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[Enzo]

1: The OP is being completely reasonable and civil, this is not the best thread to vent our frustration on the multiple "WTF STOOPID BUGGY RELEESE" posts, as powerful as the urge may be at this point.

2: We are all Toady's alpha testers. He has a few people he trusts to bug-test unfinished releases, but he was kind enough to release an unpolished version for the masses to dick around with. The bugs the community has found in a week probably far exceeds what the inner-circle testers would have found in a month, just by the sheer numbers of people playing, and as such Toady can prioritize the most heinous bugs. It is a blessing in disguise, and I'm sure an unbroken version will arrive quicker because of it.

[Footkerchief]

One thing I'd like to remind people of, though most folks already know it:  Unless there's something utterly and unforseeably catastrophic, which I really doubt, all bugfixes are going to be save-compatible.  For a nice long time.

I really wouldn't get your hopes up about that.  There are certainly issues pervasive enough that compat breaks might be required to fix them.

[G-Flex]

Yeah, and I think I remember Toady saying that if something like that looks at all necessary, he'd want to do it as soon as possible, for obvious reasons.

[Ampersand]

Remember back when dwarfs felt that cage traps were a perfect place to lay down for a nap?

Remember when Carp could fly out of the water at the speed of sound with enough force to explode the second they hit something?

Remember when dwarfs fell asleep and never woke up?

Remember when water pressure could be neigh infinite and as soon as it had a way to escape it would explode out at the speed of light, crushing every living thing in it's wake?

Remember when kittens freaked out all the time because they don't have hands?

The current release's bugs: color me unimpressed.

[Kazindir]

The current release's bugs: color me unimpressed.

Your not impressed at light rain showers causing skin to slough off leaving the victim bleeding to death?

Your not impressed at just how hardcore this makes dwarves who only complain mildly at inclement weather?

[Shades]

Your not impressed at light rain showers causing skin to slough off leaving the victim bleeding to death?

Have you seen the size of some of the hail stones that land in some places? (as it generally seems to be frozen rain that causes this)

[RedWick]

Your not impressed at light rain showers causing skin to slough off leaving the victim bleeding to death?

Your not impressed at just how hardcore this makes dwarves who only complain mildly at inclement weather?

Have you seen the size of some of the hail stones that land in some places? (as it generally seems to be frozen rain that causes this)

It's stuff like this that makes new releases of DF so much fun!  Bugs leading to all sorts of very amusing in-game anecdotes and situations.

[Jimmy]

Everyone here loves Toady and Dwarf Fortress, and are quick to defend what they perceive as criticism. So glad this thread is positive in nature.

All the people of this forum share a common pain at a rough release and urgently wish for an update. I personally imagine Toady doing overtime to provide that for his fans and customers. He's a professional, reliable man who loves his work and does great things with it. No doubt it wasn't his idea of an ideal release, but as was mentioned the community pressure was so great he gave it to us as soon as it was marginally playable without crashing immediately upon load.

I think the big change is that we don't have much noise from the devlog right now. We've been spoiled by daily updates for so long it's off-putting when there's nothing for the week. Hopefully that means Toady's taken a weekend off since his big push for the release.

Don't feel guilty about saying the release isn't near what you'd consider playable, because that's what it is. A few weeks from now is where my money would be for a big update. I'd thought that sorting and documenting the bugs would actually take this time at first, but thanks to the tireless work of forum hero, quote master and unofficial community leader Footkerchief (nice new avatar btw) that's been handled. Glad Toady's delegating the grunt work.

Let's put our energy into the learning the new bug reporting system (link). I need to spend less time dreaming of the next release and more providing accurate useful documentation.

And finally,

Second, how much did we pay to download it?

Exponentially more than I've spent on any other game in my life.

[Shades]

And finally,

Second, how much did we pay to download it?

Exponentially more than I've spent on any other game in my life.

To be a little pedantic you didn't pay that to download it....

[Jimmy]

The PC I'm using right now was bought with the sole purpose of running DF. For nearly a year it was the only game installed; I didn't even have an internet connection on it.

You call it donation. I call it payment for services rendered.

[MaDeR Levap]

all bugfixes are going to be save-compatible.  For a nice long time.  Enjoy playing now, and never have to worry about abandoning your wonderful new fortress to play the next version.

It is strange for me. Why save incompability is big problem for some folks? DF have no instalator. No one forces to change versions. You can have folders with two different version of DF.

So why it is important? In fact, I see this as danger. I heard that save compatibility was said by Toady as main reason for that long time between last release (0.28.something.40d) and current (0.31). 1.5 year with continuously piling bugs upon bugs? Insane. And very, very "bad" (to speak VERY mildy) idea. It is wonder that game is as playable as is now. ToadyOne is very good programmer.

My point: it is not worth it. Save compatibility is not worth this long period to wait and be drown in sea of bugs. Continuous release (say once a week, I do not even dare to dream about nightly builds... heh) FTW. And on this stage completely screw save compatibility. This is ALPHA, for Armok sake!

[Footkerchief]

I'd thought that sorting and documenting the bugs would actually take this time at first, but thanks to the tireless work of forum hero, quote master and unofficial community leader Footkerchief (nice new avatar btw) that's been handled. Glad Toady's delegating the grunt work.

It's not just me -- there are quite a few people on the tracker who are doing excellent work hunting down duplicates and fixed issues and tagging them for me to find.  If all goes well, there'll be other managers soon.

So why it is important? In fact, I see this as danger. I heard that save compatibility was said by Toady as main reason for that long time between last release (0.28.something.40d) and current (0.31). 1.5 year with continuously piling bugs upon bugs? Insane. And very, very "bad" (to speak VERY mildy) idea. It is wonder that game is as playable as is now. ToadyOne is very good programmer.

My point: it is not worth it. Save compatibility is not worth this long period to wait and be drown in sea of bugs. Continuous release (say once a week, I do not even dare to dream about nightly builds... heh) FTW. And on this stage completely screw save compatibility. This is ALPHA, for Armok sake!

You're right, and Toady pretty much agrees with you.  He wrote up a long post explaining the reasoning behind the long release cycle and that he hopes it won't happen again (scroll down a bit, you'll know the wall of text when you see it).

[azrael4h]

I really don't think save compatibility should be taken into as much consideration, since there's always the older versions.

Really, the only major, game breaking bug seems to be the acid rain problem. Given how much was added, that is astounding, and given how much was also added/fixed.

I'm just waiting for the d# merge, since my laptop can't handle the new version as-is. Even 40d18 slows down around 40-50 dwarves. The new version is slower at the starting 7. Makes me a unhappy angel of death and vengeance.

[Footkerchief]

I'm just waiting for the d# merge, since my laptop can't handle the new version as-is. Even 40d18 slows down around 40-50 dwarves. The new version is slower at the starting 7. Makes me a unhappy angel of death and vengeance.

Turn on PARTIAL_PRINT in init and use embark areas 4x4 or preferably smaller, if you aren't doing that already.