Testing FAZ Beta
Free Allegiance Zone Beta is similar to Shadow Allegiance, which was used by Microsoft RG during their development of the game. It allowed for people "in the know" to connect to a lobby that automatically updated the client and artwork to a pre-release version. This let MSRG developers get feedback from a select few and help decide to release the updated versions to the masses or go back to the drawing board.
Introduction
The Free Allegiance Zone Dev Team is responsible for FAZ Beta and overall continued development of Allegiance, but you can assist development by carefully followomg the instructions that have been conveniently placed here.
The number one reason testing is important: developers require timely and constant feedback. There are many more obvious reasons, one of them being to check if the next update will be compatible with your computer.
There are effectively two kinds of testing: By yourself (or with a very small group) to test individual issues, and with a large group to "stress-test" overall performance.
It's usually not necessary to test by yourself (unless you are a developer or you are helping a developer with a specific test case). For large-scale tests FAZ Beta Team have scheduled weekly events on Wednesdays. There is more tester activity throughout this day of the week than any other and thus makes testing a more enjoyable experience. Sometimes larger scale beta events will be held on the weekends, watch the Free Allegiance home page for information regarding these.
Getting started
- Main article: Connecting to the beta lobby
Testing
- Main article: Test cases
Where do I report bugs/suggestions?
- If you know a specific developer was/is working on a similar issue, send them a private message (click here to create new message).
- If the bug doesn't affect gameplay (i.e. doesn't cause crashes) then search Allegzilla to see if it has already been reported.
- For suggestions or "Bugs" that will affect game play if "fixed" report in the FAZ Beta forum
Testing tips
Use multiple clients
Create a shortcut to launch Allegiance with the -multi and -windowed command-line switches. After creating a shortcut, right click on it then left click properties. Append (add to the end) of the target -windowed -multi after the quotes (if any).
Use quickstart
Create a shortcut as explained in the tip above. Add -quickstart to the end of the target, outside the quotes (if any). This will cause the game to join the most populated server automatically. If no players exist on any servers, a game will attempt to be created using the official core on the official server.
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