PC Gamers Pretty Up Aliens: Colonial Marines

[Hevva]

PC Gamers Pretty Up Aliens: Colonial Marines

Some gamers have decided that their Aliens experience needs a little spitshine.


wiping your own Xbox saves [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122193-Aliens-Colonial-Marines-Tops-UK-Sales-Charts] and now, to top it all off, you've got PC players looking at you and realizing that, with a little tinkering, they can make you look better than the way you were born.

And quite a bit better, too. This handy how-to guide [http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=245145&page=32] for sprucing up your PC Colonial Marines experience in addition to lines like "What do you think of the detail on my pulse rifle?" - is the work of a large group of likeminded gamers who have all been working together to find the best ways to make an okay-looking game into a great-looking one.

Added to this, they found some interesting things on their trip into the nitty-gritty of the game. For instance, users picked up on the fact that, for some reason, none of the .ini files list graphics cards that are younger than about 5 years old.

"The ini files in the game are broken because they don't list any newer cards, only ancient ones," reads the post. "All the newer cards should have been added by Gearbox but this seems to be an oversight on their part."

"It's quite fascinating to study the .ini files," continues a different post. "In PecanCompat.ini you can see all the graphics cards that qualify for a certain class. The most modern graphics card in that list is from 2007!"

If you'd like to polish your copy of the game, instructions on how you can do so can be found here [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=127541833#25938]. Don't worry, Colonial Marines. Nobody's ever going to ask you if you've ever been mistaken for a man again. It's all going to be okay. On PC, anyway.


Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-18-pc-players-working-to-make-aliens-colonial-marines-look-better]

Permalink

 

[kajinking]

PC gameing to the rescue!......




...Well they can at least recover the corpse and put it in a nice suit for the funeral!

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

Hm.

The graphics card thing makes me wonder how much of the six-year development cycle was actually spent working on the game. If most of it was developed over the course of one year, five years ago, that would explain a lot.

 

[MortisLegio]

Hm.

The graphics card thing makes me wonder how much of the six-year development cycle was actually spent working on the game. If most of it was developed over the course of one year, five years ago, that would explain a lot.

Yeah, but it doesn't make me feel any better about the whole situation.

OT: At least some people can get a spruced up version of the game. Sadly, I'm a console gamer and will be unable to get this.

 

[Ukomba]

Chock another up to the power of the community I guess. Anyone else see an issue cropping up here? Steam workshop and community modders are becoming a crutch that game companies are exploiting. As long as they can get a fan base behind a game they can shove out crap, and then just let the fans fix and add content to it for them. Steam workshop even allows this fan content to be part of the advertising.

It also makes you wonder what monkies these companies are employing when the gamers only need a couple of days to drastically improve the product.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Hm.

The graphics card thing makes me wonder how much of the six-year development cycle was actually spent working on the game. If most of it was developed over the course of one year, five years ago, that would explain a lot.

Here's what I'm starting to think happened. It was announced in 2006, right? I think they started it then, got a good chunk of development done, but then focus shifted to Borderlands. Then Duke Nukem. Then Borderlands 2. And all the while they had this mostly done game, AC:M.

Sega wanted it released, so they shipped it off to whoever it was they said it was outsourced to, to patch together what was done, and fill some stuff in, then ship it.

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

Chock another up to the power of the community I guess. Anyone else see an issue cropping up here? Steam workshop and community modders are becoming a crutch that game companies are exploiting. As long as they can get a fan base behind a game they can shove out crap, and then just let the fans fix and add content to it for them.

I really don't think they're relying on that here so much as they're just relying on people buying it because Aliens.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Unfortunately no matter how much you polish a turd, it's just a shinier turd. I played the game for all of 30 minutes and I thought it was awful. The AI is easily the biggest thing that needs to be fixed.

 

[Covarr]

This doesn't really make up for the bugs, the horrible AI, the boring levels, but it makes me wonder... Just how much of this game can be fixed up through modding? If S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has taught us anything, it's that a dedicated enough fanbase can make a fun game out of almost anything.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Vigormortis]

Huh. The games .ini files don't list any GPUs younger than five years old?

Yeah, and here I thought Gearbox had already made a point of proving they don't give a shit about PC-game development nor PC gamers with games like Borderlands, Borderlands 2, and Duke Nukem Forever.

Oh well. I guess Borderlands 2 really will be the last game I ever buy from them. At least, if this trend continues.

 

[mjc0961]

Don't worry, Colonial Marines. Nobody's ever going to ask you if you've ever been mistaken for a man again. It's all going to be okay.

Except for the fact that your gameplay and story is still ass. But hey, at least you'll look pretty like all those useless hollywood skanks.

 

[adamtm]

Everyone and their mother can use an FXAA process injector or ENB.

I can make Skyrim look like Crysis 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZkFaR2NDSk

 

[Akisa]

Unfortunately no matter how much you polish a turd, it's just a shinier turd. I played the game for all of 30 minutes and I thought it was awful. The AI is easily the biggest thing that needs to be fixed.

And if modders fix the AI, and various other problems with the game?

 

[Proverbial Jon]

It's quite depressing that modders can fix 6 years of terrible work in only a few days.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Unfortunately no matter how much you polish a turd, it's just a shinier turd. I played the game for all of 30 minutes and I thought it was awful. The AI is easily the biggest thing that needs to be fixed.

And if modders fix the AI, and various other problems with the game?

"IF" being the key word there. If they manage to fix it, then I reserve the right to change my opinion. But then you have to realize that this would be a heavily modified game. The main game is still, technically, shit. The modded one would probably be so different as to distinguish it as a separate game.

 

[Frostbyte666]

Well if the AI is improved by modders I'll buy it used for £10-£15 because I really want to play it, but after hearing all the problems I'm not keen on handing my money over to gearbox and the others.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Gearbox should release mod tools as a sign of good will. PC gamers love mod tools. Fuck it. I didn't get this game, but with mod tools I'd seriously consider it. I like fixing things.

 

[1337mokro]

Just release the mod tools. Give the PC guys 10 weeks and they can probably fix everything that is wrong with this game that a professional company spent 6 years keeping it in their closet and eventually handed it down to an outside studio. I'd welcome the modders not only making this game good, but outright shaming the people that made it by requiring a pirated version of the game to work.

Because let's be real here. If any of the mods helps the jackasses that ruined this game make money it is best that the mod isn't made.