The End of an Era -- HPS no longer supported by JTS

[Cyrano]

http://wargamingsociety.com/ancrenforum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43

As I've said many times, the support provided for games that make them precious little money has been near legendary.  I am surprised it took this long.

[mirth]

I am surprised it took this long.

+1 They did well to continue support for so long.

[panzerde]

Rich has been telegraphing this for a couple of months now. The conversion process seems pretty easy. I need to take the time and update my stuff with JTS.


Now, if we could just get another Musket & Pike series game...

[Nefaro]

Le sigh.

Does this mean we'll be forced into the JTS site's DRM for future updates?  After jumping through the hoops of proving ownership?

Think I'll just stick with the last HPS versions and leave it at that.

[Boggit]

Most of my Tiller games are HPS releases. What is needed to get updates under JTS - do we have to register them or something?

[panzerde]

Most of my Tiller games are HPS releases. What is needed to get updates under JTS - do we have to register them or something?

If you bought them from HPS, contact Rich Hamilton at JTS support with the titles and he can look them up and convert you over. If you bought them somewhere else, send copies of receipts or just take pictures of the CD jewel cases and send them to Rich. Rich will send you the serial numbers for JTS versions and you can apply JTS updates.

[Cyrano]

I bought a ton of mine from Rich directly :).

[Strela]

Most of my Tiller games are HPS releases. What is needed to get updates under JTS - do we have to register them or something?

If you bought them from HPS, contact Rich Hamilton at JTS support with the titles and he can look them up and convert you over. If you bought them somewhere else, send copies of receipts or just take pictures of the CD jewel cases and send them to Rich. Rich will send you the serial numbers for JTS versions and you can apply JTS updates.

Rich is a great guy. He will try and bend over backwards to make this as painless as possible.

This is a tiny organisation of 'enthusiasts'  and to run parallel versions of the same product is becoming too difficult. I think the solution of providing access to the JTS versions for owners of the HPS versions is the most elegant solution. To continue on as is would/will impact new titles under construction.

Please do message in this thread if you have ongoing issues and I'll work with Rich to see if we can get them resolved.

David

[Boggit]

Thanks David. Like you, I've known Rich for years, so I expect he'll be his usual helpful self. I'll email him now. O0

[rahamy]

Gents,

Some clarification...

First off, I still man the HPS Support desk & have since 2002. I also man the JTS Support desk...so it doesn't matter which account your write, I'll be answering and will reply from JTS. To simplify though, just send inquiries to Support@johntillersoftware.com

So, the same team that has been supporting the games for pushing 15 years now (Me, John Tiller & the various dedicated and resourceful scenario designers) are still the same people doing it and will be going forward.

Secondly - The only games you need to convert are those which have updates posted on this page:

http://www.johntillersoftware.com/Updates.html

Other conversions will take place as updates are released. So this means you only have to do a small download for each game rather than a full game download.

First pass of purchase verification is against the HPS sales database. Failing that an order confirmation email is the easiest. If none exists a simple image of the physical disk is enough. If you bought a digital download version then it will be in the database... so there's really no chance of us not being able to validate you. There of course is no charge for this.

Your patience is requested...keep in mind I'm only one person manning the Support system, I have an exceptionally busy life, but I will respond to you and I will get you converted. We have never intentionally left anyone hanging...whether you have bought a single title from us or every single one published - we always provide the same level of support. Honestly I don't know of another company that does support their products the way we do - in the gaming world or otherwise - so be confident we are not going to leave you hanging.

If you wish to keep an eye on patch production you can monitor this forum - https://jtsdev.vbulletin.net/ - and participate in any testing as you see fit. Also, if for some reason email communications aren't working a post in the Main Forum - https://jtsdev.vbulletin.net/forum/main-category/main-forum-general-gaming-discussions - will be seen and replied to. Direct email is my preferred method of support though, so please use that when ever possible. Support@johntillersoftware.com

And yes, we have more content coming...we've had a variety of changes impact things in the last 6 years or so, but the intent is to keep marching forward!

Regards,
Rich

[Philippe]

Really glad the only games that need converting for now are the ones on the JTS update page.

I own a lot of games from HPS, I bought most of them from NWS, and it was so long ago that I can't imagine that it's possible to come up with sales receipts at this point.

The mere thought of trying to convert that library is pretty discouraging, but I can fully understand the need to produce one as opposed to two sets of patches.

This probably means that I will be revisiting my Napoleonic mods to make sure that they work with the new versions, but that will have to wait until later in the summer. 

[Boggit]

Like you I have John Tiller's entire HPS list, built up over the years. None of the original receipts are around. I have bought a lot from Strategic Plus Software (now defunct), a few from HPS direct, and the rest from UK distributor Didier Duchet. For guys like me with a LOT of John Tiller games, this might be a painful process to have to track down all the disks, scan them and then send them to Rich.

Don't get me wrong, Rich is a fantastic guy, and totally dedicated to providing an excellent support service, which he does on limited resources. On a personal level, not only is he a very nice guy, but he is also as straight as they come. I just hope he can come up with a less painless way of resolving this for those of us with extensive John Tiller collections.

[Nefaro]

I was just lamenting having to switch to the JTS limited install system.   

I'd still prefer buying from the HPS site, to avoid the online activation DRM.  Haven't picked up anything from JTS yet.  Don't plan to for that reason.

[Boggit]

I was just lamenting having to switch to the JTS limited install system.   

I'd still prefer buying from the HPS site, to avoid the online activation DRM.  Haven't picked up anything from JTS yet.  Don't plan to for that reason.

I understand your reasoning, as it was one reason I didn't want to go down that route for a long time. That said, it is a one off thing, and I've never had any problems with JTS. They also have self published some pretty nice games too. Just saying...

[Philippe]

I have a few games from JTS and have had no complaints with the activation side of things.

My traditional quibble has always been with pricing.  My hazy recollection is that HPS versions of the games from NWS usually cost half as much.

Apart from that, over the years I've come to prefer digital to hard copies, provided that there's someplace I can turn when I change computers and lose my serial numbers.