From Dust's PC Port is Problematic

[Marshall Honorof]

From Dust's PC Port is Problematic

Ubisoft's PC port of From Dust arrives with gameplay issues and different DRM than promised.
PC owners can finally play From Dust, but it may not be quite what they expected. The popular simulation game, already available on the XBLA and the PSN, made its way to the PC today. However, the game suffers from massive frame-rate issues, game-crippling bugs, and a totally different kind of DRM than initially promised.
According to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, the port limits From Dust to 30 frames per second, making the game choppy on higher-end systems. Graphical options are few and far-between; anti-aliasing appears to be missing, and higher resolutions do not function in windowed mode. Some users have also reported a bug that prevents the game's menu from loading up.
The game's DRM scheme is also a departure from Ubisoft's original plan. While Ubisoft originally stated that From Dust would be playable offline following a one-time activation, users have reported that the game requires a constant Internet connection. A post on the Ubisoft forums detailing the one-time activation disappeared, then reappeared in the course of a few hours, this time promising an upcoming statement. Ubisoft suggests that dissatisfied customers can request refunds through their support team.
Ubisoft did not give a reason for why the PC port was delayed, but the extra few weeks were apparently not enough time to iron out all of the game's issues. An official statement from the company should be coming soon.
Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun


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[Baresark]

Yep, wasted money on that, thanks Ubisoft, fuckin' pieces of shit. I was kinda done anyway, but this is the final nail in the coffin, you won't get another dime off of me after this.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Yep, wasted money on that, thanks Ubisoft, fuckin' pieces of shit. I was kinda done anyway, but this is the final nail in the coffin, you won't get another dime off of me after this.

Took you this long? I decided to not spend any money on them since the day they ruined Splinter Cell stealth.

 

[JeppeH]

Aww - and I checked From Dust out on Steam.. looked so promising. Glad I never pre-order.. I learned that the hard way on several other titles.

 

[RikuoAmero]

What do you mean different DRM than expected? About a week or two ago, I checked out its page on Steam, and it did say constant internet connection required. After that, I fired off an email to Ubisoft about it, saying I was no longer buying their games if they had this DRM.

 

[evilneko]

That completely sucks. I was looking forward to this game and turns out it's DOA.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Ya I was just about ready to buy that, then I noticed the Ubisoft badge, hold on!
Let's check the internetz for this... and holy shite they did it again.

 

[ASnogarD]

Thats what you get for thinking Ubisoft makes PC games, they simply dont... they sort of toss rubbish in the PC gamers direction occasionally.

Ubisoft doesnt care about the PC platform, and it shows... they hope to scrape up a few more pennies from the barrel so they 'release' a PC version.

Quiet frankly I wish that Ubisoft would officialy declare that they will no longer plauge..err I mean support PC platforms.

 

[RA92]

And when this doesn't sell, they'll blame it on piracy.

As for the DRM, there was a crack already available before the game got released.

I loved RPS' blunt advice of not buying it.

 

[Lordmarkus]

I cry each time I'm reminded that Massive Entertainment is under Ubisoft label. Instead of making World in Conflict 2 or something great they were turned into ubisofts porting house.

Seriously, they haven't made a game since 2007 and if we ever get another RTS from them it will be console exclusive with a horrible PC port 6 months later. It's so sad that it makes physicly angry.

 

[Aidinthel]

Reading this made me glad I stood firm in my conviction to never buy from Ubisoft even though this game sounds awesome.

 

[MrTub]

Wtf.. Why would you limit a PC game to 30 fps?...

 

[paketep]

It was difficult for Ubi to look even worse after their horrible month, but outright LYING to their customers managed to do it.

I was really looking forward to From Dust, so glad I bought Bastion instead. Sadly, they own Nadeo now and buying Trackmania 2 means giving money to that POS company.

Sorry, Nadeo, but Ubi have dug themselves on an enormous hole. Lying to us is the last straw. No money for Ubi ever again.

 

[Avaholic03]

Yep, I can confirm that I'm very disappointed with this purchase. I don't even care about the DRM because my internet is always on anyway. What I really hate, and isn't even mentioned here, is just how crappy the controls are. Moving the mouse will move the entire screen, even if the cursor is nowhere near the edge. The keyboard controls for the camera work fine (moving and rotating at least), so why would I need the mouse to pan the camera as well? You end up fighting the keyboard controls if your mouse is anything except for dead center on the screen. What a stupid control scheme that is. Also, I really dislike how every new thing you learn is repeated 2 or 3 times with different flow-killing popup messages, and the game arbitrarily takes control of the camera from time to time. Just a poorly executed game. Even for $15 it still feel ripped off.

 

[Z0mb13]

No volume control, 14-20fps... god what is up xD DIDNT THINK WE WOULD WANT A VOLUME CONTROL!?!?!?

 

[GothmogII]

Is there a version for the PC that isn't Steam? I got the Steam version and it works fine for me. Plays smooth, looks great. And the controls, while a little iffy aren't as monstrously awful as I've read.

Granted. I know as it goes, just because I personally have had no problems with it so far, doesn't change the fact that a lot of other people seem to. Which is a shame, because there's a very good game here.

Very reminiscent of Populous: The Beginning actually, minus the RTS elements in favor of a more puzzle based approach.

 

[Irridium]

Oh, Ubisoft, now you're lying to us?

You know, if your scared that saying the game will have always-online DRM will hurt sales, then the smart thing to do would not be to lie to consumers, but to remove the fucking DRM.

 

[nagi]

Yep, I can confirm that I'm very disappointed with this purchase. I don't even care about the DRM because my internet is always on anyway. What I really hate, and isn't even mentioned here, is just how crappy the controls are. Moving the mouse will move the entire screen, even if the cursor is nowhere near the edge. The keyboard controls for the camera work fine (moving and rotating at least), so why would I need the mouse to pan the camera as well? You end up fighting the keyboard controls if your mouse is anything except for dead center on the screen. What a stupid control scheme that is. Also, I really dislike how every new thing you learn is repeated 2 or 3 times with different flow-killing popup messages, and the game arbitrarily takes control of the camera from time to time. Just a poorly executed game. Even for $15 it still feel ripped off.

QFT, the control is absolutely atrocious. Think mouse mapped atop the analog stick, locked mouse while panning and auto-centering on the cursor, even if it is only 20 pixels off-center on the screen.

 

[Callex]

Huh, seems to be running fine for me. Sure, the controls feel a bit consoley but I haven't noticed any bugs or framerate problems. The DRM doesn't bother me either; I find steam seldom works in offline mode, so internet connection is required to play any of my games regardless.

 

[Baresark]

Yep, wasted money on that, thanks Ubisoft, fuckin' pieces of shit. I was kinda done anyway, but this is the final nail in the coffin, you won't get another dime off of me after this.

Took you this long? I decided to not spend any money on them since the day they ruined Splinter Cell stealth.

Sorry, I'm a slow learner in regards to this kind of thing. They have some great franchises, but this is the end for me. I should have quit as soon as they had Always on DRM, but it looked like such a good game.