Blizzard putting a new sound engine into 2.2
by Mike Schramm 
Sep 18th 2007 at 4:19PM
So as you've probably noticed by now, 2.2 is not coming today. Bummer-- that means I was wrong on the podcast. First time for everything, I guess (I'm kidding!). Now I have to hope it won't come for a while, since next week I'll be way too busy playing Halo 3.But the CMs are sharing some info about why the patch is so delayed. The main culprit seems to be the voice chat system, and more than that, the fact that Blizzard completely updated their sound engine while including it. Blizzard, like many other companies, didn't write their own sound engine for WoW. They licensed one called FMOD, by a company called Firelight (the same engine used in Bioshock, Metroid Prime 3, Heavenly Sword, Crysis, and many other games). Firelight just released a new version of FMOD-- their website mentions 4.08 as the latest, though I'm not sure that's the exact version Blizzard is using in 2.2 (Blizzard may be a version behind, just to make sure there are no problems with the system before they push it out to all 9 million clients). 4.08 also just dropped a few days ago, it seems, but maybe Blizzard, as one of Firelight's biggest customers, had access to the new version before anyone else did.
At any rate, that's why 2.2 is taking so much longer-- they're working on code, not class balance. Hopefully, whenever we do see this patch drop, it'll sound that much better.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Todd Sep 18th 2007 4:30PM
I'm patiently waiting. I can wait longer. Better to wait than get some bug ridden patch.
dcmetrocoaster Sep 18th 2007 4:47PM
Perfectly reasonable explaination. At my job updates from other companies always provide problems.
aaron_groening Sep 18th 2007 5:10PM
The bright side of this, is that it'll give the artists and designers plenty of time to work on 2.3, so hopefully it will be released much quicklier.
pkeller Sep 18th 2007 5:18PM
It's Blizzard, there is no such thing as deadlines. Search the Blizzard dictionary for Deadline, result: word not found. If only all jobs were like that...sigh
vakz Sep 18th 2007 5:27PM
Just noticed that the Blizzard Background Downloader started to download patch 2.2.0 a few minutes ago.. so i'd say chances are it might be released tomorrow (europe) or definitly next week, since patch most likely is finished if they've started to upload it
Kyane Sep 18th 2007 5:32PM
@5. They just pushed a new version to the US PTR recently. I doubt it comes tomorrow or even next week.
Serivas Sep 18th 2007 5:35PM
If you look at fmod.dll via the file properties, the one in the current release has 3.75 in the file version field. The file in the test version called fmodex.dll is 4.7.20. There is also the original fmod.dll there too, so maybe it's a backup or leftover from previous test builds.
Corrodias Sep 18th 2007 5:36PM
I believe i overheard a conversation in an IRC channel about Wine-on-Linux testing showing that some bug was related to the sound and needed to be fixed by Firelight, so perhaps this new version of the sound engine is, at least partly, intended to fix it. I can look it up later at home.
Tridus Sep 18th 2007 5:50PM
To be more specific, the old sound engine wasn't built with Vista in mind. Vista is causing all sorts of problems, so the new sound engine... which is having all sorts of Vista problems.
GG Microsoft?
Dave Sep 18th 2007 6:05PM
at this point, I wish they'd just roll 2.2 into 2.3 and skip what was going to be 2.2 or 2.3. 2.2 is such an uninteresting patch, is anyone even really caring that it's not out yet? Are we REALLY that jazzed for half-baked voice chat and AFK reporting in AV?
brett Sep 18th 2007 6:06PM
@1 would you take .. delayed AND bug ridden?
Michael Sep 18th 2007 6:17PM
I think it's quite likely that 2.2 has been blocked by tech issues for weeks, and the content team has been hard at work on 2.3 for all that time (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they've wrapped 2.3 and are working on 2.4)
In any development effort the size of Blizzard's, all the work is pipelined. I _guarantee_ that there have been stressed-out meetings where the content guy pounds his fist on the table and says, "Dammit, we need to get the 2.2 content out there, can't you guys slip the voice work into 2.3?" and the QA guy says, "No way. Rolling back the changes, merging the new code into the 2.3 branch, and restarting the QA process would take much longer." And then the product manager puts her head in her hands, breathes deeply five times, and says, "Ok, dev, get your guys back to work on those sound bugs. We'll find some bonus money for 'em, try to get them to work this weekend.".
That's how software gets made. :)
Tiforix Sep 18th 2007 6:34PM
That's a reasonable explanation, but it doesn't explain all of the really bzarre bugs that have shown up over the course of testing 2.2. At one point, Dwarf Rogues were untargetable (making them invinicible), several weapons are showing up backwards when held in the hand on various models, and various mechanics have been out of whack.
Here's my speculation: 2.2 will include a lot of behind-the-scenes code that will lay the groundwork for WOTLK. That means new weapons and models to display, and new animations. We probably won't *see* them until the expansion comes out, but they will be already built into the game files at that point.
Charlie Sep 18th 2007 6:29PM
@12. I can see drysc running in, in a gigantic tree costume, complainging that the forums are going crazy cause of the delay.
Well, maybe not, but how awsome would it be if the CM's actually dressed like their avatars? I wanna see a gigantic fel-tree costume.
Fletch Sep 18th 2007 6:30PM
I'm sorry, but there's really no excuse for a patch to take more than four months to be released.
Michael Sep 18th 2007 6:43PM
@15 Yeah, true, the bugs that we see show up in the WoW client give me serious doubts about the quality of some of their internal processes.
They clearly don't have automated testing for a lot of really basic features, which means that bugs slip out of dev and into test, where they're a lot more expensive to find and fix. Blizzard isn't alone -- most large software companies have this problem -- but there has been a lot of really good work over the last decade about how to do it better. The persistent appearance of strange interaction bugs between unrelated pieces of the WoW codebase (remember the one where every tailoring recipe was orange? Or the time you couldn't skill up fishing?), suggests that they are trying to test everything with humans.
And, as every coder has known since the 60s, adding more humans to a late project makes it later. So you pop the aspirin, tell your VP you're not done yet, and keep on hacking. Doing it in public, under the gun, like Blizzard has been doing for the last three years, has got to amazingly stressful. I hope the product manager gets a big bonus when they hit their dates.
Michel Sep 18th 2007 7:37PM
ho my
you work in Blizzard??!!!
could you ask them to give me a job in their team ? thanks.
-
seriously, the 12th comment is on the spot. software and quality assurance are often debated like this.
-
O_o ! how do you know Blizzard uses monkeys to test the game ?!!
you think orange recips or little orcs shoulders are BUGS ?
of course they are MINORS bugs provoked by artistic adjustments or change in some logic code , but no, you cannot test that huge thing only by "human".
and , please, wow _works_ and it is very stable. it's a not a "bug ridden" programs. far of that.
the motor executing the database and rules creating quests, animations, and games mechanics works very finely. but yeah, sometimes they slip errors in the rules or the database of the world. and you have "orange recipes !"
Ho my I have to die, one abilities of my rogue combining with one talents and one kind of weapons acts weird with that counter-balance from some warriors ! CLEARLY BLIZZARD DOESN't know how to program !
but maybe the success, the quality and stability of the game should be enough to convince you.
no, _only_ perfection or _death_. it's not fair.
Flann Dragonblight Sep 18th 2007 11:01PM
There's still sound in this game? o.O
I haven't had WoW sound effects or music turned on since early 2005...
slayerboy Sep 19th 2007 2:48AM
As far as the sound issue, I have no idea bout Vista, but that wouldn't surprise me at all.
As far as Linux, Wine+WoW, I checked the WineHQ AppDB:
http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=8903
Shows that it's more related to an issue in Wine that seems like it's going to be fixed next version of Wine.
My concern is with the sound engine, how much more laggier is it going to make my performance on Linux. I currently get pretty crap performance to begin with, especially in places like Shat and in the Power Crystal cave in Un'Goro. Haven't been to outlands yet except for Shat, but I'm worried, especially with the new sound engine.
I suppose I could try out the PTR one of these days lol
Mikah Sep 19th 2007 4:48AM
"At any rate, that's why 2.2 is taking so much longer-- they're working on code, not class balance."
That was mean ^_