An open letter to bgaum

[T'krau]

There have been a few threads floating around here lately containing quotes similar to this -

On that note, I'll echo that it's nice to finally have some more presence from DC here lately. Sadly though, they're still taking baby steps and need to step it up a bit. There's much more we could use help with other than peeking in once in a while to say hi and advertise the MP, without any support for the SP. It's barely more than lurking IMO.
and this -

And about the admins thing: I'm glad to see someone is around these forums again, and I think most people share this opinion. Please don't go away :D - and I started wondering, so now I'm asking...

Why are you here, now? Please don't get the wrong idea - I'm not trying to be a snot or anything (this time...), I'm honestly curious as to why we have moderators now, after such an apparently dry spell (other than fleabay being banned a month or so ago, I can't remember when I was last aware of a mod's presence or influence here). Trust me, I'm NOT bitching at all, I'm just wondering what changed.

[Luigibuddy]

(other than fleabay being banned a month or so ago,

May I ask why?

[T'krau]

Ironically, he was checking for moderators by posting a pic of a topless woman. He found some.

[Luigibuddy]

Ironically, he was checking for moderators by posting a pic of a topless woman. He found some.

That's the spirit.

[[ThePact]]

DC, Why are you here, now?


definately agree with that,
its something everyone should ask i think,
just do the math,
if either way, no matter if there is an admin or someone around, or not, we're gonna have things happen every once in a while and ruin basically the "going" forums ! then whats the point ?
just keeping an eye on us and study what everyone writes?!
well what is this "city 17"?:D

but really, other than humor,

r we actually going to c some "stable" improvements hopefully?



or...

[Karthik@KANE]

So what happened to Brian Gladman?

[Vjake5]

He left after Painkiller was released. He was a cool guy. Actively involved in the Fourms.

[fleabay]

...other than fleabay being banned a month or so ago....

You mean fleabay2, :)

[Grinder1989]

Its nice we get answers so quickly in here! but seriously why would they not even be around for such a long time then all of a sudden show up? they hire new people there or what? makes no sense to me at all. i probably sound like an echo but i still don't get why they would do this......

Grinder

[BloodBuster]

Hi

Another question I would like to ask is why there are still corrupt patches available for download. This was posted today:

http://dreamcatchergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20733

Come on, you were quick enough to answer the suggestion that DC's moderators/admins may have caused painkillerhell to go offline.

You are presumably serious about maintaining this site, hence the so called 'forum purge'. Does DC have any control over these patches? One assumes they do seen as their name is plastered all over the Painkiller product. It would be great if there was an official announcement stating which site hosts 'working copies' of the patches.

This information WAS available in this forum until the threads were 'purged' and permanently lost. However, this information was provided by the users not the moderators/admins. I myself ended up downloading the blasted patch 3 times before I found one that worked - that's over a gigabyte of data! Save users a lot of hassle by providing this information in a 'sticky', and help to improve the name of Painkiller. Even better, replace the duff copies with good ones.

I just had a quick look on the TechSupport threads and saw nothing there about this.

It's appreciated that there is an official presence here again, but that presence is useless unless useful information comes from it.

Please let us know.

[T'krau]

:p
You mean fleabay2, :)
My apologies - I had forgotten about your evil twin...;)

[Luigibuddy]

I wonder why he's ignoring this? :rolleyes:

[[ThePact]]

EXACTLY Luigi !

thats what i was wondering yesterday ! lol ;)



its not like we r saying anything bad or offensive to the DC side,
just asking for a little stablity, thats all...
however for now, its more like wondering than really asking !

[T'krau]

I wonder why he's ignoring this? :rolleyes:
See, this is what I'm talking about - out of nowhere, we have a mod...or do we? Geez, I miss BGlad!

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by Frag Maniac
On that note, I'll echo that it's nice to finally have some more presence from DC here lately. Sadly though, they're still taking baby steps and need to step it up a bit. There's much more we could use help with other than peeking in once in a while to say hi and advertise the MP, without any support for the SP. It's barely more than lurking IMO.


...this thread got started over a quote from one of kalme's and my posts, I'd have jumped in long ago. Hope you don't think I was dodging reprimand from DC.:D

But seriously, I've given this touch 'n' go presence some thought lately, and was wondering if they're just peeking in once in a blue moon to see if things are so out of control that they'd be in serious trouble if they DIDN'T respond, much like a bad landlord only does his job when he's given ultimatums by the tenants.

It's getting to the point where even if they were to advertise a PK part 2, many customers that have experienced the overwhelming lack of support, and have either walked away and played something else, or become filled with angst about it, will likey be saying, "Oh boy, here we go again,...are they going to do it RIGHT this time?" Many may not be willing to risk the money spent for it this time around, if there is to be another PK project.

I also thought they might be scaled down to a skeleton crew, much smaller than the mod list shows, and answering calls and emails instead, but if they are, they certainly aren't answering ours.

Anyway, nice try in asking for some answers in all this T'krau, I agree that they are certainly giving us mixed signals. If there were an MP specific forum, I'm sure they'd spend all their time there, we seem to be just drones doing their advertising and tech support, the glory boys of MP are there only concerns it seems.:rolleyes:

[Luigibuddy]

He's checking the forums, maybe we'll get a reply now?

[[ThePact]]

maybe we'll get a reply now?

...or banned ! :D

just imagine all the people who participated in this thread, get banned all of a sudden

that will be a remarkable piece of "past"

lol...

[bgaum]

Hey guys - We moderate these forums as time permits. We're all full-time employees here at DreamCatcher, but we can't always be viewing each and every post. It's just not possible. With regards to the patch situation, I plan to investigate this situation with our Technical Support Department this week. I'm pretty new with this game, so I have to do a bit of leg work. With the recent releases of the Gold Edition and Dungeon Lords things have been extremely busy around here.

Again - We can't respond to each and every post. If you need immediate technical support, I suggest that if you can't get help on these boards, you contact our Technical Support Department. All of the information is in your manual. These guys are very helpful.

So in summary bare with me on the patch situation - and I hope to have something up soon.

Thanks for your patience.

[BloodBuster]

That is very good news indeed. Thanks

[RichmanRush]

We appreciate you taking the time to visit with us bgaum. Official DC/PCF visits are few and far between, but they are welcome (most of the time hehe ;) ).

Most of us understand you can't sit here 24/7 and be out our beck and call, but knowing that a presence is here puts some of us at ease. Still a shame we've lost some good people at DC here on these forums :( Let's hope their fate doesn't become yours, or anyone elses from DC for that matter.

[T'krau]

...contact our Technical Support Department.
I'm REALLY not trying to be argumentative here, but I already have. Someone there offered to mail me a 1.63 patch on a disc, if I wanted (kind of him, I thought). I asked for this. Twice. That was 6 months ago.

[BloodBuster]

Well, lets hope that now someone on the 'inside' is chasing it up, that 1. the patches will be replaced, and 2. you get your disk...

[kalme]

Someone there offered to mail me a 1.63 patch on a disc, if I wanted (kind of him, I thought). I asked for this. Twice. That was 6 months ago.
Wow, this must be some serious lack of sense of time. Or maybe at the place where you live, this patch wasn't released on March 25th, just five weeks ago. Even if it was a typo and you meant another patch... 1.61 was released three months ago and 1.62 two months ago.

You're right in complaining about the support if they promise things and don't stand by it, but please stick to the facts.

[T'krau]

...1.61 was released three months ago...
This is what I get for posting half-asleep - it was 1.61, but the offer was made prior to the general release date. Oops. :o

[bgaum]

Do you still need this patch?

[bgaum]

See my post here:

http://dreamcatchergames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=148255#post148255

So far, there are no problems with the files... I'll keep you posted, but all sites have the same files that we issued to them. The problem is likely more prevelant with dial-up connections, rather than a patch corruption. I'm downloading the patches from FileFront today and will keep you posted.

[kalme]

The problem is likely more prevelant with dial-up connections, rather than a patch corruption.
No, I can definately count out this one. Some time ago as a friend downloaded a corrupt version (he has to pay for traffic), I offered to make him a patch file that includes all the differences between working and corrupt patches (so that he doesn't have to re-download the whole patch). So I downloaded the patch from the same location he did and I got the corrupt version too. He's on 512/128 DSL and I'm using a 2 MBit broadband connection too.

Btw... that's why I know these details about the corrupt version (>60 MByte of zeros scattered on four or five chunks), and yes, sending him those chunks and patching the file actually worked, saving him 280 MB download and some $$$.

Unfortunately, I can't remember which location we got it from :(.

[bgaum]

Strange... let me know if this ever crops up again. All the patches are from the same source - i.e. DreamCatcher via People Can Fly, so there should be no deviations. Drop me a line if it crops up again. The size of the download and intricacies of the programming allow for a lot of error when downloading.

[[ThePact]]

it really doesnt come to mind that the connection happens to be the cause !
but we can do something to make sure, DC and people in here i mean,
well we can make a thread asking people who have patch issues to leave a note regarding their connection speed,
and u guys over there, can start studying by asking those certain people about their connection speed, and then c what the result is, what do u think?


btw, im not sure, but, i think problems with 61 and 62 were alot more than new ones, or it seemed so.


thanx again bgaum,
keep up the good work!

[bgaum]

Sure - feel free to setup such a thread. Better in the Technical Support section though.

[[ThePact]]

this thread was just locked for "some" reason ! :confused:

but anyway,
we will do that thread thing in here,
but what about u guys over there?

will u do that to? (asking people and studying the connection speeds?)

because i beleive it'll give everyone the perfect answer...

[bgaum]

Yeah, we'll keep an eye on it...

[[ThePact]]

that very admirable !

thank u so muss:D

[T'krau]

Do you still need this patch?
Sorry, I missed this somehow - I already have it, but thanks.