1.3 Patch notes

[Knowing Crow]

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/15307-Patch-1.3-incoming!?p=170850#post170850

Hi all,

We’re pleased to announce that patch 1.3 will be going live at some point in the next couple of days. The update includes a number of fixes for issues identified in multiplayer, as well as a few general fixes too.

We’re cracking down on an issue the community identified where players could gain an advantage by “rage quitting” the game. Now, for match-made battles, the host will receive a win if the client uses ALT+F4 to exit the game.

If the host disconnects, neither player will receive a win. This is a partial fix for the problem, and we’re still working on it, but for now this will hopefully improve your online multiplayer experience.

The full list of additional fixes is below:

• Multiplayer - More game lobbies are now visible on the Battle List in Avatar Conquest mode.
• Multiplayer - More game lobbies are now visible on the Battle List in Multiplayer Campaign Mode.
• Multiplayer - Fix for crash when rearranging unit cards in battle lobby.
• Multiplayer Battle List - Fix for crash when [ALT] + [Tab]'ing / minimising the game when in a Battle List game lobby.
• Multiplayer Battle List - Fix for crash when changing the "Battle type" filter from "Classic Battles" to any other filter.
• Multiplayer Battle List - Fix for lag caused by selecting the "Classic Battles" tick box on the Host Battle setup screen (where the player names the game).
• Multiplayer Battles - Fix for UI bug where the back button did not function / was greyed out on the battle results screen leaving players stuck.
• Multiplayer Battles - Fixed for players having trouble joining 1v1 Match Made battles and being given a default army.
• Multiplayer Battles - Fix for Client crash if Host searches battle before Clients leave battle results screen in the Setup Team screen
• Multiplayer Battles - Fix for Client crash when Host kicks Client from the game while the Client is on the Retainer, Load Army or Save Army screen.
• Multiplayer Battles - Fix for rare crash when alliance goes under AI control due to player leaving the battle.
• Multiplayer Battles - Improved accessibility for players attempting to join a 1v1 Auto team land battle or Campaign drop in battle.
• Multiplayer Campaign - Fix for rare crash where player leaving battle causes crash for remaining players upon switch to AI control.
• Avatar - Fix for crash when [ALT] + [Tab]'ing / minimising the game on the Avatar customisation screen.
• Battles - Fix for rare multithreading crash caused by interaction between the UI and the game.
• Land Battles - Fix for crash in deployment phase caused by using the Increase Rank and Increase File buttons on a unit in Spear Wall formation.
• Land Battles - Fix for rare crash when positioning the mouse over unit proxies when attempting to dock units.
• Naval Battles - Fix for very rare crash when ordering ships.
• Campaign - fixed occasional end turn crash.

Thanks,
The TW team

[Pyramid Head]

The good:
they know about dropfags and fixing the problem.
The bad:
No balancing and adjustment of various units.

[Rikstah]

The good:
they know about dropfags and fixing the problem.
The bad:
No balancing and adjustment of various units.

Agreed,

networking fixes are warmly welcomed but wished they'd done some balancing on top of it.

btw ur clan is owning in our tier haha

[daniu]

wished they'd done some balancing on top of it.

They did, siege weapons got a price increase.
Otherwise, the game is very balanced imho; some unit skill pricing could do with readjusting and maybe raise nag monks by 50, but other than that changes would probably reduce balance.
Oh and the cannon bune, but I haven't checked that yet.

[GambleFish]

Sounds like great news about the alt+f4... but how the heck do we know who is host and who is client?

EDIT: Answered my own question by reading the other thread. To quote CA:

Just a quick note to say that the user can't choose if they're hosting a match-made battle or if they're a client - so there's no notification to the user that they're hosting (this is essentially the flip of a coin) and therefore no easy way of "gaming" the system.

This is awesome! Then again, I suspect people will still alt+f4, as there is now a 50% chance of not getting a loss (as opposed to 100% before). It needs to go to 0%. Still, great to see progress.

[Abe86]

Sounds like great news about the alt+f4... but how the heck do we know who is host and who is client?

According to a CA post on the official forums, it's decided by the drop of a coin, so there's no reliable way to game the system.

The patch seems quite good, but I would have expected a fix for the broken abilities. I dont know if there's a comprehensive list out, but apparently Hold formation (for the spear clans), and speed upgrades do not work.

And now, if you'd allow me to nitpick, I'm quite sad to see there's no mention of a fix for your avatar and your opponent's avatar displaying correctly in multiplayer matches.

It's a very good start, though !

[KittySN]

I'm sort of stoic towards this update, but the rage-quit initiative was pleasing.

I guess stability should be the priority, then they can tweak other established issues.

[Lucullus]

Does this patch centralise all regional servers or will we still have several (bigger) regions which cant see games from other regions (reads like the latter unfortunally)?

Will classic battles be visible in the battlelist under filter "all" or do you still have to set filter to "classic battle"?

[StormtrooperDan]

I'm glad they are making these fixes and especially the Alt-F4 fix. But since it is only a partial fix, I'm sure a lot of these rage quitters will soon find the Alt-Ctrl-Del keys and "End Process" button.

[Knowing Crow]

I'm glad they are making these fixes and especially the Alt-F4 fix. But since it is only a partial fix, I'm sure a lot of these rage quitters will soon find the Alt-Ctrl-Del keys and "End Process" button.

That is what Alt+F4 is. Alt+F4 is just a shortcut key to end process on the current program.

[StormtrooperDan]

That is what Alt+F4 is. Alt+F4 is just a shortcut key to end process on the current program.

Alt-F4 and End Process are different. I think you are thinking of "End Task." Sometimes Alt-F4 or End Task wont shut down the game properly and still leave you with a Shogun2.exe process running.

Alt-F4 is actually a command given to the program asking it to exit nicely. I'm assuming CA just added code to report a loss when the player hits Alt-F4 and is in the middle of a multiplayer game.

End Process will kill the program in the middle of whatever it is doing. It is actually asking the operating system to end the program.

[Knowing Crow]

Alt-F4 and End Process are different. I think you are thinking of "End Task." Sometimes Alt-F4 or End Task wont shut down the game properly and still leave you with a Shogun2.exe process running.

Alt-F4 is actually a command given to the program asking it to exit nicely. I'm assuming CA just added code to report a loss when the player hits Alt-F4 and is in the middle of a multiplayer game.

End Process will kill the program in the middle of whatever it is doing. It is actually asking the operating system to end the program.

Ah, I see.

I have no reason to think that CA specified an "Alt+F4" command to read and report a loss. That seems a bit odd. I'm sure it's simply if the user disconnects, regardless of how they do it. I read Alt+F4 as just the catch-all term for all methods of disconnecting, as it is often used.

[StormtrooperDan]

Ah, I see.

I have no reason to think that CA specified an "Alt+F4" command to read and report a loss. That seems a bit odd. I'm sure it's simply if the user disconnects, regardless of how they do it. I read Alt+F4 as just the catch-all term for all methods of disconnecting, as it is often used.

If the host disconnects, neither player will receive a win. This is a partial fix for the problem, and we’re still working on it, but for now this will hopefully improve your online multiplayer experience.

I think they still want to keep it neutral when their buggy game breaks, don't want to frustrate the player with a loss if it isn't their fault. Really, they should just make all disconnects a loss. Who still loses connection now-a-days.

[daniu]

Alt-F4 is actually a command given to the program asking it to exit nicely. I'm assuming CA just added code to report a loss when the player hits Alt-F4 and is in the middle of a multiplayer game.

You're right, but I don't think this is what they're doing (I think the OS won't let you send anymore network traffic on the exit process signal anymore anyway).
Since they say it's dependent on whether it's the host (i.e. server) that quits, they just added code when a broken connection to a client is detected. Looks like they can't do that on the client side (yet) because the server is the one keeping everything going.
This is also why the quitter won't get a loss.

I always had the feeling it is like this, since it was kind of obvious that only the host could reliably save replays (at least since ETW). I cannot get into my head why anyone would use something which is so unstable by design; this is what's most wrong with the network code, not the matchmaking Kuarlos was complaining about in a thread around here somewhere.

[RTKBarrett]

And now uve created new isses CA, brilliant

[Meataus]

This is good. I too have been booted from Steam about 4-5 times for no apparent reason. I'm quite happy if this gives me a loss though, if it stops half of the rage quitting.

[react.Bishop]

Hmm, just curious, doesn't the wording suggest that the host will gain a win if the client alt+f4's but the client will still not gain a loss? Seems like there's still no disadvantage for fools to disconnect, just a slight benefit for the guy on the receiving end 50% of the time.

[vanadis]

Hmm, just curious, doesn't the wording suggest that the host will gain a win if the client alt+f4's but the client will still not gain a loss? Seems like there's still no disadvantage for fools to disconnect, just a slight benefit for the guy on the receiving end 50% of the time.

Good observation. I'm also curious about this.
I did face 2 quitters tonight, and got a win in 1 game (player xxx left the game) and 1 draw/match ended without results crap. (you have been disconnected).

[Lucullus]

I dont see any more games than before. After staying on battlelist for like 2-3 mins many more games appear for 5 seconds and fade away again forever.

[daniu]

Hmm, just curious, doesn't the wording suggest that the host will gain a win if the client alt+f4's but the client will still not gain a loss? Seems like there's still no disadvantage for fools to disconnect, just a slight benefit for the guy on the receiving end 50% of the time.

Yes it does, like I said.
It seems mostly intended to ease the pain of the victims, not punish the perpetrators.
Still, better than nothing...