Dead Space - uggh

grizzed

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
171
I picked up dead space on steam for $15 this weekend. A waste of money.

I turned off the v synch and played with the mouse settings - game was playable, but painful. Some people have said you need to play the game with a game pad. The game felt like I was playing via console. Slow with cumbersome control. Assassins Creed was a little better, but still had a slow repetitive feel to it.

Another FAIL for console game ported to PC.
 
Dead Space isn't a run and gun type game. You've reminded me that I need to finish it. I got stuck midway through the game with low ammo. I might need to back track if I can to an earlier save and try again so I don't come up short again.

That game can be pretty intense. You do not play that game with a gamepad. You use a good mouse and keyboard with it. I'm using a Logitech G9 and it plays really smooth.

No FAIL here, just points deducted for poor V-Sync implementation.
 
You are walking around in an iron space suit you know. Its supposed to feel slow and cumbersome. What worked for me was increasing my mouse dpi setting to maximum (razer lachesis at 4000dpi). was able to keep vsync on this way.
 
After I disabled vsync I really enjoyed the game, beat it in a weekend and had a blast.
 
Make sure you disable vsync in the Nvidia Control Panel as it's stuck at 30FPS in game. You can also use Glovepie to remap all your keys, no need for a gamepad.
 
I know this is a thread about the cumbersome PC controls, but I want to add that this is a great game. I played it on the PS3 and had the shit scared out of me several times :D
 
if the mouse controls are extremely sluggish, then try playing with vsync on

example of extreme sluggishness when using aim mode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbA9L63Z87E

if the mouse controls are slightly sluggish (more like floaty), then it's the developer's poor mouse coding that you can't get used to
 
I know this is a thread about the cumbersome PC controls, but I want to add that this is a great game. I played it on the PS3 and had the shit scared out of me several times :D

Ditto. I beat this game 3 times. Its totally worth working around the controls to play this game.
 
Force triple buffering in the nvidia control panel on this game. Made a huge difference for me. It's not flawless, and it's still a waste of 15 bucks, but it should be playable enough for you to finish the game. I am not spending 15 bucks and not finishing it, that's for sure.
 
Everything that has been said above, and an additional note from the developers that was mentioned in an interview.

Its a slow game, you're wearing an 800 pound metal suit, and carrying around mining and welding equipment. You arent supposed to be able to move fast and turn at a minutes notice, thats part of the suspense. You see a mutant running at you, and wonder if you're going to be able to turn in time to fend him off.

edit: the vsync is horribly broken though, makes even the menus unplayable, but once you turn that off, its as intended, and was a really spectacular game.
 
It's a shame you feel that way about Dead Space grizzed. To me it was one of the best single player experiences I've ever had. The only issue I ran into was the vysnc and some buttons I couldn't bind (had to use glovePIE no big deal) - I also used D3DOverrider to force vsync+triple buffering.

The controls were intentionally designed that way by the developers as has already been stated. Even the overall view of the player and what can be witnessed on screen (very close and can't see much third-person perspective) was meant to give the player a greater sense of urgency/suspense in situations.

The team who made the game were VERY conscious of what they were doing, it's a shame some of their decisions were lost on people.

Looking forward to Dead Space 2
 
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If you prefer VSync like I do, you can force it in your driver control panel and disable it in the game, and VSync will work properly.
 
I loved Dead Space! Did hate the controlls though - mostly because it's impossible to re-map the KB from WASD (which I don't normally use). The game was so good though, that I learned the default controlls just so I could finish it.

Awesome space-horror-shooter that puts Doom3 and the like to shame; incredible atmosphere, audio, graphics, and gameplay. The clunky controlls and awkward camera system add a lot to the horror atmosphere and were completely forgivable imo.

I gotta say stick with it - once you get used to it (not sure if that's the right term to use here :p), it's an awesome game!
 
great game. worked fine for me,i always have vsnyc and triple buffering on for all games.
it was awesome with my xbox 360 pad. it seem to me that a lot is lost if you used a mouse.
 
The controls were intentionally designed that way by the developers as has already been stated. Even the overall view of the player and what can be witnessed on screen (very close and can't see much third-person perspective) was meant to give the player a greater sense of urgency/suspense in situations.

The team who made the game were VERY conscious of what they were doing, it's a shame some of their decisions were lost on people.

It's a shame some of their conscious decisions were so weak. Even after getting around the vsync issue, I'm still not a fan of the camera view. It's not just that it's too close to the character so he's in the way all the time (a very awkward and contrived way to restrict your view), it's also way too far off to the right, presumably so that you can actually see something. In the intro cutscene I didn't even realise that was supposed to be "me", I assumed it was another character sitting next to me on the space ship.
I knew it would be defended as being necessary for the claustrophobic atmosphere of the game, but I much preferred Mass Effect's camera. I'm just finding DS irritating so far, I'm glad I waited for a cheap deal.
 
Wow...you can't remap the controls? What is this - 1992? Oh wait, you could remap Doom and Wolfenstein back then, too...
That's inexcusable. That said, I really enjoyed this game on the 360. I grabbed it used for $20 and felt it was one of the best "bang for the buck" games I'd bought in years.
 
The controls were intentionally designed that way by the developers as has already been stated. Even the overall view of the player and what can be witnessed on screen (very close and can't see much third-person perspective) was meant to give the player a greater sense of urgency/suspense in situations.

The team who made the game were VERY conscious of what they were doing, it's a shame some of their decisions were lost on people.

Just because not everyone likes the decisions they made doesn't mean the design was lost on us. I can completely understand why they made the game the way they did, but I still don't actually like playing it. I've played plenty of intense, scary games before, and none of them needed to have me moving around like I was swimming in molasses, or show me only 40% of the world and the other 60% of the screen be filled by the back of my head. Not saying those methods don't work, but they're certainly not "lost" on me, I just don't appreciate them.
 
I picked up dead space on steam for $15 this weekend. A waste of money.

I turned off the v synch and played with the mouse settings - game was playable, but painful. Some people have said you need to play the game with a game pad. The game felt like I was playing via console. Slow with cumbersome control. Assassins Creed was a little better, but still had a slow repetitive feel to it.

Another FAIL for console game ported to PC.
Yeah, out of the box the controls are very unresponsive. You need to make a couple tweaks. In order to get the controls right do the following and I promise it will be a different game.

Make all changes for the game, not global.
  • disable vsync in game
  • enabled Tripple Buffering in control panel for game
  • Force Vsync in control panel (I know it sounds stupid but the TB + Vsync forced work together, forgetting one or the other basically negates this tip In game Vsync + TB do not work right).
  • max out the mouse sensitivity in game setting
 
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There is still some mouse lag when turning off vsync in game and enabling it in the nvcp with triple buffering. It's really annoying.

Turning off vsync altogether works until you get into the game and you look at an area where you get like 150 fps (like at a wall) and suddenly it takes you like 6 mouse swipes just to turn around.

So basically you have to choose which one of these control options to suffer through. I have not been able to get past 20 minutes of this game because of the controls.
 
A lotta people say disable vsync but I found the game to play better with vsync enabled using the method bigdog mentioned
 
A lotta people say disable vsync but I found the game to play better with vsync enabled using the method bigdog mentioned

Definitely. It's silky smooth, and it seems to level out the motion when you're close to something.

I'd hate to have missed this one because of something silly. It's a great game.
 
I know this is a thread about the cumbersome PC controls, but I want to add that this is a great game. I played it on the PS3 and had the shit scared out of me several times :D

The game was awesome, but the Asteroids mini-game pissed me off to no end.
 
Got dead space for $5 a while back, controls with K/M just wasn't pleasant, certainly meant for a gamepad. Overall I enjoyed the game, had a good creepiness feel to it.
 
The game was awesome, but the Asteroids mini-game pissed me off to no end.

Oh man, the asteroids--even on normal--caused a never-ending string of curses to flow from my mouth until I finally passed it. And given the number of failures before I finally succeeded, it was almost as if the game said "okay, you've been through enough, I'll let you pass it now."

It's the one part about the game that has kept me from buying it (rented it for 360 when I played it), because as much as I want to replay it, I *dread* having to face that again.
 
Based upon the issues people are having with the game's control - you might try using a pad with it. There's never any twitch aiming needed and the way the weapons work is very pad friendly. I understand the frustration, but it's better than having the game control horribly.
 
I really hated this game. One of the worst games for me last year. The camera is terrible, I hate the over the shoulder locked camera, I was always craning to see around the stupid guy in the way.

Levels were all dark and repetitive. Weapons were useless and boring, you should just plasma cutter your way through. No better than Doom 3 with a crappy camera.

Well known problem with the PC version and mouse support. It's as if they forgot to convert the code over for analog stick inputs and acceleration and dead-zone into precise and usable X-Y mouse axis coordinates.

This is a lame console port, if you must play it, use a gamepad or play on a console. As a PC game it's terrible.
 
I don't know how much variation one should expect to find on a mining vessel. Some games have varied environments which suit the context of the game. Others have less variation, which suits the game. Doom 3 is in a research complex on Mars with a hint of Hell at the end. What more do you want? A happy colorful jungle level thrown in? I've never understood these sorts of comments. A game's story has a setting. I would hope that the level design would be where the variation lies, and then only where it fits the context of the story. I don't see how Doom 3 or Dead Space fall short here.

I do understand the complaints about Dead Space's controls, however this is easily addressed with a few tweaks.

It's also not as hard to see things as some people think. Granted, they could have widened the FOV a little bit, or just made it first person, but after a little time with it, this becomes far less of an issue.

If it's not your thing, it's not your thing, but I feel like the things that everybody complains about aren't as big of a deal as they make out, and certainly addressable in most instances. Once tweaked a bit, (forced VSync from driver, mouse sensitivity set, etc,) it plays just as well as any other third person game where the mouse is used (though the FOV is still cramped.)

I understand it's a matter of opinion, and some people are pickier than others, but I feel like the people complaining are making it a huge deal, and putting some people off buying it that would otherwise enjoy it. (or maybe they might even enjoy it themselves after some adjustments are made) Who knows.

System Shock (the original) has awkward controls at first, but they're easy to get used to after a while. I pity anyone that wouldn't play this game because of that.
 
J3RK; It's funny that you bring up System Shock, as it really doesn't share any of the *deliberate* "problems" this game suffers from. If the only issue with the game was quirky controls, it would be different. But to compare to SS: was it a dark, intense, scary game? I think so. Did you spend the entire game looking mostly at the back of your own head? No. Did you move in slow motion? No. If those aspects turn people off of Dead Space, then so be it.

I'd hate for someone to purchase the game based on people here saying how good it is and not mentioning these problems. If you like them so much, feel free to tout them as features; "It's a great game, it's really hard to see because most of the screen is taken up by the back of your head." "The game is really intense, you move really, really slowly because of this big suit you're wearing." Just don't act like it's no different from any other 3rd person shooter, because it doesn't feel anything like ANY third person shooter I've ever played, and it's only fair that people know this before purchasing.
 
I never found the presence of the character a major obstruction to the view, actually. I never had a problem seeing what I needed to see or finding where to go as a result of the character.

The slower deliberate movements I thought fit right into the play style. I never thought twice about it, especially as I often moved while aiming down the sights after hearing something creepy and expecting to see a monster come barreling at me.

Is it everyone's cup of tea? No. And if you are a 'run and gunner' then you will definitely not like the pacing. But I feel that, considering the atmosphere and pacing the developers were going for, the movement is spot-on.
 
The sucky thing about this game is that there are actually 3 different polling speeds for the mouse: one for when you're walking, one for when you're turning, and one for when you've got your weapon out. It just doesn't feel right. You continuously have to lift up your mouse and reposition it, which you wouldn't have to do if there weren't different polling speeds.

The game itself - meh.

I heard so many great things about it that when I finally played it in the summer I was actually a bit let down by it.
 
Is it everyone's cup of tea? No. And if you are a 'run and gunner' then you will definitely not like the pacing.

I prefer slower games, but Dead Space still didn't work for me.

The controls aren't just slow, they're cumbersome. It's not the pacing of the game, it's the way the game controls.
 
Well, I admit that I can't speak to the PC controls themselves. I played on 360 with a controller, and the controls seemed to match the character movement.

That's unfortunate to hear though, and I have heard that from many people.
 
I disabled v-sync and maxed sensitivity. It's not perfect but it's playable given the mood/pacing of the game.

The mouse controls are my only real gripe with what is an otherwise excellent game. I thought the cumbersome movement and restricted movement was a nice change of pace from the usual fast and furious FPS experience.
 
Just because not everyone likes the decisions they made doesn't mean the design was lost on us. I can completely understand why they made the game the way they did, but I still don't actually like playing it. I've played plenty of intense, scary games before, and none of them needed to have me moving around like I was swimming in molasses, or show me only 40% of the world and the other 60% of the screen be filled by the back of my head. Not saying those methods don't work, but they're certainly not "lost" on me, I just don't appreciate them.

I realize every person will appreciate something in a range of ways -- which is why I didn't say all of their decisions were lost on everyone. Opinions and preferences
 
I prefer slower games, but Dead Space still didn't work for me.

The controls aren't just slow, they're cumbersome. It's not the pacing of the game, it's the way the game controls.

Dead Space's problem is that they forced the pacing on you. System Shock 2 had me creeping around that ship as though every step might be my last, and I was constantly looking around making sure I hadn't missed anything that might decide to eat my flesh when I turned my back. There was no need for slow-as-molasses movement, or a giant space-helmet taking up most of the screen.
 
I though the pacing was great. In this day and age, everyone should own some sort of gamepad for the PC for games just like this.

The was closer to SS2 than bio shock in my opinion. The scariest game i have played since undying, the music is really excellent. The level design is outstanding, because it's logical and makes sense given the enviroment your in. The best part of the game was the committment to the idea. You moved slow because of the suit, you had limit visiblity because of the suit. One of the most immersive games to on in a long time.
 
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