Cal Predine
StarKnight Security
37
   |
Posted - 2012.11.02 10:57:00 -
[1] - Quote
I've been one of the many long-term posters about the framerate/ lag problems which are quite clearly killing the game for most testers, so (although I just don't find Ambush an entertaining game mode) I thought I'd check out the new streaming changes instroduced 31-10-12.
I managed 2 games (kind of...)
The first one (on the Line Harvest map) was pretty bad, gameplay-wise. Now I don't want to appear rude, but I'm testing this game and giving (hopefully) useful feedback, so I have to be blunt and say that "pretty bad" is what I've come to expect as a baseline over the last month. In fact, it might be fairer to say that it's a horrible slideshow which especially kicks in just when you are going to line up on an enemy, so in any other FPS game this would be called either unplayable, or at the very least borderline unplayable. That's fine - it's a beta - these are the problems everyone is helping CCP to track down. Yes, we're all deeply ticked by having to report the same problems most every game for the last month or more, but I'm sure all you devs are reading and taking very seriously the pretty much unanimous analysis of the problem, and are just as annoyed that you've not been able to find a definitive solution yet.
TL;DR - first game following console startup, Line Harvest map, Ambush mode, player experience was average for this build.
Then I tried a second game. On Manus Peak. Oh. My. God.
This was literally the least enjoyable gaming experience I have ever encountered. It would be in no way an exaggeration to label it an unplayable slideshow. It took me 12 - 15 seconds to line up on a sniper standing right in front of me (I spawned in right behind him - clearly the spawn-in problems are also still very much in evidence).
Let me repeat that. I spawned in right behind a sniper, he remained unaware of me, and the framerate was *so* bad, that it took 12-15 seconds (of slideshow-induced overshooting the target with my crosshair) to aim at him. During this time I say maybe a half-dozen frame updates. Equally clearly, this problem was not apparent to all users, as there were snipers in the hills killing me in the multiple seconds between screen refreshes, and (barring miraculous luck) I find it hard to believe anyone could achieve that with any consistency under these conditions...
Three points present themselves:
1) It would be really useful to have a place to post video clips and game stills without breaching NDA. This would allow us to better explain the problems we are having, and demonstrate just how incredibly bad this particular problem is.
2) Some people are saying they aren't suffering the widely-reported lag problems at all. On the whole, my experience is so consistently bad that I find that hard to believe, but it's worth giving some thought to. Certainly I wouldn't even consider signing up for a tournament for a borderline unplayable game (so I didn't). SO - how about letting us use a signature file in which we can *only* record our console details? (e.g. classic or slim/ ultra-slim PS3? Keyboard/ Mouse, Move or DS3 controller? have you replaced the HDD? What are the HDD specs if you know them - Sony use different models even within the same PS3 type). Wired or Wireless internet connection? How good is your broadband? Have you DMZed you PS3 or port-forwarded your router? Maybe you're using UPnP? What timezone/ geographical area are you in? It's stuff we'll usually ignore, but it 5 people report a new problem, it's easier to see if there's a common thread.
3) Odd though it may seem given the incredibly bad experience described above, this latest update gives me huge hope. CCP appear to have unwittingly stumbled upon a way to make the framerate problems enormously, catastrophically worse. This is quite possibly going to be useful knowledge in making it *better*. |
Cal Predine
StarKnight Security
37
|
Posted - 2012.11.06 17:48:00 -
[2] - Quote
Reimus Klinsman wrote:Out of all the time I've played this Patch I've only encountered crippling lag twice.. So yeah, its not bad on all machines and that could present a problem for CCPs QA team. I wouldn't be surprised if they had to buy all new(old) PS3s from ebay or something.
Well, that's really interesting - and as I noted, it's the reason for my suggestion that we might be encouraged to link our PS3 details in a .sig file and give video examples from gameplay - I have a quite recent Slim PS3, and clearly we're getting a completely different experience. And I agree completely - small changes between different gen PS3 consoles potentially present a very real problem for QA, but so long as the minimum required spec is "Any PS3 console", I'd hope they've an eye to back-compatibility to earlier generations, as well as an eye on the very new ultra-slim consoles. |
Cal Predine
StarKnight Security
37
|
Posted - 2012.11.06 18:14:00 -
[3] - Quote
Noc Tempre wrote:
- Purchase SSD
- Install SSD
- ???
- No more map issues!
Well, yes - that certainly seems to be cutting away the root of the problem, and don't think I've not considered doing exactly that, but I can't help thinking it will make it hard to meaningfully test the gameplay experience on the intended platform.
That said it would enable testing of other aspects of the game which are currently "hidden behind the problem" .
Mind if I enquire how you find the game with the stock HDD? Did you swap specifically as a result of this, or are you a longer-term SSD user? |