[Paracelsus]

some of you are acting like dark souls is a required program to run your pc goddamn! cancel your pre-orders and don't buy the game. simple. Send a nicely worded email to Namco. be sensible. sheesh. i'm disapointed too but let's be more chill.

Games from this generation, the ones without a pc port, will age like feces.

We had the chance of having the pc version of one the very, very few gems from this generation and it's almost worse than the console version. Had this happened for RDR there would be pitchforks all over the place.

[Vulcano's assistant]

I've been around the Dark Souls PC threads for awhile and I've seen plenty of people who are/were holding out for a PC release and never played it on consoles. It's not just console guys wanting to play the game at max settings.

How come if they played the game they are "console guys"? /jk
Anyway, those wanting to play the game again at good IQ are arguably the most dissapointed out of all of this.

[Psi]

Am I weird for liking the 15fps kick? I'd kill for that in games like MW3 where some motherfuckers skip around like crazy.

Might want to wait and see how many PCs can make it through Blighttown before being happy about it.

[Ultrabum]

I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed but an ex Ubi Soft developper shares his view on all this : http://brokenforum.com/index.php?thr...43#post-208718 Plenty of technical details.

I enjoyed this post, thank you for including some actual examples!

[Aguirre]

Am I weird for liking the 15fps kick? I'd kill for that in games like MW3 where some motherfuckers skip around like crazy.

so it the game notices it drops to 15fps, it reverts to desktop, having you to relaunch the game?

no thanks, oh man lols

[RionaaM]

I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed but an ex Ubi Soft developper shares his view on all this : http://brokenforum.com/index.php?thr...43#post-208718 Plenty of technical details.

Would you prefer I call you a graphics whore then? It's a term I haven't trotted out in a long time but I will happily add it back to my vernacular.

I mean, lets be honest here, we are talking about people taking a pass on one of the greatest games ever made because they don't like the size of the pixels. If that's not graphics whoredom, I don't know what is!

The guy's a fucking troll. I don't care how much it would have cost From to properly port the game, what they did with the pc version is an inexcusable disaster, no matter how good the base game is.

[Eideka]

I don't agree with him at all buy I thought the technical insight he provides to be interesting.

Perhaps Durante could clear up some points.

[drizzle]

This comparison has probably already been done, but for reference I play on a 2560x1440 monitor. I just chose the first game in my Steam quicklaunch, which was Crysis Warhead Because these screens are at 2560x1440, I'll link to them instead NATIVE (2560x1440): http://www.abload.de/img/256014409ru5x.jpg 1280X720 (higher res that Dark Souls internal framebuffer): http://www.abload.de/img/1280720u6uht.jpg 1024x768: http://www.abload.de/img/1024768heuz9.jpg If anyone thinks this is okay, they have problems. It's fucking painful on the eyes. And for the record, if I were to play in window at 1280x720, this is how much of my monitor would be taken up: http://www.abload.de/img/lol85u3g.jpg edit: to see the full size image, click on the image after you've opened the link.

This is a pretty good comparison shot of how things could look better in dark souls if it had a unlocked internal framebuffer.

The only thing wrong with these pictures is that the 1024x768 resolution of dark souls won't actually look stretched when scaled up because the rendering has that in mind.

In other words, the game is rendered at incorrect proportions so, when it's scaled up, it ends up in the proper proportion.

Otherwise, great post.

so it the game notices it drops to 15fps, it reverts to desktop, having you to relaunch the game? no thanks, oh man lols

Nope, you get kicked to the main screen, like you lost connection to the server. You just continue from there, instantly.

Also, I believe this thing happens when you're online, not at all the time. But then again, I though they wouldn't lock down the resolution, so you know...

[zephervack]

I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed but an ex Ubi Soft developper shares his view on all this : http://brokenforum.com/index.php?thr...43#post-208718 Plenty of technical details.

Hope for a community mod diminishing. :(

[spindoctor]

Am I weird for liking the 15fps kick? I'd kill for that in games like MW3 where some motherfuckers skip around like crazy.

For a game that doesn't even seem to hold a steady 30fps on benchmark systems and is a direct port of a console game that dropped into single digit framerates at places, you should be very worried about this 15fps rubbish if you're getting the game and don't have an absolutely top of the line system.

[SalsaShark]

When I first bought Unreal back in 1998. My computer could barely handle it. I played at 640x480, minimum settings, and at times had to size the game window down to the smallest size to get playable FPS during the titan battles and I still loved it.

Im sorry but this might just be the most retarded argument ive seen here for quite a while.

The reason you werent able to play Unreal as it was meant to was because your computer wasnt up to the task, not because the port was pure shit. I would have had no problems with it either knowing that.

This game basically works worse the better your computer is. It's retarded, backwards, and possibly the worst port ever released in a modern game world.

I get that people who desperately wanna play the game are gonna get it and somehow suffer through it, but dont try to legitimize it and counter-argument the popular opinion or "defend" this piece of crap.

People here (me included) spent next to one thousand bucks to build their PCs and are now being told that they're gonna get the worst fucking shitty Dark Souls experience they could get and you're comparing it to your PC being "not good enough" for Unreal? are you kidding?

and for a second here lets look at your other argument:

True, but that is no fault of video game devs. Sucks that our current display tech has regressed in some ways.

wat

you are blaming the fact that the upscale resolution is gonna look terrible on the fault of LCD screens and saying it's NOT THE FAULT OF THE GAME DEVS.

dude you're gonna make my brain explode. LCDs obviously have disadvantages over CRTs but unless you're a super comeptitive quake live player the advantages that it does have more than make up for it. There's a reason why LCDs are more popular now and NO ONE who designs a game does it with CRTs as the display on mind.

This is an issue that never happened in PC games in fucking years, even when LCDs have taken over since a long while ago, and you're saying it is "not the devs fault that games look worse on LCDs".

Of course it's the devs fault, it's the devs fault that they cant take advantage of a high resolution of an LCD screen in 2012 and the dev's fault alone.


People defending this crap are mind boggling

[Aguirre]

This is a pretty good comparison shot of how things could look better in dark souls if it had a unlocked internal framebuffer. The only thing wrong with these pictures is that the 1024x768 resolution of dark souls won't actually look stretched when scaled up because the rendering has that in mind. In other words, the game is rendered at incorrect proportions so, when it's scaled up, it ends up in the proper proportion. Otherwise, great post. Nope, you get kicked to the main screen, like you lost connection to the server. You just continue from there, instantly. Also, I believe this thing happens when you're online, not at all the time. But then again, I though they wouldn't lock down the resolution, so you know...

so basically, i can play half life 2, a game from 2004 in 1080x1920 and not dark souls?

worst port ever?

[aeolist]

I remember what this reminds me of now - Final Fantasy 7 PC

I think that game had two possible rendering resolutions though

[sp3000]

I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed but an ex Ubi Soft developper shares his view on all this : http://brokenforum.com/index.php?thr...43#post-208718 Plenty of technical details.

Guy is a complete idiot. Probably got fired from ubisoft with how technically incompetent he is. His 3rd, 4th, and 5th points are completely WRONG.

Fillrate on modern video cards is measured in GIGA texels. 1 to 2 gigatexels of fillrate is NOTHING.

He sounds like the same sort of person who would justify the need for Ubisoft rootkit DRM

[scitek]

I remember what this reminds me of now - Final Fantasy 7 PC I think that game had two possible rendering resolutions though

But it had 2D backgrounds that literally can't be changed, right?

[TucoBenedictoPacifico]

I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed but an ex Ubi Soft developper shares his view on all this : http://brokenforum.com/index.php?thr...43#post-208718 Plenty of technical details.

I'm sorry but I don't find any of these reasons acceptable, when pretty much any single developer around can easily manage most of these issues.
Some of those he listed aren't even proper issues: yeah, in a much higher resolution you will most likely notice more that textures are low quality. No shit. Still, I would prefer that by far to playing the game in non-native resolution for my monitor.
Others have hardly any correlation with locked down resolution ("online stuff"???).

On top of that, his own conclusion is a very strong hint about how he's essentially fishing for excuses, trying very hard to justify all this just because of his appreciation for the game:

I’m going to stop here. I can’t say for certain any of these happened or were an issue, but all of these things have been problems I’ve seen in game development in the past. And all of them are major issues that lead to hard choices. So yeah. I don’t give a shit that the greatest game made in recent history has a locked framerate and a low res frame buffer. Plus I already played it on my PC monitor and it still looked pretty damn great.

[mxgt]

I don't think anyone should take what that guy says seriously after he posted this:

I mean, lets be honest here, we are talking about people taking a pass on one of the greatest games ever made because they don't like the size of the pixels. If that's not graphics whoredom, I don't know what is!

Sounds like a lot of gaf'ers ITT

[rybrad]

On the plus side, every bad PC port after this will seem better! We should be thanking FROM for indirectly making all PC ports better by perception.

[Sethos]

Ex Ubi developer you say, because Ubi is known for the quality PC ports. Delays and doesn't even support 16:10 natively. He needs to suck a lemon.

[mesmerMAN]

i'm just taking it as a "fool me once FROM PC developers". their next PC game is their dealbreaker on wether i buy their games for PC or stick to console versions.

[Tain]

Even if he's apologizing for From and has a couple questionable points (including some horrible ones in future posts), his post is valuable for showing a few possible reasons as to why From might have been too lazy to allow people to select resolutions and run at higher framerates.

[zkylon]

I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed but an ex Ubi Soft developper shares his view on all this : http://brokenforum.com/index.php?thr...43#post-208718 Plenty of technical details.

Whiny entitled PC gamers? Even if he's probably right in some respects, the guy's a troll. Worst port in history lol...

[Krappadizzle]

So what are the chances of multi-threaded optimization? Be sure those clocks are high gentleman.

[Rayge]

I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed but an ex Ubi Soft developper shares his view on all this : http://brokenforum.com/index.php?thr...43#post-208718 Plenty of technical details.

Read everything.. and I'm still just shaking my head. I look at a company like Vigil who took the time to make a proper PC release for Darksiders after seeing so many people demand it on PC. They were a new studio, with less people, and probably less money to work with. Then I look at Dark Souls and I'm just confused. From Software has been around for decades and they don't know how to program a PC game when they program console games with PCs? Sure people could say "why don't you do better?" Well if I screw up doing something in my job that every other person has been doing right for years, I would want criticism thrown my way so I could correct it.

I’m going to stop here. I can’t say for certain any of these happened or were an issue, but all of these things have been problems I’ve seen in game development in the past. And all of them are major issues that lead to hard choices. So yeah. I don’t give a shit that the greatest game made in recent history has a locked framerate and a low res frame buffer. Plus I already played it on my PC monitor and it still looked pretty damn great.

And I don't care where this guy used to work. His last line just flushed everything down the toilet because I now see that he's too infatuated with the game.

[kodt]

Im sorry but this might just be the most retarded argument ive seen here for quite a while. The reason you werent able to play Unreal as it was meant to was because your computer wasnt up to the task, not because the port was pure shit. I would have had no problems with it either knowing that. This game basically works worse the better your computer is. It's retarded, backwards, and possibly the worst port ever released in a modern game world. I get that people who desperately wanna play the game are gonna get it and somehow suffer through it, but dont try to legitimize it and counter-argument the popular opinion or "defend" this piece of crap. People here (me included) spent next to one thousand bucks to build their PCs and are now being told that they're gonna get the worst fucking shitty Dark Souls experience they could get and you're comparing it to your PC being "not good enough" for Unreal? are you kidding? and for a second here lets look at your other argument:

I never said that this was a good decision, or that it is perfectly fine or anything. My only point is that it doesn't make the game worse. It is still a good game.

I don't think the PC version will be the worst experience, the previews have suggested the frame rate is better than the console versions. Unless GFWL deletes your save though, then yes this would be the worst version. I don't know if this is still an issue with GFWL.

wat you are blaming the fact that the upscale resolution is gonna look terrible on the fault of LCD screens and saying it's NOT THE FAULT OF THE GAME DEVS. dude you're gonna make my brain explode. LCDs obviously have disadvantages over CRTs but unless you're a super comeptitive quake live player the advantages that it does have more than make up for it. There's a reason why LCDs are more popular now and NO ONE who designs a game does it with CRTs as the display on mind. This is an issue that never happened in PC games in fucking years, even when LCDs have taken over since a long while ago, and you're saying it is "not the devs fault that games look worse on LCDs". Of course it's the devs fault, it's the devs fault that they cant take advantage of a high resolution of an LCD screen in 2012 and the dev's fault alone. People defending this crap are mind boggling

You are misreading what I said. I only said it is not the devs fault that current display technology is worse in some regards. I did not suggest that this makes it ok for them to leave out proper resolution options.

Of course it's not the devs fault the games look worse on LCDs at non native resolutions. The same is true for every single game out there.

[Zeliard]

I played Dark Souls - and all PS3 games - on a 1920x1200 monitor w/ aspect ratio scaler. If anyone was wondering, yeah, it looks pretty shaky when upscaled. :p

Still hard to get annoyed about this, because it just isn't remotely surprising. I don't think anything that happens in gaming has the capacity to negatively surprise me anymore, after the past several years. It's old hat at this point.

[Teknoman]

I played Dark Souls - and all PS3 games - on a 1920x1200 monitor w/ aspect ratio scaler. If anyone was wondering, yeah, it looks pretty shaky when upscaled. :p Still hard to get annoyed about this, because it just isn't remotely surprising. I don't think anything that happens in gaming has the capacity to negatively surprise me anymore, after the past several years. It's old hat at this point.

Kinda have a point, since every time I hear about a console to PC port, I have to wait and wonder if it'll be messed up.

[EatinOlives]

I never said that this was a good decision, or that it is perfectly fine or anything. My only point is that it doesn't make the game worse. It is still a good game.

And nobody's saying the game itself is bad. Christ, do we have to repeat the same things in the same topic ad nauseum?

I understand that this a really great game, honestly I do. But you're being WAY too defensive over this. People are pissed at the port, not at the game. Nobody's insulting the game itself, put the fork down already.

[kodt]

And nobody's saying the game itself is bad. Christ, do we have to repeat the same things in the same topic ad nauseum? I understand that this a really great game, honestly I do. But you're being WAY too defensive over this. People are pissed at the port, not at the game. Nobody's insulting the game itself, put the fork down already.

Most people are saying they refuse to play it though.

[Treemonkeys]

Most people are saying they refuse to play it though.

..and they shouldn't be able to choose this or something? When you are used to every single game running a native resolution, not having that can ruin it for you.

[mxgt]

Most people are saying they refuse to play it though.

Because the port is one of the worst ever seen, not because of the game.

For me it's the fact that I refuse to support this utter ineptitude.

It's truly a shame because the game is probably in my top 2 or 3 this gen, but I can't justify giving money to people who don't give a shit.

[GoofsterStud]

Most people are saying they refuse to play it though.

It's amazing what a shoddy PC port will do. Doesn't meet PC gaming minimal standards, NEXT.

[EatinOlives]

Most people are saying they refuse to play it though.

That's still not outrage at the game itself, that's outrage at the port.

If the port is so unbelievably bad that nobody wants to touch the game itself, it's not because people are being unreasonable, but because the port is really that bad. If people didn't give a fuck about the game itself we wouldn't be having 47 pages about it.

[kodt]

Because the port is one of the worst ever seen, not because of the game. For me it's the fact that I refuse to support this utter ineptitude. It's truly a shame because the game is probably in my top 2 or 3 this gen, but I can't justify giving money to people who don't give a shit.

..and they shouldn't be able to choose this or something? When you are used to every single game running a native resolution, not having that can ruin it for you.

Of course you can skip the game if you don't think it's worth it.

My point is the pros outweigh the cons. Nearly everyone else seems to think the cons outweigh the pros. That is the gist of the argument here.

I've said it tons of times, but how is the game unplayable on PC but playable on PS3 when they look virtually identical?

[Akkad]

OK, a mod needs to close this topic. Nothing is being discussed and people are just going around in circles.

[1-D_FTW]

I don't think anyone should take what that guy says seriously after he posted this: Sounds like a lot of gaf'ers ITT

Yeah. I thought the whole post was douchbaggery.

And is it confirmed he's actually a developer? Because a lot of it smelled like bullshit (although who knows).

EDIT: Actually I take that last part back. I do know. When have low polygon models ever looked worse at high resolutions? Never in my experience. Old games look much better at higher resolutions. And by old, I mean a whole lot more primitive than Dark Souls.

[zkylon]

Most people are saying they refuse to play it though.

With much pain. I already bought it and I plan to test it out, but if I find it a below what I deem playable then I will painfully have to move on to something else. I hope someone fixes FROM's mess, but really, it's not about validating my high-end PC expense (I don't have such a high-end PC anyways), I just want the game to look decent.

[Varna]

Man. I just couldn't do it. Sent in my cancel request at GMG. When it's released, hopefully something happens that will help alleviate these issues. I'll gladly buy it for 40 bucks then.

[mxgt]

I've said it tons of times, but how is the game unplayable on PC but playable on PS3 when they look virtually identical?

It's unplayable for me in fullscreen (see: the screenshots I posted on previous page), it literally hurts my eyes to play like that.

I just don't want to squint at a window that isn't even half the size of my monitor. It's not unplayable like that of course, I just refuse to play it. There's no point for me to play it over the PS3 version.

I game mainly on PC for the massive advantages it provides over consoles. There is no advantage with this port, only disadvantages in my case.

[JaseC]

Most people are saying they refuse to play it though.

I think you'll find that the refusal to play the game is a consequence of the refusal to support a, to put it lightly, undesirable port.

[Razek]

Would you guys play this if the resolution was fixed but it still contained GFWL, the low FPS kick 'feature', and 30fps only?

[Humenkind]

Would you guys play this if the resolution was fixed but it still contained GFWL, The low FPS kick 'feature', and 30fps only?

No, it's still bad for pc standards.

[scitek]

If the game is modded and the resolution unlocked, a lot of people are going to look really dumb for defending it.

[MoonLightWave]

I've said it tons of times, but how is the game unplayable on PC but playable on PS3 when they look virtually identical?

Going from 1080p or more to 720p is not pleasant.

[kodt]

It's unplayable for me in fullscreen (see: the screenshots I posted on previous page), it literally hurts my eyes to play like that. I just don't want to squint at a window that isn't even half the size of my monitor. It's not unplayable like that of course, I just refuse to play it. There's no point for me to play it over the PS3 version. I game mainly on PC for the massive advantages it provides over consoles. There is no advantage with this port, only disadvantages in my case.

So really it is unplayable on a high res PC monitor is what we are saying. Because if you connected it to a TV it should look just like the PS3 or 360 version.

[aeolist]

My point is the pros outweigh the cons. Nearly everyone else seems to think the cons outweigh the pros. That is the gist of the argument here.

Well, I haven't ever played the game before. I tried Demon's Souls and couldn't get into it, but thought about picking this one up because the PC version should be miles better technically and people have said it's more accessible. Now I won't.

There's bound to be a lot of people on the fence about this, either because they don't have a console or haven't wanted to deal with the issues it has on PS3 and 360. I have to think this news is going to save most of them $40 and a lot of grief, and people like you haranguing them for it are frankly despicable.

[Varna]

Would you guys play this if the resolution was fixed but it still contained GFWL, the low FPS kick 'feature', and 30fps only?

I was prepared for GFWL and 30 FPS lock when I purchased it.

[rybrad]

Would you guys play this if the resolution was fixed but it still contained GFWL, the low FPS kick 'feature', and 30fps only?

That would put it much closer to other crappy ports in terms of issues. At that point the pros would probably equal the cons so call it a toss up.

[EatinOlives]

So really it is unplayable on a high res PC monitor is what we are saying. Because if you connected it to a TV it should look just like the PS3 or 360 version.

Again, what's acceptable for the 360 or PS3 isn't necessarily acceptable for a PC version. They're more different than you think.

[Mattdaddy]

Would you guys play this if the resolution was fixed but it still contained GFWL, the low FPS kick 'feature', and 30fps only?

Yea I would. That other stuff makes me groan, but the resolution issue so ridiculous I feel obligated to have a counter reaction.