To be honest I am a noob here at the moment, although I did create stuff for Unreal for 8 or so years through the first series of Unreal Tournament.
Needless to say I love the engine, and am getting back into it again’
But I have to say I was was really quite surprised to discover that each new version of the Engine seemed to keep crippling parts of the previous version, especially as Epic are such great and veracious developers and update so often.
To me whole business of updates to the engine making big chunks of the marketplace content unusable, is surly a really bad thing for the future of the marketplace.
Sure a content creator will be happy to upload their stuff and maybe update it once or maybe twice. But eventually they are just going to say “well is old content so will not be updated” And who would blame them.
So eventually the market place will be full of dead content for any serious developer.
The problem with is that most indi game development or content creation takes many months if not a year or so to get finished and these people do not have time to keep updating large sections of content every month or so.
I half wonder if much of is to do with the nature of Blueprints and might not be such a problem if C++ were used, I stand to be corrected.
Anyway my suggestion is to at least attempt to make updates backward compatible at least for the life of a version 4,0 4,1 4,2 etc. (Ok its a pipe dream:)
And if not then please can we have the compatibility indicator next to the pic on the market place page, instead of having to open each individual item to find out if it is compatible or not, which is pointless and souls destroying when just the item you need is dead.
Maybe display might also be a very graphic illustration of just how much content is killed off with every update and give pause for thought.
[=Tzulanfall;424313]
To me whole business of updates to the engine making big chunks of the marketplace content unusable, is surly a really bad thing for the future of the marketplace.
Sure a content creator will be happy to upload their stuff and maybe update it once or maybe twice. But eventually they are just going to say “well is old content so will not be updated” And who would blame them.
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I would. Update != new content or bugfixing session, it just updating compatibility to next version and in most cases it takes less then a couple of minutes. Some blueprints may require change to the new API(And these deprecated functions are highlighted in Blueprint Editor so it was easy to update them) or could be affected by the bug( is, however, Epic problem and not the content creator), by is minor cases. You can’t build a policy based on minor cases
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So eventually the market place will be full of dead content for any serious developer.
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In my perspective, serious developer is the one who make sure his project is working in the latest version of engine and the one who abandoned project.
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The problem with is that most indi game development or content creation takes many months if not a year or so to get finished and these people do not have time to keep updating large sections of content every month or so.
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As I said - it takes a couple of minutes and now you have an option just to check on your side if everything working and send message to Epic update it automatically on their side.
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I half wonder if much of is to do with the nature of Blueprints and might not be such a problem if C++ were used, I stand to be corrected.
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You have to recompile C++ plugins for new versions of Engine and recompile your code for new version of Engine. It’s not C++ or BP nature, it’s sort of security nature - just to be sure that everything will work correctly.
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Anyway my suggestion is to at least attempt to make updates backward compatible at least for the life of a version 4,0 4,1 4,2 etc. (Ok its a pipe dream:)
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I’ve made my Marketplace project backward compatible by changing meta data and recompiling in custom UE4 in order to get it working on outdated Unreal Tournament Editor and it worked correctly, but it could be worse if not tested. Try to make same trick and import 4.10 into 4.5 - a tons of stuff in 4.10 simply does not exist in 4.5 and you will crash immediately and maybe corrupt the project. I mean you can do it, but stability is more important. And you have to maintain stability.
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And if not then please can we have the compatibility indicator next to the pic on the market place page, instead of having to open each individual item to find out if it is compatible or not, which is pointless and souls destroying when just the item you need is dead.
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Well, people will think EVERYTHING IS DEAD all the time whenever Engine update hits, because updates applied in time window(1-10 days) after Engine update. It will do only harm and won’t help to understand if project is getting updates or not.
I think the whole “OMG THE MARKETPLACE IS DEAD NOTHING IS UPDATED HELP!!!” thing is mainly created by assets which are not immediately flagged as compatible in the marketplace when an update hits. Then people cant add the assets to their new shiny updated projects and claim that “omg, all these assets are not compatible”. Around 50% of the people wont event try to import the asset to an older engine version and migrate it from there. I am actually getting the first support mails the day after the update is out, asking if my asset will ever be updated (…).
As a suggestion to, test and flag assets that are compatible already with the new engine version when the update comes out, not days or weeks later.
How is actually the process of releasing an update? I guess the decision wont be done like “hey, lets release the new engine version today”. Wouldnt it be possible to send a mail out to all sellers like 1 week before the new version would most probably go live, telling them to update their content, instead of doing it after the update is out?
And, one more thing:
People chill out, MOST OF THE ASSETS WILL JUST WORK IN A NEW ENGINE VERSION, THEY JUST HAVE TO BE FLAGGED AS COMPATIBLE BY EPIC!
Thanks,
Yeah I have several things I have bought from the marketplace, some have not been updated since 4.8… but I create a project then move them over, so far all seem to work fine in 4.9 and 4.10… though it would be nicer if Epic updated their status so we could add direct. FWIW.
[=indygoof;424491]
Around 50% of the people wont event try to import the asset to an older engine version and migrate it from there.
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Yeah. I bought my first asset recently, it was 4.9 compatible but I’d already upgraded all my projects to 4.10 and removed the 4.9 installation.
I don’t think you even need to migrate though. I just clicked the ‘Show all projects’ checkbox, and then there is a dropdown allowing you to select an earlier engine version. I selected 4.9 and it imported it into my 4.10 project no problems.
Obviously isn’t guaranteed to work, but since it will in a lot of cases, I think the process for attempting just needs to be made clearer.
The only way for sellers to be able to get updates out when the engine update is released to the public is for epic to provide us the final release well before it goes public. I’m not against that, but I don’t think they want to do that. The reason it takes so long even after release for some updates to go live is because there are hundreds of products out there, and only a handful of people on. The majority of the updates don’t even require us to send in files, just confirm that it works in a newer version. But they still have to get through the hundreds of tickets they receive that week because everyone is trying to get their update in before the ten days window is up. I personally think should expand to meet the needs of the current size. Its unfair that the (last I checked 5) handful of people on there have to do all of these updates while still handling submissions and working on things to improve the marketplace experience. I remember saying in a thread about a week ago that they were looking to hire an additional hand so that’s a step in the right direction. =)
Well maybe there should be a big banner on the Marketplace saying “Don’t panic! Although 90% of the content is flagged as incompatible with the newest version, it is”
Besides its not just products, its tutorials that also become obsolete with updates as I have found. Sure all does not matter a jot to anyone with experience, they will sort it out for themselves, but as I pointed out I am a new kid on the block just telling it like it is from a noob point of view.
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Grant access to the server for content authors to update it to the newest versions. They are loosing out on sales because the content isn’t compatible with the latest engine.
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is what I am afraid of, We where promised an email when a new version is soon to be released or live so we can update our packages asap.
didnt happen for me, I didnt recieve an email, and occasionally my emails are ignored.
I am not even sure I can still count the times I had to ask in private only to hear about an email one of the marketplace people have missed.
Obviously I am expecting sales to decrease over time, but the fact that a package is not available for weeks (especially with the lack of promised emails) is (potentially?) drastically cutting in my income.
Then taking into account that so far at least 5 of my emails have gone un-answered, how can I be positive my package gets updated in time when I send an email stating it works in the latest build?
I submitted a new package, which was made in 4.9 and got an email during 4.10 that it was accepted and that I will hear a date of submission.
Do I need to update the package for 4.10? will they do it? Im feeling like Snow here… as I know nothing.
And since 's contract ended month, we dont really know who the other marketplace people are. We dont have a face, nor a contact point besides emails.
I for one am worried, and I hope my gut instinct (which is telling me, itll get worse before it gets better) is wrong.
Hey !
It’s Dana. Let me assure you that processes for the Marketplace management are under improvement, and we are scaling up a team of helpful people that you can count on.
I’m really sorry to hear about the number of emails that have gone unanswered. Over the past week we’ve made internal changes that will dramatically improve . We’re putting more resources behind - not taking them away.
Especially while we get new systems in place, primary communication with the team will take place over email via the marketplace-support alias. way, the whole team has full visibility, everyone is accountable, and together we will better support sellers and speed up the time from review to staging to release.
As for updating content, please test your content against 4.10. If it works (most likely, it does) just shoot us an email and the tag will be amended.
Also, all sellers will be getting an email when we release 4.11 Preview 1. We’ll kick off 4.11 (and subsequent point release) testing early to get ahead of the curve so that when the production-ready build ships, there will be minimal delay on making Marketplace updates live.
Please sound off with any other concerns! We’re here for you.
Hey there!
Just echo Dana here and address some concerns, please do reach out to us on our support alias and if you need a point of escalation, I will be your point of contact on that. Generally if you find that you haven’t received a response from us for more than 5 business days please do feel free to reach out to us.
Thanks,
[=crowl;425736]
Hey !
It’s Dana. Let me assure you that processes for the Marketplace management are under improvement, and we are scaling up a team of helpful people that you can count on.
I’m really sorry to hear about the number of emails that have gone unanswered. Over the past week we’ve made internal changes that will dramatically improve . We’re putting more resources behind - not taking them away.
Especially while we get new systems in place, primary communication with the team will take place over email via the marketplace-support alias. way, the whole team has full visibility, everyone is accountable, and together we will better support sellers and speed up the time from review to staging to release.
As for updating content, please test your content against 4.10. If it works (most likely, it does) just shoot us an email and the tag will be amended.
Also, all sellers will be getting an email when we release 4.11 Preview 1. We’ll kick off 4.11 (and subsequent point release) testing early to get ahead of the curve so that when the production-ready build ships, there will be minimal delay on making Marketplace updates live.
Please sound off with any other concerns! We’re here for you.
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Thanks for the heads-up Dana, and thanks for taking away some of the worries I had.
Also Just gotten two emails from the marketplace, one replying to a previously unanswered email, and another with info on the newly submitted package.
thank you!
[=‘[Epic]
;425765’]Hey there!
Just echo Dana here and address some concerns, please do reach out to us on our support alias and if you need a point of escalation, I will be your point of contact on that. Generally if you find that you haven’t received a response from us for more than 5 business days please do feel free to reach out to us.
Thanks,
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Likewise, thank you Stephany!
mentioned right before he left that an automated update system was in the works and would be ready soon. Something that would notify you if a package would be incompatible, and automatically tag the compatible as updated. Is still in the works? I imagine would dramatically reduce the amount of emails the team would have to sort through and let them focus on the packs that actually need updating. =)
Also, it’s been a while since we heard about the seller portal’s live sales data. Are we still aiming to get that year, or has it been shifted to 2016?
Hey , yes, we are still working to automate a lot of the compatibility testing.
As for seller access to live sales data, good question - we’ll need to check on the status. , leaving that one to you.
Hey Dana!
Good to hear. Thanks for the update!
For the love of the Good lord more free content to sponsor new developers. The faster people can put out awesome games with unreal engine the more people will use unreal engine over unity or anything else.
If there were free or low price high quality asset packs available for desert, snow, plains environments along with basic animation and meshes, materials, etc unreal engine would be The only choice for developing games. Especially for virtual reality development. Peace be with you.
Discount/‘100% off’ codes that sellers can generate to give to people.
That’d be fantastic.
A small text next to the rating in the lower right corner that displays the highest compatible UE version of the asset so I don’t have to click in every single one to see if it is compatible with the version I’m using.
Or even a filter that allows me to choose to display only assets that are at least at a certain UE version.
Dont know if exists or not, but when I see something interesting in the marketplace to purchase later, can I “Favorite” it or “Add to wishlist” , so later when I log in my own computer, I can see the list of my wishlists and purchase them.
As a purchaser I would like the ability to wishlist too
[=;431022]
+1 -
post deserves its own thread along with a PM to the new marketplace point person with gone.
Any you could name and shame the packs that don’t have vids but should…
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If a submission does not have a video (that should) please PM the list of those to me or . Please do not post them here as we would like to reach out to them and give them a to correct . We’ll have more to say on Kitatus’s post shortly.
Thank you,