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PC Gaming standards website

also if ya need help adding games let us know since im sure at least 10-15 of us if not half the forum have the majority of the games that have been released in the last 5 years..
 
Many thanks to bladeiai on [H]ardforum for helping out and supplying a really nice menu graphic, I've just added it to the front page :)
 
OK after some hard work this sunday (working with a major hangover after birthday celebrations on saturday :eek: :D) I've managed to sort some repeater code which now generates a table on the front page from the database rather than having it written into the page static like it was before, so the real meat and bones of the database work is done now, I can add games from the admin page and they appear on the front page in order of newest added at the top.

I've also got the search running, if people could test that and let me know if they spot any problems.

The table is very rough and ready at the moment, theres no graphics it will display all the results but I will work on that next week and make it look a bit nicer :)
 
Blackstone said:
What does DRM have to do with anything? This site is obviously about the in-game experience, right? Let the management rights debate rage somewhere else. I'd like to see a site that rates games based solely on their technical merits (image quality, ect) as software.

The final score is important because it helps you to compare games, and compare developers to see who doing the best job of "compliance" with your standards.
Click to expand...

+1 on all of this. The more people who chime in on their DRM view, the more it looks like adding that category would just be complete chaos. Besides, this page should be standards for devs, not publishers, so it's more important to keep it to things they actually have control over.

Auzner said:
Most new games will include all those things now, eventually it will be a list of all yes. I don't know if that would be called 'following standards'.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily - the case lately seems to be more that console games get ported to pc and more and more PC-game standards are being ignored. If you look at older games, most of the problems we're seeing now were non-existent; but as game devs shift their focus away from PC compatibility, a lot of things are falling through the cracks. Would be really nice if some expected standards like this site has would be included in the QA-testing of all PC game releases.

PrincessFrosty said:
I've also got the search running, if people could test that and let me know if they spot any problems.

The table is very rough and ready at the moment, theres no graphics it will display all the results but I will work on that next week and make it look a bit nicer :)
Click to expand...

Very cool! Can't wait to get in and see what's new. Keep up the great work!
 
Ugh been coding ALL day lol, midnight now and I really must eat!

Anyway the newest updates are:

  • Updated menu image
  • Added table image thanks to bladeiai again
  • Done some basic table formatting but not final yet (run out of time tonight)
  • Added Standards menu item
  • Added Standard page PACKED with information
  • Removed A-Z bar (dont think this will be useful)
 
A nice visual update for y'all, the maint table is now more pretty like before, there is still some alignment issues between IE and FF however, loads of overall tweaks made.

  • Main table header tweaked
  • Header icons added (including links to the standards page)
  • Tick/Cross Icons added
  • Loads of minor tweaks in the CSS to bring IE and FF inline
  • Various things worked on in the admin section
  • Tweaked many things in the standards page

Thanks again to bladeiai for help with graphics

More to come :)
 
I see that you have widescreen as a feature, but how about taking it one step further and adding proper field of view? Like BF2, it has widescreen support but improper field of view.
Also, its a sad thing to add but, how about supporting multiplayer over lan or offline multiplayer?
 
Oh hey its that guy from those lans.

kuyaglen said:
I see that you have widescreen as a feature, but how about taking it one step further and adding proper field of view? Like BF2, it has widescreen support but improper field of view.
Click to expand...

WSGF does it very nicely. It would be redundant I guess to have this site be the same data.
Wide List
Terms
Basically games with Hor+ or Pixel-Based modes have true widescreen.
Then the methods are listed further down which go in order of simplist to most complex.
 
kuyaglen said:
I see that you have widescreen as a feature, but how about taking it one step further and adding proper field of view? Like BF2, it has widescreen support but improper field of view.
Also, its a sad thing to add but, how about supporting multiplayer over lan or offline multiplayer?
Click to expand...

pcgamingstandards essentially does what you're saying. If you head on over to www.pcgamingstandards.com/Standards.aspx you'll find descriptions of the various catagories including widescreen, it lists what criteria is necessary to pass or fail, in the case of widescreen Horz+ is required, that is to say the horizontal FOV needs to increase by the correct proportion to provide a proper Horz+ renderd image.

I can't really apply multiplayer option, almost all games can be played over LAN anyhow. I do recognise that some upcoming games like Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 intend on having no LAN play which is lame but its done for the reason of authenticating users through their online servers. It's a bit of a gray area but It will be carefully considered in future along with many other requests.

Auzner said:
Oh hey its that guy from those lans.

WSGF does it very nicely. It would be redundant I guess to have this site be the same data.
Wide List
Terms
Basically games with Hor+ or Pixel-Based modes have true widescreen.
Then the methods are listed further down which go in order of simplist to most complex.
Click to expand...

I love widescreengamingforum and they do great work, I've already linked to their site several times from the standards page as "extended reading" for the subject of widescreen, screen resolution and aspect ratio.

For the final form of the main database I intend to store links to fixes against any game which suffers problems, for example those which suffer bad widescreen support I will link through to WSGF to patches and user made hacks, or just config edits if necessary.

The same will go for the other catagories where fixes are available, things like AA/AF and Vsync will link to 3rd party apps such as RivaTuner, ATI Tray tools with a description on how to create profiles and enable/disable these things.

*edit*

I've just updated with a few small fixes, mostly on the main table, another graphic was added and the alignment sorted out, i've also added a few graphics to the standards page to flesh it out a little, more to come.
 
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Wow...starting to look good already with the addition of the graphics.
You mentinod testing the search... but I cant find wherever search is...might be a usability issue =P however, I'll assume it was disabled for some testing.

No more key/mouse mapping fields?

Edit: after reading the color post on the previous page...I have to agree that the formatting suggested is pretty spot on for anything I'd want to know about a game. Its almost ALL stuff I google for and read multiple reviews to compile before deciding if I want to buy the game.

In all fairness, visiting this site alone would help, but is far from just answering the "is it worth buying?" part of "I want a new game / that looks like a cool game". I think that maintaining all (most?) of that info SHOULD happen. May I suggest keeping the main page the briefing it is now...but let users click on a game for a single page covering all of that information in a scrollable kind of format? I dont knwo if that makes any sense...but I do have to say - if your site did that I'd be constantly hammering it to evaluate my game buying urges haha.

Keep at it...and again - the graphics look great and I can see that the back end is coming together nicely - kudos!
 
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thisperishedmin said:
Wow...starting to look good already with the addition of the graphics.
You mentinod testing the search... but I cant find wherever search is...might be a usability issue =P however, I'll assume it was disabled for some testing.

No more key/mouse mapping fields?

Edit: after reading the color post on the previous page...I have to agree that the formatting suggested is pretty spot on for anything I'd want to know about a game. Its almost ALL stuff I google for and read multiple reviews to compile before deciding if I want to buy the game.

In all fairness, visiting this site alone would help, but is far from just answering the "is it worth buying?" part of "I want a new game / that looks like a cool game". I think that maintaining all (most?) of that info SHOULD happen. May I suggest keeping the main page the briefing it is now...but let users click on a game for a single page covering all of that information in a scrollable kind of format? I dont knwo if that makes any sense...but I do have to say - if your site did that I'd be constantly hammering it to evaluate my game buying urges haha.

Keep at it...and again - the graphics look great and I can see that the back end is coming together nicely - kudos!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments.

The search should now be just above the main table on the left, if it's missing try a ctrl+F5 to refresh.

I will be adding more fields to the database once the main layout is done, I will review all suggestions in this thread when I do another pass on the database structure and overhaul it in one large upgrade.

The "is it worth buying" idea is really outside the scope of the site, I certainly dont have the time to basically review each game, I can automatically score each game based on how many criteria it meets which is easy enough but doesn't provide the sort of answer you're looking for. For example Bioshock fails a great many of these catagories but otherwise is a really good game (a flawed masterpiece in my opinion)

Maybe I can read off the metascore like steam does, I don't know if their database is open for query for free, I suspect not but I will look into this, a metascore would be nice to have for sure.

Since the data is in a database I certainly can make the game clickable and have the site generate a page which lays out the fields for the game in a more literal way such as:

Game: Bioshock
Version v1.01
Does not support widescreen vert- (click here for a fix)
Supports 4:3 screen resolutions
Supports 5:4 screen resolutions
Supports 16:10 screen resolutions
Does not support 16:9 screen resolutions (No known fix)
Has no option for Vsync (click here for a fix)
Has no option for mouse acceleration (No known fix)
Does not support AA (click here for a fix)
Does not support AF (click here for a fix)
Does allow alt tab to desktop
etc

However this isn't really telling you anything additional about the game it's just presented a little differently, if this is desireable though I can certainly set that up, it's actually pretty easy to do since it's powered from a database.
 
Some more updates done today

  • Built news into the database
  • Enabled front page to display newest 6 news headlines
  • Enabled news page to display all news items including news body
  • Added welcome and news graphics from bladeiai
  • Updated Admin section to allow adding news items
  • Cleaned up remaining CSS into a CSS file rather than inline
  • Added twitter and linkedin links to the front page
  • Various other minor tweaks

I had some CSS style elements in the body which I've now put into a style sheet with the rest of the styles, this means I can apply different styles to the whole site with ease, bladeiai is working on a possible 2nd colour scheme with images to match, so a possible reskin is imminent :)

*edit*

I should also add that there has been a lot of downtime on the site, it's hosted on my home connection right now and I need to VPN into my workplace to get access to the development server where most of the work happens, the VPN kills access to the site, so I've secured a better way of connecting which leaves the site online, so should have 100% uptime now.

I've also just added twitter and linked in links on the front page, you'll soon be able to follow the updates through an RSS feed and maybe twitter if I can get my head around their API.
 
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BladeVenom said:
You could just list what kind of DRM and the restrictions without rating it.
Click to expand...

This would be my suggestion too. "Intrusive DRM" is subjective.

I'd also suggest adding a column for the DRM included in digitally-distributed games, since some boxed games have SecuROM when their Steam counterparts do not.
 
DRM is on the list of things to seriously consider.

I've got RSS feeds up and running today which are powered from the news database, although for some reason in internet explorer it reads the feed fine but when you subscribe you only get the 1 latest news item...is anyone else getting this?

http://www.pcgamingstandards.com

http://www.pcgamingstandards.com/RSS/RSS.aspx

P.S there is a nifty new footer image now :)
 
Done a load more work.

  • Added image for the news page
  • Tweaked news database and code
  • Added a blog section and relevant menu entry
  • Added my first blog post (nothing special :) )
  • Added Blogg image from Bladeiai
  • Overhauled the admin page including the add blog control
  • Added link to bladeiais website on the font page on the right, check his site it's really good

Any comments good or bad on the site would be really appreciated, please try and keep it constructive though ;)

This weekend I plan to tweak the final main database to link through to fixes for all of the catagories, so for example if you search bioshock it will list a cross for widescreen Horz+ because Bioshock uses vert- for widescreen. The plan is for that cross image to hyperlink you to somewhere like the widescreengamingforum to the correct thread/post/article which contains a fix.

Once the main table has that functionality I can start populating it with real data, and you can all apply to be my admins :D
 
The standards page now has section headers, and theres a new proper blog post which some of you might find interesting.
 
so when are you going to hook me up with an admin account and password? = )
 
Wow - new graphics look great! Has a very polished look since the last time I saw it. This is going to look awesome once all the data is filled in and it has all the data fields and lots of games in it.

One thing just occurred to me - not sure how you're going to add the rest of the games into your DB, but it would probably be a good idea to have a user-submission page where people could enter new games and the compatibility info. Also, I personally think the alphabet bar was a good idea; once you have a lot more games in there, people are going to need a way to browse them.
 
Thank you very much, props to bladeiai for the graphics, he's done all of them so far pretty much.

Yeah I kinda liked the alphabet bar aswell but i figured that people could just put the first letter into the search bar to achieve the same thing, I could always bring it back at a later stage.

More updates tonight, the blog section of the website wasn't previously working, I've fixed it now so that the page accepts the blogid and displays the correct blog post based on that, also the index of blogs on the right hand side spit out a link with the correct blogid so essentially it's got the index working as well as allowing me to link to a specific blog post... for example

http://www.pcgamingstandards.com/Blog.aspx?blogid=2 takes you to my first blog post, where as just visiting http://www.pcgamingstandards.com/Blog.aspx with no blogid you'll simply get the latest blog post, and if you try a blogid that doesn't exist, 10000 for example you'll get an error ;)
 
Important update today.

  • Added url input to the admin section
  • Added urls behind each catagory in the main table
  • Completely Validated the front page with W3C standards
  • Added new table icon for a fail but where a fix is available
  • Added a legend above table to explain icons
  • Added "Search..." default text that dissapears when you select the search box
  • Loads of minor changes

Basically you can hover over an option in the database and if theres a known link to a fix such as a post on the widescreengamingforum on how to make a game run in the correct widescreen, then it will become a link and you can just click it and be taken straight to the fix.

I'm going to add some generic information pages about getting things like Vsync, AA and AF working with external tools next, these will be used when a game fail to meet the standards for AA/AF Vsync but theres no game specific fix, any recommendation for tools? I know ATI Tray tools is good for AMD cards, what about Nvidia these days?
 
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Ok I think I'm more or less at the point where I need to start populating the database, I'm probably going to take on several admins to help maintain the database and add games, this would require actually installing the game and working out what criteria it meets or at least doing enough research to work it all out.

If you're willing to help and you know a lot about the technical specifics for widescreen, aspect ratios, FOVs and this sort of thing please email me on princess_frosty@hotmail.com or add me to msn with the same address and let me know, or you can post/pm me on the forums.

Adding games has been made easy with an admin section and all you need to do is type in the name/patch and tick the right boxes, so you dont need to be savvy with databases to help.
 
Some more updates, the contact form now works if you wish to get in touch with suggestions or comments.

The blog page has been updated a few times with whats hopefuly some interesting ideas of mine about the current state of gaming, i've also added a comments section for the blog so you can post feedback/responses.

You can also read a bit about the site and me in the about section.
 
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Wow the site is really looking great. I wouldn't mind helping out with a few games.

I would like to give 1 suggestion about searching games.
I am a big fan of simplicity and quickness. I think it would be great to have a pull down menu of all the games that have been examined. It would probably make things a lot easier to find in my opinion.

Keep up the good work, looking great.
 
Ron FTL said:
Wow the site is really looking great. I wouldn't mind helping out with a few games.

I would like to give 1 suggestion about searching games.
I am a big fan of simplicity and quickness. I think it would be great to have a pull down menu of all the games that have been examined. It would probably make things a lot easier to find in my opinion.

Keep up the good work, looking great.
Click to expand...

You could use an amazon - like approach. It saves all the recent stuff you've viewed. Dunno if it's copyrighted but it's a good idea!
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I was considering alternate methods of searching the database like by first letter search or maybe a dropdown box but wasn't sure if they'd be used when a search is available.

Is anyone having problems with the search tool in that respect? The actual database isn't populated yet, it's just running test data which I will soon kill and start the actual population, so you don't get much from the search right now, pretty much just what you see on the front page.
 
Ok i've knocked the test data on the head and added a few source engine based games which I know off the top of my head pass all the criteria. I will be adding more when I get home tonight.

If anyone can supply all the criteria for a game please let me know the game name, the patch revision you've tested (preferably the latest), what is pass/fail and any any urls to fixes you know of, and I will add it into the database straight away.

If you want to apply to be an admin and can add games reguarly then either use the contact form ont he website, post here or PM me.

Happy gaming!

*edit*

I've just added bioshock and while its 1.1 patch does fix a number of issues it still fails a few tests, these issues do however have fixes so head on over to the site and see how it deals with this by adding in links to documented fixes :)
 
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Just a quick revival to update whats been improved on the website.

  • Forums have just beed added
  • Search was revised to be much better (FullText Indexed)
  • Alphabet bar was added back due to many requests
  • Graphics fix page was added as a generic fix for AA/AF/Vsync
  • Add game button at the bottom of the front page
  • About section first draft done, added contributions list
  • New Logo by Bladeiai
  • Basic stats for the database added on the front page
  • Games Database grown a bit
  • Page titles, meta tags, robots file, sitemap and other technical stuff sorted.
  • Loads of other minor tweaks

Please let me know what you think, any comments good or bad are all welcome, I want to improve the site and your feedback is essential to do that :)
 
A quick bump to say that the site is now on dedicated hosting and I hope that it's much quicker for everyone :)

There might be a few bugs, I was up until 1:30am smoothing it all out last night, so I hope I didn't miss anything but you never know, let me know if you spot any errors or have any other suggestions.

I feel the site is reaching a point where I can really push it out to a wider audience now, so far I've only been giving out details to a select few forums. So if anyone wants to pass on the word in any way they can that would be appreciated.
 
PrincessFrosty said:
I like your thinking, I actually considered a bloatware catagory which would cover GFWL and things like Rockstar Social Club. I also considered intrusive DRM. Both these things are good the only reason they didn't go in initially was because I wasn't sure if they really came under the title of standards.

I do believe strongly that they should be enforced though, so I will probably add them, the only problem after that is where do we draw the lines with intrusive DRM, most of us are OK with CD keys but beyond that?
Click to expand...
Thing a game like Diablo2, cdkey check, disc in drive check. These should maybe be mentioned, but negative. Years down the road, I can pull that game off the shelf even if Blizzard's servers have gone dark, install, and play singleplayer offline mode.

Half-Life2
No, requires Valve to have active servers to decrypt executable, and authenticate.

Same with Bioshock, and other games. Unacceptable.

If it installs some sort of rootkit, or background third-party-ware. Another negative.
 
Menelmarar said:
Thing a game like Diablo2, cdkey check, disc in drive check. These should maybe be mentioned, but negative. Years down the road, I can pull that game off the shelf even if Blizzard's servers have gone dark, install, and play singleplayer offline mode.

Half-Life2
No, requires Valve to have active servers to decrypt executable, and authenticate.

Same with Bioshock, and other games. Unacceptable.

If it installs some sort of rootkit, or background third-party-ware. Another negative.
Click to expand...

Id just add a column for securom and starforce and any of the other rootkits. Other than that its gonna be stuff that comes with the territory. When you download steam EA downloadmanager or things like that you know what youre getting into. I remember the first time I installed a game that used starforce I didnt even know it was doing it. It was pretty sneaky as I recall.
 
Just FYI, DRM is being considered as possible being just listed as a trait, much like the patch, but also maybe be graded on. The last thing I'll be making changes to is the database though, it's too much work this early on.

More to come though, I have loads of good ideas in the works and all your suggestions are what drive me to make changes so keep them coming :)
 
Looks pretty cool, I would like to see a Listing for games that support 3 monitor gaming.
 
Just some quick updates from the last week or so.

  • Forums have been styled and registration fixed
  • News items on the front page now link directly to the right news item
  • The news page itself has had an overhaul and has an index made for easier browsing
  • New blog post, if you have a spare minute a comment wouldn't go astray
  • Loads of minor tweaks, some differences between FF and IE solved
  • Some games added, some tweaked for corrections and updates

The more important news is that the site even though it's very young is drawing some attention from other members of the gaming community, as well as increased traffic in general I've also featured on NVnews and Rage3d news sections.

I've also had feedback directly from a game developer which I didn't think would happen for at least 6 months or so, this proves the site can be a force for good, I've also had EVGA follow my twitter account which is interesting.

I really feel like the ball is really starting to get rolling, thank again everyone who has given feedback, added games, sent in corrections and suggestions for the site :)
 
A very quick update, the site had its first recorded live visit on August the 4th which means it's now 2 months old today, I've been keeping an eye on my stats and this morning it's broken the 10,000 views milestone I set for myself. Thanks for everyone who has taken the time to visit and give me feedback and suggestions for the website, I read them all and have a big update in the works to bring you some of the most requested features.

Big thanks to anyone who took time out of their day to research a game and submit the details, remember to add your name in the submit form to be added to the contributors list on the about page, thank you!
 
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