The developer's quote seems pretty straight forward or are you reading between the lines? I agree about the "nitpicking if it runs fine" but it seems quite obvious they would rather have us throw more horsepower $$ at it than do extra work on their end sometimes. That isn't right no matter how you try and spin it.
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Ubisoft justifies its crummy PC port of Asassins Creed 4!
- Thread starter murkris118
- Start date
The developer's quote seems pretty straight forward or are you reading between the lines? I agree about the "nitpicking if it runs fine" but it seems quite obvious they would rather have us throw more horsepower $$ at it than do extra work on their end sometimes. That isn't right no matter how you try and spin it.
StoleMyOwnCar
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I don't even know how much more horsepower I could throw at it, I said in the post before my last one: I have 780GTX's in SLI. The game is refusing to use more than 50% of them. Yeah, totally not developers being lazy or anything. Nope.
octoberasian
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This, pretty much.
With these broken releases, it is almost as if game developers are purposing sabotaging PC releases to push people into getting the console versions of their games. Sure, they're paying licensing fees to Microsoft and Sony. Sure. they've spent millions of dollars on developing their game. But, where is all that money and effort going to? Polishing a console game over a PC game? Neglecting polishing a PC release and fixing a console game as priority?
It's utterly outlandish that developers would not even bother either making a polished PC game or releasing a working game at launch. Look at Battlefield 4 and the constant problems with it on the PC. The XONE and PS4 versions? Well, XONE isn't out yet but I have yet to hear complaints about the PS4 versions at this time.
What gives? Literally, what the fuck is up with these developers?
A lot of the reasons for piracy is to circumvent suffocating and restricting DRM. Other reasons are financial if a person can't afford the game. Looks like nowadays one of the newer reasons to pop up is that PC gamers aren't going to spend money on a game because a game developer released a shoddy game not worth spending any money on.
"Either release a polished game at launch or fix it right away, or we'll pirate it" kind of attitude.
Yeah, I understand their reasoning. I have yet to buy a AAA title from a major game developer in the past year or two, and have been getting smaller games from smaller indie devs from Steam and Desura over the last couple years. These indie devs to me seem more deserving of my money than a game from EA (Sim City 2013) or Ubisoft (AC4). I'm not even sure I'll get the next Mass Effect 4 game seeing how Ubisoft handled ME3. I didn't even bother getting Sim City 2013 because it deviated so much from Sim City 4, and made logging in a requirement, that and city regions are so much smaller and there's no modding allowed.
This isn't simply "PC master race" mentality here. We're spending $50 to $100 (or more) on PC games, more if you include DLCs and collector editions. As PC gamers, we expect some level of polish at release and expect smaller fixes in the coming months. Nowadays, we get broken releases and major fixes weeks or months after release. And, console versions of the same games are more often than not-- with the exception of CoD Ghosts on XONE/PS4-- seem more stable and more polished at release.
It is almost as if game developers are sabotaging PC games and purposely killing off PC gaming in totality.
If I were to spend $49.95 on a PC game, I expect it to work at least 90% of the time and have small patches released later down the line after release. Nowadays, it feels like these PC games only work 75% of the time while their console versions work 90% or 95% of the time. It's really unfair to PC gamers, and we expect to get the money we paid for a game to be worth it and not wasting our time trying to get it to work.
I haven't pirated a game for over a decade now; I joined Steam over a decade ago and haven't pirated a game since. It just got frustrating trying to keep up with updated keygens and hacked EXE files and patches to make the game work. And, there was always the risk of getting a virus at the same time with those hacks. Then, games started requiring people to log on to play a single player game or even multiplayer. And, games started to ask for online activation even with that fiasco about one game not activating itself after more than 2 or 3 PCs. It's fucking. Stupid. And, I will not apologize for that comment.
I want to play a PC game without the bullshit, without the problems, without the restrictions. It's so much more different than gaming on the PC back in the 90s where all we needed was a CD in the disc drive for the game to run and play over a LAN. Hell, we no longer have many multiplayer games with LAN-only capability. We have to log on, go to a server, connect, and pray we see each other in the same server.
These developers are treating PC gamers like pieces of meat they can con and solicit money out of. Look at how many DLCs there are for many of the PC games. It's as if they don't want to release expansions anymore but rather nickle-and-dime us for every cent we have. If you don't buy Borderlands 2 Ultimate Edition, we'd have to spend $100-plus on all DLCs plus the game to get everything. And, even worse, is that they release these "editions" long after they've made money and nickle-and-diming gamers off the DLCs for a year or more. Again, it's fucking. STUPID.
And, you say we shouldn't pirate these games, but these developers are practically encouraging piracy with these practices and shoddy game development and releases. Yeah, they're making $40K, $50K or more a year making these games and charging us $50 to $100 or more on the game, but where is all that money going to? Game development and polished releases? Or, hype and marketing?
Like I've said in another [H] post a few months ago: Give me a game that is worth spending my hard earned money on.
Don't waste my time with a broken game, simple as that. Either delay the game, eat your losses and release a polished working game later if they expect PC gamers to buy their games.
What is wrong with that? Either care about your customers more than your profits and executive bonus pays, or don't release broken games at all. Simple as that.
styckx
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Time to abandon this thread. It's obvious some just like to hear themselves talk about `evil Ubisoft' and can't see past that at all. I've listened to the "IT RUNS LIKE CRAP" argument. I've even went and disabled SLI to bring myself down a level. I still yet to see what all the rage quitting over the game is. It runs fine. Anyway. I'm out.. I refuse to feed the derp any more than I have. Thank god it's the minority and not the majority.
KickAssCop
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What were you able to do?
Cr4ckm0nk3y
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Its obvious OP doesn't own the game and is just trying to start a DEV bashing thread. Typical X developer sucks and are doody heads because the game doesn't get 300FPS on a 660. Don't get me wrong, most devs have done some shitty things, but this thread is BS. You want to bash a dev start one on Overkill about PayDay 2. That is a prime example of a dev getting lazy.
AC4 so far has been great. Beautiful visuals and so far really fun game play. Like GTA with pirates.
Runs at 50-60fps, except for heavy naval battles, with FXAA and max settings at 1440p. IMO that is a well optimized game compared to 30 FPS with lower graphic settings the consoles get.
Do I expect some tweaking with newer drivers/updates, yes, but saying the game is poorly optimized is BS.
OP what makes a great optimized game? 120FPS on a mid-range card? Play the game on max settings and actually see 1st hand why FPS are where they are.
AC4 so far has been great. Beautiful visuals and so far really fun game play. Like GTA with pirates.
Runs at 50-60fps, except for heavy naval battles, with FXAA and max settings at 1440p. IMO that is a well optimized game compared to 30 FPS with lower graphic settings the consoles get.
Do I expect some tweaking with newer drivers/updates, yes, but saying the game is poorly optimized is BS.
OP what makes a great optimized game? 120FPS on a mid-range card? Play the game on max settings and actually see 1st hand why FPS are where they are.
StoleMyOwnCar
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Please teach me your secrets. I have two of your cards and can't them to go over 50% usage in SLI, while I'm lagging around with heavier AA on.
My point was more an overall point than about a specific game. I just have an issue with developer's taking that kind of attitude towards pc ports, and lets face it Ubisoft has a history of things like this. But good for them if AC4 runs great, hopefully they are learning.
KickAssCop
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While you guys keep fighting the developers and posting troll posts, I am absolutely loving Ass Creed 4. It may very well be the best Ass Creed game 
.
9/10.
.9/10.
While you guys keep fighting the developers and posting troll posts, I am absolutely loving Ass Creed 4. It may very well be the best Ass Creed game
9/10.
Agreed, this thread is a hilarious developer bash by people who don't even own the game. And then they suggest piracy is okay.
The game seriously runs fine without TXAA. I don't know about AMD and their sketchy drivers, it may be mostly an AMD issue. Wouldn't be the first or last time that happened eh?I have to stress, TXAA takes a big performance toll in AC4. Don't use it. But it runs fine. For the nvidia side, that is.
Killa|3yte
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You've taken his quote entirely out of context. All he said was that PCs are essentially a moving target in terms of processing power whereas consoles represent a fixed point.
KickAssCop
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I went back and forth and settled at MSAA 8x. Game is absolutely gorgeous and runs like a champ (60 fps constant).Agreed, this thread is a hilarious developer bash by people who don't even own the game. And then they suggest piracy is okay.
I have to stress, TXAA takes a big performance toll in AC4. Don't use it. But it runs fine. For the nvidia side, that is.
I don't think I did. The game looks and plays great (which is what KAC stated), so I have no fucking idea why people are trolling in this thread about piracy and how much ubisoft "sucks". I also stay pegged at 60 fps throughout the game thus far - I haven't completed the game yet (FAR from it) but so far it seems to be great and the best AC since brotherhood (which was my previous favorite AC game.)
Killa|3yte
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I wasn't talking to you. I was referring to the OP.
This is the quote that spawned this thread:
"It's always a question of compromise about the effect, how it looks, and the performance it takes from the system. On PC, usually you don't really care about the performance, because the idea is that if it's not [running] fast enough, you buy a bigger GPU. Once you get on console, you can't have this approach."
I don't read that as "We don't care about optimization". I read that as "We can put features in our PC version that are very expensive in terms of performance because people with the fastest GPUs will have the muscle it takes to use these features."
Probably it looks like the only Assassin's creed that optimized well for the PC. Also the fact that it's, "the way it's meant to be played title", it runs much better on NVidia hardware at the release.
Once AMD supports the game with a driver release, things should be fine on AMD side too.
Once AMD supports the game with a driver release, things should be fine on AMD side too.
Ah, I see. Yeah i'm with you on that one - funny how people take bits and pieces of quotations and take them entirely out of context. What he stated makes sense given the hardware available to the PC.
Prior to AC3 none of the AC games were super demanding but graphically they were pretty good at their times of release - and you could add things like SGSSAA to sweeten them up a bit. I gotta say that AC: brotherhood looks pretty darn great with 2X MSAA + SGSSAA, even though it doesn't have the latest and greatest DX11 features. Aside from that, I think AC2 and AC: Brotherhood are amazing games. Revelations and AC3 were "more of the same", really, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing if you're a fan of the series.
In the end I don't see why people moan and groan about Ubisoft so much - I really have enjoyed most of their games and uplay has never give me any issues whatsoever.
StoleMyOwnCar
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I'd still love, then, for someone to explain to me why my cards are stuck at 50% utilization while I'm lagging around. Thus far, no one defending Ubisoft for some god unknown reason has done so.
Obvious stuff like newest driver release? Does it really need SLI? If you're capped at 60 fps, the GPU won't use more power than they need. Also, TXAA has performance anomalies. If you're using it, don't. If you're using any override settings in the control panel, use application preference. All I know is the game runs great at 60 fps for me......but do not use TXAA. Any type of override SGSSAA will tank performance as well.
Speaking of TXAA, I like the concept behind TXAA but the every game i've played using it had large and severe performance hits for doing so - I tried it in The secret world and the performance hit made it unusable. It's also extremely blurry, I can't say i'm a huge fan of it, although it definitely does make things look better "in motion". The one game that worked well with it was Black Ops 2, but of course BO2 is using the Quake 3 engine and runs at like 500 fps....
So don't use TXAA in AC4. I really feel like that could be your issue if you're experiencing performance anomalies in AC4. I'm nearly sure of it because TXAA doesn't work with SLI if i'm not mistaken, I remember reading a technical article about that from Timothy Lottes? I think? A long time ago.
Speaking of TXAA, I like the concept behind TXAA but the every game i've played using it had large and severe performance hits for doing so - I tried it in The secret world and the performance hit made it unusable. It's also extremely blurry, I can't say i'm a huge fan of it, although it definitely does make things look better "in motion". The one game that worked well with it was Black Ops 2, but of course BO2 is using the Quake 3 engine and runs at like 500 fps....
So don't use TXAA in AC4.
I really feel like that could be your issue if you're experiencing performance anomalies in AC4. I'm nearly sure of it because TXAA doesn't work with SLI if i'm not mistaken, I remember reading a technical article about that from Timothy Lottes? I think? A long time ago.
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This game has a really bad CPU bottleneck for me, I'm on a core2quad q9450 OC'd to 3.2ghz. I cannot get much more than 30-40fps on any graphics setting (even running at 720p), I can pretty much max out the game and still get around 30fps, it's almost silly.
My GPU is a GTX 760 btw.
My GPU is a GTX 760 btw.
StoleMyOwnCar
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Obvious stuff like newest driver release? Does it really need SLI? If you're capped at 60 fps, the GPU won't use more power than they need. Also, TXAA has performance anomalies. If you're using it, don't. If you're using any override settings in the control panel, use application preference. All I know is the game runs great at 60 fps for me......but do not use TXAA. Any type of override SGSSAA will tank performance as well.
Speaking of TXAA, I like the concept behind TXAA but the every game i've played using it had large and severe performance hits for doing so - I tried it in The secret world and the performance hit made it unusable. It's also extremely blurry, I can't say i'm a huge fan of it, although it definitely does make things look better "in motion". The one game that worked well with it was Black Ops 2, but of course BO2 is using the Quake 3 engine and runs at like 500 fps....
So don't use TXAA in AC4.
Obviously haven't actually read any of my earlier posts, have you? I'm on the newest Nvidia drivers and I've tried various AA's. I had to go down to like SMAA to get just over 50 FPS. I'm getting constant lag everywhere but HW monitor shows my graphics cards sitting ~50% per card.... while I'm lagging around. I'm playing at 1440p.
Something up with your rig dude. I'm running the same CPU at the same clock with 680's in SLI (so I've got a good chunk less grunt than you) at 1440p and I've got 100% usage and 60ish frames using SMAA and dropping down the shadows a bit.
You sure the SLI profile is kicking in correctly? Try nuking your current driver install and going in clean.
Tsumi
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Don't worry about that. Media outlets and politicians do this all the time.
Well they fixed something with their patch today, getting 45-50fps now, yay.
seanclayton
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This is why Rockstars gives middle finger to PC gamers. By boycotting you mean pirating it.
MavericK
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Didn't miss it, but whether or not the quote was taken out of context, doesn't mean shit, for exactly the reasons Dan_D pointed out earlier in the thread. 99.9% of developers these days don't give a shit about PC development, and it shows...shitty, buggy releases with barely any support afterwards.
It's actually fairly ironic because even though what that Ubisoft guy said was taken out of context, it is clear that is how they feel in reality.
It's actually fairly ironic because even though what that Ubisoft guy said was taken out of context, it is clear that is how they feel in reality.
HOODedDutchman
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Uplay is a piece of crap and so is origin. Y cant they just let steam take care of things. Theyve been doing it right for so long. Im sure ea has had to take on a couple hundred people for customer support since origin came out. Thats gotta cover steams cut lol. Ubisoft putting barely any effort into ports and im sure significantly less sales on pc compared to consoles I dont see the reasoning to put the effort into uplay.
It's not a PC only thing. Game technical quality has dropped across the board this console generation. Patching being possible on consoles has been a massive double-edged sword. On the other hand, I would argue that more developers care about the PC to some degree or another. We're a big enough money to support with games but not enough to be worth the effort to make everything PC specific. Ubi ports are generally decent enough. Personally I have zero problems with AC4, so far. We'll see if that changes later. I really don't look at games like AC4 being bad ports because of some performance issues. Dark Souls was a shitty port, RE4 was a shitty port, DMC3 was a shitty port, and so on.
With the new consoles being x86 based I wonder if anything will change as far as port quality goes.
While I prefer Steam I wouldn't want a world where Valve has a monopoly on how we buy game.
the only thing c'rummy' about the PC port is that the game didn't ship with PhysX support...a future patch will add PhysX and other graphical enhancements...other then that AC4 is a port done the right way...may not be a huge technological jump from AC3 but it might be the best AC game yet
cannondale06
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and why are you thinking they will add physx? the game engine used does not even support it and not one single mention of physx anywhere about this game. it shipped with all the graphical features already so again not sure where you are getting any of that from either.
you're wrong...the game 100% uses PhysX and will be added with a future patch (confirmed by both Nvidia and Ubisoft)...they will also be adding in other graphics enhancements...
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/assassins-creed-iv-black-flag-graphics-and-performance-guide
cannondale06
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yeah I guess I was wrong as I had heard nothing about the upcoming enhancements and I had just looked at that page too. my bad
bigbeard86
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the game is bugged. with vsync on, I get 40fps. with it off, I get 60, locked. I don't know what is going on.