Frustrated by the update.

[Erlebnis]

I understand it was holidays and all... but it's been one month+something since last update.

It's a massive update, true. I've read the realease notes; so many fixes etc. That is quite good.

However, I'll tell you what my day was like.

Woke up, did a few errands, and went to start my session. Found out poker tracker had been updated, so I updated it. Then it pops up my database had to be updated... fine, what can I do? Again, I don't remember a warning saying "this will take forever"... but since the PT4 was already updated, what option did I have if I wanted to play?

So for the next zillion hours my computer was updating the database and I simply lost the whole day of play.

Then in the even let's go for a second try.

Firstly, on 888 tables are not regognizing seats correctly anymore. The 6max tables are always loading my full ring HUD profile, no matter what.

Secondly, the non-vectoring did not solve the "fuzzy font problem". At all. As a matter of fact, it looks exactly like it did before (except that it doesn't change sizes, obviously). So it was something else that is different from PT3, since with PT3 my fonts are as small as size 5 and crisp clear.

Sorry to put all in one thread and not put one thing in each correct thread. I apologize, but it's frustration. 21:25, 12 hours since I woke up, and I couldn't actually play a single hand of poker today (and everyone knows how weekends are on the tables).

[Parket]

So for the next zillion hours my computer was updating the database and I simply lost the whole day of play.

It's a beta release. You shouldn't use a beta if it's that essential/critical for you.

[Erlebnis]

So for the next zillion hours my computer was updating the database and I simply lost the whole day of play.

It's a beta release. You shouldn't use a beta if it's that essential/critical for you.

On the one hand I don't disagree. And it's not essential in the sense I could (hopefully) just close PT4 anytine and load any other tracking software. Or even play without tracking software, not a huge problem there. However, while doing the database update my computer got laggy enough to make the experience very unpleasant - I've tried it.

On the other hand, I think it's precisely because it's a beta and I'm beta testing that I should come here and speak up if I'm frustrated. And I am.

Even Microsoft has learned to put a warning saying roughly "this update may take several minutes" (in the case of PT4, hours) and to clearly put an OPTION to do it at a different time.

I don't know. Maybe if I'm the only one who thinks that then I'm the ET and just please ignore me. But I'd like to click on the "update" button and get a message like: "Udating to this version requires a database update, which may take up to several hours depending on your database size and computer specs." and then buttons to "do it now" or "do it later".

As for the other problems/fixes, it's quite more understandable it happens of course. I'm just trying to do my "duty" here as beta and report these problems rather than thinking "screw it", going back to PT3 or HEM and waiting for a final version to come.

[WhiteRider]

We do appreciate your feedback, and we'd much rather hear about your problems and concerns.
There is a warning in the release notes, although I agree it should be more obvious. I will make sure that the development team are aware of your frustration about this.

[tarix]

This is the exact kind of feedback we are looking for in the beta and we definitely want to make it clearer that an update may take a long time especially on large databases.

[Josh]

When the new beta version of PT4 started, you were presented with a message box displaying this text:

Your database needs to be updated.

This may take a while, depending on how large your database is.

Please do not interrupt PokerTracker during this process as it could result in a corrupt database.

Update your databases now?

We warn you it will take a while and give you the option to not do the update at the current time. What else would you like to see us do?

[Erlebnis]

When the new beta version of PT4 started, you were presented with a message box displaying this text:

Your database needs to be updated.

This may take a while, depending on how large your database is.

Please do not interrupt PokerTracker during this process as it could result in a corrupt database.

Update your databases now?

We warn you it will take a while and give you the option to not do the update at the current time. What else would you like to see us do?

Firstly, to make it clear what "a while" is. Is 5 minutes a while? 20 min.? 30? I wouldn't mind having waited an hour. When I read "a while", I only thought "ok, so I'll have time to get some coffee". It never crossed my mind "a while" would be 8+ hours!

I know it's stupid; however, many users *are* stupid - myself included. I don't think saying "a while" is very user friendly.

Take a look at the Thesaurus dictionary: "while - a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition; [...] (the bold is mine). Now... is ~10 hours short? Now put on top that many users are not even native English speakers (as myself). Finally, people can be distracted, so important warnings should be as clear as possible. Sorry, I didn't think yours was, and I still don't think it is.

Secondly, the warning says "your database *needs* to be updated", and that was AFTER I had updated PT4. Now... did that mean I could use PT4 .06 without updating the database or not? As I understood by the warning, not. It stroke me as a need to update or PT4 woudln't run. (then again, if I've known the "while" was a loooong while I'd have gone use PT3 or HEM). So it should be either clear that I could have used PT4 without updating the database at that point, OR that warning should have come before the software update so I could choose to update or not (since before actually updating I had no idea I would have to update my database, OR that that could potentially take 12 hours).

Any of these two would have saved my day. Quite literally.

The two combined would have been ace.

[Josh]

Thank you for your input.

It's hard to quantify how long "a while" could be. It depends on a lot of factors. Namely:

1. How many databases you have.
2. How many hands are in each database.
3. How fast your CPU is.
4. How fast your hard drive is.
5. What you have running in the background during the update.

The vast majority of our users will have the update take 10-20 minutes, because most of our users don't have massive databases. However, for users who have millions of hands in their databases, the updates are going to take much, much longer.

We will work on the wording to make it more obvious that you can opt out of the update, although in nearly all cases imports won't work and in some cases, reports and the Hud may not function correctly.

Fortunately, we don't require database updates very often. We also try to group the database changes together in a single update, so that you are less inconvenienced.

[Erlebnis]

[...]
We will work on the wording to make it more obvious that you can opt out of the update, although in nearly all cases imports won't work and in some cases, reports and the Hud may not function correctly.
[...]

That's good, but if this is the case then sorry I just can't understand why doesn't that warning come before updating PT4 at all?

That way one could opt out, keep using the previous version (in this case .05) and update both PT4 and the database at a later, more convenient time.

[Josh]

The update box you receive when you open PT4 that notifies you of the new version displays in bold text that this update requires a database update and that it might take a long time.