XCOM 2 Dev is "Working Furiously" To Fix Framerate Issues

[Broslinger]

Interesting fact: one of the most popular mods on the Steam Workshop for this game is called "Stop Wasting My Time" which cuts out a lot of animation to help framerate issues.

Seriously? It fixes framerate issues? You clearly have no clue what you're talking about. As in that sentence makes no sense on multiple levels - either it's misunderstanding of what "framerate" is, or what it fixes, or how it works, or all of these at once.

The game has some extra pauses added to some actions - for example, after enemy attacks or kills. The pauses are for if an extra animation or dialogue is supposed to be added. SWMT removes those - it literally just makes the game wait less between actions - so, for example, if a set of actions would normally take 10 seconds, the same set of actions would take 5s with SWMT. To illustrate it differently

imagine that you had

an addon

that removes

the extra newlines

in this sentence. Because that's what Stop Wasting My Time does. It doesn't sMoOTh tHe sPiKYneSs Of frAmERatE. [small]nor does it help with lower framerates[/small]. Nor does it do anything with framerate that is too high. No̶͕̠̣͖̙͚̥r҉ ̣̦̩͎̠̰a̢͖̲̩̜̤͓̻ṉ͇̜̮̹͘y͍̲̩͖̰̖ ̫̰̝̞̫̤͡ot͕̩͍͇͠h͍̖͕̞̮̱̞e͍̤̕ŕ̟̼͕͈ ͎s͎̞̟̹ͅọ͉͙̲͎̖r̤̺̱̫̹͎t͈̝͔̻͍̦̖ o̘̯̮̰̦̻͙f̨̥̟̝̦ ̹͎͖͚̬͎̖͝h̛͕a̝̰͇͖͕̝̦i̠̳͚͈̰̲r̶͇̞̲y͍̦͘ ̻̕ͅs͠tu̝̻͔̫̞̙͚f̨̲̱̟̼͕̻ͅf͉̩̗͞ ̰̝t̬o̶ ̧dò͔̭̦̦̭̲̠ ̝̖̝̟̖͎w̭̩͙̼͕͔͜i̟̮̞̳̤̱͓tḩ̹ͅ ͉t͎̫̭̤̦͎ͅh̺̣̟̪e̷͕͕̰̣̝̖̳ ͙̯pi̢̤c̤t̬̭̝u̫͖̼̰͞r͍̥̖͡e̻͈̦͙̖̤̱.̱̥

Perhaps unsurprisingly it does exactly what its title says - it doesn't waste your time. It's not a performance tune up.

Oh ok. I was confused. I'm not sure why you're being so rude about it. Cutting out animations certainly does eliminate jerky animations. Either way, you shouldn't believe reviews from the escapist.

 

[Broslinger]

The Escapist sure did give this game a good score for something that has to be furiously worked on in order to fix basic issues. Pretty weird.

Maybe, just maybe, it's because XCOM 2 is a legitimately great game, even WITH all of the issues?

Hmm...

Nah, the more reasonable assumption is that the people running the site were paid of/have shit taste in games/are evil.
Clearly.

I agree. The Escapist is shady with reviews. Isn't it weird that it wasn't even mentioned, even though the dev team needs to work furiously to address it?

Weird.

I was clearly being sarcastic there, dude.

In all seriousness, it's a turn based strategy game. Framerate isn't a make or break issue here.

I was clearly making fun of you for trying to be sarcastic in text, buddy.

What does that question have to do with anything? It's still an issue. I was explaining why someone might play the game, experience those issues, and still love the game.

Interesting fact: one of the most popular mods on the Steam Workshop for this game is called "Stop Wasting My Time" which cuts out a lot of animation to help framerate issues.

Have you actually used that mod? It has nothing to do with framerate. It cuts out a bunch of delays at the ends of animations and actions so you can do stuff faster. Those changes would have nothing to do with the frame rate.

Oh ok. I was confused. It just makes it so there are fewer animations that can be jerky and crappy. Whatevs. Still, don't believe Escapist reviews.

 

[DoPo]

Oh ok. I was confused. It just makes it so there are fewer animations that can be jerky and crappy. Whatevs. Still, don't believe Escapist reviews.

The only animations that are "removed" are taunts and celebrations. Not because they are "jerky or crappy", the latter not in the sense you're using, but because they take time. Time you could be spend playing. And instead it's wasted.

Here is an example - the Faceless have a rather lengthy taunt animation they usually do at the end of every of their turns - they would turn towards a soldier (I believe the closest one) then slowly extend their arm and just point towards them and at the same time they do this guttural gurgling-growling sound. It's rather creepy and effective, honestly. On the other hand, it's around 5 seconds and they do it every turn. It gets old pretty much after the first time you've seen it.

Spoiler: here is a video that shows it

That animation is removed. Along with similar ones for other units. And it's not because it's "crappy" in the sense that it looks bad, but it's because it's played too often and takes too much time.

At any rate - the game is great. I have already mentioned it. Good reviews of it are not something to be condemned - as mentioned, it has high scores on Metacritic from professional reviews, but also there are the high scores from user votes on GameFAQs [http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/163467-xcom-2] (4.42/5 from a total of 77 total votes, at the moment of writing). I wouldn't really trust the user reviews on Metacritic, as they are pretty much always several notches down because of people using that site as the first place to enact petty "retaliation" against any game that might be not exactly to their taste. The technical issues should be mentioned but the core gameplay isn't too affected by them.

 

[Quellist]

Glad i didn't buy this at launch. I'll wait for a stable release then pick it up, maybe the price will even have dropped a bit by then!

 

[DoPo]

Aww man, I actually like a lot of those animations.

Guess I wont be using that mod on my ironman run later on...

I know - I really liked the Faceless taunt as well. However, if they did it once per mission it'd be fine. They don't...

The animations still occasionally show up but much rarer that before.

 

[Kathinka]

Xcom fangirl since the very first one that came out before most of the users of this website were alive. I didn't buy this one because I knew, KNEW this shit would happen. We gamers have such a short memory.

They rather should have "worked furiously" on testing their shit before they fired out some bug riddled garbage. Great game, yes, but this is unworthy of the franchise.

 

[ThatOtherGirl]

On one hand, this sort of release is unacceptable. I am glad they are working hard to fix the issues, perhaps they should have delayed the game a bit?

On the other hand, even with the issues in place the game is incredibly good. The fact of the matter is that even with all the slowdown and framerate issues it is still one of the best tactical games I have ever played. For me, personally, I am glad they didn't delay the release to fix the issues. I would rather have the game in my hands in it's current state than wait an extra month or so. The game seems fully worth the price of admission even now.

This probably has a lot to do with the genre, but it does bring up interesting questions.

 

[DoPo]

I guess it really depends on how often they show up now, too, but I guess I can figure out how to edit that in the .ini file to make them show up more often if I want.

I don't think most of the changes are exported as configurable settings, however, the modder BlueRaja is absolutely awesome and shares his projects on GitHub - feel free to look at the mod there [https://github.com/BlueRaja/XCom2Mods/tree/master/Stop%20Wasting%20My%20Time] and probably change it to suit you.

Apparently the mod also gets rid of a lot of Bradford's mission dialogue too, which I didnt want removed either. Maybe there's a way to turn that back on.

Again, short of changing the mod, I don't know if it's possible. What I can say is that it's not nearly as that bad. Only the more annoying and repeated dialogue is out - the one where he keeps telling you about the civilians who died which you just saw every round, for example. It's not really that big of a deal.

...

Actually, I double checked and, in fact, Quiet Bradford [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=621358553] was included in SWMT. The former mod does have exposed configuration for how much you can tune it - check the description for details.

bug riddled garbage

I've seen far, far more complaints about the mission timers of all things[footnote]you know, the fully and easily moddable feature - it just requires changing some .ini files. The one that also had THREE mods changing it pretty much right off the bat - they were out over the weekend after the release.[/footnote] than actual bugs. Moreover, the amount of bugs that seriously affect the gameplay is really rather low. I am lead to believe that XCOM: EU was much worse at launch and even later on. Heck, playing it now, I am disinclined to use the grapple hook in Ironman game to this day as it can straight up leave you a soldier short if it wants. It happens often enough to make me save every time I want to use it. There is nothing of that magnitude in XCOM 2. There is an upgrade in EU that straight up does NOT work. Never has and I'm pretty sure it never will - it's still there in EW, it's still there today.

Your statement seems like an over-exaggeration.

For me, personally, I am glad they didn't delay the release to fix the issues.

Actually they did - XCOM 2 was initially scheduled for November 2015. No actual firm date, it was just the month, but when the actual date was announced, it was three months later.

I would rather have the game in my hands in it's current state than wait an extra month or so. The game seems fully worth the price of admission even now.

I would hesitantly agree. There do need to be stuff that gets ironed out - smoothing the performance for older machines is something that should be done. However, with modern-ish mashines, the game runs well enough to play and be enjoyed. Yes, there are some hiccups here and there even on reasonably good hardware, however, yes, it also doesn't affect the entertainment value that much.

 

[ThatOtherGirl]

For me, personally, I am glad they didn't delay the release to fix the issues.

Actually they did - XCOM 2 was initially scheduled for November 2015. No actual firm date, it was just the month, but when the actual date was announced, it was three months later.

Yeah, I assume that was to get out the game breaking bugs. I am more glad they didn't delay the game for non breaking bugs.

I would rather have the game in my hands in it's current state than wait an extra month or so. The game seems fully worth the price of admission even now.

I would hesitantly agree. There do need to be stuff that gets ironed out - smoothing the performance for older machines is something that should be done. However, with modern-ish mashines, the game runs well enough to play and be enjoyed. Yes, there are some hiccups here and there even on reasonably good hardware, however, yes, it also doesn't affect the entertainment value that much.[/quote]

That is what I have found. I will be glad when it is fixed, but in the mean time I am not going to stop playing, I am having way too good a time with it.

 

[EndlessSporadic]

Oh, for fuck sake. I literally JUST had an argument about this last night.

If we're having a conversation and you reply to something I said while directly addressing me in your post, fucking QUOTE ME so I actually know I have something I need to respond to in a reasonable timeframe.

It almost feels like you're trying to get the last word in and make yourself look better by lowering my chance of responding so that I ultimately look like a coward for not responding, especially since you seem to have no problem quoting everybody else.

I'll ask you one question; do you actually want to talk about this issue with me or not?

EDIT: added a bit at the end of the second paragraph.

Nope. After sleeping on it and coming back not completely irritated I have no interest in fighting a losing battle. I know what I know, you all know what you all know, and there is no benefit in me trying to change that. I framed my argument poorly, I didn't lay out precisely what I was trying to argue, I made a lot of assumptions that people know how software and their computer works, I went into the argument extremely tired (thereby being too tired to go find sources), and I acted like an ass, and I suffered for it. I'll chalk this one up as a loss and move on with my life.

 

[DoPo]

I made a lot of assumptions that people know how software and their computer works

Yeah like "Everybody else is retarded and doesn't know as much as me. I'm so great and awesome, everybody else must be wrong as they aren't me".

Then you completely failed to consider people might know what they are talking about. Also you failed to consider how software testing generally works, either, so there is that. Oh and you managed to be a complete hypocrite complaining about others making baseless assumptions by...making baseless assumptions. And complaining about others "not knowing how things work" by showing complete lack of any knowledge how software testing works. And all the while you were having a go at people who were "ill informed" when you provided absolutely no actual information - just speculation of what might be wrong. On top of that, you weren't even sure - you just assumed people were wrong because they were not you and thus not awesomez and thus ub3r 1337.

If that's you "being tired" I'd hate to see you "feeling a bit under the weather" or worse.

 

[Strazdas]

While they are at it, I would really like a launcher which doesn't use ModLauncherWPF. I just want to play the base game, but I can't do so, since the ModLauncherWPF has a fatal .NET error every time I try to start up the game.

try installing/reinstalling your net framework. sounds like its third party libraries thats crashing for you.

Sounds unlikely. I've had this issue for multiple versions of .NEt with other software, but I'll try it anyhow.

if you are having same issue with multiple software then its very likely liberaries on your end. .NET fucks up sometimes and requires a clean reinstall, do try. Though it is of course possible that your OS got corrupted and does not run them properly too.

You're a life-saver. It worked.

Actually quite annoying: I already ran the system file checker to see if everything was Kosher, which it said it was, and I had done a not-clean reinstall of .NET. But apparently there were still remnants of over five different .NET versions installed on my computer. Deinstalling all of those manually and reinstalling the latest .NET fixed the issue though. So again: thanks.

You're welcome. The system file checked windows have only checks OS integrity, it does not check every possible compatibility.

Multiple .Net frameworks is a thing as different programs use different ones and they are not always perfectly backward compatible, so they tend to install their own version just in case (although microsoft claims that since 3.0 all of them are backward compatible). Probably installing older one fucked something up for the newer one and you got the problem.

Enjoy the game.

 

[elvor0]

Interesting fact: one of the most popular mods on the Steam Workshop for this game is called "Stop Wasting My Time" which cuts out a lot of animation to help framerate issues.

Seriously? It fixes framerate issues? You clearly have no clue what you're talking about. As in that sentence makes no sense on multiple levels - either it's misunderstanding of what "framerate" is, or what it fixes, or how it works, or all of these at once.

The game has some extra pauses added to some actions - for example, after enemy attacks or kills. The pauses are for if an extra animation or dialogue is supposed to be added. SWMT removes those - it literally just makes the game wait less between actions - so, for example, if a set of actions would normally take 10 seconds, the same set of actions would take 5s with SWMT. To illustrate it differently

imagine that you had

an addon

that removes

the extra newlines

in this sentence. Because that's what Stop Wasting My Time does. It doesn't sMoOTh tHe sPiKYneSs Of frAmERatE. [small]nor does it help with lower framerates[/small]. Nor does it do anything with framerate that is too high. No̶͕̠̣͖̙͚̥r҉ ̣̦̩͎̠̰a̢͖̲̩̜̤͓̻ṉ͇̜̮̹͘y͍̲̩͖̰̖ ̫̰̝̞̫̤͡ot͕̩͍͇͠h͍̖͕̞̮̱̞e͍̤̕ŕ̟̼͕͈ ͎s͎̞̟̹ͅọ͉͙̲͎̖r̤̺̱̫̹͎t͈̝͔̻͍̦̖ o̘̯̮̰̦̻͙f̨̥̟̝̦ ̹͎͖͚̬͎̖͝h̛͕a̝̰͇͖͕̝̦i̠̳͚͈̰̲r̶͇̞̲y͍̦͘ ̻̕ͅs͠tu̝̻͔̫̞̙͚f̨̲̱̟̼͕̻ͅf͉̩̗͞ ̰̝t̬o̶ ̧dò͔̭̦̦̭̲̠ ̝̖̝̟̖͎w̭̩͙̼͕͔͜i̟̮̞̳̤̱͓tḩ̹ͅ ͉t͎̫̭̤̦͎ͅh̺̣̟̪e̷͕͕̰̣̝̖̳ ͙̯pi̢̤c̤t̬̭̝u̫͖̼̰͞r͍̥̖͡e̻͈̦͙̖̤̱.̱̥

Perhaps unsurprisingly it does exactly what its title says - it doesn't waste your time. It's not a performance tune up.

Woah dude, that was totally unnecessary. Yeah that guy was wrong, dead wrong. But you could've explained it in a matter that wasn't as rude as hell. You just dropped to Endless_Sporadics level for no reason!

 

[ServebotFrank]

I have a GTX 970 and the game stuttered like mad whenever I'm in the Skyranger. During battles it freezes for about ten seconds before the game will start the Alien's turn and yes I did turn off any superfluous graphical options and it still made no impact on the frame rate.

I love this game, but it runs like absolute ass.

 

[DoPo]

During battles it freezes for about ten seconds before the game will start the Alien's turn

Sounds like you need Stop Wasting My Time [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620600092].