[2021] No option to upgrade to 19.4 stable?

The current stable is always to opt out of all betas. The betas tab only lists old and experimental versions.

Originally posted by silicon.penguin67: Okay, disabled betas, and it downloaded an update... Maybe this will have worked. Thank you. Weird how I have to disable "Betas" to upgrade to a new "Alpha", but that's a discussion for another day.

The beta's tab in 7DTD is used a bit differently due to it's alpha nature. It hosts the final version of most of the prior alphas (A8-A18), plus the different minor releases of the Current alpha (A19.0, A19.1, A19.2, A19.3), and, when applicable, the experimental version of the next version; In this case the next experimental will either be for A19.5 if they're doing a 19.5, Or it'll be for A20.0.

And, more importantly, The betas tab is a Steam thing. TFP has no control over what it's called, Or it'd likely be named something besides betas.

Originally posted by silicon.penguin67: TY all, that worked. As a side note: I think at this point, TFP see the "Alpha" label as somewhat a tongue in cheek joke. After selling the game for 8 years, with millions of copies sold, it isn't an "Alpha" product anymore. I think, realistically, that the upcoming "Alpha 20" version will be more of a 2.0, or 3.0 product. I foresee The Fun Pimps carrying on with the "Alpha" moniker until they stop developing the game some time between 2030-2040...

The alpha stage of any program or game continues until all planned features are implemented- TFP have had a working list from the start of all the intended features. Until all intended features are included/implemented into the game, the game will factually be in an Alpha state.

Alternatively, they could give up on a bunch of the features that were promised at the start and just call it done; But the negative repercussions of that would be immeasurable in comparison to continuing development to intended completion and bothering a few people who are dissatisfied with how long the games been in development.

It could be argued till we're blue in the face whether or not the game has been in development for too long- But there is one certain thing here:
Alpha is an incomplete state of a game/program that has not had all of it's features implemented; Things change frequently and often dramatically, entire systems may be ripped out and replaced.
Beta begins when a feature lock is enacted; All intended features are in the game and developmental priority moves to bug fixing, optimization, and minor balance changes. Beta closely resembles the finished product- The features are all there, it just lacks the polishing necessary to be called a released product.
And release, of course, is release. The 1.0; All features in, and ideally a level of polish that could let the program be called a finished product.

7DTD is an Alpha. There is no room for discussion about that. It's not a joke, It's not an excuse, It's a reality of development that many do not understand or properly comprehend. It may or may not have been in development too long- As said, we could argue that till we're blue in the face. We could also argue whether or not Early Access is a good thing, but that's not really the point here.

TL;DR: 7DTD is, factually and no joke, an alpha product until it's feature complete or the remaining to-be-included features are abandoned.


In any case, Glad the issue was figured out. Enjoy A19.4 :)