Aliens: Colonial Marines AI was dumb because of a typo

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Widely slated Aliens action game from Gearbox fixed with a single char .ini edit.

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Read more.

I'll have to check this out when I get home.

Why would they even make that relationship value a userspace .ini configurable in the first place? That's crazy.

This should forever be documented in college and university courses to show how powerful something as simple as a typo within code can be.

One extra letter in the wrong place has literally tarnished this game forever. I feel really bad for them now actually.

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Originally Posted by EvilCycle

I feel really bad for them now actually.

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I don't.

1. They released it like that, clearly no concern for QA
2. How long has it taken to identify and fix? 4 Years and it was fixed by a member of the community, not the developer


This is a shining example of whats wrong with the industry currently.

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Originally Posted by shaithis

I don't.

1. They released it like that, clearly no concern for QA
2. How long has it taken to identify and fix? 4 Years and it was fixed by a member of the community, not the developer


This is a shining example of whats wrong with the industry currently.

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Point one I do agree with, it shouldn't have passed release, but the issue was obviously unseen and considered to be non-existent before it appeared on shelves.

The second point depends, sometimes when you run across an issue like this you will be diving deep into all kinds of reasons why the AI isn't functioning correctly on a technical level, not thinking it would be a simple typo in an .ini file, especially if the AI was working fine in-house before release.

You are completely right, but I can have empathy towards how this would have happened, and the reality is, it is one single person making one simple typing mistake that has ruined the reputation of many good intentioned workers, and that is why I feel bad for them.

I am not excusing them, just explaining why I feel this way whether right or wrong.

Good job it wasn't in a serious application! :)

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Originally Posted by EvilCycle

This should forever be documented in college and university courses to show how powerful something as simple as a typo within code can be.

One extra letter in the wrong place has literally tarnished this game forever. I feel really bad for them now actually.

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Don't feel bad for them. The game is still awful. The AI added to that but it wasn't all that made it a terrible game.

I still liked the game

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Originally Posted by shaithis

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Originally Posted by EvilCycle

I feel really bad for them now actually.

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I don't.

1. They released it like that, clearly no concern for QA
2. How long has it taken to identify and fix? 4 Years and it was fixed by a member of the community, not the developer


This is a shining example of whats wrong with the industry currently.

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Wasn't the game made by gearbox? I remember hearing at the time, that gearbox used money sega gave them on borderlands 2 development instead.

well, i thought i`d give it a punt for two-pound-fifty but the price on fanatical is £24.95- maybe the price hexus quotes here was also the product of a typo?

if anybody does find it for a really cheap price i would greatly appreciate a nudge in the right direction.
cheers.

As a professional programmer I have no sympathy at all. Rule 1 you always go back to the code.

If you can't find the cause to something effecting gameplay to such an extent in a crucial area like this then you either 1) don't release it 2) didn't notice it, in which case WTF model were they working with?! or 3) cashing in with the hope it can be patched on/after release.

As for a typo on something like a variable or class, well, if you can't run the equivalent of option explicit, or have the worlds only compiler not to find something as such, then you shouldn't be allowed near a feckin keyboard. This is not one persons mistake, and as alluded to was only one of many flawed areas of what should've been a top seller.

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Originally Posted by blokeinkent

As a professional programmer I have no sympathy at all. Rule 1 you always go back to the code.

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Unless blocked by management. I have been at companies where the only thing you can do as a competent and professional programmer is leave, but I feel sorry for customers as I head out the door.

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Originally Posted by blokeinkent

Rule 1 you always go back to the code.

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It sounds like the code was probably working fine, it'll pass it's unit tests. The issue seemed to have been a bad (but not broken) configuration file.

I've seen the whole software testing 'industry' go down the pan in the last 10-20 years. Nobody cares any more, or they aren't given the time or reward to care.

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Originally Posted by EvilCycle

This should forever be documented in college and university courses to show how powerful something as simple as a typo within code can be.

One extra letter in the wrong place has literally tarnished this game forever. I feel really bad for them now actually.

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I still think the Eve Online BOOT.INI incident was a lot worse than this.

Could all be a simple case of the AI guy leaving before the game was released so no knew about it come release. Just hope he wasn't unfairly tarred by games poor rep.