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The Issue with EU and the AMD FX Series chipsets..(What is being done about it?)

Discussion in 'Technical' started by Ben Coyote, Nov 20, 2012.

  1. Ben Coyote

    Ben Coyote Member

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    Now I've been reading all of the forums on all the planets and the main thing I have seen is that there is one issue that MA has not figured out nor has really tried to fix, and that is of course the issue with AMD's FX Series (Bulldozer) Chipset.

    The first initial issue that was posted was on 1 February 2012, and was posted in this thread on Planet Calypso Forums..

    Now this was thought to be an issue with the FX Chipset and instead it turns out that it is really the coding issue between the game itself and the computer.. (IN short the client side or the game itself is so badly coded that now anyone who has an FX Chipset can not or hasn't been able to play this game since February 2012...

    It is now November 2012, and 9 full months have elapsed.. MA stated in a customer support case that they were actually looking into the issue and would fix it so that the game could run this particualr chipset..

    Some people even offered a solution in this article on Entropia Forums, but I have heard that a lot of players are finding the game runs poorly with this solution...

    Now I'm starting to wonder over these last 9 months since this issue was discovered if EU has done anything. Anything at all to fix this issue.. Some of the players who are having outdated computers (Including my girlfriend) want to upgrade but because the vast Majority of comptuers now use this particular chipset, they're now wondering if they are wanting to play this game.

    I mean stop and look at the Bottom dollar here. People want to play EU (though some snide trolls say otherwise) they want to get the most out of their computer power and have the ability to plunk down some money and be able to play this game..

    Stop and think about the potential lost playerbase because of this issue..

    Just recently MA stated that they wanted to be the next World of Warcraft they even wanted us to say we're better than World of Warcraft.. But with such lousy support and inconsistencies, I feel that MA really needs to step up and answer the players questions.. Not just skirt the issues.. I mean the last snafu made some of us lose 12 days of game time.. that's countless peds back into not only MA's pocket but that of the Planet Parters... and this includes Arkadia..

    So then, what shall we do about this? Do nothing and lose potential playerbase? Or do something and take a stand and make it such that the coding needs to be fixed so that people who have these newer machines be allowed to play..

    I ask this not only of hte Planet Partner but also of MA itself. Do they really want us to have an enjoyable time? They do, but when we have all this frustration and not being allowed to play, then it mkaes me wonder if I or my girlfriend for ath matter should spend our deposits on a game that gives false promises..

    So in closing I say this. I'm not against the game. Neither is my GF, she's had a great enjoyable time, but now that AMD has these chipsets and that MA hasn't fixed the issues in 9 months, it makes you wonder if MA wants players at all.

    Your thoughts?

    Benjamin Ben Coyote
    A.k.a "The Blind Sniper"
     
  2. Chris | Arkadia

    Chris | Arkadia Arkadia Tech PAF Administrator Planet Arkadia Official

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    Blaming it on the game is not quite fair as AMD is the ones that changed their architecture of the new FX series chips causing this problem. Its not just EU there is other games such as CS:GO (seams in general a problem with new Steam games). Total War & Borderlands2 also crashes on the FX chips just to name a few.

    There is also reports of bios updates solving the problem on some motherboards for some off the affected games so its clearly mostly the fault of the new architecture and not the game coding.

    As for recoding the game its not going to be something simple as this game is way more intricate then other normal and even MMORPG games due to the high security requirements for the RCE and recoding the system takes up dev time.

    The solution mentioned on the planet calypso form does work and from testing I have found no problems with that solution, also the game runs perfectly fine for me at least. Instead of checking just 2 of the 8 cores on the FX chip I checked core 3 - 7 (5 in total) and have no issues with it.
     
  3. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Active Member

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    Yep and this shouldn't have happened in the first place as this is the same thing intel tried a few years ago with their Pentium 4 chip.. Failed then, and failed now..
     
  4. Ben Coyote

    Ben Coyote Member

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    Alright Noted there and Kudos for a timely answer..

    So really this was a case of more of the CPU Manufacturer not taking into account the fact that there are a lot of games that have issue with their CPU chip sets, and that the Game Developers' coding (Some 9 months of it) did pay off, That's not an argument, and I'm not trying to start a war as to who to blame.

    The real issue is that I have a girlfriend who wants to really play this game and I mean really play it in the best way possible. After all this is about Consumerism and having long night debates deciding on wht would be good for her enjoyment of not only games she likes to play but with Entropia Universe as wel., She enjoys Entropia Univers, an for the last 2 weeks, she and I have spent a number of late night hours talking about the AMD FX (Bulldozer) Series issues with it and Windows 7...

    We've been looking at and pricing computers and debating this whole issue for 2 whole weeks, and it seems like in one and just one update, the Devs came up with a solution that works and uses all 8 cores (or 6 depending on which model you use..

    I mean this is going to be a good thing for Players who have this chipset to be able to play the game, And again this is an issue where it boils down to players being able to play versus the issue of why a simple CPU can cause so much heartache and 9 months of hard devloper work which is time and money for Mindark to figure this issue out, and to make the game run without issues.

    So if this fix holds (and I'm hoping it does and we're able to this this working, I think my girlfriend will be able to enjoy the game to the fullest with whatever graphics card she chooses... Afgter all she says as that her old computer couldnot play the game cause it was too old, and she had been saving up for this all the last year or so.. So now, I think I and her will be enjoying this game a lot more.. Believe me, if the devs did this and took that 9 months of careful coding to get it working, then it'll be worth every bit of game play my girlfriend can get..

    Also on a side note, I had a disciple who had a similar issue. He had upgraded his Machine 11 months ago with the Bulldozer series and he had major issues..
    and this was (like you pointed out), not just on EU but all the games. But since this is a viable work around and now all 8 cores can be used in Windows 7, then he'll enjoy the game too.

    2 happier customes, thanks to the Developers hard and dilligent work.

    So i a way the final verdict on this was the AMD chip set was flawed and hopefully the Next Generation of chips from AMD (Code Name Piledriver) will allow both my disciple and my girlfriend to keep enjoying this game for the forseeable future.

    That is until the next snafu by either Intel or AMD chipsets occur, and then wait till th real backlash hits home.. PUnish the CPU maker, and leave everyone out in the cold.. Not a good option for the player right?

    After all Technology should not fail us gamers.. cause when it does, it costs the gaming companies (Including MA and the PP's ) a lot of time and montey to fix it..

    Just because a simple CPU can't decipher a simple line of code and decide which core to use..

    At least if the Affinity correction does work (and I'l be getting with one of my tech savvy friends) then we'll be able to give these two people a lot of joy.. Just in time for Christmas.

    As for Intel and AMD:

    And this is what is concerning me, So many failures and not enough Successes.. Intel did indeed do it first with the Pentium 4.. and now AMD did it with Bulldozer.. and this is what concerns me the most..

    What'll happen when one day, a chip set and the games that are designed for that said chip set will totally fail because of some major compatibility issue that neither side can fix. Not just on one game but rather on all of them..
    This brings up a totally new question for us to ask:

    Will it be the responsibility of the CPU maker to correct the issue by telling the Game developers what works or how to fix the issue? Or will it be the Game developer who will need to address the issue..

    I think this is something both parties need to address.. and it's not only MA but all gaming companies.. who have a stack in our entertainment dollar.

    That's really the bottom line here.. the ability to let us play..

    (Hopefully if AMD and Intel are both reading this thread, maybe they'll learn that they are fallible and you can't point the blame on a game, but rather the lack of communication between game companies and the way a simple CPU can affect such games. After all Game coders have zero idea on what is going on, and as Chris pointed out, the entire things boils down to them (The CPU manufacturers) to solve these issues, and not let deelopers wast so much time (9 months) and money for such a solution.

    Hopefully in the future they'll (Both the CPU makers and the game developers) will learn how to effectively communicate with one another, and I guess this is the model that the B2B system is supposed to use to make both parties succeed.

    If it doesn't.. they both will have at stake is a lot of loss revenues and time for both parties.. Nuff said.

    Benjamin Ben Coyote
    A.k.a "The Blind Sniper"
     
  5. Chris | Arkadia

    Chris | Arkadia Arkadia Tech PAF Administrator Planet Arkadia Official

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    Well I am glad to see that MA have managed to create a work around on their side to this problem without requiring that the player do A bios update or use the manual workaround with limiting the CPU. Then again if the player wants to play some of the new games they might need to update their bios anyways.

    After I saw the update notes from MA I could not wait to test it out and it works perfectly. I have the Asus Sabertooth 990FX rev2 motherboard just in case it does not work for someone. After all this it is still a awesome CPU and a bios update is a small price to pay to get it to function correctly for some games. On the part of the motherboard that have bios fixes for this check the link before you buy a motherboard for this CPU http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/STEAMGamesonAMDFXplatforms.aspx