July 30th Release Candidate almost impossible...

[FISKER_Q]

From the Valve info thread-

The release of CS:Source is basically the Source engine plus CS game
code plus the content to play one map (probably de_dust).

The reason we are doing this is primarily to find out what problems
there are with the Source engine when we give it to a couple of hundred
thousand people.

We're doing this before we RC Half-Life 2 to give us time to fix any
issues that surface (e.g. "on this graphics card with this version of
this BIOS and this video adapter the game won't run in widescreen
modes").

iamaelephant: 1
All of my doubters: 0

He also says at the bottom:
CS:Source is in great shape, and I don't see it impacting the RC date.
It is the plan to include it in the regular and collectors edition
boxes.

But personally, I just cant see how it's even possible to do a full beta test and fix all the bugs in two days. Even if CS:S beta came out today I would have my doubts.

Why would they have to fix them in 2 days?

 

[iamaelephant]

Because Gabe told us CS:S beta is aimed for a 28th July release, and their supposed (BS, imho) RC date is the 30th.

 

[FISKER_Q]

Because Gabe told us CS:S beta is aimed for a 28th July release, and their supposed (BS, imho) RC date is the 30th.

so? they just wait a week or 2 for the second RC date.

 

[iamaelephant]

We're doing this before we RC Half-Life 2 to give us time to fix any issues that surface.

God I am so sick of having to spell this out for you people. Please, just accept that Valve is blowing more hot air up your ass.

 

[Shuzer]

Please, accept the fact that the first RC was only mentioned as July 31st ONCE, while "sometime in August" was mentioned atleast 10 times.
The July 31st date was more than likely an optimistic estimate on their part.

 

[FISKER_Q]

God I am so sick of having to spell this out for you people. Please, just accept that Valve is blowing more hot air up your ass.

And that means the fixes are forced to be included in RC1?

 

[brink's]

iamelephant I think you've said all that one person can say, if they havn't agreed with you yet they prolly never will.

 

[Gossoon]

Because Gabe told us CS:S beta is aimed for a 28th July release, and their supposed (BS, imho) RC date is the 30th.

Isn't that just the RC for HL2? Why would they have to go into candidacy together? They're different games - one massively larger than the other. Different development schedules for simultaneous release. I don't see how they're mutually exclusive.

 

[iamaelephant]

iamelephant I think you've said all that one person can say, if they havn't agreed with you yet they prolly never will.

I think you might be right. I may have to give up.

Oh, and Gossoon, just kill yourself now and be done with it. Jeuss Christ dude.

 

[Gossoon]

I think you might be right. I may have to give up.

Oh, and Gossoon, just kill yourself now and be done with it. Jeuss Christ dude.

As the vice-president has said - "go **** yourself"

 

[FISKER_Q]

I think you might be right. I may have to give up.

Oh, and Gossoon, just kill yourself now and be done with it. Jeuss Christ dude.

Yeah cause it will never make sense that: valve has to fix all bugs in 2 days, Or else something will go "oh noes". Although we don't know what, since you can't tell us.

But something WILL go "oh noes"

 

[AlCaponeXB]

I still think they're going with the same 'ole SEPTEMBER 30TH release date!

 

[skull24]

I don't want bugs in my HL2!

I just want a game that has no bugs and runs well. I hope it comes out in Sep. so we can all play it and talk about how kool the game is on these forums. Until then I guess I will be playing the Doom 3 demo when it comes out.

 

[tokin]

It's simple. CS:S goes out for the players the last few days of this month or the beginning of next. 2 weeks go by, problems are worked on for about 1-2wks then a RC goes out. So if you think about it, HL2 won't be on store shelves until mid-late september, if else goes wrong possibly October. That is as real as it gets unless something insane happens out of know where like the theft.

 

[Orange]

cs:s and hl2 will both go through RC testing i would assume.
That doesn't mean they happen at same time, and not consecutively.

Hey, what if there WEREN"T any nasty bugs, or even bothersome tiny ones in the cs:s or hl2 RC , or testing or whatever? WOuldn't that be neat?

Oh, and the go kill yourself remark was unneeded. Even if you are right elephant, treating everyone else like an idiot for not taking Valve's statements as absolute truth or second guessing you does not appear friendly at all.
After all, if you think they are lying, how can you quote them to support your arguements?

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Hey, what if there WEREN"T any nasty bugs, or even bothersome tiny ones in the cs:s or hl2 RC , or testing or whatever? WOuldn't that be neat?

It would be insanely neat. But the odds are against AS BLOODY USUAL!! Lots of bugs will need to be fixed.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

The CS:s beta is supposed to test netcode for the sdk and HL2.. so I believe elephant is right.. we may be in for a longer wait then expected due to the beta takeing it's time.

 

[Orange]

It would be insanely neat. But the odds are against AS BLOODY USUAL!! Lots of bugs will need to be fixed.

I agree. I don't really think the beta will start and finish without some noticable changes, but lates email from Gabe gives a tiny hope that large changes won't be needed.

"its in really good condition" i believe the phrasing was. its 1:51 am where i am, forgive me for not looking it up :]

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

The release of CS:Source is basically the Source engine plus CS game
code plus the content to play one map (probably de_dust).

The reason we are doing this is primarily to find out what problems
there are with the Source engine when we give it to a couple of hundred
thousand people.

We're doing this before we RC Half-Life 2 to give us time to fix any
issues that surface (e.g. "on this graphics card with this version of
this BIOS and this video adapter the game won't run in widescreen
modes").

We also get information back from the engine when it crashes, which is
also very useful in evaluating how close we are to being done (one crash
per play year - good! One crash per play hour - bad!).

So don't think of this as a CS:Source beta as much as it is a Source
engine configuration and compatibility test.

CS:Source is in great shape, and I don't see it impacting the RC date.
It is the plan to include it in the regular and collectors edition
boxes.

Gabe


that email gave me more hope but I dont see how if they plan to alter the rc with beta feedback fixes in time to get it to vivendi by the end of august (if they plant o bring out css beta by the 28nth) it just dosent compute.

 

[Kangy]

Hopefully, the actual beta will last a week, and they'll just leave us to get used to it, after that.

 

[Cod0r]

I think they said they only start Preloading CS:S BETA on the 28th, we might not be able to start playing it untill mid August.

 

[Sparta]

They said the beta will last for 2 weeks in one of the Korean videos

so from the 28th to the 12th of August, if all goes well and the RC is accepted by VU then we should see HL2 on store shelves by early Sept.
Thats if the RC is accepted

 

[Sparta]

delete this post

 

[phantomdesign]

It is rather entertaining watching the rampant speculation based on little to no knowledge of how the gaming industry works.

 

[Gunner]

It is rather entertaining watching the rampant speculation based on little to no knowledge of how the gaming industry works.

Thank you for your input!

 

[Sandler]

FFS! CS:S basicly deleyed HL2 ;\

 

[subtlesnake]

God I am so sick of having to spell this out for you people. Please, just accept that Valve is blowing more hot air up your ass.

Right, they start the process before the RC is sent, and that process is continued as Vivendi does QA.

 

[RoguePsi]

Christ. The CS:S beta is to test the source engine as I stated ages ago. Gabe has now confirmed this in that e-mail.

I'd like to remind you that the Source engine under the guise of HL2 has been in beta since mid-May and many of the bugs have been worked out already meaning the few bugs that the CS:S beta throws up will be squashed quickly. It's very possible to work on those bugs and get them fixed by the 30th so it can be sent out as an RC. It doesn't mean they wont stop working on it, but it will allow Valve to know how far there are from the final RC by the feedback from Vivendi.

I'm fed up with all this negativity with lack of basis. You guys (especially Iamelephant) are now having to work up things to negative about just so you can go on another rant of "Omgz!!1 Valve is t3h bullshitah!!1"

I've got a suggestion, why don't you all just shut up and when Valve do cock-up, then you can slag them off. Don't try and be clever and pre-empt them. You just look foolish.

 

[Mountain Man]

Based on Gabe's comments, I'm under the impression that the CS:S beta isn't so much to see if things work but to confirm that they do. In other words, they're fairly confident that the Source engine is as solid as it can be and this beta test is just a final proofing period to make sure they've caught everything that might go wrong. While this is called a beta test, I seriously doubt folks will be playing beta code. Rather, they'll be playing final code but Valve is calling it a beta to indicate the testing process and not the quality of the code being tested.

Barring any major technical issues, I expect this beta test to conclude quickly. Valve is only interested in technical problems and isn't worried about tweaking the balance, the latter process most often being the hardest and most time consuming part of any beta test. Remember, Counter Strike has been balance tested for years. This is just a port of the game to a new engine.

If all goes smoothly, we'll probably be seeing Half-Life 2 by late August or early September. But hopefully sooner than later.

 

[RoguePsi]

Based on Gabe's comments, I'm under the impression that the CS:S beta isn't so much to see if things work but to confirm that they do. In other words, they're fairly confident that the Source engine is as solid as it can be and this beta test is just a final proofing period to make sure they've caught everything that might go wrong. While this is called a beta test, I seriously doubt folks will be playing beta code. Rather, they'll be playing final code but Valve is calling it a beta to indicate the testing process and not the quality of the code being tested.

Barring any major technical issues, I expect this beta test to conclude quickly. Valve is only interested in technical problems and isn't worried about tweaking the balance, the latter process most often being the hardest and most time consuming part of any beta test. Remember, Counter Strike has been balance tested for years. This is just a port of the game to a new engine.

If all goes smoothly, we'll probably be seeing Half-Life 2 by late August or early September. But hopefully sooner than later.

Precisely. I wouldn't go too nuts over the release date tho - these things take time. Early September is an extremely reliable date (if all things go well).

"Oh noes!!1 Vlave is t3h lying to uz agen!!11" - Random sarcasm.

 

[Cyanide]

CS:source beta is not going to delay HL2. Any bugs that they find can just be patched after the release of the game, like every developer in the world has done for years. They've been doing internal testing for months now, so most of the major bugs should be worked out by that. Unless there was some catostrophic failure on the part of their internal QA testers, the game will not be delayed because of bugs found during a beta that is set to last a couple weeks.

The game has been delayed for nearly a year now. Vivendi is obviously in financial trouble or they wouldn't be cutting 350 jobs and disolving Sierra (one of their largest divisions). There's no way in hell they aren't going to approve the first RC of HL2. They want that game out in the world making money, instead of eating up even more than the $40,000,000+ that they've already put into it.

 

[subtlesnake]

I can't see Vivendi being that shortsighted, it's not like they wont survive if HL2 doesn't release soon. And Valve have financed the game, not Vivendi.

 

[Seppo]

Precisely. I wouldn't go too nuts over the release date tho - these things take time. Early September is an extremely reliable date (if all things go well).

"Oh noes!!1 Vlave is t3h lying to uz agen!!11" - Random sarcasm.

Yeah, and before anyone starts with that "september isn't summer" let me just remind you that technically, TECHNICALLY, the summer ends the 22nd of September. So even if HL2 came out in september 1-22, it would still technically be out in summer, just like V4vle pr0miz3d.

The September 1 at some online retailers' sites somehow seems like a day HL2 could come out, it just fits. If I had to bet my money on a release date, that would be the day. But that's just because I'm stupid, and can't control my use of money. And eventually I would lose my money because I would make a bet with 300 different people.

 

[InSaNe TuBaíNa]

There's no way in hell they aren't going to approve the first RC of HL2.

i hope u are right.. i want this game soon in my hands..

 

[iamaelephant]

I simply cant believe some of you people are still optimistic about an early September release. The odds are so damn slim it's not even funny.

 

[alco]

I simply cant believe some of you people are still optimistic about an early September release. The odds are so damn slim it's not even funny.

Don't see how they are...

The beta lasts until the 12th, to confirm that Source is all in order. After 2 or 3 RCs, It goes gold in the latter part of August. 2 to 3 weeks production time puts us in early September.

 

[snak3y3z1001]

does it really matter? we have already waited for nearly a year. A xtra 1-2 months wont hurt go play doom 3 while you wait for the release.

 

[Seppo]

does it really matter? we have already waited for nearly a year. A xtra 1-2 months wont hurt go play doom 3 while you wait for the release.

Well, you would think so yes. But the fact is, even the smallest delay hurts. No matter how long we had been waiting.

 

[Gmeister]

They've worked on this game for several years already. No need to half-ass the last few weeks to months to get the game in the hands of a few eager gamers. Valve should work efficiently to cut out as many bugs as possible and then release the game.

I don't want a game that has a couple of bugs that annoy us but we have to wait a month or so for a patch and then people are complaining on why they released it in its state.....etc.... Release the game when it's done, but do it in a timely manner. I want a great game in finished form. Not a great game with annoying bugs because they rushed it.

 

[iamaelephant]

I couldn't agree more Gmeister. I would rather Valve wait and make sure the game is finished before releasing it, but I also wish Valve would take a leaf out of ID's book at just tell people "It's done when it's done" instead of this crap they keep pulling.

Just look at the Doom 3 community, they couldn't be happier, even before the Gold announcement, because id doesn't screw their fans like Valve does.