Topic: Fallout: New Vegas - Update: FO: New California Mod Released (Reply 155)

[Xessive]

Haha it looks like Obsidian have really outdone themselves this time! I think they beat their NWN2 record for buggy/sub-par releases!

EDIT:
I pre-loaded the game on Steam a few days ago and it has already been updated twice!

[idolminds]

After reading this, I don't feel so bad about choosing to not play it at all.

[Cobra951]

. . . they all pronounce Caesar “Kai-zar”, a mystery I never got to the bottom of.

That's how the word is pronounced in Latin.  The 'C' sound is always hard.

Man, that review is depressing.  If he's right, the game can't be fixed.  Technical issues may be corrected, but what's missing entirely won't be.

[K-man]

I think anyone expecting Fallout:  New Vegas to be anything more than the same was setting themselves up for disappointment in the first place.

As far as the lack of any sort of dense population, I mean it's a Fallout game.  Did everyone expect New Vegas to be a bustling center of NPC activity?  I don't understand.

[MysterD]

I think anyone expecting Fallout:  New Vegas to be anything more than the same was setting themselves up for disappointment in the first place.

It never looked like from any of the previews that FO:NV was going to revolutionize anything. I think what it looked like was somewhere b/t an expansion pack (not a lot of new features) and a full-game (the game's size seems HUGE and LONG).

It didn't even look like they tweaked the Inventory system. What I don't understand from the Inventory is why weapons ain't split up more. I know this was a problem in FO3 - but, from what I seen in vid and stuff, why did they not even break up weapons section into more categories? You'll be wading through weapons your stuff the Inventory forever, if you're a pack-rat. Maybe they could break them up into also say Melee Weapons; Hand-Guns; Big Guns; Energy Guns; Rifles; etc - it'd be much easier to wade through, that way. Even just breaking weapons up into Melee and Guns would make life a little bit easier.

Honestly, New Vegas did looks like it would be a cross b/t Alpha Protocol (choices will matter like extremely crazy); both Fallout 1 & 2 (West Coast setting); and Fallout 3 (gameplay system and combat system).

As far as the lack of any sort of dense population, I mean it's a Fallout game.  Did everyone expect New Vegas to be a bustling center of NPC activity?  I don't understand.

If we're talking about NPC's w/ routines and doing things - I expect that from the Gothic series.

About NPC's w/ personality - I dunno, but Planescape; DAO; and Bloodlines have some of the best characters in-game.

[Xessive]

The game was updated a third time tonight, before release.

So far what I am expecting is more Fallout 3, new story. That's it really. I'm gonna try to approach it without prejudice, with the exception of the inevitable comparison to Fallout 3.

I'll let you know what my experience with it is like once I get a chance to play it (most likely tomorrow).

[MysterD]

The game was updated a third time tonight, before release.

So far what I am expecting is more Fallout 3, new story. That's it really. I'm gonna try to approach it without prejudice, with the exception of the inevitable comparison to Fallout 3.

I'll let you know what my experience with it is like once I get a chance to play it (most likely tomorrow).

I think some of the new features sound good and will be most definitely welcome - i.e. weapon crafting; companion wheel; 3 characters in your small group (your main character; one human companion; and a non-human companion); new melee abilities; and the Obsidian "Reputation" System.

I think when it comes to Obsidian - the characters, storytelling and dialogue are really their expertize. I mean, honestly - when was the last time an Obsidian game's story, characters, and dialogue were absolute garbage? Yeah - never.

It's always been their technical problems and foibles that made me scratch my head w/ them. Obsidian and Troika just seem to never get the technical stuff together, unfortunately. If they get the technical stuff fixed and/or the mod-community fixes things themselves - we can expect greatness.

[K-man]

I bought the CE on 360, but I'm not touching it until they patch it.

I picked up a copy of Earth Defense Force 2017 that i'll be playing in the meantime.

[MysterD]

NMA -> Josh E. Sawyer on some of FO:NV's bugs and issues.

BethSoft Forums -> Jason Bergman of Obsidian's Open Letter on FO: New Vegas.

As you may have seen, we released a patch over Steam for PC users last night. While we didn’t release a full changelist, the patch contains quest and scripting fixes. It’s not a minor hotfix, it contains over 200 fixes in all. We are in the final stages of testing this update on both 360 and PS3 and we hope to have them out to users very soon.

We are also pleased to say that we have just released a second fix for PC users to address the autosave and quicksave issues that some people were encountering. That particular issue was never seen prior to release and it was extremely difficult to reproduce reliably, even after the game had launched. In order to fix this problem we have had to disable Steam Cloud functionality. It has been turned off, and we won't turn it back on until we're absolutely sure it will not cause any more problems. Please restart your Steam client to make sure you get the update.

We are also working directly with hardware manufacturers to improve performance for certain video cards. This is a driver issue, and not directly related to the game.

On consoles, we are aware that a small group of 360 users are seeing a DLC warning which is preventing you from loading save games. We are absolutely looking into this bug now, along with other reports of save game corruption. It is our highest priority right now that we find out what is causing it. In the meantime, we recommend you save often, and revert to an older save if this occurs.

As far as general memory and instability, you should see an improvement once the patch goes live, but we are continuing to work on this based on user feedback.

We want everyone to know that we are monitoring the forums and cataloging every single issue we see reported. We’re reading forum posts, we’re checking Twitter, and we’re reading Facebook comments. We aren’t able to reply to most threads, but we’re listening. If we see an issue, we have people here trying to reproduce it so we can fix it.

While there are definitely legitimate issues out there, we wanted to take a moment to address a couple of things that have been reported as “bugs.”

The now infamous Doc Mitchell video, while very funny (and horrifying) was not a bug. Unfortunately during our launch day, there was a brief window where Steam was pushing out corrupt or incorrect files. In the event that a user wound up with a corrupt meshes.bsa file, they would get that error. It was easily (and instantly) corrected by simply re-validating your files with Steam. At most, a handful of people ever saw that issue, and even then, only for a moment before fixing it.

We have seen forum posts where people are claiming they are not getting all of their perks. Again, this is not a bug. In Fallout: New Vegas, you receive perks every other level, not every level as you do in Fallout 3.

And finally, a quick tip: Be aware of your faction status before assuming the game is broken. Factions will react very strongly to you based on your current armor. If you’re wearing Powder Ganger or Caesar’s Legion armor, you will be shot on sight by the NCR (and vice versa). Also note that there are groups of renegade Powder Gangers (known simply as “Escaped Convicts”) who will shoot you regardless of your faction status.

Please post any issues you are having to our forums and we’ll do our best to fix them as quickly as possible.

Thanks,

The Fallout: New Vegas Teams at Obsidian and Bethesda

[Xessive]

I've put in about an hour and I haven't experienced any major bugs as depicted in any of the reviews. The one technical issue I have experienced is that when vsync is turned on I get some serious screen tearing but when it's off the tearing is minimal. That's about it.

My first hour is pretty much what I expected from the game: more Fallout 3. The structure of the quests and tutorials feels more organic than in the original but it's still pretty basic.

I did notice one visual inconsistency. Objects and items from Fallout 3 e.g. apparel, weapons, etc. all look exactly as they did before, however everything new from Obsidian have noticeably sharper textures and generally look better; it feels like a mix & match of old and new stuff. It's not that distracting but if you have a keen eye it's hard to miss.

I guess the best way to sum up the game is it's "Fallout 3.5" or a standalone expansion.

All in all, I'm having a good time with it and I'm not suffering from any major bugs.

EDIT:
I forgot to add. I don't know what the guy was talking about with the "Caesar" pronunciation. So far everyone says "Caesar" like "Sea-zer" but one character's dialogue, Easy Pete, does mention "...they call themselves 'Caesar' (see-zer) or 'Caesar' (kai-sar) I don't how to pronounce it..."

[MysterD]

@Xessive

I'm glad you ain't hit any major bugs. That's good.

I bet w/ the new patch that fixes approximately 200 bugs - this thing been in the works for a while; maybe since the game went Gold, I'd guess?

That's like an epic patch. I'd love for them to compile patch log notes on that one.

[Xessive]

@Xessive

I'm glad you ain't hit any major bugs. That's good.

I bet w/ the new patch that fixes approximately 200 bugs - this thing been in the works for a while; maybe since the game went Gold, I'd guess?

That's like an epic patch. I'd love for them to compile patch log notes on that one.

It was a pretty big update.. If I recall correctly, it was around 250MB. The update after that was around 17MB.

[MysterD]

Nice. Good to see Obsidian actually patching the life out of this game. Now, we gotta' convince Sega to let them patch the life up on and Alpha Protocol AND release a SDK! 

That'll probably never happen - unless say BethSoft bought out the AP publishing rights or something.

Have you got to do any weapon crafting in New Vegas yet?

[Xessive]

I haven't crafted any weapons yet but I did make some healing powder. The crafting system is very simplistic; it's definitely a bit more refined than in FO3 since the menus now tell you exactly what you need to craft certain items.

I'm really liking that I jumped back into Fallout.

[MysterD]

@Xessive,

How's the companion wheel? Done any companion quests yet?

[Xessive]

@Xessive,

How's the companion wheel? Done any companion quests yet?

I haven't gotten around to those yet. I have had temporary companions (per quest) and controlling them is via dialogue as in the original Fallout 3.

They've definitely tuned and tweaked the gameplay around. Now, when you attack a target in V.A.T.S. if it moves behind cover your bullets will no longer "magically" go through and hit them, so you have plan your attacks and flank your enemies to make the most of your attacks. Sneak attacks seem to be much more deadly than before as well, racking up massive criticals and potentially killing most targets in one or two hits (granted my character's Agility is at 7).

[MysterD]

I haven't gotten around to those yet. I have had temporary companions (per quest) and controlling them is via dialogue as in the original Fallout 3.

Oh, that bites that it's via dialogue i.e FO3.
They should give you a Companion Wheel for temp companions, too.

They've definitely tuned and tweaked the gameplay around. Now, when you attack a target in V.A.T.S. if it moves behind cover your bullets will no longer "magically" go through and hit them, so you have plan your attacks and flank your enemies to make the most of your attacks. Sneak attacks seem to be much more deadly than before as well, racking up massive criticals and potentially killing most targets in one or two hits (granted my character's Agility is at 7).

Sweet.

[MysterD]

GameSpot -> PC Version review - 8.5 (out of 10).
That's one whole point higher than the console reviews (7.5).

Glitches may give you a few minor fits, but the PC version of Fallout: New Vegas is not in the same rough technical shape as its console counterparts, possibly thanks to a sizeable patch delivered a day after its release.

That doesn't mean there aren't problems here. We encountered some bugs, such as a friendly quest giver inexplicably attacking us, even though he didn't show as an enemy on the directional radar. Characters might still randomly freak out as if you're about to attack for no discernible reason, only to return to their normal locations a moment later and act as if nothing had happened.

But we encountered only a few scripting problems, and the game never crashed. Most complex role-playing games suffer from technical hitches, and this one is no exception. However, the oddities in this version aren't exceptionally disruptive, which makes it easy to stay invested.

If you played Fallout 3 or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which used the same game engine as Fallout: New Vegas, then you won't be surprised by some of the other minor foibles, although many of them seem exacerbated here. Characters get easily stuck on the environment and run in place, for example. There are also occasional pauses as you explore this gigantic world, and the frame rate tends to drop somewhat when there are multiple characters on the screen at once.

Nevertheless, striking lighting, smoother edges, better overall performance, and shorter loading times than on consoles make Fallout: New Vegas on the PC stand tall.

[Xessive]

Ohhh, all those other reviews and speculations were on console.. Yeah.. ok.

[MysterD]

RPGWatch.com -> 1.4 million sold for FO:NV across all 3 platforms during Week #1.
That does NOT include Steam and other DD sales.

BethBlog -> Interview w/ Obsidian's very own Jorge Salgado.
He was actually a modder - he's known for "Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul" that did overhaul the level-scaling.

[Pugnate]

Wow they nabbed that guy?

[MysterD]

Neoseeker -> Here's their list of notables mods for Fallout: New Vegas PC.

[Pugnate]

haha already?

[MysterD]

haha already?

Yeah - that was my thoughts, too; hehe.
It probably helps modders that New Vegas is on the same engine as FO3 (updated to some extent, of course) and the GECK SDK sounds like it probably is very similar to Fallout 3.

[Pugnate]

Yea that's what I was thinking, as well.

[Xessive]

A lot of the mods in that list are ports from Fallout 3. It's a pretty straightforward process; with few tweaks they work with NV.

I'm looking forward to DarN's UI.

[idolminds]

Heh, kinda shows the valley that still exists between computer RPGs and tabletop RPGs. In a tabletop game you could ask a NPC anything. "Where did you get that hat?" and the DM could answer, could make up a shop which you could then visit and acquire your own.

But in Fallout...if you want that hat then the owner is going to have to die.

[Xessive]

Well, you could go the nerdy-out-of-game way about it and "spawn" the hat.. Just figure out its item code and voila.

In the world of pen & paper imagination and impromptu creativity are the limit.

[idolminds]

Heh, Im not really blaming the game for it. For obvious reasons doing stuff like that is impossible in a video game. It just sort of highlights the difference.

[Xessive]

Haha yeah, we can't do it in videogames... yet!

[Cobra951]

A real AI DM in RPGs?  Skynet begins!

[K-man]

On that note, I've acquired some pretty neat hats so far.

[MysterD]

Kotaku -> Looks like someone finished FO:NV w/out any kills.

[MysterD]

Bethblog -> What to expect for next FO: New Vegas patches on all platforms.

Patch for ALL platforms

We wanted to give you guys a heads-up regarding the latest progress on Fallout: New Vegas updates.

We’ve come up with solutions for the Xbox 360 save issue folks are reporting, along with a number of other issues being reported. We’re currently running final testing and certification on a comprehensive patch for all three platforms (PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), so we’ll have something available in the coming weeks. When we have more details, we’ll let you know.

PC Patch coming early next week

In the meantime, an incremental update for PC should be going up by early next week that will fix the save corruption issues and problems with companions, as well as improve performance for NVIDIA users and resolve some issues reported with Havok.

[MysterD]

PC Gamer -> FO: New Vegas PC patched again.

Fallout: New Vegas has just received a massive patch, hopefully fixing many of the problems players have been having with the game since launch. Most notable among the changes are improvements to the game’s performance and fixes for save game corruption. Read on for the full patch notes.

The patch notes hit Steam News yesterday. Here they are in full.

    * Companions now show up as waypoints on the map
    * Companions will always fast travel with you, unless told to wait or sent away
    * Fix: DLC error/save corruption
    * Fix: Stuttering with water effects
    * Fix: Severe performance issues with DirectX.
    * Fix: Controls temporarily disabled after reloading Cowboy Repeater while crouched
    * Fixed crash using the Euclid C-Finder while having the Heave Ho perk
    * Fix: Entering the strip after Debt Collector causes crash and autosave corruption
    * Fix: Using Mojave Express dropbox can cause DLC warnings
    * Fixed crash when buying duplicate caravan cards from a vendor in a single transaction
    * Crafting menu should filter valid (bright) recipes to the top of the list
    * Fix: Sitting down while looking down a weapon’s ironsights leaves player control locked
    * Fix: If a companion is knocked unconscious with broken limbs they stay broken on respawn
    * Fix for varmint night scope effect persisting in kill cam
    * Fix for giving companions armor that adds STR does not increase their carry weight
    * Fix NPC Repair menu displays DAM as DPS
    * Having NPC repair service rifle with forged receiver decreases CND

[MysterD]

So, I have over 9 hours into Fallout: New Vegas. So far, I'm quite liking and digging this. So, yes - it's basically MORE Fallout 3; feeling like a big-as-sin FO3 Expansion. No, that's absolutely NOT a bad thing - since there's a fair amount of improvements here since FO3.

The writing, prose, dialogue, and voice-acting in New Vegas is excellent - and for the most part is much better than Fallout 3. When it comes to storytelling and weaving a narrative, Obsidian and Bioware are top notch, if you ask me. While New Vegas might not tug at the emotions as much as Fallout 3 did (think The Quest For Dad stuff), the story here seems much colder, darker, and better-written.

A lot of the new features are most definitely worthwhile. Looking down the iron sights gives it a much better shooter-feel; weapon, item, and ammo crafting has been extremely useful, as I've often ran low on ammo and then was able to make some w/ a lot of the junk I've rummaged and found); and weapon modding; the Mojave Express as your way to share your Inventory b/t Towns - they all are much needed improvements since the last game.

Some things just didn't get improved at all since FO3. I still wish the Inventory system was revamped a bit - namely w/ more categories you can break items and weapons into. It'd just make it a lot easier to navigate. The graphics don't seem too much better in the technical department since FO3, either.

I haven't yet hit any bugs, but give me time - maybe I will, since this is an Obsidian game, after-all.  I haven't hit and performance issues or anything of that nature here, either....yet. On 1024x768, most stuff on my aging rig is running on Medium to High.

[MysterD]

After spending about 60 hours w/ this game, I'm finally done w/ it - hell of an expan-sequel (or whatever you wanna call it). I just want to say the conclusion of the main quest at Hoover Dam and the amount of layers to the ending(s) were awesome.

Some of MyD's Choices:

(click to show/hide)

I hacked the Lucky 38 PC's, got into Mr. House's area, and killed Mr. House;
When trying to Kill Pacer for NCR, after doing it w/ Energy weapons, The King and his group came after me in their place - they all died, too;
Killed Caesar and Benny;
Sided w/ The Yes Man and his robots;
Talked down Legion's Legate;
Had Yes Man throw NCR's General off the Hoover Dam.

[Xessive]

Fallout: New Vegas updated to v1.2:

Fallout: New Vegas v1.2

This update addresses issues with the following areas:

-   Pip-Boy Interface
-   Repair Menu
-   Caravan
-   Weapons and Weapon Mods
-   Hardcore Mode
-   Perks
-   Skills
-   Crafting Recipes
-   Crafting Menu
-   Mojave Express
-   Chems/Addiction
-   Doctors
-   Vendors
-   PreOrder DLC Items
-   Reputation System
-   Radio Stations
-   Companion fixes
-   Companion Quests

And fixes for the following quests:

-   Ain’t That a Kick in the Head
-   By a Campfire on The Trail
-   They Went That-a-Way
-   My Kind of Town
-   Boulder City Showdown
-   Ring a Ding Ding!
-   King’s Gambit
-   For The Republic, Part 2
-   Render Unto Caesar
-   Et Tumor, Brute?
-   The House Always Wins
-   Wild Card
-   Beyond the Beef
-   GI Blues
-   How Little We Know
-   Oh My Papa
-   Still In The Dark
-   You’ll Know It When It Happens
-   Arizona Killer
-   Eureka!
-   Veni, Vidi, Vici
-   All or Nothing
-   No Gods, No Masters
-   Birds of a Feather
-   I Put A Spell On you
-   Come Fly With Me
-   That Lucky Old Sun
-   Don’t Make a Beggar of Me
-   The White Wash
-   Ghost Town Gunfight
-   Restoring Hope
-   Bleed Me Dry
-   Aba Daba Honeymoon
-   Tend To Your Business
-   Wang Dang Atomic Tango
-   Flags of Our Foul-Ups
-   Debt Collector
-   Talent Pool
-   Left My Heart
-   Someone To Watch Over Me
-   Hard Luck Blues

[MysterD]

Yeah, I caught the update yesterday - around 260 MB.

Seriously, I'm gonna have to re-play this game, when I get in the mood for another go-around. It's seriously got so much content, it just ain't even funny.

And for many of the quests in-game - it just seems like there's so many outcomes and ways of going about finishing a lot of these quests, too. It's literally as if they merged all the good stuff from Fallout and Alpha Protocol - oh and went crazy w/ making new content and just added a few necessary features.

IGN definitely was right w/ giving FO:NV PC version "Most Bang For Your Buck."

And Obsidian - just keep patching the damn thing.

[MysterD]

FO:NV - Dead Money (DLC #1) - Trailer.