Vanquish PC Bug Makes Higher Framerates Equal Higher Damage Taken

[ffronw]

Vanquish PC Bug Makes Higher Framerates Equal Higher Damage Taken

If you've found the PC version of Vanquish much harder than you remember, you might want to try lowering your framerate.

Vanquish wasn't an easy game when it was on PS3 and Xbox 360, but there are reports that the new PC port that launched yesterday [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/170434-Vanquish-Launches-on-PC-New-Dev-Diary-Video] is even harder. As it turns out, if you're taking advantage of the option to raise the framerate from the 30 fps the console version was locked to, you're making it harder on yourself.

The issue is highlighted in two gifs from NeoGAF user Wesker [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=238152240#post238152240], who shows the difference in damage rates. Wesker wrote, "If you lock the framerate to 30FPS AR mode will activate after 6-7 seconds of taking enemy fire. If you're playing at a much higher framerate, like 144FPS, it will activate in just 1-2 seconds." AR mode is the slowdown feature that kicks in when your character gets near death.

The first gif shows the game at 30 fps, while the second is running at 60 fps. Note how much faster the player reaches critical health levels in the second gif.

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1408/1408590.gif

The issue has also been mentioned in Steam reviews and on the game's Steam discussion board. Sega has yet officially confirm the bug, but until it is addressed, you can always set your copy to run at 30 fps to avoid it. If you've experienced this issue, let us know in the forums!

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[Riddle78]

And this is why you don't tie your framerate to gameplay mechanics. Game design 101. C'mon,people. It's not that hard to figure out!

 

[Veldel]

This is hilarious.

 

[Supernova1138]

And this is why you don't tie your framerate to gameplay mechanics. Game design 101. C'mon,people. It's not that hard to figure out!

Japanese developers love doing this because up until very recently they developed their games exclusively for consoles and the option for framerates higher than the target simply didn't exist. This of course comes back to bite them in the ass now when they decide to release a PC port, because then they are stuck with either allowing higher framerates and getting bugs like this that may require extensive code rewrites to fix, or locking the game to the console framerate (usually 30FPS) and having the port receive bad reviews because many PC gamers consider 30FPS locks to be unacceptable in this day and age.

 

[Worgen]

Hmm, oddly enough I've been playing with a higher framerate and haven't encountered this at all.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

This reminds me of Dark Souls 2. The durability loss of equipment in that game is already terrible compared to all other games in the series and beyond but on PC it was literally doubly bad due to it being tied to fps. It's essentially the modern equivalent of the pause trick from Blaster Master or Mega Man.

 

[suzaku4489]

That might explain why the most dangerous thing in the game is a punch. Even the weakest enemy can kill you in a single punch on normal if your fps is high enough. Interesting, that.

 

[otakon17]

And this is why you don't tie your framerate to gameplay mechanics. Game design 101. C'mon,people. It's not that hard to figure out!

This is a similar thing to the damage rate of equipment in Dark Souls II, meaning if you ran the game at the smooth 60fps, your gear wore out a LOT faster.

 

[otakon17]

This reminds me of Dark Souls 2. The durability loss of equipment in that game is already terrible compared to all other games in the series and beyond but on PC it was literally doubly bad due to it being tied to fps. It's essentially the modern equivalent of the pause trick from Blaster Master or Mega Man.

Except it worked on YOU and not the enemies....

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

As bugs go, this is one of the more interesting ones.

 

[bjj hero]

This is hilarious. Enjoy your uncapped frame rates. I play on PC but Ive not got a bleeding edge set up. I cannot justify it with a wife and child, dropping a few hundred pounds on my toy every few months seems quite selfish
..

Wait until my son is into PC gaming though...

 

[Riddle78]

And this is why you don't tie your framerate to gameplay mechanics. Game design 101. C'mon,people. It's not that hard to figure out!

Japanese developers love doing this because up until very recently they developed their games exclusively for consoles and the option for framerates higher than the target simply didn't exist. This of course comes back to bite them in the ass now when they decide to release a PC port, because then they are stuck with either allowing higher framerates and getting bugs like this that may require extensive code rewrites to fix, or locking the game to the console framerate (usually 30FPS) and having the port receive bad reviews because many PC gamers consider 30FPS locks to be unacceptable in this day and age.

Here's an issue with that; You need code to tie framerate to other elements. It's literally more work to do what Vanquish and Dark Souls II did,than to keep them independent. Either it's inherent in the engine,which is possible,though I have no earthly clue as to why,or the developers explicitly put in the link themselves,though,again,I have no clue why.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

This is hilarious. Enjoy your uncapped frame rates.

Lol, what? I mean...thanks I will, with the exception of this one instance. Yeah, there's a few others as well, but the majority of my games don't have this issue.

Your statement seems a little spiteful.

 

[Marik2]

Lol this happened to valkyria chronicles on the pc

 

[bjj hero]

This is hilarious. Enjoy your uncapped frame rates.

Lol, what? I mean...thanks I will, with the exception of this one instance. Yeah, there's a few others as well, but the majority of my games don't have this issue.

Your statement seems a little spiteful.

No spite was meant. If you read the rest of the post I talked about looking forward to my son being old enough to want a 1337 rig.

I more found it amusing that of the big selling points on PC remakes is the uncapped frame rates, then it turns out that game mechanics are tied the the fps causing mayhem.

 

[deadish]

And people on reddit lose their minds ...

Strange no one bitches when Bethesda releases bugged to heck and back software.

I think from this point forth Japanese companies will just go back to not releasing PC ports.

So many requirements (thus higher cost) but such a small market.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

Well, same thing happened to Valkyria Chronicles, so this isn't much of a surprise.
That's what happens when you tie stuff to your framerate.

Makes for some hilarious bugs though, like the tanks in Valkyria Chronicles not being able to climb up hills anymore.

 

[direkiller]

Strange no one bitches when Bethesda releases bugged to heck and back software.

I don't know where you been but people ***** about this exact thing for every Bethesda game. because Fallout 3,4 Oblivion and Skyrim all have physics tied to frame rate.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4EHjFkVw-s

https://youtu.be/O7Xa4ysQLb8?t=2m5s

 

[otakon17]

Lol this happened to valkyria chronicles on the pc

Wait, really!? WHY!? Why would they do that?! It's a damn turned based strategy game!