Changes to PC games

[acrobat]

I think there probably will be some soon. If only more labels on the boxes.

I never thought about it until Bioshock was released. But I am browsing their forum and reading what people are saying, and I can't believe what an enormous mess it is... The fact is, this is one of the most commercial, mainstream games of all time. So everyone is buying it. The gamers who buy it for their console are usually ok. But for the people who buy it on the PC... its just a complete horrible mess.

Of those people, some have no problems, and some have problems but are able to solve the problem themselves. And then there are people who have a problem, can't fix it themselves, but can go online and get enough help to get it working eventually. BUT.... what is amazing me, is that there are two other little very distinct groups too. One is, just people who can't fix it, and nobody online is able to help them either (and there seems to be a surprisingly large number of these people). But the one that freaks me out the most... is the people who have absolutely no idea what they are doing on a PC, and no chance in hell of ever fixing it.. but not only that... they are also unable to even help themselves by asking for help.

Now its easy to just say, "These people are dumbasses and don't deserve a PC" or something along those lines, but the fact is, they have a PC, so they exist, and I think its pretty crazy that the problem exists. For an example of these people by the way, just look at the Bioshock forum (although its visible on many other forums too). But an example would be something like this:

Irule: HLEP!!!!!! I HAV PROBLEM!
somebody: What is the problem? Can you post your system specs and perhaps cut and paste your dxdiag?
Irule: HUH?!??!!? HELP!!!!!!!
somebody_else: Nobody can help you unless you explain what the problem is..
Irule: IT WONT NOT WORKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
somebody_else: But what form does the problem take? And what PC do you have?
Irule: ITS A DEL!!!!! CARNT U HLEP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! SUM1 PLZZZ!!!!
angry_guy: What is IN your PC though?!?! WHAT COMPONENTS DO YOU HAVE?! And what form is the crash taking? Do you get an error message?
Irule: I DONT NO. I LOOKED INSIED AND I SAW METAL THINGS AND WIRES. LOTS OF WIRES!!!!
someone_who_just_joined: What happens when it crashes??
Irule: I GET EROR
someone_who_just_joined: It is probably your PSU. You should go out and spend $200 on a PSU. Yeah, thats it.
Irule: OK THNX U!!!!!!! BUT WOT IZ A PCU??!?!?! HELLLLLLP

(They then probably go on to start another thread asking what a PUS is). Etc.

Now obviously some people just can't be helped. The only real solution, is constant rain for a few years and a huge flood. But a lot of this stuff shouldn't happen to begin with. Although I have little sympathy for the complete thickos, there are plenty of people who aren't really stupid.. they just aren't good with computers. And those people are having a nightmare too. I partly think, "Well thats tough. You can go out and buy lots of complex machines and if you don't know how to use it, then thats your problem, and you shouldn't have bought it in the first place". But I also think that its stupid, that in this day and age, these games companies and Microsoft can't standardise a lot more and do a lot more bug testing too. Everything is rushed out and often its unusable for atleast some people.

Anyway, I just think there should be a huge sticker on all game boxes that explains that PC's can be complex, and the game will only spring into life, if you know how to do things like install the latest drivers, install directX, keep it up to date with Windows Updates, and make sure its not overheating etc... They could just add "A brain" to the requirements list... but I do think they should do something to make it clearer. And in the meantime, I'll just feel sorry for these people and also wonder why Microsoft can't be more useful and make "Windows Update" capable of downloading the latest drivers for that particular PC's components, and keeping track of temperatures etc. People argue that a PC can have so many different components that its impossible to blah blah blah. Thats not as true today as it used to be. All these people either have an Nvidia graphics card, or an ATI... If windows update just linked to nVidia.com, it should be able to get the drivers automatically. And instead of computers just spazzing out and shutting down or crashing, there should be better error messages. Things like, "Overheating detected in your CPU. Please click here to read about how to fix this". Etc.

The main reason I'm sympathetic though, is because of the huge number of problems and the huge number of reasons why they occur. Its not just drivers and temperatures. There are hundreds of things. Even things like MS outlook crashing the game, graphics tablets, and various virus shields conflicting etc.

[Salazaar]

I tend to agree with you, even the most off the shelf PCs from Dell or PC World or whatever a still hugely complex machines when compared to a console or a DVD player or whatever and most consumers of off the shelf PCs are simply unaware of how complex they are and are totally unprepared when things go wrong.

On the other hand I've actually have a lot of praise for Microsoft for making things as easy as they are these days! I still remember having to write multiple autoexec.bat and config.sys from scratch to get games working just 10 years ago!

[acrobat]

Heheh yeah. Faffing around with config.sys and trying to get the most out of 640k etc.

Its still a shame though. Modern PC's look nice and welcoming Shiny lights coming out of the side panels, and big flat screens that look like a telly. And then windows is all pretty But really, it needs a fair bit of knowledge for it all to be trouble free. (Which makes me wonder at the miracle of WoW having 10+ million players )

Its all pretty much fair enough, in that Windows does give an error message when it can. And if you click the links, it does atleast give you some gobbldygook code which may not make sense, but can be typed into google etc. But I have 30 year old mates who have been to university and studied computers at school, and even they end up on forums shouting, "HELP!" Maybe they are just nobs, but it does make me think.. if they can't deal with a crash, then the average kid would have no chance.

Ah well. I just hope PC gaming doesn't die as a result, and instead, everything moves towards a console future. Thats my main concern... And I really don't think its that far fetched. If the majority of people on that forum for example, think "screw it" and next time they only buy games for their PS3 or X360, then playing on a PC has a chance of becoming "unusual". Although I suppose it was historically, so maybe it can survive. We'll see I suppose.

[Andy3536]

It must be hard to run games with every program that might be running in the background.
But you have to also look at the makers of those programs aswell.
My PC that i built myself has had less problems with games compatibility than my old pc with xp.
That was mostly down to Norton internet security, An update was release for the firewall that would crash nearlly every game i had.
Took me ages to figure out what it was, but Norton was like it for ages (mabee still is) and they never seemed to make any effort to rectify the problem.
Don't they care or do they just not know how crap thier internet security is for games. You can't seriuosly tell me that no one at norton plays games on PC or has kids that do.
It was when C&C 3 came out and i was on to customer support aswell, who had no idea that norton effected thier game in that way?
Think they just read off a card though no matter what your prob is.
Close programs running in background.
Latest version of Direct X
Graghics drivers, and so on and so on.

Modern PC games are getting much worse though and need to improve, i wouldn't mind paying a little more for extra testing if they worked first time!

[kalniel]

It's still much better than when you had to install DOS games correctly, let alone faffing with getting enough conventional memory free. Modern games are a doddle compared to that.

Difference is two things:
-The average user is so much less knowlegdeable these days.
-They also complain a lot louder. Only a very small fraction of people have problems, but internet communication gives these guys a very loud voice which they use.

[acrobat]

Yeah thats true.

For me, I actually think its great. I buy a game, put it in my DVD drive and it runs all by itself Install process is just about pressing the "next" button a few times. Then it puts icons wherever I choose, and then I click them and it always works first time.

It just becomes complicated when someone has a crash or it doesn't run etc. I'm guessing most problems are to do with people not keeping their drivers and stuff, up to date. Although if its not to do with that... yikes =) Can be all kinds of things.

[finlay666]

thankfully the Vista ranking scheme should end the nubbery in these things

and have them on the box, like min VER: 4.8 or something, should give an idea for gamers....and a proper spec for people who know what they are doing

[Ferral]

Mind you, if they are new to PC's that can explain a lot. Best bet is to tinker with settings and follow guides online like what HEXUS has to offer on the boards or sites like tweakguides which go into some major depth with full instructions.

Granted some people will just keep asking for help in the fear that they are going to do some permanent damage. They don't quite get that if something major goes wrong with the OS install in most cases it can be recovered without a format.

Here at HEXUS most gamers are quite savvy when it comes to things going wrong, and we do help each other out whenever possible with the ways we sorted things ourselves. This is where as HEXUS users we have to show patience and understanding to help the newcomers get by and in time they will start to see patterns emerging with gaming problems and can start troubleshooting themselves.

[Bluecube]

This has been an issue that has bugged me for quite some time now. On top of often having to spend lots of cash just to get a game running at a reasonable lick, you far too often find that you then have to upgrade a shedload of drivers. This really shouldn't happen at all and IMHO is bad programming as you shouldn't need the latest graphics/ soundcard/ whatever drivers just to run a game! Certainly noone should be expected to have to mess around with any config files!

In the end I just gave up and bought a 360. Sure the games are a wee bit more pricey but you open the box, pop the DVD in drive and start playing the game straight away.

[acrobat]

I actually considered registering and directing people here, but I decided to not bother.

Its sad though, watching people log on to that forum to ask for help, and have people giving them some of the worst advice I've ever seen.

[redsky009]

I just feel sorry for the people with genuine problems that just get lost in the deluge of morons and people who make new threads every time their brain passes gas... and also the mods of those game forums, so many conspiracy theories (MODZ AER DELTELED MY THREDZ!!ONE11) and idiots...

I'm always surprised at how few of those toss pots penetrate into Hexus forums, which always seem to be an IQ bracket above the rest

[j.o.s.h.1408]

im one of those people who was about to get bio on pc but because of the constant issues with it i decided to buy it on the console. even though im not using keyboard and mouse to play it i am still enjoying the game a hell of a lot on my controller. playing fps games on a pad is not has bad has people make it out.

i am thinking of buying call of duty 4 and UT3 on my 360 just so i dont get no headache from all these activation crap that comes along with the pc version and im sure bio is not the last game to have that activation.

the only game i would get on the pc is crysis and thats only because the game wont come out on the console and it looks amazing and worth the hassle to get it installed and working properly

[Ferral]

Bioshock is the only game that has caused me bother on Vista so far must admit. I seem to fix one thing by tweaking etc then its something else.

Worked fine when I first installed then performance really dropped about a half hour into it. Not sure what causes this but it is strange. Dropped res and everything down to lowest but still no go so managed to play through it start to finish even though the experience wasn't as good as when I started. Then I go to start again and I have no sound after a driver update, just sound on the movies. Changed the exe to run in XP compatability and I have sound back but it is really poor and crackling constantly, can't do anything else now but wait for a patch. Then after I get the sound going again get an error saying the exe has stopped working when I start it up this morning. So uninstall then reinstall (This is now my 5th time so not looking forward to having to go down that route if it messes up again with the limited installations). Turns out that its not working because I don't have the support for DXT texture formats enabled at a driver level.

The whole thing is just a big mess and really needs sorting out, its just going to sit on my hard disc until the issues get resolved now.

I can only troubleshoot to a certain extent, guessing the issues I am now having need resolving in a patch.

[gtech]

I must be one of the norms then cus i installed it (bioshock), whacked everything on high then played it with no problems. As for the activation crap well i wouldnt of noticed if i didnt browse the web, installed, inserted serial and away we go, i'm not sure if i ever would of known, cant say i've re-installed a game 5 times ever.

[redsky009]

I must be one of the norms then cus i installed it (bioshock), whacked everything on high then played it with no problems. As for the activation crap well i wouldnt of noticed if i didnt browse the web, installed, inserted serial and away we go, i'm not sure if i ever would of known, cant say i've re-installed a game 5 times ever.

same here.. (except I have reinstalled a game more than 5 times on several cases) only issue I have is how slow Securom makes the game to load...

[Artonox]

I have to say, I agree. These sort of people who own a PC needs to be educated on some of the stuff. When my first ever game crashed, there were no such thing as internet forums then (I didn't have internet), so I was on my own. I didn't know what "driver" meant, or what error was it. I was so frustrated because noone could help. Eventually I called in a pro and he taught me what to look out for. I slowly learned since and I fixed all the problems I had (until internet arrived and games got more complicated but even then, it's easy once you got the know-how).

These days, MS ain't arsed to fix anything. Heck, they are the monopoly of OS. They probably have no intention of fixing these millions of bugs and problems since they know that billions will buy their bugged alpha version anyway. Yes it's alot easier in today's OS, but there are still a lot of newbies who still have to go through the procedure I had, except they have internet. I'd say, let them to it, they will slowly learn about the PSU, the GPU, the CPU, the hard drive all they way down to "driver".