RAGE - New thread for the id game [Archive] - Page 6

HighPlainsDrifter

10-04-2011, 07:36 PM

I don't know but I have seen that listed on various bug lists. One said to add this to your command line launch. Maybe try that?

"+set com_skipIntroVideo 1"

Thanks for posting that, this allow me to run the game. Odd that playing the videos hung it up. It could also run by using windowed mode instead of fullscreen:
+r_fullscreen 0

Edit: hah, it still hangs on a black screen when starting a campaign because it needs to play the vid. Fortunately either windowed mode or loading a save game can get me by that.

Normann

10-04-2011, 07:36 PM

I heard loading your mouse driver into himem fixes things, has anyone tried that?

LOL awesome! It took me a sec to remember. I can't remember what was my ram. I do know I had an 80MB hard drive and no sound card.

Ninyu

10-04-2011, 07:40 PM

You had a hard drive?? High roller.

Normann

10-04-2011, 07:44 PM

You had a hard drive?? High roller.

Are we talking PC times? On the commodore I did not. I remember loading drivers into some other memory on my first PC. That one had a HD.

Btw Rage just promted me to update my 280.26 driver to the new 280.26 driver. Ok... I guess the release date on the two were different. hmmm

Tom McNamara

10-04-2011, 09:02 PM

Laughter is the best medicine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDqoqShY3MY).

Normann

10-04-2011, 09:28 PM

I finally got to the 2nd main area in the game. Took me 10h with all the side quests I could figure and some 10-15 races. 1st mission in the new town is not easy on hard. Hard starts to feel like it says.

Btw Boss fights are great too. Unlike that other game that I've played recently. ;-)

stusser

10-04-2011, 10:43 PM

The new ATI drivers completely fix my issues. The game plays fine now, and is actually kinda growing on me.

Man oh man though, the state they released it in...

Major Malphunktion

10-04-2011, 10:54 PM

I tweaked it enough to get it playable tonight (basically a mish mash of what has already been posted) I have to say, I'm enjoying the hell out of it...and there are these wow moments with the graphics. Entering the town...I thought it was playing a prerendered movie..then I realized I could move...never had that happen before

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 12:28 AM

Tom have a list of issues with the game
http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2011/10/04/rage-has-got-to-be-kidding-me/

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 01:02 AM

Using these settings, lots of people says it will improve the texture loading, making disappear finally (except maybe if you do a really fast 180º turn??).

seta vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly2 "8192"
seta vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly "8192"
seta vt_pageimagesizeunique "8192"
seta vt_pageimagesizevmtr "8192"

But if you don't have a fast enough card with enough memory, it may cause stuttering and increased crashes. More detailed instructions (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2156408)

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 01:06 AM

I have to say, the game is not very subtle with the references
http://i.imgur.com/5sDx2.jpg

Sarkus

10-05-2011, 01:12 AM

I'll have to give those settings a shot when I play tomorrow. The Rage updated drivers seem to help (though CCC still says I'm running 11.8, which seems weird.) At any rate the game is playable with only some pop-in going on now.

I finally made it to the point where I had watched up to on those videos the other day. Other then one sidequest, anyway. Time to see something new! ;-)

nooteh

10-05-2011, 01:30 AM

I have to say, the game is not very subtle with the references
i.imgur.com/5sDx2.jpg

It would have been better if the shirt was black and you could barely read the text.

Sarkus

10-05-2011, 01:35 AM

Tom have a list of issues with the game
http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2011/10/04/rage-has-got-to-be-kidding-me/

I'm mildly surprised* that Tom is so negative. Seems like a throwback shooter would be the kind of thing he'd enjoy. And since he's clearly playing on a 360, he doesn't have the technical issues to yell about we PC/ATI users have had since late last night.

*I say mildly because I now generally just assume he will hate everything. That way I don't feel upset when he actually does. ;-)

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 02:14 AM

dermot

10-05-2011, 02:48 AM

Without having played the game, i have to agree with some of his issues, because they are pretty objective, like the having to use one dvd or the other having the three dvds installed, or the lack of minimap or quest indicators if you are in town, or the lack of any save system in the mission he mentions (no manual save option), which is not consistent with the rest of the game.
One of his nitpicks is retarded though: why wouldn't people still say 'word on the streets' in the absence of any streets? There are idioms that have stuck around a lot longer than 106 years.

Robert Sharp

10-05-2011, 04:27 AM

Also, you drive in the game, so there are clearly streets.

instant0

10-05-2011, 04:36 AM

Also, you drive in the game, so there are clearly streets.

True Crime: Streets of Rage

anaqer

10-05-2011, 04:55 AM

Also, you drive in the game, so there are clearly streets.
How would this even work?

Tim James

10-05-2011, 04:58 AM

Rage seems to be the rare type of game where I can laugh at all those nitpicks Tom points out, and laugh at Tom, and enjoy the game for what it is.

The PC controls annoy me a little. I'd like to be able to assign certain items to be used directly with a key, rather than pressing F1-F4 and then Q. I thought I might want something similar for the guns (press 1-4 to access my currently equipped guns) but Tom makes it sound like that'd be a hassle. I guess I'll live with 1-0 and mouse scroll.

Tim James

10-05-2011, 05:19 AM

Telefrog

10-05-2011, 05:52 AM

I'm completely boned.

I rolled back my ATI drivers. Crash.

I reinstalled the new drivers. Crash.

I uninstalled and redownloaded the whole game. Crash.

Fuck.

Fugazie

10-05-2011, 06:06 AM

Finally got to play a bit last night.
Runs well on my system (Nvidia 470OC) although the texture streaming seems to be very slightly visible in my peripheral vision which gave me a headache.
I am also getting awful screen tearing-anyway to turn on vsync via console or command line switch?

Teiman

10-05-2011, 06:10 AM

I'm completely boned.

I rolled back my ATI drivers. Crash.

I reinstalled the new drivers. Crash.

I uninstalled and redownloaded the whole game. Crash.

Fuck.

Is possible that you are not really installing new drivers.

What you can do, is to use one of these tools that remove the old drivers, before you install the new ones.

Also, lol about redownloading a whole game. The steam feature to check cache probably make so you never really need to do that.

Optionally, you can try to search for configuration files for Rage (*.cfg files somewhere in a Rage folder) and nuke then. Maybe a bad config has slipped there.

I don't remember if you already tried the command line options to skip videos, sounds like you sould be doing that already.

I am a linux user,..I don't know much about your OS.

10-05-2011, 06:24 AM

When removing games from Steam in order to re-download them, check the actual game folder in the steam directory tree after you've used "Delete Local Content". Games will often leave a lot of stuff lying around.

LesJarvis

10-05-2011, 07:03 AM

http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i-rMx83pR/0/L/i-rMx83pR-L.jpg

I was only able to play for about 45 minutes last night, and I like it because I like a good, solid manshoot, and as far as I can tell RAGE is that, but that PA really nails how weak the premise is. It has about the weakest set up I've ever seen in a shooter (which is saying a lot), to the point that nothing at all would probably be preferable.

Telefrog

10-05-2011, 07:05 AM

Is possible that you are not really installing new drivers.

What you can do, is to use one of these tools that remove the old drivers, before you install the new ones.

Yup. Used a sweeper to completely clean out the old drivers.

Also, lol about redownloading a whole game. The steam feature to check cache probably make so you never really need to do that.

Did that before I chose to delete and redownload. Didn't matter. Crash.

Optionally, you can try to search for configuration files for Rage (*.cfg files somewhere in a Rage folder) and nuke then. Maybe a bad config has slipped there.

I don't remember if you already tried the command line options to skip videos, sounds like you sould be doing that already.

Yes, and yes. I'm not a PC gaming noob by any means.

Tim James

10-05-2011, 07:11 AM

...but that PA really nails how weak the premise is. It has about the weakest set up I've ever seen in a shooter (which is saying a lot), to the point that nothing at all would probably be preferable.On the contrary. Without the setup they chose, we wouldn't have that hilarious PA comic.

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 07:30 AM

I'm completely boned.

I rolled back my ATI drivers. Crash.

I reinstalled the new drivers. Crash.

I uninstalled and redownloaded the whole game. Crash.

Fuck.

First, be sure the drivers are being installed. Check the internal version number in the ccc and compare them with the sshots someone put in the guru3d thread i linked in the other page.

Second, search a folder in c:\users\<yourname>\app\local\id software\rage and delete two files called cache-something. Maybe you are thinking you uninstalled all the game but these files are still there. I am namign the path by memory, so maybe i am wrong in the specifics.

Third, i believe you can put by hand the opengl dll file form amd in a windows folder or in the own rage folder. Try that method. Read the guru3d thread for specifics.

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 07:35 AM

I was only able to play for about 45 minutes last night, and I like it because I like a good, solid manshoot, and as far as I can tell RAGE is that, but that PA really nails how weak the premise is. It has about the weakest set up I've ever seen in a shooter (which is saying a lot), to the point that nothing at all would probably be preferable.

I agree, the premise is very weak. We could argue you return the favor to Dan Hagar (sp?) of saving your life when you kill the first ghost lair but after??? Why the hell you are helping everyone and killing so much? Yeah it's a fps, it's something i always say but even in a fps light on story i think they could have done a better justification for the main character role.

Giaddon

10-05-2011, 07:43 AM

Just imagine you've been quietly stroking a murder boner in that stasis chamber for the past 100+ years. Now you're out, and you're ready for release.

In other news, yes, I've been replaying Bulletstorm. It's still awesome.

James Johnson

10-05-2011, 08:26 AM

I'm mildly surprised* that Tom is so negative. Seems like a throwback shooter would be the kind of thing he'd enjoy. And since he's clearly playing on a 360, he doesn't have the technical issues to yell about we PC/ATI users have had since late last night.

*I say mildly because I now generally just assume he will hate everything. That way I don't feel upset when he actually does. ;-)

He'd love a throwback shooter and be tripping over himself trying to forgive it if it wasn't developed and published by big names.

Face it, Tom's a troll. He'll find a way to hate anything that isn't a niche title. I'd say he does it for hits, but honestly, I think his trolling is involuntary. I used to think it was tongue-in-cheek, or just a way of pointing out good games we may have missed thanks to the glow of the AAA stuff, but now I think he's just genuinely that burned out with it all. His forum suicide practically confirms this.

Zylon

10-05-2011, 08:59 AM

I'd say he does it for hits, but honestly, I think his trolling is involuntary.
Trolling is by definition voluntary. I think what you're saying is that he's become a crank.

glimjack

10-05-2011, 09:50 AM

I played a bit more last night, and am up to Dead City Central... I am guessing a little over half way through the single player campaign. I have not done all the side missions or races, but have played several of them and am about 6 hours in on normal difficulty level. (Note: I am not a big FPS player, and normal difficulty seems about right for me.)

I am surprised to find myself enjoying the vehicle combat... it has a much better feel than Borderland's version. The vehicles are easy to control, can be upgraded with various bits and pieces and the driving model is solid (well, for an action game).

The shooting bits are also nice. The different factions are well realized, and have different movement behaviors. Mutants dodge and weave, jump off walls. The gang members have different animations depending on wounded state (falling to their sides and shooting last desperate shots). Enemies call out your location, fall back when overpowered, and so on. The side quests often revisit areas explored earlier, but they feel different due to differing placement of enemies.

I have not started to use the engineering items much yet (turrets, rc cars, spiders), but have just gathered enough resources to start investigating them.

Nitpicks from the front-page aside... I am finding (dare I say it) the game fun.

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 09:53 AM

A small comment from a SA user who seems to have worked on Rage (character artist):

...the textures are lower res than I'm sure the env artists would have liked, but its just the nature of having to fit the game onto the current physical media available. The game is essentially on a 1:4 ratio right now I think, which means 1 pixel per 4 units of game space, to increase the resolution of the textures we have to go to 1:1 which inflates the game from 20gigs to 80something. There's no way to do something like that till dvd's aren't an issue anymore. I know Carmack mentioned a hi res texture pack on the PC side, but I'm not really in the know as to what's going to happen there.

Ohh that explains it a bit. I wondered if it was possible to bump up the quality a bit more for pc, let's say 35GB or 40GB instead of the actual 20GB. But if the next bump up in quality inflates the game to 80GB, i can understand the logistical issues (lots of dvds, blurays are still barely used in computers, even a bigger problem if you rely on downloads).

arakyd

10-05-2011, 09:57 AM

I like a good, solid manshoot
Just imagine you've been quietly stroking a murder boner

Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important.
This is the one guy who is most responsible for creating the modern mainstream games industry as it exists today. He must have said that almost ten years ago now, or more. Anyone who wonders about the lack of story, or lack of anything other than visuals, isn't paying attention.

The analogy between gaming and pornography is striking, and IMHO under-explored. Visual stimuli + males age 12-24+ = $$$. Everything else is a sideshow.

nKoan

10-05-2011, 09:57 AM

So it only took me about 45 minutes to get the game up and running last night (not counting installation) and I consider that a rousing success. Thanks to all the people playing earlier and working through the various issues. I still have some problems with the texture pop-in, in the larger outdoor environments.

But anyway, by the time it was playable it was 11pm, so I only played the first level. But, it is nice to be back into an old-school shooter. Its been a long time for me. I am actually excited to get back into the game later today.

Tim James

10-05-2011, 10:02 AM

I'd pay $10 for a DLC 60 GB texture pack on PC. That would more than cover the bandwidth, wouldn't it? I don't know the numbers.

PC gamerz might not react to it so well though.

Zylon

10-05-2011, 10:03 AM

The analogy between gaming and pornography is striking, and IMHO under-explored.
Lara Croft's chest says hi.

stusser

10-05-2011, 10:11 AM

if the next bump up in quality inflates the game to 80GB, i can understand the logistical issues (lots of dvds, blurays are still barely used in computers, even a bigger problem if you rely on downloads).
I don't see why offering it as an optional high-res texture pack would be an issue. Bandwidth is cheap, steam has plenty, and last mile broadband speeds are improving, even here in the US. I just upgraded to 50 megabit cable last week. Admittedly my cable bill is now north of $200/month, so it's a bit of a luxury, but I want to stretch it out!

Paul_cze

10-05-2011, 10:11 AM

So why can you move your stick while driving and look around, but once switched to mouse instead of x360pad it becomes impossible?

Admittedly my cable bill is now north of $200/month, so it's a bit of a luxury, but I want to stretch it out!

I am paying equivalent of 20$/month for cable 25 megabit with no cap. WTF?

RobotPants

10-05-2011, 10:25 AM

You're very lucky, then. My connection is that fast too, but I'm paying Time Warner $65/month for it.

Tim James

10-05-2011, 10:28 AM

Heck, they could just make it a torrent file and let PC users handle it themselves. Probably one of those things they won't take the time to do because it's hard to sell to the bean counters from a business sense. Or maybe they can't release artwork without some sort of control. *shrug*

stusser

10-05-2011, 10:35 AM

I am paying equivalent of 20$/month for cable 25 megabit with no cap. WTF?
The US is maybe 10 years behind most of the rest of the world in internet connectivity. It's controlled by monopolies completely unpoliced by our government. Also only half of that bill is internet, the rest is for cable TV, which is also very expensive.

Also I live in manhattan, so I get screwed coming and going.

mono

10-05-2011, 10:41 AM

I'd also pay for the HD texture torrent. Not much, but a little. The game is already gorgeous, if it had Witcher 2 quality textures it would be nuts. A torrent's a fine idea.

LesJarvis

10-05-2011, 10:49 AM

This is the one guy who is most responsible for creating the modern mainstream games industry as it exists today. He must have said that almost ten years ago now, or more. Anyone who wonders about the lack of story, or lack of anything other than visuals, isn't paying attention.

Oh, I don't think it's surprising. Despite the fact that storytelling in games was fairly progressed by the time Wolfenstein 3D and Doom came out, both of them largely dispensed with any semblance of plot and just made things as direct as possible: here is a gun, here are things to shoot, get with the shooting. Most of their later games followed suit, and though Doom 3 is notable for trying to graft a more elaborate plot onto the gameplay elements, it's still no Half Life. Id's agenda is clear even if it isn't spelled out. I just think it's funny that here they've clearly gone to significant lengths to structure a world for the character to inhabit, much like they did with Doom 3, but they couldn't be bothered to have it make the slightest bit of sense for the player. If you're gonna go gonzo, then go gonzo, or at the very least make your story elements tongue-in-cheek. RAGE's problem (such as it is) is that expects us to take seriously what is obviously incoherent.

Paul_cze

10-05-2011, 10:51 AM

You're very lucky, then. My connection is that fast too, but I'm paying Time Warner $65/month for it.

I have very mainstream connection, by pretty much monopolistic cable provider in the country (there were 2 big ISPs, but they merged). Luckily ADSL competition keeps prices down and performance up. If I paid 50$, I would get 100 megabit with no cap (only 10 mbit upstream though).
I had no idea US was worse than central europe in connectivity.

malkav11

10-05-2011, 10:51 AM

I have a 30 megabit connection and the game is installed on a 2 tb hard drive. Bring the texture pack.

malkav11

10-05-2011, 10:54 AM

I have very mainstream connection, by pretty much monopolistic cable provider in the country (there were 2 big ISPs, but they merged). Luckily ADSL competition keeps prices down and performance up. If I paid 50$, I would get 100 megabit with no cap (only 10 mbit upstream though).
I had no idea US was worse than central europe in connectivity.

It's one of the worst countries for internet in the developed world as far as I can tell (Australia's worse, though.). I'm not sure of the exact details as to why.

stusser

10-05-2011, 11:02 AM

The US telephony infrastructure was built before most of europe, which was great 100 years ago but limits expansion into modern technology today. Also the US is really, really big, and like I mentioned earlier, our government doesn't police the monopolies at all. At 50mbps down and 5mbps up, my connection is faster than the vast majority of the country. Probably in the top 2-3%. Most people make do with 1.5mbps down and 128kbps up connections, which cost around $20-$30/month.

mono

10-05-2011, 11:04 AM

id does need to move Tim Willits out of the Creative Director spot. He was a fine Doom & Quake level designer, and he's been with them through a lot of success, but he just doesn't have it. There's no reason id's great tech and artists can't be used in a game w/ some at least mildly interesting narrative, or with some interesting variations on straight up shooting. It's not gonna happen with Willits in charge of Design.

RepoMan

10-05-2011, 11:09 AM

Face it, Tom's a troll. He'll find a way to hate anything that isn't a niche title. I'd say he does it for hits, but honestly, I think his trolling is involuntary. I used to think it was tongue-in-cheek, or just a way of pointing out good games we may have missed thanks to the glow of the AAA stuff, but now I think he's just genuinely that burned out with it all. His forum suicide practically confirms this.

No, I disagree. I expect him to rave over Arkham City, for instance.

Tom just puts more critical emphasis on narrative coherence than just about anyone else, so if you do a sloppy job with your writing or your world-building, Tom will call you on it harder than anyone else.

But if you have good gameplay and good writing / etc., Tom will be way behind you. I don't consider Deus Ex: HR a "niche" title, but Tom clearly dug it enough to participate in an internal title review, which is the sort of thing you only do if you really want to make a game better. So there's a triple-A title that Tom specifically helped to improve. That pretty much blows your theory right there.

stusser

10-05-2011, 11:11 AM

internal title review, which is the sort of thing you only do if you really want to make a game better
Really? I assumed it was a paying gig. People do that sort of thing for free out of altruism?

Tim James

10-05-2011, 11:19 AM

Never ascribe to trolling that which is adequately explained by berets.

stusser

10-05-2011, 11:32 AM

Calling Tom a troll is unfair. He's a critic with a unique viewpoint. If you don't agree with that viewpoint, don't use his work as a buyer's guide-- I don't, because I disagree with him all the time. He likes strategy games, I like CRPGs, etc. I still read his work, because it's entertaining in its own right.

DennyA

10-05-2011, 11:37 AM

But if you have good gameplay and good writing / etc., Tom will be way behind you.
While it agrees that Tom is not a troll, Mass Effect 2 would like to disagree with your statement.

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 11:50 AM

Telefrog, btw, the weapons of the enemies disappear in 2-3 seconds in the final version, so people won't try to pick them up ;)

MattKeil

10-05-2011, 11:58 AM

While it agrees that Tom is not a troll, Mass Effect 2 would like to disagree with your statement.

Yeah, this.

I don't think Tom is a conscious troll, but it is very tempting to think so when it comes to his often silly dismissals of popular games.

JoshV

10-05-2011, 11:59 AM

While it agrees that Tom is not a troll, Mass Effect 2 would like to disagree with your statement.

Eh, I've heard quite a few people were disappointed with ME2, enough that I think it's writing is debatable and up for critique.

(Caveat: Haven't played it myself yet)

Teiman

10-05-2011, 11:59 AM

I started reading the Tom reviews recently, and are a fun read. The frontpage of QT3 is maybe the only blog worth revisiting :-O

His reviews are completely personal. Not "Is this game fun?" but "Is this game fun for Tom Chick?".

A game can be bad for Tom Chick, but great for you. That is something you must decide. But the things Tom is going to write will give you a good view of the game, so is a good way to educate your opinion about a game.

postdata:
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Chris Nahr

10-05-2011, 12:03 PM

Eh, I've heard quite a few people were disappointed with ME2, enough that I think it's writing is debatable and up for critique.

(Caveat: Haven't played it myself yet)

Guys, do you realize how much longer this thread will run once Hong gets involved?

MattKeil

10-05-2011, 12:08 PM

Also, I was hoping Tom would mention one of the dumbest little details in the game: It's 106 years after the end of civilization, in a settlement whose population rarely travels more than a mile from safety. So why does everyone speak with a different accent? You've got Southern guys, Western cowboys, a light Chinese accent, Cockney gang members, John Goodman's Midwestern drawl...where the hell did these people learn to talk like this? Does everyone just watch reruns (on the inexplicably functional mass media devices) and pick a dialect or what?

Eh, I've heard quite a few people were disappointed with ME2, enough that I think it's writing is debatable and up for critique.

(Caveat: Haven't played it myself yet)

I don't think its writing is at all debatable. It's one of the best-written games I have ever played, without any question. Some people didn't get the game they wanted, but as far as I'm concerned, if someone is claiming the writing in ME2 is bad, they're full of shit and/or pushing an agenda.

Telefrog

10-05-2011, 12:13 PM

I don't think its writing is at all debatable. It's one of the best-written games I have ever played, without any question. Some people didn't get the game they wanted, but as far as I'm concerned, if someone is claiming the writing in ME2 is bad, they're full of shit and/or pushing an agenda.

The bad guys are up to something! Quick gather your crew! Do these other things first. Okay, now go! Wait, gather some more crew! Did you survey some planets for minerals and stuff? Better do that! Ready? Okay, now you... Oh, wait a moment. You'd better upgrade the ship. Who are you working for again? Nevermind. Hey, since you're waiting, how about tending to some interpersonal relationships?

Tim James

10-05-2011, 12:16 PM

oh no

Sarkus

10-05-2011, 12:20 PM

Using these settings, lots of people says it will improve the texture loading, making disappear finally (except maybe if you do a really fast 180º turn??).

But if you don't have a fast enough card with enough memory, it may cause stuttering and increased crashes. More detailed instructions (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2156408)

This fix does help with pop-in, but for me the first time I tried to load into a new area the game crashed. Repeated to make sure. I soon as I took it out the load worked. Not sure why. I may reimplement it again just to make sure it wasn't something specific to that area load.

Tom just puts more critical emphasis on narrative coherence than just about anyone else, so if you do a sloppy job with your writing or your world-building, Tom will call you on it harder than anyone else.

How narratively coherent was Bulletstorm? (I didn't play it, so I don't have any idea). Tom was pretty excited about that game.

I don't think its writing is at all debatable. It's one of the best-written games I have ever played, without any question. Some people didn't get the game they wanted, but as far as I'm concerned, if someone is claiming the writing in ME2 is bad, they're full of shit and/or pushing an agenda.

If I remember correctly, Tom didn't like the writing in ME2. In fact, one of the things about his perspective on it was his admission that he hadn't bothered with many of the NPC "optional" sidequests. So in the end a lot of his companions died. Tom said the ones he tried weren't compelling, and even when people pointed him towards trying some of them that the community particularly liked he claimed they weren't interesting to him.

Rage certainly does not have a coherent story. That PA comic is exactly what I was thinking last night, that they don't even bother to set anything up. Dan doesn't even ask what skills you have, he simply just sends you off to kill some people he considers a threat. Considering the ghosts don't seem to react when you drive by them in the car the first time, despite his claims, just reinforces how shallow the idea is.

malkav11

10-05-2011, 12:21 PM

I actually do think Tom has trollish tendencies. His consistent, deliberate mixing up of sports stuff, for example. Or comics. But I think it's meant largely in fun, and while he baits people sometimes in his articles and/or reviews, I don't think he's faking contrary opinions.

stusser

10-05-2011, 12:22 PM

His reviews are completely personal. Not "Is this game fun?" but "Is this game fun for Tom Chick?".
Almost every review you read (or watch, in Matt's case) is structured as a buyer's guide. They aim to answer a very simple question; should you buy the game. Consumers expect this, and it's difficult to retain mass-market appeal unless you meet that requirement, and if your scores don't come reasonably close to the metacritic average you get blacklisted. That's why you don't see real criticism on IGN or G4.

True criticism is very rare, because the author's point of view really matters. He doesn't align himself to metacritic, and he talks about how he personally experienced the game, not whether the average reader should actually buy it.

MattKeil

10-05-2011, 12:35 PM

The bad guys are up to something! Quick gather your crew! Do these other things first. Okay, now go! Wait, gather some more crew! Did you survey some planets for minerals and stuff? Better do that! Ready? Okay, now you... Oh, wait a moment. You'd better upgrade the ship. Who are you working for again? Nevermind. Hey, since you're waiting, how about tending to some interpersonal relationships?

That's not the writing, that's the plot. Given that ME2 is a collection of short stories about the crew members you're working with, framed by the Collector plotline, the complaint that it "doesn't further the story" is missing the point. Also, it does further the story, but people who have missed the point rarely bother to notice.

The story is not a sweeping space epic, but it is an effective collection of character pieces. We'll see if they pay that off in ME3. If they don't, I expect my opinion of ME2 will drop a fair amount.

If I remember correctly, Tom didn't like the writing in ME2. In fact, one of the things about his perspective on it was his admission that he hadn't bothered with many of the NPC "optional" sidequests. So in the end a lot of his companions died. Tom said the ones he tried weren't compelling, and even when people pointed him towards trying some of them that the community particularly liked he claimed they weren't interesting to him.

Oh, I'm well aware. Tom was very firmly in his "too cool for this game" groove on ME2. Wasn't really even worth discussing it with him by that point.

Rage certainly does not have a coherent story. That PA comic is exactly what I was thinking last night, that they don't even bother to set anything up. Dan doesn't even ask what skills you have, he simply just sends you off to kill some people he considers a threat. Considering the ghosts don't seem to react when you drive by them in the car the first time, despite his claims, just reinforces how shallow the idea is.

Yeah, it's a good thing for Dan and the rest of the not-evil-because-we-said-so inhabitants of the Wasteland that the one survivor of that Ark happened to be a thoroughly amoral borderline sociopath with exceptional driving skills who is trained to deadly proficiency with nearly every type of weapon imaginable.

Blips

10-05-2011, 12:40 PM

Tim James

10-05-2011, 12:43 PM

That's not the writing, that's the plot.Unlike Telefrog, I was smart enough already to make this distinction. But I still sat next to him in English class so he distracted me. Now I have a question: is the writing the characters too? Because I loved the snappy writing and still disliked half the characters when it was all said and done.

I just want to know if I'm in a state of cognitive dissonance.

Tom McNamara

10-05-2011, 12:47 PM

Almost every review you read (or watch, in Matt's case) is structured as a buyer's guide. They aim to answer a very simple question; should you buy the game. Consumers expect this, and it's difficult to retain mass-market appeal unless you meet that requirement, and if your scores don't come reasonably close to the metacritic average you get blacklisted. That's why you don't see real criticism on IGN or G4.

True criticism is very rare, because the author's point of view really matters. He doesn't align himself to metacritic, and he talks about how he personally experienced the game, not whether the average reader should actually buy it.

In IGN's case, the bulk of their triple-A game reviews land on the day of release if not before, so they're earlier than or immediately concurrent with the reviews at other outlets; there is no meta-review consensus at the time of publication to which they might feel compelled to stick close to. The perceived lack of "real" criticism at certain publications tends to have a lot more to do with what kind of skill levels you can expect from a low pay grade, for an occupation that is reflexively dismissed as non-serious by the bulk of people who are qualified to do it.

The truth tends to be mundane.

Telefrog

10-05-2011, 12:49 PM

That's not the writing, that's the plot.

What are you considering the "writing" then? The dialogue on it's own?

stusser

10-05-2011, 12:53 PM

Well someone has to be in the first wave to set the metacritic numbers, and those publications usually have exclusivity for a time anyway. The mass market aims for non-controversial scores, then everybody else files in behind. If you're writing a buyer's guide, you don't want controversy. People want to know that they'll like modern warfare 3 if they liked modern warfare 2. That's a valid service. It's just not criticism.

Blips

10-05-2011, 12:53 PM

Can someone enlighten me on just what "writing" covers? I've always thought of writing as encompassing dialog, character choices and the overall plot.

MSUSteve

10-05-2011, 12:57 PM

(Regarding the in-game Doom 3 t-shirt) It would have been better if the shirt was black and you could barely read the text.
HA! This cracked me up.

Yeah, it's a good thing for Dan and the rest of the not-evil-because-we-said-so inhabitants of the Wasteland that the one survivor of that Ark happened to be a thoroughly amoral borderline sociopath with exceptional driving skills who is trained to deadly proficiency with nearly every type of weapon imaginable.
I played only about 20 minutes of this last night, but it was enough to have gotten a little ways into that first bandit hideout. I thought it was pretty strange to ask someone that just woke up after a 106 year sleep to find every one of his Ark-mates dead to be asked to go out and murder complete strangers without any sort of acclimation period. The barest of motivations in provided in that (1) the bandits attacked you as soon as you emerged from the Ark and (2) John Goodman immediately saved you from them, creating some significant debt to him.

It would've made more sense if the bandits followed you back the 150 feet or so to John Goodman's shanty town and attacked, forcing your character to pick up a gun and defend the settlement and his one new found friend. Certainly more sense than giving vague directions and a murder mission to someone that has been awake a total of 10 minutes and who is totally unfamiliar with the terrain. Of course these nitpicks are ludicrous themselves in that it's an id shooter and who really cares why you're manshooting, but it's funny to take a step back.

Bill Dungsroman

10-05-2011, 01:00 PM

Sarkus

10-05-2011, 01:00 PM

Can someone enlighten me on just what "writing" covers? I've always thought of writing as encompassing dialog, character choices and the overall plot.

It does, but I think Matt is making the distinction that different parts can be of varying quality. For example, the main plot in Dragon Age 2 is pretty shallow and had issues. But some of the characters and side stories are actually written quite well. Oblivion and its gates main story was dull as nails but a lot of people liked the Dark Brotherhood storyline. The examples of this go on and on.

Tim James

10-05-2011, 01:05 PM

Oh wow, apparently the tweaks mentioned earlier do more than eliminate texture pop-in. They also make the textures crisper. They're lines to force the use of higher resolution textures. It's possible the auto balancer is too conservative. Someone also found a tweak to turn on anisotropic filtering. (Maybe that's what's really making the textures crisper?)

Here's the article. It includes some technical background. You can also see some example pictures there. They didn't look at up-close text on small signs, but it sounds great even if it doesn't help that.

http://www.geforce.com/News/articles/how-to-unlock-rages-high-resolution-textures-with-a-few-simple-tweaks

I guess I should move back down to 8k instead of 16k textures if I only have 2GB of VRAM. They didn't detect any improvements, so no sense in tempting fate.

.\Steam\steamapps\common\rage\base\rageconfig.cfg:

vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly2 8192
vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly 8192
vt_pageimagesizeunique 8192
vt_pageimagesizevmtr 8192
vt_restart
vt_maxaniso 4
image_anisotropy 4

Sarkus

10-05-2011, 01:08 PM

I played only about 20 minutes of this last night, but it was enough to have gotten a little ways into that first bandit hideout. I thought it was pretty strange to ask someone that just woke up after a 106 year sleep to find every one of his Ark-mates dead to be asked to go out and murder complete strangers without any sort of acclimation period. The barest of motivations in provided in that (1) the bandits attacked you as soon as you emerged from the Ark and (2) John Goodman immediately saved you from them, creating some significant debt to him.

No, its worse then that. You are attacked by mutants, not bandits. Then Dan takes you on the ride and tells you that the bandits that are ignoring you as you drive by are going to want to get you because you're an ark survivor. The bandits do nothing, despite have a couple of vehicles and outnumbering you and Dan, and you continue on to Dan's settlement. And it gets even worse because while you are gone, Dan's group gets attacked by a completely different group of bandits.

It would've made more sense if the bandits followed you back the 150 feet or so to John Goodman's shanty town and attacked, forcing your character to pick up a gun and defend the settlement and his one new found friend.

Exactly. Though even then the idea of sending one guy off to finish them off still doesn't make much sense. It's like the second settlement you visit, where you are sent to go turn on the radio tower and find the missing guy (who just happens to be in the same place!). I remember thinking "wait, if they have this radio tower then . . . " a) why couldn't they be bothered to go turn it back on and b) why am I a wasteland courier taking messages between these places when they have radio towers and radios? It gets even stupider when you get your buggy and the mechanic gives you a radio so you can call him if you need a tow.

As Matt pointed out in his mini-review, there really does seem to have been no real attempt to make the story or setting coherent.

Telefrog

10-05-2011, 01:10 PM

Change a few words in there and you can describe most to all RPGs. None of them move at breakneck, action-film speed.

Sure, and I'd hold that same criticism for Fallout 3 and a lot of other RPGs.

My specific complaint with ME2's plot is that it didn't flow very naturally. It was "Urgent! Urgent! Get moving!" until you got out of the initial moments. Then it was "Meh. Do whatever." Then the last hour of the game was "Oh yeah, the danger we warned you about. Here!" Followed by credits.

I think games like Fallout New Vegas and Baldur's Gate 2 handled unfolding the plot a lot better. It felt like I was uncovering a story to get to the resolution rather than completely forgetting it until the end.

Dr. Quasius

10-05-2011, 01:19 PM

Throwing my two bits worth in on the technical issues. My PC meets the minimum requirements. It's close - but I'm over the line of where Rage should run. I'm an ATI owner so upon reading about the issues I preemptively cleaned and reinstalled my drivers using the newest Rage Performance Driver.

I started the game. The menu froze every few seconds. That's new to me. I started the campaign. The Video played fine with no problem dropping out of the video into the engine. Looked around. The texture streaming problem was horrible, but expected. What I didn't expect was the freezing when I stepped outside. Literally a minute of freezing followed by a minute of buttery smooth (texture challenged) movement - repeated ad infinitem. Unplayable.

So, I used the Rageconfig.cfg that was posted earlier in this thread. Loaded the game - now the menu does not freeze, but the game crashes upon campaign start. I've never ran into a game where I had these kinds of problems.

I am officially pissed.

Tim James

10-05-2011, 01:21 PM

Don't use the config file on a marginal system. What video card do you have?

My guess is ATI is still fucked up on certain models. Maybe even a few Nvidia owners. Now you're just down to the luck of the draw.

Dr. Quasius

10-05-2011, 01:26 PM

Don't use the config file on a marginal system. What video card do you have?

Yeah, I know that now, but it did solve the menu freezes so it did "something".

ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB

Telefrog

10-05-2011, 01:28 PM

Bill Dungsroman

10-05-2011, 01:49 PM

Sure, and I'd hold that same criticism for Fallout 3 and a lot of other RPGs.

My specific complaint with ME2's plot is that it didn't flow very naturally. It was "Urgent! Urgent! Get moving!" until you got out of the initial moments. Then it was "Meh. Do whatever." Then the last hour of the game was "Oh yeah, the danger we warned you about. Here!" Followed by credits.

I won't argue there were plenty of points in the game where you were asked to advance the plot along, but most of them were "head over and investigate this" variety and compared to the nagging you get in DXHR (and that the quest outcome may change if you take too long), it's nothing. I found it appropriately in between too languid and too urgent. Again, it's an RPG, and unless it's strictly on rails you're going to have a built-in pacing issue (if you choose to call it that).

I think games like Fallout New Vegas and Baldur's Gate 2 handled unfolding the plot a lot better. It felt like I was uncovering a story to get to the resolution rather than completely forgetting it until the end.

Ha ha, whoa, Baldur's Gate 2? No offense, but really? That had the worst pacing in Chapter 2. "We must rescue Imoen! We have to drum up enough money to afford it!" That takes what, 1 or 2 of the 10 or so sidequests to accomplish? Then you either forestall the rescue op to enjoy some of the best content in the game or hold off until Chapter 5 where it's even more an abrupt departure from the plotline as you let the Elves suffer while you dick around with Firkraag or the Demilich.

ME2's biggest crime to me was the final "suicide" mission was sorely lacking in gravitas after the buildup. Losing half your party should have been mandatory.

Jason McCullough

10-05-2011, 01:59 PM

Ha ha, whoa, Baldur's Gate 2? No offense, but really? That had the worst pacing in Chapter 2. "We must rescue Imoen! We have to drum up enough money to afford it!" That takes what, 1 or 2 of the 10 or so sidequests to accomplish? Then you either forestall the rescue op to enjoy some of the best content in the game or hold off until Chapter 5 where it's even more an abrupt departure from the plotline as you let the Elves suffer while you dick around with Firkraag or the Demilich.

Well, given the time it was released, maybe they were plotting the game like one of the 1980s teen movies where they trop to stop the evil developers from tearing down the skating rink. The middle chapters were all fund-raising montage.

Dr. Quasius

10-05-2011, 02:05 PM

I'm laughing so hard, I think I busted a blood vessel.

Think that's funny, huh? :)

At least I'm not alone with this issue, the playing then freezing thing seems to be happening to a ton of people regardless of video card.

DennyA

10-05-2011, 02:05 PM

Hey, at least you don't wake up with amnesia. That's something.

nKoan

10-05-2011, 02:09 PM

Dr. Quasius

10-05-2011, 02:15 PM

Any word from id/Bethesda regarding a patch? Usually when a game is released in semi-cooked state like Rage they are pretty quick to a least announce an incoming patch.

WarrenM

10-05-2011, 02:15 PM

Hey, at least you don't wake up with amnesia. That's something.
You might have .. your character never speaks so we have no idea what he knows and doesn't know. Well, he knows how to shoot guns and drive cars, I'll give you that but still ...

Telefrog

10-05-2011, 02:26 PM

Any word from id/Bethesda regarding a patch? Usually when a game is released in semi-cooked state like Rage they are pretty quick to a least announce an incoming patch.

"Working on it" is where we're at.

Thrag

10-05-2011, 02:49 PM

After uninstalling my video drivers and installing the 10/4 amd drivers the game was in a playable state for me. Then I quit for a while and when I reloaded the game it was back to pausing for a few seconds every minute or two. I was excited for a moment that I'd be able to play, but it's back to being basically unplayable again. (ATI 5870)

Telefrog

10-05-2011, 02:53 PM

Todd Hollenshead tweeted that there should be new AMD drivers tonight again.

lordkosc

10-05-2011, 03:02 PM

My copy has finally arrived!

Seriously ? 42 minutes to install off the DvDs? D:

Newegg shipped it via UPS , and it took 2 days to get here, but it was worth it to save $17.

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 03:13 PM

Todd Hollenshead tweeted that there should be new AMD drivers tonight again.

Cool, maybe when i begin playing the game this Friday the game will run ok, then.
Europe wins again! :P

glimjack

10-05-2011, 04:06 PM

My copy has finally arrived!

Seriously ? 42 minutes to install off the DvDs? D:

Newegg shipped it via UPS , and it took 2 days to get here, but it was worth it to save $17.

42 minutes? Bah. It only took around 38 hours for me to download...

I really need to get a better high-speed connection.

Sarkus

10-05-2011, 04:19 PM

Any word from id/Bethesda regarding a patch? Usually when a game is released in semi-cooked state like Rage they are pretty quick to a least announce an incoming patch.

Right now it seems like things are as much, or more, about drivers then about the game itself. What I mean is that it seems like most Nvidia card owners have had pretty good luck with avoiding technical issues and a big chunk of the ATI owners (including mysefl) had most issues fixed with updated drivers last night. Community fixes related to drivers have solved other issues. So until the drivers get settled its not clear what is "buggy" or simply the reality of the game engine.

Tim James

10-05-2011, 05:10 PM

New twitter from Todd:

Update on new ATI drivers - close now, but likely tomorrow before they are tested and ready for release. PC feature requests: stay tuned.

I guess I won't rush to finish this at the expensive of other games, even if "PC feature requests" (whatever they are) probably won't be out anytime soon.

Tom McNamara

10-05-2011, 05:24 PM

Finally got around to playing. I'm using AMD's Rage-optimized drivers with a 6850 and Vsync forced in the control panel. Butter smooth at 1080p with 4x Adaptive Multi-Sample AA (AA level selected in-game, AA *type* selected in control panel); triple buffering enabled, texture filtering set to "High Quality." All other settings left at their defaults.

Rest of the relevant hardware includes 4GB of 1600MHz Corsair XMS (running at 1333) and a 1090T CPU. No SSD, just a Spinpoint F3, 7200 RPM. Everything running at stock speeds right now.

I did uninstall the old drivers, boot into Safe Mode, clear out the leftovers with a driver cleaner and reboot, so that might have something to do with it. I'm not using that custom config file yet. There doesn't seem to be much reason to, as pop-in is nearly non-existent after about an hour of play.

I'm a little disappointed that a headshot isn't an instant kill (at least on the "Hard" difficulty setting), but I don't have any other noteworthy criticisms yet. I'm already seeing some of the cascading run-around quest system that people have been complaining about, though.

MSUSteve

10-05-2011, 06:34 PM

I'm a little disappointed that a headshot isn't an instant kill (at least on the "Hard" difficulty setting), but I don't have any other noteworthy criticisms yet.
This is bugging me too, but not so much that I hate the game or anything. I don't necessarily mind having to shoot off a helmet before a headshot is lethal, but it looks ridiculous when I hit a guy square (round?) in his unprotcted head and he doesn't die.

lordkosc

10-05-2011, 06:51 PM

Anyone try co-op , its pretty decent. I only did the Prison one (the first one) and its lag free, and the AI seems to be fine with 2 people shooting at them, but my textures on all surfaces seem stuck on medium.

I would guess I'd of had better graphics with a gtx 460.. :(

Gonna try single player now.

mono

10-05-2011, 07:02 PM

Man, I love driving in this game. Not only are the physics and control fantastic, but the scenic vistas and landscape is nuts.

Sarkus

10-05-2011, 07:05 PM

Can anyone who has the Rage drivers installed for an ATI card tell me what the CCC says under driver information? Just wondering, as I just did a full uninstall/reinstall and CCC identifies the driver as 11.8.

jim crawford

10-05-2011, 07:42 PM

Seriously, not even the common courtesy to checkpoint on turning in a mission? This game has a serious case of PC-itis.

Tim James

10-05-2011, 07:43 PM

It says 11.9. Here's all the info:

http://i.imgur.com/qFUp0.png

It looks like forcing 8k textures slows down my framerate in certain areas like towns, even with 0xAA. It's a shame because it looks so good and there's almost no texture pop no matter how fast I move around. I think I'll give it another 24 hours to wait for news or maybe some magic drivers.

Dr. Quasius

10-05-2011, 07:48 PM

Sarkus

10-05-2011, 07:49 PM

Weird. 11.8 has been the most stable for me from the start and when the new driver showed up last night I ran that, but CCC still identified it as 11.8, even though I could see improvement.

Things are getting worse the further I play into the game. Everything was working pretty well earlier, including loading in and out of Wellsprings with no issues and doing a race. Then I took on a couple of job board quest that send you back to earlier areas and once I hit the load screen the game would stop. That was with the config fix and without. And now I can't even load into anything without a crash, though sometimes the continue campaign will put me into where I was going.

Bleh.

Edit: I tried a bunch of things. 11.9 was super artifacty. I tried installing the Rage specific driver over that, but saw no difference. So I completely uninstalled everything again, driver cleaned the computer, and installed the Rage specific driver. Which did all kinds of shit to my computer, including limiting me to some low resolution. So I installed 11.8 over that and now everything works - my computer and Rage. So the game is back to being playable again, just with more pop-in then I'd like. There have been people on various boards complaining that they are having the failure to load problem ever since the Rage specific drivers were released for ATI.

At this point I've spent way more time screwing around with drivers and settings then actually playing the game. I think I'll avoid messing with anything else until the next set of drivers are out and everyone agrees they are awesome.

As for the game (he he), I really like the Rat Buggy. Seems more stable to me then the starter buggy, even though people say they are basically the same. I've even managed to get through the rookie set of races in Wellsprings - took me a few times to get the time trial as I figured out the controls and such but the next two races I won first time trying.

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 11:43 PM

New twitter from Todd:

I guess I won't rush to finish this at the expensive of other games, even if "PC feature requests" (whatever they are) probably won't be out anytime soon.

Speaking about pc features, the quick use item system is really a translation from the console controls, disappointing to have to press f3 and then q to throw a nade or f1 and then q to use a bandage. I have lots of keys here people!

Even worse, I suspect it could be fixed just doing a multi-action bind in a cfg file, it's not even needed to change the internal code.

TurinTur

10-05-2011, 11:44 PM

I'm a little disappointed that a headshot isn't an instant kill (at least on the "Hard" difficulty setting), but I don't have any other noteworthy criticisms yet.

Headshots are instant kill against weaker enemies (without helmet), even with only the pistol. But as you advance, they need a pair of bullets. It doesn't bother me in this type of fast run and gun game, where i usually exchange a hail of bullets in the firefights or go for the close range shotgun kill :)

I suspect headshots make triple damage compared to shots to the body, depending of the weapon and the enemy it may be enough to kill in one shot or not. Because the enemies are a bit bullet sponges (well, comparing it with a realistic game), a fair amount of times it won't be an instant kill, as you say.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 12:02 AM

Thanks god for the '8096 tweak', it doesn't only reduce the texture streaming but it makes the game looks better
http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US/shared/images/articles/ragetexturetweak/RageComparison-Animated.gif

Teiman

10-06-2011, 12:07 AM

Even worse, I suspect it could be fixed just doing a multi-action bind in a cfg file, it's not even needed to change the internal code.

Yep, something like (pseudocode, not actual bind):

alias grenade "inventory_select 4;wait;use_secondary";bind g grenade

Wen I find stuff like this, things that can be easy changed in 1 minute of work by anyone on the team, maybe set the FOV to a PC standard. I wonder why the PC version come withouth these trivial changes. Sometimes I think is some contractual obligation with the console, maybe sign that all versions will be equal, no version will have extra things. So we get wrong FOV's and crappy keys configuration becase some lawyer in Microsoft create this obligation.
Or maybe is something organizational. By having all versions exactly equal as posible, it could be easier to do debugging, make sure all versions are complete and right. So maybe is the best way to do games for multiple platforms.

Sarkus

10-06-2011, 12:18 AM

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 12:18 AM

Yes Teiman, there is "_item1" command to select item1 and a "_quickuse" command to use it (use the bandage, deploy a turret, throw a nade). Look at the default.cfg and try to do it, when you have the game.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 12:20 AM

Well I thought everything was working, but there are still places the game fails to load into, like the Ghost base and now Mutant Bash TV. Since the latter is a path critical situation, it kind of brings the game to a halt for me. Off to try some more tweaks, I guess. :-(

Have you tried to load the autosave after crashing loading the level of Mutant Bash? Some people say they got inside doing that, the autosave isn't just before entering the door, but just after, inside the new level.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 12:47 AM

There is lots of easter eggs, in the Wellsprings bar there is one guy reading this
http://www.doomworld.com/10years/doomcomic/

Sarkus

10-06-2011, 12:49 AM

Have you tried to load the autosave after crashing loading the level of Mutant Bash? Some people say they got inside doing that, the autosave isn't just before entering the door, but just after, inside the new level.

Yes, it did load me inside (I've seen that a few times with this bug) but now it crashes when I finish the level. And since you can't manually save in there . . . .

So now I'm stuck at the beginning of Mutant Bash.

Also, is it just me or does the ambient music in the game have a bit of a Firefly vibe to it? I keep expecting it to follow those same chords, but its merely similar, not exactly the same thing.

Teiman

10-06-2011, 02:20 AM

Seems to exist a problem with ATI cards and Flash.

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=58412

My reading is that Adobe Flash use some rendering mode that trigger the reduction of speed of some card. Is a firmware bug in these cards, so is not a big problem for advanced users (that know how to update the firmware of a hardware component).

It may affect RAGE and BF3 users if have a browser open while playing.

Another post (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?1617-Flash-11-kills-browsing-and-gaming-for-ATI-5-series.) about it.

lordkosc

10-06-2011, 02:50 AM

So is this the best the game can look?

http://steamcommunity.com/id/lordkosc/screenshot/558669913695858502?tab=public

Make sure to view the full image size.

Because textures sure don't look all that great. And there seems no way to actually set anything. :|

Gtx 460 1gb.

Teiman

10-06-2011, 02:57 AM

So is this the best the game can look?

http://steamcommunity.com/id/lordkosc/screenshot/558669913695858502?tab=public

No. It seems you are using the autodetector, that is too conservative. Or you have a videocard on the range 512~1024 MB. So you see 1/2 of what the people with 2GB cards can see.

And the game has ben released with 1/4 of the original textures size, for DVD space limitations. So what you see is 1/2 of 1/4. So you have 1/8 of the quality of the original textures. A 12% of the original quality.

lordkosc

10-06-2011, 03:13 AM

Well indeed, its looks like shit.

Deadspace 2 looked better earlier this year , hell... Fallout 3 looked better with the HD texture pack two years ago.

So anyone else try editing a rageconfig file in their steam folder ?

I am trying the one suggested here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2156408

And it seems better, and if i do a quick 360 in game, no texture pop.

It was confirmed by Bethesda on their forums as ok to use with cards >512Mb of RAM

http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1236250-rage-support/page__view__findpost__p__18746920

I guess its about time to look for a new video card... :|

anaqer

10-06-2011, 04:06 AM

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 04:24 AM

THIS. I'd put his creative peak to around Quake 2 (to which, admittedly, I have a huge soft spot for). Now, though, he just has to go.

Well, they have added a lot of things since their straight affair FPS like Q2 or Doom 3. For example, new in Rage:

-ironsights
-different ammo types
-different usable engineering items, crafting
-upgrades for weapons
-buying and selling (ammo, weapons, upgrades, recipes, eng. parts)
-a much more advanced AI
-quests and side quests
-a better work in the npcs (design, animations, voice work), though they are still "shallow", it's not exactly an Obsidian game
-all the vehicle side in the game (organized races, checkpoints missions, vehicle combat in the wasteland, upgrades, usable items, unique jump challenges, etc)
-mini games, collectable stuff

But of course most of this stuff is not really new to videogames, only new to id. And they still have to improve their stories.
I agree they have to put Tim Willits well away of the creative control of the writing.

edit: I remember a very early interview about the game, where Tim said something like "well, it's a classic story, good vs evil, those are the best ones. You are the good guy that fight against the bad guys".
I... dont' agree with him.

Teiman

10-06-2011, 04:32 AM

About the AI, seems Jonathan E. Wright also made the Zeus Bots.

http://easttown.co.uk/quake/zeus.html

The Zeus Bots where some of the most fun of Quake, because where very "player-like". So player like, that was released with a version to use the bots as companions, to play coop.

I have yet to play Rage, but from the video shows the enemies flow very naturally and use the terrain. Somewhat like Zeus Bot 2.0.

draxen

10-06-2011, 05:16 AM

I know that ATI users have had a hard time of it but I don't understand all the hate towards this game. I'm using the NVidia 580M and everything is butter smooth. I've encountered a couple of bugs and the occasional crash but these minor niggles are to be expected with day 1 releases.

The graphics are really lovely, the scenery is beautiful.
The game itself is a typical ID shooter. Leave your brain at home and murder as many things possible.

I've only played for a few hours so far but I'm enjoying it very much.
Glad I picked it up.

WarrenM

10-06-2011, 05:26 AM

Yeah, I like the enemies. They feel good to fight so far. What I don't like is that they can use cover while I have to stand there in the open like a dunce.

Telefrog

10-06-2011, 05:38 AM

I know that ATI users have had a hard time of it but I don't understand all the hate towards this game. I'm using the NVidia 580M and everything is butter smooth.

Well, good for you. I'd love to discuss the game, but since I have an ATI card, all I can do is look at the menu screen.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 05:41 AM

Telefrog, did you read the post i wrote with three points you should look at?

Telefrog

10-06-2011, 05:42 AM

Telefrog, did you read the post i wrote with three points you should look at?

Which suggestion? Clean out the drivers? Edit the config file? I tried all that.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 06:02 AM

Which suggestion? Clean out the drivers? Edit the config file? I tried all that.

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=2877550&postcount=1282

Telefrog

10-06-2011, 06:05 AM

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=2877550&postcount=1282

Yup. Tried those. No difference.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 06:10 AM

Oh. sorry!

Tim James

10-06-2011, 06:14 AM

So anyone else try editing a rageconfig file in their steam folder ?

I am trying the one suggested here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2156408

And it seems better, and if i do a quick 360 in game, no texture pop.
I've been talking about it the last day and a half.

Well indeed, its looks like shit.

Deadspace 2 looked better earlier this year , hell... Fallout 3 looked better with the HD texture pack two years ago.No, "it" doesn't look like shit. Up-close textures do. Rage has the best outdoor medium-distance graphics I've ever seen. It's so refreshing to have crisp textures at that range instead of fog and bloom.

WarrenM

10-06-2011, 06:41 AM

Gamers are used to looking at the thing directly in front of them, zooming in with the sniper rifle, and critiquing the detail. Rage is about the middle and far view planes. If you take in the larger picture, Rage is absolutely gorgeous.

Tim James

10-06-2011, 06:47 AM

Speaking of the sniper rifle, with the auto adjuster I noticed texture swapping when I zoomed in with it on that first mission. That reminds me of Arma 2 where it has to change level of detail when you look at a town through a scope. Of course there it's a mile away instead of 100 yards, and Arma 2 needs to adjust architecture as well as textures.

I haven't tried the Rage sniper rifle with the new config file.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 07:10 AM

The side missions are simple and short, but are still fun enough. Even with simple tasks like the sniper missions are good thanks to the game being so solid, the sniper rifle rocks, the enemies rocks, so the two together produces something solid.

The worst aspect of the game is the pc controls, just try to change the ammo type of the weapon you have in hands, it will only work in 4 weapons (the ones you see on the right square).

Tim James

10-06-2011, 07:14 AM

We already knew PC controls would be suboptimal after this news (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?p=2722713#post2722713).

lordkosc

10-06-2011, 07:38 AM

I am going to get parts for my buggy, and I've tweaked my settings now that the game runs pretty well, and looks ok at medium distances. Far and up close are very low-average quality.

Anyone know how to equip the armor I got from the first mission? I don't even see it in my inventory...

Tim James

10-06-2011, 07:41 AM

The far distance or background graphics look pretty standard to me. That's where a little fog and blur creep back in. Off the top of my head I can't think of a game that does it better though.

nKoan

10-06-2011, 07:43 AM

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 07:53 AM

Hitting the same number key more than once cycles through the ammo types.

12345

RobotPants

10-06-2011, 07:54 AM

I know other games have done this before, but I have to say that shooting the helmet off of someone's head and seeing them scramble back behind cover is somehow far more satisfying than getting an instant kill headshot.

dermot

10-06-2011, 07:56 AM

Yeah, I like the enemies. They feel good to fight so far. What I don't like is that they can use cover while I have to stand there in the open like a dunce.
Actually, that makes sense. Your character is obviously subconsciously aware that he has spent 100 years in an enclosed space and as such has developed acute claustrophobia.

It's science.

MSUSteve

10-06-2011, 07:58 AM

Anyone know how to equip the armor I got from the first mission? I don't even see it in my inventory...
I think it just automatically equips. Doesn't the description of your clothing go from something like "Ark Suit" to "Ark Armor"?

I played about an hour and a half of this (360 version, Hard difficulty) last night and enjoyed myself. I got through two bandit lairs, with the second having a boss fight at the end. It took me quite a while to figure out the "right" way to take the boss out, during which time I wasted a ton of ammo. I reloaded and killed him much more quickly the second time.

I just got the sniper rifle from John Goodman, so I've got quite a nice set now, including the Assault Rifle I bought from the vendor guy. I'm a little disappointed at the range, spread and damage of the combat shotgun. I understand that the effectiveness of a videogame shotgun usually diminishes as distance to target increases, but this distance seems a little short in RAGE. If a guy is right in my face, yeah, one shot will take care of him usually. But he doesn't have to take very many steps back before it takes two or three shots to work. It's not even like the spread is wide to compensate for the relatively low damage output (compared to other videogame shotguns) as I have definitely missed at very close range; usually an impossibility with game shotguns.

The assault rifle has a somewhat low damage output, but it's very accurate and doesn't have much in the way of kickback. The pistol is fantastic, especially with the monocle scope add on. The wingsticks are novel, but I find myself forgetting that I even have them. The few times I've tried to use them they've clanged off walls and have been pretty ineffective. Most of that is user error, I'm sure, but my other weapon options have been better for me so far.

The game controls fine with a 360 controller, but there is something off for me when it comes to aiming. I don't know if it's the acceleration or what, but I often find myself jerking around somewhat drunkenly when trying to make anything but fine aim adjustments. This is particularly problematic with the more mobile enemies. I'm getting used to it, but it'd definitely not as smooth as Gears, for example.

Finally, I'm glad I heeded some others' recommendations to play the game on Hard mode, at least so far. I usually play on Normal difficulty, but Hard is very manageable so far. My character can still take plenty of hits without dying and the enemies (again, so far) don't have so much health as to be taking a ridiculous amount of bullets to kill.

So far I really like the game. I'm looking forward to trying out some of the races and vehicle combat stuff.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 08:06 AM

Telefrog

10-06-2011, 08:12 AM

Well, the other thing is that from the moment you leave the train station in HL2's opening, people are after you. You are basically on the run from the moment you first meet Alyx.

The difference in Rage is that you wake up, John Goodman saves you from two guys trying to kill you and then he takes you to a relatively peaceful outpost and hands you a gun and asks you to go out and massacre some other settlement for no reason at all that you can see.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 08:18 AM

Thinking about it, they did a better work... in Quake 2!
1. You were a soldier, a true space marine, so that's why you know how to kill things.
2. You were in a war, that's why there was so many things to kill (or be killed)
3. As you are a soldier, you are supposed to obey your superiors (go to x, eliminate stroggos, destroy the power core!)

MSUSteve

10-06-2011, 08:19 AM

I hate the silent protagonist trope, but in a game like RAGE I can at least understand it. What is your 130 year old sociopath going to say in response to anything said to him? So far it's been "Yes, I will do murder on your behalf," or "No, I will not YET do murder on your behalf." There don't seem to be any meaningful choices to be made and nothing your character could say would make any difference at all in the proceedings. I suppose it could've been entertaining to have him voiced as a barely controlled maniac, but I understand the decision by id not to spend resources writing and recording dialogue for the protagonist in this game.

dermot

10-06-2011, 08:19 AM

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 08:24 AM

Naw, i remember clearly a tier of levels in Q2 where you have to destroy or recover a set of power cores. It was around the middle of the game.

RPS thinks:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/10/06/rage-pc-review/

Tim James

10-06-2011, 08:33 AM

RPS thinks:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/10/06/rage-pc-review/It's interesting he didn't think the enemy behavior was varied. It looked good to me in the first few hours.

mono

10-06-2011, 08:35 AM

The guys you're shooting in Rage are typical post-apoc bandit marauders. They attempt to kill you the moment you woke up for no reason other than their general inhuman savagery. ...and maybe to steal your cool Ark suit. Not to mention, every time you visit one of their lairs, they shoot first! You could just be stopping by for coffee! What IS their problem?

Story in Rage, like most shooters, is obviously a flimsy excuse to structure your various racing and shooting missions, but I'm not really grokking the discord about the morality of the protagonist. When I escaped the Vault in Fallout 3 I sniped bandits all the time, just because the radar indicator told me 'hostile'. I don't give those wasteland bandits the benefit of the doubt, and FO3 is an actual RPG.

Teiman

10-06-2011, 08:46 AM

Theres a Anime with a similar start. Except the protagonist is a character with human reactions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN-hl0SrSZU

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 08:51 AM

It's interesting he didn't think the enemy behavior was varied. It looked good to me in the first few hours.

I fully disagree with him in that point. Maybe later they will be more predictable, but right now the AI is great.

They are fast, aggressive, they use cover, they rush, flank, try to run avoiding my shots, they switch cover depending of my position, they can retreat if overpowered, they jump in several ways, they use grenades, they run from my nades, they can fire from the ground, they will limp, or recover slowly, they have several routines-animations to avoid fire which make them unpredictable. And the general behavior changes from the Wasted clan to the Ghost clan to the mutants to (i suppose) fighting the Authority, so it’s not always the same.

Even the most straightforward enemy, the mutants, have a nice range of actions, with different ways of running, rushing, strafing to avoid my bullets, crouch-running in diagonals, jumping, etc.

MSUSteve

10-06-2011, 09:06 AM

The guys you're shooting in Rage are typical post-apoc bandit marauders. They attempt to kill you the moment you woke up for no reason other than their general inhuman savagery. ...and maybe to steal your cool Ark suit.
John Goodman tells you that The Authority (whatever that is) has been rounding up Ark people for some reason and is paying well for such people. I think the bandits wanted to knock you out to sell you to The Authority™.

Story in Rage, like most shooters, is obviously a flimsy excuse to structure your various racing and shooting missions, but I'm not really grokking the discord about the morality of the protagonist. When I escaped the Vault in Fallout 3 I sniped bandits all the time, just because the radar indicator told me 'hostile'. I don't give those wasteland bandits the benefit of the doubt, and FO3 is an actual RPG.
When you emerge from the Vault in FO3 you have some context as to who you are and what your motivations are. RAGE is just a little weird and funny in that ten minutes after you emerge from a 100+ year sleep, a complete stranger tasks you with a murder mission and your guy just agrees to do it. Even in Borderlands you arrive in town only to be attacked fairly quickly by the bandits, forcing you to defend yourself. Also, Claptrap provides some context for what's going on. In RAGE you go out hunting for bandits because John Goodman asked you to. You invade their home and start a-murderin' without any provocation at all.

Bill Dungsroman

10-06-2011, 09:07 AM

I have to admit that I also had issues with Gordon Freeman not talking and helping the resistance in the moment he appeared (very mysteriously) in the train of City 17, in Half Life 2. The lack of context at the beginning was also jarring in that game, and some scripted "important moments" with some npcs talking and stuff happening played in a really stupid way because you couldn't talk. I felt like i was a camera, not a character (much less a main character).

The advantage of HL2 over Rage is that in HL2 at least there is a bit of context, with the story coming from HL1.

The impression I got was the lack of context was part of the point. The last thing you were expecting was to wake up on a prison train delivering you to a prison city after the aliens won. You were meant to think you were about to be tortured or killed except it was Barney in disguise. I thought it was a great beginning.

Two Sheds

10-06-2011, 09:07 AM

you go out hunting for bandits because John Goodman asked you to.

Oh, what, like you wouldn't.

MSUSteve

10-06-2011, 09:08 AM

Oh, what, like you wouldn't.
King Ralph's wish is my command.

WarrenM

10-06-2011, 09:09 AM

John Goodman tells you that The Authority (whatever that is) has been rounding up Ark people for some reason and is paying well for such people. I think the bandits wanted to knock you out to sell you to The Authority™.
That's what makes that initial car ride so unintelligible. The bandits drive by slowly, getting a really good look at you, and then Goodman drives on to the happy base area. They didn't see the Ark suit on you or ... what?

DennyA

10-06-2011, 09:10 AM

I think it says something for what id DID accomplish storywise that you guys are even questioning the protagonist's motivation. I don't remember the debates in Quake III as to why all these people were trying to kill each other instead of banding together to destroy whoever was running these death arenas...

WarrenM

10-06-2011, 09:12 AM

I think they added enough to make people think that they tried and now everyone is wondering what happened. I don't think it's because they did such a stellar job or anything.

Telefrog

10-06-2011, 09:13 AM

That's what makes that initial car ride so unintelligible. The bandits drive by slowly, getting a really good look at you, and then Goodman drives on to the happy base area. They didn't see the Ark suit on you or ... what?

Yeah, I was perplexed at that as well.

MSUSteve

10-06-2011, 09:16 AM

I'm commenting on RAGE's story, the protagonist's motivations and alleged mania mostly because I think it's funny. Because the protagonist is a complete blank slate and because he accepts his grisly tasks without a word, it's hilarious to think of him as a deranged psychopath. I'm not sure if it's cleared up later in the game, but at the beginning you literally have no idea why your guy was thought special enough to be preserved. I suspect it has to do with his skill at all forms of a combat and his utter lack of a conscience.

Bill Dungsroman

10-06-2011, 09:17 AM

Erlend Grefsrud

10-06-2011, 09:23 AM

Game devs have been claiming that for several decades now, and I've yet to see proof of it happening. Fool me once, etc.

As long as the gunplay is enjoyable, the animation nice (way, way, way more important that texture resolution in my humble opinion) and the enemy behaviour interesting (as in more interesting than people popping up from behind cover to be killed by my squad mate) then I'll be very happy.

According to this thread, things sound promising.

Dr. Quasius

10-06-2011, 09:25 AM

Using the updated Rageconfig.cfg -

seta image_usecompression "0"
seta image_anisotropy "16"
seta vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly2 "8192"
seta vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly "8192"
seta vt_pageimagesizeunique "8192"
seta vt_pageimagesizevmtr "8192"
seta vt_minlod "-1"
seta vt_lodBias "-1"
seta vt_maxaniso "2"
seta vt_qualityhdplossless "1"
seta vt_qualityhdppower "0"
seta vt_qualityhdpspecular "0"
seta vt_qualityhdpnormal "0"
seta vt_qualityhdpdiffuse "0"
seta vt_qualitydctpower "100"
seta vt_qualitydctspecular "100"
seta vt_qualitydctnormal "100"
seta vt_qualitydctchroma "100"
seta vt_qualitydctluma "100"

doesn't crash the game now. My original problem remains. The game will run smoothly for 30 seconds to 1 minute then freeze for an equal amount of time.

I know I'm marginal on the minimum requirements, but here's what "Can You Run it? (http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/)" has to say on the subject:

http://i52.tinypic.com/zsketi.jpg

I actually have 1GB of vram, but everything else is accurate.

This is alt-tabbed out with Rage running on the menu screen:

http://i56.tinypic.com/2wezcqx.jpg

CPU at 100% on the menu screen? No wonder I can't play the damned thing. What the hell is going on? I'm not new to PC gaming at all, and have never encountered things like this.

I know that in the year 2011 neither of these are a good example, but I can run both Crysis 1 and ArmA 2 on high with only a bit of slowing. I can run any Unreal 3 engine game full on with no noticeable problems. I should be able to run Rage, not well, but it should run. Not only that, but there are plenty of people with my specs that are running it ok.

Tim James

10-06-2011, 09:34 AM

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 09:35 AM

So. Have anyone tried the coop levels?

Quitch

10-06-2011, 09:36 AM

I like the sound of this enemy AI, it's making me tempted to pick-up the game.

I think games like Fallout New Vegas and Baldur's Gate 2 handled unfolding the plot a lot better.

a) The BG2 main plot is a side plot which has little to do with the main arc of the series.

b) BG2 was famous for the fact that act 2 (or 5, depending on how you play) was wide open for you to take on hundreds of irrelevant side quests. It doesn't do anything to push you forward. By comparison, Mass Effect 2 actually changes an outcome based on you delaying, and in other instances where the main plot advances it forces you to move with it.

The problem of ME2 is that of expectations. It's about recruiting the best team possible to tackle the threat, not rushing to tackle it. Indeed, at several points you are told to wait while other parties get X or Y in place.

Or, what Bill said.

ME2's biggest crime to me was the final "suicide" mission was sorely lacking in gravitas after the buildup. Losing half your party should have been mandatory.

For me the gravitas comes in each loss being your fault because they're all completely avoidable.

About the AI, seems Jonathan E. Wright also made the Zeus Bots.

http://easttown.co.uk/quake/zeus.html

The Zeus Bots where some of the most fun of Quake, because where very "player-like". So player like, that was released with a version to use the bots as companions, to play coop.

I don't remember them being player like, and didn't the co-op version come with a lightning gun? Still, it was good having a co-op bot, something which hasn't really taken off. Did it actually use all the weapons?

id do seem to like dipping into the Quake bot community :)

Dr. Quasius

10-06-2011, 09:42 AM

Why are you still using the 8k texture config on a marginal system after I told you not to?

If you're crashing without it, then you need to wait for a driver update or patch or diagnose it elsewhere. Just because you've found a way that seems to paper over the problem doesn't mean you're walking in the right direction toward acceptable performance.

For testing purposes, yes, I used the 8k textures, just to see if the updated config would still crash the game, and it didn't. As far as legitimately running the game, no, I'm not using the Rageconfig.cfg file. The 100% CPU occupation occurred with the out-of-the-box configuration. The problems I'm having are without that config file, so I am indeed listening to you.

Teiman

10-06-2011, 09:47 AM

I don't remember them being player like, and didn't the co-op version come with a lightning gun? Still, it was good having a co-op bot, something which hasn't really taken off. Did it actually use all the weapons?

I don't remember. But probably there are a lot of versions, since some people based his bots in it. There was a lot of different bots optimized for different playstyles and expectations. The bots in Quake where very good, and it was not rare to find bots with map learning abilities. So It was possible to download a deathmath map, and test it with some bots. I have good memories of merging mods, maps from people like CZG, the Zeus Bot, the Cujo bot with fiend model, ... Is amazing how much time can waste a student on something.

For testing purposes, yes, I used the 8k textures, just to see if the updated config would still crash the game, and it didn't. As far as legitimately running the game, no, I'm not using the Rageconfig.cfg file. The 100% CPU occupation occurred with the out-of-the-box configuration. The problems I'm having are without that config file, so I am indeed listening to you.

Sorry, I have not read/remember your whole history. When this crashing happend? Have you manage to start playing?

If the game crash always in the same point, what you can do is to load the game with the smaller resolution available, like 640x480, then pass that point, save, and try again with normal resolution.

If the game crash on the menus, maybe you can download from the internet a savegame, and modify the command line launch options to load this savegame ( no idea that format or command, maybe something like +cmd "load_savegame 'sav0.sav'" ).

Probably is possible, with a bit of modding, to make the menus simpler (no background elements), is possible that this will help some people.

Random Suggestion Of The Week:
- Update your realtek audio drivers.

Quitch

10-06-2011, 09:53 AM

Yeah, Quake was an awesome game for modding. So many bots!

Tim James

10-06-2011, 09:56 AM

For testing purposes, yes, I used the 8k textures, just to see if the updated config would still crash the game, and it didn't. As far as legitimately running the game, no, I'm not using the Rageconfig.cfg file. The 100% CPU occupation occurred with the out-of-the-box configuration. The problems I'm having are without that config file, so I am indeed listening to you.You're probably going to have to wait for a solution to this unique problem. QT3 is too general to be able to diagnose odd behavior like this. You can try the enthusiast hardware sites, or wait for a software update. Sorry, I'm sure it's frustrating.

Sarkus

10-06-2011, 11:28 AM

I managed to get through Mutant Bash this try after disabling the config fix. Or maybe I was just lucky. Either way, straight 11.8 still seems the best driver from my experience.

At any rate, I just gave the Dusty 8 race a few tries. I know they said that you only had to race twice in the game if you didn't like that, but that race seems signficantly more difficult. Even with the super weapon since the other cars just immediately spawn again and race past you. So I'm wondering if your car is limited by your upgrades - seemed that way to me. That or maybe its an upgraded car and I'm just not used to driving that because I had a hard time staying on the course.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 11:36 AM

The first checkpoint based race (rally, they call it) is the first difficult race i have found so far, I tried 5 times and still couldn't get the first prize. i think i need to put a pair of upgrades to the dune buggy to do it. But right now i am upgrading the Cuprino, i don't know if the game have enough race certificates for upgrading every car.

A nice place
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/th_shot99998.jpg (http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/?action=view&current=shot99998.jpg)

stusser

10-06-2011, 12:00 PM

A nice place
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/th_shot99998.jpg (http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/?action=view&current=shot99998.jpg)
What's really cool is that when you look at that shot of a random jumble of rocks closely there is absolutely no texture repetition. Everything is unique.

Warren has it dead to rights, Rage looks amazing at medium to far ranges. If they had close-up LoD working too, it would be flat out astonishing. I guess that with every texture being enormous and unique, that would take up a hell of a lot of space.

Given that the engine is ill-suited to close-up fights, it's not entirely clear why most of the actual gameplay (and not the transit between gameplay areas) is a corridor shooter. This engine begs for expansive outdoor environments.

Tom McNamara

10-06-2011, 12:38 PM

Given that the engine is ill-suited to close-up fights, it's not entirely clear why most of the actual gameplay (and not the transit between gameplay areas) is a corridor shooter. This engine begs for expansive outdoor environments.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this engine was built for racing games, because the environment looks quite nice when you're zipping around in a vehicle. The competitive multiplayer is all vehicle-based, at least. But they obviously also put a lot of work into character models (exhaustive animation types, lots of polys, rich textures), weapon models, and the "feel" of the weaponry itself when in action. The melee combatants even appear to dodge around dynamically as they rush you, to avoid your gunfire.

Tim James

10-06-2011, 12:46 PM

Sarkus

10-06-2011, 12:48 PM

I swear this game has a mind of its own. Last night I used the 8k texture config and got a lot of framerate dips looking around. Today it's back to normal (faster) but some of the characters are glitching out on me.

I'm seriously starting to question my sanity.

I've had the same experience. Things are working and then they aren't. A tweak fixes that and then works for awhile and stops working. Then taking the tweak off fixes the problem again.

Its annoying, to be sure.

Dr. Quasius

10-06-2011, 12:55 PM

I swear this game has a mind of its own. Last night I used the 8k texture config and got a lot of framerate dips looking around. Today it's back to normal (faster) but some of the characters are glitching out on me.

I'm seriously starting to question my sanity.

Now it's doing it without the config. Okay, so it must just be this area (Wellspring). I'm going to make some progress in The Witcher 2.

On the plus side I now have an idea of what is happening with my setup. It is a problem specific to the 5770 (from certain manufacturers) and Rage. The Catalyst A.I. driver is interfering with Rage (or vise versa) and for some reason, even though it is a very common card, id didn't program a proper interface between Rage/Catalyst A.I./HD 5770 hardware. (this is coming from several tech boards). So the waiting game begins....

DennyA

10-06-2011, 01:01 PM

If I didn't know you all, I'd think this topic was a viral marketing ploy for the console industry. What a driver nightmare.

lordkosc

10-06-2011, 01:12 PM

So anyone know when the game becomes a FPS? I think I've spent more time in vehicles than shooting people on foot.

I am just past the part where I need to earn a sponsor.

I am enjoying the game, its just not what I expected.

D:

Dr. Quasius

10-06-2011, 01:37 PM

Final thing I'm going to say about this:

I disabled Catalyst A.I. and the game is now 100% playable. CPU usage is where it should be and the game runs buttery smooth (texture problems remain, and having Catalyst A.I. disabled causes other visual problems, but oh well, that's another issue entirely). This isn't a permanent fix by any means, but John Goodman is my new best friend. Thanks for your listening to my whining, Tim!

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 01:38 PM

If I didn't know you all, I'd think this topic was a viral marketing ploy for the console industry. What a driver nightmare.

I think the problem is that the game is the first one in using OpenGL 4.2. That, combined with Nvidia and AMD (amd even less) not caring a lot for the support of OpenGL (because hey, in the last years we only had a small handful of opengl games, so i kind of understand it), has produced this clusterfuck.

Apart from that, Rage uses a very unique system, the famous MT, and maybe the usual driver optimizations are not appropriate from the id Tech 5 engine.

lordkosc

10-06-2011, 01:48 PM

The RPS write up is pretty much hitting the consensus of where I stand on this game.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/10/06/rage-pc-review/

:)

stusser

10-06-2011, 01:55 PM

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this engine was built for racing games, because the environment looks quite nice when you're zipping around in a vehicle. The competitive multiplayer is all vehicle-based, at least. But they obviously also put a lot of work into character models (exhaustive animation types, lots of polys, rich textures), weapon models, and the "feel" of the weaponry itself when in action. The melee combatants even appear to dodge around dynamically as they rush you, to avoid your gunfire.
You move quickly in vehicles, so you don't really get a chance to appreciate the environments. Nah.

I would have built Rage as a road trip, like Mad Max, with one awesome car with tons of personality that you build up throughout the game. And the main character would have a loyal but vicious dog.

Telefrog

10-06-2011, 03:07 PM

What happened to the ATI patch that Todd was talking about yesterday? Did that come out?

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 03:09 PM

What happened to the ATI patch that Todd was talking about yesterday? Did that come out?

Last i heard is this:

(http://twitter.com/#%21/CatalystCreator) @CatalystCreator (http://twitter.com/#%21/CatalystCreator) Andrew D

Plan is to release a unified Rage/BF3 driver in the next couple of days.

Tom McNamara

10-06-2011, 03:10 PM

What happened to the ATI patch that Todd was talking about yesterday? Did that come out?

As far as I know, they're referring to this (http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/GPU121AMDCatRagePerfDriver.aspx).

stusser

10-06-2011, 03:11 PM

No, he's talking about a newer, newer, driver.

Telefrog

10-06-2011, 03:11 PM

As far as I know, they're referring to this (http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/GPU121AMDCatRagePerfDriver.aspx).

Naeblis has it. Your link is the same patch that I've already used.

Bummer.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 03:14 PM

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/th_9.jpg (http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/?action=view&current=9.jpg)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/th_7.jpg (http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/?action=view&current=7.jpg)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/th_3.jpg (http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/?action=view&current=3.jpg)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/th_2-3.jpg (http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/Turin_Tur/?action=view&current=2-3.jpg)

Heh, Dead City is very pretty, but the texture streaming is more notable here.

LesJarvis

10-06-2011, 03:17 PM

I've run into a bug where it crashes every time I enter a new area, so I'm pretty much hosed until the driver update or a patch. Feh.

Tim James

10-06-2011, 03:20 PM

The consolation for those of us who are stalled: we can get nearly as much satisfaction loading an old area and looking at pretty rocks.

lordkosc

10-06-2011, 03:32 PM

z22

10-06-2011, 03:52 PM

I have to say, the game is not very subtle with the references
http://i.imgur.com/5sDx2.jpg

Any signs of Dopefish? I'm not buying this if it doesn't have Df!! =)

Myth

10-06-2011, 04:00 PM

Picked this up today via Steam and also downloaded the latest nvidia beta drivers 285.38. Once I figured out how to enable V-Sync to fix the god awful tearing (the beta drivers have a Rage Profile that overrides the global setting) I was golden.

The graphics are incredible, and the game runs very smooth with 2x AA and gpu decoding on at 1920x1080. If I bump up to 4x AA the texture pop in starts to be noticeable.

My specs are a geforce 450, older intel Gatewaye quad core with 6 gigs of ram and onboard sound. Pleasantly suprised how great the game runs.

The level/art design is awesome and the id really nailed the shooting and enemy AI. A shooter needs nothing else imho.

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 10:51 PM

What are your PC specs? Specifically , whats your gfx card? :p

[email protected], 4gb ram, Ati 4890, win 7 64bits. I play with AAx4 and AFx4, with the '8192 tweak'. Oh yeah, and a ssd. 3-5 secs loads are nice :)

Chris Nahr

10-06-2011, 11:32 PM

So I guess Tom doesn't like Rage very much. (http://www.gameshark.com/reviews/3905/p_0/Rage-Review.htm)

TurinTur

10-06-2011, 11:37 PM

The fps parts are very good, but i was thinking yesterday... "you know what? This would be even better... without health regeneration!"

:P

It really kills the tension when there is only one or two enemies left in screen, as I know i can kill them easily and if they hurt me, well, i will recover in seconds. Or for example, there is zone in Dead City where you are inside two small rooms without any exit, and then the mutants break off some wooden planks and start entering one and by one. No tension or skill needed whatsoever, with the health regen. being attacked one by one is a very small danger. Without health regen., every small hit received counts, because they can pile up after several enemies.

TurinTur

10-07-2011, 12:12 AM

A nice explanation of how vsync works in the game, but i don't understand the "+vt_maxPPF 16" tweak, i didn't modify that value and i have it at 128!
http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1236250-rage-support/page__p__18743528#entry18743528

@Telefrog
Thollenshead Todd Hollenshead
Working to get the new ATI drivers up but won't happen tonight. Tomorrow for sure they tell me.

MattKeil

10-07-2011, 12:26 AM

So I guess Tom doesn't like Rage very much. (http://www.gameshark.com/reviews/3905/p_0/Rage-Review.htm)

Over the top, but I can't really disagree with the statement "Rage is a collection of things in search of a game that never shows up."

Sarkus

10-07-2011, 01:13 AM

I've run into a bug where it crashes every time I enter a new area, so I'm pretty much hosed until the driver update or a patch. Feh.

I was having that problem, but . . .

Final thing I'm going to say about this:

I disabled Catalyst A.I. and the game is now 100% playable. CPU usage is where it should be and the game runs buttery smooth (texture problems remain, and having Catalyst A.I. disabled causes other visual problems, but oh well, that's another issue entirely). This isn't a permanent fix by any means, but John Goodman is my new best friend. Thanks for your listening to my whining, Tim!

After reading this I didn't disable Catalyst AI, but I did turn it down to its "performance" setting from the "High Quality" default setting and haven't had a crash since. Including finally getting back into Ghost base to do that job board quest that takes you back there.

We'll see if it lasts, but thanks for the tip. I'm otherwise running 11.8 drivers (which is the only one I've found that avoids all the graphical issues except texture pop-in) without the config thing, though I may add that back in since it improves the pop-in issue greatly.

TurinTur

10-07-2011, 01:39 AM

The fps parts are very good, but i was thinking yesterday... "you know what? This would be even better... without health regeneration!"

:P

I will try some tweaks this evening, and see what happen. I have found the cvars:

g_playerDamageThreshold "0"
g_playerHealthIncDelay "15"
g_playerHealthPerSecond "0.5"
g_playerHealthRegenDelay "5"
g_playerIncomingDamageScale "1.0"

Edit: For future reference http://pastebin.com/hcb1FM25

Tim James

10-07-2011, 04:59 AM

A nice explanation of how vsync works in the game, but i don't understand the "+vt_maxPPF 16" tweak, i didn't modify that value and i have it at 128!It's at 128 by default? I tried 16 and it crashed.

TurinTur

10-07-2011, 05:44 AM

Yes, it was by default for me. That's why it seemed weird to me. Maybe it's an errata.

LesJarvis

10-07-2011, 06:13 AM

I was having that problem, but . . .

After reading this I didn't disable Catalyst AI, but I did turn it down to its "performance" setting from the "High Quality" default setting and haven't had a crash since. Including finally getting back into Ghost base to do that job board quest that takes you back there.

We'll see if it lasts, but thanks for the tip. I'm otherwise running 11.8 drivers (which is the only one I've found that avoids all the graphical issues except texture pop-in) without the config thing, though I may add that back in since it improves the pop-in issue greatly.

I tried this, and it seemed to work temporarily, but it started happening again.

Teiman

10-07-2011, 06:14 AM

Reporting here:

My computer has 8 cores, 8 GB of RAM, and the GPU is a high end nVidia card.

Well.. the game feels smoth et all, the graphics quality is average, and I get a very ugly tearing. Obviusly I need to force vsync.

mono

10-07-2011, 06:23 AM

Over the top, but I can't really disagree with the statement "Rage is a collection of things in search of a game that never shows up."

I can't disagree either. The thing is that I'm having such a great time w/ the gunplay, the awesome driving implementation and the inspired art design within a phenomenally gorgeous engine that I don't miss the game for a moment. It's almost as if id Software develops games that appeal to a specific aspect of my psyche. I wonder what aspect that could be...

WarrenM

10-07-2011, 06:30 AM

So I guess Tom doesn't like Rage very much. (http://www.gameshark.com/reviews/3905/p_0/Rage-Review.htm)
I'm shocked. Really, just rocked to my core by this surprise. :)

I'm enjoying Rage a lot, actually. I find myself going back to play more Rage far more often than I go back to play more Deus Ex (haven't finished either yet).

nooteh

10-07-2011, 06:47 AM

Forgetting the graphics issues and silly gameplay annoyances ( like how if I'm in the inventory screen I press escape to close it but that brings up the game menu ). Why, if I'm in America somewhere, am I fighting enemies that sound like the Orcs from Dawn of War?

I keep waiting for one of them to go "I IZ DA BIGGISS SO I IZ DAH BAWS!"

TurinTur

10-07-2011, 07:25 AM

The game was being too easy, i had to switch to Nightmare. It's the weakest "Nightmare" mode ever.

Teiman

10-07-2011, 07:34 AM

About languages.

Make you mind, people!.

It was weird to fin the different tribes in Fallout using the same language. Tribes tend to have his own language, slang, accent, mythos...

Here, if the different tribes have different accents, make perfect sense. Maybe every tribe descend from a single "Adam and Eva". So a english-like tribe will descend from a pair of english dudes.

What don't make sense is "USA 50's" aestetics anywhere near this game. (Except some self-made weapons, maybe).

MSUSteve

10-07-2011, 07:47 AM

For all the crabbing Tom does in his D+ review of RAGE, he never really articulates what he finds so bad about it save that it somehow bored him by being derivative. I mean, there are a few complaints that he nails down, like his inexplicable problem with the way the game handles switching weapons and ammo, but for the most part his review comes off as if he was so offended by the concept of RAGE that he can't be bothered to really explain why it deserves a D+ score. I hate getting caught up on the letter grade, but man, when I think of a D+, I'm thinking the game is fundamentally broken in some way.

RAGE might not be better than the sum of its parts, but its parts certainly work and the shooting is more than solid. What's so much better, fundamentally, about this game as opposed to FEAR 3, a game Tom loved? A scoring system? I just can't figure Tom out, I guess. Some of his reviews come off like they're based on personal grudges. I'm not saying that's the case at all. I'm sure it's not. But his opinions are so frequently radical outliers as compared to his peers, that I wonder if he played the same game. Certainly one could say he's immune to flashy graphics and setups and digs deeper into what really makes a game tick in his reviews, but that's not really the case. Sometimes, when it suits him, he does enjoy and appreciate the spectacle.

What it really seems to come down to is that there has to either be some kind of Pavlovian scoring mechanic in place (The Club, FEAR 3), a game has to be a massive underdog or a game has to do something quite new and different in order to receive anything resembling a positive review from Tom. Solid controls, an entertaining campaign and beautiful graphics can all add up to a D+. His reviews are always worth reading, but if I'm an editor assigning freelancers to do reviews, I've got to be wondering if his take is at all valuable for my audience.

WarrenM

10-07-2011, 07:49 AM

Unlike with Gears 3, Tom doesn't seem to be alone this time. This game is getting savaged. Across all 3 platforms, it's averaging like an 82 metacritic score. Seems excessively harsh for what I consider to be a pretty fun game but apparently reviewers aren't agreeing with me.

Jason McMaster

10-07-2011, 07:49 AM

For all the crabbing Tom does in his D+ review of RAGE, he never really articulates what he finds so bad about it save that it somehow bored him by being derivative. I mean, there are a few complaints that he nails down, like his inexplicable problem with the way the game handles switching weapons and ammo, but for the most part his review comes off as if he was so offended by the concept of RAGE that he can't be bothered to really explain why it deserves a D+ score. I hate getting caught up on the letter grade, but man, when I think of a D+, I'm thinking the game is fundamentally broken in some way.

RAGE might not be better than the sum of its parts, but its parts certainly work and the shooting is more than solid. What's so much better, fundamentally, about this game as opposed to FEAR 3, a game Tom loved? A scoring system? I just can't figure Tom out, I guess. Some of his reviews come off like they're based on personal grudges. I'm not saying that's the case at all. I'm sure it's not. But his opinions are so frequently radical outliers as compared to his peers, that I wonder if he played the same game. Certainly one could say he's immune to flashy graphics and setups and digs deeper into what really makes a game tick in his reviews, but that's not really the case. Sometimes, when it suits him, he does enjoy and appreciate the spectacle.

What it really seems to come down to is that there has to either be some kind of Pavlovian scoring mechanic in place (The Club, FEAR 3), a game has to be a massive underdog or a game has to do something quite new and different in order to receive anything resembling a positive review from Tom. Solid controls, an entertaining campaign and beautiful graphics can all add up to a D+.

I argue with him quite a bit about Rage on this weeks podcast

MSUSteve

10-07-2011, 07:51 AM

I argue with him quite a bit about Rage on this weeks podcast
As always, I'll be listening. You always do a good job trying to speak for everyone who is not Tom. He's certainly got a singular take on things.

MSUSteve

10-07-2011, 07:51 AM

Jason McMaster

10-07-2011, 07:53 AM

As always, I'll be listening. You always do a good job trying to speak for everyone who is not Tom. He's certainly got a singular take on things.

He just doesn't like the game. Plain and simple. It's kind of weird, I like the game and have a hard time articulating why.

WarrenM

10-07-2011, 07:55 AM

An 82 doesn't seem so bad to me. That's "getting savaged"?
In today's world, I think so. Maybe "getting savaged" is a little over the top but that's not the score this game deserves. This is a 90+ game.

MSUSteve

10-07-2011, 08:02 AM

He just doesn't like the game. Plain and simple. It's kind of weird, I like the game and have a hard time articulating why.
Completely fair. He's entitled to his opinion, of course. Game reviews are inherently subjective. I've learned over the years that Tom's opinion rarely meshes with my own, at least in terms of games that he chooses to rip. When he's positive about a game I always give it a second look because I know there must be something at least interesting about it.

Scott Jones, who I always loved and defended when Crispy Gamer was still going, often wrote reviews that, while hilarious, I couldn't agree with. I still thought his reviews were worth reading. Tom is similar in that regard, though where Jones was funny, Tom sometimes comes off as petty and arbitrary.

As it applies to RAGE specifically, I'm not sure how anyone that has any kind of interest in first person shooter games could fail to derive some pleasure out of it. At worst, it's mediocre. Now that may be its biggest sin in Tom's view. It seems he hates nothing worse than mediocrity and rewards same with abysmal reviews and scores.

I'm very much enjoying the game. It's got just enough character advancement stuff (including the car upgrades) to keep me interested, the controls are good, the weapons are fun and the graphics are beautiful (on 360). Tom's review doesn't change or ruin any of that for me. I just think his opinion is interesting, if inscrutable, and enjoy talking about such things.

Bill Dungsroman

10-07-2011, 08:16 AM

Scott Jones, who I always loved and defended when Crispy Gamer was still going, often wrote reviews that, while hilarious, I couldn't agree with. I still thought his reviews were worth reading. Tom is similar in that regard, though where Jones was funny, Tom sometimes comes off as petty and arbitrary.

Oh good Christ. To each his own I guess but I absolutely despise Scott Jones. what a complete and utter arrogant tool that guy is.

MSUSteve

10-07-2011, 08:23 AM

Oh good Christ. To each his own I guess but I absolutely despise Scott Jones. what a complete and utter arrogant tool that guy is.
I was always in the minority with my opinion of Jones, at least around here. If you read his blog, which I expect you don't, you'd see that he's a very earnest, insecure and genuine human being. I can completely understand how some of his reviews could come off as arrogant and even toolish, but I think he's a good guy. Like I said, I didn't often agree with his reviews, but I always laughed when I read them.

madkevin

10-07-2011, 08:24 AM

Oh good Christ. To each his own I guess but I absolutely despise Scott Jones. what a complete and utter arrogant tool that guy is.

Jesus, yes. Scott Jones might be the worst critic ever, next to that James Berardinelli idiot who used to do horrible movie reviews on Usenet. Tom, for whatever his quirks as a reviewer, is coming from a place of wanting games to be better. Scott Jones is just a smug fuckwit who clearly thinks he's too cool to be reviewing games at all.

Even worse, he took over as co-host of Reviews On The Run. You think reading him is bad? You should try watching him.

Dr. Quasius

10-07-2011, 09:00 AM

I'm having a difficult time mentally separating the game play from the tech problems, but now that I have it going I'm really enjoying it. The vehicular battles are really well done and the combat is very good. The complaints about a lack of a cohesive narrative are accurate, but I could care less.

Telefrog

10-07-2011, 09:03 AM

At least you guys can play it. All I can do is load up my savegame and drive the ATV around in the empty starting area. Trying to load a transition instantly crashes the game.

Dr. Quasius

10-07-2011, 09:08 AM

At least you guys can play it. All I can do is load up my savegame and drive the ATV around in the empty starting area. Trying to load a transition instantly crashes the game.

ATI really is taking their sweet time releasing new drivers aren't they?

Telefrog

10-07-2011, 09:10 AM

ATI really is taking their sweet time releasing new drivers aren't they?

No rush, right? Hell, by the time this gets sorted out, I'll have moved on to Skyrim and a whole different set of patch issues!

Ninyu

10-07-2011, 09:26 AM

Seriously, if this isn't fixed by the end of the day I am asking for a refund from Steam. I have been more then patient with this shit.

Teiman

10-07-2011, 09:27 AM

Nah, Skyrim is not a new engine with a new rendering technology. You will have less problems.

Telefrog

10-07-2011, 09:29 AM

Nah, Skyrim is not a new engine with a new rendering technology. You will have less problems.

Sure... Just like Fallout 3 or New Vegas, right?

Paul_cze

10-07-2011, 09:37 AM

Well after playing for about two hours (setup: 1920*1200, 8*AA, 4*AF, 8192 textures via rageconfig tweak, x360pad) I have to say it is not bad. Interiors look pretty bad, since all textures are so lowres, but if I don't focus on it too much, it is bearable. 60fps vsynced with no drops, no texture pop-in either.

Outside the game looks just beautiful. Like concept artworks come to life. This engine is really cool for "macro" outside areas. Driving and looking around (which works on x360pad) is fun and large part of that is just admiring the graphics. Of course if I look at the ground, it is shitty lowres textures galore.

Gameplay - not bad. Weapons feel good to use (though I only used 4 so far).Driving has the exact arcade physics I expected..nothing amazing, but it does its job.

So far the game looks good. I dislike its story setup, silent protagonist and all that, but..it is fun.
Still, I wish many design decisions were different. Not a fan of autoregen health for example.

WarrenM

10-07-2011, 09:49 AM

I tend to like the interiors more to be honest. Outside is rocks and sand, which look nice, but interiors like the hotel and the garage are just killer looking to me.

Paul_cze

10-07-2011, 10:29 AM

Well I haven't been that far yet I guess. But the low resolution of textures just stands out more in the interiors.

Btw there is also some tweak about creating folder "id software" with folder "rage" inside it, in Users\UserName\AppData\Local

After it is created and starting the game, it creates 1GB cache file there that is supposed to improve performance or something.

I tried it and the cache file got created, but I have no idea if it improved anything because the game worked perfectly before I tried it.

Dr. Quasius

10-07-2011, 10:47 AM

If you crash during Mutant Bash TV you get to start over at the first arena. I always crash. Game over for now.

Teiman

10-07-2011, 11:06 AM

Sure... Just like Fallout 3 or New Vegas, right?

I have the impresion the engine related bugs where few, and most where misuse of the features of the engine. Some people finished New Vegas withouth any problem, and is the version made by Obisidian. Skyrim is not made by Obsidian, so .... I think the QA will be adequate, so there will be few game breaking bugs.

Anyway a single bug can ruin the day, so what is very buggy and feels very buggy is relative. Maybe some people will hate Skyrim because a bad interaction of his video card with the game. But I think in average, it will be a stable game :-I

Telefrog

10-07-2011, 11:10 AM

I have the impresion the engine related bugs where few, and most where misuse of the features of the engine.

Either way, a patch issue is a patch issue to the end-user.

Same deal with Rage. I don't care whose fault it is. AMD's, Bethesda's, or id's. I just want my product to work.

Teiman

10-07-2011, 11:13 AM

This game needs something like "timedemo (http://www.modwiki.net/wiki/TimeDemo_(console_command))" to run automatic realistic benchmarch test (maybe some flyby around canyons), will help check if some change make the game faster or not.

.
.
.
(!)

.
.

Wait... timedemo is a Doom3 command? what is the probability of Rage still having the command... maybe even the ability to save a dem file?

flyinj

10-07-2011, 11:20 AM

My god I can't believe what a sorry state this game was released in on PC.

Bethesda makes great games, but they just don't seem to give a fuck if their product works or not when shipping.

This makes me extremely leery of going for the PC SKU of Skyrim. I just don't know what to do now.

I finally got Rage to run without constant frame rate hitching (what is the deal with so many AAA games having this problem?). Now it crashes whenever I try to enter any area.

Sarkus

10-07-2011, 11:23 AM

In today's world, I think so. Maybe "getting savaged" is a little over the top but that's not the score this game deserves. This is a 90+ game.

The technical issues alone, as widespread as they are on PC, knocks this game out of that realm. And I like the game in general, but I've spent far too much time so far swapping drivers and reading about community tweaks.

Sure... Just like Fallout 3 or New Vegas, right?

In terms of game-stopping bugs, Fallout 3 and New Vegas did not have anywhere near this serious of problems at release. Rage is the most broken game I've seen in quite some time in its current form.

Paul_cze

10-07-2011, 12:15 PM

This game is so demanding of HDD speed..I tried to make 1080p gameplay video via fraps, with framerate locked to 30, but it was stuttering a lot (20-30 fps constantly changing) and textures loaded slowly. First game that I see this problem with. Without fraps it runs perfectly though.

Sarkus

10-07-2011, 12:17 PM

Just had my first crash inside the game but not loading. Hopefully that doesn't become an issue.

TurinTur

10-07-2011, 12:19 PM

Dr. Quasius

10-07-2011, 12:33 PM

Drivers incoming:

11.10 ATI drivers are in the process of being uploaded now. It may take a while to propogate. This is a multi-card/multi-platform update.

http://twitter.com/#!/Thollenshead

malkav11

10-07-2011, 12:34 PM

I have the impresion the engine related bugs where few, and most where misuse of the features of the engine. Some people finished New Vegas withouth any problem, and is the version made by Obisidian. Skyrim is not made by Obsidian, so .... I think the QA will be adequate, so there will be few game breaking bugs.

Anyway a single bug can ruin the day, so what is very buggy and feels very buggy is relative. Maybe some people will hate Skyrim because a bad interaction of his video card with the game. But I think in average, it will be a stable game :-I

I have consistently had substantially more technical issues with Bethesda games than Obsidian games. Fallout 3 was the buggy one of the Fallout pair for me, for example. I fully expect Skyrim to continue in the same tradition as, for example, Morrowind, where I have fallen through the world geometry on multiple occasions to name just one major bug.