itch.io

Dear ViproXX, I cannot adequately express my regret at having released a build with such errors. I am working right now on fixing the issue and I expect to publish fixes TODAY, since, immediately after reading your post, I got to work on finding what was causing the issues. In the main, they affect only people without an existing save file, and it was an oversight of me not to test the most recent builds without a save file.

You are quite right, it is unacceptable! Of course a refund is in order. But for taking the time to report these bugs as you have done, so that I can fix them and prevent other people from encountering them (I'm just one guy, I don't have the benefit of full-time bug testers), I hope that you will accept a Steam key so that not only do you have a refund, but are also able to enjoy the game for free when the update is delivered today. Otherwise, I can only offer my apology, which I personally feel doesn't quite cut the mustard.

Please send an email to nitroglycerinltd@yahoo.com so that I can give you a Steam key, although, for the lack of private messaging options I would also have to check on here that the address is correct.

Again, it is to my personal shame that bugs like the ones you report were overlooked. I hope you will accept my apologies for getting it wrong, my thanks for *telling* me about the problems, and my offer of a free copy.

I am testing fixes even as I have been writing this message.

Regards,

Nick

Edit: just to say that the fixed version is now published to both Itch and Steam.

Hey there! Thanks for your question, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to read your post earlier. You're quite right, there had been problems at the launch of the game with incorrect finishing positions and it took a week or two  to work on them, but those are all solved now. The picture you posted was taken at the same time, so it's very likely to be related to that. It may instead have been some bug in the newspaper generator at that time.

If it is a newspaper generator bug, I will get it fixed in due course, along with some other very minor bugs (similar flavour-text stuff) I noticed while working on a major update that will take a while to finish making. I'll also replace the picture you copied into the thread here.

Thanks very much for your post!

Cool, thanks for getting back to me.... blimey, that's a high resolution! All I can suggest is setting the resolution to the highest I've tested it at, which is 1920 x 1200.

Yep! That was indeed the problem. It only affects the tutorial-enabled career and it was a number that was an 8 and should have been 7. Fix will be included in 1.1.0 and that will be available this weekend, Sunday at the latest. For the time being, your best bet is to play Career with the setting 'new career help' disabled. Very sorry about that. 1.1.0 will also include graphics modding access, as well as PSD templates to help people get started.

yikes! I think it got to the end of the career or scenario without recognising it, or something. I will see what's going on and include a fix in v1.1. It may be that the tutorial starts at a later year (correct) but attempts same number of seasons (incorrect)

Sorry about that. Glad you got so far though, I hope it was fun!

Hi. Glad to hear that the workaround... worked. About the screen size issue.... the minimum resolution that the game runs at is 1024x600, and it is also the default resolution. Unless your monitor has a really high resolution, I'm not sure what's up. Have you been able to go into settings and pick a higher video resolution setting and press the tick button to adjust it? Failing that, are you able to go into FXDcustomise.ini and set window width to "1600" and height to "900", or "1920" and "1080" for example? It seems very unusual. Does your monitor have a very high resolution compared to the physical screen size, like a 13" 1440p display? I'm really baffled.

Hi, I have done some investigation. The sponsor thing was a bug, now fixed in 1.0.9. The car development thing is simply because your current engine supplier has a high Research stat - they're contributing toward your car's development with new engine parts. About the finishing positions thing - while I have no idea what can be causing it, I have now gone to near-extremes to prevent from happening (cars when crossing the finish line enter Lap 99,999 minus two times the number of cars that already finished - it'd really take some doing to interpret that wrongly).

Build 1.0.9 is now live.

OK, all noted! I don't think 2) is a bug but I'll have a look anyway.

Hello again,

I haven't been able to replicate the 'wrong finishing positions' thing, but I have gone and changed the code a bit to make the finish results much more reliable.

Thanks again!

Thanks man! The most damaging of these bugs (the end-of-champ car stats thing) was introduced in one of the updates, I mistakenly commented out a crucial bit of code. That will be fixed in 1.0.6. Also, I figured out why screenshots are being overwritten and I'm fixing that right now. The safety car issues, I'm mitigating, with some rebalancing of safety car speed. Please let me know if this remains a problem.

1.0.6 should be live in an hour or so.

Hi, thanks for your bug report. I have some idea of what the problem may be with the crash. It must be caused by saving settings before having an existing save file. That aspect of it will be fixed in 1.0.6. Until then, however, it's possible to avoid this issue.

I don't know what could be causing the screen to start off so small. If you go into 'your user name'\AppData\Local\Formula_XD\FXDcustomise.ini and set the window width and height to something larger (1920x1200 is as large as it supports) and fullscreen to "1" - then launch the game - well, see if that solves it.

I have just had another urgent bug report recently so if you give it about half an hour, 1.0.5 will be available.

Sorry for the annoyance.

Please feel free to leave feedback here.

Apologies to the guy who put a bug report in the comments list, I didn't realise that adding a discussion board would wipe the comment thread.

Here were the first reported bugs:

Safety Car Gaps
"Cars behind the safety car sometimes seem to leave to much space to one another This happened to me twice in the same race on the Hockenhamring  (Random safety car rules ;-) ) where the field was essentialy diveded into 3 seperate groups in which the leading car of each group left a whole lot of space to the car in front of him"

Response: Yep, that seems to have been an issue. I've been able to fix this for v1.0.3!

Race Results Wrong
"Wrong standings at the end of the race. This also happened to me at the Hockenhamring where i placed the car in 8 place but was in 12 place after the end of the race. Can't remember it was the very same race as in the one above since i reloaded it a few times... just for scientific reasons of course."

Response: At the moment, I don't have enough to go on, and haven't ever seen this happen myself. Is it perhaps a possibility that race results and championship standings being confused? It seems very strange, and not something I've encountered through months of playtesting.

Budget Confirmation error

"Game breaking Bug at the beginning of the second season which does not let me continue after i acknowledge this years funding. The error message looks like this:

FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Alarm Event for alarm 1
for object BudgetConfirm:

string_char_at argument 1 incorrect type (number) expecting a String (YYGS)
at gml_Object_BudgetConfirm_Alarm_1"

Response (update): I've found the bug - one little number buried in the code was wrong, meaning that the wrong data was being fetched. All fixed now!

Thanks for the report!

OK! I've had a chance to look at the problems you encountered. A couple of them are very surprising, and I could do with having a bit more information before knowing how to go about fixing them. Could you send an email to nitroglycerinltd@yahoo.com with those bug descriptions along with the contents of the save file directory? Thanks.

Hi, thanks for the very long and informative post, I'll get right to it as soon as I've uploaded 1.0.2, which fixes a file-saving bug.

Fixed in 1.0.1:

• Game doesn't read custom driver names.
• Game might have problems at Wall of Fame at the end of Career

Also fixed (Soundtrack):

• Make Tea Not Love was mixed poorly. If your tea is mixed poorly, you might as well make another cup.

I began working on this game out of university in 2012. Six years and with many trials and tribulations along the way, it's finally at version 1.0.

OUT NOW - https://nitroglycerin-ltd.itch.io/formula-xd

About Formula XD 

 Formula XD is a racing team strategy game for PC (and soon Mac). You'll take on the role of manager - hiring drivers, negotiating contracts with sponsors and engine suppliers, and making the big decisions necessary to keep your team above water. You'll issue orders to your drivers when they go out onto the track, and be responsible for guiding them to victory or defeat.

It won't be easy - you'll start at the bottom and fight your way through a long career, striving to win the Constructors' Championship title, or at least make your mark on the Wall of Fame. There'll be plenty of challenges along the way - not only will you be adjusting your drivers’ pace, fuel and tyre strategy in response to ever-changing race circumstances, you’ll also have to deal with extreme weather, sabotage, stray animals, food poisoning, and even terrorism. Can you manage? 

  Game Features

• Racing circuits set all over the world
• Loads of drivers, sponsors and engine suppliers
• Bright, colourful aesthetics
• Dynamic driver/engine/tyre vital statistics
• Vibrant audio and an energetic synth soundtrack
• Get hired, buy a team, sell out, switch teams, it's up to you
• Special abilities and game modifiers shake it up
• Filled to the brim with puntastic humour

Included in the Itch.io bundle is the original soundtrack, featuring 20 unique tracks and a further 17 non-looping 'radio edits'.

If this is a genre that you are fond of, Formula XD can't be overlooked. More pictures and a video available on the store page.

OUT NOW - https://nitroglycerin-ltd.itch.io/formula-xd

A personal note from the developer (me):

Thank you so much for spending your shekels to buy my game. I began working on Formula XD when graduating university, and took a huge risk by choosing to develop it full-time. Had it not been for the enthusiasm of a few long-time fans of the project, I would probably have given up. This is a game I've wanted to make since I was 9, two-thirds of my life. My sincerest thanks and gratitude to those who helped me get through it all - you know who you are.

Nick Heathfield, President of Nitroglycerin Ltd.