Well, it’s August, and as ever, we have no information about either free DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 or the next-gen launch of the game, both of which are supposed to be coming by the end of 2021.
A Paul Tassi article that actually makes sense... Now that's a first.
Anyway, a soft relaunch is not the worst idea in the world, but CDPR should at least ANNOUNCE it, assuming it's in their intentions - and i honestly don't think it is.
A Paul Tassi article that actually makes sense... Now that's a first.
Anyway, a soft relaunch is not the worst idea in the world, but CDPR should at least ANNOUNCE it, assuming it's in their intentions - and i honestly don't think it is.
My favorite part of his article : "Well, it’s August, and as ever, we have no information about either free DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 or the next-gen launch of the game, both of which are supposed to be coming by the end of 2021."
So it's only expectations and it's the only thing that is sure in this article...
And I didn't know that August is the end of the year... Christmas, it's in September, no ?
Yep for sure, they work "hard" apparently on their "test part" of steam. But no information about a date of release. It could be tomorow, in a week or some weeks. We need to be patient, that's the only sure thing
I personally don't think that Paweł did anything wrong. For me it was very clear that he was joking about the DLC. I think it even was someone in the chat who came up with that "DLC this month if NPC blinks", and it became more of a running gag during that stream.
On the modder versus developer I have some questions for the more knowledgable if you please:
. Is it possible that CDPR is taking so much time to implement visible changes to lacking/poorly implemented features players keep requesting, even on that multitude of small things that modders have fixed - I'm console player so I might presume some mods are out there when they're not - but stuff like correcting map "Building H10" to "H11", weather overhauls, enemy netrunner overhauls... because CDPR is actually bug fixing as they perfect/correct/finish the engine? I mean if different people are updating the engine itself and its systems and through this the bug fixing occurs (also manually fixing bugs not related to engine faults) then the whole team needs to be in sync not to mess things up.
It might be finishing the engine/correcting code but also the changes they did for performance on old gen consoles (on my ps4 pro the performance changed visibly for me) - except the final parts of a playthrough. The game's performance keeps going down for me as hours to my character and his story are added.
. Also if this is the case one developer couldn't create a new feature as the engine is being updated by the others so when it comes to implement said feature it will be written in outdated code?
. Can it also be because of this that CDPR didn't release the mod kit yet? Because mods created with todays kit wouldn't correspond to new updates? I mean is the tool kit related to the engine, its systems or code?
Well, there is no "modder vs. developer" thing,. There's modders, and there's developers. They don't compete in any way. But I'll take a stab at the rest of your post while Steam is downloading a few new games I want to play:
Most of the tweaks, tricks, and additions modders are producing right now are all being accomplished by:
A) tweaking the game files, or
B) introducing modified archives into the game folder, or
C) running tertiary scripted effects or console commands through the secondary tool known as Cyber Engine Tweaks
Mods are currently PC exclusive, though I suspect that some sort of system for certain types of "quality of life" mods to be pushed to console players may be implemented in the future. I might be a little off, but you get the general idea I think.
The game's "engine" is essentially a "framework" under which to bring together and run all of the game's systems harmoniously. Modding tools (official or otherwise), typically work within the confines of the systems. NOT (usually) the proprietary engine of the game. Mods are built by using one or more of the individual systems the engine manages. In some instances (like Bethesda tools), they allow for a modder to introduce custom assets.
Occasionally (and usually very rarely), the developer may tweak or modify the engine. And depending on the systems it affects, "may" break the functionality of some mods using the affected systems. Typically it requires little more than a simple update of the mods being affected to bring them into compatibility with how the new version of the engine manages the systems those mods are built on. Official modding kits are typically updated to incorporate any changes very shortly after they're implemented to the live game (less than a day, or usually simultaneously with the update to the live game).
That said, I've heard that a RedKit, modified for Cyberpunk 2077's systems is in the works, but CDPR doesn't want to release it before the game is fully patched up and fixed across the board on every platform. So I don't expect to see it anytime soon. Not this year anyway. And that's probably for the best. Especially if they want to support cross-platform mods.
As far as I can tell, any of the currently available mods could simply be removed from the game folder (manually or through Nexus' Vortex tool) with no negative impact on the game, should CDPR fix something a mod has already fixed. It's typically better to use the vanilla, developer provided fix, unless the fix doesn't has as much of an impact as the mod. In such case, most people would elect to keep the mod, over-riding the developer fix.
All that aside, you should understand (and maybe you do, but I can't tell for sure) that ANY tool they create and release to modders will require a PC to use. Games are developed on PCs. And so are mods. Consoles are incapable of building mods. Though if you own a PC as well as a console, then perhaps it would be of use to you if they support cross-platform modding similar to Bethesda's tools for Skyrim and Fallout 4, because you could then learn the tools, build mods on your PC, and push them to your console (if the console's manufacturer allows). We'll have to wait and see.
I personally don't think that Paweł did anything wrong. For me it was very clear that he was joking about the DLC. I think it even was someone in the chat who came up with that "DLC this month if NPC blinks", and it became more of a running gag during that stream.
But "most" of this game's fanbase doesn't know him (or his style of humor) that well. I certainly didn't. And you can safely bet that his "joke" provoked a healthy ration of shit rolling down from management. That much was pretty abundantly clear in his latest stream. The fanbase is too volatile and hostile from the lack of info for "jokes" right now.
Anyway, I can admit that Paweł is rather courageous to stream in this environment where every word he said can be misinterpreted or even is "peeled" to try to extract the slightest information. Especially when English is not your native language, what a nightmare. In its place, not even in a dream I would stream, too, too, too risky...
I'm sure a lot of viewers watch the stream not for the game or the comments he makes about how they created/conceived Cyberpunk, but just to try and see if any news/infos is leaking out...
So I don't expect to see it anytime soon. Not this year anyway. And that's probably for the best. Especially if they want to support cross-platform mods.
As far as I can tell, any of the currently available mods could simply be removed from the game folder (manually or through Nexus' Vortex tool) with no negative impact on the game,
should CDPR fix something a mod has already fixed. It's typically better to use the vanilla, developer provided fix, unless the fix doesn't has as much of an impact as the mod. In such case, most people would elect to keep the mod, over-riding the developer fix.
All that aside, you should understand (and maybe you do, but I can't tell for sure) that ANY tool they create and release to modders will require a PC to use.
...and I think this encouragement is extremely important. He's basically telling us "Hey guys, we're still here, we're working hard, and you don't need to worry." Some people start to expect the worst if they don't hear any news whatsoever. And it's also a message to those that are trying to humiliate CDPR in a manipulative / shit-stormy way. You can try hard, but Paweł always got the bigger balls!
But "most" of this game's fanbase doesn't know him (or his style of humor) that well. I certainly didn't. And you can safely bet that his "joke" provoked a healthy ration of shit rolling down from management. That much was pretty abundantly clear in his latest stream. The fanbase is too volatile and hostile from the lack of info for "jokes" right now.
It doesn't matter because it's his own personal stream. A personal stream is in "off the record" territory. Aka, it's not an official source.
I'd point out shortly before he made his joke about blinking and content releases he was asked a direct question about the DLC timeline. His responded with a very clear and direct answer. He said he can't/doesn't want to talk about the specifics.
Sure, someone might stumble into the stream after he made that clarification and miss it, see the joke, have it go over their head and think "DLC this month". That's their own damn fault. It's their own fault for stumbling into his stream late (be on time next tme ). It's their own fault for missing the joke. It's their own fault for extrapolating any type of official release timeline from a personal stream.
I don't see the problem. Pawel is running a stream, playing the game, trying to enjoy himself and, most likely, hoping others find enjoyment from it. Insisting he run a preemptive audit on everything he says before he says it on his personal stream is a touch draconian.
I'm not saying CDPR's communication is spotless. I think arguments could be made they have room to improve their communication via official sources. Jumping on one of the game devs for making a joke in a personal stream? Come on.....
You guys think that a developer update on technical stuff, similar to those from Gwent, would come in handy?
They could basically talk about greyed-out code, using non-trivial terms. I think that would be funny.
You can't fairly compare modders to a fully staffed dev studio under ANY circumstance beyond what they bring to the game. Devs have access to the FULL toolkit used to build the game. Modders make do with stripped down versions, or completely home-grown toolsets. Impressive by any measure.
That said (and to get back on topic), the comments on this are what I meant when I linked that Forbes article:
I don't recall. It was a while ago. Close to the game's initial launch. "I heard" is generally an indication that it shouldn't be taken as gospel in any event, and could very well be little more than rumor.
You're "assuming" they will. I've installed and uninstalled as many as 115 mods, and am currently running 51 on my original save from back in December. Most of those through Cyber Engine Tweaks. This game doesn't use Papyrus scripting. Nor any extender of any kind. Which are the primary culprits for the issues you're referring to.
Perhaps the person I was responding to was unaware of that? I thought I made it pretty clear that I was unsure if he was, and that was the purpose of pointing it out.
But thank you for the reply on his behalf. I'm sure he appreciates it
Agreed. I mean I get (now) that Pawel's stream is a personal thing. However, he is STILL a member of the development team. So it's understandable that a vast number of people who don't regularly follow him didn't "get" the "Hellman joke". I admittedly didn't. But then, I also didn't run around making claims of "DLC AT THE END OF JULY GUYS!!!!!!" based on it. I just waited to see for myself if it would actually happen. It didn't. And that's fine. I've simply gone back to what I've been doing since the end of December. Playing other games. Life goes on.
[...]
For my part, Open World Games and the Forbes article are absolutely on the money, comparisons with No Man's Sky make Cyberpunk look bad.
With the incredibly delayed release of patch 1.3, with no definitive roadmap, I've all but given up that they will ever significantly improve the game, apart from stability and bugfixes.
There is no No Man's Sky road to redemption, the game will remain as is, with all the flaws, with all the cut content (and we are talking basic stuff, like NPC AI, like being able to shoot out of your car, actually be able to do anything but drive and fight, to customize your flat, to make any form of real impact in the game world, all things other games have already done).
When I read that they had actually removed people from Cyberpunk, instead of hiring more staff to fix it, I already suspected this wasn't gonna go the way I expected from CDPR, they are clearly no longer the company they used to be.
They are probably concentrating on the Witcher mobile game, because mobile games rake in money like crazy and take only a fraction of the effort and work a real game does.
The difference between modder and developer is quite important in my opinion.
Let's imagine that you improve the AI considerably (it works great according to your tests), but that after certain events (like after a quest), your modification corrupted all the player save files who have installed it (totally unutilisable, they lost all their progression)
- If you're modder it only concerns those who use your mod (and they do it knowingly).
- If you're Developer it concerns all the players who have install the update (that is to say all players or almost all).
What are you saying ?
"Oupss... I'm sorry !"
I think the consequences of the same mistake will definitely not be the same...
There's something to add. Modders don't need to care about consoles. They don't need to worry about that there are there are actually three different configurations for Playstation 4. That's actually something that caught my eye during first couple of months after launch. Players on first hardware configuration PS4 "Fattie" appeared to report way less crash issues than those on latter two generations.
Then there's that regardless if it's Xbox or Playstations AFAIK there's no such thing as bug free gaming console hardware. It goes down to that regardless of manufacturer, CPU's has errata documents for a reason. It of course takes more hardware to make a console than just CPU and your software has to run on hardware launched on 2013 (Xbox One) with Jaguar architecture and hardware released on 2017 (One X) that is Scorpion, and two models between them. List could be continued and sure there probably is a way to make software run in some sort of safe mode, but that would very likely also mean, that it wouldn't run on many platforms at all. I don't mean base consoles but One X and PS Pro as well.
I haven't played on PC for years and I don't think I'm going back, but I appreciate modders. But regardless they don't need to worry about undocumented quirks on different platforms. They don't need to worry about class action suits, they don't need to worry about their company reputation. This is not to belittle anyone, but just to add some perspective.
Anyway, a soft relaunch is not the worst idea in the world, but CDPR should at least ANNOUNCE it, assuming it's in their intentions - and i honestly don't think it is.
Yes, it definitely would make sense. And it could be done with updates or DLC rewriting the ending. Question is how invested CDPR are with their original story? They have shown themselves to be extremely stubborn ("Its our way or the highway") and I have no faith on them doing anything according to common sense. I complained about the exact same things before and after the launch. Every issue not related to bugs and performance happened just as I had feared.
Funny how before the launch I kept hearing from fans on these forums how much CDPR listens to its fans. Seems total opposite now, doesn't it?
This explanation doesn't hold water. There is NO WAY he can claim that, while being the ONLY communication channel between the players and the devs. Why did he start streaming in the first place? To talk with the playerbase. Why would he do that if not TALK TO THE PLAYERS.
There is no way he can claim ignorance that he is the only one talking to the players! Of course players will latch on to everything he says since there is NOTHING ELSE FOR MONTHS.
The devs are just too far detached from reality for their own good. They need proper PR people and to actually talk to those people. SOMEBODY in the company needs to talk to players in an official capacity. Otherwise its just another PR catastrophe waiting to happen. Again I ask, where are all those millions going? CDPR seems extremely unprofessional in way too many things.
And why can't they use their OWN GODDAMN GAME FORUMS to communicate?
ps. I can only assume the real reason for the backtrack is that they suffered setbacks and their supposed "reveal" was delayed once again. That he was actually hinting at DLC which was delayed so he had to come up with mumbo jumbo about it being his private stream and whatever. I have never seen more unintentionally hilarious and sad conduct from a game company in my 44 year lifespan.
pps. And for the record, my opinion is content > optimization.
This explanation doesn't hold water. There is NO WAY he can claim that, while being the ONLY communication channel between the players and the devs. Why did he start streaming in the first place? To talk with the playerbase. Why would he do that if not TALK TO THE PLAYERS.
There is no way he can claim ignorance that he is the only one talking to the players! Of course players will latch on to everything he says since there is NOTHING ELSE FOR MONTHS.
How does that math add up? Just because the official communication channels go dark developers streaming their own gameplay are automatically viewed as a substitute? Bearing in mind I'm not saying it doesn't happen.
In terms of his motivations... I don't know. People stream for a lot of reasons. Contrary to what some may think game developers are like... people too.
The devs are just too far detached from reality for their own good. They need proper PR people and to actually talk to those people. SOMEBODY in the company needs to talk to players in an official capacity. Otherwise its just another PR catastrophe waiting to happen. Again I ask, where are all those millions going? CDPR seems extremely unprofessional in way too many things.
And why can't they use their OWN GODDAMN GAME FORUMS to communicate?
Sure, I'd agree CDPR communication could use some work. What does that have to do with a personal stream a developer does on their own time for their own gameplay? CDPR PR/communication is CDPR PR/communication. Pawel doing a stream is Pawel doing a stream. They're not interchangeable.
Heck, i'm not a fan of ANY triple A software house, to be honest. I signed to these forums only after i bought CP77. I never finished The Witcher 3, never bought the expansions, never played the other Witcher games.
So, i look at CDPR the way i look at other companies.
They all do the same: they love to speak about how much they care about gamers, and then their actions totally work against their own statements. It's always the same story.
CDPR managed to do even worse. Pre-launch their PR department did everything in its power to pump up the enthusiasm of the gaming community, announcing things with hyperbolic adjectives, and that OF COURSE went too far when people on social networks and game journalists started to take what they were saying and inflated every word even more.
Post-launch they shut down nearly any form of MEANINGFUL communication, in fear of more backlash, or maybe for those lawsuits, i don't really care the reasons why tbh, because i'm a gamer, and true gamers want to be regularly updated on the games they love by official channels, such as the forums, by the developers themselves. Or else we're left with Reddit leaks and whatnot, because people is so desperate for news that will believe anything at this point.
I criticize CDPR for its self-indulgent behavior. I do it because i REALLY LIKE this game (as anyone can guess from my "Unexpressed potential" thread), and i want to see it getting better and better. I just don't happen to like most of AAA developers' way of communicating with their fanbase, and CDPR sadly is no exception.
They need proper PR people and to actually talk to those people. SOMEBODY in the company needs to talk to players in an official capacity. Otherwise its just another PR catastrophe waiting to happen.
A lot of people have expressed problems with the roadmap and its vagueness. It occurs to me that it may not actually be vague at all and everyone has been expectings things that will not occur. Instead, the rest or the remaining year will be devoted to two things:
1. Continuing to fix the game and make "improvements" that are not particularly big or impressive.
2. Making Cyberpunk 2077 for Next Generation Consoles.
They will include the probable free DLC but there will be no new announcements for the Expansions or other plans until at least 2022 and maybe after.
www.forbes.com
