Widescreen Gaming Forum

I know 'bout Burnout Paradise, which is partly why I was interested to see how they do on this one.

I fired up the game again and started taking screenshots for comparison purposes. I took a screencap for 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1680x1050, and 5040x1050. I then took the first 3 and laid them on top of each other, applied some color overlay effect, added an image border, and a simple descriptive text. This is the result:



The baseline image is, of course, 1680x1050. It is hor+ but I didn't test 16:9 resolution. I completely forgot about it (oops).

As for Eyefinity, Surround, or TripleHead2Go, it does work out of the box as you might expect, which is wonderful. Here's a similar comparison image to the above using the final 2 screenshots to show the difference:



So far, so good. But what about options? Well, this time I think Criterion took a couple of steps back. The following cropped screenshot is the Display settings/options as far as adjusting visuals and quality goes:



This does not leave much room for anything else. The "margin scale" option as seen in the image does nothing but scales the HUD elements down. There is nothing to adjust how the HUD elements are placed. This is a big disappointment as Burnout Paradise was able to do this to some extent and I have seen it perfected in Serious Sam HD.

Overall, it looks to be half good and half bad. I can't say if the gameplay is good since I don't follow the NFS series that much nor do I know if the controls are correct for the franchise. One aspect I do remember is that trying to drift in the NFS games always felt terrible. Burnout Paradise not only made it fun but it also made it easy to do. That same element made its way into HP. In terms of flexibility, I found it to be very lacking, and in the worst case scenario, reminiscent of a console port. There are very little options for adjusting the visuals and quality. And it felt like it does not take much to maximize the visuals, sans motion blur. For a Radeon 5850 in 1680x1050, this game will fly. In Eyefinity resolution, the framerate is manageable and tolerable. I do not know how much of a performance impact using Motion Blur will have. But it's a visual effect that I have no problem omitting from my setup.

Is it worth US$50 on the PC platform? At its current state, no. If Criterion can add more flexibility and options to the game, then maybe it'll be worth it. Right now, it feels like a US$25-30 game than 50.

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t3h bl0g | Old Warriors Soceity | my BFBC2 stats

@JohnK187 Sorry, it won't come out on Steam

Sorry, no it will not RT @acare84: @NeedforSpeed @EA Hi, will NFS: Hot Pursuit for PC come to Steam? Thank you.

Well that's a fucking disappointment.

May be worth the buy after they release the *ahem* Ultimate Box edition.

Major disappointed. No Steam? Forget buying it at the store. I'm still trying to avoid games that have all sorts of crazy DRM attached to it.

I dunno how Criterion is going to expand on this. New cars will not cut it. New cars and tracks, maybe. New cars, tracks, and areas will keep players in. Yet given how Criterion shafted the PC players by not implementing Big Surf Island, I have less reason to believe that this game will find its way into my PC (legitimately). It just does not feel it is worth the retail price with some of the drawbacks I've mentioned earlier.

I'm guestimating that I will have the game uninstalled in a week. Having an actual PC demo rather than taking the other route would have saved me a lot of trouble, not to mention making the decision process a whole lot faster. *sigh*

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t3h bl0g | Old Warriors Soceity | my BFBC2 stats

Major disappointed. No Steam? Forget buying it at the store. I'm still trying to avoid games that have all sorts of crazy DRM attached to it.

What sort of crazy DRM is attached to this, then? I can't get a straight answer when I go looking.

Bugger. Just found the answer. Online activation. Dammit, not happy.

[quote]Major disappointed. No Steam? Forget buying it at the store. I'm still trying to avoid games that have all sorts of crazy DRM attached to it.

What sort of crazy DRM is attached to this, then? I can't get a straight answer when I go looking.

Bugger. Just found the answer. Online activation. Dammit, not happy.

I can live with online activation, just so long as its not permanent online connection required to play. If the Royal Mail do their job (unlikely) I should have when I get home. So I'll be uploading a video like the one I did for Blur most likely sometime tonight. Assuming it is there when I get home.

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: ) Skid : )
My Multi-Monitor Focused YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SkidIncGaming
My Twitch channel which I've been known to stream on from time to time: http://www.twitch.tv/SkidInc
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

Can you turn off the takedown cam?

I can live with online activation, just so long as its not permanent online connection required to play. If the Royal Mail do their job (unlikely) I should have when I get home. So I'll be uploading a video like the one I did for Blur most likely sometime tonight. Assuming it is there when I get home.

It depends. I can deal with online activation for GTA4 and Borderlands because they're unlimited. But I refuse to pay for limited activations. ;)

Oh, let me know how it goes on your system - it apparently has massive issues with quad and hexacore CPUs.

[quote]I can live with online activation, just so long as its not permanent online connection required to play. If the Royal Mail do their job (unlikely) I should have when I get home. So I'll be uploading a video like the one I did for Blur most likely sometime tonight. Assuming it is there when I get home.

It depends. I can deal with online activation for GTA4 and Borderlands because they're unlimited. But I refuse to pay for limited activations. ;)

Oh, let me know how it goes on your system - it apparently has massive issues with quad and hexacore CPUs.

The royal mail didn't do their job well, its not here, it might come tomorrow (will be pissed if it doesn't as its what I had planned for the weekend) but I'll let you know when I can try it. :)

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: ) Skid : )
My Multi-Monitor Focused YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SkidIncGaming
My Twitch channel which I've been known to stream on from time to time: http://www.twitch.tv/SkidInc
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

Oh, let me know how it goes on your system - it apparently has massive issues with quad and hexacore CPUs.

massive issues? I run quad-core here. I didn't notice any hiccups while playing it. What were the symptoms?

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t3h bl0g | Old Warriors Soceity | my BFBC2 stats

I'm running the game with a Logitech G27. No presets for the wheel so you have to set the parameters for it.

The wheel works well enough but the lack of adjustment is a let down as (at least for me) the wheel has about 10"-12" of play before it actually making a turn.....very bad, very bad indeed. Looks like this was made for a game pad.

Game play at 6048x1200 I can see micro stutters but still playable...kinda!!! I reduced the resolution in game to get a more smooth frame rate.

We need a patch for this game soon.


PS If it had adopted some of Test Drive Unlimited game adjustments it would have been great.

Yep, game had absolutely no problem with my 4 core 8 thread system, got a 15 minute video on the way up atm, be ready in a bit off 5 hours (probably closer to 6).

Edit: While I'm thinking about it, if you right click the Need for Speed(TM) Hot Pursuit icon in the Games Browser, it has the following option:
Need for Speed(TM) Hot Pursuit - Deauthorize this machine.

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: ) Skid : )
My Multi-Monitor Focused YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SkidIncGaming
My Twitch channel which I've been known to stream on from time to time: http://www.twitch.tv/SkidInc
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

Video is up :)
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=21102

_________________
: ) Skid : )
My Multi-Monitor Focused YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SkidIncGaming
My Twitch channel which I've been known to stream on from time to time: http://www.twitch.tv/SkidInc
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

The royal mail didn't do their job well, its not here, it might come tomorrow (will be pissed if it doesn't as its what I had planned for the weekend) but I'll let you know when I can try it. :)

Royal Mail failed for me, too, recently. They lost a Special Delivery item. Further, round here now, First Class, rather than being next day as it should be, is more like "Sometime in the next week. Maybe."

I know it's the way it's managed that is at fault, but they're not helping their case against privatisation. Except that, if it gets privatised, we can look forward to it being even more crap.

massive issues? I run quad-core here. I didn't notice any hiccups while playing it. What were the symptoms?

I just went looking on the EA forums. Now, I know that game-dedicated forums are a bad place, as people only ever go there when they have problems... but it just made me a bit nervous that it wouldn't work. If it does for you, this is good. :)

Yep, game had absolutely no problem with my 4 core 8 thread system, got a 15 minute video on the way up atm, be ready in a bit off 5 hours (probably closer to 6).

Edit: While I'm thinking about it, if you right click the Need for Speed(TM) Hot Pursuit icon in the Games Browser, it has the following option:
Need for Speed(TM) Hot Pursuit - Deauthorize this machine.

Excellent, two for two, and a deauth. :) Thanks.

Royal Mail failed for me, too, recently. They lost a Special Delivery item.

Don't scare me like that! ;)

Internal mail mate; I think (hope) external mail is a bit safer! ;)

I like it, but the huge amount of deadzone with my g25 makes it unplayabe, pc users really need to be able to adjust it. so its going back onto the drawer till its fixed, if ever

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intel x79
2 way 780ti's under water
Intel 4760 extreme @ 4GHz
3 x 42 inch screens @5860x1080
16 gigs xmp ram @2200

I fear that due to how the game is design nothing will ever be fixed. Sure it's nice that we get to play in hor+ widescreen and 3x wide. But really it should never stop at that point, especially for us as gamers and players. Ideally the update to this game would include a way to adjust the dead zone. And it would also include many more options to add better flexibility to the visual details, such as how much anisotropic, anti-alias settings, what objects to use high-res textures on, and a method to adjust how our HUD elements are arranged or displayed. But I guess now that Criterion is done w/ the game, they don't need to do anything more w/ it. Onward to the next milking title! *sigh*

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t3h bl0g | Old Warriors Soceity | my BFBC2 stats

Couple of notes, if you want to set your ingame picture to an avatar rather then a photo, go to hotpursuit.needforspeed.com and click autolog, then sign in with your EA account and go to the career page, you can edit it in there.

Also, if anyone wants to race or add me as a friend, my user is n_skid11

_________________
: ) Skid : )
My Multi-Monitor Focused YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SkidIncGaming
My Twitch channel which I've been known to stream on from time to time: http://www.twitch.tv/SkidInc
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

I like it, but the huge amount of deadzone with my g25 makes it unplayabe, pc users really need to be able to adjust it. so its going back onto the drawer till its fixed, if ever

I don't own a G25... but can't you set deadzones in game profiles with the software that comes with the g25? My roommate's driving force GT has that capability.

Some games blind override external software settings. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 1 did, for example with the settings I used for my old Microsoft wheel.

I didnt like this one. I was a really big fan of Burnout Paradise so I had high hopes for this game since they were compared often in almost every review/mention of this game.

Paradise had perfect multi monitor support, down to letting you enter the number of monitors you had and moving the hud, it also had outstanding wheel support great feedback from environmental effects and a great feel of speed.

This game unfortunately flops on both, horrible wheel support (I cant even bind my G27 properly to this game, half of the buttons refuse to work correctly or at all and it keeps picking up an axis thats not being pressed) and also the multi monitor support took a big set back with things like the HUD not being centered.

Looks like I will be sticking with tried and true Burnout Paradise for my racing fun.

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ViciousXUSMC on the Web - YouTube :: FaceBook :: Website

if you can get your wheel configured properly, ive made a fix for the huge deadzone and loose ffb.

the mod also enables manual shifting if youd like

http://www.tocaedit.com/IB/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=65

game is very playable with my G25 using this little mod...

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ToCA EDIT - Over 10 Years of Game Modding and Research

Awesome Racer_S, I'll give it a go in a little bit and hope it will work on my G27....I have a good feeling it will.

Well post findings shortly.

Ah good to see you Racer_S its been awhile.

Looks like you may have just saved this game for me.

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ViciousXUSMC on the Web - YouTube :: FaceBook :: Website

Unfortunately it was a no-go for me. Followed the instructions and copied the two file to the games directory. It well allow me to get to the setup screen but as soon as I got in to a race it would boot back to my windows screen.

I ran it first in a crossfire setup (HD5770 x2) with no luck then I disabled crossfire thinking that it may be a profile issue and replayed the game using one card...again I was booted back to windows.

Was their something I may have missed?

I'm running the game on these specs: (basic list)

MB: Asus POG Rampage II Extreme
CPU: Intel i7 920 D0 @ 4.2GHz
RAM: Corsair Dominator GT 12GB
GPU: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 x2 Crossfire
HD Primary: Western Digital VelciRaptor 300GB
HD Storage: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB (x4)
OS: Windows 7 Home 64Bit
Wheel: Logitech G27

I really hope it is just something I missed as I agree with ViciousXUSMC if I can't get this to run with your fix I'll just go back to the game that works....Burnout Paradise and Testdrive Unlimited to name a few.

Thanks Racer_S, hope we can get this fix working at least for me...I really, really want this to work. :wink:

A second patch has been released not too long ago. I had hoped that they would actually make it so that the HUD elements would not be flushed to the left and right side of the screen when playing in Eyefinity or Surround resolutions. But it seems that they have not got around to it or have never even bothered. I have filed a bug at their bugzilla site but I have high doubts that they will bother with it.

This is absolutely disappointing. Even through 2 patches, the game still look like it isn't worth US$50. During the holidays, the game was put up for sale on Steam for US$30 but it was not at the threshold where it would be deemed "worth it." Even Stardock's Impulse store put the game up for half-off (US$25) at the time but it was still not worth snagging. I posted a review at Raptr detailing these issues for the retail code/version. And it looks as though my opinion on it will continue to stand: worth only US$20 and lower.

If and when they can resolve these issues, HUD elements in particular, then I will reevaluate. Until then, this game is bargain bin material.

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t3h bl0g | Old Warriors Soceity | my BFBC2 stats

Yeah, I'll buy this again when it hits a fiver. (I didn't open my pre-order copy, and returned it for a refund...)

If and when they can resolve these issues, HUD elements in particular, then I will reevaluate. Until then, this game is bargain bin material.

Frankly, I couldn't care less about the HUD...
-No free race mode whatsoever. Replayability for the solo player is nil.
-Winning races against the AI requires little more than saving nitrous for the final mile.
-SLI-unfriendly engine: Nv Surround is sluggish as hell (unlike Eyefinity or TH2G).
-Plays like Burnout (annoyingly ubiquitous cinematics included) but lacks all the good stuff from Paradise: HUD, SLI, graphic options, rich career mode...

I bought it for 20$ (15€), so I feel more disappointed than ripped off, but I'll definitely think twice before I buy any Criterion game in the future, even at that price.

This is probably the last post I'll make for this game. A bugzilla email came into the inbox and it's from Criterion. I filed the bug as mentioned earlier with regards to the HUD placements when using TH2G, Eyefinity, or Surround resolutions. So this is the result. As you might have guessed, they closed the bug and they flagged it as invalid. Their excuse? They say it's designed this way.

BULLSHIT!

I'm fairly miffed that they did not take into consideration the practicality of adjusting the placements of each HUD elements. But I guess that only means I won't be buying any of their games for a long, long time. If they're unable to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack, they are no different from the other franchise developers who do nothing but make console ports.

I reevaluate the game's value. It's worse than bargain-bin material. It's worthless. You couldn't get me to play the game again if you paid me to do it. Thanks, Criterion for giving us a half-assed console port...

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t3h bl0g | Old Warriors Soceity | my BFBC2 stats

That's sad to hear. Thanks so much for your effort sixshot.

Davros (who would never refer to himself in the third person)
personally apologizes to Sixshot for buying this game (thankfully not at full price)

Ha... makes me very glad I returned this unopened for a full refund.

Maybe I'll get it when it hits the sub-five-quid bargain bins/sub-£3 in a Steam sale. Maybe.

So dissapointed with this game, was looking forward to it what with realy enjoying burnout paradise.

The HUD is probably the most annoying thing about it as people have already mentioned. Theres no way to comunicate with other players online and theres no AA either (I know you can force AA in the nvidia control panel but this doesn't work with me using SoftTH as my 3rd screen ends up black).

Seeing as Criterion wont release big surf island on PC or fix the buggy voice coms on burnout paradise I doubt this games going to get any better. :?

On sale $10.20 on steam... Almost got it but then I remembered the issues I had.

Picked up Shfit 2 for $15.00 instead. I like Arcady racers a lot but Shift 2 seems to be one of the defacto standard go to games for surround racing.

Now need to wait for Dirt 3 to hit half off :D

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ViciousXUSMC on the Web - YouTube :: FaceBook :: Website

Picked up Shfit 2 for $15.00 instead. I like Arcady racers a lot but Shift 2 seems to be one of the defacto standard go to games for surround racing.

Doesn't seem to be for me. It hates my 3-way SLI set-up. Been confirmed by Nvidia that they've told the devs what needs to be done to support it, but they've chosen not to. So 3 screens is a no go for me without disabling a card and re-wiring my monitors.. no thanks :P