Make patch notes mandatory for uploading changesets

[whystler]

I am getting tired of my games coming up blue with no update news showing when i open the game in the library. Make it mandatory for a developer to include SOME small patch note before accepting any updates to the game so it is clear why the game needs an update.

And if there are reasons Steam will update without the game having been updated, let the client have the courtesy of informing me that i may want to diagnose my HDD (although it is not nearly old enough to be failing already) due to read errors instead of just pretending there was a stealth patch (in other words, have the client mention with each update if it was an actual update to the file set or if the local files failed an integrity check or something like that).

[Gwarsbane]

They are not going to make them mandatory, thats not Valves style.

If they did make them mandatory, you would end up with "Changed some code." "Updated a graphic." and that would be able it which would make the forced patch notes just as useless as no patch notes.

A good, not over worked developer would include some patch notes, its something I always look for with each update for a game, but if I don't get them, it doesn't bug me specially if its pretty small, unless its a really really large update.

[whystler]

Yeah probably. I just don't like a big game with a hard to update engine to become unplayable for half an hour every 3 days or so due to a 20mb download with a 5gb post download update. Some developers need to learn to batch non critical updates together and only roll them out every month or so if they know even a small update requires a lot of disk activity (why is that anyway?)

[Start_Running]

Escrito originalmente por whystler:

I am getting tired of my games coming up blue with no update news showing when i open the game in the library. Make it mandatory for a developer to include SOME small patch note before accepting any updates to the game so it is clear why the game needs an update.

PAtch Notes
* Cleaned up code.

Not even lying there. Updates like that especially if they're fiarly small, typically are just code clean yup and documentation.

Escrito originalmente por whystler:

And if there are reasons Steam will update without the game having been updated, let the client have the courtesy of informing me that i may want to diagnose my HDD (although it is not nearly old enough to be failing already) due to read errors instead of just pretending there was a stealth patch (in other words, have the client mention with each update if it was an actual update to the file set or if the local files failed an integrity check or something like that).

HDD's can fail any time. They can l;ast 20 years and they can die in 6 months. look at any HDD reviews on amazon and you'll always find a few talking about how the drive was DOA or died quickly. No game update is going to have an effect on that.

[Acetyl]

This would be good. They can just do what people do with git commits when they don't feel like putting a message, ".".

[Tito Shivan]

Yo can make patch notes mandatory, but you can't make PROPER patch notes mandatory.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Would be easier to have Valve provide a (convenient and built-in) way to avoid being forced by Steam to update games, than to force game devs to make properly meaningful patch notes for every update.

That said, ideally both would be done, as is generally done for other software products outside of Steam.

[Cathulhu]

"Fixed some bugs"

There's your changelog.

[RiO]

Escrito originalmente por Gwarsbane:

They are not going to make them mandatory, thats not Valves style.

As per the new legislative package of the 2019/770 directive that member states had to enter into force by Jan 2022, patch notes are already mandatory by law in the EU.

This directive splits updates into two distinct categories: those that are strictly necessary to keep digital content (also software and games) operating well, i.e. conforming to contract and those that go beyond that to modify the content.

In the first category, traders are legally required to inform consumers of the consequences for conformity to contract if they fail to install the update - i.e. they must inform consumers which bugs; crashes; stability problems; etc. the update actually takes care to fix or avoid. Having properly informed a consumer this way is a legal requirement for the trader to be able to deny liability for non-conformity. Simply the fact that a consumer failed to install the latest update is not enough for that.

In the second category, updates that surpass what is strictly necessary to maintain conformity are only allowed under a certain set of required conditions that all must be fulfilled. Two of those conditions are that the consumer is given notice in advance of the time of delivery of the update and the changes it will make to the content; and that the consumer is informed again at the point of time when the update is actually pushed to them.

You can read about this in the directive itself:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32019L0770

Specifically articles 7 and 8 for the first category and article 19 for the second.

Escrito originalmente por Cathulhu:

"Fixed some bugs"

There's your changelog.

And it would be insufficient to satisfy the EU's new legislative measures.

Publishers are going to have to start doing better.
Not just on Steam. On all platforms.