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PC gaming can really be infuriating.....

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Carefully what you say, the last time I said anything about pc gaming having issues here I was basically attacked by some random self righteous ass who confused not wanting to deal with pc issues with not being able to - two very different things. The op's post is on point for some people, pc gaming may not be worth the hassle.
 

adamosmaki

Member
At least even if it needs fiddling you have the option to play your old games on PC . Something you cant say for consoles
So there i'd rather have the option even if it requires a bit of work to get it to work rather not have the option at all
 

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
I can accept issues with older games, but I have a much harder time with newer releases. I'm not even talking about performance which can be attributed to PC hardware. Sunset Overdrive is a 2018 game while Loeb Rally was released in 2016. I'd expect them to work out of the box and have their known bugs fixed, which clearly isn't the case. As for Jade Empire, as much as it is an older game, it was just released on steam. Don't developers have an obligation to make sure the damn thing works before collecting money? Maybe put a disclaimer on the store page? Even putting aside the issue with performance where I'm not alone, the game downright doesn't start by clicking the play button, it's broken by default for everyone as it's an .exe issue. The fix is easy enough, but it shouldn't be there for a new release.

It's nice that you can tinker on a PC and fix most issues yourself, but publishers / devs seem to use that to their advantage and not fix their own crap. That gets me really mad.
Sunset Overdrive was an exclusive that was ported, not surprised with the issues you have, though again, I've not had them playing it on PC(other than the Ultra-wide issue I mentioned). Loeb Rally being a multiplat(I've never even heard of the game tbh) doesn't surprise me as having issues as I would assume they put most of their effort on the console versions. That said, I do agree with you that Publishers should ideally have it running well out of the box, but it's just not the case in reality. You think it's bad now, you should have seen the scene back in the 00's-09's, it was a damn crap shoot whether a multiplat game would even run on a PC without extensive coverage of a big game AND we didn't even have the benefits of most digital stores offering some sort of refund system. And you can be upset about it, or spend 10 minutes looking online to solve most of your problems, or buy from a store(Steam/GOG) that let's you refund a game that performs poorly. I bought TW: Warhammer 2 years ago and it ran like shit on my PC(CPU bound problems on my old ass CPU at the time) refunded it no problem from Steam and then picked it up years later cheaper and it ran so much better on my newer PC. Point is, there's so much information out there for just about every single game released that you should take the initiative to scope reviews/impressions before you purchase anything. You wouldn't just go out and buy a car and expect it to work a certain way and then act surprised when it doesn't perform to your expectations without researching it would you? And again, fixing the issues yourself it typically VERY VERY easy. You can pout about it, or fix the shit yourself, or refund the game. Not sure what else you'd expect anyone here to say about the topic at hand. Unless you just want to have an echo chamber to commiserate with.
 
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Skifi28

Member
PM me just now with list of games that cause you issues and I'll let you know if I played them, if I encountered the issue and if I was able to fix it.
It'd be more of an essay than a list, many different problems to describe and to be honest I've had enough for a day to dig up even more issues. But I'll keep it in mind for later.

Not sure what else you'd expect anyone here to say about the topic at hand.
I did make it quite clear that it was more about venting than asking for advice. I've been fixing shit like this for 20 years, it's just becoming harder and harder to bother at this point which pushes me away from PC gaming more than I would like.
 
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Kuranghi

Member
Carefully what you say, the last time I said anything about pc gaming having issues here I was basically attacked by some random self righteous ass who confused not wanting to deal with pc issues with not being able to - two very different things. The op's post is on point for some people, pc gaming may not be worth the hassle.

Definitely, I say this to potential new gamers who ask me if they should buy a PC or console to start gaming:

"If you want to play at 4K or 120fps+ at high/max settings and expect games to work with no effort then don't buy a PC, if you want to play at (next-gen) console resolutions at 60fps with max settings or below then you should be good. Otherwise get a console."

Its hard though, because they are new gamers so have no frame of reference for what I mean by max settings and 120fps+.
 

Kuranghi

Member
It'd be more of an essay than a list, many different problems to describe and to be honest I've had enough for a day to dig up even more issues. But I'll keep it in mind for later.


I did make it quite clear that it was more about venting than asking for advice. I've been fixing shit like this for 20 years, it's just becoming harder and harder to bother at this point which pushes me away from PC gaming more than I would like.

Okay no probs, my PM door is open for the future.

I have recently discovered many new ways of stopping stuttering in games using RTSS scanline-sync or nvidia/amd Fast or Adaptive Sync + fps cap in RTSS instead of internal v-sync solution is why I might be able to help.

I've fixed issues with games I thought were just fundamentally broken/not optimised in their GPU usage in certain scenarios like close ups of alpha effects, like Abzu and RE2&3 Remake.
 
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Krappadizzle

Gold Member
It'd be more of an essay than a list, many different problems to describe and to be honest I've had enough for a day to dig up even more issues. But I'll keep it in mind for later.


I did make it quite clear that it was more about venting than asking for advice. I've been fixing shit like this for 20 years, it's just becoming harder and harder to bother at this point which pushes me away from PC gaming more than I would like.
It's actually become easier than ever to fix your problems. But, I get it, it can be annoying having to do it to being with. Hell, Cyberpunk 2077 show's that even(especially) on consoles no big AAA is exempt from issues. But again, I'd just do research before you buy anything, it's just a good rule of thumb. GOG is typically the only store I'll buy ANY old game from as they'll USUALLY have proper patches already applied to give proper support to modern hardware, old games on Steam are typically exactly how they were last touched by Publishers/Developers so if they left a game in a shitty state 20 years ago, and there have been significant improvements from fan patches/.ini edits, they won't go back and add them in which is super annoying. Steam for newer shit, GOG for older shit.
 
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RedVIper

Banned
Its probably when they (I know for me it is) are trying to run them at 120hz or native 4K at max settings so the GPU usage wildly fluctuates or simply you don't notice these issues, and if its the latter then more power to you because you are just being immersed in the games while we flail around in framepacing-pain.

I'm not talking about performance issues, I notice stutters and frame pacing issues just fine, but if your GPU can't keep up that's kinda of your own fault.

I'm talking about the people that can't seem to get their games to run, have to mess with game files and have technical issues with every game, what are they doing that's causing this?
 

Skifi28

Member
Okay no probs, my PM door is open for the future.

I have recently discovered many new ways of stopping stuttering in games using RTSS scanline-sync or nvidia/amd Fast or Adaptive Sync + fps cap in RTSS instead of internal v-sync solution is why I might be able to help.

I've fixed issues with games I thought were just fundamentally broken/too variable in their GPU usage like Abzu and RE2&3 Remake.
RTSS has solved problems more times than I can count, though it's usually my last resort these days, not the most elegant of solutions. On the other hand I can't remember the last time adaptive sync helped. Then again I don't play at 120fps so there's that too.
 

Kuranghi

Member
I'm not talking about performance issues, I notice stutters and frame pacing issues just fine, but if your GPU can't keep up that's kinda of your own fault.

I'm talking about the people that can't seem to get their games to run, have to mess with game files and have technical issues with every game, what are they doing that's causing this?

I agree that may be case a lot of the time, what I meant was that as you increase the GPU usage by increasing refresh rate and/or res it makes it more likely you will get into these scenarios where the GPU wildly fluctuates in certain scenes, meaning you need to tweak the settings or res or refresh rate cap to stop the stutters. Ie, more "hassle".
 

Armorian

Banned
RTSS has solved problems more times than I can count, though it's usually my last resort these days, not the most elegant of solutions. On the other hand I can't remember the last time adaptive sync helped. Then again I don't play at 120fps so there's that too.

VRR/Gsync/Freesync/AS (whatever it's called) is a gamechanger and fixes most issues with framepacing etc. Frame limiter in nvidia driver works just as good as RTSS at limiting FPS with proper frame pacing.
 

Kuranghi

Member
RTSS has solved problems more times than I can count, though it's usually my last resort these days, not the most elegant of solutions. On the other hand I can't remember the last time adaptive sync helped. Then again I don't play at 120fps so there's that too.

I just used to use adaptive sync for reducing input lag when I could maintain the refresh rate I had set, but now I use scanline-sync in those cases:


 

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
VRR/Gsync/Freesync/AS (whatever it's called) is a gamechanger and fixes most issues with framepacing etc. Frame limiter in nvidia driver works just as good as RTSS at limiting FPS with proper frame pacing.
Once I went G-sync back in 2013, I could never go back. I tried convincing my buddy that he needs to jump on it and he was very resistant. I had him house-sit for me while my wife and I were in the hospital for the birth of our daughter and he played Battlefront 2 on my PC and he said he hates playing games on his PC now as even just surfing the internet feels better at 144hz and playing a game with no screen tearing and having the framerates going from 55-90fps without you noticing feels so much better than his ol' 1080p V-sync monitor.
 

nerdface

Banned
I love that we have deep learning guessing at most of the pixels on screen, but they can’t use those tensor cores to find an optimal setting for your machine.

...and it’s gonna screen tear either way. 🤪
 

Rikkori

Member
PCs can give you real headaches, no one denies that but you made the shittiest list of games to prove that point. It's nothing but very old games and garbo ports, all of which had problems even on launch day, and it's no coincidence so many are EA/MS titles laden with DRM on the list. On the bright side you can do something about it, because on PC there's almost always a fix. On console they'd just leave you with your cheeks spread, and unlike popular thinking you don't always get super stable or polished versions of a game just because it's on a console.
 

Skifi28

Member
PCs can give you real headaches, no one denies that but you made the shittiest list of games to prove that point. It's nothing but very old games and garbo ports, all of which had problems even on launch day, and it's no coincidence so many are EA/MS titles laden with DRM on the list. On the bright side you can do something about it, because on PC there's almost always a fix. On console they'd just leave you with your cheeks spread, and unlike popular thinking you don't always get super stable or polished versions of a game just because it's on a console.

I wasn't even trying to make a point by picking the worst, waking up today I never thought I'd write this thread. I legit bought these games recently because they interest me and thought I'd have a fun weekend picking through them.
 
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Kuranghi

Member
Do you have a screen that can display 120hz? If you do then you can output a res@120hz then use RTSS scanline sync in half-rate mode (click on the button and it changes to "scanline-sync x/2") and you will get input lag very close to what you'd get with 120hz. Its amazing if you can do locked 60 at that res/settings but want better input lag.

S-sync has no added lag to begin with, so much better compared to double or triple-buffered v-sync added lag, but doing the above is a big reduction in lag again.

I do the same but I output 6 60Hz and do half-rate scanline-sync and the resulting 30fps output actually feels pretty close to 60fps with triple buffering, in terms of lag. Its transformational in Hitman 3 since 4K wasn't possible on my 1080 when you are looking out over the whole level/at tons of NPCs, which ruins the mood of the game. Better to be locked to 30 @ 4K + max settings than fluctuating that much for me, getting locked 60 meant reducing so many settings and going down to 1440p so I opted for 30fps s-sync cap in this case.

edit - oops, sorry 60hz, didnt mean to ping you.
 
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To be fair, if you hadn’t spent more time trying to get the PC to run the games optimally without issues for longer than playing the games themselves, it wouldn’t be PC gaming.


This was always nonsense. The games layed out in the OP, assuming he's not lying, are 10-15 year old games, outside of Sunset Overdrive. You're trying to run games this old, on OS that didnt exist back then, drivers that didnt exist and hardware that didnt exist. With minimal google search, these minimal issues can be resolved and most important, you can play the games. Each of these games, at launch were running as any game, double click on its icon and thats it. This phrase, that pc gaming has you searching for solutions left and right is and always was utter bullshit
 
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A.Romero

Member
PC gaming has much more potential than console gaming because of all the tweaking capabilities but at the same times it does present more opportunities for hassle.

In the last few years these are the issues I remember the most:

- Lost my Witcher 3 cloud save (over 150 hours)
- Wasn't able to play SF vs Tekken at all, never got it to launch.
- The abysmal port that LA Noire is (30 FPS tops? Seriously?)
- Having to mod Automata for it to work properly
- Recently tried to get back into AC Origins but the game switches back to 24 hz for some reason
- Spent hours troubleshooting gears of war 4 because the Microsoft store is shit
- Recently played Control Ultimate and it has a very serious issue with texture streaming


Other than that, it's been smooth sailing for the most part. For me, the extra performance a 2080 Super does, RTX, DLSS, cheaper games, unparalleled backwards compatibility and the ability to chose input methods it's worth the risk of failures every now and then.

It bothers me the most to not be able to play shit I paid for on the PSN store.

However, I do enjoy the convenience of consoles. Once the game is installed you know that it will work 95% of times without any issues and that at least first parties will be able to lock their framerate to 30FPS for the most part.
 

Patrick S.

Banned
My hot take is that these aren't inherently PC problems. And on the plus side, at least it's possible at all to play these older games. Try playing your PS3 copy of Alice on your PS5...
 

SLB1904

Banned
giphy.gif
 
That’s one of the primary reasons I never cared for PC gaming. Compatibility issues, drivers, mandatory upgrades, etc. I like the customization and options of PC gaming, but I much prefer the simplicity of consoles.
 
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Reizo Ryuu

Gold Member
That’s one of the primary reasons I never cared for PC gaming. Compatibility issues, drivers, mandatory upgrades, etc.
I once ran this pc 24/7 for 365 days straight, not a single driver update, not a single crash, not a single problem. The idea that you constantly "need" driver updates is pure nonsense; yes sometimes a driver is required, but that's no different from the periodic firmware updates on consoles.
Mandatory upgrades is also a myth, I mean the 1070 was released 5 years ago and it runs modern games just fine.
 

Patrick S.

Banned
Would my specs make any difference on broken games you can't activate, steam cloud saves getting lost or known bugs? This isn't a thread about framerate issues.
Broken games are not Microsoft's fault, they're the fault of shitty devs. Not all games support cloud saves, again, not a "PC" fault but the fault of the devs just not implementing them. Again, at least cloud saves aren't locked behind a paywall as they are on the PlayStation platforms.
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
Would my specs make any difference on broken games you can't activate, steam cloud saves getting lost or known bugs? This isn't a thread about framerate issues.
In addition to specs, we'll also need to know your Windows version and storefront being used for each game to begin the troubleshooting process.
 
My ISP left me without Internet service this whole week. From monday to friday's afternoon. And to my surprise I discovered that, aside from the games I hadn't downloaded before being kicked offline for a week, I couldn't play a lot of titles I already had downloaded and that those I could, I had to go through a process to activate them. Epic Games Store refused to work for a while while being offline, Ubisoft Store was okay, but it needed some offline registration process (or something like that), EA Desktop just refused to work and, well, Steam worked well, but those games that hadn't been sync to the cloud just didn't start because of this.

I ended up so frustrated and fed up with all the struggle I had to go through to start some games that I turned off the PC and went to the living room downstairs just to play some physical PS3 titles. I'm serious.

Internet is working okay as of right now, so all my PC features are working with no problem. But this week made me remember just how more convenient console gaming is. The console just works. It also reminded me of the convenience of physical media. I may not have the patches or access to the DLC on some games when I insert the disc in an Internetless environment, but I can actually play the games.

It's gotten me thinking...
 
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CrustyBritches

Gold Member
I don't want anybody to find me a solution, If the issues are fixable I can find them myself perfectly fine. It's the motivation I'm struggling with.
We can assist with motivation, but first provide specs and Windows version so we can begin the troubleshooting process.
 
pc gaming can be very problematic ito getting some games to run properly. the payoff is that when you do, you can tweak them and get great performance out of them, something i fell adds to the experiences. for example, one game that kept giving me trouble was JSRF on Steam, just couldn't get it to start right, but after doing some research i was able to launch it properly and it's a joy to play. modern cards help as well, my 2070 is about the best i've had for launching older and 'touchy' newer games correctly. oh, and modding games is the bees knees! couldn't game without it.
 

Rheon

Member
Not directed at OP but I don't get why people always say PC gaming is some sort of black box that's super hard to operate or get your head around.

I built my first PC in December and have literally had zero issues playing games on it. I boot the game up, spend like a minute or so tinkering with the visual settings if it's my first time, and then... play.

Maybe it's a time thing...?
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
Not directed at OP but I don't get why people always say PC gaming is some sort of black box that's super hard to operate or get your head around.

I built my first PC in December and have literally had zero issues playing games on it. I boot the game up, spend like a minute or so tinkering with the visual settings if it's my first time, and then... play.

Maybe it's a time thing...?
I think its just a matter of familiarity with the platform.

MG Rising OP mentioned for example, I had the exact same issues and quickly found out the game worked as intended if i just ran it in windowed mode at a sligthly sub 1080p res. Considering something similar also happens with Nier Automata i assume its just some problem with how the Platinum Engine works or with their ports. Not ideal, but i'm not the type to fuss too much over this type of thing as long as it isn't broke and doesn't look horrible.

With Alice MR, the first and obvious thing to do for me would've been look for a crack online, no idea why that would've been so troublesome to OP to the point he'd give up so easily. Suppose its also a matter of individuality.
 
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S0ULZB0URNE

Member
Nothing but issues playing Xbox games on all of my computers.
Uplay is also a mess.

Usually games with Steam and Origin are on point.
👍
 

TonyK

Member
That was my experience for the last couples of year. Yes, there are games that runs flawless out of the box, but for sure not all them. Tired of that I returned to consoles after several years as PC gamer and now I only play, no problems with configurations or incompatibilities, only get the game and play.
 
Carefully what you say, the last time I said anything about pc gaming having issues here I was basically attacked by some random self righteous ass who confused not wanting to deal with pc issues with not being able to - two very different things. The op's post is on point for some people, pc gaming may not be worth the hassle.
Yeah. Anything that isn't praising PC as the ultimate end all be all kind of gaming is generally met with posts talking down on the original poster and taking potshots at consoles as well as posts that basically boil down to "it works on my machine so you must be lying".

I've built over 20 computers and have played games on PC since the late 90s, and I have issues all of the time. Sometimes it's worth it to me to fix it and other time I literally can't be bothered. I play games to have one not bang my head against a wall. For example with FH4 on PC I had an issue with using my Dualshock 4 where most of the inputs wouldn't work and it would constantly switch back and forth between controller and keyboard. It ended up being (and still being) that I need to completely close out of Steam and end the process and then it works perfectly.

I love PC gaming, and some of my favorite gaming memories are on PC but I'm not blind enough to pretend it's some perfect oasis of gaming.
 

Mhmmm 2077

Member
Metal Gear Rising
What could possibly go wrong here? It seems to run great at first, yet something feels really off, the camera is very jerky. For whatever reason it caps at 59fps instead of 60.
Oh yeah, PlatinumGames' engine is pretty shit. All their games do that I believe, the "latest" TW101R does it too (Silent Patch exists though, so it can be fixed). Hopefully they don't fuck up with their new engine that they announced.
 
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