A message to Bethesda from the PC community

Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 2:34 pm

Hello!

Let me start by saying: I love Bethesda's games... The Elder Scrolls series is my favourite. And Skyrim is my favourite game of all time. I also enjoy the Fallout series alot. I've been looking up very respectfully on Bethesda. My belief was that they are this game developer that just does everything right. But I'm disappointed. If you're reading this Bethesda (and I really hope you are), I still love Fallout 4 alot - and I will keep playing it. But... this should be your number one priority - that everyone - whatever platform they're playing on - should have a nice experience and feel that you've been working on giving them something that works well for that platform.

The first few hours of Fallout 4 was a total blast. I was amazed by the atmosphere - 10/10 for sure. And I still love that. But the more I played, the more I noticed all problems and what a terrible port the PC version is. I'm really trying my best to just ignore these issues and annoyances and just keep on playing, but they're not easily ignored.

  • The PC market is still evolving. People are buying better and better gear. It's not unusual these days that we have payed alot for our 120 or 144 hz monitors and very powerful graphic cards. You actually see a difference from 60 to 144 hz. But I think you already know this. It's not a good idea these days to develop a AAA-game on an engine which is locked to the framerate in many ways.
  • It is very... I don't know, is it laziness? (I don't think so) Is it because you think it's fine? Maybe this is something because of the game engine as well? I have no idea. But you should - include - much - more - options to tweak in the actual game. Not everyone wants to keep editing .ini files until it works decently after a few hours.
  • The UI navigation and keybinds is horrible. I completely understand that it works for consoles. But it doesn't work well for PC's. What were you even thinking? I'm so sorry, Bethesda, but... *shaking my head*. All these random keybinds. It feels you didn't put much work into that at all. It screams console port all over it. The worst experience I've had with the UI is when I'm in the workshop mode or navigating the pip-boy. Do you think we will learn those keybinds? Maybe after a few days if you really put your mind into it. Scraping objects is easy with a gamepad. But on PC you have to go up to the object, press R and then lift your hand from your mouse and press enter to confirm. Thus losing control of your character every time you do it. Changing armor and gear is also a pain. Why can't we scroll with the mousewheel in the perk chart to move up and down? Hold Alt to throw a grenade? Hold Tab to use the flashlight? Really? I didn't even know I had a flashlight until a turned it on by mistake. Which leads me into the subject of how you exclude so much information of how stuff works in the game, but that's another topic. If you've made an UI that works for consoles, that's good! But if it doesn't really work for PC, then you have alot more work to do. Redo the UI for PC.

I really hope that you're not thinking "the community will fix it". There might be some mods later which can fix a few problems, but this is not acceptable from a game developer that I and many look up so much to :(

I'm abit worried... My deepest wish right now is that you've learned from this mistake and that the next game you're releasing will have a new and better engine. I'm so looking forward to the next game in the Elder Scrolls series and I can't wait to see what you will bring us. But if you don't fix all these problems that your engine have, there's a big chance you're gonna let down your PC fans even more. And this isn't good! You wan't to be this good guy company which listen to the community and give everyone the best experience possible on every platform.

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Marion Geneste
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 6:56 am

I don't think it's because it's a port. I think it's because it's a Bethesda game. They tend to make loveable messes of games.

But I agree; I would be much happier to buy the game if I knew it worked from the start.

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u gone see
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 5:52 pm

Op, I think your "message" is more suited for the other forum call hardware and software issues since this matter is about pc only. But anyways, there's no question that Beth games are becoming more consolized and I'm afraid we have no power over that. It's their bread and butter, the sector that brings more revenues to their tables. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with that just as long they don't forget us pc players in our basic needs as a fov slider, appropriate UI, etc.

I highly doubt the status quo will change any time soon. In fact, things are getting worse for the pc community because Beth, like Ubisoft, is already seeing all of us pc players as criminals - pirates.
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Esther Fernandez
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 3:22 pm


I had exactly the same reaction to pressing the Enter key everytime. Then I found out you don't need to. Press R to recycle, then press E to enter. Quick and easy. (Hopefully a modder will change that string to read "Press E to confirm", or Bethesda could do it in one of their updates hint hint)

As for the pipboy, dunno I just use the Pip-boy app on iPad, dont' even have to press tab to launch the pipboy. Makes things 100 times easier.
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Angela Woods
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 6:32 am

I feel your pain. :brokencomputer:

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Arnold Wet
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:49 am


Well said!
I agree 馃憤
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Pat RiMsey
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 10:18 am

Yes the interface is VERY console port =.= Those kinds of things are just clumsy on PC's and under use the amount of keys on the keyboard and hardly use the mouse at all.

In the crafting window if you DO NOT let go of the mouse you will VERY likely mod the wrong item and scrap the wrong item. For the PC this being fixed is a MUST.

Why should PC users be forced to muddle around things as if they are using a clumsy Controller ??

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Cathrin Hummel
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 6:37 pm

I love how all these posts go. "I love all your games and they're awesome, but here are the 10 things that are wrong with this one" the "i love beth games" line has become like a disclaimer

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^_^
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 5:25 pm


That's because we are in Fallout land. ^^
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Yama Pi
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 2:15 pm

I love almost every Bethesda games,because they are come from professional developers, including great story and gameplay.
Bethesda simply ported the console Fallout 4 version to PC. It was an error, and I'm they know it well right now, and working hard to fix it. They must have to listen to pc players, or facing a lot of reputation loss.
The PC sales are low I know, but we are not a dieing species, just buying PC parts to upgrade our machine to play 0 days games. Check the pc parts sales too, to get the big picture.
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Trish
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 10:04 am

I agree. Big fan of all former Bethesda games. Skyrim also my favourite. But the UI and very limited key remapping in this one are very bad.

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~Sylvia~
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 10:33 am

I'm sorry, but this is the way I feel. And it's a heartbreaking feeling. I almost hesitated to give them this criticism because they've brought us so many nice games. Almost like telling your best friend that "yeah, if you wanna know the truth, you're pretty ugly"...

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Marilú
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 3:01 pm

I love Bethesda games, but because I can fill up what is an empty, often flawed world. I love it because I can make something out of it myself. Since we have less of the roleplay aspects that New Vegas and Fallout 3 had, I'm going to be more critical about the things that we did get instead. That's just the reality of it.

Bethesda games are notorious for being beautiful messes. There are many trainwreck moments that we cannot look away from. And we forgive the games for it because of the stories we can tell in them. If the story of the player takes a backseat to the story of the world, I will put higher expectations on the world's "performance". Not performance as my ability to run it smoothly, but it's literal ability performance as "an actor", so to speak.

Bugs are like misread lines. If an extra misreads a line in the background but is drowned out by all the other things that are going on, that's fine. If the main characters misread a line, then my experience is affected. In this case, the world is more the main character than it used to be, so misread lines stand out more. To emphasize; I am using actors as metaphors for the game's mechanics, I am not talking about the voice actors (this time).

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Glu Glu
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 6:28 am

Havent had an issue with it myself as I just get used to things fast. Plus I never hit the enter key, i just hit "E"...

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Jessica Phoenix
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 8:14 am

just my 2 cents, from a veteran player who has been here a long long time.

agree with the OP about how fun the game is. Fall 4 is really amazing, love the settlements.

i hope something like Sky UI will be released. The UI is really bad.

The frame rate limits MUST be addressed.

Free-sync and G-sync are very common monitors now!!!!!

I hope and pray that this will be the last game stuck with a 60HZ refresh.

Seriously Beth get with the times.

Adapt your aging engine or jettison it.

Adapt your aging engine or jettison it.

Adapt your aging engine or jettison it.

please?

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Russell Davies
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 6:13 am

I don't know the reason why they didn't adapt the UI for PC. Maybe they didn't get enough time? It didn't really work out?

Whatever it is, I think that the options to change UI or controls (key binds) sould be there. It has always been there with Beth-games, right?

Hell, I didn't even see a brightness/gamma slider, and I'm playing on console. Let's just hope that they will improve this in future updates.

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Daniel Lozano
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 4:08 pm

I would just be happy to have a game manual so I could learn how to do the most basic of things, like scrapping, building, flashlight, etc. and etc. How on earth does Bethesda justify having a crafting/modding/building system like that with no instructions on how it works.

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Melanie Steinberg
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 10:29 am

Considering that the Season Pass for PC is coming in next year (supposedly early next year), PC is the new PS of previous iterations. As in, low end of the totem pole.

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Chris Jones
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 3:44 am

So true, or just some tutorial, first hours of gameplay I was selfinstuctor and was learning basics.

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marie breen
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 12:14 pm

oh god yes, the "building" section is horrific on PC....trying to dance around just to get a stupid fence to keep going in a straight line instead of trying to turn and go out of the settlement area...I gave up and just built more turrets....

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An Lor
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 2:35 am

I agree completely.

But tying up engine speed to framerate is stupidity beyond belief, it is something that even among amateurs would be a rarity.

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Oyuki Manson Lavey
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 7:14 am

If I remember correctly during the Skyrim launch, before the construction set was even out, a modder released the first version of SkyUi. I suspect there will be a FallUi in a month or two, and everyone can calm down. Would it be nice if Bethesda provided a PC UI at launch? Absolutely. But lets face it. We know how it is now. Even Oblivion's UI was too large and unwieldy and that was back in 2005. Darnified UI fixed that too. Bethesda hasn't made a good UI since Morrowind.

Moreover, there has only been one small patch so far. There will be at least be a few others. I suspect they're taking their time with the first big patch so that it covers quite a bit and doesn't introduce new bugs. Bethesda has intimated that they are going to release free packs in addition to paid DLC. I have to imagine that the settlement building will get some of these packs. I have 17hrs in and all I've done is build up sanctuary and carried out the minimal amount of questing to get salvage. It's really fun for me despite the obvious clunkyness.

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Stace
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 4:44 pm

I don't agree with the tone that Strato sets, but he's not wrong. Mods are great. I even think that Fallout 4 might be a bit too polished graphically for modders to be able to compete. But mods shouldn't be bugfixes. They shouldn't make an abysmal UI remotely usable. They shouldn't make collision detection competent. They shouldn't prevent quest NPCs from spawning in the wrong places. Those things should have already been tested and fixed in the game's beta in order for the modders to focus on the fun parts of the game.

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Jessica Thomson
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 5:51 pm

You do realize that you can press "e" when it says enter right? That's what I've been doing and sure there's still some weird keybindings (left alt for melee as opposed to "v" like it is in every game), but your wasting your time if you manually press enter literally everytime you need to confirm something.

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Roisan Sweeney
 
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Post » Sun Nov 29, 2015 4:12 pm

Your comparison is a bit off. This Bethesda car has wheels, engine, seats and doors, even a steering wheel(imagine that), but its not running smoothly. Not as you would expect from a premium company who ask a premiun price anway.

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kasia
 
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