265: Punching the Baby Seal of PC Gaming

[DoomyMcDoom]

sounds like you an me gotta talk, I could fix all your problems and more... I've been gaming on a pc with pretty much NO problems on modern windows systems for 11 years... about 10 prior on older dos OS systems... and other stuff since "good" PCs cost as much as a car back then...

but yeah, I've been building gaming pcs for quite some time... i know for a fact that most problems are hardware mismanagement in the cases of your problems... also you're running a DELL... every time i think Dell i wanna scream, don't know how many problems friends of mine who use their stuff have had over the years... lost count like 5-6 years back... anyhow custom rigs are better if the person who builds em knows a thing or two about hardware compatibillity... and whatnot...


yeah...

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

That Fallout 3 thing actually happened to me, but that was from fucking around with my computer to get PS3 controller drivers to work. But I think you might be being unreasonable, first, as people have already stated, Dell is the Devil. You don't need to build a computer yourself, just go to a computer store and get them to make a custom rig for you. Cheaper (Than Dell, certainly), works better and takes about the same amount of time.

Oh and all your answers to criticism on page 4 are, well, different to a computer not working. Equating a coffee machine spraying boiling water on your balls to a computer crashing is one of the absolute worst arguments I've ever seen. I understand this is a rant, but maybe you should include some reasonable arguments there, Chuck.

 

[AngelBlackChaos]

((double post, i apologize.x.x))

 

[AngelBlackChaos]

1) building a PC is less expensive then buying a prebuilt one
2) A 5 year old could do it, its not hard
3) The time you waste on the internet in one day or less you could be done your pc

Show me the five year old, Apple wants to recruit him/her. And what five year old thinks about graphics cards?
Secondly, not everyone is good at electronic hardware. Its the pretentiousness like this within PC gaming communities that make it difficult for anyone to want to hang around and learn in the first place. When I show a friend how to work on something, it makes them relate to the project, and helps them enjoy the process more. Insinuating that a child that has yet to learn how most electronics work, knows how to do it, while judging said person, makes them want to spend as little time with people that act like that as possible. PC gaming needs good examples of those willing to help people, not those that simply look down distainfully below thier noses at the pc plebians.

Well you never asked, Im not going to tell you and waste my time if you have no intention to learn it. I was putting togeather Pc's at 5, my dad taught me how, hell its made so idiot proof these days you cant even put in the ram the wrong way like you used to be able to. If you truly want to make your own gaming pc just ask me. Dont say it is impossible to learn cause no one will tell you, its because you arent asking.

I am already learning about hardware and electronics, so no, i dont believe i would need your help. I was simply saying, your attitude toward others that have difficulty, would put them off about being involved in a pc community. The guy that is teaching me, doesnt have to do anything special for me to learn,but there are others that have no idea what types of graphics cards are best, or even what overclocking is. A five year old being told exactly what to do is different than one learning by itself. And some people cannot find someone to be there, for free, and physically help them learn. Not all PC gamers are open enough, or feel like,wasting their time, on teaching others.

I completely respect the ones that actually take the time to help intead of patronizing

 

[AvsJoe]

That was the most entertaining thing I've read since I finished "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell". Great story mate!

 

[hopterque]

Oh, and for the record, my PC's a year old and is not overclocked.

I've played PC games for a long, long time, and this has been a persistent issue across the board, regardless of the PC, regardless of the brand.

I'll always come back to PC gaming, but it doesn't change the fact that getting games to run properly can feel as productive as smashing one's own face into the desk.

These days, with technology being where it's at, I expect minimal tinkering. Or, if it requires significant tinkering, then I want good quality customer service -- another thing lacking across the PC gaming "platform."

-- Chuck

I haven't had trouble like you have trouble ever, not even with my 7 year old piece of shit dell that has been shipped across the country a half dozen times, dropped off a table at a lan party, and was actually slowly melting because I was trying to run crysis on a computer below the minimum requirements. On my new (year old) computer, i have zero issues, not even with old games (windows 7 64 bit etc).


As we say, PEBKAC.


Look it up.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

1) Jade Empire: Special Edition. I bought it over 3 years ago on Steam, and encountered a game-breaking issue for which no fix was available until 2 months ago. It had to do with the fact that I have 64-bit Vista; in other words, I really couldn't have done anything. Now, is it fair that I had to wait three years (during which time the game's plot was spoiled, anyway) to play a game for which I paid full price?

Vista always was a goddawful piece of dirt that Micro$oft should apologise for. The amount of basic things it couldn't do was immense.

2) Mirror's Edge: It's just plain incompatible with SLI. It "works", but seeing as how the screen repeatedly flickers during play, it's not quite for me. I could disable SLI and play with one video card, but then I'm stuck with mediocre performance on middling settings; that's not why I bought a $3000 computer.

Google Mirrors Edge SLI

1) Install Mirror's Edge
2) Install ME Patch 1.01
3) Update Nvidia drivers to version 181.20 (Beta drivers)
4) Update PhysX system update 9.09 (from nvidia.com)

Settings for Nvidia Control Panel
PhysX: Enabled
SLi: Disabled (seems like the game will use the 2nd card to process Physx)

But two examples in one hundred games? You're telling me that Xbox Team Fortress isn't as broken? PS3's 3.41 isn't causing multiple crashes? Wii's don't crash out?

In this case, we're talking about how PC gaming can/should/could offer a more stable experience.

I can tell you why Saint's Row 2 crashes so much. Because it was a lazy console port. Your crusade to make things easy just leads to ignoring the system that manufacturers can't control. And it's those "controlled" systems that get higher prices, pay to go online, only go through our browser, KEEP TO OUR RULES ALL THE TIME AND SALUTE ZE CEO!

You can make PC gaming more stable, but only by making sure all of the manufacturers of hardware and software collabarate, which, as we've seen with Vista etc. won't happen.

It's still no reason to pour petrol on this particular flame war though.

 

[Isalan]

Heh, this takes me back.

I remember writing a small start up menu in Basic back in the day so that my system would start up with the correct drivers loaded to give me enough Higher/Extended memory to play whatever game it was I wanted to play So much arsing about.

And yeah consoles are easier, but I get a nice feeling inside knowing I'm a member of the PC gaming master race.

Oh, and it is a physical impossibilty to find an RTS on a console that doesn't make me want to tear off one of my arms.

 

[hopterque]

1) building a PC is less expensive then buying a prebuilt one
2) A 5 year old could do it, its not hard
3) The time you waste on the internet in one day or less you could be done your pc

You're the kind of moron who'd recommend an EVO lancer to a soccer mom looking for a fuel efficient safe 5 seater sedan.


1) Yes, it is less expensive: If you know what you're doing and know what you need. Otherwise, forget it, you're gonna wind up wasting a shit ton of time and money buying the wrong parts.
2) No, a 5 year old couldn't do it, excepting adult help and supervision. I build my own computers, and my friends do as well, and we're pretty damn good at it. But something ALWAYS goes wrong. Your motherboard is DOA, your ram timings are wrong, god knows what. Something goes wrong.
3)Really? You can research and purchase and have all the items shipped AND build your computer AND have time to fix any problems in one day? No, you can't.

For most people who are into PC gaming but not hardcore enthusiasts, a dell xps or one of the newer ASUS desktops is fantastic. They're well put together, customizable, and pretty damn cheap. And you don't have to deal with the ton of shit that learning to put together a computer requires. If you tell me that you've NEVER had anything go wrong building your own computer, you're a liar. If you tell me that you've never done anything wrong building a computer, you're a liar. Problems happen, and they happen a lot more than with a premade computer, so if you're not in the position or if you don't have the expertise to deal with the problems that pop up, you're screwed, because building your own computer doesn't come with a 3 year warranty.


edit: Proud pc gamer since my uncle got me a 486 when I was 7 years old, but unlike a bunch of people who share my hobby, i'm not a blind socially challenged shut in, and I realize that not everyone is as involved in it as I am. But you should still play pc games, I need people to play starcraft 2 with (against) and have a good time (beat them).

 

[8bitmaster]

steam sales just put me in a very bad buying frenzy. last holiday spend 200$ on steam games. parents weren't too happy.

 

[Lord_Gremlin]

Oh god, I'm just like Wendig! Except I finally decided that PC gaming should rot in Hell and only buy Valve games for PC now.
Saints Row 2 is one of my favorite games, and I have PS3 version. Insert the disk and play. And I've played through it several times without any problems at all.

Fallout 3 on PC - yep, same as you, game crashes. And Mass Effect causes BSOD (which is actually a known issue, admitted by Bioware and it won't be fixed ever). And there are tons of examples why PC gaming should really die for good.
The only problem it won't. Cancer, global warming, Bobby Kotic, PC gaming - they all are here to stay. You just have to learn to avoid them.

 

[gmacarthur81]

I dunno if this has been said already (probably has), but I can sum up all of the OP's problems with two phrases:

He had an ID-10-T error or it's a PEBKAC.

I have been PC gaming almost exclusively since D2 came out and have never had the kind of problems he is complaining about, not even with Fallout3.

 

[Stevo_s]

Awesome that was one really fun article! Thank you sir! for your excellent words!
Ans Sorry for your troubles..
Ive only ever played Oblivion on my pc and well it was fun with all the mods and stuff but I had the graphics at the lowest settings and had no grass come up.

 

[Cody211282]

Sadly this is the sate of affairs from PC gamers, developers need to focus less on graphics and flash and more on making you damn game solid
*fix the damn bugs(especially if that bug makes it so you can't play the game anymore, I'm looking at you Bioware and your Dragon Age Redcliff glitch, fix that shit already, it's been 4 patches, stop with the DLC and fix the core fucking game already)
*make sure the damn thing doesn't crash to desktop whenever it feels like(Fallout 3, WAR)
*make sure alt+tabbing doesn't give the game an aneurysm(ME1 and 2, Alpha Protocol, Bad Company 2, DOW2)
*and finally make sure the damn thing can work with major graphics cards like ATI, about half of the people out there have one, is it that hard to test for(SC2)

 

[Zing]

The computer illiterate are quite funny.

I've never had any issue with any current gen PC games. Only problem games have been older titles on Steam.

 

[imgunagitusucka]

10 pages of comments, all spouting opinions and arguments that have been slung around umpteen times before. Come on people, lets take the blinders off and be honest. There is no perfect gaming platform, if there was we'd all own one and peace would rein in gamesville as forums all across the internet closed down due to lack of this vs. that threads.
PC gaming has pros and cons, console gaming has pros and cons. Pick one, pick both or hell pick none and be done with it, just stop deluding yourself that one is unequivocally better than the other, 'cause it's not...it's just what you prefer.
People have different preferences for different reasons, it doesn't make anything better/worse than anything else. Would you get this passionate over a coke vs. pepsi debate? Of course not, common sense tells you that for some unknown reason people just prefer one over the other. Gaming is no different.

 

[Necrofudge]

Tell me good sir, do you use a mac? They are known for catering to people who want their computers to be "simpler."
I personally wouldn't like it, but who knows? You might.

 

[Fists]

Thirty seconds into the brew-time on your coffee-maker the device instead sprays hot java on your balls, searing them to the corduroy. You don't like that? Not a fan?

Actually happened to me, save for the testicles bit, the pressure would blow off the handle smashing mugs and spraying grind everywhere.

As for Fallout I dodged the install crap by downloading it (somewhat illegally but I do own it on PS3, realised I wanted mods), in general that game was just as unstable on my playstation as my PC but careless modding can be pretty detrimental (entirely my fault/problem obviously).

 

[angelous_lecter]

Reminds me of the time Duke MP refused to unlock the next level... I was convinced that Satan had been released on the game files since I had just finished the old quake 2... It was a phase... replaying all the old genres... I never did finish the last level of DMP... Sigh... so much for always seeing something through to the end... Uninstall with force I did... even did a rm -Rvf on the whole partition just to make sure I had removed every inch of it...

Then I found a patch to fix the game after enough googling which led me to torch the install disc while sharing a nice bottle of rum with my pug...

 

[mad825]

the problems on the PC are nothing new nor is it the most exciting to fix a game you really want to play however a large percentage of PC gamers enjoy the thrill of fixing a problem, some may do it as a passion or some do it as a living (which most do).

if you cannot maintain a level of sanity because of this problems then either:

1. go to console gaming, in which then a)it's fine to change as you get older b)quit your job (if you fix software/hardware for a living)

and/or

2. go and see an Psychiatrist/therapist because clearly you cannot deal with your emotions and you may present a danger to yourself and/or others