Spare a thought for Backstage. It must be feeling a bit jaded at present. It does seems a pity that it's general maintenance and profile appear neglected.

It`s over due for new content updates and has had a misleading graphic displayed on front page for some weeks now.

A while ago we were all invited by RL to take part in a survey concerning our use and experience of Backstage. A number of people also made comments on the forum particularly that finding items there was not an easy processes as the search facility was rudimentary at best.

Is there any news that the Backstage Store may be due for a major refit soon ?

I ask because I think Backstage is an excellent concept. I have found it very reliable in the downloading and installing of content. I do hope RL don't intend to simply let this facility quietly fade away.

Good news anyone?

Geoff.

Thanks for the feedback Geoff.

The team are constantly looking at ways to improve BackStage and there will be new content and improvements coming to the service in the future.

In the meantime, please let us know what you would like to see added that would make BackStage easier and more enjoyable to use. I'll make sure the suggestions are looked at.

Thanks.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Thank you for your response Peter.

Good to know that updates and improvements to Backstage are on the way.

As mentioned in my original post (and elsewhere on the forum by others) a more comprehensive search facility would be most helpful.

To give an extended example I really appreciated a while ago being able to buy the "spitfire" from the WW11 pack as a separate item instead of the expense of the whole pack. One of the reasons I am a keen supporter of the Backstage facility is it provides me with choice, flexibility and value.

If you type "plane" into Backstage search you get 0-match. If you type airplane (US English) or aeroplane (UK English) you still get 0-match. Even more surprisingly "aircraft" produces 0-match result. Now Spitfire produces the Spitfire but I know there are other aircraft in Backstage. How do I find them? At present by the laborious job of clicking through many slow loading pages? If there is a quicker way, how do I find what I should do? Where is it explained that if I take the C190 ref number from the spitfire and type that back into the search I will then be able to find the other "planes"?

When you log into Backstage you get a picture preview panel on the right. This has latest items at the top (Currently showing Campus Cafeteria / Teenagers/Desert Storm Army base). They have a code number so C350 will produce all the new Cafeteria content. This is really useful but the view needs extending(scrolling window?) to cover all the packs in Backstage. At present I can't see a quick picture reference and code for packs like WW2, Horror movies or Wedding Planner items. By doing a word search "Wedding" produces 126 results but "Marriage" only 4.

If someone is currently looking for "Holiday Season" content items they will get a different set of results depending on whether they search with "Xmas" or "Christmas" and possibly miss some items which they would find useful. It would be much more user friendly if both words produced a complete list of appropriate content.

Backstage does seems to expect a degree of prior knowledge of the content nomenclature. It doesn't really support the process of trying to find what`s available.

Perhaps a relevant "You may also like to look at" suggestion window would help to guide us through items in the system. I think this will become increasingly important as the amount of content available expands.

I do hope RL had a good response to their summer Backstage survey initiative from other users and have found their suggestions and comments of value for considering future improvements to the service.

Thanks again Peter.

Geoff.

Really great feedback Geoff. Thanks for taking the time explain the problems you are encountering with finding content in BackStage.

For sure the search system for BackStage needs enhancing. Your points will be reviewed and hopefuly it won't be too long before improvements are added.

Thanks again.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

I know this isnt quite the wishlist area, but just while it crosses my mind :)

A couple of other things backstage could do a little better are.

1. Install downloads into proper folders if they come from sets rather than just dump them in the root directory

2. An easy option to find the remaining pieces of sets if. I.e. if over time you've picked up most of one of the urban packs and want to fill out the bits your missing it would be nice to be able to click on a button and back stage to say you have these from pack X and these from pack Y installed, remaining are...