I purchased ISG from Humble Bundle yesterday. Do I always need to download the full installer, deinstall and then reinstall for upgrading to the latest version? Or is there a more simple method, like downloading a patch from your website?
Thanks for buying the game and welcome to the forums! For DRM-free installations you need to download the full installar and re-install to get the latest version. I don't think you're required to deinstall the previous one, but it wouldn't hurt and probably is best. The patch frequency now is a bit high, but it will settle down, so you shouldn't need to do this process so often in the near future.
Thanks alot for your quick response. I am a great SciFi fan, and MoO2 is in IMHO so far the best 4X game around, particularly because the AI keeps the game fresh. But what I have seen so far from ISG is just stellar, what grasp of MoO2 you demonstrated with smart innovations to top it up. No dev so far had the courage and insight to replicate MoO2 features so closely, though some are truly best practice. Like for example the race picks that are an excellent way to set difficulty, i.e. no artificial boni like Civ but rather giving the AI factions a few more points to play stronger, in effect giving them a neat random extra trait. Anyway, back on topic, would it be a great trouble for you to post the DRM-free patches here? That would save a lot of players quite a bit of time. If you wonder, why I am not on Steam, I am no Steam-hater, I actually admire Valve. But the thing is, I tend to select a game installed on my PC each evening for playing a bit for dinner, and possibly a bit longer. One day I realized that I hadn't picked a game from Steam for a year or longer. Looking into it, I realized that it was the hassle that comes with Steam. With what is now a slow broadband connection (2 Mbps), going online (I normally don't connect my Windows to the internet and disconnect as quickly as possible), then Steam forcing an update (mostly always), plus the need to manage a few bits in your Steam library is not my idea of fun. One day I was tired of this banner in the Steam UI which always said "Is that you?" and clicked on it to get rid of it. What it did was, it said, well, now your library is locked and we will only unlock it if you confirm the email we just sent you. Shit, I said, I just wish to play a little bit. So, having no choice I shut down Windows and booted into Linux. After I read the email with the confirmation code, a phone call arrived and I chatted a few minutes. After shutting down Linux and rebooting Windows, launching Steam and entering the required code, it said, well, the code is expired, we send you a new email ... Today I hardly ever buy a game on Steam.
You're welcome. Thanks. We wanted to capture and keep the best aspects of MoO2 and improve on what was not so good about it. We also wanted to improve and evolve the formula by introducing and fleshing out elements not previously seen in space 4X games, like a detailed leaders system, remote exploration and espionage from the get go, to name a few. Race customization was also a must for us, it helps with replyability immensely and gives options for the player to design their own race. We don't really generate patches at the moment. Steam does it for us and updates everyone's copies on Steam. Itch.io also does that by the way, so I suggest you look at Itch.io as an alternative for you DRM-free games. For DRM-free Humble we must provide the full installation every time there's a new update the user needs to re-download and install the whole thing. We could look into finding a way to provide patch-based versions to Humble users but that would take time, and as you know we have a very small team (only 2 developers for the time being). We do our best to address all feedback, problems and suggestions while fixing bugs and starting to work on the expansions and do all the other things that are required to run a company. So, while I understand a patch-based system for Humble owners would be nice, the tradeoff is that we wouldn't be able to do the other things as fast as we're doing if we commited on offering that in the near future. Again, you should not have this problem with the Itch.io client. It's a client like Steam's but I bet it's more user friendly and gives you more control. So, for the time being, and until we can hire more hands to help us out we must ask that you re-download the entire package and re-install on Humble for patches. As I said, patch frequency should decrease now, so you shouldn't need to do this very often.
I actually tried to get IGS from itch.io first. What put me off was that it had ISG at the same price $30, but it somehow quoted a VAT regulation that applies to customers in the EU and added another $6 to the price. On Steam and Humble Bundle VAT is inclusive. I guess you get next to zero purchases on itch.io from EU customers with this setup. Is it possible to use the itch.io client for a game purchased on Humble Bundle? MoO2 also had leaders and espionage. But features like bringing production from asteroids, remote exploration, strategic resources and the ancient ruins to the MoO2 formula are great. I have to play more to give you a proper feedback. I am also a scientist who works on cutting edge tech, which provides me with a unique perspective what is technologically possible, so there may be quite a lot of things that might be worth discussing if you are interested. Technology-tree wise, faction designs and more that could add to the game and make it more profound. First, I am looking forward to discover more in the game.
Well, technically yes, but I'm not sure this would be legal or moral. You're buying in one place and downloading in another just for their service. Don't know about this one. Still on your Steam issue and kind of slow internet connection, and Steam's updates hassle. You know you could always turn auto-update off on all the games you wish and only turn updates on on the selected games you usually play. That way you will not get flooded with updates from all games. Also, you can play games without being connected to the internet on Steam. Steam has this offline mode that you can set and then you can play without having to connect and witness that torrent of updates. Just two things that probably you are already aware but I thought of mention them in case you didn't know. I'm not trying to force you to use Steam, it's just a couple of ideas that cold help you out in the meantime while our patches are frequent. You bought DRM-free and want to have good service, I understand. The thing is that Steam is really good in offering lot's of flexibility to both gamers and developers, and that's one of the reasons why they are so popular, I guess.
Noted. That was what I meant with managing your library. It's all possible, yes. Offline mode is a true hassle to maintain, and even then Steam requires you to login periodically. What I meant with updating hassle, is a few minutes gone by the Steam client updating itself. So all in all, I prefer a game, or my subconsciousness had sorted that out, which I only need to click on its desktop icon for the game to start.
We will see. Anyway, I can't see how you can download patches on itch.io if you don't own the game there as well (tried the browser and app versions). Doesn't seem viable. I understand your reasoning regarding the burden of your workload. But creating a patch is just invoking a tool once you have configured it. Doesn't itch.io's butler do this for you? Alternatively, you can download the patch from itch.io (to test that it uploaded correctly) and post it here. And if even this is too much work for you, you can easily delegate this to a forum moderator. The benefit: thousands of players will appreciate your service. If you are worried about pirates exploiting this, this would be your best chance to convert them to loyal customers to come here and see your dedication.
Well, you have to own the game on itch.io to benefit from the patches there, I guess. When I said it was "technically" possible to update the game on itch.io buying on Humble would involve me giving you a key for itch.io after buying on Humble. I'm not sure this is legal or moral, and frankly I don't think I should do that. Butler should do the patch for us on itch.io, the same as Steam using their own tool, then the player updates the game using their client. Regarding Butler, I don't know first hand since it's my colleague that handles itch.io, and Humble by the way, and he's on vacation, so that's how I think it works on itch.io but I'm not sure. As for "thousands of players would appreciate the patch" on itch.io and Humble, well, I wished they were thousands buying from there but they really aren't The big share of the pie comes from Steam. That said, I want to offer the best service I can to people buying in all stores, as resources allow, however we have to realize that not all tools are at the same level in these stores. We can look into finding a tool to create a patch for Humble users, but this may take some time. I added this to our TODO list. I hope you understand. In the meantime, all updates are available in Humble, and you can grab them there. You also have a Steam key there, so you could also play and update on Steam if you wish, although you already said you'd want to avoid Steam if you can.
That is just normal that while you approach 10K sales on Steam to have less than 1K on Humble. In principle it is a discovery problem as the market is flooded with so many games. I learned about ISG only while reading RPGwatch, which is a niche site itself. Even on GOG, where I used to read all new announcements, there are so many now that it has the effect that I skip these mostly entirely. If ISG truly manages to be a worthy successor of MoO2, you don't need to worry though. Word will spread and the audience is more than 1M. Just keep your costs low and improve the game as good as you can. Maybe I said it not clearly enough, you do not need to do this. Simply, after you uploaded a new version to itch.io, follow these steps: Download the newest patch from itch.io Upload the patch on your server Post a link in this forum for customers to download. Additionally, you can add a link to these patches on Humble. This way you have a proper upgrade service for Humble customers and can remove this task from your TODO list, with the added side effect that you redirect Humble customers to your website and forum. This doesn't require you to learn anything new or any special tech skills. You can simply delegate the task of providing the patch here to a forum moderator. Takes five minutes.
My apologies for the confusion. I meant to say, can someone with access to itch.io please upload the patch to this board, so that players can download the patch from here as an alternative (and don't need to download the full installer from Humble Bundle, uninstall and reinstall).
