ID:277251
 
It seems after every BYOND update, BYOND seems to break a little more.
Now, I realize it's still beta (and for some reason, has been replaced in the downloads section) but I remember back long ago, when there were only a few bugs in the BYOND system every time a new beta came out.

Is it just because BYOND's developers are trying to quick-fix things (which is understandable, I realize the BYOND system is a very complex program)

But it seems with every update, it's getting more and more unstable.

WE NEED DAN AND TOM BACK ON DEVELOPMENT! :(
This update was mostly fixes Tom did.

I haven't had any problems at all with it so far.
In response to Kunark
Well, we need Dan and Tom back on development...
It's just that we've been having SO many bug reports...
I know it's a beta, but even still, I'm saying back in the day we didn't have this many problems.

Is it possible that the "core" has been poorly coded, so now all of the bugs are a result from sloppy programing?
In response to Flame Sage
I dont know but it may be possible.
I think it's a combination of the following:

1) The system is being added to with increasingly complex features... My guess is that for speed and convenience (and in some cases, simply out of having no other option), a lot of these new things are being "duct taped" onto the existng framework, rather than being fully integrated from ground level... This opens the door for a lot of hidden conflicts...

2) More users = more bug reports... This one is simple, but perhaps needs to b mentioned... The more people you have using BYOND, the more problems will arise... Not necessarily that BYOND is any more or less broken than it ever was, but that now we've got more variation in users' systems, more variation in user habits, and simply more chances for someone to unveil some strange error (an error that might have gone unnoticed with fewer people beating on the programs)

3) Many more new and inexperienced users... How many of these new bug reports are actually authentic BYOND errors? How many of them are from some kid who either broke his copy of BYOND on his own, or is misinterpretting some other problem as a BYOND error?

There are probably a lot of other possibilities, but my point is mostly that I see this topic as a "The Sky is Falling!" kind of thing...
In response to SuperSaiyanGokuX
Well, I'm not saying that BYOND will fail, I just never remember having this many problems (dream seeker not opening, hosting not working properly, security holes) it seems everything is going wrong due to the pager. :/

We never had theese problems untill the pager poped up!
Thinking maybe we should put the pager and dream seeker back together? I really didn't see the point in seperating it in the first place (other than people to remain online without having to have DS open.)

It's causing more problems than it fixes.
In response to Flame Sage
Flame Sage wrote:
We never had theese problems untill the pager poped up!
Thinking maybe we should put the pager and dream seeker back together? I really didn't see the point in seperating it in the first place (other than people to remain online without having to have DS open.)

BYOND 4.0. You have your game, with full control over the interface. You can put any button, any box, anywhere... except for this annoying pager thing that's always stuck in the corner, making the game look less professional.

Also, one pager interface is far superior to 2, 3, 5, or more pager interfaces (depending on how many dreamseeker windows one has open). This way all pager messages are sent and received from a single location.

Lastly, once the pager is working properly, it's possible that in the future the BYOND Staff will be able to add cool new features for it, that wouldn't make any sense at all in DreamSeeker. Maybe integration with guilds, or something crazy like that. I'm not sure. Oh, a skinnable pager would be cool too. :)

It's causing more problems than it fixes.
In response to Flame Sage
Flame Sage wrote:
I know it's a beta, but even still, I'm saying back in the day we didn't have this many problems.

http://developer.byond.com/docs/notes/338.html
http://developer.byond.com/docs/notes/334.html
etc

Lots of bug-fixes in the older versions. :)

The new versions of BYOND only really have 1 problem: sometimes not-working communication of the pager with DreamSeeker. Having two programs run together is harder than one by itself, since before the code needed something, it did it. Now sometimes it needs to ask and wait for another program to do it. Before where you could expect the code to run within itself, and do things in a certain order, now windows can more or less randomly switch execution from one program to another, so information could arrive out of sequence.

The big thing is probably that the programs communicate between each other using a loopback network connection. Plenty of users can't host things because they can't get their firewalls to work right, or they have spyware, etc, on their computer messing with their network connection. Unless people post in Bug Reports to help track down the problems, there's no way to find out what random bit of windows' networking is malfunctioning, and for what reason.
In response to Flame Sage
Flame Sage wrote:
Well, I'm not saying that BYOND will fail, I just never remember having this many problems (dream seeker not opening, hosting not working properly, security holes) it seems everything is going wrong due to the pager. :/

Only the first one you mention is even remotely related to the pager. Hosting is pretty much always a firewall/router issue. 5 years ago, nobody had hosting problems because routers and firewalls were extremely uncommon for home internet access. The security problem existed in all known previous versions.

We already have over 70% of users on 3.5, and only a handful are reporting problems. We're trying to figure out these obscure cases, but it's difficult when reports are lacking in information.
In response to Mike H
Mike H wrote:
Flame Sage wrote:
Well, I'm not saying that BYOND will fail, I just never remember having this many problems (dream seeker not opening, hosting not working properly, security holes) it seems everything is going wrong due to the pager. :/

Only the first one you mention is even remotely related to the pager. Hosting is pretty must always a firewall/router issue. The security problem existed in all known previous versions.

We already have over 70% of users on 3.5, and only a handful are reporting problems. We're trying to figure out these obscure cases, but it's difficult when reports are lacking in information.

Ok thank you Mike, I really have only had a few problems with the new version, and they were minor (one was by my mistake) Hopefully there will be a day when BYOND will have no bugs and security holes (or atleast not major ones)
If it's a beta then it's probably not going to be as bug-free as a polished product.
In response to Elation
Elation wrote:
If it's a beta then it's probably not going to be as bug-free as a polished product.

Then why is it not listed as a beta on the download page?
Latest Release
Microsoft Windows
(95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP) Full Installation
BYOND 3.5 Public Beta 8 - Notes
BYOND 3.5 is ready for public testing.
If you encounter any bugs in BYOND while using this release, please use the Bug Report forum to describe what happened as thoroughly as possible.
In response to Flame Sage
It looks like it is to me, and you even copied it with your quote.

BYOND 3.5 Public Beta 8
In response to Sarm
Yeah but, why did they remove the stable version?
I guess BYOND has changed too much. :(
In response to Flame Sage
Flame Sage wrote:
Yeah but, why did they remove the stable version?
I guess BYOND has changed too much. :(

Mike H said that all previous BYOND versions were affected by the security issue. I guess that means the old version isn't safe to use anymore.
In response to Jon88
Jon88 wrote:
once the pager is working properly, it's possible that in the future the BYOND Staff will be able to add cool new features for it


Yeah, like smiley faces!