BleedoutBill

They do actually have a QA staff. Some problems do not reveal themselves, however, until a server is put under load, or testers do unusual, or unanticipated things. That is where the Exp build comes in.

Agreed ..

Don't undervalue the contribution of the streamers. Since they record virtually everything that they do, they have a comprehensive video record of all of the issues/problems/bugs that they encounter. This type of documentation is invaluable to the devs.

I think one needs to be mindful of the purpose of the Exp builds. They are not there to "play." Their purpose is to allow testers to experiment with and try to break the build. Afterwards, if any flaws are identified, the testers need to submit their detailed, written findings, so that the devs can recreate the problem and act on the information. Whenever a new Exp build is deployed, it attracts not only the testers among us, but also, understandably, a large number of sightseers who have no intention of performing any testing, or bug reporting. They merely wish to drive the latest vehicle, or fire the latest rifle. If one steps back and looks at the big picture, this does not further the pace of development of the game and it makes it difficult for dedicated testers to get a slot on a server. If the devs can set a server aside for the more popular streamers, this allows the curious to get a vicarious look at the new build and its various features, without overwhelming the necessarily limited number of Exp servers with a bunch of curiosity seekers. Some of you will not want to hear this, nor will you choose to understand it, but if you want to KOS and eat me, you'll have to find me, first. ; )

Back before there were vehicles racing back and forth, there used to be nothing but birds and footsteps. Apart from being startled by a soda can randomly being opened, the world was virtually silent and it felt dead and sterile.

It was horrible and jarring, but it did ratchet up the paranoia, because you never knew how far away the other folks were.

Those of us who have been around for a while can attest to the jarring effects of inappropriate and phantom sounds. There was an effort not so long ago to add ambient noises, such as buzzing insects. Personally, I thought that the resulting immersion effects were out of all proportion to their subtle nature, because the map did seem to come alive as a living, breathing world. Unfortunately, that effort did not go very far, due to limitations of the then, contemporary sound tech. At the time, there was quite a lot of discussion about the types of ambient noise that could/should be included and I sincerely hope that, now that the new audio tech is in place, this project can be revisited. I'm not complaining about the birds, but they sim[ply are not sufficient to bring the world alive.

Give this another try, the next time the servers come up. I ticked the "proper version match" box and five, or six EXP servers popped up immediately.

Been that long, eh? I generally play EXP exclusively (when/if there is one), but I just wanted to confirm that this wasn't a browser issue. I like it BTW - the browser, that is. I thought it was odd, though that there would be a filter for 3rd person servers, considering that 90% of the servers are third person. It's the 1st person servers that are sometimes hard to find. I get impatient just like everyone else, but I'd sincerely like to thank you and all of your little elves for all of their hard work. Cheers!

Thanks for the confirmation, but I've got a DSL connection, so I stay on the EXP build.

First time I booted the game, after downloading the patch, I had no mouse support. I expect that's a W10 issue, though. I only had a chance to hop on for a cumulative total of, perhaps five minutes. Everything was fluid for me. After the Exp servers were taken down, I noticed that I couldn't join a 0.60 server. Is this a server browser issue, or is it because 0.61 is radically different from 0.60?

As with stand-up comedy, when you engage in criticism, your delivery is critical. If you do not wish to be ignored ... or worse, choose carefully the tone and vocabulary that you employ. Truly effective criticism is an art that most fail to master. I do not claim to be a master of the art, but I recognize it when I see it.

On reflection, the entire map is changing, so it stands to reason that area would also be in flux. I haven't been there in quite a while, but I don't remember having ever seen anything spawn there. Thanks, I'll check it out. Funny how even though I know the game is constantly evolving, I still manage to form preconceived notions and get stuck in a rut. I know that I do this, so I try, not always successfully, to continuously roam around and see the sights.

Every time I went there as a fresh spawn, I ended up dying of starvation. I've gone there geared an few times and I nearly died of boredom. Personally, I don't see the attraction, but as they say in the car business, "There's An Ass For Every Seat!"

Bazinga! The servers will definitely be down this weekend, now!

There's no SteamDB activity for Experimental. It looks like we'll have a smooth weekend!

I had a good time being shot to death today! Thanks!!! Seriously, it was the first time in a few weeks that I finally had an opportunity to jump on. Surprisingly, it only took about four minutes of gentle persuasion to find a compliant server. I played for about 3-3.5 hours. The server was, for the most part, smooth and responsive. There were perhaps four instances when I experienced severe stuttering, which lasted approximately 2-3 seconds, each time. I didn't visit any big towns, but my FPS remained mostly between 120 and 150, on average. It dipped into the 60-80FPS range during the stuttering episodes. I made a sweep through the junk yard, North of Novy Sobor and headed WNW to the clump of trees North of Stary Sobor. I had no interest in visiting these towns, because I still hadn't found any suitable gear with which to defend myself. I had a SKS with one round, that I had scrounged from a CR527 magazine, a one-shot pistol with no ammo and 50 rounds of .22 with nothing but a pocket, to keep it in. So, I'm primarily depending on a hoe and a crowbar, should anything hit the fan. I decide to check the nearby deer stand, 'cause I've been having great luck with them all afternoon. When I get eyeball high with the floor of the deer stand, I hear click, click, click, click. Back down the ladder I go and off into the clump of trees. By this time, the "friendly" has jacked some good ammunition into his rifle and I see a large puff of dirt from an impact, just to my right. I could hear the gunshots, too! Everything came together just right, to create an adrenaline-filled few seconds. I ran and ran, trying to decide if I wanted to chance going out, into the open field, or continue to zig-zag through the patch of trees. Just then I saw a flash of blue out of my left eye (blue raincoat?) and then everything went black. I actually didn't mind dying that much, because it's so enjoyable, when everything just works as it should. Having said that, I hope that you ruined all of my gear (what little there was), asshole! There are quite a lot of very small changes to the map ... too numerous to list. Also some areas have clearly been worked over with weeds and debris, in order to create more atmosphere and character. Small touches, like the new street signs, really help to transform the map into a real place. I also like the small waterproof bag that I found; I'm sure that they'll come in very handy. Honestly, I haven't had this much fun, since they fixed the zeds from seeing through walls at 1km away! Now, speaking of zeds, I didn't see a single one in 3.5 hours. I'm sure that I could have found one by visiting one of the large coastal cities, but they must all be clumped there, because I didn't see any wandering about in the small towns in the mid-section of the map.

I think this is the real issue.

Well said.

It's a horror(able) survival game. We're going to have predators ... eventually ... I hope, so I think that there should be a chance of something ugly happening at sea. Even if it's only a small chance (5-10%), hungry fish with big teeth should be a thing! Maybe you see a great bloody dorsal fin circling first, to warn you to turn around? IDK, it's just a thought. There have already been plenty of deviations from "realism" in order to make the game playable, so if you'd prefer a giant squid, I'd be down with that, too! ; )

'cause most people stay within a few meters of the beach. Most people don't swim in the "open ocean." At some point, I hope that we get rowboats, but if you elect to swim to Prison Island, for example, I think that you should run the risk of becoming a shark snack.

Loan sharks ... v-e-r-y d-a-n-g-e-r-i-o-u-s!

I like that idea. If you venture more than 100 meters into the ocean, I think that there should be a chance of a shark attack. How about a shark with Dean's head on it??? ; )

I just looked and I don't see any SteamDB activity for Exp.

Yeah, saw the red dropdown a few times too. It's not just you.