Suggestion about the Obligatory "Stuck at 33%" bug.

Genreninja·11/7/2014, 6:36:18 PM·1 votes·803 views

I've noticed over the last several patches that there are roughly 3 moments during a patch instalation that the patcher will appear to stall out. I don't think it's actually stuck, I think some process is happening in the background and the patcher just isn't communicating that clearly.

Suggestion:

  • Add better animations to the loading bar. This will help put the impatient at ease. When the bar stalls out, that it isn't "stuck" it's just working hard on something else. Like pulsing light effects, or a small swirling circle on one end.
  • Add text. Maybe just add flavor text. Several other games do this during loading screens where whitty banter can be seen. Again it's a small way to show that the program is still running, and it isn't stuck.

As professional QA I know some companies have standards for how long the screen can appear static (you probably do too), even if nothings happening, the screen should never appear frozen. I think that's some of what's happening here when loading into game (black screen) and while patching (stuck at 33%) where it's just a matter of impatience during an extended period of non-interactive pausing.

5 Comments

disregardable11/7/2014, 6:47:22 PM1 votes

There's an easy way to check that. Open the task manager. While you're at it, close any CPU intensive processes to speed up the client writing its files.

ValyrianBlade11/7/2014, 6:52:18 PM1 votes

At 33% it says scanning files and the number keeps counting up. It's just that when it gets to an absurd number of files, more than you think are on your computer in total, that players think something is wrong.

I've gotten to over 7000 before giving up and restarting, only for it to find it around 2000. I'm not sure if it is possible that it misses it in the first pass and starts over or something.