Messages

1

Substance Integrations - Unity - Re: Substance in Unity 2018: Updated info with each release

 on: March 15, 2019, 08:59:13 pm 

The current version of Substance in Unity on the asset store doesn't seem to be compatible with the current official release of Unity (2018.3.8f1). It just keeps throwing "Substance engine failed to load." when starting unity and then anything that uses the Substance namespace won't work due to missing assembly reference.

EDIT: In case anyone discovers this, it turns out that the Substance plugin is very sensitive to the location of files in the project directory. I had moved a folder to another location, which worked in previous versions but no longer works. Deleting the Substance engine directories entirely and re-importing it put them in the right place and the error disappeared. No guarantee that it works, but at least the error has stopped.

2

Substance - News & Announcements - Re: Allegorithmic is joining the Adobe family (Part2)

 on: January 28, 2019, 01:42:44 am 

"Second, renting is not necessarily the issue imo (a large majority of our current users are in monthly plan and never converts it to perpetual, because they want to get the latest features). It's as if saying renting a house is unfair."
 
I could have purchased a perpetual ages ago, I have been on subscription  WELL over a year.... closer to 2.

It's worse in my case, I've been paying for 4 years and never converted it to perpetual because Allegorithmic literally never told me I had to do it. I bought in right at the very start of the indie live license, and the terms I bought under said that I would automatically own the software after 18 payments. It never said anything about cancelling the subscription or submitting a request to get those permanent licenses, and they never sent me any notification that they were changing those terms.

So stupid me kept paying for 4 years (even when I didn't need to use the software for most of that time) thinking I was at least banking those permanent licenses, and now that I've checked to make sure I have them, it turns out I've been cheated. When Vincent says most people are in the subscription and haven't converted to permanent licenses, I have to wonder how many are in my position and were never told they had to request their licenses manually or that there was some kind of time limit.

I don't even know when that information and those terms were added to the website, but they weren't there in 2015 when I bought. The 2015 website straight up says "This monthly fee goes toward the payment of the actual full license; Once you paid the full price, that’s it. The software is yours forever."

3

Substance - Purchases & Licenses - Re: How to cancel?

 on: January 27, 2019, 11:42:16 pm 

This is only a part of it, and I hope this doesn't breach any agreement, but here, sent on May 4th, 2017:

"Even though major versions will no longer exist, you can still purchase a permanent license of the current release for $49 once you have completed at least 12 consecutive months of payments." - Mods: If I'm not allowed to post this here, please remove it, thank you and sorry.

If this is the email that we were supposedly sent, then they didn't send it to everyone. I definitely didn't get any such email. I got one about a contest on April 27th, then the next email is Substance Source announcement on May 24th. The text you quoted does not appear in any email I've ever received.

4

Substance - News & Announcements - Re: Allegorithmic is joining the Adobe family (Part2)

 on: January 27, 2019, 11:24:29 pm 

Hey guys,

I hate to bring this up again, but I haven't got a satisfactory response yet and I'd like to highlight this issue and get clarification before I send a mail in to support. The full story is over on this thread: https://forum.allegorithmic.com/index.php/topic,27505.0.html but the two main points are:

1) When I first bought the substance indie live subscription the terms I agreed to said explicitly that after 18 payments I would automatically own the software, but 18 months passed and I was never sent a permanent license. I should own permanent licenses for Substance Painter 1, Bitmap2Material 3, and Substance Designer 5 according to the terms of sale I agreed to, but I can't find those licenses anywhere.

2) Around the time of Substance Painter 2 being released, I think, you seem to have changed the terms of sale for the indie live subscription to say that we had to make 8 payments following the release of the software to earn our permanent license, and that we had to request the license. You failed to notify existing users about this change by email (I definitely didn't get one), and I'm pretty sure I didn't open the software this entire time or agree to any new EULA.

I had no idea I was supposed to cancel my subscription and request a license to get one, and I only found out when 2017 came out it was too late to claim the SP2 license. You didn't notify me of the business model change so I had no way to know I was missing that opportunity. I'm definitely supposed to have a permanent license to Substance Painter 2 now too, but I can't find that license anywhere on your site either.


My question is: If I contact support, will they be able to give me those four permanent licenses that you agreed to provide me with but that I somehow missed claiming? That's Substance Painter 1, Bitmap2Material 3, Substance Designer 5, and Substance Painter 2. I'm aware that these are old versions of the software and no longer officially supported, but I'd very much like to get those permanent licenses I'm owed as members of my team do want to use the older versions. I'm very happy to keep my subscription going or pay the $49 fee on cancellation for licenses to the latest version, but I do want those older licenses I was promised.

Second question: If we cancel and pay the $49 fee, what happens to our access to Substance Source and credits accumulated in it?

5

Substance - Purchases & Licenses - Re: Have been subscribed for 4 years. What are my options?

 on: January 25, 2019, 05:29:03 pm 

I've only subscribed for 4 months if I'm not mistaken, and I've always got the emails about license changes. You should have asked for those licenses when you reached the goals, but if you email support, I'm sure they won't mind giving you that old license, plus the newest version if you pay the last 49$.

Yeah, that's what I think we're entitled to. But right now we're being told here that they aren't even going to give us the old versions as promised, and that's a problem.

But as for paying for 4 years or so, you weren't being ripped off, you forget you kept getting the updates, and that ends after you pay the last one to get a perpetual license. You kept paying, but also kept getting updates, remember that

Right, but I would still have got that. As I demonstrated in the timeline above, if I had cancelled at the appropriate times and restarted my subscription, I would still have got every single update over the years but would also have additional separate permanent licenses to Substance Painter 1, Substance Designer 5, Bitmap2Material 3, and Substance Painter 2.

I'm pretty sure those of us who subscribed in 2015 weren't told we had to cancel and claim those keys, we were straight up told that we "own" the software after 18 payments and it was that simple (I included some quotes about that above dug up from Archive.org). And then with Substance Painter 2 we owned that after 8 payments. So I agree, support should give us those old keys if we contact them and we should chill out if that's the resolution. But right now they aren't even offering that.

6

Substance - Purchases & Licenses - Re: Have been subscribed for 4 years. What are my options?

 on: January 25, 2019, 05:07:12 pm 

It was a while ago but I beleive there was at least a newsletter + multiple specific emails sent to users based on our license database.
There was also extensive talks about the changes on the forum at the time: https://forum.allegorithmic.com/index.php?topic=16989.60

I don't think this is correct, there was no mention of any business model changes in your newsletter, and no specific emails sent out to users based on your license database. As I said before, I keep an archive of every email I've ever received and I can find no such email. If you can find out what date range that went out on for me please, I can make 100% sure I never got it.

I found out about the change when I went to log into Substance Painter 2 and it no longer worked, and I had to update to the new non-numbered version. At that point I'd already missed the opportunity to collect my Substance Painter 2 license. I also never got any notification that the original 2015 deal had changed, which was sold to us as we own the software after making 18 payments. So now I've also missed the opportunity to collect my Substance Painter 1, Substance Designer 5, and Bitmap 2 Material 3 licenses.

The way this was sold in 2015 made no mention of a time limit for collecting or having to cancel your subscription and request it, it just told us that we own the software forever after 18 payments. I made the 18 payments and I didn't get a copy of the software that I own forever as promised. Evidently I'm not the only one who was mis-sold the Substance Live Indie service and wasn't given any instructions on collecting permanent versions of the software or informed about business model changes. I'm on 46 payments and have literally nothing to show for it, and so are several other people here.

I would politely request that you please sort these situations out soon to the satisfaction of anyone on way over 12 months of payments who feels like they were misinformed and ripped off. Otherwise Adobe is going to inherit this headache, and I doubt they want it. The minimum resolution you should make is giving us the licenses we paid for and didn't claim because nobody told us we had to (Substance Painter 1, Substance Designer 5, Bitmap 2 Material 3, and Substance Painter 2 permanent licenses).

Though maybe for simplicity and as a show of good faith you could give anyone with over ~20 months or so on their account an extra permanent indie license to the current software version to say thanks for the support? Just something to show you're serious about this committent to the people who have supported you for four years or more to get you this far. I wouldn't even cancel my subscription if you did that, and it realistically wouldn't cost you anything.

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Substance - Purchases & Licenses - Re: How to cancel?

 on: January 24, 2019, 02:03:04 am 

(and you were warned each time)

I sure wasn't.

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Substance - Purchases & Licenses - Re: Have been subscribed for 4 years. What are my options?

 on: January 24, 2019, 01:32:56 am 

Regarding the licenses of previous software (after 16 months, 8 months, etc.) it was always an action from the user: you had to go in your account and request those licenses. When you did so, you started again from scratch. So if you asked licenses in August 2016, it means you had to wait again 16 months to be able to ask for new versions. So your calculation is not right

OK, so to correct this calculation, the timeline is actually:

August 2016: 16 months since starting Substance Live. We should now own:
 - Substance Designer 5 perpetual license
 - Substance Painter 1 perpetual license
 - Bitmap2Material 3 perpetual license
Our number of months accumulated should then be reset to 0.

April 2017: We have now accumulated 8 months of payments, and the current version is Substance Painter 2. We should now also own:
 - Substance Painter 2 perpetual license
Our number of months is then reset to 0 again. There's not enough time to get enough months for Substance Designer 6 before you changed the business model in July 2017

April 2018: We have accumulated 12 months on our account, so if we chose to cancel at any time after this we would be entitled to pay $49.99 for perpetual licenses to the latest releases.

I'm not sure why you didn't ask for those licenses when you had the chance.

It doesn't matter why we didn't ask for those licenses at the time, for the original substance pack the terms of sale at the time made no mention of having to request a license at all. It simply states "You own the product after the 16 month payment period." and "Once you paid the full price, that’s it. The software is yours forever." I unfortunately never downloaded my license key to this software, so I've been cheated out of that.

Regarding the "legally own", every time a change happened in the business model, you were warned by email and had the possibility to go out and get what you signed for, and you also validated those changes each time you used the software as they are in the EULA.

Well that's wrong, I keep an archive of every email I've ever received and Allegorithmic didn't contact me in 2017 to advise of a business model change. The only emails I got around June 2017 were marketing for Substance Days and an announcement of "Substance Painter’s first number-less release" that makes no mention of the business model change. The first time I knew that the model had changed was months later when visiting the site randomly, by which time the opportunity to download my old licenses was gone.

I was also never contacted to explain that I would have to log in to claim my perpetual licenses within specific time frames, so I never did that either and just accumulated 46 useless months on the account. Again, this was NOT in the original 2015 terms of sale that I signed up to, so I had no way to know it.

 

So right now, if you cancel and pay $49, you will get a license of Substance Painter 2018.3 / Substance Designer 2018.3 / Substance B2M. You can also download previous versions of the software up to the version 2017.x.
You have probably been using those versions, so it would make more sense for you to get those current versions instead of an old version from years ago in which you won't be able to open your projects.

I intend to do this to get the current version, but I do also have uses for the old versions. I'm also definitely legally entitled to those older versions because that's what you sold to me in 2015, those were the terms of sale I accepted, and I fulfilled all 16 months according to those terms of sale. So I should be able to contact support to request my unclaimed license keys for:
 - Substance Designer 5 perpetual license
 - Substance Painter 1 perpetual license
 - Bitmap2Material 3 perpetual license
 - Substance Painter 2 perpetual license

Can you understand why people who have paid you over $1,000 dollars in indie licenses and never realised they had to actively claim their release keys are going to feel ripped off? When after 4 years of support and all the rent-to-buy promises in 2015, all we get is a discount on a single license purchase? Is there nothing else that can be done? Because I feel cheated here. I've accumulated 4 licenses worth of payments and have nothing to show for it.

9

Substance - Purchases & Licenses - Re: Have been subscribed for 4 years. What are my options?

 on: January 24, 2019, 12:38:55 am 

Yeah, no that's illegal. Here's what they actually sold us:

In 2015 when Substance Live Indie went live, they sold us this: https://web.archive.org/web/20150322231213/https://www.allegorithmic.com/products/substance-live

"Substance Live Indie gives you access to the 3 main Substance software Substance Designer 5, Substance Painter and Bitmap2Material 3, as well as some exclusive content every month.
Buy Substance Live indie for $299 one-off or $19.90 per month during 16 months (total cost: $318). You own the product after the 16 month payment period."

Up until June 2017 they were still selling us this: https://web.archive.org/web/20170703223359/https://www.allegorithmic.com/products/substance-live/faq

"To obtain a definitive license, you will have to complete 8 monthly payments to get either Substance Painter or Substance Designer, 5 monthly payments for Substance B2M, and 16 monthly payments for Substance Pack."

"The definitive license of a software is available 8 months after the release of the software.
You can request definitive licenses of Substance Painter 2, Substance Designer 5 and Substance B2M3, if you have enough accumulated payments.
Substance Designer 6 will be available for a definitive license in October 2017."

Then on June 2017, they changed the offer to this: https://www.allegorithmic.com/faq-substance

"When you are subscribed for more than 12 months consecutively, when you cancel you get the option to purchase a perpetual license of all the software for $49."

So if we've been subscribed since April 2015, here's what the timeline looks like for us:

August 2016: 16 months since starting Substance Live. We should now own:
 - Substance Designer 5 perpetual license
 - Substance Painter 1 perpetual license
 - Bitmap2Material 3 perpetual license

November 2016: 8 months since Substance Painter 2 was released. We should now also own:
 - Substance Painter 2 perpetual license

October 2017: 8 months since Substance Designer 6 was released. Since we bought that before June 2017's new business model came into effect, we should now own:
 - Substance Designer 6 perpetual license

Today: Since we have over 12 months of months on our account, when we cancel we get the option to pay $49.99 for perpetual licenses to the latest release (I think 2019.something). If we choose not to do that, we get no license. I'm pretty annoyed that we are only entitled to one license even if we have accumulated multiple 12-month periods (I'm on 46 months), but that's the way it's worded.


So if I cancel today and choose to pay nothing (or even if I keep the subscription going), I should currently own the following separate licenses that I paid for:
 - Substance Designer 5 perpetual license
 - Substance Painter 1 perpetual license
 - Bitmap2Material 3 perpetual license
 - Substance Painter 2 perpetual license
 - Substance Designer 6 perpetual license

These are the pieces of software that we LEGALLY OWN as part of Allegorithmic's pre-June 2017 rent to buy scheme. We own these. They have no right to deny us these.


And if I cancel and choose to pay the $49.99, I should get the following separate licenses that I paid for:
 - Substance Designer 5 perpetual license
 - Substance Painter 1 perpetual license
 - Bitmap2Material 3 perpetual license
 - Substance Painter 2 perpetual license
 - Substance Designer 6 perpetual license
 - Substance Painter 2019 perpetual license
 - Substance Designer 2019 perpetual license
 - Substance B2M 2019 perpetual license
 - Substance Source perpetual license? (not sure)

10

Substance - Purchases & Licenses - Re: How to cancel?

 on: January 24, 2019, 12:05:20 am 

Wait, so when we cancel our subscriptions to get a perpetual license, it still asks us to pay $49.99 for that license? But it's been on sale for $99.99 before, so we've paid hundreds of dollars in subscriptions for a 50% off coupon?

In that case, we've been massively mis-sold this software. When I first signed up, the terms explicitly stated "You own the product after the 16 month payment period." You can look up the old website on archive.org and see it right there in black and white. So we should have got a perpetual license to that at the 16 month mark automatically. Same with the next version. And the next.

11

Substance - Purchases & Licenses - Have been subscribed for 4 years. What are my options?

 on: January 23, 2019, 08:32:36 pm 

I have been a supporter of Substance since the early days and got on board when the indie licence came out. My license page shows that I have made 46 license payments over the past 4 years.

Initially I bought the subscription because of the promise that payments would stop once the full purchase price was reached, but that never happened. I then stayed subscribed for 4 years because of the regular updates and because I wanted to support development. But if I had just bought the software outright and even all of the one time license upgrades, I would only have paid a fraction of the amount I have over the years.

With the announcement that Adobe will be buying Substance, I'm looking at my options regarding getting permanent licenses that can't later be revoked (I have had bad experience with Adobe in this area). And having seen that I've paid so much into that subscription, I'm now feeling very stupid -- I could have bought multiple permanent licenses and all the upgrades for the same amount. Hell, I've now paid more for this indie license than it costs for a permanent pro license.

Could someone from Allegrorithmic to please explain what my options are for getting permanent licenses? Is my only option to cancel my subscription and get one permanant license for the current software versions, and just consider the rest of the amount I've paid as a very expensive lesson? Or is there a way to convert that into multiple licenses?

EDIT: Also, the Upgrade Licenses page on the subscription page is blank.

12

Substance Painter - Discussions - Re: Cannot load this project with this software version: Cannot decode data

 on: July 14, 2016, 05:57:54 pm 

We got this bug after updating to the latest version. I think it happened because we had Substance Painter 1 and 2 both installed, and after the update it was trying to load projects in Substance Painter 1 by default for some reason.

13

Substance Painter - Technical Support - Re: Substance Painter 2.03 to 2.11 - Blinn (non PBR) shader missing?

 on: July 14, 2016, 03:04:57 pm 

What shader did you loaded over the outdated one ? The rendering shouldn't have changed.

When I loaded the old project, it updated the project and the shader showed as something like "(outdated)" Blinn (non PBR)" but a few seconds after that the model automatically appeared to visibly change despite still showing the outdated shader as the one being currently used. When I went to change the Shader, the outdated shader was no longer in the list and could not be selected, and it wasn't in the shelf. I cycled through the ones that were there, and I think the one that visibly matched the new rendering was the car paint shader but I can't be sure on that as I've now reverted to the old version.

Was the Blinn shader removed due to a technical issue or has Allegorithmic decided to no longer support this feature? I'll be switching to a PBR-based shader in future projects, but for my current project I need a standard Blinn shader.

14

Substance Painter - Technical Support - Re: Can I download an older version of painter?

 on: July 14, 2016, 02:45:24 pm 

I still have a copy of the old 2.03 installer, am I allowed to share it with transistor?

I would recommend against for security reasons.
It would be best to download installers from our website since we can certify they don't contain any malicious software.

EDIT: Found an official link to 2.03 on the allegorithmic public release server: https://alg-releases.s3.amazonaws.com/public_releases/substance-painter/2.x/Substance_Painter_2-2.0.3.1117-msvc11-x64-standard-full.exe

15

Substance Painter - Technical Support - Re: Can I download an older version of painter?

 on: July 13, 2016, 06:06:34 pm 

I still have a copy of the old 2.03 installer, am I allowed to share it with transistor?