two 6970's and a 6 core AMD Phenom.
I will continue to undermine the sales of this game until a patch is released to fix its hardware optimization issues and the many other issues other customers on this forum are complaining about.
We are gamers not programmers. I would not buy a new car that runs badly and be expected to fix it 'because I can'. Get some perspective.
I will continue to talk down this game to my fellow employees and the other people that work in my industry via word of mouth and the many accounts I have on gamer forums.

Fix the product we are paying money for. Money that drives your business.
I'll guarantee thousands of dollars worth of sales from my store if you do. If not I'll just continue to intentionally undermine those sales.


I bet you feel really good about your third-grader behaviour.
Acting like a kid and threatening Spicy Horse (and blaming the entire company because some unrelated to the development forum moderator that has no idea about anything related to game development said something stupid) will REALLY make your point look more valid and make everyone think how cool and badass you are for "undermining the sales".
Do you even have a clue?
EA OWNS Alice.
It's their call, so they'll only release a patch if they damn well please, which they won't, because everyone knows how EA treats customers.
Spicy Horse have no word in this.


Also, nobody forced you to have physX set to High.
Of course you'd have mediocre or bad performance with ATi cards.
That's like whining why your 2001 GPU can't do DirectX 11.
Since you appear to have no knowledge of physX whatsoever, all you need to know is physX doesn't work on ATi cards, so instead of on the GPU (which is the case with an nVidia GPU or a PPU), the effects are processed on the CPU and that destroys the framerate.
With some tweaks some ATi machines can pull off Medium physX in some cases, but with severe hiccups in certain spots.

If you however have problems running the game properly with it set to Low, I am quite confident your PC is nothing even remotely close to what you claim it is.

[Da_hair]

i think all of this is EA's fault, as EA also does this with every other game they have anything to do with

and that responce is from a forum admin, an AMERICAN MAGEE forum admin, not a spicy horse forum admin

[bluestar]

The only one to blame is EA. They did the same with Dead Space: there is a viscious bug that when you continue the game - instead of loading a saved game - the difficulty is reverted back to the default one (without you knowing), and hence the first time you save afterwards destroys your saved game because there is no way to change the difficulty of a saved game. It's a game breaking bug which could have been solved by a dev in 15 minutes tops, but EA refused to release a patch.
Same story here.

[alex8337]

I bet you feel really good about your third-grader behaviour.
Acting like a kid and threatening Spicy Horse (and blaming the entire company because some unrelated to the development forum moderator that has no idea about anything related to game development said something stupid) will REALLY make your point look more valid and make everyone think how cool and badass you are for "undermining the sales".
Do you even have a clue?
EA OWNS Alice.
It's their call, so they'll only release a patch if they damn well please, which they won't, because everyone knows how EA treats customers.
Spicy Horse have no word in this.


Also, nobody forced you to have physX set to High.
Of course you'd have mediocre or bad performance with ATi cards.
That's like whining why your 2001 GPU can't do DirectX 11.
Since you appear to have no knowledge of physX whatsoever, all you need to know is physX doesn't work on ATi cards, so instead of on the GPU (which is the case with an nVidia GPU or a PPU), the effects are processed on the CPU and that destroys the framerate.
With some tweaks some ATi machines can pull off Medium physX in some cases, but with severe hiccups in certain spots.

If you however have problems running the game properly with it set to Low, I am quite confident your PC is nothing even remotely close to what you claim it is.
So I can run Crysis2 flawlessly with everything maxed out with the DX11 patch but Alice runs badly, yea it must be my hardware.
My housemates a programmer and is proficient in C++ so my rant may be flawed but he agrees with me, the game needs a patch. He also agree's with my logic...
EA owns Alice so they are responsible for it- end of story...

As for the rest of your rage rant

Why would I go around complaining that it wouldn't run on that hardware if I didn't have it? Flawed argument is flawed.
I don't give a crap how 'cool or badass' I look, this is the internet you tard.
Good to know that you stand by the companies that treat customers like crap, cool story bro.

You mad bro?

[AeddGynvael]

I am now convinced you're 12.
Yes, it is your hardware, if you weren't a child with rich parents that has no clue whatsoever about hardware, you'd actually know the reason your ATI can't run physX.

He also agree's with my logic...
There is no logic in what you're saying, but other than that.

EA owns Alice so they are responsible for it- end of story...

Wait, so you're agreeing with me and still saying I'm wrong?
You're so stupid that you're agreeing with me and you don't realize it?
Wow.

Good to know that you stand by the companies that treat customers like crap

You don't even have any idea who Spicy Horse are, do you?
I bet you think EA themselves developed the game.
Haha, it's funny.
If by my post you deduced I'm protecting EA and standing by them, you should definetely become a detective or something, you're brilliant at making wildly insane and wrong conclusions.


Nobody has said the game doesn't need a patch.It does, but it won't get one, because EA doesn't care.
In addition, your "housemate" being a C++ programmer, which he isn't, because you're living with Mom and Dad, has nothing to do with anything.
Just a heads up, with physX set to Low, Alice can run on four-five-six year-old hardware pretty good.

As for the rest of your rage rant
It's so ironic and funny you'd call my post a "rage rant" since it was anything but.
Yours, however, was full of pure, unadulterated child rage, threats, egocentric self-praise and immaturity.

Why would I go around complaining that it wouldn't run on that hardware if I didn't have it?
Because I've seen enough of your kind to know what you do.

Also, try harder, use more extremely immature insults, more idiotic, outdated internet memes, make up more lies, blame people for saying or doing things they never did or said, you'll go far in life like that.

Please, get out of this thread.

[Suntory_Times]

The major problem with this game is that it lags like crazy on whatever setting you use. And trust me, my PC is good. I can play almost any new game on max settings without any drops in framerate. But this game ♥♥♥♥ing murder my PC man!

On maximum settings at 1080p in 3d the game runs smoothly throughout. Not sure what issues people are having. My rig useses an i7 proccessor and two gtx570's in sli. Hope this is helpfull to someone.

It is always a shame when a company doesn't patch a game, as there will always be bugs.

[Caiobrz]

For all those saying the game lags or can't play nice on YOUR COMPUTER, I'm with AeddGynvael: it's YOUR computer.

Even with NO tweaking whatsoever, I could play this game with everything on high except PhysX with NO LAG, and my computer is OLD and OBSOLETE.

just because one of your updated games can play, doesn't mean ALL games will. People nagging are probably on AMD/ATI and are used with games without physX.

[woolerland]

just because one of your updated games can play, doesn't mean ALL games will. People nagging are probably on AMD/ATI and are used with games without physX.

so what are ou trying to say?, people with amd cards are being pwned and shouldn't buy this game because it lags?

[AeddGynvael]

so what are ou trying to say?, people with amd cards are being pwned and shouldn't buy this game because it lags?

Nobody is being, uh, "pwned".
ATi cards just don't have the necessary technology to process physX, so ATi users should usually play with it set to Low, otherwise their framerate would be bad.
And how does that in any way, shape or form mean anyone is telling you to not buy the game?
Why are you trying to make someone look guilty of something for no reason?

[Caiobrz]

Woolerland, people with amd/ati need a slight better CPU than "advertised" to run PhysX, or run the game with PhysX on low. Running the game with PhysX on low is the same as running it on a PS3/XBOX

My CPU is old and my GPU, albeit nVidia, is also too old, but my CPU still can handle PhysX on medium. So I would say to ALL people having lag issues with the game: it is a problem with your machine, period.

[alex8337]

I am now convinced you're 12.
Yes, it is your hardware, if you weren't a child with rich parents that has no clue whatsoever about hardware, you'd actually know the reason your ATI can't run physX.


There is no logic in what you're saying, but other than that.



Wait, so you're agreeing with me and still saying I'm wrong?
You're so stupid that you're agreeing with me and you don't realize it?
Wow.



You don't even have any idea who Spicy Horse are, do you?
I bet you think EA themselves developed the game.
Haha, it's funny.
If by my post you deduced I'm protecting EA and standing by them, you should definetely become a detective or something, you're brilliant at making wildly insane and wrong conclusions.


Nobody has said the game doesn't need a patch.It does, but it won't get one, because EA doesn't care.
In addition, your "housemate" being a C++ programmer, which he isn't, because you're living with Mom and Dad, has nothing to do with anything.
Just a heads up, with physX set to Low, Alice can run on four-five-six year-old hardware pretty good.


It's so ironic and funny you'd call my post a "rage rant" since it was anything but.
Yours, however, was full of pure, unadulterated child rage, threats, egocentric self-praise and immaturity.


Because I've seen enough of your kind to know what you do.

Also, try harder, use more extremely immature insults, more idiotic, outdated internet memes, make up more lies, blame people for saying or doing things they never did or said, you'll go far in life like that.

Please, get out of this thread.

Why do you keep mentioning PhysX? I haven't said that I'm trying to run it, I know it doesn't work with ATi cards.
FYI I'm 23 with two jobs, my parents don't even live in the same state not that it's any of your business. I'm loving your cheap shots, they're hilarious
But why do you care what I think? I think your just jealous of my epic hardware... a 1090T @ 4.2 on air with twin 6970's and a vertex2 SSD, you're so jelly
You mad bro? You mad?