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+--- Thread: World's Worst Port? (/showthread.php?tid=5861)
World's Worst Port? - Darunia - 14th July 2010
Are you familiar with the PC port of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? I was not until after I bought it. Turns out it's the world's worst PC port. Max framerate was supposed to be 30fps... I installed it on my computer... which is just a year old... and it's HORRIBLE to run. Even after the patch... it's as slow as molasses. And there are no video/graphics options to tune down. You run it as-is, apparently geared for PS3 or something, and unless you have a super leet computer, you just have to cope with it.
By the way, I WISH it ran at 30fps. Try maybe 10fps.
World's Worst Port? - A Black Falcon - 14th July 2010
No graphics options, really? I highly doubt it, I've never heard of that in a 3d PC game. I would be very, VERY surprised if there really weren't options somewhere. A separate graphics configuration program, perhaps? That is common.
Poor performance, though? That happens sometimes. One of my least favorite PC ports is Beyond Good & Evil, partially because of the awful framerates it gets for no reason and partially for the awful controls (no gamepad support? Really? And why were the framerates so much worse than the PC version of Rayman 3's, when both have fairly similar graphics? And that game has dual analog gamepad support, too...). There are others, though. Gear Works for the PC (an old DOS game), or at least the version of it we got, is broken and it's impossible to beat the first world... it just loops back to the beginning when you beat it. Now THAT is a bad port.
I am wondering, though... It's only a year old, but how good a videocard do you have? That is the question... Any PC gamer really should be spending at least $200 on their videocard, if they want it to last at all. (Laptops for serious PC gaming... forget it unless you want to spend a lot...)
This computer here is from early 2007, nearly 3 1/2 years ago, and can still run any game I've thrown at it so far at playable framerates, though on some titles I do need to turn down the graphics more than others; Shattered Horizon and Crysis definitely won't run playably at High settings, for example. They will run playably at medium settings or below, though. Why is it still doing okay as a gaming PC? Mostly because I spent nearly $2000 on it, no monitor included, I think... $300 video card, etc.
I mean, you can play PC games on a moderately powerful machine. Today a fine computer for today's games can easily be put together for under $1000. One of the most important things is to NOT USE INTEGRATED GRAPHICS! Even a fairly low-end actual videocard is going to blow away the horror that is integrated graphics...
World's Worst Port? - etoven - 14th July 2010
Falcons right...
Is your video card factory?
Cause unless you replace it with a nice cross fire array or something, you can expect crappy results.
World's Worst Port? - A Black Falcon - 14th July 2010
I have a GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB, a pretty high-end card for early 2007. Not the most expensive, but upper tier. I got that quite intentionally because I wanted to be sure to have a card that would be good for years -- no more being stuck with an outdated card that doesn't support hardware features newer games require, like I was for several years on my older computer when all I had was GeForce2 and so many games required a GeForce3... and the 8800 has done a great job of that, and still can run anything as I said. Sure, Crysis or Shattered Horizon, both Vista/7-only DirectX9-exclusive titles that can push a system extremely hard, can be reduced to single-digit framerates easily, but it's not like there aren't graphics options to find a good medium.
World's Worst Port? - Darunia - 14th July 2010
No video options. Google it. You'll find the same problem. It's a barebones port from the console version. There isn't even mouse interface in the menu.
My video card is factory. It's ATI Radeon HD 3200.
World's Worst Port? - A Black Falcon - 14th July 2010
Well I looked it up, and you're right that reviews mention the lack of video options and the bad performance, but you can evidently at least change the resolution... tried reducing it?
Obviously it is one more for the list of bad PC ports, though. Usually PC ports of console games are good, but sometimes they go wrong...
World's Worst Port? - Darunia - 15th July 2010
Yea, I lowered it pretty low and I noticed the slightest improvement but not enough to make it tolerable to play. Maybe I'll have to invest in a better video card. That oughta to help.
World's Worst Port? - A Black Falcon - 15th July 2010
That is an old card, you got something pretty low end...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/6
The new NVidia GeForce GTX 460 looks pretty good, and is only $200 too... your card is too old to even chart there. Mine's on that, sort of, near the bottom --the 8800 GT is a slightly higher-end version of the card I have (they're testing the 512MB version, I imagine, while I have the 384).
World's Worst Port? - Darunia - 15th July 2010
Is it something I could just swap in myself real quick? Or is it a laborious and tricky thing, one for which I'll need to hire someone to install it? Also, while I know it won't be a total fix, will a better video card be enough to make a noticeable difference in all my games, with the same hardware?
World's Worst Port? - EdenMaster - 15th July 2010
Darunia Wrote:Is it something I could just swap in myself real quick? Or is it a laborious and tricky thing, one for which I'll need to hire someone to install it? Also, while I know it won't be a total fix, will a better video card be enough to make a noticeable difference in all my games, with the same hardware?
Nah, video cards are a cinch to install these days. Basically a matter of find correct port on motherboard -> place card in port -> secure to backplate -> turn on computer. You'll likely need to download latest drivers from the manufacturer website, but aside from that, they're meant to be fairly plug-and-play.
And yes, you will likely notice a substantial improvement in most any game you play (except for the quite older games, obviously). Basically the holy trinity of PC gaming is the video card, RAM, and processor. If it's only a year old I'm going to assume it has at least reasonable strength in those latter two, but integrated graphics are bad bad bad. Getting a new, actual video card in there will make a gigantic difference.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gts_250_us.html
That's the one I have, it's been very good to me and runs just about anything I play on high settings, and it's less than $150.
World's Worst Port? - Darunia - 15th July 2010
Processors: AMD Phenom X4 9100e Quad-Core Processor
Memory: 4 GB DDR2.
How's that.
World's Worst Port? - EdenMaster - 15th July 2010
Yeah, you're in fairly good shape there, from the look of it. A good video card in there should make a world of difference in your machine.
World's Worst Port? - Great Rumbler - 15th July 2010
Yep, your video card is definitely pulling you down. I've got a 8800 GT in my rig, with a Core 2 Duo and 4 gigs of RAM, and I could probably run Force Unleashed at a decent framerate. If you put a top-of-the-line card in your rig, it should run buttery smooth.
World's Worst Port? - A Black Falcon - 15th July 2010
Yeah, swapping video cards is easy. Remove the old card (or look for the port, if you just have integrated), remove the backplate on that slot, put in the card and screw it in or whatever, hook up your monitor to it. Make sure that your motherboard has the correct kind of port for the card you're getting of course, but with a recent computer and a recent card that shouldn't be a problem. And it will make a HUGE difference in graphics. Your CPU and RAM are good, but like most people who don't know better, you didn't get a good videocard... that limitation really is one of the big things holding back PC gaming today, that people think integrated graphics are good enough, when they very definitely are not.
World's Worst Port? - Darunia - 15th July 2010
How much should I be looking to drop on said video card?
World's Worst Port? - EdenMaster - 15th July 2010
Really, almost anything is an upgrade to what you have now, so it all depends on how much you're willing to spend and how long you'd like it to last considering the fast pace of PC hardware. Generally speaking though, a good powerful card can be anywhere from $100 to, well, the absurdly expensive cutting edge ones, with the best bang for your buck usually lingering in the $150-$200 range.
World's Worst Port? - Great Rumbler - 15th July 2010
If you can afford it, the most expensive there is. But, if you're on a budget, somewhere between $150 and $200 will net you a very good card that should play most modern games just fine for 2 to 3 years.