Architect Archive
Thread: SERIOUS crafting BUG on TC!
HOWEVER - this is still broken.
Dvnce, can you please communicate that 1) this is a game-breaking bug that is really impacting the ability of TC architects to craft stuff and 2) verify that they think it *is* a bug and not a "design decision" to change "similar" to "identical"?
Again, if this is a bug then we'll live with it on the TC - that's why it's called "Test Center". But if they are making a design decision about this then we need to know and be able to respond, because it would have a HUGE impact on non-Master architects and drive the overall waste and time sink up for all of us.
Shaan'ti Hokai (Kauri) 
Dvnce, please please please get an answer on this "identical" thing!
This has to be a bug not a deliberate change, the game and professions have to be able to build everything from scratch... after a TC wipe for example architects would not be able to build anything needing walls or structural modules. thats nearly all buildings, nor would any profession be able to make anything needing a factory, this would break all elite crafting profs.
ZenDragonMLS wrote:
Again, if this is a bug then we'll live with it on the TC - that's why it's called "Test Center". But if they are making a design decision about this then we need to know and be able to respond, because it would have a HUGE impact on non-Master architects and drive the overall waste and time sink up for all of us.
lisasdarren wrote:This has to be a bug not a deliberate change, the game and professions have to be able to build everything from scratch... after a TC wipe for example architects would not be able to build anything needing walls or structural modules. thats nearly all buildings, nor would any profession be able to make anything needing a factory, this would break all elite crafting profs.
ZenDragonMLS wrote:
Again, if this is a bug then we'll live with it on the TC - that's why it's called "Test Center". But if they are making a design decision about this then we need to know and be able to respond, because it would have a HUGE impact on non-Master architects and drive the overall waste and time sink up for all of us.
I agree - it "has" to be a bug. Surely they wouldn't make a design decision without taking that into account, would they?
I don't know about you, but I'm not going to feel comfortable with it till I can verify that this "bug" is fixed on TC. Dvnce said that they were "discussing" it. If it's a bug, what kind of "discussion" needs to happen?
ZenDragonMLS wrote:
I don't know if any other crafting profession has been hit by this, but judging from the comments in the channel, it is only the Architects who have been hit.
The *text* in the schematic still says "similar" (for structural modules or wall modules) but the *behavior* is as if they were required to be identical.
I checked every schematic that I could make at 4441 and every one of them barfed on the second wall or structure module that I tried to use.
I assume that there is a "flag" in the schematic for each component that specifies that they have to be identical or not, and that they have somehow or another either flipped that flag or done away with it.
Honestly, don't they have automated regression tests to uncover if they have broken anything?
Automated Regression tests are way overrated in the QA field, they rarely are of any value after being run once, as soon as you change features, they become somewhat worthless
Ezri wrote:ZenDragonMLS wrote:
Honestly, don't they have automated regression tests to uncover if they have broken anything?Automated Regression tests are way overrated in the QA field, they rarely are of any value after being run once, as soon as you change features, they become somewhat worthless
That hasn't been my experience. If a requirement changes then you *have* to change the test case such that you can still verify that you meet the requirement. I assume that they have a database with the "objects" (e.g. schematics) in it. Just doing a match between the new one and the old one would uncover changes. Someone looks over the changes and asks "is this change valid?"
Testing at the full user interface end is harder, but I submit that you can test much of the base functionality anyway.
lisasdarren wrote:
This has to be a bug not a deliberate change, the game and professions have to be able to build everything from scratch... after a TC wipe for example architects would not be able to build anything needing walls or structural modules. thats nearly all buildings, nor would any profession be able to make anything needing a factory, this would break all elite crafting profs.
You have just illustrated my concern with the issue - sadly, many people can't seem to grasp that. The game is designed so that a profession can pull itself up by its bootstraps... all you really need to get started is a mineral survey tool and a generic crafting tool.
Some people think I'm exaggerating when I say that the game will be ruined if this slips past TC into Live... and that seems to be the prevailing mentality among newcomers to TC. I hope that those who see the risks can do something about it before it is too late, but every day that passes without any Developer attention to this matter diminishes that hope.