Dark Soul's: Prepare to Die Edition (PC)

Gideon Lorr · 9 Aug 2012 at 13:53

Limited to 1280x720, booted from the online system if you have 15fps or less for 30 seconds, and limited to 30fps.

Sounds like From Software were way out of their depth. Which is no surprise given they're a Japanese developer, but still very disappointing, and I can't see why Namco didn't give them more support.

Witcher1979 · 9 Aug 2012 at 13:57

Gideon Lorr said:
Limited to 1280x720, booted from the online system if you have 15fps or less for 30 seconds, and limited to 30fps.

Sounds like From Software were way out of their depth. Which is no surprise given they're a Japanese developer, but still very disappointing, and I can't see why Namco didn't give them more support.

Where does it say it is limited to 1280x720. Hope you are not using the screenshot to judge that, if it really is, then even I would be gutted. But I doubt it.

From software also did Ninja Blade I think, that was a good port (using a pad)

HankScorpio · 9 Aug 2012 at 13:59

oh dear... I don't even have an xbox controller either....

Gideon Lorr · 9 Aug 2012 at 14:17

voorhees1979 said:
Where does it say it is limited to 1280x720. Hope you are not using the screenshot to judge that, if it really is, then even I would be gutted. But I doubt it.

From software also did Ninja Blade I think, that was a good port (using a pad)

Sorry, here is the evidence of 1280x720.

There is bad news which could hit PC gamers pretty hit hard, though. While the frame-rate's rough edges have been filed down, you're still going to be playing at 30FPS out of the box, as widely rumoured. A graphics menu has been added in, but there are no obvious ways to raise the bar to the preferable 60FPS mark. In fact, options are pretty meagre overall on this front; you have the standard resolution and refresh rate settings (it does nothing to solve this), and also check-boxes to remove anti aliasing or motion blur. Barebones and to the point.

There's also something curious about the resolution too in that there's no change in clarity when attempting to crank up the settings. On close inspection, it appears that Dark Souls PC uses the very same 1024x720 internal framebuffer as the console versions, regardless of which resolution has been set in the menus. The option provided is for output resolution only; a simple courtesy to allow the game to play on most monitors, but the image quality will always remain the same. In short, PC gamers will very much be getting the genuine console experience here, right down to the pixel.

Edit: wait, that means its rendered at 1024x720....which is worse.

Omaeka · 9 Aug 2012 at 14:23

Dark Souls PC uses the very same 1024x720 internal framebuffer as the console versions, regardless of which resolution has been set in the menus. The option provided is for output resolution only; a simple courtesy to allow the game to play on most monitors, but the image quality will always remain the same. In short, PC gamers will very much be getting the genuine console experience here, right down to the pixel.

Why!? Oh my ****ing god, my faith in this has been shattered, if I wanted a pathetic, cretinous experience intended for serfs, I'd of stayed on my console, how can they justify not giving us the most staple benefit of PC? We have AA but not resolution? They also can't get it running above 30fps when its limited to 720p?

Ayo wtf! Why didn't they tell us this months ago, rather than getting us proper gamer's hyped for months just to kick us in the googlies.

Witcher1979 · 9 Aug 2012 at 14:24

Hmmm, but I think you can select a higher "output" but I guess it would stretch? Confused.com

HankScorpio · 9 Aug 2012 at 14:24

If this game had all the bells and whistles deserving of the PC platform it would've sold like hotcakes I imagine. ****** port will result in negligible sales like bulletstorm for pc and the devs will come out and say 'oh this is why we don't like PC as a platform'

sigh

Omaeka · 9 Aug 2012 at 14:25

HankScorpio said:
If this game had all the bells and whistles deserving of the PC platform it would've sold like hotcakes I imagine. ****** port will result in negligible sales like bulletstorm for pc and the devs will come out and say 'oh this is why we don't like PC as a platform'

sigh

Q F T

Why was that censored without spaces?

AWPC · 9 Aug 2012 at 15:38

Game will upscale nicely via GPU scaling anyway regardless of target resolution like most games on PC let your GPU upscale it still look a lot better than consoles & have vsync + higher FPS.

Tibbz2 · 9 Aug 2012 at 15:43

AWPC said:
Game will upscale nicely via GPU scaling anyway regardless of target resolution like most games on PC let your GPU upscale it still look a lot better than consoles & have vsync + higher FPS.

But consoles run at 30fps too

AWPC · 9 Aug 2012 at 15:50

Tibbz2 said:
But consoles run at 30fps too

This game is not locked to 30FPS if it supports 60Hz in the menus someone will find a way to get FPS above 30 in a matter of minutes of release there are several ways to do it & its only DX9 so easier still just run with vsync disabled most recent GPU's will hit 60FPS. From Software are unlikley to have hard coded it to only ever output @ 30 FPS as they lack PC experience this is not like Force Unleashed 2 which was hard coded to 30FPS as the Euphoria physics engine did not like running out of sync.

I think most people will easily get well above 30FPS as soon as they play it just by having decent hardware

Tibbz2 · 9 Aug 2012 at 16:01

Out of the box the game is locked to 30fps, and there isn't a way to change that (until the modders come along, if they do)

From the latest hands on of the game (about 3 hours ago):

There is bad news which could hit PC gamers pretty hit hard, though. While the frame-rate's rough edges have been filed down, you're still going to be playing at 30FPS out of the box, as widely rumoured. A graphics menu has been added in, but there are no obvious ways to raise the bar to the preferable 60FPS mark.

HankScorpio · 9 Aug 2012 at 16:03

I hope the modders quickly overhaul the game, adding graphic sharpening, higher frame rates and dare I say better resolution if not available. If done quickly it will put the devs to shame, having so long to add these features and not doing so. Also configuring freaking keyboard and mouse control options shouldn't be too hard.

Then I will buy it.

gronf · 9 Aug 2012 at 16:29

Shame, will just avoid this then..

privateeye0 · 9 Aug 2012 at 17:05

Glad I didn't pre-order this now. Will wait and see what peoples reactions are before jumping in.

no_1_dave · 9 Aug 2012 at 17:35

Wont be spending my money on this then.
Pre-ordered Borderlands 2, Darksiders 2 and Dishonored instead

Gimpymoo · 9 Aug 2012 at 17:46

LOL at all the fanboys defending this at the start saying:

"I Will throw money at it, should be grateful, blah blah blah".

Really?

Tibbz2 · 9 Aug 2012 at 17:48

Gimpymoo said:
LOL at all the fanboys defending this at the start saying:

"I Will throw money at it, should be grateful, blah blah blah".

Really?

Yeah there has been a lot of that, defending the indefensible

RavenXXX2 · 9 Aug 2012 at 17:52

Dark Souls PC uses the very same 1024x720 internal framebuffer as the console versions

ColEx · 9 Aug 2012 at 17:54

Gimpymoo said:
LOL at all the fanboys defending this at the start saying:

"I Will throw money at it, should be grateful, blah blah blah".

Really?

The game is amazing on consoles though, that's why most people would throw their money at it. Shame its going be **** because of porting laziness with settings etc. Ahwell...