Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Patch fixes do NOT apply to already-created games

There are several bug fixes that do not apply unless you start a new game. One of the bugs is the Edge Panning in Fake Fullscreen Mode. I started several games in the past using version 1.0.47 and each time Edge Panning would not work for moving the camera down and to the left. This issue continued even with the latest 1.0.67 patch. Then today I started a brand new game and voila - Edge Panning bug is gone. Then I reloaded my old save from a game that was started with 1.0.47 patch and voila again - Edge Panning bug is present.

Could developers at least TELL US that? I mean they do know about it. People who bought this game should know which fixes would apply to their old games that were started with earlier versions and which fixes actually do work on already existing games. This would solve a ton of inaccurate reports, where people will report crashes after the latest patches even though those crashes were fixed, but only if you start a new game.

This IS troubling though since the game is obviously not ready for public release due to numerous bugs. There is no way to know how long it will take developers to really iron out all the major bugs for erm... bug-sensitive people to start a brand new game that contains all the fixes. My co-op buddy and I have already ventured too far into the game to start a new one.

Why couldn't developers come up with an engine or a system where new patches fully apply to already existing games? Other games RARELY have this issue and their engines were designed in a way that would allow patches to be applied to already-existing games rather than requiring you to start a new game after each patch!

You know, the multimillion game series The Sims from EA? Let's analyze The Sims 3, the more recent one that is EOL support wise since the fourth one is coming out.

If you ever do a look up on the technical side of things, you will find each expansion is a bug ridden mess. People have logged issues present from base game that still are not fixed today. These bugs regularly crash the game.

For all the fixes that do get applied, they implicitly say that you have to start a new game. You have a five generation legacy family? Too bad for you.

So everything you described is nothing new for the industry. Why is that?

Bugs are unintended results of your code, in short. When you program A, you expect A to happen. When you release your program, and a user says nope B happens, you have to recreate the problem to try to find out what is going wrong, Since the devs are working with lots of different hardware configurations, finding solution for X configuration may not work for Y configuration. So no, the debs may or may not have known about the issue. Did you try contacting them about your bug before making a complaint on the forum?

As for why couldn't devs come up with the perfect engine? I feel like you've never programmed anything in your life when you ask this.

So does that mean all the fixes in patches will work ONLY if you start a new game or only SOME of them? This is what I was after. If you need to start a brand new game to have ANY of the fixes apply, then there is no need to even patch the game if you don't plan on starting a new one.

And the whole "implicitly say that you need to start a new game" is not true for most games out there. Sometimes it is and developers come out and say it out loud, but Larian keep is quiet without making any statements as far which fixes will work on already existing saved games and which fixes require a brand new game. Like I said - that only makes it worse for Larian because people don't know if they should start a new game to see if the patch works and they may say "Nope, the game still crashes on such and such spot" while in reality they game doesn't crash, but you need to start a new game to test it out. Do you see my point now? We need to be told which fixes apply only to newly started games and which fixes apply to existing saved games.

So, let me repeat me myself from the previous post, did you report your findings to Larian before posting in the forum?

It does seem strange that something like that isn't applied to an existing game.
Maybe it's something in the config files, in which case you might try resetting or deleting them (make a backup copy)?

I won't say what is reported here as being true. But it was said if a feature required a restart, in the notes it would say that.

Well, they don't, but I do know for a fact that at least one fix does not apply to existing games because none of the patches have fixed broken Edge Panning in Fake Fullscreen mode in my already-existing game. However, starting a new game worked wonders. It also makes little to no sense that SUCH a bug would require a brand new game. I don't see how fixing Edge Panning could have some negative side effects for an already existing game...

Actually, this makes a lot of sense. Whenever you install a mod, you have to start a new game before the changes from the mod take effect. I'm guessing patches are like mods, in that they change certain game files that existing games won't recognize.

Bit of a bummer if that's the case though

In many games, most of mods don't force you to start new game. You can play them on your old saves, without problem. For example 99% Skyrim mods are like that. No idea why D:OS should be different?

Klixen there are ways around it. And in D:OS's case if you have one mod installed, it is very easy to add additional one's to the game mid-stream.

Not all games are the same. TES games are designed very very modular and expecting other devs to know how to do that just out of nowhere is a little unreasonable. I'm not familiar with Larian's other games but I don't think any of them were meant to be hugely moddable the way they wanted Original Sin to be.

They dropped the ball big time on how D:OS mods work in one way, but it's also extremely promising in other ways. Time will tell whether it was worth it or not.