Pre-Update Christmas Gift (belated)

[Solecismic]

Getting closer to putting out the 6.3 update.

Those of you who would like to enjoy the 2009 player file and schedule file, please feel free to download the free demo at Solecismic.com. That has been updated.

Just install the demo and those files will be in the installation folder.

Merry (slightly belated) Christmas.

[Ben E Lou]

Good to hear!

[DaddyTorgo]

great to hear!

[Julio Riddols]

Are there any more superlative superlatives?

[MizzouRah]

Excellent news!

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Ah sweet....

[Fonzie]

I'm delighted to hear you're still working on the game, Jim. Many thanks!

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Next up, TCY2 .....


One can only dream ....


The FOF7 engine with TCY recruiting .... pure heaven ...

[Solecismic]

There are many reasons why the pro engine is inappropriate for use in a college game, unfortunately. The range of play results is just entirely different. As is the way offenses are set up.

I would have released the update last night, but I've been waiting for information from ViaTech. Unfortunately, the license is still an XP product, and I'm afraid Vista-izing FOF may be causing problems with the wrapper.

[Ben E Lou]

There are many reasons why the pro engine is inappropriate for use in a college game, unfortunately. The range of play results is just entirely different. As is the way offenses are set up.

I would have released the update last night, but I've been waiting for information from ViaTech. Unfortunately, the license is still an XP product, and I'm afraid Vista-izing FOF may be causing problems with the wrapper.Effin' Vista, even causing us non-Vista people to have to wait. :banghead:

[RedKingGold]

Jim, awesome news on the roster-release and the updates.

Would you post a list of what was added/changed/fixed in 6.3?

[A-Husker-4-Life]

There are many reasons why the pro engine is inappropriate for use in a college game, unfortunately. The range of play results is just entirely different. As is the way offenses are set up.
.

Thanks for the explanation Jim, I will definitely stop dreaming about that situation ever happening. I really hope there's a TCY2 though.

[Dutch]

I'm afraid Vista-izing FOF may be causing problems with the wrapper.

Vista, please stop causing problems.

[azjoe_02]

There are many reasons why the pro engine is inappropriate for use in a college game, unfortunately. The range of play results is just entirely different. As is the way offenses are set up.

I would have released the update last night, but I've been waiting for information from ViaTech. Unfortunately, the license is still an XP product, and I'm afraid Vista-izing FOF may be causing problems with the wrapper.

Glad to know that the update is just about to be released. Not glad to know that Vista is holding things up. Thanks for communication Jim.

[MizzouRah]

Jim, awesome news on the roster-release and the updates.

Would you post a list of what was added/changed/fixed in 6.3?

Indeed!

Would love to mull over a list of whatever has been fixed/added/etc..

[aran]

Great news! Good thing I installed FOF recently... I can't wait to get my hands on the 6.3 update.

[Leprechaun]

great job jim

[SlyBelle1]

Eager to see what has changed in the latest 6.3 version. I downloaded the 6.3 demo and installed it. Certainly noticed the new rosters but couldn't really see anything else that changed. I'm sure the changes are likely "under the hood" and would be hard to see in a short two game demo season.

[Groo]

There are many reasons why the pro engine is inappropriate for use in a college game, unfortunately. The range of play results is just entirely different. As is the way offenses are set up.

I would have released the update last night, but I've been waiting for information from ViaTech. Unfortunately, the license is still an XP product, and I'm afraid Vista-izing FOF may be causing problems with the wrapper.

I don't think he's actually released it yet, Sly. Just the roster and schedule stuff.

[Chubby]

I'd love to see the patch notes since it sounds like 6.3 is done and just waiting on viatech

[Ben E Lou]

Eager to see what has changed in the latest 6.3 version. I downloaded the 6.3 demo and installed it. Certainly noticed the new rosters but couldn't really see anything else that changed. I'm sure the changes are likely "under the hood" and would be hard to see in a short two game demo season.One change that I noticed in the demo is that "football logic" now overrides bad game planning in the usage of GL. It used to be that if you Rexed and had run aggressive on 1st and 10 at, say, 24% and then GL usage in run aggressive at, say 44% of aggressive run situations (these are the actual numbers Rex is suggesting for my next game in WOOF), Rex would have a 10.56% chance (without adjustments factored in) of calling GL anywhere on the field on 1st and 10. Cranking up run aggressive and GL percentage in the demo to ridiculously-high settings, it appears that it's only being used in logical places now (3rd and 1, inside the 5, etc.)

[WebEwbank]

I still play SP and I still love it.

Jim, your imagination, craftsmanship, and dedication to your customers are unequaled. Sadly...

[bigdawg2003]

Funny, just booted up FOF2007 for the first time in a while yesterday and was lamenting the lack of an updated roster file.

A wonderful belated Christmas gift!

[Solecismic]

I will put one together when I release the update.

Still no word from ViaTech. This is very unusual for them. I've never had to wait three weeks for an answer, let alone three days. I hope they're all not gone for the entire holiday season.

Everything's fine, except I can not unlicense the game on Vista. Which means service requests and frustration every time people change computers and need to move their license. I suspect it's a permissions issue.

[A-Husker-4-Life]

I will put one together when I release the update.

Still no word from ViaTech. This is very unusual for them. I've never had to wait three weeks for an answer, let alone three days. I hope they're all not gone for the entire holiday season.

Everything's fine, except I can not unlicense the game on Vista. Which means service requests and frustration every time people change computers and need to move their license. I suspect it's a permissions issue.

Is there any chance you could release an XP only patch?

[Solecismic]

There's no differentiation in the code. It would be better not to ask people not to download it if they have Vista. Because they might be installing a version of the elicense that can't be removed down the road. Ever. Which has legal ramifications if you ever dispose of your computer in a landfill in California or New Jersey.

About ninety percent of service requests relate to the elicense already. Even with a FAQ that specifically tells them to contact ViaTech instead. I'd hate to increase that percentage to 99.

[A-Husker-4-Life]

There's no differentiation in the code. It would be better not to ask people not to download it if they have Vista. Because they might be installing a version of the elicense that can't be removed down the road. Ever. Which has legal ramifications if you ever dispose of your computer in a landfill in California or New Jersey.

About ninety percent of service requests relate to the elicense already. Even with a FAQ that specifically tells them to contact ViaTech instead. I'd hate to increase that percentage to 99.

Thanks for the quick explanation, I imagine it would create quite a headache for you.

[Ben E Lou]

About ninety percent of service requests relate to the elicense already. Even with a FAQ that specifically tells them to contact ViaTech instead. I'd hate to increase that percentage to 99.

*sigh*

[Joker]

license.....unlicensed.....
Just buy a new game....
Thats what I do....

The help desk at Solecismic.com says...please use the
unlicensed feature when changing computers.....

NO NOT ME ....I just buy a new game....
I'm a rebel
Pay the man he deserves the cash.

[gstelmack]

Everything's fine, except I can not unlicense the game on Vista.

Is this with the "-unlicense" option? That has worked fine for me on Vista, and the missing control panel and context-menu licensing options has been an issue for me on XP as well as Vista. I've had to use the same trick for FOFC-FBCB and one or two others.

[mtolson]

Is this with the "-unlicense" option? That has worked fine for me on Vista, and the missing control panel and context-menu licensing options has been an issue for me on XP as well as Vista. I've had to use the same trick for FOFC-FBCB and one or two others.

Same for me. I have never been able to get the control panel to work. I have unlicensed many times using "-unlicense" on Vista and now Window 7

[Nogram]

Same for me. I have never been able to get the control panel to work. I have unlicensed many times using "-unlicense" on Vista and now Window 7


+12

[Solecismic]

Yes, the -unlicense option crashes without unlicensing, though the licensing GUI pops up. It might be that I'm now using Vista as my primary developing environment.

Joker, I appreciate the loyalty, but I am quite happy with people purchasing just once. The licensing ideally makes that easier.

[OldSchool]

About ninety percent of service requests relate to the elicense already. Even with a FAQ that specifically tells them to contact ViaTech instead. I'd hate to increase that percentage to 99.

Customers are such retards.

[claystone]

Jim, i love your game. How would one invest in your product to expand upon what you have done?


Clay

[Hammer]

I wish we had something to talk about while we are waiting, like whats in the patch :)

[beargrowlz]

I wish we had something to talk about while we are waiting, like whats in the patch :)

Someone get bit by a shark? *ducks*



Cheers,
-Bear

[Icy]

I also need to always use -unlicense in windows vista and windows 7 to unlicense games, never managed to do it using the control panel.

[JimboJ]

I'm confused. Do you need to re-license the game after you apply the update? If you have the game installed on a Vista machine, then you already have a version that can't be unlicensed right? How does applying an update change anything?

As for new purchasers, they would still be buying basically the same game (FOF 2007) that they have been for years, just an updated version. If the FOF 2007 that you can buy today doesn't fully support Vista or Windows 7, why would people expect the update to be any different?

Now if you are releasing a brand new version that requires a purchase and new license, then I would understand why you would want it to fully support Vista and Windows 7.

[Solecismic]

I'm confused. Do you need to re-license the game after you apply the update? If you have the game installed on a Vista machine, then you already have a version that can't be unlicensed right? How does applying an update change anything?

As for new purchasers, they would still be buying basically the same game (FOF 2007) that they have been for years, just an updated version. If the FOF 2007 that you can buy today doesn't fully support Vista or Windows 7, why would people expect the update to be any different?

Now if you are releasing a brand new version that requires a purchase and new license, then I would understand why you would want it to fully support Vista and Windows 7.

Those are good questions, thanks.

No, you will not need to apply the license during the reinstallation process. You may have that option, but you don't need to unlicense, then relicense after the install.

You will, most likely, have to uninstall the old version during the process.

This is, however, with the exception of the license, now more of a Vista application than before. I'm using hedge-words there intentionally. I don't know if it meets all the requirements. It probably doesn't. But in terms of where it stores data and program files, it's behaving in concert with Microsoft's definition of security. It no longer stores information in the registry, which might make the installation process smoother as well.

To make that possible, I needed to write an application that copies saved game files. So existing customers will probably want to download that application and run it before they uninstall the pre-6.3 version (it won't work if you run it afterward).

I've learned a little more about this licensing problem tonight, so it's likely I'm going to get this done.

The problem is that during testing of the new version, I found I could not unlicense it. It just crashed. That's with the -unlicense option. The crash is solved by giving the program administrative privileges. That's something I hoped to avoid by Vista-izing the game. It's another layer of customer support - I'm trying to greatly reduce the number of Vista-related emails we receive solely due to this privileges issue.

I'm convinced tonight that I have the latest ViaTech package and that there's nothing much I can do about the crash other than talk about it in the FAQ. I am discussing the potential for ViaTech patches in the future for this and the msvcr71.dll issues, but that's not going to happen overnight if at all (their lead developer doesn't believe in static linking). I also needed to make sure the problem wasn't new. So that required me messing around with old elicense packagers.

No, this is not a new version that requires a new purchase for existing 6.0 - 6.2 customers. I had hoped to release one this fall, but life got in the way. I'm glad I didn't talk about that, because then I'd've been yakking about something that doesn't exist. And no, I have no idea when or if I'll get back to version 7. Certainly not at the moment, and I wasn't that close to finishing when I was interrupted. At least I got a nice update out there. It certainly won't be everything to everyone, but I think it will keep people interested for a while.

[Celeval]

Appreciate the update, Jim.

[RedKingGold]

No, this is not a new version that requires a new purchase for existing 6.0 - 6.2 customers. I had hoped to release one this fall, but life got in the way. I'm glad I didn't talk about that, because then I'd've been yakking about something that doesn't exist. And no, I have no idea when or if I'll get back to version 7. Certainly not at the moment, and I wasn't that close to finishing when I was interrupted. At least I got a nice update out there. It certainly won't be everything to everyone, but I think it will keep people interested for a while.

Huge.

Good to know that a future update of the game is/was at least in the preliminary stages. Heck, just good to know you're still working on stuff.

Thanks for the update(s).

[azjoe_02]

Huge.

Good to know that a future update of the game is/was at least in the preliminary stages. Heck, just good to know you're still working on stuff.

Thanks for the update(s).

+1000

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Thanks for the update Jim, looking forward to the new patch..

[Groo]

Huge.

Good to know that a future update of the game is/was at least in the preliminary stages. Heck, just good to know you're still working on stuff.

Thanks for the update(s).

+1