A save option REALLY needs to be added in private matches

[sumptuousmale]

I don't understand why the option to save isn't there on Multiplayer. I'm not really a fan of playing against random people for different reasons, so I prefer to just play with my friends. The only problem is, we can't save. I've now had two nights in a row when I've played with a buddy of mine and he has to go after about three hours right when things are starting to get really good. I understand that Sid says he doesn't think people will continue multiplayer games, but why not at least give us the option? Not everybody can spare five hours for one sitting, it's a little bothersome to have to set that amount of time so you can finish a game. Not to mention a bunch of other things could happen. your power could flicker, a storm could come, or somtehing might just come up and it's not fair to have to abandon your game simply because there's not an option to save. I'm not saying to add it to all game modes, just the private ones. PLEASE, consider this and an answer would be appreciated.

[ShadowXOR]

I think it has to do with not everyone having an HDD and it probably takes up a lot of room and I don't think anything like that has been done on the 360 or XBL so it may not even be possible. You have to remember a PC is an open format. On the 360 they can only do what MS lets them (and the same goes for the PS3 with Sony).

[KrashKrunal]

With the PS3 Sony give the developers pretty much free reign, unlike with the X360 where developers are foced to comply with the rules... whilst that may seem worse for Microsoft, their method is better because their connections are far more stable. But at the end of the day, they don't allow things like this or downloadable maps for UT3, when the PS3 allowed you to make maps on the PC and put it on your PS3.

[Django]

I second adding this. Multiplayer is fun, but it's much more slower to play one than a single player game.

An option to save a multiplayer game is imperative to keep the online community alive.

[Patter147]

I've now had two nights in a row when I've played with a buddy of mine and he has to go after about three hours right when things are starting to get really good.

It seems like even if your friend leaves, you can leave your Xbox on with the game in the paused state and he should be able to join again the next night. Unfortunately this is not as nice as having a save option since you have to leave your Xbox on until you play next and you can't do anything else on it (i.e play other games) without loosing your Civ game. Also, I'm not sure what would happen in this situation if the person who was "saving" the game happened to lose their Live connection.

Not everybody can spare five hours for one sitting, it's a little bothersome to have to set that amount of time so you can finish a game.

I'm not saying to add it to all game modes, just the private ones. PLEASE, consider this and an answer would be appreciated.

I completely agree

[Andrew da Pyro]

Ya, I agree for private matches with friends.

For the ranked games however, I believe they should be played in one sitting.

[LiquidJ]

I don't understand why the option to save isn't there on Multiplayer. I'm not really a fan of playing against random people for different reasons, so I prefer to just play with my friends. The only problem is, we can't save. I've now had two nights in a row when I've played with a buddy of mine and he has to go after about three hours right when things are starting to get really good. I understand that Sid says he doesn't think people will continue multiplayer games, but why not at least give us the option? Not everybody can spare five hours for one sitting, it's a little bothersome to have to set that amount of time so you can finish a game. Not to mention a bunch of other things could happen. your power could flicker, a storm could come, or somtehing might just come up and it's not fair to have to abandon your game simply because there's not an option to save. I'm not saying to add it to all game modes, just the private ones. PLEASE, consider this and an answer would be appreciated.

Totally agree!!! We have families and kids that need the TV too! Not to mention that we need sleep.

[digitalKiva]

(I know I posted this in another thread, but that thread hot)

I am a long-time Civilization player. All the way the back to the days of the original Civilization. I have always wanted to play Civilization online with my friends and this is why I am so excited about this new iteration of the series. However, I am disappointed that the ability to save an online multiplayer session to be resumed later is not available.

The main reason that this feature is not available seems to be that the developers believe it to not be necessary. I disagree. A large majority of target audience for this game are long-time Civilization fans (i.e. young to older adults). Most long-time fans, like myself, don't have the time to sit down and play for 2-4 hours straight because of work, family, etc. On a regular basis my friends and I log on and play games together for about 1 - 2 hours at a time. Which isn't enough time to play an entire Civilization game online.

The ability to save online games seems to be only beneficial. If my friends and I are able to start a game on Monday and finish it on Tuesday it would encourage us to play more Civ games together. However, if we can't resume a Civ game the next day then why start one in the first place. The lack of a save / resume feature for online play is going to only discourage people from playing Civ together online and instead play an alternative game.

I love this game and want to be able to share it with my friends and the lack of this features is deterring me from that goal. The pros of having a save / resume features greatly outway the negatives... in fact I don't see "the hurt" in having it at all.

Please consider this enhancement to an already great game!

[Brasco]

This seems like as good of a thread as any for posting this. I came to this forum with this exact problem in mind. Please add a Save feature to multiplayer!! I will toss my post in here in hopes that someone important will read how many people would like to see this feature implemented. It might be a big update but it would be so worth it. The game is awesome but it is nearly impossible to set aside 6 hours to play one game. That is almost a full days work to play one round.

Brasco.

[Pennywise33]

Just wanted to put my vote on this thread for a multiplayer save patch.

[sumptuousmale]

Everybody who agrees with this idea should post on this thread so the important people who can do something about it will see how important this is to the community and hopefully fix it.

[2K Elizabeth]

hey guys,

i'll report back to the team with this, but as a heads up, in our testing we found that most people never actually come back to MP matches. that's not to say that every one of you wouldn't if given the option, but that's why it's not in there.

i hope that makes sense.

[donbaloo]

Definitely makes sense Elizabeth, but I have to throw in with the crowd wanting a MP save feature. My buddies and I are all married and some have kids so time is a precious commodity. Its much easier to set aside 1 or maybe 2 hours on a given night. 3 or 4 hours is much harder to sequester. My buddy and I have played two head to heads so far, and both were in excess of 5 hours. Granted we're still learning the ropes of Civ and everything but we're desperately hoping we can get the play time down some. Don't get me wrong, we're loving it. But if we can't get the games shortened down we're gonna have to resign to only playing once every few weeks.

So yeah, for us, an MP save feature would be fantastic. Regardless of what you guys do with it, thanks for listening to us!

[fortunzfavor]

hey guys,

i'll report back to the team with this, but as a heads up, in our testing we found that most people never actually come back to MP matches. that's not to say that every one of you wouldn't if given the option, but that's why it's not in there.

i hope that makes sense.

I wouldn't expect random pairings to return to a game very often, but friends and family would definitely take advantage of the feature.

Was it difficult to implement multiplayer saves, or was the team just trying to keep people from having to manage loads of abandoned save files?

[Doctor Bellows]

I have 3 friends that all bought this game along with me, just so we can play together. Last night we pushed ourselves to play for 5 hours--just so we could finish the game. I don't want to have to do that everytime we play, and I'm afraid that we won't be as eager to pick this title when we sit down to play something on Live.

So, PLEASE add this feature if you can! I don't want the only thing keeping us from playing to be a dread of having an 'all-nighter' just to finish a game.

[riverfr0zen]

... but as a heads up, in our testing we found that most people never actually come back to MP matches.

That makes sense, but as fortunzfavor says, not sure that testers can recreate the conditions for friends or others with continuous, ongoing relationships (and I don't think it's just a small number of players who have these).

Also (and please bear in mind I don't know the actual testing measures that were taking, so I am making some assumptions), I don't think testers can properly reflect certain 'social' conditions that are simply out of their scope. For example, do the testers properly reflect those (many) of us who have jobs, families, and other such responsibilities?

Anyway, wanted to throw in my vote for multiplayer saving. I realize it's not something easy to implement, but I feel it is quite crucial for many players, and if it can be pulled of, would make Civilization Revolution so much better.

[WeyounNine]

Yeah, I too feel it desperately needs a save feature, as does my Civ. buddy. We played our first match together the night of launch and had to quit in the middle because we were just too tired - and were horrified to find no save option. So, there went that game. We haven't played it together again yet, and probably won't much, because we find it hard to coordinate our schedules - especially in massive four to five hour chunks.

[Jester7677]

I have to add my name to the list.

Please, please add the ability to save and load/resume a Multiplayer "Player Match". At least where one player is local, the other player is remote on XBL.

[Doctor Bellows]

I love playing single player, but I've only played multiplayer once because none of my friends will commit to the time needed (even though I'm willing to carve a large block of time out of my evening, they aren't!)

Can this even be fixed in a patch? Or, if not, say so now and I won't get my hopes up.

[xd00d]

Oops. I've been searching for "resume," not "save." No wonder I haven't been able to find threads over a month old with my request already posted...

[MrLowcash]

Raising my voice for a savegame option in MP games!

[BIGwooly]

I vote for this as well. In fact, my friends vote for it too.

[Doctor Bellows]

Well, I keep hoping that's for sure. I have 3 regular civ-friends and we play a few times a week. Sometimes we finish a game, sometimes we quit because it's too late. We love the game, but--I'm honest here--we've never played one game together where one of us doesnt say, "I wish we could save this game."

This flies right in the face of what they said happens in their beta testing. If people want a feature, why us it not added? It's not like it's just me either. In fact I would wager that there is not a SINGLE civ player that does not want a save feature.

I ask again, if players want a feature--and not even an unprecidented or complicated one--why is it not added?

[DeadAim2781]

This would be a nice feature to have. I also wish my fiance and I could play split screen together vs AI. That is what I really want. I think that would be great fun. But instead if one of us is playing the other has to sit out and watch.. Come on guys add in a private game save and SP coop split screen!!!





PLEASE!!PLEASE!!

[BacchusOne]

Elizabeth,

First off I am new to Civilization and love CivRev.

Like many here the not having a save feature (especially for private games) makes multiplayer nearly usable for me.

I understand the data from previous Civilizations indicated that most games were not continued, but I don't think they were the same market as CivRev. Both in that gamers' average age is increasing and that many consoles are owned by families. This means that many CivRev players are going to have more time constraints than previous Civilzation players. The idea of being able to take 5 hours in one chunk to play a game is not something many people with a family can do.

To use my own experience I often meet several nights a week with online friends to play Xbox between 9PM and 11PM -- after kids are in bed, but not so late you can't get to work in the morning. Without a save feature CivRev isn't in the list of options. We'd love to be able to start on Monday and play 2 hours a night until finished, but we don't have the option.

I understand this probably isn't a "patch" type fix, but if there is a way to somehow upgrade the game it would really enhance the value for me (and others it seems).

[xd00d]

It's gotta be patchable. You can already save/resume in single-player, why should multiplayer be so different? There's already a forced re-sync function in multiplayer, how about mashing the two together and seeing what happens?

[MrLowcash]

It's gotta be patchable. You can already save/resume in single-player, why should multiplayer be so different? There's already a forced re-sync function in multiplayer, how about mashing the two together and seeing what happens?

Because of GameSpy I suppose... there is allready enough problems as it is, maybe... who knows... lack of experience on console games perhaps, it is infact three different consoles .. the reason Sid doesn't think we wants it doesn't hold..

[Colonel Forbin]

I feel that this is the only "must fix" issue for the 360 verison of the game and I've made my opinion on this very clear numerous times in this forum. My friends and I don't play the game anymore for this simple reason. I was shocked to find out (the hard way, mid-game) that you couldn't save, and even more shocked when Elizabeth said that it wasn't in the plans to be fixed. They seem pretty set on their "because we said so," or "despite what the customer wants" design decisions so I wouldn't get your hopes up. This has ruined the game for me. The single player, while tons of fun for a while, has run it's course, and a lack of a save feature makes the game unplayable for many, many people who can't dedicate 4-5 hours in one sitting. I hope they fix it, it's obvious that the consumer sees it as a necessity.
Please listen to your customers.

[BIGwooly]

Yeah, I'm starting to think I might just trade this game in. SP isn't much fun since the AI doesn't function very well. A buddy and I have been trying to find time to get a game in for almost 2 weeks now with no luck. We always have like 1-2 hours to play, and that's just not enough.

No one else on my FL is even playing this anymore. Most of them stopped playing it after about 2 weeks.

[xd00d]

I'm gonna bump this thread every time my friend and I waste 2 hours of our lives on a game that crashes and won't let us resume.

Either that or just try and return it. Haven't decided yet.

[xd00d]

even more shocked when Elizabeth said that it wasn't in the plans to be fixed.

Can you hunt this down and quote it here? If this is the case, I'll definitely try for the product return option.

[BIGwooly]

Can you hunt this down and quote it here? If this is the case, I'll definitely try for the product return option.

I think it's in the "development design decisions" thread and maybe another thread or two. She said it, and I doubt she'd have any trouble confirming that if you PM'd her.

[Syntax]

came here and made an account specifically for this reason. Me and a friend (live 12 hours away from eachother) went out and bought the game 2 days ago. Jumped right into multiplayer, played 3 hours and one of us had to go....

really no save??

Subsequently we've tried 3 other times and just dont have the time to sit and play for that long.

I add my voice to those who want multiplayer save games.

[xd00d]

WOO WOO BUMP! YAY HOORAY DISCONNECTIONS (and no saving)! WEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Axe99]

I wholeheartedly support the option to save multiplayer games. I'm not sure where the testing information was coming from, but a glance at the Civ Fanatics forums will show that there is a bunch of people who _do_ save Civ games. Indeed, I've been playing Civ with my brother online since Civ 3 (and offline multiplayer since Civ 2), and was stunned to find that a feature in Civs 3 and 4 was left out in Civ Rev, which was apparently designed with online play in mind! I know of no other game that demands five or so hours of constant gameplay online to get to the end, with no way of saving. It's a great game, and I've played a _lot_ of single player but:

a) We're on the PS3, and even after following the stickied instructions, can't get our games to connect - we've been relegated to playing Buzz and Army of Two which, while good fun, were much further down the list than Civ.

b) If there are no save games for private multiplayer when the PS3 issues have been resolved, then we have to set aside half a day (waking hours) to play a game - we both work full-time and have partners, and this is something we could only do once a month or so. If we were able to save, we could play a game a week easily (like we have in the past, with Civ 3 and 4).

There's no way I'll trade Civ Rev in, as it's still a lot of fun SP, but for me it's always been MP with the bro where the real action is at, and to see the game not live up to its past iterations in this area is pretty disappointing. While I still love the game, I'm playing a lot less of it now than I would otherwise be, due to the current MP setup. I love the way you're supporting the game going forward, and am the type of customer that will happily by expansion packs (historical scenarios, maps, editors [user-generated content would be very cool, and it's at least possible on the PS3], you name it) - if you had the ability to square this one away, Civ will be closer to the top of my 'games played' pile for much longer .

[frosjo]

Me and my friend also bought this game exclusively to play versus each other. We were also amazed by the fact that this was not included, and the reason for not including this is as thin as it can get.

To create a save option for multiplayer can really not be the hardest thing to implement when so amounts of the code is there already, I am sure this happened due to pressure to release the game within a certain date, and such things are then easily omitted by the project leaders. That's probably the worst decission you guys made for this game - it will not be played much in my house without a patch...

Listen to your customers, you really should, we paid lots of money for this, and we are not satisfied.

[nzgeek]

To create a save option for multiplayer can really not be the hardest thing to implement when so amounts of the code is there already, I am sure this happened due to pressure to release the game within a certain date, and such things are then easily omitted by the project leaders. That's probably the worst decission you guys made for this game - it will not be played much in my house without a patch...

You've probably missed the info, but it was a conscious decision not to include multiplayer saves. Apparently the research that Firaxis did showed that while a fair few people did save multiplayer games, not many of those games were actually resumed.

While people here obviously do want this feature and would use it, don't expect to see it in a patch. Firaxis have pretty much said that they're only fixing existing things, not adding new features. (The only new stuff will be DLC, and that's because it's fairly trivial to make and doesn't touch the main game code.)

[Axe99]

Fair enough, it's their prerogative, but it's a disappointing step backwards for the series after the high-watermark of online play that was Civ4. It's also a shame, as I daresay it would almost have taken as long to code game saves as it would have done to do the research into their use! And I have no doubt that a significant proportion of the fanbase are interested in this feature - literally _every_ Civ player I know is disappointed this isn't there, as are many on these forums. If I could, I'd happily volunteer to code the patch m'self, but suspect that's not practical! I have no doubt that the lack of online save game will mean less playtime, which will mean less interest in future paid DLC from gamers, which will mean less money for Firaxis. Whether the cost of coding the save games was less than the lost money on DLC is a pretty hard one to guess, but if the cost of coding save games is small, then it's likely that the developers have taken a hit on the bottom line through this one.

[xd00d]

Bump again! Due to another random black-screen no-error-message no-disconnection crash and the fact that we can't resume a saved game.

Not that anybody really gives a hoot.

[xd00d]

For our second disruption of the night, I was randomly disconnected from the PlayStation network. My friend was still in the game and tried the "Invite a Friend" feature, which failed; honestly, I have no idea what that feature is supposed to do or why it's even there.

Regardless, I'm officially sending the game back. I don't suppose anybody has 2K's mailing address?