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Alan Wake PC | Tech, performance and information thread

J

jim-jam bongs

Member
Some of the lighting effects in this game are amazing, the volumetrics in particular are very believable. Also, the maps are huge. I don't want to start the whole open-world argument here, but I will say that the game does a really good job of creating a sense of scale. I just made my way to (Episode 2)
Lover's Peak, and I liked how they point out the radio tower in the prologue section and then make it genuinely useful for navigation. By the time you reach your destination it's gone from a small stick off in the distance to a big metal rod looming over you, so it really makes it feel like a big trek.

Jtrizzy said:
In Uncharted, you collect artifacts. This fits into the story, and provides gamers with a little collection thing. Alan Wake does the same thing with manuscripts, which flesh out the story. Adding the thermos is pointless, it would be like ND add little Indiana Jones hats throughout the world to collect.

Random collectathons are fine in open world games and others that aren't attempting to be cinematic, linear, story driven etc. It's a minor complaint of course, but I just see it as an unnecessary addition for people who like "cheevos", and stuff like that is bad design choice in this game imo.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with this. It's not a huge deal, but aside from Alan professing his love for coffee there doesn't seem to be much thematic relevance, whereas the manuscript pages are obviously loaded with meaning.
 
T

TheExplodingHead

Banned
So far it's been running great, only on chapter 3 so far though. But the lowest I've seen it dip was 42fps, usually I sit at a smooth 58-60fps.

Specs (running at 1080p):

i7 965 @3.8GHz
GTX 580 3GB
8GB DDR3
120GB SSD

I'm really loving seeing this game in full HD after two playthroughs on 360, looks unbelievable. Great lighting, some of the best I've seen.
 
C

closnyc

Banned
man, that no HUD option for screenshots, is so beastly. I play on hardest with no HUD, hard game or maybe its just me.
 
P

plagiarize

Banned
FGMPR said:
I'm on a 580 @1680x1050 with all settings maxed (2x AA) and it runs silky smooth, so I'll second that. I'm not sure what the poster was on about yesterday when he said the performance didn't justify the games appearance.
Click to expand...

pretty much just the textures and poly counts.

i'm just glad to see the game reaching a new audience. replaying it, i'd forgotten how much i enjoy it too, so that's been nice. i sort of had this mentality of 'must beat before American Nightmare' like, i'd have to push myself through it... but it's more like i have to tear myself away from it. finished up episode 3 earlier. now i'm worried about finishing it earlier and not having anything to tide me over.
 
J

Jtrizzy

Member
I'd love to hear about the challenges or pro's and cons of doing a game like this in an open world engine vs how ND does the Uncharted series, they have a lot of similarities obviously.

Story wise, they're both pretty good for games. Not sure I really care for the episodic structure of the game though. It doesn't bother me, but the whole "last time on Alan Wake" makes the game a little disjointed. If I'm watching a great HBO series like the Wire etc etc, I like to power through for hours at a time (similar to games) and skip through the credits/catch-up at the beginning of each episode. That way you are more immersed and stay in that universe. Games work well in this regard, and making it episodic kind of takes you out of that. BTW, I really like the game not trying to be overly critical.
 
S

scitek

Member
alanwake.exe_2012-02-q4kzh.png
 
S

squidyj

Member
Jtrizzy said:
I'd love to hear about the challenges or pro's and cons of doing a game like this in an open world engine vs how ND does the Uncharted series, they have a lot of similarities obviously.

Story wise, they're both pretty good for games. Not sure I really care for the episodic structure of the game though. It doesn't bother me, but the whole "last time on Alan Wake" makes the game a little disjointed. If I'm watching a great HBO series like the Wire etc etc, I like to power through for hours at a time (similar to games) and skip through the credits/catch-up at the beginning of each episode. That way you are more immersed and stay in that universe. Games work well in this regard, and making it episodic kind of takes you out of that. BTW, I really like the game not trying to be overly critical.
Click to expand...


What does overly critical mean?
 
K

ksdixon

Member
Hmm... it seems most things end up on PC. Either though late ports like this formerly 360 exclusive, or simple emulation (PS2 games). Combine that with STEAMs sales... I'm really consideing going PC only soon.
 
F

FGMPR

Banned
lilsting10 said:
Hmm... it seems most things end up on PC. Either though late ports like this formerly 360 exclusive, or simple emulation (PS2 games). Combine that with STEAMs sales... I'm really consideing going PC only soon.
Click to expand...

PC+iOS+ 3DS/Vita (for the great Japanese games) is the holy trinity for me, personally.
 
J

Jtrizzy

Member
Yeah I just meant that I like the game, but still enjoy critiquing it...Instead of rehashing it episodically, I'd like to see one cohesive experience. There is already a ton of exposition in the game itself not to mention the manuscripts, and it's pretty good (for a game), but adding in the "last week on" stuff kind of pushes it into overkill territory when it comes to how much I'm hearing him speak and explain things.
 
N

Nelo Ice

Banned
lilsting10 said:
Hmm... it seems most things end up on PC. Either though late ports like this formerly 360 exclusive, or simple emulation (PS2 games). Combine that with STEAMs sales... I'm really consideing going PC only soon.
Click to expand...

My 360 is just a glorified DVD player at this point and now I intentionally avoid some XBLA/360 games if there's some sliver of a chance they'll hit PC. Yeah think I may just stay PC even with new consoles even though everyone I kno are console players.
 
X

x3sphere

Member
Glad I waited for the definitive version. Game looks amazing and I'm really enjoying it. Remedy still has that magic touch.
 
D

Darklord

Banned
I love how they included TV shows like Max Payne had. I really like the atmosphere and the super strong Steven King vibe but the combat isn't very fun.
 
hullostranger

hullostranger

Member
I was reading up that AA cannot be dropped below 2x but I was wondering if there was any way around that? I know it'll introduce graphical artifacts but my current framerate on all low @ 1024*768 with the -noblur command is barely 20fps :(

I'm running on a Radeon (Mobility) and was hoping for some tips? I tried Catalyst CP and Radeon Pro but the AA still sticks.


Beyond that, I can't wait to play this on a proper PC sometime soon! Looks like Remedy did a good job bringing it over to the PC :)
 
M

Mush

6.0
jim-jam bongs said:
I completely agree with this. It's not a huge deal, but aside from Alan professing his love for coffee there doesn't seem to be much thematic relevance, whereas the manuscript pages are obviously loaded with meaning.
Click to expand...
While obviously not as "important" as the manuscript pages, I interpreted the coffee as the fuel that kept him awake late into the night that kept him writing his novels. I thought it made a lot of sense imo.
 
A

ArjanN

Member
Mush said:
While obviously not as "important" as the manuscript pages, I interpreted the coffee as the fuel that kept him awake late into the night that kept him writing his novels. I thought it made a lot of sense imo.
Click to expand...

It would have made sense if it was 1 thermos of coffee that he brought with him, not drinking a 100 you find in the woods. :p
 
C

Ciastek3214

Junior Member
Guys, I have a problem. I just got Alan Wake. I start it and play it on highest settings to get an idea on how will it work. It ran like shit, about 10 FPS, so I say "Okay, let's try the lowest" so I change them and nothing fucking happens and game still runs like shit. Could it be driver problem or something? I have 285.26 drivers, and my rig is way better than minimum recommendation.
 
C

Ciastek3214

Junior Member
WTF is this? This game is optimized worse than GTA IV for me. Hell, I dare to say worse than Saints Row 2, at least that game ran smooth on lowest settings.
 
cyen

cyen

Member
Even if performance isnt great its not that bad either, my laptop with a 6770m runs at ~30fps with all the settings maxed out minus SSAO (low) , FXAA OFF and AA 2x.

And with this settings its still better than the 360 regard the IQ, so im happy.


Got it for 20€ directly from steam (portuguese store) and couldnt be happier with the purchuase.

EDIT: Props to the guy that had the idea of putting the video documentary while playing the game, even if it has some spoilers its pretty great to have the insight directly from the devs.
 
B

Berto

Member
Ciastek3214 said:
WTF is this? This game is optimized worse than GTA IV for me. Hell, I dare to say worse than Saints Row 2, at least that game ran smooth on lowest settings.
Click to expand...
Try defaulting you CC setting, i had terrible fps and wierd lightning before doing that.
 
R

Ricker

Member
I might double dip just for chapter 4 and ''that'' awesome fight/sequence,now that I have a gaming PC...such an awesome game overall.
 
C

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
cyen said:
Even if performance isnt great its not that bad either
Click to expand...

Actually I want to chime in and say that the the performance is pretty good! I mentioned earlier in the thread that I've locked the framerate to 30 fps and it stays there with infrequent dips ( flares and other things ) to 25 ish but that's at 2560x1440. So I went ahead and did some pseudo-benchmarking and I must say the results are pretty darn good.

Settings : Everything max except ssao ( set to low ), 2xAA @ 1080p. With one overclocked 560 ti I'm getting ~55-60 fps a good 95% of the ( albeit short ) time I tested.

alanwake2012-02-1813-veb2l.png

alanwake2012-02-1813-w9xmw.png
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
Playing it again since the 360 version, I've been noticing moments that I hadn't before. Like how the old geesers of Old Gods call you "Tom" in the diner. Or how the calendar in Birdleg Cabin is for July 1970.

Being called Tom by Old Gods


Calendar 1970

Who are E + B?

Or how the Birdleg Cabin actually looks like a bird

Kind of creepy:

I love the Old Gods:

Lady in Black
 
O

old manatee

Banned
I just finished chapter 4. It's an incredible game so far. I had to turn some stuff down to get it to run at 30-60 on my jalopy, but it's still one of the best looking games I've ever played. A lot of people are complaining about performance, but the levels are huge and the graphics are consistently stunning. I love the color balance they went with, it's really neutral, so everything has a lot of contrast and colors pop.

I heard it referred to as 'linear' so many times that I thought it was going to be a corridor shooter. I turned the hud off and have spent most of the game so far in large forested areas wandering around. It is linear in that there is only one way to go, but it isn't a Call of Duty situation where you are running down a hallway with dudes popping out right in front of you.

Other things: use the developer's menu to play on nightmare, I've only run out of ammo once, but I pretty much only have like 12 pistol rounds and a couple of flares. Everybody needs to stop talking about the dumb coffee thermoses. I picked 1 up in the beginning, realized it has no effect on anything, and for the rest of the game I've been walking past them like they are just another prop in the environment.

Alan Wake is like a single player Left 4 Dead, crossed with RE4, written by Stephen King, in the town from Twin Peaks. Who can't get on that train?
 
M

Megasoum

Banned
CoolS said:
Yeah, I was wondering why some parts were quite difficult
Click to expand...

derFeef said:
I noticed that I need more shots than on the 360, explains a lot really. Nice.
Click to expand...

About that difficulty. I'm stuck at work right now so I can't check but can you change the difficulty once the game is already started? I started a game on normal but still I'm playing with a 360 controller (mostly because I'm getting weird mouse lag with kb+m) I'd like to play what used to be the normal difficulty on consoles without having to restart from the beginning!
 
A

Angelus Errare

Banned
Anyone else getting a weird flickering on foilage and the background in general? I think it has to do with SSAO, but I'm not sure and it's driving me insane.
 
B

BeeDog

Member
Nice game so far, but I can see the combat getting bothersome if it keeps repeating the "pan camera -> three Takens attacks you from various angles" approach. I was surprised at how challenging I found the Normal Mode to be and assumed it was due to my deteriorated gaming skills. Cool that the 360 hard mode is normal now, though.
 
D

derFeef

Member
Megasoum said:
About that difficulty. I'm stuck at work right now so I can't check but can you change the difficulty once the game is already started? I started a game on normal but still I'm playing with a 360 controller (mostly because I'm getting weird mouse lag with kb+m) I'd like to play what used to be the normal difficulty on consoles without having to restart from the beginning!
Click to expand...

You can choose chapters from the main menu, but you will have to do them from the beginning. So maybe wait until you get into a new chapter - quit and restart it with the new difficulty from the main menu.
 
M

Megasoum

Banned
derFeef said:
You can choose chapters from the main menu, but you will have to do them from the beginning. So maybe wait until you get into a new chapter - quit and restart it with the new difficulty from the main menu.
Click to expand...

Awesome, I stopped playing at the beginning of Chapter 2 so I'll just restart that!
 
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