public 227f beta release?

[Jâçkrâßßit]

hey guys.. just a recommendation from what I've experienced in the latest private patch release.  I really think its time to hold a month-long time period where 227f is opened up to the public through some pre-release of 227f where everyone's objective is to hunt down any bugs that still might linger in 227.  I can do my best to spread the word around other unreal forums to get the word out on this pre-release.  It might not be time, but from my viewpoint things are really getting much more stable and it must be getting harder and harder to find things to fix for 227.  :)

maybe it could be called 227f_beta_dist.7z and include the proper installer instead of just the files to ensure full integrity of the patch.

Advantages of doing this:
1.  You may get some really good reports of bugs before the final 227f release
2.  People can give 'recommendations' rather than bug reports on things they would simply like to see unreal do in the final release.

Disadvantages:
1.  People might not update to the actual 227 version release subsequential to this beta distribution.  Hopefully it wouldn't create any networking issues.. but you never know....

I guess the developers have to really ask the question "is it worth it?" in the end.  It might be.. it might not be... who knows!

[[]KAOS[]Casey]

we want it out soon, we're just picking at the last few things we possibly can

edit: btw this won't be the last release, we're still trying to get the true source to gold instead of recompiling the data, so we can fix any issues with meshes if there are any at all. If we find any other bugs in 227f after release they will be updated in the next version too, if not we'll probably create a 227f+gold installer for gold owners

[Smirftsch]

To be honest, I wanted to release 227f already for christmas- last year, not this year. But due to my bad health condition it was delayed and delayed- and I have to admit that it was worth it. We fixed in the last few weeks many things again, some things which were bothering us for quite a long time already (Such as OccludeBSP overflow).
Also the latest UED fixes so that its possible to use OpenGL in UED2 were worth it.
Currently the buglist is empty aside some small glitches with UED2 yet. Waiting currently for some response from Linux testing crew.
Wiki needs to be updated yet of course. As well the language packs are not complete yet unfortunately.
Next patch will be 227f but "f" DOES NOT mean final. Although heard that often and the general opinion is that "f" would be a synonym for final, its just only a release number. See 224v for example: "vinal"?
I would have loved to make "f" to final, but all these "a,b,c,d,e" are already subversions, it makes absolutely no sense to make now subsub versions like 227f_beta1, beta2 etc. (already seen technically a problem because I need the subversion number to compare for login and security). If there are no bugs left "f" will be final, but if we find more things to fix it will be "g" then or even "h" - just don't hope it will not be "v" as in 224

Of course I hope to see 227f as "final" release but without a bigger spread of testers its impossible to find whatever bugs now may remain (although there should be nothing critical left).
In any case we will concentrate on Gold version then with UPak support.

[Hyper]

For sake of publicity, I greatly recommend to make some version of Unreal 227 as final. It won't really matter if it is going to be 227f or 227x but I think there should be a moment when we can publish it on any gaming site to let the world know that Patch 227 is finally done and that Unreal 1 is still alive.

We can only do that if there is a clear 'final' version. So, I recommend to work towards a final, test it very well and then release it. Any changes beyond that should go to 228.

[Smirftsch]

fully agreed and no question about that (while 227f will be a stage where modders can already rely on, no relevant changes will happen there again)

[[§Ŕ] ŤhěxĐâŕkśîđěŕ]

If you release a beta-beta, people could put it on servers and that could cause incompatibilities.

[Gizzy]

If you release a beta-beta, people could put it on servers and that could cause incompatibilities.

Couldn't you just give it to a set amount of people (I guess that eliminates the point of it being a public beta), or tell people NOT to host with it?

[[§Ŕ] ŤhěxĐâŕkśîđěŕ]

If you release a beta-beta, people could put it on servers and that could cause incompatibilities.

Couldn't you just give it to a set amount of people (I guess that eliminates the point of it being a public beta), or tell people NOT to host with it?

Well Unreal beta from '95 and '98 leaked out.
Also, some people are stupid, there'd surely be an idiot who would host with a beta-beta, ignoring the warning.

But it doesn't sound like a bad idea.

[スマイル・ドラゴン]

I really request a updated UTGLR somehow be made to work with UnrealGold and Unreal 226f.. But I'm not demanding anything, I'm still waiting for 227f anyways.

[GreatEmerald]

Break the Host Game button
And there already is a group of testers, but it seems that most normal bugs are already fixed. I don't see why we can't make it final, I mean, Beta is only when you are not done with all the features. It's normal that there are fixes for the first versions, there already were like 26 fixes for the first Unreal patch, this patch being one as well

[Gizzy]

Break the Host Game button

I'm liking that idea

[[§Ŕ] ŤhěxĐâŕkśîđěŕ]

Break the Host Game button

I'm liking that idea

Agreed, QFT.

[KillerSkaarj]

Break the Host Game button

I'm liking that idea

Agreed, QFT.

I agr- wait, what about when it DOES finally become, er, final? Oh well, I guess you just fix it back

Oh, and speaking of 227f, can I test it out too? I finally got my Unreal Gold disk back and I want to screw around in 227f like I am in 227e, you know, to agitate any bugs or errors. And you did say you wanted more testers (unless "bigger spread of testers" meant something entirely different...)

[[§Ŕ] ŤhěxĐâŕkśîđěŕ]

I could test 227f on my new laptop, to report any compatibilities.