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[Fredrik]

Man I wish I had your experience. I have nothing but issues.

Tv and monitor on duplicate setting - have to run most of my games in full screen borderless as they will crash on full screen despite tweaking every possible setting to get it to stop (resolution, refresh rate, drivers etc), this often means having to tweak the .ini file.

Xbox 360 controller will just randomly disconnect despite being 5ft away from my desktop.

Games randomly deciding that they will no longer output sound until restart. Games just not starting and nothing happening. Games opening only to freeze and refuse to shut down even via task manager forcing a restart. Icons disappearing from my desktop games list all the time. Having to change drivers on 360 controller to make it work properly with steam big picture. Remembering ten billion account and password combinations because every publisher insists on having their own store/launcher and not using most of them for years at a time. Countless googling for various quirks / problems in games.

Where as when I want to play on PS4 everything just works instantly.. only issue is the games look like shit and run at 30fps and the ridiculous price of psn games in the uk. So I can't win haha. I seriously can't decide whether just to give up on the benefits of pc gaming for the ease of use of consoles or just keep baring with all the problems.

Sounds awful, makes me sad to see issues like this being the norm for some of you. But since I started this thread I've actually had some issues myself, so the OP might be a bit over-enthusiastic I guess. My 1080ti Lightning Z simply doesn't work as it should, can't run the MSI Gaming App without it hanging/crashing. With no fix available after contacting the msi support, which is the most surprising thing. They just closed my case after a while and ended it with a "hope it work out for you" message. Completely unprofessional and I'll never ever in a million years buy a MSI card again.
Fortunately I managed to clock the card manually instead of using the preclocked "Lightning Mode" in the MSI Gaming App I planned to use, so I can still use the card and I'm quite okay with it now. No more MSI for me though.

Other than that my rig is still working wonderfully. I honestly think I've had more issues with my consoles over the same time period, desyncing XB1 controllers and crappy PS4 HDMI ports dropping the picture.
In the end the positives win over the negatives on PC for me, being able to run everything above 60fps and running racing games on triple screens makes it worth any potential hurdle.

 

[BoosterDuck]

because every time you build a PC you'll need to do hours of research on what the newest and best parts are and how compatible they are with each other, all of that just to play Overwatch or Doom at 144 fps

if you want to just play video games on your couch then all you need is a PS4 and hook it up to your TV

 

[r3n4ud]

because every time you build a PC you'll need to do hours of research on what the newest and best parts are and how compatible they are with each other, all of that just to play Overwatch or Doom at 144 fps

if you want to just play video games on your couch then all you need is a PS4 and hook it up to your TV

Hours of research? Nah man, we have a pc thread here to ask those questions in no time.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

It can be difficult. I have prison architect and it messes up resolution, no idea why.

Also lots of controller issues especially with older games.

 

[lumzi23]

Ignoring stuff like online/online only games because I like live a region with comparably poor internet, this year I have had a couple of fiddling issues, namely:

1. AC4:Black Flag not loading due some AA settings or something
2. Couldn't play Wolfenstein: The New Order due issues related with being an AMD card owner
3. I think there was a time where Battlefield 1 one would crash I loaded it
4. Also Titanfall 2 would reset my progress to the beginning of each chapter/mission each time the game updated.

Some of those games might be online only I am not sure (and some are older games). Also, I can't compare my PC to current gen consoles as I have none of them.

That said I think in general my PC time has been much more stressful overall compared to what I remember from recent console days though I should probably chalk some of that up to personal screw ups on my part (if we go back further consoles had their hell days too which I will talk about in a bit).

For example, my system was a mess when I first built it and most or all of it's innards have been replaced. I have pruned away many of the bad habits that caused me issues too.

Regarding the hell days, there were things like blowing cartridges, turning over PS1's with their disc trays open and various Xbox 1 and PS2 issues.

 

[Yazzees]

Across three completely different computers I still can't get Dark Souls 3 to stop from crashing lol.

I'm not a stickler for framerate or IQ so the only stuff I play on PC tends to be exclusives with low requirements like Dota or old RTS game. I still raise a bit of an eyebrow when I see friends dropping >$1000 on a rig just to play console ports here and there.

 

[kraspkibble]

it's definitely not as straightforward as console. on a console you just download the game or stick a disc in. probably wait for a patch to download and then start playing. generally the game will run the same on every console. if there are any issues then it's up to the developer and/or sony/microsoft/nintendo to release a patch to fix it. consoles don't need to worry about drivers.

not every PC is the same so games need to run on all sorts of different hardware combinations. different cpus, gpus, ram sizes/speeds, motherboards, os versions, bios versions, driver versions. and then you have people playing with different brands of keyboard/mouse/controller. also when it comes to the games itself PC will have a lot of settings that aren't available on console so maybe they just didn't get tested as much. that's why you'll hear of so many issues happening and sometimes if something does happen you can't always rely on anyone else but yourself to fix it.

i'm saying this as someone who now plays mainly on PC. all that said, in my experience so far, i've not had any major issues when it comes to getting things to work. i can understand where people are coming from though and i get why they'd prefer a console. some people just don't want the hassle of having to fix things if something goes wrong. on PC it's more likely something will go wrong but that doesn't necessarily mean it does all the time.

for me the argument that consoles "just work" doesn't do anything to convince me to go with consoles over PC. the higher possibility of things going wrong on PC was never something i worried about when considering a PC and 3 years later it's still not been something that bothered me.

 

[BasilZero]

Been PC gaming since 2012 and console gaming since 1991.


Its not "difficult" at all.


People just dont want to accept PC as a viable gaming platform because it hurts their pride as a "fan" of whatever console/ecosystem that they are attached to.

 

[Ouroboros]

Because overwatch still runs at 50fps on lowest settings on my i7, GTX 1070 set up. And I’m not the only one.

Not saying PC isn’t great, but some people just don’t want the hassle and enjoy a closed environment that has less bugs.

 

[Hyun Sai]

Because it is much easier on console, seems obvious enough.

 

[pswii60]

I just bought 3 games on Steam from the Square enix sale

Sleeping Dogs
*Installed and started, game said on first time run it needed to install something then hung on it and didn’t do anything until I quit
*Launched again, loaded up menu, started new game.. crashed to desktop.
*Repeated twice
*looked online, suggestions included deleting certain local files followed by ‘verifying integrity of game files’ through steam and reinstalling something which I did.. Still crashes when starting a new game
*Uninstalled

Kane & Lynch
*Installed, launch game, told to write down cd key then ..nothing,
*restart computer launch again.. nothing
* launch from exe, type cd key in, you need to sign in with windows id to play, sign in, needs an update, starts updating, crashes to desktop.
*launch again, sign in again, crashes to desktop again.
*uninstalled

Kane & Lynch 2
*Installed, launches, menu loads up. Yaay
*choose options from menu, crashes to desktop
*reload, choose new game from menu, crashes to desktop
*uninstalled

This isn't an isolated thing for me, or something that has just happened to me on my current computer. and plenty of games play fine for me (recently Arkham Origins, Tekken 7 and Dead by Daylight) But a game just downloading and running for me is absolutely hit and miss. compared to on console where I've never had an issue.

To be fair, Kane & Lynch doesn't work on my PS4 either.

 

[kraspkibble]

Because overwatch still runs at 50fps on lowest settings on my i7, GTX 1070 set up. And I’m not the only one.

Not saying PC isn’t great, but some people just don’t want the hassle and enjoy a closed environment that has less bugs.

really? care to explain more on this?

i have an i7, 16gb, 1070 and never had any problem running it on epic at 1440p at 60fps.

 

[Fredrik]

because every time you build a PC you'll need to do hours of research on what the newest and best parts are and how compatible they are with each other, all of that just to play Overwatch or Doom at 144 fps

if you want to just play video games on your couch then all you need is a PS4 and hook it up to your TV

I "researched" for a few seconds, maybe a minute in total while talking to the seller at the custom PC shop. They had a few different preconfigured PCs and I swapped out the graphics card to a better one, just to be safe. That was it.

 

[jwhit28]

Been PC gaming since 2012 and console gaming since 1991.


Its not "difficult" at all.


People just dont want to accept PC as a viable gaming platform because it hurts their pride as a "fan" of whatever console/ecosystem that they are attached to.

As a teenager I always thought the console wars thing would go away when all the videogame players that started with 8-bit and 16-bit grow up some more. The average age for videogame players is over 30 now and nothing has changed.

 

[kraspkibble]

because every time you build a PC you'll need to do hours of research on what the newest and best parts are and how compatible they are with each other, all of that just to play Overwatch or Doom at 144 fps

if you want to just play video games on your couch then all you need is a PS4 and hook it up to your TV

maybe when you're building your first PC. hell, i spend WEEKS trying to figure out how all the parts fit together and trying to decide what parts to get. i found it overwhelming.

now? i could put together a system within my budget in no time at all. 5 minutes tops. to be fair i do try keep up with the latest products and technologies so i know exactly what i want and when is best to buy.

 

[Kei-]

It's because there is absolutely still a lot of tinkering to be done for a lot of people in order to get a game to run at an acceptable or stable framerate and the desired resolution or other graphical settings. Just take a look at several threads that have tips and tricks for getting games to perform well. I know it's second nature for PC players, but for a lot, even some long time PC players, there is too much required to get a game running well, especially compared to consoles where you just inset the game and it runs.

 

[Finaika]

Because overwatch still runs at 50fps on lowest settings on my i7, GTX 1070 set up. And I’m not the only one.

Not saying PC isn’t great, but some people just don’t want the hassle and enjoy a closed environment that has less bugs.

Set Render Scale to 100%.

 

[Stevey]

I've had New Vegas crash a lot, but thats running a lot of mods.

Could never get Tunnel Rats 1968 to boot.

That's it really.

 

[Fredrik]

Its not "difficult" at all.

People just dont want to accept PC as a viable gaming platform because it hurts their pride as a "fan" of whatever console/ecosystem that they are attached to.

Xbox seems to correct that a bit, lots of people use Xbox One as an example of a console you don't need because you can just buy a PC instead and get better performance. So the PC as a platform is definitely viable from that perspective. You never hear those console warriors talk about how problematic PCs are. The core gamers who own all consoles are probably the easiest ones to lure into PC gaming, they just want the best version of the games they love no matter what platform that is, it's the stubborn ones who only play on a single console and refuse to look outside of their bubble that won't be easy to convert.

 

[blue_phazon]

Because overwatch still runs at 50fps on lowest settings on my i7, GTX 1070 set up. And I’m not the only one.

Not saying PC isn’t great, but some people just don’t want the hassle and enjoy a closed environment that has less bugs.

Holy crap

I have a gaming laptop with a 1050ti and get over 60fps...and I didn't configure anything.

 

[BasedKiliK]

Because overwatch still runs at 50fps on lowest settings on my i7, GTX 1070 set up. And I’m not the only one.

Not saying PC isn’t great, but some people just don’t want the hassle and enjoy a closed environment that has less bugs.

Something, somewhere, is misconfigured because that is impossible.

 

[AmFreak]

because every time you build a PC you'll need to do hours of research on what the newest and best parts are and how compatible they are with each other, all of that just to play Overwatch or Doom at 144 fps

So you need to invest a few hours for something you need to do 2-3 times in a decade.
Horrific!
You can grab this time back with faster loading times on pc.

 

[Ricerocket]

Because overwatch still runs at 50fps on lowest settings on my i7, GTX 1070 set up. And I’m not the only one.

Not saying PC isn’t great, but some people just don’t want the hassle and enjoy a closed environment that has less bugs.

That's impressive if real.

 

[Finaika]

Something, somewhere, is misconfigured because that is impossible.

Maybe he's playing at 4K.

 

[Glass Shark]

.

 

[BasedKiliK]

Maybe he's playing at 4K.

But with all settings on Low?

 

[Comrade Crunch]

because every time you build a PC you'll need to do hours of research on what the newest and best parts are and how compatible they are with each other, all of that just to play Overwatch or Doom at 144 fps

if you want to just play video games on your couch then all you need is a PS4 and hook it up to your TV

That's patently false, PCs these days are effectively Lego sets compared to how difficult it used to be, even then it didnt take hours of research. It takes at most 20 minutes to figure out everything you need and to order the parts.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Disturbed Views From 1999 Video Games And Shitty Ass-Grade Trolling: The Thread

 

[Aroll]

Pretty much every time there is a console vs PC gaming discussion going on there are a bunch if people saying that PC gaming require too much work compared to consoles.

I used to be a console-only gamer, enough to even get me banned by trying to shut up PC gamers in my console threads.

Then I bought a PC 4 years ago. Windows 7, i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, 780ti. Windows preinstalled.

During these past 4 years I haven't "fiddled" with any driver or patches, I've just bought the games on Steam and everything has just worked with zero tinkering. The fiddling is taken care of by Steam without me knowing about it. Quite amazing really. Steam sometimes says that it has been automatically updated and restarts with one mouse click and a 10 second start up time, that's pretty much how far my tinkering has gone. If I want to use a controller I just plug it in and it instantly works and the UI in the games swap to indicate buttons instead of keys. Quite amazing really.

Honestly, PC gaming could be sold with Apple's "It just works." slogan from my point of view.

I swapped out my 780ti to a 980ti 2 years ago though, but even that was surprisingly easy: power down the computer, loosen the cables and screws, pull out the old card, plug in the new card, reconnect the cables and tighten the screws, power up the computer. Done.

Those who complain about how difficult PC gaming is simply cannot have used a modern PC with Steam.

You definitely _can_ fiddle with a bunch of stuff if you want to. But you don't have to if you don't want to, that's the thing. I'm one of those that don't want any hassle, I just want to play games, and that's exactly what my PC has let me to do.

So where does that complexity talk come from? From my point if view it's just as easy to game on PC as consoles.

There are a few reasons - and this isn't really about personal preference or user choice imho.

- You have to install steam. Consoles just have that OS type mentality built in.
- People tend to do a lot of other things on PCs. These things can cause you to get viruses and other nonsense. So you need to also install an anti-virus.
- Some people simply know that buying a pre-built PC is more costly than building it yourself, but they don't want to build it themselves. So some of the complexity concepts come from the idea of building it yourself (let alone installing windows yourself).
- From a technical stand point, hooking it up to your TV isn't always as easy as a console. You still plug in the same cables, but there can be lots of minor adjustments needed to really take advantage of the TV.
- Pc's have options and don't come with controllers. You can buy a controller, but keyboard and mouse can be really off putting for a lot of people.

Honestly, even before steam, pc gaming wasn't difficult or scary. The thing is, home console are supposed to be more convenient.

But PS4 and Xbox One have almost thrown that convenience out the door. To set them up, you NEED an internet connection. Before you can use them, you HAVE to update the OS (which can take ages). To play games, YOU HAVE to install them, which was one of the major advantages consoles had (not needing to install games). Consoles were supposed to be like plug and play devices. Insert your game and it just works - now most games require massive updates to be downloaded before launching in addition to game installs.

Xbox One and PS4 have become, effectively, pcs with hardly any of the convenience of a home console.

Nintendo is one of the few still giving people a proper simplicity difference.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

I'll just give an example of my troubles this week trying to play Test Drive Unlimited on PC.

1: Not available on Steam or any other digital storefronts, so I had to track down a used disc copy.
2: Said disc copy won't install on my W7 or W10 machines due to Installshield. Can't find a fix.
3: After installing on an XP machine and moving the files across it then won't play correctly on W10 because Securom was blocked (thanks Microsoft).
4: The fix for this? Either keep a specific old Windows partition on your hard drive, or trawl the internet for a no-CD crack that isn't virus infected to circumvent Securom.
5: Then after all that the game is a buggy unplayable mess and needs patching. But whoops, the official patch is now unavailable (thanks Atari), also gotta try and obtain that. Good luck, there are no safe websites to get it from.
6: Oh, the official patch still doesn't fix all the problems? Gotta grab the unofficial patch then. Wait, I need to obtain the "car mega pack" DLC first, can I buy that any more? Of course not. Gotta pirate that from somewhere along with the CD key for it.
7: And after all this it still only has a 50/50 chance of playing correctly because Windows 10.

Honestly I gave up at point 4 and just got my 360 out of the cupboard instead. The sad thing is that it looks like the game had a lot of support for mods (new cars, weather system etc.), but because Atari abandoned the game you have to resort to piracy to play it. I've also had a similar nightmare trying to find a way to play Viva Pinata and Fable III on PC recently thanks to GFWL.

As long as stuff like this is associated with PC gaming, it'll always be considered too difficult.

 

[Aeana]

It's certainly easier than it ever has been, but it's still more of a hassle than people like to make it out. Some people compare building a PC to working with LEGO and that's a gross oversimplification. And I say this as someone who has been building and upgrading my own gaming PCs for nearly a decade.

It's pretty straightforward, but even if you're intimidated by it, there's no shortage of people you can pay a small fee to assemble it for you.

 

[senj]

I'll just give an example of my troubles this week trying to play Test Drive Unlimited on PC.

1: Not available on Steam or any other digital storefronts, so I had to track down a used disc copy.
2: Said disc copy won't install on my W7 or W10 machines due to Installshield. Can't find a fix.
3: After installing on an XP machine and moving the files across it then won't play correctly on W10 because Securom was blocked (thanks Microsoft).
4: The fix for this? Either keep a specific old Windows partition on your hard drive, or trawl the internet for a no-CD crack that isn't virus infected to circumvent Securom.
5: Then after all that the game is a buggy unplayable mess and needs patching. But whoops, the official patch is now unavailable (thanks Atari), also gotta try and obtain that. Good luck, there are no safe websites to get it from.
6: Oh, the official patch still doesn't fix all the problems? Gotta grab the unofficial patch then. Wait, I need to obtain the "car mega pack" DLC first, can I buy that any more? Of course not. Gotta pirate that from somewhere along with the CD key for it.
7: And after all this it still only has a 50/50 chance of playing correctly because Windows 10.

Honestly I gave up at point 4 and just got my 360 out of the cupboard instead. The sad thing is that it looks like the game had a lot of support for mods (new cars, weather system etc.), but because Atari abandoned the game you have to resort to piracy to play it. I've also had a similar nightmare trying to find a way to play Viva Pinata and Fable III on PC recently thanks to GFWL.

As long as stuff like this is associated with PC gaming, it'll always be considered too difficult.

That’s ... a pretty old game to be basing the convenience of PC gaming on?

I want to play that on console, I have to pull my PS2 out of storage, realize my TV no longer has component inputs, research some kind of HDMI converter that hopefully has little lag, etc. I’d hardly claim that therefore console gaming is “too difficult”.

Sure, if I had the 360 version of that specific game it’d be easier, but it’s always going to be true that old games are sometimes inconvenient to play.

 

[Trago]

It's pretty straightforward, but even if you're intimidated by it, there's no shortage of people you can pay a small fee to assemble it for you.

My coworker, who recently got into PC gaming thanks to PUBG, literally just bought a bunch of parts and went to MicroCenter and paid them to build it for him hassle free. There are lots of options out there for people.

 

[Pjsprojects]

This pc gamer is clever! This pc gamer avoids the Windows store of doom!

 

[Daouzin]

I love gaming on my PC, but like a third of the games I play typically have an issue when I start it up. Either they are affected by some random driver like vjoy (GameCube controller driver) and they have something random happen. Or I have to jump into the config file and edit a setting out (MVC:I).

It can enrage me if it takes me a while to solve. I never have to deal with this on console. I still think PC gaming is awesome, but I can understand the hesitation and how PC gaming still gets a bad rep.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Its not difficult per se, but every other PC game I play refuses use my correct monitor and speaker. Plays audio from my surround sound system while displaying on my laptop, or displays on my 4K TV while playing audio from my laptop. Only way to fix it is to only use one monitor, so I can't have the internet open on a separate screen.

Some older games also refuse to acknowledge my 4K TV as 4K so if I set the resolution to 4K it's all zoomed in and I have to use 1080p.

Seem to always have to alter something in the .ini to make the games work properly. Consoles are just simpler.

 

[idyllicLife]

Oh Geez, those misinformed console players...

because every time you build a PC you'll need to do hours of research on what the newest and best parts are and how compatible they are with each other, all of that just to play Overwatch or Doom at 144 fps

if you want to just play video games on your couch then all you need is a PS4 and hook it up to your TV

- No, you don't have to do hours of research and you don't need latest/newest parts to build a pc.

Also, You've clearly never heard of this great website:
http://www.pcpartpicker.com

- Doom and Overwatch? Do you think those games are what PC gaming is all about? So you like console gaming just to play CoD or Halo?

- Did you know that you can plug your PC to your TV without extra effort?

There are a few reasons - and this isn't really about personal preference or user choice imho.

- You have to install steam. Consoles just have that OS type mentality built in.
- People tend to do a lot of other things on PCs. These things can cause you to get viruses and other nonsense. So you need to also install an anti-virus.
- Some people simply know that buying a pre-built PC is more costly than building it yourself, but they don't want to build it themselves. So some of the complexity concepts come from the idea of building it yourself (let alone installing windows yourself).
- From a technical stand point, hooking it up to your TV isn't always as easy as a console. You still plug in the same cables, but there can be lots of minor adjustments needed to really take advantage of the TV.
- Pc's have options and don't come with controllers. You can buy a controller, but keyboard and mouse can be really off putting for a lot of people.

Honestly, even before steam, pc gaming wasn't difficult or scary. The thing is, home console are supposed to be more convenient.

But PS4 and Xbox One have almost thrown that convenience out the door. To set them up, you NEED an internet connection. Before you can use them, you HAVE to update the OS (which can take ages). To play games, YOU HAVE to install them, which was one of the major advantages consoles had (not needing to install games). Consoles were supposed to be like plug and play devices. Insert your game and it just works - now most games require massive updates to be downloaded before launching in addition to game installs.

Xbox One and PS4 have become, effectively, pcs with hardly any of the convenience of a home console.

Nintendo is one of the few still giving people a proper simplicity difference.

- No, you don't have to install Steam. Depending on your game of choice, you can install Origin or uplay. Also don't forget that Most games have DRM-free version available through Gog or Humble Store.

- What does it have anything to do with PC gaming?

- You don't know how to do it, there are people who do it for you.

- Yes, it is easy as plugging your console.

- What does that even mean?

Xbox One and PS4 have become, effectively, pcs with hardly any of the convenience of a home console.

No, they haven't. Have you seen anybody who can upgrade their console's CPU or GPU? Or, why do console manifacturers make upgraded console versions instead of making upgraded parts available separately so you can buy and install them at your wish?
Me neither.
BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT PCs. Having small adjustments on their hardware or in their OS doesn't make them PCs.

 

[Ouroboros]

really? care to explain more on this?

i have an i7, 16gb, 1070 and never had any problem running it on epic at 1440p at 60fps.

Ever since the Doomfist update I’ve had to run the game on lowest settings at 1080p to get playable frame rate. This is on both of my PCs. One is an i7, 16gb, 1070...the other is a i7, 16gb, 860m laptop.

I’ve reinstalled the game, nvidia drivers, chipset drivers...the whole shibang. Still no fix.

Here’s is a blizzard forum link of people that are having similar problems since doomfist update.

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20758226499

Any other game I play on my PC runs flawless buttery smooth on max settings....except overwatch, the one game I’ve been playing a lot of! My luck, hah. I tell ya....

Set Render Scale to 100%.

Not sure if that’s default on lowest settings or not. I don’t remember looking at that setting. I’ll try that out when I get home tonight! Thanks for the tip!

 

[Nzyme32]

PC gamers themselves, with all the e-peen waving and hyper-competitiveness to get the most fps, make it look much more difficult than it is in reality. With all that going on it's easy to be intimidated by the idea of PC gaming.

Of all the "e-peen" I see on this forum and else where on the internet, this is definitely not true. Grass-gate and "exclusives" are better examples of "e-peen" at work. The majority of PC gaming folk here are on all manner of platforms and all manner of different specs, purposes, form factors and rationales for using the platform for some or all of their gaming needs

 

[shpankey]

For the same reason people believe you eat like 8 spiders a year in your sleep.

rofl, what?

 

[cireza]

Hours of research? Nah man, we have a pc thread here to ask those questions in no time.

Ok, so PC gaming is not too difficult and does not require too much tinkering if I blindly buy what a total stranger tells me to buy on a forum.

That's ... a pretty old game to be basing the convenience of PC gaming on?

Ok, so PC gaming is not too difficult and does not require too much tinkering if I only play games that are less than 5 years old.

Both of those sentences are true.

But I often hear that PCs are great because you can play even very old games. This is absolutely true, BUT it will often require a LOT of efforts to have older software run correctly.

Also, buying a TV already requires some hours of research (at least that's what I would do), so I am never buying a PC blindly because somebody told me to. I WILL search for information, benchmarks, review etc... And make my own opinion about things.

It is the main difference between a PC and a console : being able to do custom stuff. Of course this will require tinkering and research. That's why PC is a great platform. It requires some effort, but you can do a lot of things.

 

[apotema]

It is still kind of depressing to play on PC, I don't know why

 

[Deadpool_X]

I boot up my Xbox, click the game I want to play and start playing. Anything more than that is time spent away from actually playing the game.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

That's ... a pretty old game to be basing the convenience of PC gaming on?

I want to play that on console, I have to pull my PS2 out of storage, realize my TV no longer has component inputs, research some kind of HDMI converter that hopefully has little lag, etc. I'd hardly claim that therefore console gaming is ”too difficult".

Sure, if I had the 360 version of that specific game it'd be easier, but it's always going to be true that old games are sometimes inconvenient to play.

I don't really see a problem bringing older games up, the topic of PC gaming being considered too difficult is not limited to just modern games, and in terms of playing older games it is vastly more difficult than finding the right plug for your TV.

I'll use Fable 3 as a different example, with that being the last mainline entry it remains a game people still want to play. If you've got a 360 or Xbox One it's simple, buy it digitally or put a disc in, it'll play instantly and flawlessly every time - co-op works, DLC is buyable, jobs done.

For PC? Well, it was delisted off Steam and the GFWL store is dead so digital is out of the question. So then you're on to getting a physical copy, except GFWL games had a one time use serial number so you need to track down a sealed boxed copy - good luck. Let's say you get around that and find a copy you can use, got Windows 10? Cool, it uses Securom so that probably won't work. If you do get it installed though, well GFWL is dead so your problems can range from either needing to use an unofficial tool to remove GFWL entirely to error codes that have no solution. And on top of this co-op is inaccessible and DLC cannot be purchased any more.

Obviously all of that isn't going to apply to the latest and greatest like PUBG or Destiny 2 or whatever, they are one facet of PC gaming that will no doubt be discussed at great length by many others, such that I don't really feel any need to drop my 2 cents in regarding them.

 

[Dubz]

I have 2 left hands and I still PC game. It's gotten a lot easier in the last few years.

 

[twisted89]

Sounds awful, makes me sad to see issues like this being the norm for some of you. But since I started this thread I've actually had some issues myself, so the OP might be a bit over-enthusiastic I guess. My 1080ti Lightning Z simply doesn't work as it should, can't run the MSI Gaming App without it hanging/crashing. With no fix available after contacting the msi support, which is the most surprising thing. They just closed my case after a while and ended it with a "hope it work out for you" message. Completely unprofessional and I'll never ever in a million years buy a MSI card again.
Fortunately I managed to clock the card manually instead of using the preclocked "Lightning Mode" in the MSI Gaming App I planned to use, so I can still use the card and I'm quite okay with it now. No more MSI for me though.

Other than that my rig is still working wonderfully. I honestly think I've had more issues with my consoles over the same time period, desyncing XB1 controllers and crappy PS4 HDMI ports dropping the picture.
In the end the positives win over the negatives on PC for me, being able to run everything above 60fps and running racing games on triple screens makes it worth any potential hurdle.

They're well known for having unbelievably bad customer support, challenge them or say anything out of turn on the forums and your post gets deleted and your account banned. Apparently I'm not allowed to question why it took over a week to get a response for a support ticket, got told "7 working days is quick and acceptable" and banned.

 

[shem935]

It is still kind of depressing to play on PC, I don't know why

On the contrary when I first started playing it felt like magic.

 

[Jumeira]

Hours of research? Nah man, we have a pc thread here to ask those questions in no time.

This is not a good answer to the problem you quoted. The fact you need to spend time to ask and understand is a problem in itself. You might be accustomed to it, but for most its unecessary when you can just buy a box that takes care of itself.

 

[Memnoch]

Because it is much easier on console, seems obvious enough.

Yup. I'm done with gaming pcs. Just preordered an Xbox One X for hassle free gaming.

 

[Eclectic Sk3ptic]

Man I wish I had your experience. I have nothing but issues.

Tv and monitor on duplicate setting - have to run most of my games in full screen borderless as they will crash on full screen despite tweaking every possible setting to get it to stop (resolution, refresh rate, drivers etc), this often means having to tweak the .ini file.

Xbox 360 controller will just randomly disconnect despite being 5ft away from my desktop.

Games randomly deciding that they will no longer output sound until restart. Games just not starting and nothing happening. Games opening only to freeze and refuse to shut down even via task manager forcing a restart. Icons disappearing from my desktop games list all the time. Having to change drivers on 360 controller to make it work properly with steam big picture. Remembering ten billion account and password combinations because every publisher insists on having their own store/launcher and not using most of them for years at a time. Countless googling for various quirks / problems in games.

Where as when I want to play on PS4 everything just works instantly.. only issue is the games look like shit and run at 30fps and the ridiculous price of psn games in the uk. So I can't win haha. I seriously can't decide whether just to give up on the benefits of pc gaming for the ease of use of consoles or just keep baring with all the problems.

You shouldn't use the duplicate display mode. It's nothing but trouble on some hardware/software configurations, and will cause most of the issues you've been dealing with aside from the gamepad-related ones. Set it up so that when you're using your TV, your monitor is disabled, and vice-versa. Extend is okay too if you absolutely need the second screen while playing games, but you might run into a couple issues such as some games starting on the wrong display, and/or audio being sent to the wrong device depending on whether you're using HDMI cables with a monitor that has integrated speakers/headphone jacks.