DAGGERFALL: News from the home front!!!
LoneWolf, Bethesda Softworks
DATE: November 14, 1995
SUBJECT: DAGGERFALL: News from the home front!!!
Hey all,
LoneWolf, Bethesda's webmaster, here with some
news/responses/updates/other good stuff for you. Just thought you guys (and
gals) might like some news from the home front (hence the above subj 8^>).
First off, let's tackle the speed issue. I wanted to start off by
saying that this *is* a demo of the game, and not the final product. There is
still room left for optimization, and we certainly plan on optimizing this
puppy up the proverbial wazoo. The printed system requirements still stand at
requiring a 486/50 or better machine, with 8MB RAM, 2x CD-ROM, etc. For those
of you with slower machines, you will have the ability to speed up game play
by shutting off certain features. Again, as the readme file says, the demo
has _not_ been optimized for speed.
In response to the “game play, not graphics” thread(s), what’s wrong
with both? All right, so I’m leaving myself wide open for “nice” responses
with that question, but the truth is, the demo is limited to 1 dungeon. I
don’t think I err when I say that gameplay will be stronger while perusing
around outside of a dungeon. Please take it from someone who sees the rest
of Tamriel daily, gameplay will _not_ be a concern with the final product.
Oh, and the graphics rock! 8^) BTW, many of the textures used in the demo
have been updated for inclusion in the final (next???) release.
Many of you wrote to me about not being able to access the web/FTP
site. This should no longer be a problem. Simply put, our server was
overloaded and did the only thing it could... it went down. 8^) As for why it
got overloaded, let me give you some stats to date. An hour after the
Daggerfall demo had been made available for download from both the web site
and the FTP site, close to 170 copies had been or were being downloaded. 14
hours after being made available, close to 1,200 copies had been downloaded.
At that point, with nearly 200 people connected to the server, the machine
went down. We’ve upped the memory and lowered the max connections to insure
that this doesn’t happen again. BTW, in case you’re interested, there have
been 4,560 copies downloaded (at the time of this writing) since Nov. 9 (at
11:30PM) with 79 other people currently downloading it.
For those that have had a problem downloading 5MB files without being
disconnected partway through, I’ve split up the dagdemo zip files into 15
smaller files and placed them in the /pub/Demos/Chunks/ directory of our FTP
site (ftp.bethsoft.com). I UUencoded the 2 files into fifteen 1MB parts, and
then zipped them. Each zip file is about 745KB. In order to use these files,
download all of them to a temporary directory, and unzip all of them (pkunzip
*.zip). This will leave you with the 15 zip files (dagdem01.zip,
dagdem02.zip,...) and with 15 UUencoded files (dagdem01.uue,
dagdem02.uue,...). Let loose with your favorite UUdecoder (2 Win3xx based
UUdecoders are available from ftp.bethsoft.com/pub/Utils). This will leave
you with the above-mentioned 30 files and 2 new ones (dagdemo1.zip &
dagdemo2.zip). At this point you can safely delete the aforementioned 30
files. Then, using the “-d” option, unzip the 2 remaining zip files (pkunzip
-d *.zip). A new directory named dagdemo will be created for you. From
there, run setsound to configure the sound, and then type dagger to run the
demo. Please be sure to read the read.me and readme.dag files. And that’s it
8^).
And finally, in response to “the Daggerfall load screen” post:
> Anyone notice that the Daggerfall demo's startup screen is a mirror image of
> the graphic used in the [Scribes] room on the Bethesda Web site. :)
it’s not an exact mirror image... only a close one 8^).
As always, feel free to email me at feed...@bethsoft.com and I’ll do
my best to respond to your email <After the last 100 of the day he privately
groans, but says...> keep ‘em coming. If you have comments or suggestions
about Daggerfall, please send email to dag...@bethsoft.com.
Enjoy,
LoneWolf
Webmaster, Bethesda Softworks
-------
http://www.bethsoft.com
ftp://ftp.bethsoft.com
webm...@bethsoft.com
feedback@bethsoft
Marc Nimchuk
Nice to hear from you guys!
Just curious, are there any plans to either a) release a demo patch in
the near future as you did for future shock?
Failing that, will there be a new demo released closer to the final
release date? Im torn by my desire to dload the puppy and check it out
but I dont want to be disappointed by its performance on my 8meg P120
(yeah yeah everyone I know, but RAM isnt cheap ok?)
Thanks!
John Olson
>FROM: LoneWolf, Bethesda Softworks Webmaster
>DATE: November 14, 1995
>SUBJECT: DAGGERFALL: News from the home front!!!
[snip]
> As always, feel free to email me at feed...@bethsoft.com and I’ll do
>my best to respond to your email <After the last 100 of the day he privately
>groans, but says...> keep ‘em coming. If you have comments or suggestions
>about Daggerfall, please send email to dag...@bethsoft.com.
I am sure that you have been inundated with requests, but I felt so
strongly about this subject that I just had to make sure that it was
covered.
The mouse interface in the demo of Daggerfall is not good.
(It is so not good in my opinion that I had to physically restrain
myself from using expletives.)
I recommend some mutation of the Terminator:Future Shock interface for
Daggerfall. It takes a little getting used to, but is good in the
end.
Perhaps the modes (Eye, Hand, Steal, Dialogue) could have different
mouse/keyboard combinations. Perhaps the user could define different
mouse mode definitions (aka MechWarrior2 multiple definitions).
My personal preference for controls is to use keyboard for
backwards/forwards/slide(strafe) and mouse to turn left/right/look
up/look down/fire(swing weapon)/jump.
In any case I do think that the controls should encourage more
nimbleness in the POV with less mouse button/modifier key input.
John/Olson
j...@netcom.com
I/mhav/ingprob/lem/s/withs/lash/contro/l....... :/)
Jochen Heistermann
: FROM: LoneWolf, Bethesda Softworks Webmaster
: DATE: November 14, 1995
: SUBJECT: DAGGERFALL: News from the home front!!!
:
: Hey all,
:
: LoneWolf, Bethesda's webmaster, here with some
: news/responses/updates/other good stuff for you. Just thought you guys (and
: gals) might like some news from the home front (hence the above subj 8^>).
Nice to hear from you! Well, the posts here might be quite confusing,
but I will try some wrap up:
Bugs/Crashes/Hangups
Theu occur randomly - needs definitely some work. The screen freezes after
some time (not reproducible) and - reboot. :-)
Slowness
The first problem was system configuration. With NOEMS, files = 99,
buffers = 50 and 16 MB RAM disk access is no longer a problem. BUT -
on my 486/DX2 - PCI it is still annoying slow, even when using the
mouse for turning.
Combat
I am a scientist at the age of 34 with two kids at home, means I am
no joystick acrobat and I don't have reflexes that are fast enough.
Please add some difficulty settings in the final release, I cannot
beat more than 2 or 3 enemies.
Moving
It is sooo difficult to control movement with the keyboard. Please
adjust that (I also recommend to avoid that problem of getting
stucked everywhere). Walking through doors is a science itself in
this game.
Interactivity
It is a pity that all the objects cannot be accesssed. I also did not
meet a single individual (NPC) to talk to!
Good points
The look of the engine is really fantastic! If the game will look that
great and well designed it might be one of my all-time-favorites.
:
: In response to the “game play, not graphics” thread(s), what’s wrong
: with both? All right, so I’m leaving myself wide open for “nice” responses
: with that question, but the truth is, the demo is limited to 1 dungeon. I
: don’t think I err when I say that gameplay will be stronger while perusing
: around outside of a dungeon. Please take it from someone who sees the rest
: of Tamriel daily, gameplay will _not_ be a concern with the final product.
: Oh, and the graphics rock! 8^) BTW, many of the textures used in the demo
: have been updated for inclusion in the final (next???) release.
:
Concerning gameplay: When there is no hangup and no monster gets me I jump
into the water and drown there. Can you give some hints what to do to see
the whole demo? Some hints might be necessary since noone seemed to get far
in this demo - and all the players would like to see the whole dungeon.
Final note: Thanks for releasing the demo and looking through all the bitching
comments. I hope for a second release/patch of the demo with better gamespeed,
better controls and weaker enemies (Too much to hope for?).
Bye
Jochen
Stephen Owens
terminator and place it in this game, and take the map from
this game and place it in terminator.
--
Ichabod Kagass
Bethesda Softworks) wrote:
>FROM: LoneWolf, Bethesda Softworks Webmaster
>DATE: November 14, 1995
>SUBJECT: DAGGERFALL: News from the home front!!!
>
>Hey all,
>
> LoneWolf, Bethesda's webmaster, here with some
>news/responses/updates/other good stuff for you. Just thought you guys (and
>gals) might like some news from the home front (hence the above subj 8^>).
Mr. Lone Wolf,
Thanks for your thorough response to all of us! However, I noticed you
were conspicuously silent on the issue of compatibility with the
Matrox Millenium. Will this issue be addressed anytime soon with
anything other than finger-pointing? (I'm referring to the colossally
unhelpful post from a few days back: "The problem is on Matrox's end
and they hope to have a fix in the next version of their BIOS").
-Ichabod Kagass
Dick Jarvinen
have had with the Daggersfall demo. It is also encouraging to note that the
more severe problems are being address (and hopefully) fixed.
However...
I still have a minor gripe about the demo. To me (IMHO I guess is required
here) a demo is small, working and representative model of the actual program.
In other words, it should be behave like the 'full-blown' or 'real' product
except that is it limited in whatever way the owner feels is necessary. Most
common would be to exclude save games, allow only one dungeon to explore, maybe
limit character generation. Stuff like that.
A BETA program, on the other hand, is a pre-release of a production product
that is intended to shake out final bugs. A BETA is an incredibly valuable
tool in that it allows the owner of the product to expose his program to far
more environments than he can reasonably test. As such, BETA uses will
undoubtedly experience failures and crashes, at least in some small percentage
of cases. A BETA could also not have some features scheduled in the final
version (such as SPEED).
So, the Daggersfall DEMO was not, at least by my definition, a demo. It was a
Beta. I am overjoyed that Bethesda is taking the time to fix some of the
problems, but as a software developer ourselves, we do not release our demo to
customers to find bugs for us. We want our demo to fully represent what our
product does.
If Bethesda (or others) have different definitions of DEMO and BETA, please
post them. I hope we can all come to agree what these terms mean.
The Dark Knight
Although I agree with you I can't help but wonder: "Who cares?" ;-)
Personally, Bethesda could have called it "Daggerfall
Hey-Look-At-Me-I'm-Kinda-Neat-Demo/Beta" and I still would have
downloaded it and checked it out.
To all that are disappointed with the Daggerfall Demo I happily point out
that you may return it for a FULL refund. :-)
I do yield that the "Demo" is more like a "Beta" or "Preview" but since
the game is still at least 2 months from being released I consider it a
privledge to see the game at this stage. I am very impressed and can't
help but mumble "wow" as I enter the huge caverns, the twisty corridors,
and the smooth gameplay. (Yes, I said smooth gameplay.)
I have some problems with the game and I am [gasp!] writing them down and
intending to send them to Bethesda in a clear, concise, and helpful
manner. Instead of "Hey dude, it sucks 'cause it's too slow and I'm too
stupid to figure out how to make it run faster." [grin]
The point is that Daggerfall will revolutionize CRPGs to new heights.
Arena was awesome but quickly became tiresome and repetitive. Bethesda
has evaluated the strong and weak points ofArena and intends to
address them. The list of features in Daggerfall just makes every bone in
my RPG-body quiver with anticipation.
Until the final version is released I reserve judgement but Bethesda's
excellent history is good enough for me to at least give the game a chance
and to attempt to make it better.
Regards,
Don Mappin
LoneWolf, Bethesda Softworks
wrote:
> Thanks for your thorough response to all of us! However, I noticed you
> were conspicuously silent on the issue of compatibility with the
> Matrox Millenium. Will this issue be addressed anytime soon with
> anything other than finger-pointing? (I'm referring to the colossally
> unhelpful post from a few days back: "The problem is on Matrox's end
> and they hope to have a fix in the next version of their BIOS").
Ahhh, the Millenium problem...
Well, finger-pointing aside (it's all your fault 8^>), we are going to put out
an update/patch for the demo, and will have Matrox support (built-in) in the
final product. We just recently got our Millenium in, so the update will be
coming along pretty soon. In the meantime though, I received a fix that seems
to work via email. Here's the fix:
The Demo will run with the Matrox Millenium if you run Univbe51
and disable the current VESA extensions in Uvconfig. Accept the
default chipset (oak87).
Later,
LoneWolf
Bethesda Softworks Webmaster
---
webm...@bethsoft.com
feed...@bethsoft.com
http://www.bethsoft.com/
Michael Pacheco
->Although I agree with you I can't help but wonder: "Who cares?" ;-)
->Personally, Bethesda could have called it "Daggerfall
->Hey-Look-At-Me-I'm-Kinda-Neat-Demo/Beta" and I still would have
->downloaded it and checked it out.
->To all that are disappointed with the Daggerfall Demo I happily point out
->that you may return it for a FULL refund. :-)
->I do yield that the "Demo" is more like a "Beta" or "Preview" but since
->the game is still at least 2 months from being released I consider it a
->privledge to see the game at this stage. I am very impressed and can't
->help but mumble "wow" as I enter the huge caverns, the twisty corridors,
->and the smooth gameplay. (Yes, I said smooth gameplay.)
->I have some problems with the game and I am [gasp!] writing them down and
->intending to send them to Bethesda in a clear, concise, and helpful
->manner. Instead of "Hey dude, it sucks 'cause it's too slow and I'm too
->stupid to figure out how to make it run faster." [grin]
->The point is that Daggerfall will revolutionize CRPGs to new heights.
->Arena was awesome but quickly became tiresome and repetitive. Bethesda
->has evaluated the strong and weak points ofArena and intends to
->address them. The list of features in Daggerfall just makes every bone in
->my RPG-body quiver with anticipation.
->Until the final version is released I reserve judgement but Bethesda's
->excellent history is good enough for me to at least give the game a chance
->and to attempt to make it better.
->Regards,
->Don Mappin
Aw... what he said! (damn, I wish could have said it that well)
LoneWolf, Bethesda Softworks
> I am sure that you have been inundated with requests, but I felt so
> strongly about this subject that I just had to make sure that it was
> covered.
85 such requests today, in fact. Guess it's a slow day. 8^)
> The mouse interface in the demo of Daggerfall is not good.
> (It is so not good in my opinion that I had to physically restrain
> myself from using expletives.)
Well, for the sole reason of helping you along with your restraint, we've
decided to make the entire interface/POV completely configurable. That's
completely as in everything. BTW, expletives out of sheer joy are allowed.
8^)
Again, if you've got any questions, please feel free to email me.
Koz
>A demo is small, working and representative model of the actual program.
> In other words, it should be behave like the 'full-blown' or 'real' product
>except that is it limited in whatever way the owner feels is necessary.
>A BETA program, on the other hand, is a pre-release of a production product
>that is intended to shake out final bugs.
>So, the Daggersfall DEMO was not, at least by my definition, a demo. It was a
>Beta. I am overjoyed that Bethesda is taking the time to fix some of the
>problems, but as a software developer ourselves, we do not release our demo to
>customers to find bugs for us. We want our demo to fully represent what our
>product does.
For application programs that may be true. For games, however, it
would be kind of pointless to polish the program up before demoing it,
as long as people realize the "real" game will be better.
--Koz
Michael Kozlowski
mlko...@students.wisc.edu
-----
Fun Fact: The weasel is unsurpassed among mammals in speed of killing mice!
Ralph Scott
Tony F. <10062...@compuserve.com> wrote:
>jarv...@proaxis.com (Dick Jarvinen) wrote:
>
>>So, the Daggersfall DEMO was not, at least by my definition, a demo. It was a
>
>>If Bethesda (or others) have different definitions of DEMO and BETA, please
>>post them. I hope we can all come to agree what these terms mean.
>
>wilderness for something?
A beta taster. Perhaps. I have 5 demo disks from pc gamer. Full
of demos. Each and every one runs great (but oviously the games
have stuff cut out). This is what demos are!
Slower and/or buggier stuff is what betas are.
---ralph
Void
>Sometime in the not too distant past, kag...@earthlink.net (Ichabod Kagass)
> The Demo will run with the Matrox Millenium if you run Univbe51
> and disable the current VESA extensions in Uvconfig. Accept the
> default chipset (oak87).
I was wondering if Daggerfall was gonna be multiplayer compatable...
That would make this game 1000 times better in my opinion and it's
already a great looking game....
Void
<Void>
Tony F.
>So, the Daggersfall DEMO was not, at least by my definition, a demo. It was a
>Beta...
>If Bethesda (or others) have different definitions of DEMO and BETA, please
>post them. I hope we can all come to agree what these terms mean.
Shall we call it a taster for the too eager fans crying in the
wilderness for something?
TF
Absolut Ahr
>I still have a minor gripe about the demo. To me (IMHO I guess is required
>product except that is it limited in whatever way the owner feels is
>dungeon to explore, maybe limit character generation. Stuff like that.
>
>tool in that it allows the owner of the product to expose his program to far
>more environments than he can reasonably test. As such, BETA uses will
>undoubtedly experience failures and crashes, at least in some small
percentage
>of cases. A BETA could also not have some features scheduled in the final
>version (such as SPEED).
>
>a Beta.
You forgot to mention that a beta is the entire game, without all the bugs
worked out, while a demo is (normally) a part of the completed
(hopefully bug-free) version. So, the Daggerfall 'demo' isn't a beta. It's
more of a hybrid...
Carey
Dick Jarvinen
>worked out, while a demo is (normally) a part of the completed
>(hopefully bug-free) version. So, the Daggerfall 'demo' isn't a beta. It's
>more of a hybrid...
>
>Carey
Good point! Now if we only knew what to call it...
DEMBET? nah... BETADEM? sounds awful... EAT DE BOM! now that sounds right!
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