Combat Mission status

[Queeg]

Some guy posted on their forum that the new site doesn't scale properly to 2550x1440.  Works fine for me at 3440x1440.  Tried to post saying so.  New site doesn't recognize me when I try to log in but does when I ask to change my password, but won't save the new password, and now has locked me out.  Oh well....

[Sir Slash]

Not good.  :o

[RyanE]

From Steve this morning...

"Hiya!

Do you know what the difference is between weeks of private testing and minutes of public viewing?  Everything :D

We discovered that products from orders placed a while back (1-2 years, or there abouts) aren't showing up in your My Orders view in your account.  The reason for this is the data we imported from the old site has nothing current to retrieve things like product name, price, URL, etc.  Product license keys are a slightly different case, but related.  And that is because I didn't think I needed to recreate the 457 old products (including options) in the new system.  Silly me.

More recent orders probably have issues as well, but fortunately those are easier to fix.

What I have to do now is cobble together the old products so you guys can retrieve the info you need.  That plus a bit of work from our eCommerce guys will get things put right.  I expect it will take me at least another 24 hours to get this done. Until then, please adopt a holding pattern.  I'll make an announcement once everything is fixed.

Thanks for your patience.  I think we can all agree the new site is worth a few teething pains!

Steve"

Testing stuff is a crap job and I typically don't comment on it.  But this is one of those things where I have to ask about how stuff was tested.  Based on the type of DRM they have, I would have thought this would receive the most exacting testing before turning the whole thing on.  I don't understand how they couldn't have known this wouldn't work.  Just one of those things about BFC I scratch my head over.

[Michael Dorosh]

Testing stuff is a crap job and I typically don't comment on it.  But this is one of those things where I have to ask about how stuff was tested.  Based on the type of DRM they have, I would have thought this would receive the most exacting testing before turning the whole thing on.  I don't understand how they couldn't have known this wouldn't work.  Just one of those things about BFC I scratch my head over.

I was on the scenario design and beta test team for CM:SF and the biggest thing I learned was just how little rigor went into testing stuff. They tended to focus on one or two issues at a time, usually coding issues that were largely invisible to the testers (stuff happening in the background) and a lot of things that were more cosmetic in nature didn't even get an official comment. I don't think that is unusual based on my other beta-test experiences with other companies, but my biggest disappointment with the experience was the difficulties in communicating among members of the team - despite having a dedicated forum. In other words, this seems like nothing new for BFC. I expect the most charitable explanation is that they have so many projects ongoing that their attention is constantly divided.

[HoodedHorseJoe]

In all fairness to them, no product survives contact with the public, no matter how much testing is involved.

I can't really comment on whether this specific issue with the orders should have come up in testing, but you'd be surprised how much you don't think of when trying to test things. Even then, your testing environment could throw up 0 issues, where-as people on the other end will find every issue under the sun.

But if they're not in a good habit for QA, then they're unlikely to randomly "git gud" at it just for something like a new website. The reason behind this order bug gives some insight as to what their priorities could have been.

[Michael Dorosh]

Well, good news is my account is still active there, and the list of orders seems complete. Hopefully they get the data and license keys up and running. It was very convenient to have them accessible on the site.

[IICptMillerII]

I'd like to mention that a lot of the issues they have had over moving to a new website is due to the fact that the previous websites architecture was from 1998. Many of the structural parts of the webpage no longer exist with more modern web designs. A large part of the issues caused was transitioning the old data on outdated infrastructure to the new infrastructure. Honestly sounds like one hell of a headache to me. It likely would have been much easier if this whole website transition had taken place 10 or so years ago, but you know what they say about hindsight.

I was able to reactivate my account and log in on the new website without any issues by following the instructions listed on the homepage. Personally, I didn't hate the old website, and I don't find the new one to be a massive improvement (cosmetically) over the old one. However I understand that most of the real upgrades are "behind the scenes."

Hopefully the rest of these wrinkles are ironed out soon so that the website can be used for its most anticipated feature, selling us Shock Force 2.

[Zulu1966]

I'd like to mention that a lot of the issues they have had over moving to a new website is due to the fact that the previous websites architecture was from 1998. Many of the structural parts of the webpage no longer exist with more modern web designs. A large part of the issues caused was transitioning the old data on outdated infrastructure to the new infrastructure. Honestly sounds like one hell of a headache to me. It likely would have been much easier if this whole website transition had taken place 10 or so years ago, but you know what they say about hindsight.

I was able to reactivate my account and log in on the new website without any issues by following the instructions listed on the homepage. Personally, I didn't hate the old website, and I don't find the new one to be a massive improvement (cosmetically) over the old one. However I understand that most of the real upgrades are "behind the scenes."

Hopefully the rest of these wrinkles are ironed out soon so that the website can be used for its most anticipated feature, selling us Shock Force 2.

Amen to the last sentence though they are still talking pre orders - which means it is at least a month away from me getting my hands on this...

[WYBaugh]

Question, when I go to their site, I see the old site.  On their forum the guy posting about the resolution issue is on the same url....am I missing something?

EDIT:  Nevermind...still rolling out the DNS.

[Grim.Reaper]

As of this morning, my account was fully restored and available with my keys and downloads.....

With that said, not that I care much, no idea why they think this web site is much better than the old one...feels very similar to me.......

[Elvis]

As of this morning, my account was fully restored and available with my keys and downloads.....

With that said, not that I care much, no idea why they think this web site is much better than the old one...feels very similar to me.......

I realized the other day that I hadn't checked into this forum in a while. It's taken me a few days to read through the entire thread and didn't want to post before catching up.

I'm glad to hear that all of your order information has populated your account.  Hopefully everyone's will be very shortly. For anyone who doesn't have access yet open a Help Desk ticket and I'll get you what you need. The more specific you can be the easier it will be to quickly get you the information.  Unfortunately,  my day job computer blocks the site that allows me to retrieve license keys (it also blocks porn and gaming websites...bastards don't want me to have any fun) so I won't have access to them until  later today and all day tomorrow.  If you need a download link I have those handy. Heck, I can send them if you just PM me here.

[Grim.Reaper]

As of this morning, my account was fully restored and available with my keys and downloads.....

With that said, not that I care much, no idea why they think this web site is much better than the old one...feels very similar to me.......

I realized the other day that I hadn't checked into this forum in a while. It's taken me a few days to read through the entire thread and didn't want to post before catching up.

I'm glad to hear that all of your order information has populated your account.  Hopefully everyone's will be very shortly. For anyone who doesn't have access yet open a Help Desk ticket and I'll get you what you need. The more specific you can be the easier it will be to quickly get you the information.  Unfortunately,  my day job computer blocks the site that allows me to retrieve license keys (it also blocks porn and gaming websites...bastards don't want me to have any fun) so I won't have access to them until  later today and all day tomorrow.  If you need a download link I have those handy. Heck, I can send them if you just PM me here.

I spoke too soon.....although a number of mine is available, a handful are not...hopefully will straighten out at some point.

[Destraex]

Just re-installed shock force and all the modules I own (all of them I think). What a painful process.
I had to fight re-licnesing, anti-virus and now will have to fight texture issues. To be fair. It's a very old game now.
Perhaps I am missing some more files that the AV blocked OR perhaps the graphics drivers I have just don't like it.

[Cyrano]

I had that, or something very like it.

I recall it being an ATI driver issue.  I had to roll back which was no fun, but one must CM:SF.

[Sir Slash]

I agree. The whole process is akin to a visit to your Dentist and Proctologist at the same time.