New Batman Game leaked, to be announced today.

[yourbeliefs]

Well, after a second playthrough, I'm starting to understand better all the PCMR fans' anger..

First I installed FRAPS to get a standard read on my FPS, and sure enough, when locked, I was getting a steady 30 FPS with very few hiccups. Then I unlocked the FPS and then things went wacky. Very rarely did I hit 60. More often than not I'd just fluctuate between 45 and 15. The only time I got 60 was during close ups of actions, never when I was gliding over the city or similar shots. Still, more often than not the FPS was on the lower end, so I ended up locking my FPS back at 30.

Frame rate issues aside, I haven't had issues with crashes or flat out glitches, so I suppose if anything the people responsible for this port can be applauded for that. However, the fact that my 960 can't achieve 60 FPS is quite frankly inexcusable from a performance standpoint, and this burn is only made worse for 970/980/Titan owners. I like to think that this will be resolved sooner rather than later.

 

[yourbeliefs]

There's a new theory as to why the PC version is so bad..

In more serious news, GMG has declared that if Batman isn't fixed after 1 patch, they'll allow refunds.

http://blog.playfire.com/2015/06/batman-arkham-knight-pc-guidelines.html

WB has also put out some information on how to get the game to run better. Sadly though it looks like they're sticking with their stupid 30 FPS cap.

http://community.wbgames.com/t5/Sup...formance-PLEASE-READ-FIRST/m-p/572903#U572903

Needless to say, people in the comments aren't pleased with what WB is throwing out there.

Honestly the fact that the experience is so gimped is somewhat annoying, but I really don't feel as angry as other people who are calling for WBs' heads and demanding refunds. I mean I'm still having FUN with the game. Yeah, it doesn't look as good as it could, but I don't think this level of hatred is necessary. This isn't like Unity where the game was just an absolute complete mess and couldn't even run properly and had glitches galore. I have yet to see any instances of broken quests or game crashing bugs. And so far the game is actually fun. Still, as I said, good idea to backup those saves manually just in case.

 

[king3pj]

There's a new theory as to why the PC version is so bad..

In more serious news, GMG has declared that if Batman isn't fixed after 1 patch, they'll allow refunds.

http://blog.playfire.com/2015/06/batman-arkham-knight-pc-guidelines.html

WB has also put out some information on how to get the game to run better. Sadly though it looks like they're sticking with their stupid 30 FPS cap.

http://community.wbgames.com/t5/Sup...formance-PLEASE-READ-FIRST/m-p/572903#U572903

Needless to say, people in the comments aren't pleased with what WB is throwing out there.

Honestly the fact that the experience is so gimped is somewhat annoying, but I really don't feel as angry as other people who are calling for WBs' heads and demanding refunds. I mean I'm still having FUN with the game. Yeah, it doesn't look as good as it could, but I don't think this level of hatred is necessary. This isn't like Unity where the game was just an absolute complete mess and couldn't even run properly and had glitches galore. I have yet to see any instances of broken quests or game crashing bugs. And so far the game is actually fun. Still, as I said, good idea to backup those saves manually just in case.

I just read through that same post on their Steam store page. I only had a chance to play for about 45 minutes last night. What I saw was okay but not good. The graphics in IGNs PS4 review video of the game looked better than what I'm seeing on a PC with two 970s. Each of those 970s is quite a bit more powerful than the GPU in a PS4 so this really isn't a very good port.

I'm also experiencing frame drops every once in a while. I have Nvidia's Shadowplay fps counter on my screen at all times. I'll hold at their 30FPS cap most of the time but as soon as I call for the Batmobile it drops down to around 15FPS. The FPS continues to fluctuate the entire time I'm in the Batmobile. The fact that my PC can't hold a steady 30FPS in this game is laughable when I never drop below 60 on The Witcher 3. The Witcher 3 looks better and requires hefty hardware.

It's clear that part of the problem is with SLI even though the update notes on Nvidia's latest driver specifically mentioned SLI support for Arkham Knight. People running one card, even if it's weaker than mine seem to be doing better.

I ran HWInfo like I always do the first time I launch a new game. Over my 45 minutes with the game one of my GPU's averaged 31% core load while the other averaged 28% core load. Maximum core load for either GPU was in the low 60s. My CPU was averaging around 45% on two cores and the other 2 were barely used at all.

WTF? I'm experiencing frame drops while the game is only using 30% of each of my GPUs on average? I could see if I was peaking at 99% but the game isn't even using half of my hardware and still choking on frames. Tonight I'll try disabling SLI and just using the second card to run all of Nvidia's Physx features unless there is a patch before I get home.

There are also other problems. The ultra settings they mention in that article aren't even an option in the game. Normal is the highest you can go. I doubt anyone would be able to run them smoothly without a pretty major patch anyways though.

The game is playable for me and I"m sure I could have fun with it in it's current state. It's a problem when it looks and performs worse than the console version though. I'm not outraged like a lot of people in the Steam forums but I am disappointed in a launch I was really looking forward to. I do want to play it now but part of me thinks I'm better off waiting for them to patch this into the real Arkham Knight experience. It's about 50/50 which way I'll go but how it works tonight with SLI disabled will play a big part in that decision.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Well, the good news is that it looks like Batman has been informed:

 

[king3pj]

Well I've had a chance to put some more time in with Arkham Knight. First I'll start with a pro tip. Right click on the game in your Steam library, click properties, and then click launch options. When the terminal pops up type -nologo and hit enter. This removes the ridiculous montage of logos you see every time you boot the game up. After doing this the game will launch directly into the "push A" screen. Now I need to find out which of my other games support something like this.

Now the performance details. I disabled SLI and set my second GPU as a dedicated Phyx card. Since SLI is total crap in this game I can at least use my second card to handle all the Nvidia specific settings and take a little of the load off my main card.

After doing this I found that my game was holding a rock solid (capped 30fps) framerate so I decided to edit the ini file to remove the cap. Now I seem to be set between 73-85FPS with occasional dips into the 50s in the Batmobile. Even in the Batmobile I stay above 60fps the vast majority of the time.

This is completely playable and a huge step up from the Max 30fps and dips down to 15 I was getting with SLI enabled. The point is that for now, SLI users are better off switching their second card to dedicated Physx. It makes no sense that you get better performance making one card do almost all the work but that appears to be how it is for now. The downside to this is that SLI is now disabled for all my other games too until they patch this.

There are still problems though. The high and ultra texture settings are not even in the game despite WB's press release from earlier today that talks about them. I'm having fun with the game and it's in a playable state now but I have the hardware for the high/ultra settings and I want to use them instead of normal. As is, the game looks okay but it's nothing special.

On the other hand, the missing ultra textures probably won't run at 60fps on my hardware until they get SLI working so I'd probably be playing on normal anyways.

Tl:dr The game is playable for me now and it's at the point where I am starting to forget about a crappy port and just enjoy the game. It still needs a patch pretty badly for the full experience though.

Also, I can't seem to find challenge maps at all. They gave me these skins but since there are no challenge maps I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with them. I hope I'll start unlocking these in the game soon or something because it will be disappointing if they are gone. I'm not seeing the Harley Quinn DLC either.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Harley Quinn DLC is in Arkham Episodes on the main menu.

Also, here's another protip for everyone

In other rather stunning news, WB is SUSPENDING sales of the PC version. I mean, as bad as Unity and other games were, I've never seen it so bad that the developer said, "Ok, we can't even SELL this until we get it fixed." No doubt this has to do with the Steam Refund service being in effect. I also noticed that the Season Pass was acting up. I was in the game and clicked on the DLC option to try to find Harley Quinn, when I saw that it said that the Season Pass was free. However, when I investigated further it turns out there's no real way to "buy" it so probably this is related to the suspended sale of the game. Not worth selling the SP if you can't sell the game that's required to run it.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/24/8842447/sales-of-batman-arkham-knight-pc-version-to-be-suspended

 

[king3pj]

Harley Quinn DLC is in Arkham Episodes on the main menu.

Also, here's another protip for everyone

They must not be treating people who got the game from Nvidia codes as preorders. The Arkham Episodes button is greyed out for me and nothing happens when I try to click it. I'm also not getting the Batman Beyond skin that was supposed to be a Steam preorder bonus. I guess I can't complain about stuff I didn't get when the game came free with my card but I'm a bit peeved that I don't have it even though I bought their season pass. They said all preorder bonuses would be available to season pass owners eventually so I'm wondering what the timed exclusive on that stuff is. The skins are a minor annoyance but I do want all the story stuff.

In other rather stunning news, WB is SUSPENDING sales of the PC version. I mean, as bad as Unity and other games were, I've never seen it so bad that the developer said, "Ok, we can't even SELL this until we get it fixed." No doubt this has to do with the Steam Refund service being in effect. I also noticed that the Season Pass was acting up. I was in the game and clicked on the DLC option to try to find Harley Quinn, when I saw that it said that the Season Pass was free. However, when I investigated further it turns out there's no real way to "buy" it so probably this is related to the suspended sale of the game. Not worth selling the SP if you can't sell the game that's required to run it.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/24/8842447/sales-of-batman-arkham-knight-pc-version-to-be-suspended

This is actually shocking to me. It's common for a developer to release a broken game and then release a million patches until they get it right (Master Chief Collection) but I can't think of another time when a game was straight up pulled from the store. I'm actually glad I got in before they pulled it now since it's running well for me after I made the changes I talked about earlier. It is good to see Rocksteady and WB taking this seriously even though it will cost them some sales.

I am wishing I wouldn't have purchased the season pass now though. I have a strong feeling they will be giving it out for free to everyone who bought the game before they pulled it to say sorry. If they pull the same move Ubi did for Assassin's Creed Unity owners who already bought the season pass before they made it free they will offer a free game.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I am wishing I wouldn't have purchased the season pass now though. I have a strong feeling they will be giving it out for free to everyone who bought the game before they pulled it to say sorry. If they pull the same move Ubi did for Assassin's Creed Unity owners who already bought the season pass before they made it free they will offer a free game.

Well Ubisoft never gave away the Season Pass for free. They simply took it off the market and gave the first DLC expansion to everyone for free, and then for those that already purchased they got a free game. Also, the season pass is more expensive IIRC for AK than it was for Unity, so they stand to lose more money by giving it away for free. I get the feeling that if there's any sort of retribution it's going to be some free DLC. I'd be shocked if they went all out and gave away ALL the DLC for free. Hell not even The Witcher 3 is doing that.

 

[king3pj]

Even though I'm able to play at 60fps and I'm having fun with the game now I think I'm going to move on to something else and see what they do to make the PC port better.

I have the latest episodes of both Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones to play. I'm also a good 20 hours into my playthrough of both Witcher 3 and Fallout 3 and I've recently been playing Battlefield 4 again on PC and just started to get into CS:GO. It's not like I don't have lots of other games to keep me busy while I wait for them to make this a better game. If I'm feeling really crazy I might even playthrough Arkham Origins for the first time.

I would also think that the whole Rocksteady team is probably helping out with this so hopefully it won't take too long. The PC port was originally done by a 12 person team at Iron Galaxy.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I would also think that the whole Rocksteady team is probably helping out with this so hopefully it won't take too long. The PC port was originally done by a 12 person team at Iron Galaxy.

Well, I'll wait on an official statement before I just go by what the credits say. I seriously doubt that only 12 people were responsible for porting this entire thing.

Still, like you I'll probably move on to some other stuff while I wait for this to be fixed. I just got Resident Evil: Revelations 2 in the mail so I guess I'll jump into that. I also need to finally finish off Freedom Planet.

 

[king3pj]

Well, I'll wait on an official statement before I just go by what the credits say. I seriously doubt that only 12 people were responsible for porting this entire thing.

Still, like you I'll probably move on to some other stuff while I wait for this to be fixed. I just got Resident Evil: Revelations 2 in the mail so I guess I'll jump into that. I also need to finally finish off Freedom Planet.

You might be right that more people worked on the port than that but we knew the PC port was outsourced well before release. The company they outsourced it to is Iron Galaxy and there are only 12 names listed in the credits under Iron Galaxy. There may very well be other people listed in other areas of the credits who had something to do with the PC port though.

My point was that I think it's safe to say that Rocksteady will be helping out with fixing the port themselves in a major way. Even if it was more than 12 people originally it was still a smaller port studio instead of Rocksteady proper. Rocksteady's name is on the line after this embarrassing release so they will want to get it fixed as soon as possible.

 

[king3pj]

Rocksteady posted an update to the Steam store page. There was a small patch today that fixed some crashing issues but mostly they just talked about the things they are working on. It would be nice to start getting some more regular progress updates and maybe a timeframe for when they are trying to get the game back up.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/208650/announcements/detail/145587678178226617

 

[yourbeliefs]

So remember that Harley Quinn DLC that was teased as an incentive to preorder? Well, it looks like it's crap, which isn't really THAT surprising considering it's free. There isn't much to it and it's quite short. I know I raised an eyebrow when I launched the DLC and just played through the first fight (they throw people at you literally as soon as you start) and when I quit it said I had completed 20% of the thing. Granted, the Harley DLC was not a reason I preordered the game (37.5% off was the reason) but hell, at least break the 60 minute mark.

http://kotaku.com/arkham-knight-s-harley-quinn-dlc-is-terrible-1713693291

Still, while her DLC may suck, now thanks to a modder you can play as Harley in open world play, along with 9 other characters.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/28/88...yers-heres-a-mod-that-gives-10-characters-for

 

[king3pj]

So remember that Harley Quinn DLC that was teased as an incentive to preorder? Well, it looks like it's crap, which isn't really THAT surprising considering it's free. There isn't much to it and it's quite short. I know I raised an eyebrow when I launched the DLC and just played through the first fight (they throw people at you literally as soon as you start) and when I quit it said I had completed 20% of the thing. Granted, the Harley DLC was not a reason I preordered the game (37.5% off was the reason) but hell, at least break the 60 minute mark.

http://kotaku.com/arkham-knight-s-harley-quinn-dlc-is-terrible-1713693291

Still, while her DLC may suck, now thanks to a modder you can play as Harley in open world play, along with 9 other characters.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/28/88...yers-heres-a-mod-that-gives-10-characters-for

I'll definitely be installing that mod when I finish the game. I'm hesitant to put any mods on the current version of the game when we know huge patches are coming that could completely break them.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I'll definitely be installing that mod when I finish the game. I'm hesitant to put any mods on the current version of the game when we know huge patches are coming that could completely break them.

Well counter to that, they may "patch the hole" that allows that mod to work, so come the time that you beat the game that mod might be DOA. I'm not delving back into Batman until they fix it, even with these crazy mods. Instead I'm looking forward to trying out Portal 2 Co-Op and probably Borderlands, although I read that they borked the PC release and basically forced people to use a gamepad. I hope they resolved that, but it was on this list of worst PC ports ever..

On a side note, I was looking through another thread and I saw that I wrote this a few months back:

Still, I do have to thank it for showing and validating my purchase of the GTX 960. I'm super psyched for Arkham Knight. Let's just hope that they don't botch the PC version. Let's hope that the same company that did the port of MK X doesn't do the port of Batman and they actually built it from scratch. Given how long and how many delays we've had, a broken release will be beyond unacceptable.

Perhaps I jinxed us all..

 

[king3pj]

Well counter to that, they may "patch the hole" that allows that mod to work, so come the time that you beat the game that mod might be DOA. I'm not delving back into Batman until they fix it, even with these crazy mods. Instead I'm looking forward to trying out Portal 2 Co-Op and probably Borderlands, although I read that they borked the PC release and basically forced people to use a gamepad. I hope they resolved that, but it was on this list of worst PC ports ever..

On a side note, I was looking through another thread and I saw that I wrote this a few months back:

Still, I do have to thank it for showing and validating my purchase of the GTX 960. I'm super psyched for Arkham Knight. Let's just hope that they don't botch the PC version. Let's hope that the same company that did the port of MK X doesn't do the port of Batman and they actually built it from scratch. Given how long and how many delays we've had, a broken release will be beyond unacceptable.

Perhaps I jinxed us all..

Yeah, I'm not screwing with Arkham Knight until they are done fixing it either.

Honestly, you're better off just going straight to Borderlands 2. It basically improves on everything from the original and you won't miss much in terms of story either. The characters from the original show up in the sequel and you will miss the impact of that but there really wasn't much story to speak of in BL1.

That being said, I don't remember having any trouble with BL1 on PC. To be fair to that article I did play it with a 360 controller because my PC was connected to my TV. I have since moved to a monitor at a desk because I realized I was playing games that really benefit from a keyboard and mouse more often lately. I'll check out BL2 or the Pre-Sequel later to see if those problems exist in the newer games but I'm guessing they fixed that. I know that BL2 was hugely popular on PC.

Edit: I fired up BL 2 and scrolled through the menus. I can confirm that none of the keyboard/mouse problems mentioned in that article are an issue for BL2.

 

[yourbeliefs]

The plot thickens: Apparently WB was well aware of the PC performance issues. In fact, it looks like it's a miracle that Rocksteady even got the console versions out. Kotaku has a quite comprehensive article where it cites numerous sources that the game had been a mess for quite a while, and also explains why the game was delayed so much (remember, this was delayed TWICE.)

http://kotaku.com/sources-warner-bros-knew-that-arkham-knight-pc-was-a-1714915219

 

[king3pj]

The plot thickens: Apparently WB was well aware of the PC performance issues. In fact, it looks like it's a miracle that Rocksteady even got the console versions out. Kotaku has a quite comprehensive article where it cites numerous sources that the game had been a mess for quite a while, and also explains why the game was delayed so much (remember, this was delayed TWICE.)

http://kotaku.com/sources-warner-bros-knew-that-arkham-knight-pc-was-a-1714915219

I think it was obvious that they knew about the issues in the PC version. I don't think you end up making AAA games if you are so incompetent that you can't spot how terrible this port was. The question is whether they had enough time and people to fix the problems before release.

The article said that testers were giving them the bug reports but they were still working on actually porting the game over. They clearly didn't have the manpower to fix the bugs and port everything over at the same time. If you have several people giving you hundreds of bugs per day but you still don't have the inside of the GCPD ported over there are going to be problems.

It all makes sense if you think about all the delays. If the console version wasn't ready until the last minute that means the PC guys were still porting over assets until the last minute. That leaves no time for fixing the bugs found in QA.

This was poor management by WB. They either didn't hire enough people to do the work or they didn't give the team that was doing it enough time to get it done.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I'm not one who pines for freebies, but honestly, for what WB did to PC users the LEAST they can do is give out the Season Pass for free. If nothing else, the absolute gall of them to release this port in the state it was in, KNOWING that people could easily refund their purchase was just deplorable. PC users would have understood if they delayed the game if they mentioned that the port wasn't ready, but for them to just say "F-it, let's see how it goes" shows the complete lack of respect they have for us fans. To be fair, WB is a pretty sh*tty company when you look at their past..

 

[king3pj]

Pro tip... Don't go wandering into the Steam forum for this game in hopes of news on a patch. I made that mistake today only to find that some idiots thought it would be funny to make a thread title in BOLD ALL CAPS FONT spoiling the Arkham Knight's identity. The way they did this will catch your eye even without actually clicking into the thread. Not only that but there were 3 separate threads made by 3 different people all visible on the first page.

Since the main plot line of the game is figuring out who the Arkham Knight is and taking him down this was a real bummer for me. I'm sure I will still be able to enjoy the story when the game is finally patched but all the suspense is gone now. Congrats to these a holes for piling even more crap on the garbage fire that is the PC version of Arkham Knight.