Fallout 4 Framerate Glitch Turns The Game Into Benny Hill

[Fanghawk]

Fallout 4 Framerate Glitch Turns The Game Into Benny Hill

Fallout 4's PC gameplay speeds up when you increase the fps. So will you cap your framerate, or embrace the Benny Hill antics?

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/editorials/reviews/14910-Fallout-4-Review-Bethesda-s-Open-World-RPG-Apocalypse#&gid=gallery_5011&pid=1>Fallout 4 is finally here, and players around the world are gleefully diving into the Wasteland once more. That includes PC gamers excited to free themselves from the console version's framerate restrictions - or so they thought. It turns out when Bethesda promised <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/141305-Fallout-4-For-Consoles-1080p-And-30-FPS-Frame-Rate>there would be no fps limitations on the PC version, they didn't mention gameplay changes. In short: If you raise Fallout 4's fps, it exponentially speeds up Fallout 4's gameplay.

Let's break this down. If PC players want to play at higher framerates on well-equipped gaming rigs, they have to edit the game files to remove limitations - that much is fine. But once you start going over 60 or 72fps, things get weird. Fallout 4 recordings at 140fps are noticeably fast, with players moving and dropping objects at double-speed. These speeds increase alongside your fps, meaning gamers on high-end units quickly reach a point where the game is unplayable.

What this means is Fallout 4's engine, for whatever reason, has tied its gameplay speed to the framerate. And while Bethesda is technically correct that "resolution and fps are not limited in any way", this quirk still puts an effective framerate cap in place. After all, for some players this was the entire motivation for picking up the PC version.


But perhaps modders can salvage this situation into something incredible and hilarious. Let's call it <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUOe_hLg7Bo>"Benny Hill Mode". All you need is a perk which can be activated once a certain number of NPC enemies are in range. While active, the game speed is increased, the chase music flips on, and no character's health can be reduced below 1 HP.

Come on, modders. Let's take this framerate glitch and turn it into the best Bethesda mod since <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115106-Skyrim-Mod-Swaps-Alduin-for-Something-More-Macho>Skyrim's Macho Dragon Mod. I dare you.

Source: TechnoBuffalo

Permalink

 

[IceForce]

Before people get too carried away with this, I think it should be pointed out that Skyrim also had issues with v-sync being turned off and/or very high frame rates on PC too.

 

[EndlessSporadic]

As a developer myself I find it utterly disgusting that engines still exist that tie gameplay features to framerate. It is almost admittance that the developers of the engine or game are grossly incompetent.

 

[Bindal]

Sounds like Bethesta to me - good thing I don't have Fallout 4 yet.

 

[vallorn]

As a developer myself I find it utterly disgusting that engines still exist that tie gameplay features to framerate. It is almost admittance that the developers of the engine or game are grossly incompetent.

It's the same core engine from Morrowind in 2002, Bethesda have been bodging new features onto the same 13 year old engine ever since which is why their games are buggy messes and the code for the engine now resembles spaghetti mixed with the contents of an edgy teenager's deviantart account.

 

[synobal]

Characterizing it as a glitch is silly, it isn't a glitch it's how the engine is designed.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

It's not a glitch.
It's Bethesda's utter incompetence to do anything right. I don't know how they are even still in the market. If they were some console-exclusive developer for the whole time and never made a single PC game, then it would kinda explain that. But for fucks sake, they were first and foremost PC developers. There is no place in PC gaming for tying things to frames.

 

[Thyunda]

It's Bethesda's utter competence to do anything right. I don't know how they are even still in the market. I

I mean, aside from the fact 'utter competence to do anything right' is literally the worst sentence I've ever read on this forum, clearly Bethesda are doing something right because they're kinda in the top leagues of the market. Nobody on console will even notice this, and half the PC players also won't notice. It's funny, actually, but not everybody buys a game and edits the files to improve the FPS. Most people just enjoy the damn product.

 

[ShakerSilver]

Amazing, they're still trying their game's speed and physics to the framerate. This has been an issue since fucking OBLIVION, and yet they still continue to use this archaic practice that most PC developers discarded during the NINETIES. I hope those people that got 144hz monitors don't mind capping their framerate for this one.

Unbelievable. Maybe if they had moved on to a new engine instead of rehashing Gamebyro over and over again, we'd be past these sorts of issues.

 

[IceForce]

Characterizing it as a glitch is silly, it isn't a glitch it's how the engine is designed.

Yeah, the only way of experiencing this glitch is to modify your ini file to change an option that Bethesda deliberately didn't provide a UI option for.

I'm wondering where the line is between "glitch" and "fucking up your game yourself because you edited something that should not have been edited".

 

[OldNewNewOld]

It's Bethesda's utter competence to do anything right. I don't know how they are even still in the market. I

I mean, aside from the fact 'utter competence to do anything right' is literally the worst sentence I've ever read on this forum, clearly Bethesda are doing something right because they're kinda in the top leagues of the market. Nobody on console will even notice this, and half the PC players also won't notice. It's funny, actually, but not everybody buys a game and edits the files to improve the FPS. Most people just enjoy the damn product.

I fucked up, it's obviously supposed to be incompetence. Also you really don't read much if that's actually the worst sentence that you've read here.

The console players won't notice, yeah, that's why I said that it's understandable if they were a console exclusive developer. PC player will notice it, as has been demonstrated in the video.

Also the thing that they are doing right isn't even done by them, the developer. It's done by the marketing department and they are rather good at that considering they managed to make such a hype train for something as bland as Fallout 4. Sure, better than Fallout 3, but being better than borderline trash is much of an accomplishment.

Unbelievable. Maybe if they had moved on to a new engine instead of rehashing Gamebyro over and over again, we'd be past these sorts of issues.

But that would actually require real effort from the developer. You're asking for the impossible.
Why make something right when you can everything wrong and let the modding community fix all of it while paying to play for the game they fixed? And soon pay for the mods they made because why not?

 

[Thyunda]

It's Bethesda's utter competence to do anything right. I don't know how they are even still in the market. I

I mean, aside from the fact 'utter competence to do anything right' is literally the worst sentence I've ever read on this forum, clearly Bethesda are doing something right because they're kinda in the top leagues of the market. Nobody on console will even notice this, and half the PC players also won't notice. It's funny, actually, but not everybody buys a game and edits the files to improve the FPS. Most people just enjoy the damn product.

I fucked up, it's obviously supposed to be incompetence. Also you really don't read much if that's actually the worst sentence that you've read here.

The console players won't notice, yeah, that's why I said that it's understandable if they were a console exclusive developer. PC player will notice it, as has been demonstrated in the video.

Incompetence wouldn't make any more sense in the context of that sentence. Inability is the word you're looking for.
Also, I said half the PC players. It's a minority that found the problem and a minority it'll affect. It's a bit hyperbolic of you to go ranting off with "Bethesda can't do anything right" when clearly they can develop and sell videogames pretty effectively.

Fallout 3 was a great game, according to basically fucking everyone. Either you've got super-high standards for videogames or you're just trying to sound edgy by criticising games that were pretty damn good.

 

[NLS]

Oh man, editing the config files to run the game at 240 FPS was the only selling point for me. Now I'll pass on ever getting the game at all. /s
How about just running the game without editing the config files, like they intended you to? Next up: Playing the game with a HOTAS works, but is nearly impossible to play with.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Oh man, editing the config files to run the game at 240 FPS was the only selling point for me. Now I'll pass on ever getting the game at all. /s
How about just running the game without editing the config files, like they intended you to? Next up: Playing the game with a HOTAS works, but is nearly impossible to play with.

Maybe they shouldn't intend the game to be played on a PC while removing actual options that have been a standard for like a decade and a half?
Without editing the config file you can't change the FOV, turn off the mouse acceleration and several other things.
Also since you're suggesting to play the game as intended, why are mods even allowed? The game wasn't intended to be played with mods, stop having fun with the thing you bought!

 

[ShakerSilver]

Also since you're suggesting to play the game as intended, why are mods even allowed? The game wasn't intended to be played with mods, stop having fun with the thing you bought!

That's not entirely true, they designed the entire game around being able to mod it - they expect you to mod it to fix all bugs or glitches they don't ever intend on fixing.

 

[Czann]

Wow, is this still a thing!

Years ago books taught you that linking gameplay to FPS was a bad idea that's prone to exploding in your face.

And Bugstheda is still doing it in one of the most hyped (so called) AAA games of the year.

 

[Valkrex]

I love how Dark Souls 2 got CRUCIFIED for weapon durability being tied to framerate on PC but Bethesda is getting a free pass for their framerate/gameplay interaction being 10 times worse...

This is just bad design, and from a company that has been in business for decades with a strong PC presence this is unforgivable. This is a rookie mistake and something that shouldn't be a thing. Hell Frictional Games, an indie studio less than a tenth Bethesda's size doesn't pull crap like this.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

As a developer myself I find it utterly disgusting that engines still exist that tie gameplay features to framerate. It is almost admittance that the developers of the engine or game are grossly incompetent.

So true!
This article could've used a link to Shamus' article on this exact issue from not too long ago, btw!