Initial impressions

The Archives Archived: Zwift Feedback
1

Thank you for inviting me to the beta. I downloaded and used it briefly (so far), and here are my initial impressions:

download / install was straight-forward. I ended up not having a 3dAudio.dll (not real name, but close) file that was needed, but got that with a default installation / upgrade of DirectX from Microsoft. Is this a .dll you can include in your install?

Does the game run in “full-screen” mode? I can still see my task bar and the game’s window frame when it runs.

Getting right to riding was quick and easy. However, I stumbled across the “game paused” only when I stopped pedaling. Is there a hotkey or something for this if I want to get stats during the game - or just pause? I suppose just stopping to pedal would work though, so…

It would be nice (after a ride?) to see my current accomplishments and what level I am, how much more I have to go. I don’t believe this is in the “pause” screens, but perhaps I missed it if it is.

On a second small ride, I was having a hard time keeping my connections to the speed/cadence/hr/power. I would be going along, then they would all just go to 0. Then they would come back. I was left wondering if I was out-of-range (i.e. too far for the ANT+ dongle) or if it was something else.

Looking forward to auto-update of Strava, however I was able to manually upload the .fit files, so…

I guess that’s about it for now. I’m really excited to dig in more and go on longer rides as well.

As an aside, I’m a software engineer and would would love to know if there’s more I can help with. If you see an opportunity (pre-releases or something), I’d be interested in helping. Also, if there’s more specific information you’re looking for, or a different/better way to give feedback, please let me know.

Again, thanks for the invite as well!
Eric Welch

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Eric, thanks for the feedback. This is exactly the kind of stuff we hoped to get from you guys. I don’t think we have any specific needs from you due to being a software guy, but I suspect your bug reports might make my life easier than others. :slight_smile:

  1. We do included a directX installer, however it seems about 10% of the machines don’t let it run and you were in that batch. We’ve just changed how we do this so hopefully it’ll be resolved for future testers.

  2. No fullscreen mode yet. Once we’re more confident in Zwift’s stability on the variety of machines we see in this Beta we’ll hide the task bar and title screen. For now it allows for an easy navigation out of a crash.

  3. Stopping is the only way to see the pause screen. We ideally don’t want to require folks to have to have a keyboard next to them while riding, so we’re trying to make things simple and automatic where possible.

  4. I think you’ll be happy with some updates to the pause screen that are coming soon. :slight_smile:

  5. We’ve had some major success using a usb extension cable. I think we’ll have to add a signal strength meter to give you guys an idea of when you have a poor signal. ANT+ doesn’t travel well through objects and is pretty susceptible to interference.

  6. Soon!