Page 1 of CM4 - what a load of b******s!!!

its reasons like this why generally i refuse to play games apart from CM on PCs. Having bought CM4 yesterday i installed it to find it didnt work. it kept bringing up a copy protection error. after thinking it was a dodgy copy, i took it back and got a new one and to my horror the same thing happened!!! i racked my brains for an hour then checked out the CM forums to find i needed to download a patch to rectify a bug in the game. absolutely scandalous that on the day of release i had to download an additional patch to play the damn game!!! what if i didnt have the bloody internet!?!?! anyway im going back to DOA volleyball on my x-box, at least im guarenteed the thing will work.....

Yup, totally agree

http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=223&Thread=167199&Type=1

Seen the list of fixes in the patch.

It is not possible that these were not known before shipping!

All about the money.

Long post but here`s the list of fixes.
Patch is only just over 5MB though..

This is the list of fixes in this pack
Long post, sorry..

General

General game speed improvements
Fixed problem opening game window on some PC`s
Fixed league stage heading when viewing away records.
Fixed bug whereby Financial Income Tables totals always appeared to be zero.
Fixed problem where computer friendly proposal news items did not have respond button.
Fixed cup screen problem where dots sometimes replaced the v`s.
Fixed problem where transfers did not always get cancelled after a transfer deadline.
Fixed some Swedish stadium issues for derby games.
Fixed rehabilitation time out calculation.
Fixed ridiculous wages being given to all players at top clubs after a season or so
Fixed the missing Euro symbol when using Ter`s skin.
Fixed unable to untick man specific marking option during match.
Fixed scouting individual players sometimes never were reported back.
Fixed captain changing during match problem (assistant picking captain when shouldn`t.)
Fixed problem with histories not showing up for players (this was related to the installer)
All shortcut keys now are handled on the news screen.
Added ability to display club logo`s on team screens [Spanish Version Only]
When a person`s contract expires and no response is made to the news item, you now don`t get the same news every day from then on.
When user has news items allowing responses, the game doesn`t take him to news screen every 2 hours.
Loans are now not terminated by computer teams as much.
Teams won`t try to buy first options on players they cannot buy. e.g. Non Basque players and Athletico Bilbao.
Human players can now no longer respond to contract decision news for other teams.
All player transfers now get cancelled on transfer deadline day.
Disabling scouting of "parent" comps like the Portugese Second Division B. This caused a crash before. The individual regional leagues can still be scouted.
Added a link to a player`s club when viewing them through a national team.
Changed the way the picking positions panel worked so it won`t collapse and disappear
Fixed the currency conversion for the Brazilian Real
Injuries time string rounded to nearest and not always upwards.
Injury lengths adjusted.
Player compare used the neutral colour for some positional comparisons.
If selling team does not make contract offer to part exchanged player, the offer is now cancelled.
Fixed long term distortion of player attributes throughout the game due to erroneous effects of training
Made players in mid range leagues ( Holland, Belgium, Scotland etc ) more agreeable to moves to clubs in top leagues ( England, Italy, Spain )
Competitions


Fixed problem where game dates for Euro Champ Qual differed to actual real life dates causing leagues to be scheduled incorrectly
Fixed Croatian Super Cup date.
Fixed winter break periods for Italian leagues.
Fixed Greek second division playoff problem where losing non league team may still be promoted.
Fixed French league schedule to play on specific wednesday.
Fixed N.Ireland Cup semi-finals are now played on neutral venues.
Fixed Antrim Shield and Irish Cup match times.
Fixed last 2 games being played on a sunday at 3pm.
Fixed German league cup fixture dates.
Fixed Japanese super cup not being played in 2003
Dutch Premier/First Division playoffs now do not get postponed due to the European Championships.
Squad numbers added for Portugese teams.
Champions League 2nd phase now has improved method of keeping teams from same nation and group apart.
Correct teams at home in MLS playoff quarter finals.
No away goals now for MLS playoff quarter finals.
Reserve leagues for leagues starting in 2003 now work properly.
Mexican playoffs now get decided on league positions if draws
not extra time and pens.
3 rounds instead of 2 for Irish First Division in second season.
Two legged playoff final for Irish league.
Reserve dates fixed for first year in Ireland.
Argentina teams now use squad numbers.
In Argentina, if home and away team kits clash, the home team changes its colours.
Brazilian state cup draws now seeded properly.
Minas Gerais state championship winner is now declared champions.
Relegation now applies to Sao Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul state championships.
Fixed reserves and U18s for Brazilian teams.
Brazilian cup now gets played every year.
Yugoslav reserve league expanded to 18 teams
Yugoslav u21 rule changed to cover only 2nd division
Updated Spanish fixtures rules for number of Non-EU players
Added squad number selection for all leagues in Spain
Fixed Norwegian League red/yellow card validation error
Added limit of 2 Non-EU players on pitch in Norwegian Leagues
Added squad number selection for top 2 Norwegian leagues
Fixed days/times that Singaporean Games are played on
Fixed Singapore Cup Draw problem (from 03/04 season onwards)
Added Penalty shootouts to level Singaporean league games
Singaporean reserve games not being played bug fixed
Fixed Crystal Palace playing at Milton Keynes in season 2003-4!!
American 2nd division schedule section no longer crashes.
Added season 03/04 polish second division relegation playoff.
Finances


Prize money for Brazilian state leagues now works.
Fixed really low maximum wages allowed by the board, when approaching to sign certain players.
Allowed a little more flexibility with regards to wage offers, prior to this board was very strict as to whom it considered a first team or key player.
Lowered wages allowed for squad rotation and first team players a little.
Tuned scottish finance system to prevent non-old firm teams gaining ground on them too easily.
Reduced ground maintainance for smaller clubs and non-professional clubs
Match Day


Fixed set piece taker timewasting when losing late in the game
Fixed fairly common bug where full back would throw ball to centre back who would be robbed for run in at goal
Fixed goalie rather naively taking throw back to opposition after injury
Fixed problem where live league table was not being updated when returning to a match screen.
Setting team mentality for human teams now comes into effect immediately not at the end of the current period.
Teams now lie deep or push up more in relation to their mentality and whether they are playing the offside trap
Tuning of offside assessment from passing player`s point of view
Direct free kicks less effective
Found happy medium between "loads of disallowed goals" in beta demo and "none" in v4.0.1
If a human manager returns from holiday or reenters a network game during his team`s match, either he or the computer will take control depending on who had original control, not both.
Auto continue now works after a match day has finished.
Latest scores panel now shows human controlled teams in yellow.
Latest scores now show the current match period of all games.
Human controlled teams on latest scores are now highlighted.
Fixed central defender condition bug and put more emphasis on each player`s stamina
Tuned player passing of ball
Removed 10 yard dissent rule for leagues that don`t utilise it
Big teams sit back less vs little teams in internationals unless safely winning
Better selection of individual player instructions by CPU teams
Fixed bug where human teams are left with less defenders staying back at an attacking set piece than they set in the tactics screen
Fixed stupid dives and yellow cards for it outside the danger areas
Regular yellow cards now shown as text events only in key or extended highlights
Fixed occasional unseemly grouping of players around team mate with the ball
Toned down long shots while making those who are good at them more likely to hit the target
Improved close range finishing for top players
Less stupidly wayward goal kicks
Improved marking by attacking teams defenders who stay back at set pieces
Fixed crash when all subs were used and goalkeeper got injured and no replacement put in goal.
Awards


Fixed award referred to players` old clubs if transferred during season.
Fixed continental and global awards not announced.
Fixed World Cup, Euro Championship awards (and similar) not being processed after first competition.
Yearly awards now showing current year, listed in reverse order, and correct last winner.
Team award news now shows up to 3 of your players (if any were named.)
Award screen now shows child competitions awards.
Now records matches for child competitions.
Player/Staff Search

Fixed not able to save (short)lists while out of a job.
Fixed retired players listed in player search.
Fixed filtering by value from (e.g.) 100K to (e.g.) 100K showing no results.
Fixed misaligned text and icons.
Fixed filtering attributes with upper value of 0 including all.
Fixed national managers listed with their nationality and not national t

Ste

i some ways i can see that it is annoying having to download a patch on the first day, but in other ways i give respect to the effort that Sigames hav put in. they coudl have just sent out the game as it was and not doen a patch for a month, but they have continuosly been updating so that we can have the perfect game. whilst it may not be perfect out of the box, it will be within 2 or 3 patches. if they had released it any later, it would have been out of date by a long way.

i ahve mixed views but dont think that we can be completly negative. there is no other game that i have seen such an active forum board for, where views and errors are listened to

In general I`m against patches but they do serve a purpose.
With PC games in general, there can also be in the minds of the coders "it doesn`t matter if it doesn`t work, we`ll patch it later.."
However, some of the issues fixed in the patch mean the game should NEVER have been released in it`s present state.

Ste

Yeah, this CM4 patch shows the game was not complete before release. The blame probably lies with the publisher here, they don`t like putting games back if it means they are going to miss a particular window or the marketing wheels are in motion.

Does the patch put everything right or are there still problems ?

And therein lies the point. If a game don`t work then it CANNOT BE RELEASED!!! Imagine guying a PS2 game that didn`t load due to some crapy f-up! Sony and you would be furious!!! If the patch was there on the day of release the nit was released KNOWING that people would have problems. Patches should ONLY exist when the company deceides to add new levels or weapons or something of the sort. NOT to get a game LOADING IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!

Here`s another example why I don`t play games on the PC anymore!

This is a disgrace, as Washu says if a PS2 release was "half finished", people would go mad! I don`t see how any publisher can justify downloading patches to make it work!

At least they quickly got the patch out on the same day as the release! And with PC games, if there are problems with it, then at least they CAN release a patch to fix it.

But CM4 was never half finished (and it certainly doesn`t feel it), and by comparing it to PS2 games you`re basically saying that the console games are generally perfect, without any bugs (which they aren`t!). Companies don`t release patches for PS2 because its not possible to put them onto the game, but if it was you`d definitely see as many as you get for the PC.

You don`t need to download any patches to make CM4 work, as it works fine without it. These patches clear up any inconsistencies in the game, and any errors there might be.

as i mentioned at the start of the thread i HAD to download the patch to get the actual game working in the first place. this is whats p***ed me off. im all for downloading a patch to update the squads etc in a few months but not get the damn thing working! yes many ps2 games are far from perfect but at least if it doesnt work you dont need to spend the next few hours wondering if theres a problem eith the pc or game or whether my system has the 2 kilojule hard disk ram 3d mickey mouse graphics sound card minimum spec to run the thing!!!!!

This item was edited on Monday, 31st March 2003, 14:59

This is all part of the reason I never bother with games on the PC anymore. Shame really, as I`m probably missing out on some good titles.

At least I know I`m missing out on problems like this, constant crashing, re-installing software, upgrading of your system, etc... etc...!!! I haven`t got time with messing about. I`m just too damn impatient!