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PC gaming will never be taken seriously until it fixes the bs
- Thread starter Scrabble
- Start date
I guess you've never heard of a SSD.
FunkyMunkey
Banned
You know absolutely zilch about PC gaming.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
beautiful
I love pc gaming when it works, but all to often I gear myself up to playing something and when I finally sit down to do it I need to fix various issues and by the time it's working I just don't feel like playing anymore.
Most recent was Antichamber a few days ago....
1st try = crash on start
tinkering...
2nd try = logos then black screen
tinkering...
3rd try = works windowed but not full screen
tinkering...
4th try = works fullscreen but can't change to native resolution or it crashes
tinkering...
5th try = still not working, tired of this and give up
It just seems like it's against me sometimes ):
Most recent was Antichamber a few days ago....
1st try = crash on start
tinkering...
2nd try = logos then black screen
tinkering...
3rd try = works windowed but not full screen
tinkering...
4th try = works fullscreen but can't change to native resolution or it crashes
tinkering...
5th try = still not working, tired of this and give up
It just seems like it's against me sometimes ):
PC already running > Drivers update automatically > Steam already running > Latest updates already installed > Launch game > Play game.
Unless you're referring to first-time setup... then yeah, that twelve seconds to configure the graphics settings must be a fucking nightmare.
BasicCable
Neo Member
Someone may have already mentioned this, but I had the same issue in that fight. The fix for me was rolling back my NVIDIA drivers to an earlier version. I think, at the time, it was 313 or somewhere around there.
Well, it's not so much dismissing the complaints--people will tell you that manually tinkering to fix actual problems is rare, but no one is denying it. The issue is the thesis that 'PC gaming won't be taken seriously' until this aspect (essentially inherent to the open nature of the platform) is dealt with... which is just a meaningless, ambiguous, silly thing to say.
Sure, and i am glad you admit that it does take effort, but not everyone wants to admit that it does take work and maintenance. It is more time consuming than a console. And when shit hits the fan, and we all know it does hit the fan at some point, it can be a very frustrating experience.
When a PC game works without issue and I can enjoy high quality IQ with no fiddling it's great.
But there's still issues. More issues than i've ever seen in years of console gaming. One example. Fez has not once launched without crashing. Regardless of settings, resolution, etc. Mac version works ok but PC version is seemingly permanently broken for me.
Fallout 3 would randomly freeze and crash quite a lot.
Big reason why i'm looking forward to new consoles is to get something closer to PC performance with less quirks.
But there's still issues. More issues than i've ever seen in years of console gaming. One example. Fez has not once launched without crashing. Regardless of settings, resolution, etc. Mac version works ok but PC version is seemingly permanently broken for me.
Fallout 3 would randomly freeze and crash quite a lot.
Big reason why i'm looking forward to new consoles is to get something closer to PC performance with less quirks.
dark_prinny
Banned
This post should be named: GAF Junior Member goes straight @neogafshitspost.
I mean, come on son.
It certainly is for me. I own all the current gen consoles, it certainly takes a lot longer for me to get into games on my consoles than it does on my PC.
My experience when GTAV came out:
Insert disc -> Wait well over an hour for the game to install.
I haven't had to deal with that stuff on my PC for 10 years! I can download and be playing most games within an hour on my PC. Takes me a tiny amount of time to boot up most games and be in them, all my games at automatically updated (unlike the broken PS3 system).
I accept there *should* be more friction involved with PC gaming because that is the nature of an open platform, but the reality for me has been far from that. It is that playing on the consoles involves so much more friction right from the distribution level all the way to actually getting in a game.
The next-gen should fix a lot of these things and tip it back into the consoles favour, but this current gen has been complete shit, and only been getting worse as time goes on for 'pick-up-and-play'.
Nope, I'm right there with you. I don't know what kind of fucked up PCs these other guys are playing on.
You sure Steam wasn't just down for maintenance? And deleting the .blob file fixes 99% of Steam issues.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Tinkering can be (and generally is) a large part in why you can play those setting. There is no one size fits all unless you spent a few $/£1000 and even then you'll run into some issues. Because every game will almost never be able to rune perfectly on every PC at the exact same setting you will NEED to tinker to get the best results for that specific game unless you don't want the best results and would rather have good ones.
Since as you said you want better settings than consoles to reach the best for the majority of gamers you will want to tinker. That's why people refer to it as the point.
DeadManWalking
Member
So when game just craps out at the middle of game session I should be fine with it?
derExperte
Member
It's dark_prinny. Same shit about PC gaming, different day.
NameGenerated
Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
Except he's right.
dark_prinny
Banned
For all the rest quoting my post I was, just like the member I responded, just exageratting What a PC user experience could be sometimes. And I would like to know how much long term PC Gamers are some of the people are assuming I don't know shit about it, but that's for another discussion.
Felix Lighter
Member
Whatever. He loves Baldur's Gate 2.
Honestly, the last time I had any serious issue with a PC game was Civ 5 at launch and all I had to do was update my drivers (which were about half a year out of date).
PC gaming has been smooth for me for a long time.
When shit hits the fan on consoles though (which might happen more rarely, but does happen), you can't do anything about it. Your 80 hour Skyrim save on PS3 will never work well, and you can't fix or replace the component in your RROD 360 which is broken.
That, to me, is far more frustrating than anything I can improve, no matter how strenuous the process.
Nope. And with Geforce experience, it's only getting easier for me.
My experience: PC on > drivers updated automatically > geforce optimize graphics > game preloaded > play game immediately
I had an issue with DarkSouls because of GFWL and I lost my save in Arkham City because of the removal of GFWL and getting switched to the GotY edition (but apparently there's a fix for that), but I haven't had a single issue as described in this thread.
It's almost as plug and play as consoles in my experience. The most tinkering I've had to do has been to get my DS4 to work with my PC games.
Red Liquorice
Member
I hate all the tinkering and upgrading too. Way too much work for something I want to have fun and relax with. But I guess the point of PC gaming IS tinkering and upgrading, a lot of people like to faf around with all that shit.
My "currently playing" list includes games from the mid 90s all the way through to games released within the last month, and they all work on my current PC. Yes, it took some tweaking (e.g. DOS Box for some, compatibility mode for others), but I think that tweaking is worth it to be able to run games that old.
Yes, PC games can sometimes be quirky, but in general PCs are way more user friendly now than they were even 10 years ago.
Yes, PC games can sometimes be quirky, but in general PCs are way more user friendly now than they were even 10 years ago.
My time with PC gaming came to an end when I realised I really didn't enjoy playing the mandatory meta-game of tweaking, testing, updating the games, OS and drivers.
As my career progressed and I had kids, my free time reduced and became far too precious to spend it fucking about getting games to run well.
As my career progressed and I had kids, my free time reduced and became far too precious to spend it fucking about getting games to run well.
plasmasd
Member
I've been a PC (and console gamer) since I was 6 years old playing on my dad's 8088 in Monochrome CGA.
The issues will never go away. Part of enjoyment is tinkering, I doubt even a steam machine will make anything easier. You'll just have a whole new set of issues to learn and deal with.
Get the consoles that have the exclusives you want to play without tinkering. Get 3rd party AAA and indie titles on the PC that are worth taking the time to make them look their best.
The issues will never go away. Part of enjoyment is tinkering, I doubt even a steam machine will make anything easier. You'll just have a whole new set of issues to learn and deal with.
Get the consoles that have the exclusives you want to play without tinkering. Get 3rd party AAA and indie titles on the PC that are worth taking the time to make them look their best.
this is quite wrong, my PC boots faster than my consoles =)
Good point, some of it probably just comes from taking a break and then returning to something, I just feel less of that careless joy on PC for some reason because I think too much about what's under the hood
Sure, there are bad days and if you don't want to put any effort into the quality of your gaming, PC isn't probably a good platform for you. It is frustrating to debug a seemingly unsolvable problem but if you can't fix it yourself, there's always someone else who can (although it might cost money, but PC is a premium platform anyway).
Tinkering and tweaking settings is the main reason I enjoy PC gaming. On consoles you are stuck with whatever the developer, publisher or platform holder decided. It starts from small things: for example if I couldn't change FOV whether via in-game options, editing .ini files or indeed using a program that changes memory registers on the fly, I probably would have quit gaming already thanks to developers who decided that low FOV is the only option they want to offer us.
The day they lock PC gaming platform is the day I quit gaming. Luckily for me that day will never come. Also consoles are so damn slow with their unresponsive UI and loading times it makes me angry, grr. It takes me more time to get into a game of NHL 14 than it takes to reboot my computer twice while starting and quitting a game between reboots. SSD was a game changer.
Tinkering and tweaking settings is the main reason I enjoy PC gaming. On consoles you are stuck with whatever the developer, publisher or platform holder decided. It starts from small things: for example if I couldn't change FOV whether via in-game options, editing .ini files or indeed using a program that changes memory registers on the fly, I probably would have quit gaming already thanks to developers who decided that low FOV is the only option they want to offer us.
The day they lock PC gaming platform is the day I quit gaming. Luckily for me that day will never come. Also consoles are so damn slow with their unresponsive UI and loading times it makes me angry, grr. It takes me more time to get into a game of NHL 14 than it takes to reboot my computer twice while starting and quitting a game between reboots. SSD was a game changer.
SwiftDeath
Member
Honestly this is why I never really went for PC gaming
I made a gaming rig a couple years back and can work out problems with games not working correctly but I just can't be bothered to do it as often as I seemed to back then
I love to tinker with my computer itself but when I want to play a game, I just want to play a game as fast as possible
I realize YMMV but this is the main reason why I've never done much on PC's short of RTS and the like
I made a gaming rig a couple years back and can work out problems with games not working correctly but I just can't be bothered to do it as often as I seemed to back then
I love to tinker with my computer itself but when I want to play a game, I just want to play a game as fast as possible
I realize YMMV but this is the main reason why I've never done much on PC's short of RTS and the like
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
I imagine this is more of a technical topic, so a kid of 16 who never played Baldur's Gate II doesn't have less merit in knowing what PC gaming entails. He may a well be a tech wiz. Technology is not about seniority.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
That's true of pc's full stop. Either you know how to fix the issues or someone else does but it's far more easier if you can find those answers yourself. Unless everyone starts to use super closed environments for everything (e.g tablets) it's something you'll have to deal with.
Probably user error to be honest, did you try turning it off and on again?
EatinOlives
Member
The highs are higher but the lows are lower.
Ideal conditions:
- PC: Minimal first-time install, can likely remove annoying unskippable startup logos, much better graphics performance, pretty much download-and-play
- Consoles: Must always wait for annoying, slow updates, multiplatform games are almost always run on the equivalent of Medium on PC, with 30 FPS that's more likely than not to be unstable.
^PC Wins.
Worst conditions:
- PC: Game straight up does not start, no matter how many hours you devote to fixing it (happened with me on Dirt 2. Ugh). Game is bricked.
- Consoles: Still wait for annoying, slow updates and poor graphics/performance, but game is never unplayable unless the game itself was shit (like Skyrim on PS3 after 60+ hours), not counting actual hardware failure (which can occur on both PC and consoles).
^Consoles win.
Did you try Origin?
Devilgunman
Member
derExperte
Member
I'm honestly surprised, everytime I see him talking about PC gaming he're crapping on it and coming across like he doesn't know a lot. Might have actually stopped playing on PC right after BG2. I may have missed some posts but this thread doesn't help. At all. And quite a few console gamers are exactly like that. But yeah, whatever.
great analogy
I agree, the focus on PC being only for ultra top-end gaming detracts a bit from some strengths of the platform.
As per your example, recently I continued a Civ V game I started on my desktop on my Vaio on a plane, with multitouch. That was nice.
ProstatePuncher
Banned
OP, you should blame the shitty ports and releases that developers do, and then also blame the massive amount of configurations of PC parts available for the inability to iron out all those bugs.
The price of admission for 1080p 60fps godlike textures and choice of controls and mods is patience. Fixing the majority of bugs takes two seconds. Some are unavoidable, like buggy bullshit in the Arkham games.
Don't get all buttflustered about them. Just go play something else and tell the developers why you wont buy their games.
The price of admission for 1080p 60fps godlike textures and choice of controls and mods is patience. Fixing the majority of bugs takes two seconds. Some are unavoidable, like buggy bullshit in the Arkham games.
Don't get all buttflustered about them. Just go play something else and tell the developers why you wont buy their games.
Felix Lighter
Member
Well of course when he brings it up he likes to say it's the last PC game ever worth playing.
If you're tinkering more than a few times it cause you want too for the most part. I love tinkering for a lot of things but it's not all that necessary or that common in the course of a week and even less if you consider months or a year. Also a couple of years ago isn't the same as now. Windows 7 and 8 done right are a much different experience than vista or xp could ever give you.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Nothing is, but chances are your in the minority, Just like some consoles have a higher chance to overheat, there will be some specific configurations steam will have an issue due to the large amount of variables there will almost always be something that gets through. You just learn from the issues of your bad luck and move on.