News - Batman: Arkham City PC gamers furious with technical issues

[HEXUS]

Major DX11 problem and other technical faults with Arkham City.

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[shaithis]

DX11 issues really annoyed me last night when I finally decided to start playing it.

And yes, it really does suck to wait weeks extra for the "shiny PC version" only to have to turn the shinies off

Tried my retail key in both steam and origin as well.....no go. It is GFWL + SecuROM for all retail copies....which means disk in the drive - FFS!!!

[Lee H]

GFWL is abysmal!

I've had a few issues with GFWL locking up and not responding and this in turn has crashed batman several times halfway through some frantic action on screen.

[watercooled]

Not even received my copy from Amazon yet!

I've been waiting for some time to play this, avoided getting it on console in favour of the 'polished' PC version. In spite of all this I might just return it and get it out of a bargain bin down the line. GFWL was keeping me on the fence as it was...

[Hicks12]

Still waiting aswell , thehut arent fast but cant complain at £15... got to much work to be getting on with so hopefully they sort all this out within 2 - 4 weeks and ill be ok .

Cant believe this though it really is pitiful, you have DICE bringing out a bloody solid PC game and yet it is the year of the worst ports . Skyrim is an excellent game but its terrible in regards to being a console game.

Hopefully one day i become super rich and somehow am an amazing games developer and make my own studio and build just PC GAMES! That will be the day guys .

[Lucio]

Until the next generation of consoles built using the concepts found in DirectX11 are released, this will be a common occurance. No studio has enough time to fully develop a true multi-platform game, and thus reuses so much code between versions that bugs are inevitable.

Chances are, someone at the studio already knew about this, delayed the launch as long as they could, and this is the end result. God knows what this must have looked like 6 weeks ago!

[krazy_olie]

this is why I don't buy new games...
buy them a year later, they are fixed and cost half the price. win win

[watercooled]

I do that with some games but I thoroughly enjoyed AA (GFWL issues aside) so wanted to get stuck into the next instalment.

[ABCx86]

God knows what this must have looked like 6 weeks ago!

Exactly the same as it does now, as the game was compiled and finalized on the 27th September, it is shown in some error boxes containing build info. They didn't do any bug fixing whatsoever during the 5-6 week delay.
Also on the box it says "game will not be playable until 21/10/2011", meaning most likely the PC copies of the game have been sitting on shelves for the past 2 months, and was sent to print at the same time as the console versions.
Also on the box it says "optimized for : DX10 and 64-Bit", but the game is only DX9 or DX11, and has no DX10 mode. And there is no 64-Bit exe either, it is a 32 bit game. These are all signs they have tried to put out the most effortless port possible with minimal quality control.

I have completed the game on DX9 on PC, it crashes at first menu screen 75% of the time, so I have to restart several times to get in to the actual game. Occasionally no sound will play at all. I get stuttering quite often, but I am on a 512mb 4870 so that is not surprising, but I do get the sense the game is poorly optimized.

Many people have been losing their game saves too, on all 3 platforms. (PC, PS3, 360)

Very short game btw, got it Saturday evening and completed min story by Saturday night, still have alot of side missions to do though.

[.havoc]

Until the next generation of consoles built using the concepts found in DirectX11 are released, this will be a common occurance. No studio has enough time to fully develop a true multi-platform game, and thus reuses so much code between versions that bugs are inevitable.

Chances are, someone at the studio already knew about this, delayed the launch as long as they could, and this is the end result. God knows what this must have looked like 6 weeks ago!

Sorry I have to partly disagree with this.

Yes, the slow uptake of technology on consoles is always going to be an issue...but...

Not a single studio out there has any excuse to release a game that doesn't work as bad as being reported (I say that as I currently do not own it).

If something needs more time - push the release date back. Simple as that. Lots of companies do it and the vast majority of gamers would much rather wait an extra couple of weeks...or if needs be months...to have something that works rather being left feeling like someone has just left a big hairy steaming pile on their chest!

If the studio can't deliver (which I find quite amazing considering the brilliant job on the first) then they need to invest in better, more capable staff. Since they already kept PC gamers waiting 6 weeks I can see why their is so much frustration. And as you say they probably already knew...which if its true is not doing them any favours as they could of just voiced the truth and said we having issues with dx11. It will be a bit later than planned...

And as someone has already pointed out, BF3 was released and it had few glitches, some here n there but nothing even as remotely close to this. And whats more - the options available to console gamers is the most effort I have ever seen put in to satisfying every community. And this is an EA game we are talking about here...who have a legendary record of cocking it up. So developing a true multi platform game can be done.

The bar has been set and now other companies have to step up to the mark.

[ABCx86]

Article says:
"the console versions launched without a hitch. "

That's not true, alot of console gamers were missing catwoman and robin redeem codes, and lots of people experiencing disappearing and corrupted save game issues.

Rocksteady and Warner Bro's have an EXTREME lack of Quality Control across all platforms.

Also they made so many preorder deals with so many different retailers that they couldn't possibly keep track of it, and chaos ensued.

[Steve A]

I must say apart from the well documented DX11 issue, i havent had any, infact the game it self is great, i didnt put it down all weekend.

but clearly seems like im in the minority.

[watercooled]

And this is an EA game we are talking about here...who have a legendary record of cocking it up. So developing a true multi platform game can be done.

Don't forget EA is only the publisher, the two games are developed by different companies.

[shaithis]

I must say apart from the well documented DX11 issue, i havent had any, infact the game it self is great, i didnt put it down all weekend.

but clearly seems like im in the minority.

Same boat. Seems fine with DX11 off (even though I do get the occasional stutter.....playing on my HTPC)

BUT.....we waited an extra 5 weeks or so for nothing

My take is that they wanted to stagger the PC support. Hence the broken game has been sitting in warehouses so that they could iron out issues with XBox and PS3 without the distraction of the PC version...........

[.havoc]

Don't forget EA is only the publisher, the two games are developed by different companies.

Yup - but they have a habit of dipping their fingers in where it's not wanted or warranted. They have been known to demand changes from game studios unfortunately (I believe they make various requests like dumbing down Spore, as an example...)

And its also partly down to the publisher - no doubt they were slapping the studio round the room to get the game out...

[Mark@SCAN]

Some new BETA drivers for NVIDIA users just released today, mentions specific fixes for Batman, BF3, Skyrim. Not sure if it's a specific fix for the DX11 batman problem but may help.

http://www.geforce.com/News/articles...ivers-released