Question What is the best way to get a rare bug fix to players?

[ZedClampet]

I decided today I couldn't stand it anymore and finally, after several tries and a couple of hours, fixed a bug that has been in Farming Simulator 22 for about 2 years. My question is what should my next steps be if I want to get the fix out there?

1) I could make a mod, but it's unlikely that the mod would ever make it into the official mod database. They are extremely behind in testing and approving mods.

2) I could post the relevant files to github and then direct people there from Steam forums and reddit. I would have to include instructions for installation.

3) Try to contact the developers through their forums and explain the fix. Based on previous experiences, this is unlikely to accomplish anything unless the community manager can actually fix the problem themselves.

4) Who cares? It's fixed for me.

 

[Zloth]

I like the Github option, myself, though I hear Github has been having major fake site issues of late. I almost never use Github itself, so I'm not up on just what those problems are right now.

If there isn't an .exe involved, you could probably stick a zip of the files on Google Drive and put instructions in a guide on Steam.

 

[Pifanjr]

I'd at least try 3, if it's not an unreasonable amount of work. If they do pick up your fix it would reach the most people.

Then put the files on GitHub and post it on the farmingsimulator subreddit. Maybe it can be added to a bigger mod.

 

[Brian Boru]

fixed a bug that has been in Farming Simulator 22 for about 2 years

If you do make a mod, you'll call it Pesticide, right?

So, how else to plant the Seed? Hmm—Joseph, Jacob, John, Faith… oh sorry, you're talking about FS, not FC, my bad.

If there isn't an .exe involved, you could probably stick a zip

Wouldn't a ZIP get around a 'ban' on EXEs? I often see ZIP used for just that.

But yeah, if devs are unresponsive, stick files in GD, DropBox etc and post links on Steam and Reddit. I'm an experienced surfer, gamer and mod user, and even some scripting—but I find GitHub a very unwelcome place to try and use. I doubt 'just' gamers would benefit much from stuff there.

 

[ZedClampet]

@Zloth @Pifanjr @Brian Boru

Thanks, all. I have combined your suggestions, uploaded the file to Google Drive, posted about it on Steam and reddit and am now going to shoot a message to the developers. So it was sort of an "all of the above" solution plus Google Drive

Best thing about this is that this bug was also in Farming Simulator 2019, and it will almost certainly be in the next one as well. Now I have the solution.

 

[mjs warlord]

i have not used farming sim but if you fixed a bug and the devs dont respond to you then you should go on the steam discussions page and tell players how you did it.

IMPORTANT ...... Your last sentence should be ..... it is up to you who are reading this to decide if you want to do what i did .... all i can say is it worked for me.

 

[ZedClampet]

You know, I spelled out specifically what this fix was for, but I've had 2 people on reddit use it for different but similar bugs I didn't know about, and they are reporting that it worked, so it's gone over pretty good. Hopefully it is getting picked up by search engines.

Haven't heard anything from the developers yet.

It's a little concerning, though, that people are using this for other things. I need to take that into consideration if I do anything like this in the future. This particular fix is completely harmless, though.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Writing on game forums seems like a good idea + setting up a download (Google Drive, WeTransfer, whatever) with instructions and a disclaimer that you "make it available as is and you're not responsible for anything".

But this kinda depends on one thing: if they have CM browsing threads or actual devs taking their time. In some cases it may be also a good idea to write to them as well. Just don't be overly active, just one message and that's it - unless of course, you get a reply. If I saw one person constantly spamming mailbox with a "fix" over and over I would probably start ignoring that person after a whole.

Years ago I fixed an issue I had with Kohan 2 where the game simply wouldn't run properly on setups with more than 1 monitor. Afterwards I've contacted official support and explained the way I went around the issue, they thanked me and that was it. I have no idea if they ever did anything with that.