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Forza Motorsport 3 - October 2009 release (ignore the OP at your peril)

Yoritomo

Member
m0dus said:
Well, anyone familiar with Forza 2's substantially WORSE compression issues during photomode export knows there's a small light at the end of the tunnel--at least in the short term. I always found that shrinking the image to 50-70% usually cleared up compression artifacts at the cost of size.

Time to make a photoshop action I suppose.
 

Dra-Q

Banned
OK, saw the Gametrailers review and I'm a little bit hyped for Forza 3. I criticized the game after the demo impressions, but I will get a 360 just to play it.
 
I don't mean to pile on, but like so many others I am disappointed by the photomode compression-- it's primarily why I never got into taking pictures in FM2, and it'll probably keep me from doing so FM3 to the extent I'd have otherwise liked to.

However, if Che says the team is looking into giving us higher fidelity photo uploads after they have a better idea of their server loads, I'll remain cautiously--
naively?
-- optimistic.

Surely the LOD/model-swapping issues, photomode compression, etc, would have all been more satisfactorily resolved with more development time, but there's always that pesky compromising between getting everything you want in the game, (at the quality you'd like it), while still hitting your completion date. Turn 10 did the best they could, no doubt, and when I'm playing the game in a little over two weeks, I'll probably be able to live with the compromises.
 

pr0cs

Member
m0dus said:
But don't act like it's a dealbreaker, or like you've somehow been maliciously wronged.
It makes sense from a business point of view but man if it doesn't expose the outmoded thinking that Microsoft has about getting data on/off their platform.
Make a signed plugin for Windows for chrissake that talks to the 360 and shuttles screenshots to-from the device.
Quite frankly I never understood why Microsoft never tied a 360 and Windows closer together making them both "must have" devices if you had one or the other.
 
m0dus said:
agreed. well, remember, you can usually get away with as much as 2/3. Hopefully, this problem will be fixed. But don't act like it's a dealbreaker, or like you've somehow been maliciously wronged.
Oh I know, like I said before, photomode is by far my favorite feature and I spend a lot of time in there. So when che was posting all these shots from "photomode" I got super pumped. Then seeing the terrible compression is there just really soured everything for me. So I rant a bit harder I suppose because I felt this feature affected my enjoyment more than most. I'll still be taking bad ass pictures though, just pint size ones lol.
 

Spasm

Member
tirant said:
Wh?!?! I'm paying €75 for a LCE. That's one hundred and ten fucking dollars.
That's alotta dollars!

Honest question here, cause I really don't know. Does VIP give you more access to media and sharing capabilities... like, are those 30 second film clips only for VIP members?

I'm buying the LCE mainly for the exclusive cars, but if VIP also gives me enhance media capabilities, then... bonus!
 

Jube3

Member
rocksteady1983 said:
Oh I know, like I said before, photomode is by far my favorite feature and I spend a lot of time in there. So when che was posting all these shots from "photomode" I got super pumped. Then seeing the terrible compression is there just really soured everything for me. So I rant a bit harder I suppose because I felt this feature affected my enjoyment more than most. I'll still be taking bad ass pictures though, just pint size ones lol.

Just a thought but if you're like me and like to take pictures/captures of games you could invest in an HD capture card. The intensity blackmagics are 200 now and some places even have them for close to 150. Not saying its cheap but an option if you have the cash.
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
pr0cs said:
Quite frankly I never understood why Microsoft never tied a 360 and Windows closer together making them both "must have" devices if you had one or the other.

Yeah, my 360 still can't access my computer's MP3 library in game. Yet if I go through the Windows Media Player in the 360 dash the all of a sudden I can play any song I want to from my computer. Hmm... way to make things easy MS. We can blame this guy:

balmer-mini.gif
 

p3tran

Banned
What can I say, photomode is my favorite feature in the game, and I had high hopes.
well, in order to help you a little bit, I can tell you for a fact that photomode in forza 3 is way better than what was in forza 2.

if you havent seen it yet, the new photomode allows for amazing horizontal distance from the car, great zoom ability providing for more impressive takes, is faster, smoother, AND you get to save your pics at the best quality in your 360, and view them on your nice tv anytime you like.
not only that, but you will have the opportunity to easily browse at the best pics the community has to offer, and again be able to save them in their best quality possible and view them at the same quality anytime you want.
so it's much improved, and you will be happy.

what is the problem, is the network side of photomode things. and the community manager already explained that they are looking into it, they have the best of intentions, they are primarily worried about functionality, nothing is set in stone, etc.

I hope this helps, and reduces ranting to its appropriate levels. :)







other than this,

Jube, there are people chatting in your .tv channel and waiting for you to appear and all that lol

:lol
 

gillty

Banned
RSTEIN said:
Yeah, my 360 still can't access my computer's MP3 library in game. Yet if I go through the Windows Media Player in the 360 dash the all of a sudden I can play any song I want to from my computer. Hmm... way to make things easy MS. We can blame this guy:
wut
 

Jube3

Member
p3tran said:
other than this,

Jube, there are people chatting in your .tv channel and waiting for you to appear and all that lol

:lol

:lol damn i just hopped in when I read this. Talk about dedication. Theres like 10 people in there just talking lol.
 

ShogunX

Member
RSTEIN said:
Yeah, my 360 still can't access my computer's MP3 library in game. Yet if I go through the Windows Media Player in the 360 dash the all of a sudden I can play any song I want to from my computer. Hmm... way to make things easy MS. We can blame this guy:

balmer-mini.gif

Cant you rip music directly from CD's straight to the 360 hard drive? Not the ideal solution but maybe convert the songs you want to use and then rip to hard drive.

Edit - pretty sure you can also play them directly from a USB pen or another device. In game obviously.
 

pr0cs

Member
RSTEIN said:
Yeah, my 360 still can't access my computer's MP3 library in game. Yet if I go through the Windows Media Player in the 360 dash the all of a sudden I can play any song I want to from my computer. Hmm... way to make things easy
This sounds more like your streaming software having problems than anything else. I don't think I've had this problem.


RSTEIN said:
We can blame this guy:
It's *REALLY* odd because Microsoft tries like they want to compete in this market yet they do very little to leverage their "win" card (Windows) because everything they do in Windows related to the XBOX is half-assed.

Media Center *still* does not support playback of XVID/DiVX to the 360 yet that feature has be possible via streaming for years already. No idea if it's in Windows7 but I would be willing to bet they didn't fix it there either.

The 360 should have some sort of remote desktop to your PC, screw implementing some shitty / gutted version of a browser/email/etc. Let me remote to my PC where I can do everything there. They have remote desktop client code, just port it to the 360 for chrissake.
It makes no sense that they don't tie the 360 and Windows together like must have accessories. The 360 should be like having a mouse if you have Windows, a very handy accessory.
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
Shogun PaiN said:
Cant you rip music directly from CD's straight to the 360 hard drive? Not the ideal solution but maybe convert the songs you want to use and then rip to hard drive.

Edit - pretty sure you can also play them directly from a USB pen or another device. In game obviously.
Yeah, I only have a 20gig unit and I need whatever space I can get for F3's second disc. I could use a USB device. I should probably buy one :D

valru said:
It's weird. In game, when I ask my 360 to find my PC, it says "no PCs were found on the network." Then I go to the 360's WMC thingy (which I do when I want to play music when I read downstairs) and everything is fine. It doesn't really matter, not a big deal.
 

cbox

Member
I don't understand how halo 3 can do it, those images from photomode/replay are insanely high res, and you're allowed a certain amount with the free account. Not to mention halo 3 has 10x the amount of players forza 3 will ever have. Can't Turn 10 have some of bugie's bandwidth? :p
 

Slayer-33

Liverpool-2
Thanks for the reply Che, a suggestion you guys might want to hear is the way PGRnations (pgr4) handles it, it allows you to see the last 4 photos that you uploaded via live up on their site. I have no idea what the upload limit is on FM3 or if it has a limit at all, but if there is no limit in the amount of pictures uploaded or if there's one of lets say 20 pictures at a time per user @ 100kb's or less then bro by all means lower that number to 5 photos per person each @ 400kb's+, it would be greatly appreciated and I'm sure no one will have a problem with that.


http://i36.tinypic.com/16kdhf4.jpg


^pgr 4 pic @ 313 kb's and it doesn't look compressed, see what you can do Che jebus.
 
Jube3 said:
Just a thought but if you're like me and like to take pictures/captures of games you could invest in an HD capture card. The intensity blackmagics are 200 now and some places even have them for close to 150. Not saying its cheap but an option if you have the cash.
That would be sweet but I really don't think I could justify that with my wife lol. I'd love to have one tho.
 

erale

Member
Che, why is the Scirocco a right-hand drive car? It's a German car so why did you chosse the UK version?

I was really pleased to see my real life car in the game. But now I'm really disappointed that I'll have to sit on the wrong side in Forza 3...
 
Slayer-33 said:
Thanks for the reply Che, a suggestion you guys might want to hear is the way PGRnations (pgr4) handles it, it allows you to see the last 4 photos that you uploaded via live up on their site. I have no idea what the upload limit is on FM3 or if it has a limit at all, but if there is no limit in the amount of pictures uploaded or if there's one of lets say 20 pictures at a time per user @ 100kb's or less then bro by all means lower that number to 5 photos per person each @ 400kb's+, it would be greatly appreciated and I'm sure no one will have a problem with that.


http://i36.tinypic.com/16kdhf4.jpg


^pgr 4 pic @ 313 kb's and it doesn't look compressed, see what you can do Che jebus.
I like that idea. Would keep the beancounters quiet.
 

Falagard

Member
chespace said:
Nobody is talking trash and everyone has the best intentions. Like I said, none of this is carved in stone so please keep that in mind. :)

I guess that's the big question here - are the files compressed on the client before they're sent to the server, or are they compressed on the server?

If they're compressed on the client, is the compression ratio something that can be changed dynamically without a title update, or will you have to submit a patch/title update to change the compression?
 

Jube3

Member
rocksteady1983 said:
That would be sweet but I really don't think I could justify that with my wife lol. I'd love to have one tho.

Getting it by the wife is easy if you're up for a little bit of misdirection lol. "hey honey, I wanna get this computer part so we can start uploading our home movies and wedding videos to facebook and share them with our relatives" lol

You can sell that pretty good haha
 

Spasm

Member
Diablohead said:
Imagine the count down to a race, pic of the car---3---2---1---GO!

Now you only get control over your car's revs on 1.
Not only that, but drag racing is about timing. There's no way to launch early!

Imagine holding your revs, and waiting till the exact moment to pop the clutch (or release the breaks on your Supra). Too aggressive? DQ'd. Too conservitive? hand over that pink slip, chump.

If all you do is hold down the throttle, and wait for the game to launch you, what's the point?

They really coulda made the new manual clutch a major play mechanic in this mode.
 

skyfinch

Member
Diablohead said:
Imagine the count down to a race, pic of the car---3---2---1---GO!

Now you only get control over your car's revs on 1.


It's because of the high res lod "cut scene" they threw in at the beginning of each race.

That's pretty much what it is, a cut scene, since you have no control over it. The front wheels don't even turn left to right if you move the analog/steering wheel, unlike Forza2, which was real time.

Looks nice and all, but they should have cut that part out completely for drag racing.
 

Hawk SE

Member
Diablohead said:
Imagine the count down to a race, pic of the car---3---2---1---GO!

Now you only get control over your car's revs on 1.

That kinda sucks, guess it was an afterthought with how races begin
 
Is Sunset speedway a renamed Nissan speedway? I remember what che said about Nissan not being happy for some reason.

I wish we had a night time ring again though like forza 1, the multiple shadows looked real cool and gave some visual interest to racing a loop.
 

Jube3

Member
Diablohead said:
Is Sunset speedway a renamed Nissan speedway? I remember what che said about Nissan not being happy for some reason.

I wish we had a night time ring again though like forza 1, the multiple shadows looked real cool and gave some visual interest to racing a loop.

Theres a few tracks ( I believe one is suzuki) that has really heavy shadows from the stands, especially in cockpit view its really cool having a dark pit and then going into a brigh one. I know its nowhere near the same as night racing though.
 

p3tran

Banned
XiaNaphryz said:
Sounds like the InsideSimRacing guys will try to get their Forza 3 review posted later today. Woot!

nice!

Re: Forza Motorsport 3
Postby Shaun Cole » Fri Oct 09, 2009 4:54 pm

Well our big Forza3 review is coming today, we are working hard to get it done.

Forza3 in all of its glory, oh my what a ride.

looks like its gonna be interesting...
 

Anony

Member
just saw gt's review

they said something about needing 2 gigs to install, but i am confused about if it was mandatory or not
 

skyfinch

Member
Anony said:
just saw gt's review

they said something about needing 2 gigs to install, but i am confused about if it was mandatory or not


I don't think it is. You'll be losing out on 100 cars and some nice tracks, though.
 

Slayer-33

Liverpool-2
Anony said:
just saw gt's review

they said something about needing 2 gigs to install, but i am confused about if it was mandatory or not


Nah it's not mandatory J, go check IGN's review you'll probably find that one more informative.

skyfinch said:
Left turns FTW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8AJis3lSLw

The sound in this game is insane.


Very impressive sound coming from that engine.

I watched Jubes feed last night on Justin tv and the Japanese drift cars and range rover sound NUTS too.
 
Oooh yeah baby I just broke the demo lol.

Slow motion replay of me rolling a mini, I pressed start to pause it so I could do more percice slow motion, made the mini go real slow while rolling down the first hill when driving backwards and then slammed my trigger in to go full speed, the music or any sound in fact is just noise non stop, and restarting the race has stuck me into a perm loading screen with the orange ring spinning :lol

let's see if I can do it again.
 

Blimblim

The Inside Track
Coming tomorrow, full Montserrat lap at 60 fps, full Fujimi Kaido lap at 60 fps (2 parts), plus replay of that lap in 2 parts. First video with a stock Subaru Impreza STI 05, then with the "slightly" upgraded S3 version :) The speed sensation on FK is rather insane, I did the video mostly with the bonnet view so it feels really fast.
 
Diablohead said:
Imagine the count down to a race, pic of the car---3---2---1---GO!

Now you only get control over your car's revs on 1.
I really don't like the starts in Forza 3. Even though I don't like the cockpit view (far too close to the wheel) I will still use it the most. But I'd like to sit there, controlling my revs waiting for the green light, rather than the game doing it for me. It's artificial and too arcadey. Also, do the race cars like the GT cars and Le Mans prototypes still start off the line? They shouldn't really. In reality they having rolling starts. They're not made to roar off the line.

I watched the Gametrailers review and I noticed Forza 3 still only has the 1999 Zonda C12 (the first and slowest of all of them). No C12S or Zonda F (let alone Zonda R). Can we expect them in some DLC? It's a shame because I'd like a race with a Koenigsegg, Enzo, Carrera GT, McLaren F1, Zonda F and Veyron. Looks like one of those cars is MIA. :(
 
chespace said:
We're looking into it but we need the game to launch first for some real world data.

I'm actually pretty astonished that T10 is being so stupid about this. Storage and bandwidth are so ridiculously cheap nowadays.

Having people being super hyped, and marketing your game for you with beautiful screenshots is worth hundreds of thousands and potentially in the millions of dollars.

And you're sacrificing that for a few tens of thousands of dollars of STORAGE space?

This is what happens when you're spending too much time in front of the spreadsheet and not appreciating the real world consequences of these minor actions.

I mean, will crappy screenshots stop a few thousand people from buying the game? Either directly through disappointment, or indirectly through not having been exposed to great screenshots? Why take the chance at all?

It honestly boggles my mind. You guys are being idiots. Plain and simple.
 
Omar Ismail said:
I'm actually pretty astonished that T10 is being so stupid about this. Storage and bandwidth are so ridiculously cheap nowadays.

Having people being super hyped, and marketing your game for you with beautiful screenshots is worth hundreds of thousands and potentially in the millions of dollars.

And you're sacrificing that for a few tens of thousands of dollars of STORAGE space?

This is what happens when you're spending too much time in front of the spreadsheet and not appreciating the real world consequences of these minor actions.

I mean, will crappy screenshots stop a few thousand people from buying the game? Either directly through disappointment, or indirectly through not having been exposed to great screenshots? Why take the chance at all?

It honestly boggles my mind. You guys are being idiots. Plain and simple.

Have you played any 360 games around recent dash upgrades or big download releases? The flipside of your scenario is the other scenario where the hundreds of thousands of people who actually just paid for the game can't play online at all.
 

skyfinch

Member
Blimblim said:
Coming tomorrow, full Montserrat lap at 60 fps, full Fujimi Kaido lap at 60 fps (2 parts), plus replay of that lap in 2 parts. First video with a stock Subaru Impreza STI 05, then with the "slightly" upgraded S3 version :) The speed sensation on FK is rather insane, I did the video mostly with the bonnet view so it feels really fast.

Thanks, Blimblim. Can't wait.
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
BenjaminBirdie said:
Have you played any 360 games around recent dash upgrades or big download releases? The flipside of your scenario is the other scenario where the hundreds of thousands of people who actually just paid for the game can't play online at all.

I think they can play, but then again if they don't have a hard drive they wouldn't be playing online anyways, no? And they would be missing out some sweet tracks. See: Nurburgring.
 

AMUSIX

Member
OK, just read Che's response to the photomode thing. So the compression issue was some bean counter being overly cautious. The problem is that it may or may not be correctable...and if it IS correctable, the chances of it being a priority are still undetermined. Hopefully it can and will be fixed.

However...

this still does not address the fact that we're confined to inside the track walls, and that we can't go over 2 meters...and that we can't shoot inside the cars.

the USB thing is disappointing, but I understand why MS is cockblocking that. Unfortunately, the issues above are Turn 10's choices, and not something I can agree with.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
Have you played any 360 games around recent dash upgrades or big download releases? The flipside of your scenario is the other scenario where the hundreds of thousands of people who actually just paid for the game can't play online at all.

I understand the fear that a disastrous launch can spoil A LOT.

However, this is an irrational decision based on rational fear, that's why it's deceptive.

I run my own website, so I have some background in the costs of storage and bandwidth. Just look at Amazon S3:

* $0.15 per GB for storage
* $0.1 transferred in
* $0.17 per GB transfer out

So let's say on day one, 100 million images are uploaded. And seen one billion times. This is not going to happen, for reference YouTube gets 1billion views a day.

So that's:
10,000GB uploaded. and 100,000GB downloaded.

According to Amazon that will be:
$1500 + 1000 + 17000 = $20000

So in this ridiculously high scenario (they probably won't get 100 million images uploaded in a year) it'll cost them $20K dollars. To offset that cost they have to convince 1000 people to buy the game. Will having substantially better images be the deciding factor for 1000 people? It's actually not that unreasonable. And if it's the deciding factor for 10,000 people you can see how the math starts to really break down.

I mean they're honestly trying to save a few thousand bucks here, but I'd say the damage to the game's hype has already surpassed that.

Absolutely ridiculous.
 
Omar Ismail said:
I'm actually pretty astonished that T10 is being so stupid about this. Storage and bandwidth are so ridiculously cheap nowadays.

Having people being super hyped, and marketing your game for you with beautiful screenshots is worth hundreds of thousands and potentially in the millions of dollars.

And you're sacrificing that for a few tens of thousands of dollars of STORAGE space?

This is what happens when you're spending too much time in front of the spreadsheet and not appreciating the real world consequences of these minor actions.

I mean, will crappy screenshots stop a few thousand people from buying the game? Either directly through disappointment, or indirectly through not having been exposed to great screenshots? Why take the chance at all?

It honestly boggles my mind. You guys are being idiots. Plain and simple.

I agree with you here, and isn't that seems to be pretty much Microsoft policy on most thing. They want to compete but lack the will to commit. I still not sure how the excuse is even valid looking at what Halo 3 was able to do.

I remember there was a membership option in that survey that buy you more storage space like Bungie Club but that seems to get no mention at all so I assume it fail the survey and MS is now going the chepest route possible on this.

Frankly this is what frustrate me the most about being 360 owner it seems they always take 2 step forward then 3 step back because they are busy beans counting now and not seeing the full potential of the future. As Omar said, imagine all the people seeing the photomode and then pick up this game, it's like free advertisement.
 
A shame windows media connect or something can't view the images on a pc using your network to the xbox360, then just print screen the image and paste it into adobe...

I hope xbox next or whatever allows devs to export direct screen caps to something, hell even smash brothers on the wii can export images to SD card.
 

Chrange

Banned
BenjaminBirdie said:
Have you played any 360 games around recent dash upgrades or big download releases? The flipside of your scenario is the other scenario where the hundreds of thousands of people who actually just paid for the game can't play online at all.

I can't imagine how they'd have it set up so that simply adding storage for photos would cause people to be unable to access matchmaking. If that could honestly be the case, they'd have far bigger problems than not understanding how 100kb photos look like crap.
 
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