Fallout 3 rant

[Sabz5150]

Whoever coded the DLCs for this game need to be dragged out of their beds, thrown into the streets, have a pay-per-view camera put in their faces and a bullet put in each of their skulls FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE what happens when you take a crap on a plate and call it code.

How do you code this badly? HOW?! I can understand a few bugs here and there for a world with several miles of real estate, but there's a difference between that and pegging a system to the hilt that universities and military researchers are clustering for supercomputers! There's just no acceptable reason for ruining an otherwise great game with code I could have had written cleaner by a sack of badgers on meth.

And no other acceptable punishment except public execution.

That is all. Return to your regularly scheduled forums.

[AceAerosmith]

While I haven't played the DLC, I found the original game tedious and dull.

Feel free to point fingers at me and howl like Donald Sutherland at the end of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. I can take it.

[Blitzwing256]

this is what you get when publishers are allowed to release anything to the networks, there is no strict gestapo like the big N anymore regulating the trash that companies churn out, playtesting and bug fixxing is a thing of the past with the advent of updates on consoles "we'll fix it later..maybe" is the norm now.

[Sabz5150]

While I haven't played the DLC, I found the original game tedious and dull.

Feel free to point fingers at me and howl like Donald Sutherland at the end of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. I can take it.

Well you will find it more tedious and dull than the videogame crack-hit called Modern Warfare. If you're not in the dungeon for the crawl, then you're better off playing toy soldiers.

[Sabz5150]

this is what you get when publishers are allowed to release anything to the networks, there is no strict gestapo like the big N anymore regulating the trash that companies churn out, playtesting and bug fixxing is a thing of the past with the advent of updates on consoles "we'll fix it later..maybe" is the norm now.

I guess that's it. I've dealt with the "The consumer is the beta-tester" for ages in the PC world. Hell, it's been the epitome of Windows since... well... 1.0. But my console should not have this issue.

But I bet you a dollar that if such a bug were to allow something such as full access to the hypervisor, there'd be a fix before the programmers were even allowed to eat their next meal.

[VertigoProcess]

the answer is simple they hired more texture artists and less coders... every game has a budget and sacrifices must be made so the creators get the world they want... bethesda has been known to do this a lot...

[Sabz5150]

the answer is simple they hired more texture artists and less coders... every game has a budget and sacrifices must be made so the creators get the world they want... bethesda has been known to do this a lot...

To be expected from this generation of gamers. They don't want solid... they want pretty.

[ProgrammingAce]

the answer is simple they hired more texture artists and less coders... every game has a budget and sacrifices must be made so the creators get the world they want... bethesda has been known to do this a lot...

I still have no idea how those buggy piles of crap made it through both Microsoft and Sony's cert process. You should see some of the things that get a game rejected, those DLC packs had to fail about half the tests. Even Activision can't push a game through cert, i can't imagine how Bethesda was able to do it.

Though thinking about it further...

The DLC packs probably don't have any executable binary, so they might not be subject to the same tests as a full retail game. I've never worked on any DLC project of that magnitude

[Sabz5150]

I still have no idea how those buggy piles of crap made it through both Microsoft and Sony's cert process. You should see some of the things that get a game rejected, those DLC packs had to fail about half the tests. Even Activision can't push a game through cert, i can't imagine how Bethesda was able to do it.

Money and/or sex. Copious amounts of either/both.


Though thinking about it further...

The DLC packs probably don't have any executable binary, so they might not be subject to the same tests as a full retail game. I've never worked on any DLC project of that magnitude

http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/b/be/Ackbar.jpg

Its no use, Ace... their developers can't handle content of that magnitude!

[VertigoProcess]

To be expected from this generation of gamers. They don't want solid... they want pretty.

Well to be blunt... im a 3d texture artist by trade and the fallout games are a fing masterpiece in my eyes... but in a coders eyes they may say differently...

You have to understand games are created by artists now, not coders so much anymore... and a artist wants pretty... what functionality does http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_H-GQuyWjY8/TiRO8eKxmdI/AAAAAAAAATs/WQ3cynkJQzs/s1600/van_gogh-starry-night2.jpg have anyway?

[Collector_Gaming]

the one thing about the game in general not just the DLC's that pissed me off and i don't think i ever tried it in new vegas to see if they fixed it (Although just about everything buggy about Fallout 3 is in new vegas i found so far) is when your running through a Super Mutant territory and there is something for them to duck behind they duck behind it... Thats fine and dandy

But why is it when they duck behind a car and i got a clean shot at their head through the cars doors where the windows once were before being blasted out and When i goto shoot my bullet stops dead in its tracks?
Its just friggin annoying!

[Sabz5150]

Well to be blunt... im a 3d texture artist by trade and the fallout games are a fing masterpiece in my eyes... but in a coders eyes they may say differently...

I love the Fallout games as well. I love them enough to criticize the hell out of them and then spend the next six hours scavving the wastes.


You have to understand games are created by artists now, not coders so much anymore... and a artist wants pretty... what functionality does (Starry Night) have anyway?

At least that is a still image that is enjoyable to look at. A still image that is not enjoyable to look at is a Chinese Dragoon floating in the air like the Air Jordan logo for ten minutes because the pretty slammed my system to the wall. Oh shit, gotta make sure the rendered wind whips AROUND him for that nanosecond he's not in a billion pieces!

[Gamevet]

Well to be blunt... im a 3d texture artist by trade and the fallout games are a fing masterpiece in my eyes... but in a coders eyes they may say differently...

You have to understand games are created by artists now, not coders so much anymore... and a artist wants pretty.


It's been awhile since I've played Fallout 3 on the 360, but I'm pretty amazed at how nice looking New Vegas is on the console.

[BlastProcessing402]

I never had a problem with bugs* in the Anchorage or that swamp area DLC, haven't really tried any others.


*other than anything that might happen in Fallout 3 without DLC

[duffmanth]

I just picked up the Game of the Year Edition for $20 new for PS3. I'm curious to see the glitches and bugs that everyone is complaining about. It's unfortunate that in the age of software patches/updates a lot of developers seem to take the route of releasing buggy and unfinished games with the attitude of we can fix it later with a software patch.

[Sabz5150]

I just picked up the Game of the Year Edition for $20 new for PS3. I'm curious to see the glitches and bugs that everyone is complaining about. It's unfortunate that in the age of software patches/updates a lot of developers seem to take the route of releasing buggy and unfinished games with the attitude of we can fix it later with a software patch.

I don't lay all blame upon the developers... the execs and marketoids who lay out unattainable deadlines and features also need some cranial ventilation. Their belief is "Sell now, make money now, fix issues later!"

Play Operation Anchorage and go out into the battlefield where the shelling is happening. You'll see what we're talking about.

Better yet, complete Anchorage, put on the Chinese Stealth Suit and check yourself in the third person.

[duffmanth]

I don't lay all blame upon the developers... the execs and marketoids who lay out unattainable deadlines and features also need some cranial ventilation. Their belief is "Sell now, make money now, fix issues later!"

Play Operation Anchorage and go out into the battlefield where the shelling is happening. You'll see what we're talking about.

Better yet, complete Anchorage, put on the Chinese Stealth Suit and check yourself in the third person.

I should have rephrased my earlier statement, I lay blame on the studio/publisher as a whole.

[Jaruff]

It's just not the DLC; the base game was like this too. It's a problem with their engine; it doesn't appreciate larger save files. When I still owned New Vegas, my level 25 save was unplayable without lag and freezes. My Fallout 3 game was the same way and it became noticeably worse when I purchased the GOTY edition to play the DLC's.

Correct me if I'm wrong because I don't play the series but doesn't The Elder Scrolls games suffer from the same problems?

[Sabz5150]

It's just not the DLC; the base game was like this too. It's a problem with their engine; it doesn't appreciate larger save files. When I still owned New Vegas, my level 25 save was unplayable without lag and freezes. My Fallout 3 game was the same way and it became noticeably worse when I purchased the GOTY edition to play the DLC's.

Correct me if I'm wrong because I don't play the series but doesn't The Elder Scrolls games suffer from the same problems?

Now that's something I have not experienced. My saves are 16 and 12 megs (FO3/NV) and I've never had that kind of issue. Oddly enough, I've never had issues with New Vegas. With FO3, my problems started right when I got the GOTY. I played the entire game through using the original version with no DLC and never had an issue.

[Gamevet]

It's just not the DLC; the base game was like this too. It's a problem with their engine; it doesn't appreciate larger save files. When I still owned New Vegas, my level 25 save was unplayable without lag and freezes. My Fallout 3 game was the same way and it became noticeably worse when I purchased the GOTY edition to play the DLC's.

Correct me if I'm wrong because I don't play the series but doesn't The Elder Scrolls games suffer from the same problems?

I guess that depends on what version you're talking about. I didn't notice a ton of lag while playing Fallout 3 and New Vegas on the 360, but it was pretty bad with Skyrim on the PS3. The problem with porting a 360/PC game to the PS3 is the amount of RAM that the PS3 has. The PS3 memory is faster than that of the 360, so games designed around that advantage work fine. It's when a game like Skyrim uses system memory to keep track of every dead person and trinket you've found, that it becomes a problem for the PS3.

[Jaruff]

I've only played 3 and NV on the PS3. I have 3 for PC now but I haven't played it too much.

The games hit the shitter at the 4000-5000 kb save size. I remember having to load an older save just to play the DLC titles.

[badinsults]

I think my main critisism of Fallout 3 is that there are certain areas where the game autosaves, and you can potentially die right away. For instance, I was in this underwater section, and entered a door where there was an autosave, and was pretty much out of air. Luckily, I figured out that you can pump youself up with stimpacks to avoid instant death, but if I didn't have enough, I would have been screwed. If you are going to have autosaves, you should not put the gamer in such situations!

Most other bugs have been largely superficial. Sometimes you see corpses flopping around through doors if there is an explosion nearby. I haven't tried the DLC areas yet, as I am still plugging away through the main game.

[BlastProcessing402]

Better yet, complete Anchorage, put on the Chinese Stealth Suit and check yourself in the third person.

What am I supposed to be witnessing when doing this? I play almost exclusively in 3rd person and got the CSS, and the only issue I have is the PIP boy starts getting off center sometimes while stealthy. But I think that happened with stealth boys too, and if so it's back to not a DLC issue.