Update: Maybe, just maybe, GameCyte might have found a fix for The Jackal's Curse.
Original Story: In the field of QA testing, they call it a showstopper -- a bug so bad that it makes the entire game unplayable.
But on the official Far Cry 2 forums, a group of eighty users -- some of whom have never even played one minute of the full game -- are calling their bug by a different name. In honor of the third loading screen in the game's intro at which they are stuck, they're calling it the "Jackal's Curse."
I too have the Jackal's Curse. And like so many others on the Ubisoft forums, it's not the Curse itself that irks me. It's the fact that nearly two months after the game's release, there is no fix in sight. There are no official plans to fix it. There has been no attempt to otherwise assist users that have it. Ubisoft refuses to acknowledge that it even exists.
My Experience
I've had a very brief stint in QA, but I'm not a software engineer. I don't know what's wrong with the game. But as a dedicated PC gamer, I can tell you that my personal rig is completely up to spec -- I built it myself -- and exceeds all the minimum and most of the recommended system requirements by a considerable margin. It's got all the latest drivers, is fully defragmented, and has no programs installed that are known to interfere with SecuROM DRM schemes. Before I run games for GameCyte, I typically turn off my firewall, and disable or kill all background processes that might interfere with performance.
But no matter how many times I tried, Far Cry 2 would not run on my PC. Every time I got to the third loading screen, I would be confronted by three things: 1.) the endless beat of African drums, 2.) the endlessly flashing blue light of my hard drive LED indicator, and 3.) an slowly, endlessly spinning circle indicating disk access above the following text:
When The Jackal showed up here with containers full of AKs and RPGs - That set off some alarm bells somewhere. This guy really puts the fear in the black-bag crowd. There must be some history there they can't afford to have walking around...
What's more, when Far Cry 2 went unresponsive -- which it did every single time I tried to start a new game -- the malfunctioning program was impossible to quit out of. Alt-F4, Alt-Esc, Ctrl-Alt-Del, Alt-Tab, Start and my automated shut down button all failed to respond as well, leaving me, each time, with a hard drive undergoing constant access and no choice but to cut power to that drive.
Techies in the audience are already cringing, but for the rest of you, know that every time a drive is shut off abruptly it can wipe, or even physically destroy your files.
Now, to be fair, it had been months since my last reformat, so after a half-dozen nail-biting tries and careful archival of important files, I formatted my entire computer for the express purposes of making the game work, and after reinstalling all the latest drivers, Service Packs and the latest version of DirectX -- but before installing anything else that might interfere with the game -- I tried again. The result was the same.
At this point, I sent a detailed letter to Ubisoft Tech Support with my issues documented and a copy of my DxDiag attached. The result? A form letter beginning:
Sean,
The type of problem you are having is usually resolved by updating your video card driver, and updating your Directx files. I've written details for doing this below, as well as other ideas to try if updating these files still doesn't solve your problem.
The Forums
The "Jackal's Curse" is far from the only fatal issue with Far Cry 2 reported on the official Ubisoft forums. There's one bug documented by users there that causes crashes approximately every 45 minutes, and another that causes the game to crash every time it tries to load the splash screen. There's the infamous "88% bug" where a mission-critical door randomly fails to open -- lord help you if 88% is your only recent save game. (Though other percentages have such bugs as well.)
But what I noticed when scouring the forums was that by their own admission, there are over 80 unique users, many of them in this thread, reporting the exact same issue as myself -- and that most of them happen to be using slightly older Creative X-Fi and Audigy 2-based sound cards. I have an Audigy 2 myself...
And it was then, about two weeks ago, that I finally found one solution to my problem: I could simply disable the sound card. With the Audigy 2 detached, the game ran like a charm -- save the fact that I would then have to traverse Africa with no audio. This was, of course, unacceptable, but considering that "Jason" at customer support was most likely a robot and the community managers and mods at the forums would not so much as acknowledge the issue, I was running out of options.
The Silence
Compared to the 1 million copies Far Cry 2 is reported to have sold, the eighty-something users actively reporting the Jackal's Curse is by no means a large number... but taking into account all the other reported issues with the game, not limited to PC but including a host of problems on Xbox 360 as well, and knowing full well that only a small number of people saddled with an issue will bother to complain -- and far fewer than that on an official tech forum, rather than the robotic customer support -- I figured that if there was an off-chance that these eighty were the tip of the iceberg, I would be doing GameCyte readers a disservice by not calling up Ubisoft public relations and asking for an explanation.
But despite repeated attempts and normally cordial relations with Ubisoft, I have yet to receive a response.
Creative Labs, makers of the X-Fi and Audigy sound cards, were slightly more forthcoming, but also did not have an official response.
And though a representative at the German Ubisoft Forums revealed that a new PC patch would hit by the 11th of this month, it has since been delayed indefinitely; and without any word as to what technical issues it will attempt to address, there are few who have any faith that it will fix our problems.
To some of these forumites, it is a slap in the face that Ubisoft chose to push out the Fortune's Pack DLC before addressing issues that have kept some from playing the game altogether; but to me, it was telling that after Ubisoft asked the community to submit questions for Far Cry 2's producer, the resulting post-launch video Q&A didn't so much as mention a single technical issue.
By comparison, when Grand Theft Auto IV PC was revealed to have tremendous bugs, Rockstar responded nigh-immediately.
For over a month, the Far Cry 2 Technical Support page has been the most viewed on Ubisoft's Online Solution Center -- but to this day, it has no entries for any of the major problems reported in the forums.
You know what I think?
There must be some history there they can't afford to have walking around...
December 15th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
As you know, Sean, I've had pretty similar experiences with Fallout 3. And, much like Ubi, there just hasn't been a lot of successful talk between those of us with issues and the developers.
While PC gaming is usually superior to console (in my mind), it's things like this that make me glad some of these games also have console releases.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:15 am
80 is not really that many, is it? For a PC game? It just tends to feel more significant when one is affected himself, heh. But I think any game's forums, assuming it has a decent online presence, are full of people having severe problems. With the range of different hardware and installed software and potential for conflicts between and within either side, every time you buy a PC game it's a bit like gambling, you just hope that your configuration has high stakes of actually running the stuff thanks to being of a commonly met type and popular for developers to work with, hopefully. This usually pays off. Sometimes it doesn't.
I'm sure the numbers of people having problems with any given game are much more severe than any forum presence would show. Of course, I'm not saying developers shouldn't make an effort to resolve issues, just that Far Cry 2 is probably no worse off than any other PC game.
Brendon reinforces that. He had Fallout 3 problems, yet you didn't hear any buzz about Fallout 3's issues, even though its forum also has users who rightfully complain about such, even if not to the numbers the Far Cry 2 forum does, perhaps because most people would sooner return a game than try and discuss with its developers.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:46 am
I am so sure that the game wasn't tested in Pune, India. How do you think i know? Well, there is a small thing called credits where all the QC names are given and none are indian.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:01 am
@Valkin Grimr:
You make a very good point -- I've yet to see the credits. For obvious reasons, mind you. I also mean no disrespect to Pune -- if you click on that link, you'll see I note that Pune is a very reputable center of education in India.
@Alexander:
80 is not a lot. 80 with the exact same issue is slightly more compelling. 80 with the exact same issue amidst a greater body of major bugs, no meaningful communication between devs and community, robotic tech support and not so much as a "we're working on it" is grounds for a GameCyte story.
@Brendon:
I am astounded by how little press the tech support issues of recent major releases have gotten. It does not excuse Ubisoft that one of their competitors is doing no better, and I will not take it for granted that "this is how PC games are." Developers have done better in the past, and if they want my money, they'll do better in the future.
If this story gains any traction or solicits any response whatsoever, I'll look into Fallout 3 next.
December 16th, 2008 at 3:14 am
I don't really know what it is about the PC game industry anymore. It may be folly to look back and say older games never had these kinds of issues, but I honestly can't remember games years ago containing so many showstopper bugs at launch. What's absolutely appalling is the fact that so many high-profile developers and publishers seem to be taking the console route for tech support. That is, "We can't fix your problem because we can't patch it. Instead, we'll give you a laundry list of things to try until you become frustrated and go away."
Oh, but wait, yes they can patch it. It's on the PC, after all. Unfortunately, they seem happier to churn out DLC and other games to increase their profit instead of actually maintaining their games. I can recall an issue I was having with Homeworld 2 when it was new and shiny, where I reported the matter to the Relic forums where others had similar issues. One month later, the 1.1 patch came out and fixed both my issue and nearly everyone else's. Relic was very open about the patch process and it did a lot to quell the forumites.
By comparison, I looked at the Fallout 3 1.0.0.15 patch notes, and it's really disgusting. All of their three fixes are for nearly insignificant issues that probably took less than an hour to fix. (A crash when I quit the game? Really? I don't care! Fix the intermittent crashes to desktop, or barring that, at least SAY you're going to fix them!) I haven't had many issues with Fallout 3, but the ones that I do have are still annoying, and the Iron Curtain between the developers and the players is atrocious.
Perhaps it simply annoys me because I've been involved in software development; I know how difficult it is to patch bugs. Yet, you still must try to make an effort and keep your customers informed of what you're doing to fix their problems. Keeping them in the dark only serves to aggravate them. Ignoring them outright will hurt you in the long run. Ugh. </end rant>
December 16th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
@Valkin Grimr: After some thought, I removed the reference to Pune from the article. It didn't add anything, and it did seem like I was accusing Ubisoft's Indian QA team. I apologize.
December 18th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Hi Sean, it was very pleasing to see you writing about the lack of response by Ubisoft's tech support team. Personally, I can only run the game using the Alt+Tab trick thus fully enjoying my X-Fi's capabilities.
Keep up the good work and thank you very much for all that you have done for us (gamers) by stating this issue in a very crystal clear way.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Sean,
First time here, nice post as to the problems - and much more civil than I get with "tech support". As to the 80 or so people, remember that is just a sample of users that are having the issues. I tend to look for a solution before creating a ticket, or posting a thread - but FC2 has so many repetative ones, it just becomes ad nauseum attmpting to get an answer.
The patch for PC has been released, (12/17/08 1.02) I downloaded it (auto dl worked fine) and quite frankly - have not had any major issues in SP (solved the game twice now). What really ticks me off is the difference between Ubi responding to bugs and Ubi releasing map packs etc for $$$ when basic bugs aren't fixed. It may seem petty, but there isn't the ability to toggle iron sights, making MP almost unbearable. Prone - no go, for "now", really bad key mapping, etc.
These are issues that would appear to be by default in today's market. Many kids go on to "recommend and suggest" outlandish and time consuming "builds", not "fixes" - yet the patch in itself has basically taken 8 weeks for... widescreen mode. No iron sight toggle, prone, etc. And according to today's forum postings (12/18/08) the community is not happy.
All you need to do is go to the FC2 main forum page and see what threads are getting 99% of active comments - namely the Bugs, Patch 1.02 Issues and MP issues.
Servers are no where near populated as 4 weeks ago, though some basic dashboard improvements have been made, which tells me people are looking to Santa for the next thing. Good luck with that $10 map pack Ubi...
I have been PC gaming for at least 12 years and can honestly say - I play most of the FPS PC titles - with little or no tech issues ever. I understand the progression of patch creation, developer feedback, etc - but for the life of me cannot understand how a game can be released that for many - is unplayable or CTD often and just slips by as they milk any $$ from inane map packs, "add-on's" etc. and do not fix basic problems. I believe once a revenue threshold is achieved for a game, developers move on to the latest and greatest next title, while abandoning the learning curve to enhance said titles. The D.I.C.E. - Desert Combat - Battle Field Series comes to mind; but as I load up Counter Strike 10 years later, and see it is still one of the most popular FPS MP games - why not continue to enhance a great game for longevity, $$ and support.
I even was a Steam beta guy who dealt with the initial fiasco - but stood by them, being they seemed to get it right, namely with Source.
December 25th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I've just been struggling to install Far Cry 2.
First machine, ~3Gh Athlon/ATI1650pro... the install process didn't validate the hardware/software requirements. That's basic stuff; if you have an essential prerequisite you ensure that the installation process tests for it. How difficult is it to report 'this system does not support SSE' for example, or 'you need to upgrade DirectX'?
So after firing Far Cry 2 up and facing crashes due to a required but untested CPU capability, I switch to a second more recent Intel dual core/ATI machine.
After problems installing, then upgrading DirectX to see if that made a difference, currently I can't get past the splash screen... no warning no errors.
So it just looks like no one bothered to put the requirements checks into the install process, and no one bothered to test the intallation on a range of machine configurations.
Refunds?
Its probably a great game if you can get it to start, but the installation process is obviously poorly designed untested cack... and I'd guess lots of the problems reported result from failing to get that crucial critical element right before releasing it.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 am
I’ve just been struggling to LOAD Far Cry 2:
I have the exact same problems as this article explains...I was wondering if UBISOFT is ever going to release a patch to fix this,
I run Crysis,Crysis Warhead,COD4-5 and Gears Of War just fine. Im so tired of trying to find an answer to my problems on Ubisofts supports site that im posting here. It seems like you guys know wtf is going on.
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:35 am
For me, the bug has finally been squashed:
http://www.gamecyte.com/far-cry-2-pc-bug-fix-how-i-rid-myself-of-the-jackals-curse
No promises, but if it works for you too, I'll be ecstatic.