Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Armenius said:
The patch added Atmos to the PC version. It was in the Xbox version since release. You need the Atmos app from the Windows store for it to work, as far as I'm aware.
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Interesting. I'll have to give it a try. That Windows app for Atmos is strange because it basically "fakes" Atmos for all of your PC audio. It seems neat on the surface, but every time you swap audio sources it takes a second or two to actually play anything. As a result, I don't ever use it.
When my PC actually encounters something that was encoded with Atmos (disks, video files, or Netflix) it plays normally without actually having to have that app. It'll be interesting to see if Shadow works like that.
 
Domingo said:
Interesting. I'll have to give it a try. That Windows app for Atmos is strange because it basically "fakes" Atmos for all of your PC audio. It seems neat on the surface, but every time you swap audio sources it takes a second or two to actually play anything. As a result, I don't ever use it.
When my PC actually encounters something that was encoded with Atmos (disks, video files, or Netflix) it plays normally without actually having to have that app. It'll be interesting to see if Shadow works like that.
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Ah, I didn't know that Windows 10 supported Atmos yet without an additional software layer to it. If that's the case then the app must just be for decoding the audio before it gets pushed to the output device for speakers or headphones that can't decode it at the hardware level.
 
Interesting. So now the newest patch straight up breaks the game in DX12 mode for many (all?) RTX 2080 owners. It'll freeze at the menu screen unless you either totally disable shadows (which looks god-awful) or play in DX11 mode. DX11 mode is not only about 20% slower, it also disables HDR.

On the plus side, Atmos seems to work. You DO have to have the Windows 10 Dolby Access app and you do have to enable it within the app this time. In addition to the height channels and functionality, it seems to simply have more surround effects than playing in normal 5.1/7.1. Atmos no longer seems to have a massive delay between sources, too. I don't think it silent streams, but it's at least really quick to respond now. It's a worthwhile addition, although (like HDR) I wish it was enabled by the game itself instead of requiring a toggle within the OS. Between that and all of the crashes, this game is a pain in the ass for something that's basically been a really long tech demo.
 
Makes me angry that they took this long to get Atmos in - I have Atmos for PC (Works great with some nice headphones for surround), but already played through the game.
 
And as a big fuck you to people that supported the game at launch, the game is heavily discounted just 4 weeks after launching. You would think they would have the decency to at least fix the goddamn game first so people that paid full price could complete the game without massive bugs. But hey lets give new players 47% off the Croft edition instead of doing that first.
 
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That's why you don't buy early or pre-order. People never learn. But my self I'm cheap so I wait for the day it hits $20.00!!
 
If you have the flickering issue you can work around it by going into the Steam properties for the game, going into the betas tab, and selecting the build 234. I read that it should revert the game to pre-10/16 patch but I don't know if that is the case. I'm getting another problem I've not had with the game and that is the inability to hear the Mural, document, or relic descriptions. Every time I collect something I press the 'back' button to get the details and the game just goes into the map screen. It's not a timing thing either since I've been going collecting crazy and only just starting having this problem when I did that beta build workaround. Not a deal breaker like the damn flickering so I'm good for now.
 
misterbobby said:
And as a big fuck you to people that supported the game at launch, the game is heavily discounted just 4 weeks after launching. You would think they would have the decency to at least fix the goddamn game first so people that paid full price could complete the game without massive bugs. But hey lets give new players 47% off the Croft edition instead of doing that first.
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How does a discount preclude the team working on updates and fixes? So far patches have been coming fast and furious over the past few weeks, with each patch fixing a dozen or more bugs according to the patch notes. Complaining about the state of the game would be warranted if they rushed out the RTX patch before doing fixes, in my opinion, but that hasn't happened. Compared to other developers out there I think CD and Nixxes should be commended for their dedication. Square Enix has a habit of pushing out games before they're ready like other big publishers.

A discount like this early in the game is to lure in people who were on the fence. People like me were going to buy the game regardless, and I do not get salty when there is a discount just a month after release.
 
There are definitely games with worse issues at launch, but this one seems especially problematic. I guess the patch from Tuesday broke the audio for a lot of people. Unlike the 2080 threads it seems like Nixxes is actually confirming the issue and paying pretty close attention to those threads.

As dumb as this once sounded, I wish more developers were like Ubisoft. Ever since the fiasco with Assassin's Creed Unity they've released PC games that are incredibly polished on day 1. I guess sometimes it takes a worst case scenario to light some fires under the appropriate asses.
 
Armenius said:
How does a discount preclude the team working on updates and fixes? So far patches have been coming fast and furious over the past few weeks, with each patch fixing a dozen or more bugs according to the patch notes. Complaining about the state of the game would be warranted if they rushed out the RTX patch before doing fixes, in my opinion, but that hasn't happened. Compared to other developers out there I think CD and Nixxes should be commended for their dedication. Square Enix has a habit of pushing out games before they're ready like other big publishers.

A discount like this early in the game is to lure in people who were on the fence. People like me were going to buy the game regardless, and I do not get salty when there is a discount just a month after release.
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Apparently you missed the point which is they should fix the God damn game so people that paid full price for it could actually play it without any major bugs before giving new players a nearly 50% discount. And just four weeks after release for a AAA game to be on sale for 50% off is pretty much unheard of. So yes it is a big fuck you to those that supported the game at launch and can't even play it due to the bugs and issues.
 
misterbobby said:
Apparently you missed the point which is they should fix the God damn game so people that paid full price for it could actually play it without any major bugs before giving new players a nearly 50% discount. And just four weeks after release for a AAA game to be on sale for 50% off is pretty much unheard of. So yes it is a big fuck you to those that supported the game at launch and can't even play it due to the bugs and issues.
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Eh, it's not a fuck you because nobody forced you to buy it at the "higher price." Having that stance is an entitled stance. That's just the cost of being an early adopter. I paid $46 for my copy due to GMG sales. I didn't buy any of the DLC stuff or Season Pass. Still haven't.

Yes, the game is buggy and, yes, they should fix it. However, I wouldn't consider it unplayable. It isn't Batman bad. It's just annoyances that will be taken care of.

I remember quite a few games get massive discounts with a month or two. Especially for smart shoppers. I miss the days of Game Codes in GPU sales. I use to get "AAA" titles for $20.
 
Actually I didn't pay full price either but plenty of people did to support the Developers. I just think it's very disrespectful to have a massive 50% discount on a game only four weeks after launch when the game is not even fully functional yet.
 
Damn, I knew 100% wouldn't be so easy. I've only got two unknown challenges (one in the Cenote area and one in Paititi), two documents (Paititi) and one relic (Paiti) away from 100%. None of what remains appears on the map. I'm just before the final mission and I need to get those knocked out but I don't want to have to run around for hours just to find them, lol.

Similar thing happened to me in Rise of the Tomb Raider and I gave up at around 98%.
 
misterbobby said:
Actually I didn't pay full price either but plenty of people did to support the Developers. I just think it's very disrespectful to have a massive 50% discount on a game only four weeks after launch when the game is not even fully functional yet.
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Fully functional? Of course it is. I completed it last week. It has a few bugs, sure...but nothing that makes it "unplayable." It obviously is getting supported and will work itself out. Again, this isn't Batman Arkham Knight or anything. Hell, I wouldn't even put this at the level of a Bethesda release.
 
twonunpackmule said:
Fully functional? Of course it is. I completed it last week. It has a few bugs, sure...but nothing that makes it "unplayable." It obviously is getting supported and will work itself out. Again, this isn't Batman Arkham Knight or anything. Hell, I wouldn't even put this at the level of a Bethesda release.
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The goddamn game is essentially broken right now for many people including myself. There is non-stop audio static and crazy amounts of flickering caused mainly by the last patch. They are aware of the issues but it seems like every patch breaks just as much stuff as it fixes.
 
misterbobby said:
The goddamn game is essentially broken right now for many people including myself. There is non-stop audio static and crazy amounts of flickering caused mainly by the last patch. They are aware of the issues but it seems like every patch breaks just as much stuff as it fixes.
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It's not ideal but posted a few posts up a method to revert the most recent patch that introduced those issues. You don't need to wait for them to release a fix patch. Hate the developer for breaking the game but you can fix it yourself for now.

I couldn't get passed the nasty flickering and enabling BTAO seemed too cheap a work around. I'm just about at the end of the game now and other than needing to revert the patch myself (which took all of 5 or so mouse clicks and about 30 seconds of time) the game has been fine.
 
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Rolling back still doesn't fix the constant crashing that occurs with RTX cards. I'm starting to think the AI and Ray Tracing patch might be the first time they even recognize people are using those cards. The Nixxes team avoids those crashing threads like the plague.
 
Sonicks said:
It's not ideal but posted a few posts up a method to revert the most recent patch that introduced those issues. You don't need to wait for them to release a fix patch. Hate the developer for breaking the game but you can fix it yourself for now.

I couldn't get passed the nasty flickering and enabling BTAO seemed too cheap a work around. I'm just about at the end of the game now and other than needing to revert the patch myself (which took all of 5 or so mouse clicks and about 30 seconds of time) the game has been fine.
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None of it is ideal...but I'm not angry about it because they didn't abandon the game. This isn't like WB and having to lock down sales and issue refunds.

I did notice upon reinstall that my Xbox One controller is no longer recognized. Even if I roll back the version. If you click the Steam Controller toggle it works again. So, that's odd.
 
New hotfix patch rolled out yesterday. It fixed the RTX2080 issues...or at the very least it fixed the instant crash to desktop from the main menu. I haven't gotten any other crashes, but I've only played for an hour.

On the other hand, it removed Atmos support. Tons of people were having issues with the sound after they added it, so I'm not shocked. I'd rather have functional normal audio (which supports up to 7.1 anyway) than a buggy implementation of Atmos.
 
Finally managed to finish the game. I really wanted to 100% every area before starting the last mission and I finally got it.

All in all I really enjoyed the game. I mean what else can I say. It wasn't quite Rise of the Tomb Raider but it was right up there in terms of story, game play and cinematic quality. What's not to like! Great series of games.
 
Yeah, I enjoyed it overall. I was fine with the price I paid ($48), and didn't have any technical issues while I played. I do wish full Atmos support was in, but other than that I was pleased with my purchase.
 
I bought the game on its initial sale, I have 15 hours on the 416.16 NVIDIA drivers with no issues, I even have a 316MHz RAM OC on my Gigabyte GTX1080. Game is running great. I'm also using Tobii eye tracker and I like the eye tracker implementation.
 
I can still reproduce the only consistent crash I know of. There's a diving spot right after the spinning gate puzzle in Kuwak Yaku that seems to crash every time I dive after quick-traveling there.
Sure enough, it still did even with the new driver.
Some discussions in the Steam forums point to the RTX cards being the culprit while others say it relates to HDR and/or gamepads. I do think it's the game's fault more than the driver, though. I dunno. I feel the new driver is better, which still isn't bad. The driver notes do say improved stability (not "fixes crash with...") after all :p
 
Finally got a few free days to play this game and am at the 80% mark. I think I'm willing to say this is the best looking game ever. At the same time, as a game there's almost nothing to it.
It's a jumping puzzle game where you're also collecting stuff you don't need. There's almost no combat at all and the few times you do encounter it, you're usually stuck using a canned weapon (or no weapon) that invalidates all of the upgrades you have. There's literally no point to having like 12 guns and a dozen clothing upgrades.
I'm definitely going to see it through (it is a stunning game and the presentation is nice), but it's easily the worst of the 3 "modern" Tomb Raider games.

FWIW, I'm also still seeing the occasional crash - but they're few and far between and they don't seem to pile up. Before if I got one crash, I might as well reboot because they'd keep coming. Out of 2 solid days of play I only got 3 crashes. All 3 were in water sequences after either a recent dive or fall into water.
 
Completed the game last night. Was at 98% and I simply don't feel like trekking around to grab the random survival caches and whatnot still laying around. I did all the plot quests, monoliths, treasure chests, etc. and I got most of the guns upgraded all the way...for no reason.
The end-game stuff is actually pretty good, although the final boss is as un-creative and lousy as they come.
I kinda wonder if a core "A" team created the opening and final sequences while a "B" team made everything in-between. The first 45 minutes made me think the game was a GOTY candidate and the final areas were just as polished and well paced. The middle was just plain dull.
 
Domingo said:
The first 45 minutes made me think the game was a GOTY candidate and the final areas were just as polished and well paced. The middle was just plain dull.
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Yes, mid game was super dull, rise of the tomb raider was interesting all the way. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I can't emphasize enough how this is the worst installment in the series yet. Still I wish they continue, I'm curious what experienced lara will be like if this is her as a rookie.
 
M76 said:
Yes, mid game was super dull, rise of the tomb raider was interesting all the way. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I can't emphasize enough how this is the worst installment in the series yet. Still I wish they continue, I'm curious what experienced lara will be like if this is her as a rookie.
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Yeah, I'd say this was easily the worst of the trilogy. There's just no content. It's a massive empty game of collecting pointless items and jumping puzzles. There are certainly worse games, but I really, really liked TR and Rise.
I think a more grizzled version of Lara in her 30's might be good for the next one. They haven't really gone that route much. A colder, more calculating version who isn't afraid to take it to Trinity instead of randomly running into them at every turn.
 
They added Atmos back in for this patch. No clue about RTX crashes or raytracing, though. Since the Windows 1809 patch re-rolled out there's at least no logistical reason to hold it back.

EDIT: Looks like Battlefield rolled out RTX support, so there is a precedent.
 
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This game is probably worth $20. If nothing else, just for the graphics and some of the puzzles.
Based on the sales numbers for this game, I bet there's a Steam sale that bundles all 3 of the new'ish Tomb Raider games together for like $50.
 
Shadow is a good game but my desire to replay it is not as strong as the first 2...I can't put my finger on why but I think it has to do with the jungle setting which is not as easy to navigate and accessible as the previous games
 
polonyc2 said:
Shadow is a good game but my desire to replay it is not as strong as the first 2...I can't put my finger on why but I think it has to do with the jungle setting which is not as easy to navigate and accessible as the previous games
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It is not the jungle setting. The first game was in a similar setting, plus this one works in the first few hours as well.
 
polonyc2 said:
Shadow is a good game but my desire to replay it is not as strong as the first 2...I can't put my finger on why but I think it has to do with the jungle setting which is not as easy to navigate and accessible as the previous games
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It's probably because there are so damn many collectibles you're just overwhelmed. Luckily they're mostly pointless.
The advice I'd give to anyone playing this game is to skip anything you don't feel like doing. Do the plot missions and the tombs, but skip anything that feels tedious because I can assure you that it won't matter. It's all gear-related and there's so little combat that it barely even comes into play. With the skill tree, choose the stuff that lets you swim longer, climb faster, etc. The only combat powers that matter are the stealth kill ones. That's mainly because the games forces you to use them at least twice.
 
Domingo said:
It's probably because there are so damn many collectibles you're just overwhelmed. Luckily they're mostly pointless.
The advice I'd give to anyone playing this game is to skip anything you don't feel like doing. Do the plot missions and the tombs, but skip anything that feels tedious because I can assure you that it won't matter. It's all gear-related and there's so little combat that it barely even comes into play. With the skill tree, choose the stuff that lets you swim longer, climb faster, etc. The only combat powers that matter are the stealth kill ones. That's mainly because the games forces you to use them at least twice.
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Did you play Rise of the Tomb Raider? This game literally took every page out of the playbook of the last game in every regard you mentioned. When it comes to Crypts, Challenge Tombs, collectibles, and even skills, this game didn't deviate from the previous formula at all.

The only difference with Shadow is that the story and setting weren't ever fully utilized to be as engaging and interesting as the story and setting in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Rise just felt tighter when it came to it's main story but rest assured it had just as many 'useless' collectibles and 'tedious' challenge tombs.

In all actuality, the collectibles in Shadow, like in the previous game, do flesh out the lore surrounding the main story of the game. You can do without them for sure but they do add something to the game, however small it is.
 
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Domingo said:
It's probably because there are so damn many collectibles you're just overwhelmed. Luckily they're mostly pointless.
The advice I'd give to anyone playing this game is to skip anything you don't feel like doing. Do the plot missions and the tombs, but skip anything that feels tedious because I can assure you that it won't matter. It's all gear-related and there's so little combat that it barely even comes into play. With the skill tree, choose the stuff that lets you swim longer, climb faster, etc. The only combat powers that matter are the stealth kill ones. That's mainly because the games forces you to use them at least twice.
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I've gotten 100% completion in both previous games so the collectable aspect never bothered me because the world was so much fun to explore and re-explore...but with Shadow the world isn't as fun to explore...I also had a bug (which was later patched) where it wouldn't give me credit for collecting one of the Artifacts preventing me from getting to 100%...the best parts of Shadow are the optional tombs, the Paititi hub world and the graphics
 
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