Any news for the future update coming?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Baboulinet, Feb 9, 2012.

  1. Guineapiggy

    Guineapiggy Registered

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    Okay, guys, the definition of beta is loose at best but typically implies a version of the software made available to people outside the company for testing. You can call rF2 a beta and cars 2 a pre-alpha all you want but ultimately as test versions of a game released to the public domain they're comparable. There is no real definition that states that it must be feature-complete or close to release.
     
  2. Ricoo

    Ricoo Registered

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    They could make a new export of engine requiring DX11. Would that make it any better? No.

    Some DX9 post-FX are not even used now...
     
  3. Guineapiggy

    Guineapiggy Registered

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    Preeeeetty much. Might run slightly smoother but it'd still look the same and the minimum requirements would be the same save that Windows XP users wouldn't be able to play it.
     
  4. Novis

    Novis Registered

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    A beta version is a close to feature complete software. It has been so since IBM started to use the expression back in the sixties. Talking software engineer to engineer it's a fact.

    When PR departments and consumers get involved it goes wrong. When companies releases alphas, test versions, release candidates, or whatever else they usually get called betas by most people outside the developer group and there is when the problems arise and people get confused.
     
  5. steve30x

    steve30x Registered

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    Some of the Beta's Ive been in didnt have all the games content features in them.
     
  6. Mechamorafa

    Mechamorafa Registered

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    Ok. Maybe it is a good thing to keep supporting the few people who are using a 11 years old OS, even if today it is outdated and unsafe.

    And... Skyrim? Really? Is that you definition of realistic graphics?
    Well. At least the dragons looks more real than the cars in rFactor 2.
     
  7. Guineapiggy

    Guineapiggy Registered

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    Define 'feature-complete' with regards to either project. RF1 wasn't feature complete until V1.250 over a year after its release. Besides, are we really suggesting terms defined in the 1960s have any relevance today? Technical terms like that are notoriously interchangable as it is, not many realise that the V in DVD has no one accepted definition.
    Wait, when did we leave 'good' and go to 'realistic'? 'cause lemme tell you, there's NOTHING in DX10 or 11 that forces graphics to be more 'realistic'. Tell me one thing DX10/DX11 graphics engine would introduce save a slightly improved framerate.
    You're right, that'd almost be as silly as using 34 year old processor architecture in this day and age. Oh, wait...

    As for 'the few', if we use Steam's user statistics as a base XP is about 20% of ISI's market.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 12, 2012
  8. Novis

    Novis Registered

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    Feature complete is when a software comply with its design specification. There is nothing that say that the specification can't change with version. The road map control the specificatiuon for each version.
     
  9. Guineapiggy

    Guineapiggy Registered

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    Which are defined by the company, so they can arbitrarily elect when they are in what phase - rFactor2 has most of the basic features it's going to have on release, just not in a refined, polished state. Besides, do any of us have access to pCars or rFactor2's design specifications and road-maps?
     
  10. Novis

    Novis Registered

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    Ok, I let you in on how software develompent works. Specifications are altered continously. Deadlines must be held, software must be shipped so we change the road map all the time. We need to test if some solution we came up with work so we give a customer a test version to try it out. A new specification and a new version is made. It's a fluid environment. Versions come and go, specifications change, there is nothing set in stone.

    So when we release a version it match a specification for that purpose only. There will be hundreds of versions before we get to a final release but every version match a specification. That specification is only known by the developers or in some cases the clients. Luckily only a few versions get in the hands of other than developers. So you see the wording of alpha, beta, test or whatever is quite importent to us because that describes exactly the state of the software we are shipping.
     
  11. Guineapiggy

    Guineapiggy Registered

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    I got all of that already, my point is the only thing that makes something a beta or alpha is the say-so of the company working on it because they draw up the plans and specifications. These terms are essentially meaningless to us save 'test' and all we can really compare pCars and rFactor2 on is side-by-side play testing.
     
  12. Mechamorafa

    Mechamorafa Registered

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    If you are joking I don't get it. The processor architecture are basically the same but the performance are clearly better today right? Do you agree with that? So why todays OS would be as efficient as a 11 years old OS?

    And 20% of the people are using Windows XP? I had no idea. This is remarkable. Forget everything I said. Let's focus on THIS market.
     
  13. Novis

    Novis Registered

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    So, whats the problem? Gjon has said this is a test version...

    Compare RF2 and pCARS if you want. No two software project will focus on the same features at the same time during the development process. Both will be full featured according to their specs when they finally are released but their feature sets will be different.
     
  14. Guineapiggy

    Guineapiggy Registered

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    20% of the market is enough for ISI to lose a noticable amount of money if they don't include them. As for the architecture, better ones have come along and processing would be far ahead of where it is now if we moved on from X86... guess the main reason we don't.

    That's right, legacy support.

    And again, please tell me one thing other than a minor boost in framerate that switching to DX10/DX11 would bring save lengthening the development time.

    That's what I've been saying this whole time and is more or less the point I was trying to make.
     
  15. Novis

    Novis Registered

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    Good to know that we have been in agreement all the time. :)
     
  16. Guineapiggy

    Guineapiggy Registered

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    Hehehehe, aye, odd how that happens online. *tips hat*
     
  17. Baboulinet

    Baboulinet Registered

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    Wikipedia Source:

    Beta:

    Beta (named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet) is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performance issues. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it.
     
  18. Guineapiggy

    Guineapiggy Registered

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    Great! Now go read all of the discussion... or at least all of the sentence you highlighted.
     
  19. Baboulinet

    Baboulinet Registered

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    I just put some informations that's all :)
     
  20. Guineapiggy

    Guineapiggy Registered

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    Ah, I had assumed you were weighing in on the discussion. Fair enough.
     

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